Guidofisherman

Hook cutters are a great idea. Here is a story of what happened to me....I may have posted it before??? This story is painful to retell. You never know what you are going to catch when fishing in Northwestern Ontario. The area is famous for Brook Trout, Walleye, Salmon, Lake Trout and of course...big Northern Pike. Now this summer day, the fishing was a bit slow for our targeted species, the Brook Trout, so we drifted over to a shallow, weedy area that we normally don't fish because it has pike. Not that I have anything against catching a few pike. They can be a lot of fun with hard hits, several runs from the boat and interesting releases. I continued to flog the water with strip leeches and jig fly patterns in hopes of stirring up a wayward brookie near the shore. My partner, on the other hand has less patience for the tedious hours of brookie fishing and decided to throw a lure more suited to catching some pike action. "I got one" was all that was needed to be said to turn the routine of casting into a frenzy of excitement. Nothing big, just another snake not even worth getting tangled in the net. Contrary to our best practices policy, my fishing buddy, "Grappling Hooks" (but that's another story) hoisted the small pike out of the water suspending it over the side of the boat for quick release. I knew better than to grab a wriggling fish around the belly with my bare hand and try to pop out the hook with pliers in the other. Hind site is 20-20 and sure enough, that nasty, slimly, tooth-filled, predator snake didn't cooperate (that's the fish I'm referring to, not Grappling Hooks). The pike thrashed, the line tightened and the hook popped out of his jaw and into my finger. I expected to feel pain looking at my finger with the hook point buried and the line still under rod tension. Maybe now was a good time for my "buddy" to release the drag on his reel as my finger was pulled skyward. Still no pain, just an ugly situation that was getting in the way of fishing. With the hook buried under the skin and the point not poked through as the picture shows, it was time to practice field surgery. After several attempts to back out the hook, I asked my buddy if he debarbed the hook like we do in this lake. I just got a sheepish, blank look and an unsure, "Uh... I think so." Actually, with the excitement to get fishing, he couldn't remember if he had pinched down the barb and after all, I was the biggest thing he had caught all day. Since it would not back out with repeated tries, we decided to cut off the shank of the hook and poke the tip of the hook through the skin with a pair of pliers. Eager to help the situation, my fish'n partner grabbed the needle nose pliers stating he would nip off the shank. The pliers were built too light to cut through the stainless steel and after numerous fumbling attempts, my eyes were beginning to water. On to plan "B". This time I would use lineman pliers, assuring him that, "he had helped enough." There was just a little twinge as I squeezed the pliers around the hook shank snapping it clean. With the tip still buried deep in the skin, I grabbed the newly cut butt end and tried to rotate the hook tip up through the surface of the skin. I would like to say this part didn't hurt, but repeated tries just bumped the buried tip into the underside of the skin layer like an infected pimple ready to break. Either the hook was dull or I was a wimp! Now is the time to remind people to keep their hooks sharp for just this situation and avoid being a wimp. We didn't have a choice. Either the hook point popped through on the next try or it was off to the hospital to get professional help. One deep breath, grit the teeth and twist the pliers to the groans of my squeamish partner as the hook point finally popped through. It was a good lesson learned. DEBARB YOUR HOOKS! After a swab of a sterilizing cloth and a band-aid, we were back fishing, joking and debating whether I was a "keeper" or should we practice "catch and release".

I have the same motor and generally they run great. I have had the same situation and each time it has been that the motor was starved for air. Make sure the valve on the top of the tank has not been accidentally closed or vibrated shut.

When they are young and smaller, I find it harder to tell, but when they get bigger and older, there are some distinguishing chasracteristics to look for. Here are a few photos to compare. Both were about 5 lbs. and caught in the same pool within one week of each other in June. These are some of my generalizations and observations. Males: *generally more colourful fins in the fall *more of a hump on the back *the lip plate extends past the eyes in a more pronounced fashion * there is a kype developed closer to spawning Females: *more tapered, smaller head profile *occassionally can feel the eggs in the belly * usually tend to "school" more as males show up later for the big event. I guess we all do that. Body shape is not necessarily a distinguishing characteristic as either sex can be long and lean like a lake trout or more of a football shape. By the way, the world record brook trout was a female.

Yes, you are fairly close. Actually, 33.3 gal or 151.4 litres. Here is a link to a program I keep on my desktop to do all sorts of conversions. This free little application will convert things like: volume, flow, temperature, mass, distance, etc. I find it very handy. http://joshmadison.com/article/convert-for-windows I also checked it with McAfee SiteAdvisor first. "In our tests, this download was free of adware, spyware and other potentially unwanted programs." Here is a link to their safety assessment before you down load. http://www.siteadvisor.pl/sites/joshmadiso...nloads/9983505/

As a kid, our summer vacations consisted of 2 weeks of 'tenting' on the shores of a lake and cooking over a fire. I guess that's where I get my love of the great outdoors. After several years of telling her about my trips to the Nipigon, last summer I finally took my mom to the river for 2 days to experience the scenery and fishing. She caught her first Nipigon brook trout at 79. (she would kill me!) Great memories!

Now that is a good joke! What a message.

I'm glad everyone liked the little "pick-me-up" as we wait for the spring thaw. Dan: here's one more for you done with photoshop from the same trip. Alan

I am finally getting around to posting the story and photos of my last trip to Lake Nipigon for Brookies. It has been a long and cold winter so I got 'cabin fever' waiting for the spring thaw. Nirvana is "the highest happiness possible". It is an enduring, transcendental feeling attained through a connection with nature and the ultimate in achievement. This annual trip started out much the same as others, but would prove to be just that...'one of the best ever.' Why? Everything just seemed to harmoniously fall into place. There was the usual anticipation of good fishing, nice weather and comradeship. While planning is the key to a successful trip, like most typical guy planning, the toughest job was trying to coordinate a weekend date convenient for all. There were work schedules, kid’s hockey and other family functions that had to be considered. Finally, the first weekend in September was decided upon after frequent checks with our spouses. There was Allan (the golfer), Dave (the hockey dad and my brother), Brian (the pilot and ardent Walleye fisherman) and me (the Brook trout nut). I admit to being a bit of an anal nerd when it comes to planning the details of these trips. I hate forgetting something, or not being prepared for all eventualities. The week before, I pulled my trailer up to the campsite. A big reason for the success of this trip was the trailer accommodations. After several years of checking the “want ads”, Kijiji and other sources, I had little luck finding what I needed with the budget I had. I didn’t want to go another summer in a tent enduring the cold, damp mornings, sleeping on rocks and eating in squalor. That’s fine when you are young and full of “piss & vinegar” but time has taken its toll on the old body. The purchase of this trailer is a story in itself. With the trailer fully stocked and already parked at the camp site, we could concentrate on fishing. The plan was to rendezvous at the trailer Friday night after work. Allan and I would drive up during the day with the boat. Brian would fly down from his camp near Armstrong and meet us at the dock. Dave, my brother, would come the next morning after hockey practice. It was the best we could do. Like the story title implies, things just worked out with this trip. We completed the 2 hour drive just as Brian landed. Time to pull out the lawn chairs and have a cold beer as the driving and flying was done for the day. As I launched the boat, Allan fired up the BBQ for a fast supper and Brian put away the rest of the supplies Things were falling into place nicely so we decided to try some fishing while the lake was calm and there was still evening light. Although it had been sitting for weeks, the motor fired up and we cruised across the bay to our secret spot. The lake level was higher than usual but the shoreline still revealed the wave worn rounded rocks that Nipigon Brookies haunt. We started with a classic searching pattern using the small trolling motor to cruise the shoreline. One guy would stand on the deck in the front of the boat and quarter cast towards the shallows in search of actively feeding fish. I would cast to the sides of the boat as I kept a steady course and depth. The other guy would cast out the back or drag a lure for the deeper fish. It was also our common practice to rotate positions whenever someone caught a fish to make things equal. There is nothing worse than one guy getting ‘skunked’ while others catch all the fish. Ya…right! It didn’t take long for those famous, but often elusive words every fisherman loves…”Fish On!” I was using a new baitfish streamer pattern I had created based on an Enrico Puglisi's classic salt water design. Only fishing for few minutes and we had caught and released our first. Excitement was running high as we continued our pass over the shoal and along another stretch of cobblestone shoreline. As Allan cast his jig-fly toward the calmness of the shoreline and started his retrieve, his rod gave a sudden shake then went silent. He shouted, “I had a hit.” He kept reeling and the fish returned, smashing his fly only feet from the boat. It immediately bolted for deeper water. After several ‘zings’ of the drag, we were able to get this beauty in the rubber net. These Nipigon brookies are powerful fish that have adapted to living in fast moving current. Their broad tail and muscular body twist to escape, even for a quick photo. My Nikon D40 is set to continuous shooting just to catch such action shots We continued along the inside curve of the shoreline with Brian now casting forward from the front deck. It was his first time at this location, so I was giving a few pointers on where to cast to the next reef that was submerged just ahead. Brian is a quiet, introspective kind of guy who just smiles a lot when he gets a hook up. Without raising his voice one decibel, or extolling his fishing prowess as we are prone to do, he just keeps laughing and grinning from ear to ear every time the fish took a run. Now that everybody got their fish, it was time to head back to the trailer and reminisce about our recent fishing successes. Morning broke to the smell of fresh perked coffee and homemade Egg McMuffins. There wasn’t much work to cleaning up paper plates and stuffing the bedding into a corner since we’re not at home. After a quick constitutional following that second cup of coffee, we wandered down to the dock for a morning fish. We might as well start off where we ended last night by fishing the shoal off the point of land. Since Brian would be flying back later in the afternoon, he took the front again and immediately hooked into a bigger fish. This one had been previously tagged quite some time ago as the tag was completely covered with green slime. I recorded the number and wondered what this fish’s life history was? Another glorious morning on the water had ended with each of us getting fish and it was time to head back to the trailer for lunch and meet up with David. The sun was shining and a light breeze kept us cool as we sat in our camp chairs contemplating lunch over a ‘cool one’. Dave drove up, right on time for lunch and methodically powered down several mammoth burgers and numerous hotdogs. (and he is the guy with a ‘six-pack’?…disgusting!) The beauty of Lake Nipigon fishing is its variety. We have never had much success fishing for Brook Trout in the afternoon so decided to do some lazy, downrigger fishing for Lakers. The wind started to kick up some waves as we lowered the large cisco imitations. Just sit back, relax and wait for the rods to pop. After a few of these behemoths of the deep and lots of stories, it was time to head back to the dock. The afternoon faded and Brian wanted to take off in his small plane before the waves got too big and we were anxious to get back to Brook Trout Heaven. As we headed out in the boat, Brian powered up and took off into the wind. He circled once, tipping his wing to wave good bye. I could still see him still grinning. You couldn’t plan it any better. Dave had missed the first day of fishing and anyone who has ever fished for brookies knows that while they were turned on yesterday, they can easily disappear in an instant today, but the gods were with us. Dave got the first one, then Allan then me and that pattern continued for the evening and last day. As this spectacular trip drew to an end, even though the season didn’t close for another 10 days, we knew this was our final trip of the season. How could it get any better? We were at one with nature, the ultimate achievement in Brook Trout Heaven…Nirvana! By: Al (Guidofisherman)

Great pictures. I had a Border Collie for 19 years and agree they are very intelligent dogs. I think they train you!

Great report. It brought back fond memories of our trip to the same resort back in '06. Here is a photo of some grunts hiding under the coral rock mound that your wife was sitting on. Enjoyed re-living the trip.

I'm glad so many enjoyed the photos and my attempt at some Photoshop creativity. Here is the second batch of photos from this past year's fishing on the river. We can all keep dreamng...Alan For this one, I changed the back lighting and added ink spots This last one was made from a series of exposures. It took some time and 'trial & error' to figure out the filmstrip look.

I waited til the cold weather really hit and so we all could appreciate summer fishing for Nipigon brookies. Thanks to CMT, I finally figured out how to get the photos uploaded from Photobucket. I decided to break the post into two parts to reduce load time, but they all come from the 2008 season on the river. I'll post the lake photos later. This fall, I finally got Photoshop CS3 for processing and have been playing around with creative frames and 'actions' to simplify things. I know the photos are a little overdone, but it was just my way of learning the range of the program. I'll be going back to a "simple presentation" in the future. Alan

I use Photobucket, Flickr and several others that I have played with. Photobucket is the easiest to re-organize. http://s296.photobucket.com/albums/mm178/G...mview=slideshow

Congrats on jumping to DSLR. I thought you would enjoy the flexibility and lack of shutter lag. What two lenses did you get? Here is one review that sure sounds positive. http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/OlympusE410/ We will all look forward to more photos. Alan

Hi Dan: These are great and I really like the more subtle use of HDR. You are right, the first one can't be done easily with HDR, but there are several ways you can gain dynamic range. Here are two different approaches using Photoshop: http://www.shutterfreaks.com/Tips/Two-Expo...astMasking.html http://tv.adobe.com/#vi+f1480v1260

Here is a quote that sums it up... "You do not cease to fish because you get old, You get old because you cease to fish !" unknown This past summer, I finally took my mother fishing for big brookies after years of telling her about it and sending her photos of my trips. She is almost 80 (but don't tell or I'm dead meat), loves fishing and the outdoors. Here is her first "Nipigon brookie".

Bring back memories. One of these days I'll figure out how to post the full sized photo "in" the comment box rather than a reduced attachment.

I took one of the photos from this summer and applied a Photoshop technique to make the brookie look like it is coming through a mirror. Enjoy...only another 8 months to go! Alan

I loved the storyline and the photos to go with it. Super job! I just missed you guys by a few hours, but did get to hear the plane take off from the camp site. I'm glad the OFC members finally got to experience Nipigon Brookies. I had to leave the lake early as my motor broke (again) right in front of your camp and I didn't get to stop in at the site. Great report Dan. Alan

Good luck Dan. I thought it would be just a matter of time before they started hooking into some acton. I will probably see you guys Sunday. Alan

I thank my lucky stars every day that I get to fish for these beautiful creatures. This trip actually took place in the beginning of July. The weather in the N.W. Ontario had been very wet and delayed by about 3 weeks. This meant cold water and fast flows. June was an all-time record month for rain and the water was still only 51 degrees. That’s right….the first week of July! This trip to the famed Nipigon would be a long time coming. For years now, I have been trying to arrange for my buddy (Brian) to experience the phenomenal fishing of the Nipigon for big Brookies. He is an ardent walleye fisherman, has his own float plane and fishes in lakes that no one ever fishes. Each year I have the opportunity to go to his camp near the top end of Lake Nipigon for a few days of “fly-in” fishing. It is rather ironical that I want him to experience fishing the Nipigon on a “catch and release” basis when he is consistently able to fish lakes that virtually no on ever gets to fish. The opportunity arrived. I would meet him at my trailer on the river as he would fly down for a few days of fishing in “my area”. For me, it was a two hour drive from my home to the trailer and for him; it was a 40 minute float plane ride down the shores of Lake Nipigon. Timing is everything, and as I drove my boat to the trailer, he circled and landed about a minute after I arrived at the trailer. The morning fishing produced several nice ones for each of us before we returned to the trailer for a late lunch. In the afternoon, Brian took me for a short flight up the river over the cliffs, rapids and pools that one usually sees from water level. The aerial shot shows a burnt-over area from a lightning strike several years ago. After supper, the fishing picked up as Brian caught a couple of Brook Trout almost 6lbs and I picked up this 25” beauty. We tagged and released all the fish then headed back to the trailer for the night. About 2 in the morning, I woke up because the trailer was shaking. I thought, at first, it was my buddy rolling over in his bunk at the other end of the trailer. Then I felt the trailer shudder again and I sat right up. I asked Brian if that was him. He casually said it was just a bear banging on the trailer walls. Thank goodness it wasn't a tent. Eventually I went back to a nervous sleep but woke up early in the morning when I remembered not taking a wet towel out of the boat that had fish smell on it. Sure enough, the bear had jumped into the front of the boat leaving a few scratches on the fiberglass. It didn't go through the windshield opening as I had a cover on it. The bear had jumped out the front and went into the water then jumped into the back of the boat leaving a mess of mud and dirt on the floor and back seats where I had left the towel. No other damage, so I was lucky. Lesson learned! We fished another half day, enjoying the scenery, a few more fish and a great time on the river. This last shot is a Photoshop composite just for fun. I can’t wait to do it all over again in Brook Trout Heaven.

Great report Dan. Excellent photos and fish action. I look forward to hearing more. Alan

This is an excellent photo. I immediately was drawn to the way the dock disappeared into the water. Great lighting (especially on the fading dock) and composition. Alan

Part 2 I said I would be pouting if we didn't get some fish this trip. While the water was still 51 degrees, the weather stabilized for a few days and it seems timing is everything with these elusive fish. This trip, the fish were active and we released a half dozen and lost several others. They averaged between 19" to 22". One was a real 'football' shape with a girth over 14. Alan