Paulus

Great write-up as usual, Mike. I'm glad you guys had a good time. Gee, I wonder where those "suicidal drop-backs" are going to be....? p.-

Nice fish & great pics as always! p.-

Thanks for sharing, Mike. I always like to see fresh pics of even fresher fish! That water looks pretty good, too. And hey! I think I recognize the handiwork in that male's mouth p.-

The custom with hamsters is to paint them chartreuse, then give them a burial at sea. Condolences. (good luck) p.-

I hope this works... didn't know which brackets to use.p.-

My observations: Blake and Toskala for Gigure: I would do this trade 7 times a week, twice on Sunday. When J.S. was stonewalling the Red Wings 4-0 didn't we all wish we had HIM in our nets? Ian White: I will miss him, for sure. Worst part to lose. Calgary gets: 2 UFA's in Stajan and Hagman. They could be gone at the end of the season. Would YOU trade Dion Phaneuf for that??? Aule: who is he? Any good? Phaneuf: if anyone watched the tape of him on TSN today, during practice... I don't know the last time we had a guy this intense. Maybe that didn't fit so well in Calgary, but the Leafs need a big shot of it. Trade Law #1: who gets the big name in the trade wins. Leafs win the Phaneuf trade. Leafs win the Giguere Trade. Playoffs for the Leafs: 2012. I mean, they won the trades. It's easy to win trades. It's winning games that counts. P.S.: don't blame Kessel for not scoring when he's bieng double and tripple teamed - the Leafs only legitimate threat will be looking kind of lonely out there. Oh yeah... Boston still get's the last laugh. Sorry, Brian. p.-

This is apparently a very old one, but very funny. You kind of have to read it to someone to help you get some of it... It made me laugh because this is what my barber sounds like . Uans opponna taim uas tri berrese, mamma berre, pappa berre e beibe berre. Liva inne contri nire foresta. Naise aus, no mugheggia. Uanne dei Pappa, Mamma e beibe go bice, orie a furghetta locche di doore. Bai enne bai commese Goldilocchese. Sci garra nattinghe tu du batte meiche troble. Sci puscie olle fudde daon di maute, no liva cromme. Denna sci gossa appesterrese enne slipse in olle di beddse. Leise slobbe! Bai enne bai commese omme di tri berrese, alle sannebronne enne send inne scius. Dei garra no fudde, dei garra no beddse. Enne uara dei goine du to Goldilocchese? Tro erre aute inne strit? Colle pulissemenne? Fette cienze! Goldilocchese stei derre tri uicase, itte auta ausenome! Enne giosta bicose dei esche erre tu meiche di beddse, sci sei "Go tu elle" enne runne omme craine tu erre mamma, etellenerre uat sanimabicese di tri berrese uere. Uatsiuse? Uara iu goine du? Go compleine sittiolle? p.-

I see there's a distinct advantage to the long arctic winter lethargy. You've become quite the artist, Dave. Sweeeeet work! p.-

Neat idea. Have you made them out of balsa? I would probably use Urethane over paint, but it seems like it would definitely be applicable in some circumstances. I'm intrigued. I usually just use a hand drill to make my floats. I drill the hole first, then use the same size drill bit with a little bit of masking tape to secure the float onto the drill bit, and shape it with a piece of sandpaper. They are not as pretty as the the store-bought ones, though I often get the hole a little crooked, but that doesn't usually matter too much. p.-

They seem to have Washington's number, for some reason. Did you see Ovie on the Stempniak's short-hander? He looked like he was guiding him into the zone... "here you go sir, allow me." I think that the hellish life-sucking ailment was a wicked dose of "bah, I'm Ovie, I don't back check. Someone else do that for me." I enjoyed the comeback, though

I'm working AND it's too cold . You should do well, though. Good luck & please post what you got! p.-

Ssssssssssassy! p.-

check out this unbiased site. www.steves-digicams.com I would go with the one that has no distortion from the lens (i.e. chromatic aberration). I wish I had that conundrum, because in the end you get a DSLR which is nothing but good, good, good. good luck with your choice! p.-

But where the trough is for the boats is basically what Mike aims for. You can't really read that at the surface, unless the water has a certain clarity - then you can more or less judge by the water's hue. Still, there's a relatively good amount of trial and error involved, even to the day. I've fished a lot of frog water, and in 8' of water I've caught them in less than 3' and more than 6'. The biggest trick is to time your visit with the arrival of fish; otherwise you won't know if you're doing it right. Shackles? 3-some? p.-

Chumming? I'm sorry, I don't get it. Who's chumming with who? Like, Mike is one of my fishing chums... Do the fish like it when we try to be friends with them? Here fishy fishy fishy. I won't hurt you. I just want to be your friend! p.-

Those are all nice pics, except the last one. I'll be seeing too much of that in the not to distant future.... argh! Great post as always, Mike! p.-

people are just suggesting, I'm sure, to save you time and money. But.. I know that tightlines in Pickering has them, as well as Gagnon's in Oshawa. It would surprise me if Angling Specialties didn't have them (and that's a little less of a drive for you). Not sure if there is a way to get a comment from Bill himself (who created those jigs in the first place), as he changed his monicker a long time ago. Hopefully he pm's you. Personally, I like his balsa floats (I wish he made them a bit bigger for Niagara & other large water, though) a lot more than his jigs. I haven't fished with a riverwood jig in a long, long time and I've not missed them. My own "supplier" makes absolutely deadly jigs, that I hugely prefer, and some of them are to my own specs. Again, this is just food for thought. p.-

Very nice fish & excellent pics. Thanks for the report! p.-

Oh my, that was funny. Thanks for that p.-

oops!

Can't resist.... here is a sneak preview of Solo's next post... p.-

The spinning reel is no problem, but a short rod is only advisable on smaller streams where the longer rods basically just can't go. With regards to rods, the Shimano rod is nice, but you could also look at the Fenwick HMX which costs about 40$ more but might have a little more zip to it. I fished with one for years, with only a small daiwa SS on it & was only ever overmatched by ultra fresh fish with too much room to move, on a couple of occasions. Getting the longer rod first will not only allow you to have more control over your drifts, but it will also give you an idea of just how much you like the sport; often, if you start catching more fish, you eventually make more time to get out more often. ... which in turn gets you thinking "hmmmm... maybe I SHOULD get a centrepin..." Finally, the only real advantage that the pin has over the spinning reel (IMO) is the slight trotting, or pulling back, on the float caused by the way it pays out line. It means that you are almost always in direct contact with your float; so when it goes down, you have no slack to reel in, you just set the hook. Some steelhead takes are lightning quick, and reeling up slack just makes you miss fish. Summary: spinning reel is no problem; short rod is a problem (remediate situation with short rod before deciding if you want to get a centrepin) me shut up now p.-

Sweet! In the picture of Joe fighting that last fish, it looks like someone said to him "run Forrest, run!" Great report as always, Mike. p.-

Finally! A report! Will Bly be joining us soon, then? Congrats on the sweet brown, too. p.-

Same fish different view coulda been on its way down (or wintering/recovering), I suppose. Very unlikely that it would be a fresh returning fish, that late in the season, with those colours. I've seen residents that look just like laszlo's and I've seen them green-backed just like the one I showed, in May, chasing steelie eggs way up in the headwaters of the Ganny. There isn't just one colour pattern, imo. But what really matters is that Laz got himself a nice brown. Either way, sweet bonus fish p.-