54 replies to this topic

[DILLIGAF?!]

I like volume fishing. I don't really pay too much focus on personal best. I'd rather have non stop action than get 1 massive steel in 4 hours. But that's just me.

[BowSlayer]

lol, id pay to catch a small, one i hate big ones, especially on g-bay where i like to keep one for the table and then you get this monster thats like 20 years old, lol, if you time it perfectly you will have a fish every drift, but timing it perfectly is near impossible, try coming up to the river at night shine a light into the water and you'll se the steelies roaming around for food, a small hook, and a glow bead is really all you need no leader required at night, but its hard, you can't see a thing, i like fishing at night/evening more, its harder to cast and see, BUT, no people i LOVE it when there no people lol

[ChasinTails]

lol, id pay to catch a small, one i hate big ones, especially on g-bay where i like to keep one for the table and then you get this monster thats like 20 years old, lol, if you time it perfectly you will have a fish every drift, but timing it perfectly is near impossible, try coming up to the river at night shine a light into the water and you'll se the steelies roaming around for food, a small hook, and a glow bead is really all you need no leader required at night, but its hard, you can't see a thing, i like fishing at night/evening more, its harder to cast and see, BUT, no people i LOVE it when there no people lol

i know this east trib where there's a road above the best pool around and that road has streetlights so i can fish there 24/7   fishing has been good for me since ive only gotten a handful of bows and for the first time. The salmon season blew through waaaaaay to fast, i used to PIER fish till this time then move into the creeks around now this year i missed the whole run, as for steelies this is only mt first real season targeting them so i couldnt say 

[BowSlayer]

i don't know that one, but i just put a flashlight pointing to the other side of the creek so that i can see my float, or i use an electric float, but they tend to spot that better.

[RiverRuns]

lol, id pay to catch a small, one i hate big ones, especially on g-bay where i like to keep one for the table and then you get this monster thats like 20 years old, lol, if you time it perfectly you will have a fish every drift, but timing it perfectly is near impossible, try coming up to the river at night shine a light into the water and you'll se Thetis steelies roaming around for food, a small hook, and a glow bead is really all you need no leader required at night, but its hard, you can't see a thing, i like fishing at night/evening more, its harder to cast and see, BUT, no people i LOVE d it when there no people lol

Intercepting the runs is critical to a big number day, if that's what you are looking for. Timing the runs, IMO, depends on three major factors:
1) you are extremely knowledgeable about a river ( read: experienced) and know when, how fast, where etc. the pods of steel move...or you have a really knowledgeable buddy
2) you are lucky and time it out perfectly
3) you are one of those enviable SOBs who can be on the river every day
A combination of the above is best!
Bowslayer, keep hyping up the night fishing ( I can't stand it myself) so the rivers are less busy during the day

[BowSlayer]

to each their own, if you want to be like those idiots i saw the other day looking at a log, claiming it was a monster brown go ahead, i love fishing in the daytime and its much easier but if i have to do it beside those idiots no way in he!!, i know the river quite well, i don't fish it every day not even every week usually i go when i have time, sometimes i go twice a week, other times i go ounce a month, i have a bud who lives right on the creek i fish, he tells me when the run is on, when its on i know where and when to find them and how to catch them, i know how to time it out perfectly on that one trib, but i dot get the chance to go whenever i want to, night fishing, is something that you have to know how to do, anyone can fish in the daytime, but if you can do the same drifts at night that you do in the daytime, then you already know something, if i go north then there are still crowds, but those guys you can stand at least, they actually know how to fish, unlike the majority of people who come down to the east from toronto and start looking at fish, spot one and start shoving a jig in their mouth, or my favourite, they come down, no fish, the find a branch in the water or some grass, the current causes it to move, then they go doing like 100 drifts right in front of it, to the point where they start dipping their rods in the water then one of them goes into the water only to find out its just a stick, I'm telling you when i see those guys out east I'm ready to vomit.

[RiverRuns]

I've never had the pleasure of fishing the eastern ditches...if I fish Lake O tribs it is almost always far up river away from the crowds ( I usually stick to Huron, GB, or Erie...less crowded/more civil). As a personal "policy", I never cast to fish I can see. The reason I don't fish at night - other than the fact that I've got a 9 to 5 job- is probably because I'm getting too old - eyesight going, balance isn't what it used to be etc.etc.

[Swing4Steel]

Been decent for me. Average size is up this year

[Captain Barty]

All the rain has made it a different fall for me. I basically wrote off my usual spots for the past month or so... Have had to do some driving and exploring some other tribs that fish well with lots of water. A little bit of a learning curve but have got some sweet fish and spent time hiking and finding some sweet spots that hardly see any traffic.

 

But overall I think personally all the rain has pushed fish high up into systems earlier.

[DILLIGAF?!]

All the rain has made it a different fall for me. I basically wrote off my usual spots for the past month or so... Have had to do some driving and exploring some other tribs that fish well with lots of water. A little bit of a learning curve but have got some sweet fish and spent time hiking and finding some sweet spots that hardly see any traffic.

 

But overall I think personally all the rain has pushed fish high up into systems earlier.

+1...as much as I enjoy catching steels as the guy standing next to me in a popular trib, the wall or wherever it is that hold more than 10 people & maybe 30 steels...I find it more satisfying to bushwhack my way to some "virgin honey holes" (that didn't sound quite right i know)...It's like finding the holy grail and not by accident.

[Shawarma]

^ pure laughter based on the last sentence. I'd like to trace back to the origins of that term honey hole and why fisherman started using it. I guarantee you it means exactly what we're all thinking everytime it's read. And here you go and add virgin to it.. LOL. 

[DILLIGAF?!]

Telling you man...I actually do more bushwhacking than fishing...If I find some spots but have traces that someone has been there (lure package, lines, coffee cups or spawn sacs) I don't hesitate to share it...but there are a few that I have found on my own and have been going back and don't see any other people fishing it or traces of others...but then again I make sure I leave it like it is and not one trace of me being there. (covering my tracks). Heck at one point I found out I was inside a private land because as I was walking...I saw a sign "no tresspassing" when I looked behind...lol...how I got there in the first place...i didn't even remember...

[Diana Danger]

im a bushwhacking b!tch

[DILLIGAF?!]

well this is my bestfriend...

[416fish]

I think it's true, it's been hit and miss.  Hard to find that special timing.  Every time I go out, the river levels are different.  From fast flowing chocolate milk to stagnant 12" pools.  I would also like to catch chrome in numbers but this year I've only managed one or two per trip.  However, the sizes are pretty big, average fish so far I got this year is 5-6lb with a few 7-8lb for east lake ontario tribs. Up in GB I've been catching smaller 3-4lb but that's perfect for eating

[getin]

I too have seen way fewer fish caught out east this year. My favorite creek has been the worst. There has been some good rain so i don't think the theory of them coming later is acuurate. That may have shot up, or just as the populations fluctuate uear by year, this is not a good year. The migratory fish populations are very variable. Just look at the collapse of salmon fishery in BC this year that has resulted in an inquiry

[BowSlayer]

thee is definitely no shortage of bows in the east tribs, just gotta no when and where, if you think there are no bows in the east tribs, check the pools in the sanctuaries, they've shot up, ounce they enter the river, they shoot up like bullets, not like last year, night fishing is the best right now, in the nighttime, they don't feel pressured setup a small light so that you can see your float while drifting, check the river in the daytime, no fish?, ok check in the evening, loaded? ya baby! night fishing is key, just gotta get used to it, witch isn't easy, for me, i got used to it fast, been doing it for the past few year, absolutely no crowds, you've go the whole river to yourself and no shortage of feeeesh!

[fishfearme]

Captain Barty and I had this conversation earlier in the season, and I disagreed with his theory that fish had blown through with high water. With the arrival of a new little girl, I have not had the chance to fish yet this November. I did however take a drive the other day to check out some spots high in a couple of systems and there are a lot of fish way upstream. Barty, I fear you are right. The good news is that February/March fishing should be amazing when these fish start dropping back.

 

With all that being said, and having not been on the water in a few weeks, I have to say that this has been the worst season for me as far as numbers are concerned. That however is relative to the fisherman. What I consider a bad day, others may consider a great one.

[Dewy]

Its been a decent year for me. Some luck throughout October since the waters were extremely high and I did not get out too much, but November has been good to me. I fish quite far up in one watershed and was unable to land any fish there. At the mouth Ive been doing good. The average size is way up, about 7 or 8 pounds, with several over 10 pounds. And the best is yet to come!

[chrome247]

Fishing has been steady for me this fall. Since the water has been high it has been hard to time a big push of fish, most days the fish have been relatively scattered, a few here a few there but nothing to write home about. While theres been no crazy number days the size of the fish has made up for it..

 

The record numbers of fish seen across most of Southern Ontario in the fall of 2011/2012 was partly due to cool summers in 2008 and 2009 which allowed for great survival rates of the juvenile fish across the board, they were able to find suitable habitat even in the main river branches which are far too warm during a normal summer. The boatloads of 4-7lbers in the tribs in fall of 2011 would have been 2 and 3 year old fish from these 2 years. However, summers 2010, 2011 and 2012 were a much different story, at least on the tribs I fish (Lake H), these summers saw brutally hot conditions and little precipitation which resulted in the main rivers and feeder creeks nearly drying up in some instances, therefore the survival rate would be much lower and that is showing this year as there is a definate lack of small to medium size fish. Most are big mature fish that are likely the last of the 2008 years crop, Im no biologist but in my opinion next fall could be a tough one. Thankfully this past summer was cool and wet with great water levels, so we should be seeing the rewards of that in a couple years.