Irishangler87

Cheers for the info everyone. I have a ton of info on tackle now to get going.There's such an amount of different lures, lines, floats and weights in Can tire and bass pro it's good to have an idea what I'm looking for before going in. I'm going to target pike to start, they look nasty and should give a great fight. Hopefully we get a thaw soon so I can get out there. Weathers not looking good for the next week at least though.

I hear what your saying about it being safer to go with super strong line. It would suck to have the line snap after hooking something. My only concern though is the reel I have right now is rated for 6-10 lb test. Does that mean that any fish that can snap 15lb test can also destroy my reel? If that is the case maybe I'll leave the carp alone for a while and try for pike or catfish with minnows or night crawlers. (Smaller bait, smaller fish?) I've never caught a fish bigger than 1lb so even 3lb would be a great fight for me!

I still say...if you are going for coarse fish (Carp esp)...you need more than 15lb test...otherwise you are going to be looking into an epic land otherwise they are just going to snap off in a hurry. I've run 20lb braid and hit carp that after 10 mins of them stripping off line and almost spooling me...I tightened up the drag and ended up straightening my hook when I tried to horse them in (and have snapped off as well). I know that people may disagree but for me (notice I said me)....I prefer to get them in and back in the water as quick as I can. It truly is a bit of a balance between straightening hooks and drag settings....lol...but what the heck it's all about learning. I know with my rig it will take me 15-20 minutes to land a large carp with line being stripped and just riding that ragged edge of bending out the hooks...lol!

Note: for Pike...I actually don't run leaders but tend to fish for them using top waters and since they hit the lure, it really isn't required.

Egg sinkers, good to know. I hadn't heard of those before. So with 15lb line and fluorocarbon leader on my light/med rod I should be fairly well set up for course fish then? If catfish are bottom feeders are pike and carp similar?

Thanks for all the responses, I definitely have enough info to get started now. My plan of attack is to hit Lake Ontario looking for pike or catfish. From what I've researched about them they aren't overly picky and might be a good fish to target after having success with perch. I've been looking over google maps and tommy Thompson park looks promising. I'm going to try and get down there on the weekend and scout it out for when the ice melts.