Paulus

I had no clue that the lift was so meager. I had always assumed otherwise. I don't mean this in a bad way, I'm just a little surprised. Make sure you pick the wild ones! - no fin clips or worn out dorsal fins... I would love to see the results of a lift of over 1000... Thanks for the info. p.-

....oh boy! All winter long: peace and quiet. But the steelhead start running and... Why is it that salmonids do this to us? p.-

wow! that's awesome footage! Thanks for sharing

Awesome video! Thanks! I enjoyed that p.-

I totally agree about the Don. It's come a long way in the last 15 years. For the stewardship program that's already in place, there could be no better or more timely ally than a bunch of fishermen who want nothing more than to see it get better - now. It would also give them unprecendted economical influence. p.-

And good roe containers ... p.-

Totally agree with both statements. It's the same everywhere there are steelhead on Lake Ontario right now. They all just suddenly showed up and are assaulting the dams en masse. I think by the end of next week, most of them will be up & the per-day count will be down to a few dozen. Also, it's such an early run that most of these fish - feast your eyes on them now because you won't be feasting on the fish later - will be long gone by April 28th. This will at least keep most of them out of the smoking baskets of opening day frenzy - which is good! (as long as we don't get a scorching, dry summer... ) See how dark already? Go 'bows! p.-

No argument here. As you can see in the pics above, the last four or five shots are from an old point & shoot camera - and I mean old, circa 2002, 3.2 megapixels. Like you said, P&S cameras have come a long, long way, but even the old ones can deliver beautiful photography! What a DSLR allows you to do, beyond a regular point and shoot, is have absolute control over pretty much everything - focal length, ISO, shutter speed, etc... And the CCD is bigger, and therefore a lot more sensitive (in general). Not that you don't get similar control with P&S cams, but the range of control is not as wide. (Although I think that the Canon S3 now comes with the same CCD as a DSLR... but it's over 450$) Mine didn't cost 2000.00 by the way; they've come way down in price over the years. $550+tx brand new and with the stock lens (18 to 55mm). To me, with twins who are now 6 and too many fuzzy pictures to count, the extra $250 was a no brainer - not to mention the fact that (yea though thou shalt not take it fishing ) when I do get to take nature pics, they now turn out better than ever for me.

Don't listen to Bill - he means well, but if you give yourself time to learn about these things, his honest concern for saving you money will take a back seat . DSLR stands for Digital Single Lens Reflex. They tend to have a larger sensor (for image capture) and better (removable and interchangeable) lenses than typical "point and shoot" cameras. If you see a camera that's big and looks heavy, it's probably a DSLR. DSLR also stands for "expensive." Mine is a Canon T2i and there is very little chance I take those pics with a regular camera, just because the DSLR allows you to capture the picture when the fish is still mid-air - and because the lens is better than in a typical point and shoot, I don't need to zoom a lot. I can just crop my pictures & get exactly what I want. Try it with a regular point & shoot camera, as Bill suggests: you'll get a nice shot of running water, and that's about it - unless you sit there and shoot, shoot, shoot, shoot - indiscriminately, until you fill up your memory card You know what I did to educate myself? I just went to youtube & entered "DSLR tutorial." You won't believe the number of useful links that come up If I'm not using the DSLR, I use my old (now decrepit) Minolta Z1. You basically can't crop with this camera, but you can certainly take nice pictures, such as the following: and my personal favourite PM me if you need more p.-

Well, it's that time of year again . Visited one of the local dams this week and got a treat. Hundreds of 'bows were making their way up river to their spawning grounds. Even though this happens every year, I never get tired of watching it! A DSLR is a great tool for taking pics like these, because you can crop so much out and still not lose any quality! p.-

Nice crotch shot in the first pic! But yeah, they're dropping already. Not surprising, in view of the almost complete absence of that thing called.... what was it again? ... oh yeah. WINTER! p.-

Thanks for asking . Actually, no. Those were taken with a Canon SX120. It's been a good camera, and takes really sharp pictures; but it struggles with light intensity, I find. When the sun is high, I find that it takes excellent pictures; but if light is in any way ambiguous, you almost need to have an engineering degree to get them to come out ok. These (from fish I caught this morning, and under unusual lighting conditions) were taken with the Minolta. It doesn't have quite the sharpness, but man does it get the lighting right. If you can find a used one kicking around on Kijiji, I suggest giving it a go; after all it was a 500$+ camera in its day. (note this that this one is a drop back..... ... already here!) This one really illustrates my point. The sun was quite bright at this point & shining almost directly from the belly of the fish - and yet the colors are intact. Look at the tail! It's really clear and in very good detail. THIS picture, on the other hand, was taken yesterday with a Canon T2i... which I might add is not sanctioned to participate in any fishing excursions. Apparently my marital associate feels that my penchant for dunking cameras should not be extended to any brand new DSLR's... in fact, a totally understandable position in view of the circumstances. Still, if we take a walk as a family to check out the local dam... that's not really taking it fishing, is it? I didn't have an ultra zoom on this. 18.1 megapixels means you can crop to heart's content! p.-

I couldn't agree more. p.-

If you voted for 'em, don't complain! This aspect - and others - of the current regime were pointed out about them at elections time again and again, so it should come as no surprise. That's not all they're up to either! p.-

Allow me to add to the delirium - here are a couple I picked up with my new toy this afternoon. I knew this morning that I should've gone out with something other than a camera, but that's the way the marital ball bounces! cheers, p.-

No man! Although they're nice guys, I was solo. I met one of them last fall on another trib - basically introduced myself because I could hear him speaking our dialect - and he and his buddy happened to be in "my" spot this past Friday. They very cordially invited me to share the drift, though I did so most ineffectually. When I changed up, I went without them and - as luck would have it - this time I had it all to myself. Only me, and scores of hungry chromers. God's repayment for all the crap he's been putting me through lately p.-

Missed you guys by about an hour - we did more of the same to finish off. Still, if there was a day to be out & not worry too much about production, this was it! p.-

There's always lots of that kind of chacha, fox-trot, chromer-waltz going on in those parts, especially on warm sunny weekends at this time of year... p.-

So it's very similar to border customs. Going there is no problem, it's always coming back that's the headache.

lol! that belongs to a guy I met out there - he's from Quebec & had heard rumors, and usually fishes Shwacreek at least once when he comes down, so... better safe than sorry! Still, that little bit of chrome he caught was worth a pic or two. hopefully my family climate holds steady, bud. If so, we'll definitely be sharing some river together for a few hours anyway p.-

sweet! Can't wait to get a gander at it soon!

Just a quick hello, as I haven't been on very often recently. Because of a thing called To hell with work! Anyway, I finally managed to snare a little bit of time off from everything and went looking for some steelhead. The first few hours were that typical blend of hope, dashed by monotony, invigorated momentarily by some sign of fish (either one surfacing or that one guy catching yet another), then dashed again by more monotony. Finally, I changed things up and after lunch was glad to find a spot that I could have all to myself. Within a few drifts, I knew I was going to have a good afternoon - in fact, it was stellar! It was a great day altogether as, even though I had to leave early (around 2:45pm), the reason was so that I could watch (and assistant coach) one of my 6 year olds play goalie in his minor tyke playoffs. He's pretty good at it and makes his pappy proud! Just a couple of pics from yesterday's glories: And the piece de resistance... A nice big hen, swimming free! Thanks for reading p.-

MIKE! DID YOU BRING SOME CIGARS FOR ME??? NO???!?! Ha! But maybe you'll accept one the next time I offer Dude, I took a long shot and googled "fishing grouper in cuba," and I came up with this - among other things: http://fishing.solwayscuba.com According to the chart at the bottom, it may have been a red grouper. But I also ran into this, on another forum, that talks about yellowfin grouper and it seems even more likely, especially since it hints at big variations in colour: http://www.tribenwater.com/forums/tribenwater-marine-field-guide/199-know-your-groupers.html#post442 Beauty fish, regardless! p.-

I think Mike was referring to the Spring season. Right now the forks are pretty quiet, relative to what happens S of Norval in the Spring. This is a great debate and one that kind of signifies where we're at as a community that takes conservation seriously. We all have ideas on what "conservation" means - to some it's allowing diversity the full run of the river system; to others it's conserving the environment in its current state. Even though I'm definitely a proponent of more Steelhead more of the time, I tend to agree that the proposal won't fly, not just because the North End fly fishers are more influential but also because if there should be harm done ... how could it be reversed? I think that this will be the big conundrum for the MNR. Maybe I missed a contingency plan in the proposal? (If not, why not give the idea a go on the Humber, first? More of a long term project, then, but you'd end up with 2 watersheds for the price of 1). More stocking below Norval or Streetsville are good ideas, even though - as Billy said - not really a great way to promote quality over quantity. But it's a decent solution for keeping the segregation that currently exists, at once giving the forks fishers peace and the lower river rippers more to rip . The irony of course is that a good number of fish have been lifted into tribs above Norval for a while now with little or no negative impact on other species - so the argument becomes one that is not so much about fish anymore, but about people. The rivershed belongs to everybody. And, though I live to see all dams smashed and torn down, is it for the best in all cases, for everyone involved? I have to admit that I'm torn on this one! p.-

"Ottawa Senators" ... who cheers for them anyway? Unless you're from Kanata - because that's really where they play, not Ottawa - you're either a disgruntled Leafs or Habs fan, or you just like the little roman logo on their chests cause it's so cute. Either way, you're like an ex-girlfriend after a bad break up. You want the house, the dog, the car and for good measure you're also after the rods, the tackle, the bullets and the guns. You want the couch and the king-sized bed. And you want the naked pictures of yourself back. Bottom line: you're not a true fan. ESPECIALLY, if you live in Toronto. Also, how many playoff series have the Sens won against the Leafs... hmmm... what IS the stat for that??? uh.... ZERO! Put THAT in your pipe and schmoke it. p.-