Ice Fishing

On Saturday I took the cubs out ice fishing.  A special thank you to Stan and Brian at WOFGPA for making us feel welcome and for being our guide for the day.  Although we didn't catch anything, the weather was great (sunny and -4) all of the cubs had a great time.

What's down that hole?

Toronto Sportsman Show

The Toronto Sportsman Show begins today.  Derek and I will be there on Sunday.

Ice Fishing

I go ice fishing for my first time ever on Saturday.  The Western Ontario Fish and Game Protective Association invited me and our cub group to an ice fishing derby on their private trout pond.  I'm looking forward to the experience and will hopefully have pictures of the event.

New record for low water levels

New record for low water levels
The Windsor Star

An all-time record for low water levels was broken during the month of January for Lake Michigan and Lake Huron - which in part explains how area residents have witnessed the Detroit River reach its shallowest levels in years.

Many longtime Windsor area boaters and fishing enthusiasts told The Star last week how they believe the river has fallen two to three feet compared to last year and reached its lowest levels in decades.

Read more...

 

Master Angler Catalogue

I received my Master Angler Catalogue from Bass Pro Shops last night. I usually like to buy my fishing gear from Lambeth Rod and Tackle. I do however spend a lot of money at Bass Pro Shops on clothing and footwear. I look forward to seeing what cool new fishing products there are.

Fish cannot feel pain say scientists

Fish cannot feel pain say scientists
By Josie Ensor
The Telegraph

A study has found that, even when caught on a hook and wriggling, the fish is impervious to pain because it does not have the necessary brain power.

The research, conducted by a team of seven scientists and published in the journal Fish and Fisheries, concluded that the fish’s reaction to being hooked is in fact just an unconscious reaction, rather than a response to pain.

Read more...

Licence to Fish: Expired!

With the new year come and gone, licence expired, what is an angler to do? If you're an ice angler, get it renewed, and continue on. For most of us though, now's a great time to clean your gear, plan your season and get psyched for the springtime trade shows.

Clean Your Gear

Look, when the river's running and the bass are biting, who wants to clean fishing gear when you could be out fishing? As such, winter's a great time to pull all that gear out of your bag and really take stock of what you're doing with it.

If you put your gear away wet, it's probably got some rust on it by now. Throw out those rusty hooks and buy new ones. Put a dash of WD40 on your gear--some say it acts like a fish attractant and everyone knows it's a great lubricant and prevents rust.

Take a look at what you've got and think back on last season. Did you use all of it, or did you stick with favourites? Can you reduce your tackle overheard to simplify your on-water (be it river or lake) decision making? We always ask ourselves "What are they biting on?" and the more tackle you have the harder it will be to answer that question. Focus on Dave Mercer's tactics: hit the water first with your fast lures, then your medium ones, then try the slow ones. For me that means I start my day with Storm's Kickin' Stick or Live Target's Blueback Herring. From there I'll run a jighead for awhile, then onto the sink worm. If those three don't get results, move on to the next hole.

Plan Your Season

Holes. Honey holes, producing holes, non-producing holes, favourite holes, secret holes, trespassing holes; we've all got them, but besides witchcraft, how do we know which holes are the best? Did you keep notes last season?

First off, get a map and take a real good look from a bird's eye view of your holes. If you marry that with Google Maps' satellite view, maybe you'll discover some sweet-looking spots close to your old faithfuls.

Once you've got a bird's eye view, figure out how many times you'll actually get your rod wet this coming season, and when you do get your rod wet, will you be hitting multiple holes in a day? Knowing that, you can schedule holes and plan around season openers, species preferences, estimated water temperature, etc.

Take notes this year! Buy a small notebook ($1 at the dollar store, $20 if you want a slick Moleskin notebook), a pencil and throw it into a ziplock baggie. Note the date, hole, approximate water temperature, air temperature and fishing method. Keep these notes consistent through the season, and you'll have some real hard data (instead of witchcraft) to prep with for next year.

Springtime Trade Shows

We're barely recovering from Christmas bankruptcy and all these tackle shops and gear afficionados want us to spend more of our credit on new gear, upgrades and expansions. Maybe you'll find something new and exciting (see my Russian Lure story), maybe you won't, but either way you'll be in the company of kindred spirits and can talk shop for the day while looking at shiny new gear and dreaming of The Big One.

We'll be at the Toronto Sportsmen's Show this year. It should be much bigger than the Spring Fishing and Boat Show we went to last year, so I'm pretty excited. The Toronto show is earlier this year, so we can't help but wonder if they're feeling pressure from the Spring show.

I'm especially hopeful to see a couple revisions of Live Target's 3-segment hardbody... preferably in realistic perch colours... here's to hoping! (Edit: nothing new on the 3-segment hardbody list on Live Target's website, so I'm disappointed).

Image source: http://www.morguefile.com/archive/display/75003