Spiel

Fishing for cash January 26, 2010 / www.barrysbaythisweek.com Whenever you drive by a lake in or around Barry's Bay, one can't help but notice the many fish huts that dot the ice surface. And why not? The good people of the area thoroughly enjoy ice fishing – wetting a line in the middle of a frozen ice sheet on a brisk winter's day, sitting beside a pot-bellied stove with a thermos of tea boiling on top and that famous ice hole in the middle of the floor boards. One patiently sits by, ever watchful for that rod to jerk downward and hopeful it's a big one that grabbed the bait. Well, now you can make it really worthwhile. The Timberfest committee has tagged two fish and if caught during the derby hours, Friday, Feb 12 at 6 p.m. to Sunday, Feb. 14 at 3 p.m., each fish is worth $500 – Go for both and win $1000. In addition, even if you don't land a tagged fish, prizes of $100 each will be paid out for the largest pike, the largest trout and the largest pickerel. The derby will run on 3 different lakes: Kamaniskeg, Bark or Aylen. However, the tagged fish were only released into Kamaniskeg. All other fish caught and reported at the weigh-in on Sunday by 3 p.m. at Erika's Bait Shop on Lakeshore Drive are eligible for other prizes – more than 30 and growing. It only costs $10 per person plus button to register and kids under 14 are free. Registration is held at either Palubiski's Variety on Opeongo Line or at Erika's Bait Shop. So leave the boat at home, jump into the half-ton or car, drive to your favourite fishing spot, drop a line and see what happens. It could be your lucky day! The Farmer's Almanac claims the middle of February are great fishing days. Go for it!

Exactly.

Sweet, good job Tony and Aaron. I have not iced a whitie or laker since you and I were out with Don McCaw Aaron, mind you that was also the last time I went.

Over 30 years of rotating shifts for me, days, afternoons and nights. Then came the 12 hour shifts about 10 years ago, flip from nights to days and back again every week. That's tiring! As I get older I like the nights less and less but the 12 hour shifts do allow for more time off which is good. Don't think I'd ever want to go back to an 8 hour, 3 shift pattern.

Deadly fish virus now found in all Great Lakes A deadly fish virus - viral hemorrhagic septicemia virus - first discovered in the Northeast in 2005, has been found for the first time in Lake Superior. The virus is now in all of the Great Lakes. January 27, 2010 / Cornell University This walleye was infected with the viral hemorrhagic septicemia virus. Cornell researchers report that fish from Lake Superior have been found to be infected with the virus, which means that it has now spread to all of the Great Lakes. A deadly fish virus that was first discovered in the Northeast in 2005 has been found for the first time in fish from Lake Superior, report Cornell researchers. That means that the virus has now been documented in all of the Great Lakes. The viral hemorrhagic septicemia virus (VHSV), which causes fatal anemia and hemorrhaging in many fish species, poses no threat to humans, said Paul Bowser, professor of aquatic animal medicine at Cornell's College of Veterinary Medicine. Bowser and colleagues recently tested 874 fish from seven sites in Lake Superior in collaboration with the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Western Fisheries Research Center in Seattle. Fish from Paradise and Skanee in Michigan and St. Louis Bay and Superior Bay in Wisconsin tested positive. Some of the results have been corroborated by other laboratories; others have tests still under way. The virus, which has been identified in 28 freshwater fish species in the Great Lakes watershed, has reached epidemic proportions in the Great Lakes and threatens New York's sport-fishing industry, said Bowser, estimated to contribute some $1.4 billion annually to New York's economy. "People come from all over the eastern United States to fish the Great Lakes," said Bowser, noting that the virus has also been found in a few inland waters as well, including lakes, streams and a family-owned earthen pond. "The economy of many of these areas ebbs and flows with the season and perceived value of outdoor recreational opportunities. The value of these opportunities is dependent on how successful we are at managing the health of wild fish. On a worldwide basis, VHSV is considered one of the most serious pathogens of fish, because it kills so many fish, is not treatable and infects a broad range of fish species." In 2008 the U.S. Department of Agriculture issued a federal order preventing transport of the 28 species within the Great Lakes watershed, including Lake Superior, to limit the spread of this viral pathogen. As a result, the new findings will not lead to additional regulatory actions, according to authorities. While no significant fish mortality due to VHSV was observed in 2008 and 2009, "It is important to note that there are still fish harboring VHSV; essentially the infection proceeds even though no mortalities are being observed," said Bowser. "This is important because it suggests that these infected fish may serve as a reservoir for the virus in the Great Lakes ecosystem. While we don't fully understand the lack of recent mortality, the potential presence or absence of stressors on the fish may be playing a role."

What discovery of Asian carp DNA in Lake Michigan means January 21, 2010 By Jim Harger / The Grand Rapids Press View infographic Asian carp jump out of the water after being disturbed by the sounds of passing boats in the Illinois River in December. / AP File Photo Call it "CSI: Lake Michigan." Forensic testing of Chicago's shipping channels have spawned new fears Asian carp are invading the Great Lakes. But scientists say the DNA evidence gleaned from the tests also may be the early warning they need to stop the voracious fish from staging a full-scale takeover in the Great Lakes. View infographicThis week, federal officials announced a sample taken from Calumet Harbor in Lake Michigan last Friday contained "environmental DNA" they can trace to an Asian carp. Other samples collected in the past eight months found Asian carp DNA throughout the network of manmade channels and re-routed streams that link the Illinois River and Lake Michigan. They have not found the fish, but researchers say the presence of environmental DNA probably means they are in the water. "The best human analogy is the DNA you might find in dandruff, on a hair follicle, in saliva, or in feces or urine," said Lindsay Chadderton, an aquatic ecologist from New Zealand. He is on a four-man team conducting the tests from laboratories at the University of Notre Dame in South Bend, Ind. "The DNA from fish could come attached to scales, or mucus or shed from gills or the mouth area," said Chadderton, who is employed by The Nature Conservancy, a non-profit environmental group that has partnered with Notre Dame's Center for Aquatic Conservation and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. "The beauty of water is that those cells stay up in suspension," said Chadderton, whose team has collected more than 700 water samples in the manmade waterways and channels that link the Illinois River and Lake Michigan. After collecting the samples, the team filters out the sediment and uses chemical markers to identify DNA that is specific to the Asian carp. It takes about two days to get the results, Chadderton said. Without the DNA evidence, it would be much harder to know the invasive species had arrived, according to Duane Chapman, a research biologist and expert on Asian carp. "These fish are remarkably cryptic," said Chapman, who is with the U.S. Geological Survey in Columbia, Mo. "They are very sensitive to nets and boats. They are not caught by accident by guys with rods and reels." By the time Asian carp make themselves known, they tend to be breeding and well-established, he said. "It's typical for a species to putter along at a barely noticeable level for several generations," Chapman said. "But when you get the density high enough, you are definitely going to start noticing them." If Asian carp are established in the Great Lakes, experts fear they could devastate the region's $7 billion sports fishing industry. Still, Chapman said it's not certain if Asian carp would take over the Great Lakes if they get in. The fish need long rivers to spawn, and some lakes may not offer enough plankton on which to feed, he said. Currently, two Asian carp species -- the bighead and silver -- dominate the fish population in parts of the Mississippi, Missouri and Illinois river basins and are showing up in the Ohio River basin, Chapman said. Silver and bighead carp feed voraciously on plant and animal plankton, robbing other fish species of food supply. They can grow to more than 100 pounds. Silver carp are known for leaping out of the water when they are disturbed by power boats or electric shocks. They entered the Mississippi River in the 1970s or 1980s when they escaped from flooded fish farms in Arkansas. The farming operations imported the fish from China in the early 1970s to clean their ponds of algae. Chadderton's team began testing for Asian carp in Chicago's waterways last summer after it was feared electric barriers built to keep them out of the Great Lakes had failed or were breached during flooding on the Calumet River. Researchers found their first DNA sample of Asian carp on Nov. 17. Chicago's Calumet River system is the primary link between the carp-infested Mississippi River basin and the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Seaway, which leads to the Atlantic Ocean. The discovery of Asian carp DNA above the Calumet River's locks and electric barriers triggered several legal and political developments. Michigan Attorney General Mike Cox asked the U.S. Supreme Court to reopen the 80-year-old Supreme Court case that allowed Illinois to create the waterways and channels. The High Court on Tuesday rejected Cox's attempt to close the waterways' locks on an emergency basis, but left open his request to reopen the case. Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm and Wisconsin Gov. Jim Doyle, both Democrats, have lobbied President Barack Obama to host a summit on the Asian carp. They want to persuade his administration to take action in his hometown, despite local shipping and boating pressure to keep the locks open. The White House Council on Environmental Quality announced Wednesday it wants to hold such a gathering early next month. Meanwhile, U.S. Rep. Dave Camp, R-Midland, introduced legislation Wednesday to immediately halt potential entry of the carp into the Great Lakes. The Close All Routes and Prevent Asian Carp Today (or CARP ACT) would direct the Army Corps to close the O'Brien Lock and Dam and Chicago Controlling Works until a controlled-lock strategy is reached. It also calls for additional barriers to be put up in nearby waterways to keep the carp from getting into Lake Michigan. Despite the DNA tests, federal officials and scientists say it is too early to conclude the battle against the Asian carp has been lost. "We feel confident that despite this new information, we can still win this fight," said Gen. John Peabody, of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, during Tuesday's announcement DNA had been found in Calumet Harbor. He said they do not know how the DNA got into Lake Michigan, but added they are not ready to close the locks -- though with the Asian carp could swim toward Lake Michigan. The DNA could have come from Asian carp that got past the barriers during a 2008 flood, it could have come from ballast water dumped by ships that were in the Illinois River or could be from individuals who caught Asian carp elsewhere and dumped the waste after cleaning the fish, he said. "We are taking it as an early warning that it may be live carp," Peabody said. He said the Army Corps will conduct more tests with netting and electric shocking to see if they can find any Asian carp, dead or alive. Meanwhile, the Notre Dame-based team will triple its capacity to analyze water samples and conduct sampling beyond the Chicago water system into Lake Michigan, Peabody said. -- The Associated Press contributed to this story.

MNR vessels being built in Wheatley January 23, 2010 PAT BAILEY, QMI AGENCY / www.chathamdailynews.ca While many companies are feeling the effects of the economic downturn, Hike Metal is abuzz with work on its latest project -a $4.35-million contract for two new vessels for the Ministry of Natural Resources. Thursday, Hike Metal owner Andy Stanton showed off the works in progress. One of the vessels is nearing the stage where it can be primed and moved outdoors; the other is still in its infancy. Stanton said the two new 20-metre vessels, constructed of 40 tons of steel with Caterpillar diesel 340-horsepower engines, will translate into about 15,000 in man hours for his employees, as well as sub-contractors. And for the MNR, it means they will have their first two vessels designed and built to their specifications to handle fisheries' assessment and ecosystem monitoring on Lake Huron and Lake Ontario, as well as meeting Transport Canada's safety standards. The three vessels in the current fleet are old fishing tugs adapted for their use, said John Cooper of the Great Lakes Branch of the MNR. He said the new vessels, which will be painted green and white, will allow a crew of two to six people to conduct their fisheries work, including gill netting, trawling and nighttime hydroacoustic work. Cooper said they will do assessments on specific species, such as salmon, lake trout, walleye and whitefish for ecosystem monitoring and commercial and sport fishing fisheries' management. With commercial fishing accounting for $200 million a year and sport fishing bringing in $450 million a year, Cooper said it is important to continue to monitor the changes within the ecosystems annually. And Cooper said with the completion of the two newest vessels, i t will mean the MNR will have at least one vessel on each of the Great Lakes. Especially import a nt, s a i d Cooper, is that Ontario will now have its own vessels designed specifically for such tasks. Cooper said previously they have had to rely on the use of U.S. equipment to aid in their assessments. Cooper said the vessels are expected to be completed and in the water this summer, undergoing extensive sea trials-and ready for use in the spring of 2011. Stanton said the tender was awarded a year ago and work began on the first vessel at the end of March. Tony Thompson, naval architect and president of EYE Marine Consultants of Dartmouth, NS, said he began work designing these vessels in 2004. He said the project was then shelved. In 2008, he said the project was put back on the table so he did some fine tuning and updating on the plans he had begun four years earlier. Thompson said there were definite advantages of awarding the tender to Hike Metal, over the two competing bids. "Hike Metal has probably built more fishing tugs than anyone out there," he said. "They know what works." "It's tremendously beneficial to work with experienced builders," he added. While they are similar to fishing tugs in many respects, Thompson said the greatest difference is in stability. And, he said, by awarding the project to a company so knowledgeable in the construction of fishing tugs it has helped them overcome some of the challenges they have faced. For Stanton, it is one more type of vessel in his growing portfolio that has helped establish the Wheatley-based firm as one of the premier companies of its kind in North America.

Wintertime on Steelhead Alley Jan. 24, 2010 Eric Sharp / www.freep.com Video ROCKY RIVER, Ohio -- They call it Steelhead Alley, a 200-mile stretch of Lake Erie shoreline between the Vermilion River in Ohio and Cattaraugus Creek in New York, where a dozen hookups with the big rainbows is a slow day and 50-fish days are commonplace. This proves to be a slow day. The last time I fished Ohio steelhead streams with guide Jim Chamberlin of Monroe was in early spring, when Little Manistee strain fish from Michigan hatcheries were pouring into the Vermilion River and hitting about anything you offered them. This day Chamberlin and two friends, Jim Arnovitz and Gary Lee from Temperance, were fishing a warm-water discharge at a power plant in Avon Lake, with huge ice floes mounded up at the harbor entrance 100 yards away. But as they bounced along the bottom and drifted jigs below a float, the bites were few and far between. Arnovitz, who fishes these Ohio streams at least once a week, has already announced that even a dozen hookups would be very disappointing. On a trip in December to the Conneaut River about 50 miles to the east, he and another angler jumped more than 80 fish in one day. "This is the slowest I've ever seen it," he said. "That's why I love the Conneaut. We always do well there." Unfortunately, on this day the Conneaut was locked up solid with ice, and Chamberlin decided to start at the power plant where he had landed 19 fish the previous day. While we aren't doing much, an angler in a belly boat is fishing right up against the outflow from the power plant, a place 100 yards away that wading anglers can't reach. I see him land seven fish in less an hour, and another shore angler tells me he saw the man catch and release at least 10 before that. "A lot of people have been bringing kayaks to fish this. Now I know why," Chamberlin said. "The fish that were in here might have moved up to that deep pool. It's as far up as they can get." Fishing along Steelhead Alley follows a predictable seasonal pattern. The fish first show up in big numbers by early October in western New York streams like the legendary Cattaraugus Creek, and they are mostly steelhead raised from eggs obtained from New York's Salmon River on Lake Ontario. By the end of October, steelhead raised from eggs collected on Trout Run and Godfrey Run in Pennsylvania, which plants more than a million steelhead each year, are pouring into every creek and ditch along that state's 40-mile stretch of Lake Erie shoreline. Pennsylvania tributaries like the Elk River get so many fish it looks as if you could walk on them. But those rivers also see the heaviest fishing pressure, because they are a one-day trip for anglers from cities like Pittsburgh, Buffalo and Cleveland. Rivers in eastern Ohio like the Conneaut, Rocky and Grand start seeing bigger runs in November, mostly Pennsylvania fish that stray west looking for spawning sites. That bite continues strong into March, when big runs of Little Manistee strain steelhead from Michigan start pouring into rivers as far west as the Vermilion, at 130 miles the closest to Detroit. Chamberlin said the weather is the primary factor in determining where to fish in winter. "The Vermilion can be great, but it's locked solid with ice right now, while for some reason the Rocky is open," he said as he drove 30 minutes from the power plant at Avon Lake to the Rocky River. "I was thinking about going to the Conneaut, but a friend told me that although some of the really good holes on the upper river are open, most of the lower river is so blocked with ice that the fish can't even get up. "You need to have a lot of places where you can fish, depending on the ice and how high the water is, and be willing to move to two or three or four different rivers during the day." Things are still slow on the Rocky, but the anglers get a few bites, and the three steelhead they land are "chromers," fish fresh from the lake whose sides gleam like a mirror in the January sunshine. Tim Gleason, from nearby Parma, Ohio, fishes Cleveland-area streams a dozen times a month, and he wishes that the state would plant fewer of the Little Manistee strain fish (now about 400,000 a year in five rivers) and more of the London strain fish that start to come into the rivers in November He said that last year he caught 300 steelhead December through February, "but this year I've only caught 45 so far. Since they've gone to all Manistee strain, we just aren't seeing the numbers we used to." What's very surprising is that even though this river is only 11 miles from downtown Cleveland, there are only a handful of other anglers at any point, and in a couple of places we're the only fishermen in sight. "It can get crowded here sometimes, but usually you don't have any trouble finding a place to fish," Chamberlin said. "Ohio has done a great job of providing access to the steelhead streams. They've bought a lot of land to let fishermen get to the water. "That's one of the problems in Pennsylvania. They only have a few miles of shoreline, and most of the streams run through private land. Now farmers there are leasing their (fishing right) to people who can afford to pay $10,000 a year. I don't blame the farmers, but it makes it tough for everybody else."

Okay I was gonna hold off on posting anymore but I just finished these two and had to share. I think they may be the most realistic flies I've tied to date. Made some changes from the last Brown Stonefly and added in the antennae, a bead head and some brown peacock herl in the thorax to simulate the gills. I'm thinking the trout, any trout would love 'em. For size reference the bodies are about 7/8ths of an inch long.

Ganaraska Flood Advisory Cancellation 01/26/10

Not as well as I hoped to being doing at this point Jacques. I may have under estimated my ability to recover. Thank you for asking.

Thanks Phil, you're also an artist of sorts. Everybody has to be good at something besides drinking beer. Buy them, no but I might be able to get a few out to you before opener. I may be at the Fishing Show but not to sell anything, strictly buying, they'll have beer right? Thanks Mike. I hear you, epoxy can be messy. I have been playing with Swiss Straw for wing casings and legs recently as seen here.... http://www.ofncommunity.com/forums/index.p...t=0#entry423385 Ice fishing is good but you need to get back to the vise, tonight and tomorrow night and....! The end of April will be here before you know it.

Not just any "Ol Milwaki" he prefers a warm Ol Milwaki.

Yeah, I tried (unsuccessfully I guess) to make that point previously in this thread.

Looks good Bruce. I too spent a better part of the day (after fly tying) in the kitchen making a big, very big pot of homemade turkey soup.

You could have lost that "Golden" Jacques and you'd still be having a better ice season than me. However you didn't and that obviously made for a fine meal.

Yeah we should all have the 2 boat dilemma. I have a 17" tiller, love it. Lots of floor space for 2 or 3 anglers.

Thanks again everyone. It is fun passing the time away trying to create something realisitc but for the most part these are just too time consuming to fill my fly boxes with. Well maybe my boxes but that's it. No completely different Dan. On the previous fly the antennae and bead are assembled first then attached to the jig hook like so.... On this one I worked from the back forward using a regular fly hook. But if I do another I'll build the antennae in first then procede to work from the back forward. Thanks Doug but I have seen some truly amazing flies out there. Part of the enjoyment with this is that there's always room to improve ones skills, it's addictive. Ron and Wayne, yes I could. Do you think I should. Too late for that Bernie.... $$$$$$$

You're spoiled, you're both spoiled. I'm sorry that the weather didn't cooperate for Leah's sake. Perhaps a trip to Arizona to visit 2R's is in order. They probably just don't understand that the fuselage generates no lift.

Very, very nice. Are you using an airbrush Bushart?

Would you like me to make some barbless ones Roy? I wonder if there is a union for fly tyers. Thank you Jacques, muchly appreciated. The wings cases I made using the mid back feathers from a ringneck pheasant. I applied a thin coat of 5 minute epoxy to the top and bottom sides before trimming to size and shape.

I'll take a mess a lakers that size anytime and the walleye aren't bad either. Oh and I'd say that looks more like an 18.5 gallon drum.

First off I hope I'm not boring you guys with these? I've been tying quite a few flies, mostly on jigs heads and jig hooks and I could post dozens of pictures but for the most part they're nothing special. But inspired by douG's comment on my last stonefly post (I know he was kidding) I tried for something more detailed on a regular fly hook and thought I'd share the results. I kind of messed up by not leaving myself enough room to work in the antennae, I'll get 'em next time.

MNR says reorganization won't affect services January 22, 2010 www.nugget.ca Organizational changes at the Ministry of Natural Resources won't affect services in North Bay, a spokeswoman told The Nugget Thursday. The Ontario Federation of Anglers and Hunters issued a media release this week stating it is reserving judgment on "unprecedented realignment" of several divisions. It said the Natural Resources Management Division, which houses the fish and wildlife branch, has been eliminated with fish and wildlife responsibilities divided between two new divisions, policy and provincial services. Jolanta Kowalski, senior media relations officer at the MNR, said all offices remain open and will continue to provide the same range of services. "There will be no local impacts. There will no job cuts or relocations," Kowalski said in an e-mail. "Some staff may report to a different manager or see the name of their branch or division change but their duties won't change." OFAH executive director Mike Reader said it is "regrettable that the one branch anglers and hunters most identified with has been splintered. Obviously we are concerned about the marginalization of fish and wildlife, and by extension, fishing and hunting." Kowalski said the ministry still has an MNR Fish and Wildlife Services Branch, which includes functions such as Great Lakes management, fish culture and client services. "Wildlife and fisheries policy will be handled in the new policy division. This internal realignment will give us a stronger ability to develop and deliver policy, modernize our processes and better co-ordinate the services and operations we provide the public," she said.

Thanks guys, that's some pretty high praise. I must admit I'm also pretty good at "beercap twisting." It's not a long list Jon but I do have several rods to deal with before I take on any new orders. Perhaps we could talk further about it in late spring. LOL....A 10" version uh, not sure I could get the appropriate hook into the vise.