WonderMonkey

15 hours ago, PROV said:

I've been fishing Ontario, Canada for 45 years. Only live 120 miles south of the border in Minnesota. I have probably close to 400 days up there mainly chasing walleye and big northern pike. For walleye I use a spinning rod with quality 6# or 8# test mono with a jig. I tip the jig with a minnow, 1/2 a crawler or 3" Berkeley Gulp minnows. Gulp is great for fly-in fishing. For northern I use a casting rod and reel with 12# test Fireline. The spinning rod setup I tie the jig directly to the line. On the casting setup I use a good quality ball bearing snap swivel. Best baits for big pike are a large nickel Doctor Spoon and large crankbaits cast or trolled at 3mph or more. I find leaders hamper bait action but if heavily infested with Pike you may need them. If you get into Lake Trout fishing I've done plenty of that too. Just holler.

I don't think this lake is known for Lake Trout, but when I place my call to the outfitter I'll have more information.  I'll ask him the same things I'm asking here to get his input.

As many in our area know, there was a tornado that the went through several states, with parts of Western KY being hit hardest.  Late Friday evening myself and others from my organization went down to help.  On Saturday I was part of the K9 team (a "not good" result was found) and on Sunday I went with the chainsaw crew to help make roads passable.  While there I took some photos.  These photos don't even come close to showing the devastation that happened to the area.  All photos were from the area where we were searching for a missing female child, which was found (deceased).

Below is the path of the tornado, followed by my photos.  What looks like piles of "whatever" were once houses.  A photo looking across a bit of water on a hill that looks kindof clear is an area that was just picked clean by the winds and thrown elsewhere.  Several vehicles blown out of garages and rolled down hills.  Boats turned over in the water.

4 hours ago, TBRider said:

I caught most of mine on a 5-6 fly rod with long streaming flies

 

All I know of how to cast a fly fishing rod I learned from watching Devo.

8 minutes ago, Fishfiles said:

I use to SCUBA  a lot  , you never wear rings , gold or silver watches / jewelry  or ear rings ( not that I  ever had a ear ring ) , heard stories of people losing ear lobes to trigger fish 

I had thought about getting SCUBA certified then going forward with it for recovery, but we really don't get many calls for that in my organization.  Plus, all I need is another hobby or thing I need to spend time keeping up on.

1 minute ago, Fishfiles said:

i can't see how it could be $1.99 where your at , It is $3.29 for regular gas around  here and that is 45 miles from the closest refinery that produces it , 60 miles the other way 

I'll pay attention to the prices on signs as I drive to the gym today.

Waaaaiiiiitttt..... I think it was $2.99 where I got it, not $1.99.  Either way, I'll look at the 3 stations I pass.

On 12/7/2021 at 8:33 AM, Fishfiles said:

 Gas was $1.99 for me yesterday.

However, that contradicts what I'm seeing out in the country, which is more stations that haven't received fuel deliveries.

1 hour ago, Fishfiles said:

Some fish it is better to not use swivels or claspe , when you have mackerel , barracuda  or blue fish in the area , they will go after the swivel , especially if it is silver or brass colored  and they are toothy fish 

Northern go after the flash so I use darkened swivels and clasps.  It's also a reason why I don't wear my wedding ring.  If I accidentally swish my hand in the water to clean off fish slime, you could lose a finger.

1 hour ago, Fishfiles said:

I remember one pike I caught that was a nice adventure , caught him in salt water along the coast , I'd call it brackish water , lower salinity than salt water , he was about 4 pounds , put on a show jumping out the water several times , it was  lit up like a  neon  sign , I let him go   -----  have never ate a pike  have ate a lot of gar and it is good  ------   

I like pike, especially if I caught it.  You can fillet it to not get any of the bones.

1 hour ago, Goober said:

Your outfitter should be able to provide you with info about best kit to bring.

Fishing changes depending on where you go and time of year. sometimes the pike aren’t biting and you’ll want to try something else. Be ready for the change ups 

I'm certainly going to be asking him, but will wait a month until things calm down for him.  Good thinking, though.  I do plan on being ready to change what I used, but was thinking of the things that won't change, like leaders and such.  I'm sure I'll go after bass while there but will want to also go after the walleye and northern.  Perch if it's there.  The lake won't have any/many lake trout so I don't see that being a target.  I'll see what he says when I call him on this topic.

17 hours ago, 56Sierra said:

I purchased coated steel leader on a spool, ferrels and a crimping tool.  Added about 8" of steel leader to my favorite spoons and crankbaits.   On the other end of the leader was a simple loop.  Tied a good snap swivel on my line for quick changing.  Trouble was we flew in for a three day strip only to get stranded because of the weather.   Got a 7 day trip for the price of three.

Do you fish quite a bit?  I'm going to spend a week having flown into a lake in Canada.  The reason I ask is how much it costs to do what you did versus pre-made or even just use 80 lb mono.

11 minutes ago, Goober said:

Are you fly fishing or spinner?

 

several years ago I planned a pike fishing trip to Canada—trip got canceled 

 

i bought 2 7-10 weight 4-piece rods and some large arbor reels. I still fish for pike with them on my little catamaran 

Open face.  "Traditional" fishing I suppose.

5 hours ago, Fishfiles said:

We don't see a lot of pike down here  , in my entire life might have caught 6 on a rod , have caught many small ones in the trawl , guess they get flushed down the river ---  I have washed quite a few 3-6 inches out the mud holes we ride 4 wheelers  in , the water is 3-4 ft deep , in landlocked ditches like that the eggs get on birds legs that wade in the water and get transferred to the ditches -----  we do have lots of garfish , with all the teeth like pike ,   steel leaders are the way to go with gar -------- what does work on toothy fish  is fluorocarbon leaders  , it disappears to the fish in the water and is not as stiff as steel so fishes more natural , as far as line goes  , Spiderwire or one of the braided lines are good stuff , they claim 17 lb test fishes like 35 lb

A fluorocarbon leader is what I've been seeing for the visibility you mentioned.

1 hour ago, TBRider said:

I use steel leaders when fishing pike.

I used to also.  Maybe I'm just hitting the wrong youtubes and google searches but it seems many aren't these days.  I don't have a personal opinion on the topic.

On 11/5/2021 at 7:38 AM, Fishfiles said:

 

Hey!  She's one of the instructors on my online drum lesson site.

I'm going to Canada at the end of next May (2022) if the border is open.  The last time I fly back into a lake for a fishing trip was in 1985 (high school) and I know line technology has changed so I'm starting this thread to chat about it.  Steel leaders aren't used much anymore as I've found out also.

The lake I am going to will have walleye, northern and bass for sure.  Maybe perch also?

What would your main line be?  What type and lb test?

What would you make your leaders out of?

I personally would prefer they do nothing, if it was one of my atvs.  Then later on down the line, something would happen.

ES 4 Eva!

Ride it!  I love mine.

Tonight I trimmed the deer meat that I took in rifle season.  While we are at it, we fried up one of the backstraps from of the deer.  Tomorrow we will grind a bunch of the meat and put it in casings.  I'll smoke it after that, vacuum seal it and put it in the freezer.

10 hours ago, Goober said:

I helped cut up 10 deer last week—six were gifted to our crew by hunters who don’t keep the meat. A mix of reasons—some don’t have the ability to butcher, or store, or eat venison. Some of these hunters might just like us. i respect their reasons and am thankful for their generosity.

so we’ve spent several days skinning and processing deer, with 10 tags left between us! So the hunting isn’t over!

we split up the meat except for the burger which we will use and split again for sausage over late winter. i brought home 40 pounds of roasts and steaks for myself—and 75 pounds of burger out of the 220 pounds we ground. 
I will order 50lbs each pork fat and beef fat later this week; get some spices and mustard seed. High temp cheese for brats. 

I used the golf ball method of skinning deer this year, for the first time.  It's great and I'll do the majority of deer this way from here on out.

FYI, this is the low pressure gauge that I use.  Post yours if you have a better alternative, one that can be taken on the trail.

https://smile.amazon.com/Tusk-Pressure-Dial-Tire-Gauge/dp/B01MRDEGW2/

2 hours ago, Misterclean said:

I have found that cheap pressure gauges are usually incorrect by several pounds. The low pressure gauge that came with my 420 is very accurate. Frankly a half pound makes a noticable difference so precision psi readings are very important to me. 3 psi to 3.5 psi is my range......3 psi for very rough terrain 3.5 for average terrain. Perhaps a few psi higher for acceleration and speed once a year.

 

I would agree, cheap ones are off by too wide of a margin.  I used my buddies electronic one.  I have a normal one in my trail kit, but I used his.

10 minutes ago, shadetree said:

and did you use a low pressure tire gauge when you took the reading ?. most atv honda tire pressure run around 3 psi.

Factory for mine is 4.2 (or so, I forget).  I used a gauge that went in .5 lbs increment.  It was good enough for that moment.

34 minutes ago, Fishfiles said:

Maybe he will mandate mask requirements to participate in a  hunt and the Federal Wildlife Agents will issues fines for non-compliance 

If they have nothing to hide, they will comply.

1 hour ago, Fishfiles said:

Did you'll hear the news today about deer being infected with covid ---- 

 

https://www.msn.com/en-us/health/medical/deer-can-catch-the-covid-virus-what-people-who-hunt-or-feed-them-need-to-know/ar-AAQRCQU?ocid=uxbndlbing

Do you think if Biden mandates a mask, the deer will wear them?

I knew this and did it way back when I used to ride all the time.  I had to be reminded of it just this weekend.

This weekend while hunting, a hunting buddy said "How's your tire pressure?"  I did not know so I checked it.  The tires LOOKED fine, but no pressure registered on the pressure gauge.  Hmm.  I filled the tires and I could certainly feel the difference.  I also used my foot to push on the tire before and after to give me a sense of what that feels like, so I can do quick checks as needed.  So .... rookies and even not-rookies that need a reminder, check your air pressure here and there and don't rely on a quick visual.  Those tires leak pressure through use and through sitting there.

Done.  There is today's PSA.