tonyb

There was a 19 pounder weighed in for the St Catharines spring derby and I thought wow I would be happy with that, but this is crazy! What an incredible fish! Congrats

Also, try shortening the distance of the lead from your downrigger, 100' is good in shallow water but not necessary deeper. Some days 5-7 feet back from the ball is the ticket!

If you are not already using one, I would suggest adding a stinger hook. Northland Tackle has some slip on stinger hooks that are made up with 10lb mono and a size 8 treble I believe, easy to add to tube jigs and other baits. Tony

That is a pretty cool setup, can't believe you were 4 miles out in a kayak, wow! Nice fish too btw

Well the WHI came and went, and talk about terrible fishing! I spent the day on Friday fishing with Karl on Capt Wayne's 'Five Kings' boat. It was very comfortable compared to my open 19' Lund ProV hehehe, but it turned out wouldn't be able to do much catching... After spending the night at Vince Pierlioni's rental cottage, I was blown away by the cottage or should I say 'shrine' haha it was literally covered wall to wall of big wins, news articles, and more plaques than you could imagine. It was a testament to the quality of angling skills the man possesses, and proof of their reputation as one of the best fishing teams around. However, all those prior big wins and trophies wouldn't equip him or his team come tourney day as they managed only a single King in the boat (a common theme we would discover once we hit the scales) Anyway, overall it was an enjoyable experience being an observer. Karl and Wayne of team Twofish made sure I always had a drink or something to eat, and put me up for the night as well, thanks for being such great hosts! I did learn a few things being on Capt Wayne's 'Five Kings' and Vince P's 'Thrillseeker' boats, but more importantly, I learned that what I am already doing on my own is quite sufficient and that helped restore some lost confidence so far this year They were pretty secretive leading up to the big day as was most of the fleet, so I wasn't able to get many pictures or even just the boats themselves as I would have felt like some kind of spy or something But here are a few quick shots. BBQ'ing while on the troll Some fine fishing machines The buffet dinner tent and awards ceremony, a slick setup for sure! And the overall dismal results It was my first time as an observer and while it would have been great to see the guys get into a lot more fish to see how they operate on the catching/landing sequences, it was still a positive experience and a great way to meet some of the best salmon anglers around. Good luck in your next event guys! Tony

I've done well with size 7 Jigging Rapala's, 4" Swimbaits like the Jackalls or Swammers, and also Williams Whitefish spoons if you get a calm enough day to keep 'em vertical. New@this link explains exactly the technique that has worked anywhere for me for vertical jigging fish. Here is a vid on swimbait technique as well Good luck!

Great news as an annual Non-resident license holder, that $20 savings will most likely be spent on your well priced fuel or Beer! Thank you! Tony

Beauty looking laker, love those brightly coloured fins and tails.

Fishing Report Your Name / Boat Name: Ripple Effect ============== TRIP OVERVIEW ============== Date(s): April 21, 2012 Time on Water: 6:30am Weather/Temp: Overcast 8C Wind Speed/Direction: 20NE Waves: 1' Surface Temp: 47 Location: Bronte LAT/LONG (GPS Cords): =============== FISHING RESULTS =============== Total Hits: 4 Total Boated: 2 Species Breakdown: Brown Trout, missed fish likely Kings (Lots of Reel Peel ) Hot Lure: Williams Dartee Trolling Speed: 2.0MPH Down Speed: 2.3MPH Boat Depth: 20 Lure Depth: 15 ==================== SUMMARY & FURTHER DETAILS ==================== First trip out in the Lund this year, everything worked great and some fish co-operated! Good fishing, Tony

I'm a Sonar fan for ice fishing, they can do everything a flash can, and much much more. Consider seriously looking at a Lowrance unit with a built-in GPS module. Then, add a Navionics chip for the areas you fish, and you have an incredible 'system' for ice fishing. You can see your jig in realtime and can zoom to whatever column of the water you want, not just the bottom 10 feet or whatever the flasher settings are. There is also a short history as the action scrolls by on the screen, fun to share with buddies the chase game you just had with a fish... Your jig moves vertically on the Sonar screen, not circular around a dial like with a flasher. This makes interpretation simple, a nice plus for newbies or guests should they want to use the sonar with you. Sonars operate silently, there is no clicking/whirring sound of the spinning discs in a flasher. Sonars display the depth in an instant, easy to read digital number format, flashers require some interpretation (ok once around the dial is 60 feet, then another quarter rotation, how deep are we!?) (Excluding Humminbird flasher which have an lcd depth readout) Check out the Whitefish video I just posted, there is a short clip of the Lowrance HDS unit in action to give you an idea of what I'm talking about. There really is no benefit of a flasher, unless you are fishing in extreme cold temperatures (-30 or colder ) out in the open. In that case, the LCD screen can appear sluggish and battery life is greatly reduced. Hope this helps. Tony

Check out Aaron's latest Surely Fishing TV episode. Aaron and I target Lake Simcoe Whitefish and share some tips that can be used for Whitefish anywhere. The active/passive setup employed is also effective for other species when ice fishing. http://www.youtube.com/user/SurelyFishingTV Hope this gets you guys stoked for the 2012 ice season! I know I am! Tony

Thanks guys, I do have some experience trolling the reach and up to the ferry. We have done well with spoons on the cores as well as cranks I just haven't spent too much time out into the main lake so to speak, past Amherst I.

Donny, there is heavy rain in the forecast so many of those fish will race upstream when the water levels rise. Tributaries should be in good shape as the water levels begin to drop after the rain. Should the rains not materialize in any significant amount, you'll do better closer to the lake.

I think you'll find most guys are now following migratories up the river and persuing them there. There is still opportunities at the mouth of the credit from shore, also off the rocks in to the lake. The unseasonably warm and dry weather lately has had the ffect of pausing fish as they wait for the next rain. If you can get out now before the next rain, coming soon this week!, then you will have better numbers of fish around. Once it pours, the river is going to get crammed with trout and the last push of salmon.

Another Lake O. Eye report I love the look of those big migratory Walleye You guys are killing me with these reports haha, I won't get a crack at them until the end of the month. Tony

Very nice guys, some really solid fish in the mix. I'm looking forward to fishing the reach on Halloween weekend with some buddies Is there much of a bite at that time outside of the Bay? We ventured out there (South of Amherst Island) in the past and managed to only connect with OOS Lake Trout... Cheers, Tony

Exactly LongLine, that is the angle that I took on the whole Atlantic project. When the dust settles and patience and funding runs out with Atlantics, the enhancements to the riparian buffer zones on tributaries that were selected for Atlantic re-introduction will benefit all remaining coldwater (and even warmwater)species. Sorry for the technical jargon, but it's the correct term for what basically amounts to strategic tree planting along stream banks. Here is a helpful image, a quality Riparian Buffer would be comprised of Zones 1-3 and the wider the buffer and more mature the trees are, the better. Until the Atlantics start showing the levels of returns as some of the other proven species like Steelhead, Browns, Cohos and Kings, I'd rather not see a decline or displacement in hatcheries of the proven winners. Tony

Done, here are my comments: The environmental impact of placing these wind turbines into the waters of the Great Lakes, one of the most important sources of freshwater in the world is far too great to consider. Especially since the amount of power generated is insignificant compared to other safer means of power generation such as Nuclear or Hydro-electric. As an NY State non-resident angler, I fully oppose this proposal to build a windfarm in the waters of Lake Ontario and Erie.

Very cool report, the kids will remember that trip for a while, smiles tell it all Nice Birthday Sail for you as well and some beauty Cobias. I recall reading that the Cobia will often hang around with larger Stingrays and Manta Rays. The reason is because the rays root up clams, molluscs and they LOVE crabs. So a large portion of the Rays diet is crabs, and subsequently the Cobias will feed opportunitically on crabs that are trying to escape from the ray. So much so, that the meat of Cobia is often said to taste a lot like crab. Did you try any of the Cobia and did it taste like Crab? I love eating blue crabs, but they're such a pain to clean. It would be awesome to eat a fillet of crab (Cobia) so to speak Thanks for sharing. Tony

I like that...credit where due Billy, thanks also to Kevin and the Wilson Marina staff also for hosting and organizing this event!