troutologist

Sold. Towards the start it could be really good!!

The fish are there alright. Ive found a few spots and setups that produce in low clear water. Small baits man, you will have a hard time scaring fish up on big cleos or whatnot. Dammit I miss steelhead fishing. Mike we should get a northshore tour going next year. Ahh well back to the muskie...

Some amazing deer Ben. Been seeing alot of nice racks on the hwy in Ontario the last 3 or 4 weeks.

I would suspect that Lake Ontario tributaries would be your best bet. Pick up a copy of the Ontario regs and check out expanded fishing opportunities, this should let you find the areas on rivers still legal to fish. Also if the river is listed there chances are there is some type of migratory salmonid running in it. No special lisence required beyond the regular one. There are no doubt many opportunities south of the border that may be closer, however others more familliar would be better to speak to this.

Ya they hit gear. And in very large rivers it is sometimes the easiest way to get a cast out to your target. Try experimenting with smaller spinners and spoons. Theres been a couple times I can remember having a very tough day with float and bottom bouncing then picked up 2 or 3 quick on spoons. Whether there was a feeding window or it just took a little flash to lure them, Im not sure.

Looks pretty good Luc. Can't wait to see the videos.

Cool vids for sure. Nice of that one to stick around for you eh. Thats some clear water. Keep em coming

Agreed Paul has hooked a few people I know up as well. I haven't broke a Raven rod yet....though a particular fish on the Manistee did everything in its power.

Agreed, no names or signs...obatanga is too nice a park to have the fishing ruined.

This weekend I found bass associated with reefs and humps. They were not on the top (even of deep reefs) but were off the sides either right at the base of a 25-30ft drop or suspened at around 30-35 feet off more sheer drops. Always were near schools of bait. 3/8oz fin tech zon'r jig and a 3" gulp minnow. A couple of aggressive pop (12") and maybe 10sec of shaking or deadstick got the hits. Had to keep the boat above a group of fish for a few minutes before getting a strike.

Good job, it was undoubtably an early morning if you go up there at that time. Nice fish. In the future when taking a picture of wing and a fish focus more on the fish, by more I mean all on the fish.

When you mention charter boat it seems like you had Great Lakes salmon/trout on your mind?? Have you ever worked as a guide before? Why not try to get on an existing outfit as a mate or something and see if it is something you would like or believe you could do as well or better than a guy currently successful at it. I would think the financial outlay to secure a boat, gear and insurance would be very large. A steady income? Maybe if you are established after a number of years and fish 365 for different species or head south with the boat when the ice comes. Not something I'd bet the farm on personally, as much as I'd like to.

Ran a 4 stroke merc 40 as a guide on great slave. Long hours of constant trolling it never coughed. I'll second the toughness of mercs lower unit, it takes alot to do serious damage. Drifter's comments echo what I have heard many times about the 3 big brands of 4 strokes. Buying my boat, it was between the yammy and merc. Merc won out by about 3 grand....its been great so far and actually runs a little faster than the 75 yamaha on the same boat. Im quite happy with how quiet the 75 is also like the layout of the controls on the big tiller arm. No steering assist and its a breeze to control, even running rapids which require lots of maneuvering. Once the smart craft guages go in to provide the rpm control I should be able to forward troll to around 1.5 and backtroll under 1mph (2.2 and 1.3 GPS right now)

Beauty fish Ben. It seems like the full moon in July I'll be back.

Pronounced in the voice of Fouad from Family Guy: Is funny because there are no oceans or great lakes in praries.

I appreciate that. Can't muster the mettle to go downtown and catch decently sized fish becasue its not remote enough....he eats waa burgers and cries for dinner Ive heard. WD, for someone 160 15lbs is alot of weight to drop in that period. Im all over not going to the doc but you best see ol' sawbones and see whats afoot. Can't chase fish or women when you're on IR.

Nice fish for sure. Hope I can find a couple of those over the next couple of days.

Nice fish Ben. Those were the characters I was looking for! I recongnize some of those spots too! Very cool lake you get to call home. I'll be back next summer or this winter.

Me too John, I tried casting the jerkbait briefly but we didn't give casting a solid try. Thanks again!

Nice Mike. Gotta love those fresh chromers. They are just angry. What type of reel is that?

Friday at work turned out to be a weather network staredown. When they say winds NW 50km, they usually mean 30ish I was hoping....not so much. After work Friday I was packed and set to return to ON in search of the muskies who were less than cooperative at Lac Seul last weekend. Weather in Winterpeg was gale style winds but clear. As we neared the border a full on whiteout decided to make the drive more interesting. As we passed the 3rd plowtruck, I pondered how many times I'd towed a boat around a plow. To further complicate matters, deer were everywhere, why are they in front of my truck on snowcovered roads with no visability and not in some corpse of evergreens bedded down? This vexed me. After celebrating our arrival, and the arrival of a few other groups it was 3am. Prehaps we misjudged when the clocks turn back. Anyhow we headed up the lake armed with coffee baileys and ski goggles for the run up the lake in 4 footers in the tiller. As a side note the new boat is unreal. We trolled, and trolled (and trolled) with only a few pike to show for our credit. Ambient temperatures and the diminutive size of these fish prompted us to release them boatside without breaking out the camera. With eyes glued to the GPS we navigated the minefield home as darkness drew and winds finally subsided. The Yankees were kind enough to delay their start until I returned to watch. Saturday night was an early one. We wanted an early start Sunday. On the water early in mild east winds we travelled far afield, breifly stopping to fish a few points and reefs enroute. As we arrived at the spot, it started to snow, heavily. In turn this changed to those giant flakes of wet snow, so efficient at sticking to and soaking everything. As we trolled south it began to hail, nothing big just the 1/2" type. Afterwhich we had what I can only refer to as sometype of horizontal ice pellets driven by furious east winds. The ensuing 6 hours of rain were a welcome repreive. BUT through it all we found a speed, depth and lure color that piqued the interest of a few esox. Some pike in the mid 30's told us they enjoyed an accelerated trolling speed. Coming around a point adjacent a reef, not too far from a current neckdown my rod stopped over 20fow, thus starting a great battle between the muskie and myself. Seeing the net slide under it was satisfiying, as it was the first one I had been the "guide" for. A few hooks quickly cut, and a pic and measurement. She was ready for release and swam away after about 10 seconds. After a brief celebratory hot chocolate we trolled on, losing 2 nice fish. Another fish kind of "pushed"?? the lure right up to the surface and out of the water, there was a scale on the lure but no fish. Later we connected with pike fat pike of 38 and 38.5" (photos on buddy's camera) Great weekend overcoming poor weather to find some nice fish. Bonus was I returned home to find my house in tact after not being there to give out candies to the kiddies and watching another Yankee win.

Ya I started a beard in october so I can get a decent start on my shideous stache....just cuz the girlfriend bet me I wouldn't.

The folded up rod sits shotgun. Its further up the totem that the fishing cohorts. I usually wrap a towel or spare shirt around in the truck to stop the rattling. Once broken down I find them pretty tough. Tie em up with a couple of the old ladies hair elastics so theres no sunbaked elastics and youre set.

The doc has the wrong build for effective wading. On the other hand my fat ass can remain anchored in the heaviest flows. Luc you missed an epic cross to the to the center island of the moose carcass this spring in flood. Got a couple nice fish off the inside seam of the V. But you would have ended up in whitefish bay. ps bring a net. wading staff and excellent solo landing tool

Wow is it ever up still hey just like 2007 when we got that gully washer in sept. It fished good right into winter.