Spiel

Power Pro Downrigger Line

....Those are indeed some brutes, very nice.

I concur!

.....Remember when all fishin lines (monofilaments) were designed with invisibility in mind....LOL You know Garry I saw on the net somewhere that Power Pro now offers downrigger line. I'm thinking it'll be a fantastic replacement for braided wire.

.....While I can certainly empathize with his frustrations GCD you are correct that he'll find few or no litter bugs here. I'm also certain he didn't mean to imply there was.

....Wow, great stuff and I have viewed some of those views. Congratulations to you and Andrea on the marriage. Be nice to have a second (third, fourth, fifth....etc) honeymoon vacation back that way.

....You've killed me Dan. I'm happy thought that the three of yous managed to make it work. Next year can't come soon enough, thanks for the great pictures.

....Sheeeesh, I'll bet it's easy to manage a private board with a hundred or so members.

....For me the easiest method is live release. Never did aquire a taste for pan brookies.

....A little respect please. Christ is always, always spelled with a capital "C". End of rant.

Lake level report watered-down, says 'Baykeeper' SHAWN GIILCK / www.theenterprisebulletin.com Georgian Baykeeper Mary Muter said she isn't happy with a watered-down report on the Lake Huron- Georgian Bay basin unveiled last week. Muter is the vice-president of the Georgian Bay Association. She also chairs its environmental committee and has been one of the most outspoken advocates of addressing the plunging water levels in Georgian Bay. She attended a meeting in Collingwood last week where the preliminary reports of a bi-national scientific commission studying the lakes were unveiled. Muter said she left the meeting unimpressed and called the report a "disappointment." The International Upper Great Lakes Study, which began in March 2007, is looking into whether dredging in the St. Clair River in 1962 is contributing to low levels in the upper Great Lakes today. Exactly why water levels on the northern Great Lakes have been dropping remains a mystery according to the preliminary findings of the commission. "The public has a right to expect answers after 18 months of working with $16 or $17 million of public funds," she said. "I think what people wanted were a list of what projects were underway, who's been paid and what the results are. "What are the findings? The accountability is just not there." Evaporation during the winter months due to a lack of ice cover is one of the major culprits, the report suggested, rather than the suspicion that lake levels are pouring out through the St. Clair River. Muter scoffed at that. Lake Superior levels are on the rise, she said, noting it's been subject to nearly identical evaporation rates in recent years. That's come from data being tracked by the association. In June, the Georgian Bay area received more rainfall than around Lake Superior, she added. "We've got half the rising water levels of Lake Superior," Muter said. "It all points to a problem in the St. Clair River. To blame it on climate factors is just unacceptable." Muter said the solution lies in the preparation of a "three-dimensional model" of Lake Huron and Georgian Bay, particularly at the St. Clair River, something the current study has resisted doing. She added the current study has also tried to downplay, if not outright ignore, a study commissioned by the association that laid the finger of blame for the dropping levels on the depth of a shipping channel in the St. Clair River. "We knew from those findings that a full three-dimensional model is needed,"Muter said. "But we also knew that it would cost $400,000 to $500,000, not the $1 or $2 million they're trying to tell us that it would cost. "Their excuses just don't stand up at all." Muter said she didn't expect better results from the final report due next year. "They've had advice from other scientists that aren't working on the study that they need to undertake three-dimensional modelling. It's just not adequate work that they are doing." Muter said the association has been contacted by people in the Collingwood area asking for the price of making the model, and offering to help pay for it. "I don't think we should have to do that," she said. "I think absolutely that this is work they should be undertaking. I think it would be sad if Canadian citizens had to take over and spend their own money. "I'm not saying that's what we're going to do. In the end it may be that the politicians might have to push them to do the right thing here. "We're going to stay on this," she said. "We know something needs to be done. "Exactly what or how we don't know yet." Related Story: No one reason for lower lake levels

European Salmon numbers grow in wake of net ban August 18, 2008 / www.great-lakes.org The European driftnet ban introduced on January 1st 2008 in the Baltic Sea has paid off after only six months. European anglers report more salmon have returned to the rivers and anglers have already begun reporting unusually large catches. The upstream migration of salmon took place in the rivers around the Baltic Sea in June and sources report more salmon numbers present than there has been for a number of years. "The ban has a very positive effect on the return of spawning salmon from the Baltic Sea into the rivers. It is likely that weare talking about 100,000 more salmon compared to last year," says Hakan Carlstrand, an expert from the Swedish national sportfishing organization "Sportfiskarna" and a member of the European Anglers Alliance (EAA). In previous years, around 300,000 salmon have been caught annually – around half of which caught by driftnetting. Swedish rivers could expect to see the return of an additional 50,000 to 100,000 salmon compared to past years numbers if the ban continues to work to its full potential.

Leamington commercial fisher fined $2320 August 18, 2008 / www.great-lakes.org A Lake Erie commercial fishing boat captain has been fined $2,320 for breaking a number of fishing violations. Emilio Mauricio, 48, of Leamington, captain of the commercial fishing vessel "MI-MARK", pleaded guilty and was fined $2,320 for four fishing violations. These included failing to submit an accurate and complete daily catch report to the Ministry of Natural Resources, fishing outside of his permitted fishing grounds and allowing approximately 200 lbs. of yellow perch to spoil and become unsuitable for human consumption. Court was told that on August 21, 2007, conservation officers investigated an alleged incident of inaccurate information being reported on a daily catch report involving the commercial fishing vessel "MI-MARK" while it was fishing out of the port of Erieau, on Lake Erie. Further investigation also determined that the fishing vessel was fishing in Chatham-Kent waters and not Elgin County waters as reported by the captain, and that fish were permitted to spoil. Justice of the Peace Babcock heard the federal charges in the Ontario Court of Justice in Chatham on July 17, 2008 and Justice of the Peace Hurst heard the provincial charges in the Ontario Court of Justice in Chatham on August 13, 2008. To report a natural resources violation, call 1-877-TIPS-MNR (847-7667) toll-free any time or contact your local ministry office during regular business hours. You can also call Crime Stoppers anonymously at 1-800-222-TIPS (8477).

Interesting!

CHECK OF NIAGARA AND HALDIMAND FISHING AREAS FINDS MOST ANGLERS OBEYING THE RULES www.ocoa.ca Most of the anglers checked during a recent enforcement blitz of local fishing hot spots in the Niagara Region and Haldimand County were obeying Ontario's fishing regulations. Ministry of Natural Resources conservation officers conducted a plain-clothes enforcement operation over two weekends between Friday, July 11, and Sunday, July 20, 2008. A team of conservation officers from the Guelph, Aylmer, Aurora, Lake Erie and Lake Ontario offices of the ministry converged on many of the popular fishing areas in the Niagara Region and Haldimand County. Officers were working with information received in 2007 from the TIPS toll-free line and information gathered locally. The conservation officers contacted 430 people during the blitz. A total of 57 charges and 21 warnings were issued for offences related to fishing, including: exceeding the daily catch limit for bass (daily limit is six and daily conservation limit is two) possession and use of gobies as bait - fishing without a licence - fishing with more than one line - failure to produce a fishing licence - trespassing on property for the purpose of fishing - possession of open liquor. The set fines imposed for these offences totalled $9,985.00 For more information on fishing regulations, please consult the 2008-2009 Recreational Fishing Regulations Summary available from licence issuers, ServiceOntario/Government Information Centres, and on the ministry's website at ontario.ca/fishing. To report a natural resources violation, call 1-877-TIPS-MNR (847-7667) toll-free any time or contact your local ministry office during regular business hours. You can also call Crime Stoppers anonymously at 1-800-222-TIPS (8477).

Niagara Region Fishing August 21, 2008 Fishing Line /By Will Elliott / buffalonews.com Lake Erie Wave action often outdoes fishing action on Erie waters. When boaters can get out, deeper water proves most productive. Both walleye and perch seekers find fair numbers over deep drop-offs and suspended sites. Perchers out of Cattaraugus Creek did best at 63-foot depths this past week. Limit catches are rare, but some buckets (coolers) have seen 20-plus catches from the deeps east and west of Cattaraugus Creek. Trollers have bottomed out at depths of 70 feet or more between Cattaraugus Creek and Dunkirk Harbor. Down rigs did as well as side planers and lead-core line rigs. Take along a mixed bag of trolling tricks. One boater swears by harnesses with the freshest of worms (nightcrawlers); another vessel’s crew shows an assortment of body baits (Rapalas, Renoskys, Thundersticks, etc.). Deep-water drifters continue to work walleyes well off the Buffalo and Lackawanna shoreline. Most ’eyes go for spinner rigs bumped along bottom at depths of 40 feet or more. Bass take up feeding depths from near-shore rock structures — as shallow as 13 feet some mornings — to suspended depths where walleyes roam over bottoms more than 100 feet down. Drop-shot rigs work best, but a good jig caster can still have tons of fun with smallies right now. Berkley’s new series of Gulp minnows and crayfish sometimes outfish the live-bait versions. Niagara River Gulp baits also connect on bass in the lower Niagara River. Drifters occasionally hook a walleye, but bass dominate the drifts from Lewiston down to Fort Niagara. Walleye drifters do better with spinner rigs. Lake Ontario The Niagara Bar can be good-to-great from bass bites — when winds settle down and move in from the south or west. Out deeper, kings roam off the Niagara Bar. A salmon, taken near the bar, currently leads the LOC Derby. Olcott Harbor also draws good numbers of incoming kings. Most trollers begin at 55-foot depths and do well running spoon rigs close to bottom at depths of 60 and 70 feet, according to Wes Walker at Slippery Sinker Bait & Tackle in Olcott. Shore anglers and all recreational fishing folk can find a good variety of fish within casting range at either Wilson or Olcott or Point Breeze. Northern pike have begun moving around Olcott as well as Wilson Harbor. Yellow perch have been plentiful, but the bass bite has been best at all three ports. Early morning casters reach brown trout chasing bait into harbor waters. Heavy casting spoons (Little Cleos, Wabblers, etc.) work well. A silver body with either a blue or green side color gets their attention.

....I thought this post was going to be a instructional seminar on lead?

Shades Of The Simpsons! Freak Fish Found In Alberta Lake August 20, 2008 / The Canadian Press Information about a mutated fish caught downstream from Alberta's oilsands region will be sent to a joint government-industry group that monitors the health of rivers and lakes. The 2.5-kilogram goldeye caught last week in Lake Athabasca has two mouths, one beneath the other. Two boys pointed the deformed fish out to Stuart Macmillan, Parks Canada's manager of resource conservation at Wood Buffalo National Park, who studied it before handing it over to the Mikesew First Nation. "We had just pulled up to the dock and some kids came over and said, `Hey, we've got a fish over here with two mouths," Macmillan said Tuesday. "It was really unusual. The fish has an obvious abnormality. I had never seen anything like that myself before. I can't speculate on what might have caused it." Macmillan said Parks Canada has not tested the fish, which was caught outside the park boundary, but he will forward a report on the mutation to Alberta's Regional Aquatics Monitoring Program. RAMP includes Alberta Environment, the federal Department of Fisheries and Oceans, Health Canada, oilsands corporations and aboriginal groups. It was established to identify and address the potential impacts of oilsands development. The two-mouthed fish created a stir at the Keepers of the Water conference on the weekend at Fort Chipewyan, about 600 kilometres northeast of Edmonton. Aboriginal communities downstream of the oilsands have expressed concerns about how industrial development is affecting the animals that they eat and their drinking water. Elders believe pollution is responsible for high cancer rates and other health problems in the region. George Poitras of the Mikesew Cree said he quickly froze the fish and later put it on display for 20 minutes at the conference on a bucket of ice. "It was important for the fish to be displayed at the conference to show people what we have been claiming all along," Poitras said. "People were in disbelief. Here they saw a fish that we suspect is very much linked to tarsands development and contamination of the Athabasca River. Our elders tell us that what happens to the animals and the fish is just a sign of what is going to happen to human life." A federal fisheries official acknowledged the department is a member of RAMP but doesn't get directly involved when mutated fish are reported. Alberta Environment officials and RAMP chairwoman Janice Linehan could not be reached for comment. Health Canada and the Alberta Cancer Board said earlier this year they plan to study cancer rates in the Fort Chipewyan area. Poitras said the Mikesew plan to send the fish to an independent lab for testing. He said the band will not send the fish to RAMP, of which the band is a member, but plans to withdraw from, because it doesn't trust the organization to provide an objective assessment. "It is very heavily represented by industry and government and we feel that it doesn't do any justice as far as accurately representing any data to the community," Poitras said. "This is evidence and we need to ensure that is preserved." According to RAMP, it is normal to occasionally find deformed fish and that physical injuries or increased water temperatures in the egg stage can cause mutations. Abnormalities can include growths or tumours, lesions and missing or additional fins. Two-mouthed fish are not listed on the RAMP website. A two-mouthed trout was caught in Nebraska in 2005 and sparked headlines around the world. Nebraska fisheries officials speculated the deformity was caused by genetic mutation. The angler who caught the two-mouthed trout cut off its head and donated it to Harvard's Museum of Comparative Zoology. The man said he kept the body, which he ate. He later said he wished he had kept the fish intact and had it mounted for posterity.

Cigarette butts biggest scourge along Canada's shorelines August 20, 2008 GREG JOYCE / The Canadian Press VANCOUVER — While the plastic bag is often vilified as the prime polluter of Canada's coast, a nationwide clean-up effort has found that a type of trash many Canadians toss without a second thought is piling up on the country's shorelines. Cigarette butts — by the tens of thousands — are the No. 1 item recovered during the annual TD Great Canadian Shoreline Cleanup. Eric Solomon, vice-president of conservation, research and education, at the Vancouver Aquarium, said few Canadians seem to recognize cigarette butts are trash. “Many people who would never throw, for instance, a plastic bag on the ground, would go ahead and toss a cigarette butt on the ground and step on it and leave it there,” he said. The annual cleanup was initiated by the aquarium more than a decade ago and TD Bank signed on later as a sponsor. A recent survey done in advance of this year's cleanup next month shows only 18 per cent of Canadians believe cigarette butts are the top blight on our shorelines. But during last year's cleanup of shores across the country, volunteers collected well over 270,000 cigarette butts, Mr. Solomon said. That's 21/2 times more than the next most common item, which was food wrappers. Mr. Solomon noted it takes anywhere from five to 15 years for the filters in the butts to break down, providing lots of time for clueless birds, fish and marine mammals to mistake them for food. “Because there's no nutritional value, when an animal eats a cigarette butt or several cigarette butts, they feel full and can actually starve to death,” he said. The results of the shoreline cleanup survey were released Wednesday and indicate that 49 per cent of Canadians believe plastic bags are the major pollutant on shorelines. The annual cleanup is scheduled for Sept. 20-28 at more than 1,000 sites across the country. Last year 50,000 volunteers removed almost 90 tonnes for garbage from streams, rivers, lakes and oceans. This year, organizers are anticipating about 70,000 volunteers will get involved. Matthew Fortier, regional manager of the TD Friends of the Environment Foundation, said volunteers essentially pick up everything that shouldn't be there, including tires and shopping carts. “An antique sewing machine was found last year,” he noted.

....Now that there's what Canadian weekends are all about.