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Hi TGO fishing thread. Went out for a couple of hours and caught a bass. 
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Jul 18, 2020 16:05
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| # ¿ Apr 25, 2024 19:49 |
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CHUCK WAS TAKEN posted:Can somebody post a new link to this Discord? The only ones I can find are expired https://discord.gg/Jw6TPMr
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Jul 23, 2020 18:30
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 It has begun. 7 days and a wake up! I've got 9 more coming 
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Jul 29, 2020 18:12
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 I'm getting on the mopfly bandwagon. I'm going to tie the most ridiculous flies I can with this poo poo.
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Jul 30, 2020 22:43
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 Trip Report. Brought the mopfly to a blue ribbon trout stream. No other anglers unfortunately to witness my success. 2nd cast caught a brook trout. Bugs were bonkers so I cut it short. Day 2, took kayak to a stocked rainbow lake and caught nothing. Was a nice paddle though, perfect weather. Saw another dude fishing who caught some undersized fish earlier. Then went to a large bog lake with brookies, and no luck. Last lake of the day was a trout rearing lake and oddly enough caught perch on a Panther Martin in a designated trout lake. That night picked up some smallies off the dock, it was about a 50% success rate. Even my wife came a landed a few. Was just after sun down and the bass were everywhere. I think the trout are mostly dormant right now, water is really warm. Ideally I'd use minnows but these lakes are artificial lures only. I tried a gulp minnow at the thermocline with no success. Maybe in a month or so it'll be better.
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Aug 2, 2020 19:08
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My entrants for the Dickspoon Derby arrived today, courtesy of A Pack of Kobolds. Thanks Dude! These will be going with me to Alaska at the end of the week. The goal : Salmon. And Dolly Varden. And whatever else I can get to bite these. But it just wouldn't do to have them plain silver...  First up is the 20g with a Gamakatsu Assist Hook. The name, Spotted Dick. Second is the 15 gram beauty coated in whatever nail polish I could sneak out of the bathroom without my wife yelling at me. Hooked with an Eagle Claw. Third is the green monster with a mopfly VMC treble. The red dot is not blood, but it could have been with how sharp that drat hook is. My Gamakatsu poo poo is sharp, but that VMC stuff is next level. Lastly we have the 5 gram with a single hook left shiny and chrome. Some of the waters I may be fishing are unbaited single hook, hence why not all have trebles. As much as I'd love to nail a halibut with these, I think it's unlikely. But I'll probably still try. Thanks again Kobold!
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Aug 4, 2020 02:39
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Homer, AK, 2020 - Social Distancing at a Poles Length Arrived at the beginning of a 7 day beautiful weather streak. Sunny, hardly any wind (except for charter day #1, which just moved back a day).  Most of the time was spent catching sculpin and flounder with the kiddo and Mrs. Yooper. They were easy to catch, fun to fight, and was easier to keep the kid zoned in on than the Nick Dudiak Fishing Lagoon.  But the lagoon paid off! I spent probably 10 hours fishing it throughout the week. It's alluring as you can watch the fish fight, jump, zoom around, and not bite your loving lure.  Eventually I tied into a nice silver. The Anchor River was just starting to pick up when we arrived and with the nice weather kind of shut down as the water levels dropped. I threw spinners and spoons and watched fly rod supremacy with just yard or a bead. I still got a handful of pinks and thoroughly enjoyed the river.  First charter was a combo Halibut-Salmon charter. Mine is the 2nd largest above, but not terribly large. Probably under 40 pounds. On top of that I picked up two kings, which was really awesome, but on the downside I was done fishing for the day. Other folks picked up one king, pinks, and silvers to finish out the bag. We went out about two hours into Cook Inlet and could see Iliamna volcano and such, was super sweet.  Next charter was a halibut-rockfish charter and we went waaaay into the ocean, Kodiak Island was big on the horizon. Ocean was like glass, it was really amazing. At our fishing spot we had three pods of humpback whales all around us blowing and rolling and poo poo for like 3 hours.  Two of the above halibut had to be shot before being brought into the boat. A third one was supposed to be shot but they ran out of .410 shells. The above halibut are pretty much order of catch from left to right. Unfortunately I caught the first one and didn't realize how much larger they would get. In hindsight I should have had them release the fish so I could have gotten a larger one. The two big ones are both ~125 lbs caught by a husband-wife team. The largest one a dude caught on a Mr Twister / Jig that was the size of a chicken. It was ridiculously big. Dude jigged it hard for like 2 hours. We caught a ton of undersize lingcod too, probably 20 or 30. Social distancing was really hit and miss. Soldotna was basically business as usual almost everywhere. Homer was pretty strict on masks. The small coastal villages were completely closed to outsiders. Alaska felt fairly well empty which was really cool on one hand, but eerie on the other. Combat fishing was non-existent except at the Russian River and the city access in Soldotna. Even that was really tame. We tried for half a day to floss some sockeye but it's a weird method and had no luck. Had one bear encounter with a Black Bear but it ran it's fat rear end away (twice). It's going to be a tough season for Alaska. Already a lot of business were shuttered and some of those were permanently closed. The Alaska Sealife Center in Seward is about to go bankrupt. One baitshop in Homer was shutting down though the charters said it was a brisk year. Saw a massive raft of otters, harbor seals, sea eagle, puffins, bald eagles, cranes. When I went to pick up my fish at the processor a dude was inside freaking out because he had 600 lbs of fish to deal with and had no idea what to do. I was full up for checked luggage. $5.35 / lb to Fedex it home. My landlord was super cool and had a bunch of sweet Alaska stories. He left me a massive joint on the porch, which I didn't partake in as I'm a good dad. But had I been solo, woooo. Already planning next year.
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Aug 16, 2020 22:46
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dangling pointer posted:E: I asked in the discord but my headlamp recently broke. Any recommendations? I use a Black Diamond Spot headlamp. Takes 3 AAA batteries. Battery life is decent, but full blast all night will eat up a set.
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Aug 17, 2020 12:08
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HenryJLittlefinger posted:This is actually the right answer. You can also politely request they keep it between you so you can enjoy it together in the future without too much traffic. I have one friend who is a fishing fool (to the detriment of career and relationships) who showed a primo steelhead spot to a dude. Said dude showed it to his brother, who is a trout-salmon guide, and my buddy arrived at his gnarly hole to find the guide with clients tromping about. Another friend has pledged to show me the greatest brook trout lake ever... once his father dies, and not before. The way I see it, there's less fishing pressure than ever and the more you can do to get people on fish the better. Keeping people interested and engaged in keeping the water protected and able to be fished will be priceless. Hell of a lot of good your prized hole will be when access is closed off and the fish gone. That said, if I show someone a spot and it is suddenly populated with idiots, I just won't show that person a spot again. At least not a good one.
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Aug 22, 2020 21:09
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HenryJLittlefinger posted:Depends on where you are. In growing metro regions (Denver, Atlanta, PNW), pressure grows on public waters because the population is growing fast. But nationwide, license sales for hunting and fishing are declining pretty hard. Maybe not since covid, but in a long term look back, they are. I've seen a definite drop in pressure in the past 20 years in my area. My main point was to introduce people and keep them engaged in the sport. Other than a few spots it's rare I run into people when I'm fishing. If more engagement can keep the DNR on top of management, site protection, and stocking, then I'm happy. As it is most of the lakes I like to fish no longer have DNR maintained access so instead we have rutted hills and tore up trails to drag in a kayak.
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Aug 23, 2020 00:28
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hot cocoa on the couch posted:When I first started fishing (Ontario) I made really sure to understand the laws with regard to property ownership. Here, navigable waters are publicly owned and can't be bought or sold. However, the land surrounding them can and thus the concept of "private lake" exists, but only from a controlled access point of view. As long as you're standing in the water (and I believe 1 or 2 meters from the bank?), you're on public property and cannot be removed. This has been really contentious in Michigan lately. Mostly on beaches, but it's raising questions as to river access too. There's a "private beach" on the southern part of Lake Michigan that is in a really popular beach walking area. The owners didn't like people walking on the beach so they first put in private security, and later chain link security fences that extended into the lake. Eventually it entered the courts and it was defined that "The Michigan Supreme Court determined that the public has a right to walk along the shores of the Great Lakes, even on privately-owned land. Lakefront property owners may own the land down to the water’s edge, but the public trust doctrine nevertheless allows the public to walk on the land between the water’s edge and the “ordinary high water mark,” the place on the shore up to which the presence and action of the water is so continuous as to leave a distinct mark." There was dissent on what is the water mark, is it literally wet sand? Or is it where the highest point of water is? What about a river, spring flood high point?
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Sep 24, 2020 14:12
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A Pack of Kobolds posted:There is a lake near me that is public land that the public cannot access. 100% of the land surrounding it is owned by the rich, who specifically fought to keep a park from being built which would have allowed the public to access the lake which they, the public, ostensibly own. Same thing happened here, except it is a road easement issue. One landowner decided no easement to the Forest Service and that was it. It can be hiked across about 2 1/2 miles of federal forest though, so I might get a bunch of obnoxious mountain man re-enactors and go poo poo the place up. Those guys love cannons, whisky, and combining the two in hilarity. The coho fishing isn't too shabby at the right time of year too.
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Sep 24, 2020 19:32
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joem83 posted:Ahh, Minnesota. The other bastion of the Hmong people. I kinda wish we had more of that enthusiasm here. Not much for shorefishing so in the summer it's all walleye boats that cost more than my house. In the winter though it's equal opportunity to freeze your rear end off and not catch fish. Snowflakes forecast tonight. My icefishing gear is calling...
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Oct 1, 2020 19:33
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Ghostnuke posted:koboldsworkshop.com  Holy poo poo, it's real. 
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Oct 9, 2020 13:58
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Mukulu posted:I love ice fishing Fixed it for you. I drove through Minnesota earlier in the week. Skim ice was forming. Walleye diehards are still cruising the bay right now, but that'll shut down with the next cold spell. My only worry this year is being able to get minnows. I had issues at the end of last year, this year will probably be worse. Will have to go the Gulp route again.
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Nov 20, 2020 16:35
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 First crappie and trout of the ice fishing season. Our ice is super weird right now, normally we'd have like 24 inches, I saw maybe 5. Trout was about 10". I was using these tungsten jigs for the crappie and they were tearing it up. https://i.imgur.com/Q9CwAqC.mp4 My one, and only, St. Croix rod.
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Jan 17, 2021 21:37
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HamAdams posted:
https://discord.gg/5mEGXQDXsT
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Feb 27, 2021 19:44
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XeeD posted:I finally got out on the ice last weekend. Two afternoons of sun, snow, and goddamned wind. Thermal meter said -10C, but the wind brought that down to around -23. Managed to yard up a couple spring stock walleyes, a very tiny pike and a very fine 2kg pike. I had amazingly beautiful weather, nearly 42F on the ice and no wind. Unfortunately I caught zero fish. Likely my last day ice fishing as I got my keys to my house today. On the plus side, come spring, I'm right on the edge of a National Forest.
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Feb 28, 2021 22:42
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Ghostnuke posted:FB is useless for me, everyone is too protective of "their" spots. It's just a bunch of people asking where the fish are and then some goober saying "have you checked the water? lolllololololl" I'd go to a bait shop, buy something, then chat up whoever is selling the bait. Have a friend in the military who hires a shore charter for a half day every time he moves duty station. That and he goes to piers in uniform with a fishing pole and just chats with the old guys.
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Mar 1, 2021 20:05
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Time posted:dumb q here: I’m riding my bike from the east coast to the west coast and would like to fish along the way. Do your states offer like 3 day fishing licenses and stuff for tourists or is it just full year? Obviously this is going to vary state to state I’m just kind of sampling the thread because I haven’t locked down the exact route yet. Would love to ride until I see some good water, fish, and then move on but it might be too much of a hassle. Which states? Michigan and Wisconsin both offer $10/day for non-residents, you define how many days when you get the license. Minnesota looks a bit more convoluted but still offers it at a reasonable price. East to west bike route sounds awesome, my dream trip is up to Alaska on a bike. Then I won't come back.
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Apr 2, 2021 15:34
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Sickening posted:I have always wondered about what fishing is like for you northerners. Since you only get part of the year to fish with good weather, I would think it always gets super busy. Walleye opener used to be ridiculous here. It's like the circus comes to the boat launch. Guys shitfaced drunk trying to start a boat they haven't touched since the year before's opener. 6 boats can launch at once and someone always jackknifes the trailer and blocks half of them. Boats falling off trailers, trucks sliding into the water, some dude with a pontoon boat and barrel of beer just egging everyone on. A friend of mine bought a house across the street from a boat launch. He woke up on opening day to find ten trucks parked on his front lawn. He put up a no-parking sign and the next day awoke to ten trucks in his lawn and a crushed no parking sign. So he drug out his welder and put a tack weld on each of the ball-hitch connections. It's not so crazy anymore, but more likely because of the fish laundering that was/is going on. Numbers are way down from where they should be.
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May 11, 2021 17:10
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Sickening posted:What is fish laundering? So if you are poaching fish and suddenly try to sell a thousand pounds of walleye you get in trouble. There is supposed to be a chain of custody from the commercial fisherman, to the dealers, to the bar down the street. The bay near me is/was stocked with millions of walleye fry every year by the DNR and various fishing groups. But the fishing never really seemed to get any better. People theorized it was anything from the fish migrating out as the waters could only hold so many fish to disease to poaching. What was happening is they were being poached through the ice in gill nets and sold through a a dealer who was able to cook the books to hide the origins. Eventually the discrepancy came to light and the operation was discovered. Here's a link to the original news release. The tl;dr of it all is there was a tribal twist to the plot that led to the accused basically walking away with no penalty. After probably taking over 100,000 lbs of fish if not more. It wasn't uncommon in the summers to run into gillnets of rotting fish. This led to some really active fishing clubs basically saying gently caress it. They quit stocking and abandoned a lot of the community outreach they were doing in disgust.
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May 13, 2021 02:25
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Yond Cassius posted:Do you know enough details to tell that story? I'm morbidly curious. Pretty much. The Michigan DNR was the initiating investigators and, like you said, didn't have jurisdiction. The DNR put a ton of effort into the case too. Last I heard everyone walked away with misdemeanors. Tribal fishing rights are a touchy subject around here. It rapidly turns into a really lovely conversation with very polarized opinions.
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May 13, 2021 12:32
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Mukulu posted:I've gotten into this conversation and it just boils down to me laughing at veiled racism. I like saying treaty rights matter. This is pretty much it. My sisters in laws first husband was in the Sault tribe, the way he looked at it this was just like anyone else poaching. They have a legal right to a subsistence quantity, but not free rein. He was as pissed about the poaching as anyone else because it made those who did it legally look bad. They want to combat stereotypes as much as the other side wants to perpetuate stereotypes. The tribe also stocks a ton of Walleye throughout our area.
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May 13, 2021 15:17
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I've had a glorious 3 weeks of trout fishing with no mosquitos. But now they have arrived, ticks too. Time to wait for the bulk of them to die off, it's nasty in the woods right now.
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May 18, 2021 16:35
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Finally met my neighbor to the north and discovered he has 5 pay-to-fish/aquaculture ponds that I'm allowed to fish. My son and I went out for two hours and I caught more bluegill than I have in my entire life combined. But I can only keep the green sunfish
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Jun 30, 2021 01:17
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crazypeltast52 posted:They want to keep them all for themselves probably. This. They sell them to restaurants and such. Fine by me though, I'll catch mondo bluegills all day.
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Jun 30, 2021 12:15
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I use whatever rando tackle comes with the lure or Eagle Claw / Gamakatsu / Mustad for normal fish hooks for brookies, panfish, small bass. The exception is steelhead or salmon fishing, I lost a beautiful salmon last year and upon retrieving the lure discovered a straightened treble hook. It was the generic hook that came with the spoon, I put on some VMC hooks on the big lures and have yet to see a hook even flex on the big fish.
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Aug 23, 2021 01:09
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Farking Bastage posted:This is kind of cool hearing about how different locales regard the food value of different fish. Around us it is water temperature related. There are fish I catch out of inland lakes that taste like catfood, but I catch the same fish out of Lake Michigan, or Lake Superior, and they taste great. Same for ice fishing or summer fishing. It's even more pronounced with salmon here compared to salmon in the oceans.
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Nov 26, 2021 13:43
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crazypeltast52 posted:GOONFISH ICE CLASSIC (1/29-1/30/2022) Lake Minnetonka, MN I'm going to try to make it. Work has been crazy with COVID downtime so I might be stuck here.
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Jan 6, 2022 20:15
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crazypeltast52 posted:Reposting to make sure you all know it is this weekend: Unfortunately I will not be able to attend this one. Good luck, snap some pics of the big fish eh?
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Jan 29, 2022 13:45
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Tried to fish today! Lake Superior is kind of icy. Hopefully by next week the shore ice will melt and the rivers warm a bit. 
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Apr 23, 2022 23:00
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idiotsavant posted:What do people generally use for stocked trout? I have a couple of roostertails & castmaster spoons and i assume there's always just powerbait/salmon eggs on a bobber. Wanna go up to one of the SF East Bay lakes & see if I can catch some trouts. Panther martins. Mepps spinners.
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May 26, 2022 01:52
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idiotsavant posted:Does color matter at all or just grab some and go I just buy the 5 pack or whatever. Agreed on spoons, but most of the rivers I fish around here are so packed with tag alders that it's rare I can cast far enough with a spinner.
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May 27, 2022 13:05
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I'm headed to northern Ontario near Chapleau for Labor Day weekend, anyone have any tips for walleye about that time of the year? Going with the kiddo so quantity >> size. I know I'll need lead free tackle for jigs and such. So far I'm hearing jigging with soft baits, white or yellow perchish, and running rock piles and breaks.
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Aug 15, 2022 19:37
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I'm going to hit up a bait shop just into Canada and budget $100 for tackle. I got lucky and the provincial park we're staying at has two boats for rent for a ridiculous cheap price of $100 / day for a fully equipped 16 ft fishing boat. I was going to paddle the canoe for fishing, but it'll nice to not worry about wind days or my arms falling off.
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Aug 17, 2022 15:54
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Ambassadorofsodomy posted:If its got all the bells and whatnot, 100 bucks isn't bad at all. Good info on the license, thanks! The park website says : "Federal Regulation now requires us to ask for either proof of Operator Competency or we are required to complete a “Dockside Rental Checklist”, which is valid for the duration of the rental period. " But $22 to get it and have it for the future is a pretty easy choice. The kiddo is 12, so all he needs is an Outdoors Card as long as I have a valid license.
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Aug 17, 2022 20:49
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Trip Report to Wakami Lake Report. Arrived at the lake to 30-40 mph south winds and a very choppy lake. Got boat rented, but it was too rough to get out. Next day the temp dropped 20 degrees but now the wind was 30 mph out of the north, we did get out early in the day but no fish. Went out for the evening and saw a dude cleaning a fat stack of walleyes. We chatted him up and he not only told us what to use, but gave us his lures, leeches, and pointed out exactly where to fish. Big bearded Canadian dude, I salute you!  This led to our 3 walleye, 15", 16", and 19". By then the kiddo was cold and off the water we went. The next day brought calmer waters, but bright skies, and we didn't pick up anymore fish. I found the kid was good for about 2 hours in the boat. I think if we'd had got onto more fish that would have been longer. Wakami Lake was a solid trip, we'll definitely go back. Everyone involved with Ontario Parks was super cool. The boat rental was awesome, brand new 20hp Honda on a 16ft aluminum boat for $80 USD / day. It came with more gas than I could have even burned in two days. I'm from a fairly rural area but it's nothing compared to that kind of rural.
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Sep 6, 2022 16:47
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Math You posted:I'm looking to get a new fillet knife. I've used cheapo Berkeley and Rapala knives over the years and I'd like something that holds an edge. I bought a Morakniv with composite handle for like $30 on Amazon. Am very happy with edge retention and quality. https://www.amazon.com/Morakniv-Companion-Filet-Knife-6-1/dp/B08LZTWM8P/ref=pd_lpo_1?pd_rd_i=B08LZTWM8P&th=1
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Sep 18, 2022 16:41
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| # ¿ Apr 25, 2024 19:49 |
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Headed up to Wakami Lake Provincial Park on Thursday. Am very excited. We're renting a 16' boat from the Park, which makes the whole trip super convenient. Initial plan is to cast jigs tipped with worms or white twisters. Will probably get some minnows too. Maybe drag some raps in the evening. Anyone have any other lures or techniques we could try?
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Jun 5, 2023 15:13
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