Hairyfish

Hi im new on this forum:)
Gar come up to the surface to get air. But as soon as you toss something at them they get spooked so easily. Only way you will ever get a hook in its mouth is with live bait. A shad in the fall will work the best but when you feel that fish hit the bait dont set the hook right away. The key is to leave your spool open or your drag all the way loosened. What you want is the fish to really eat that bait and move it to the back of its mouth. Once you see your line coming out wait a bit let it take it out for a few seconds and then a hard sweeping hookset. A side sweeping hookset will get that dinosaur fish right in the corner of its mouth. As for tackle use 7ft MH F bait casting rod and a reel with some strong drag (14 lbs+ ) ..good luck

I have used marshmallows for trout, not drifting them though. When the bite was tough I would just find a very slow pool, set up the mallow so it would suspend mid water, and wait for a fish to strike, caught quite a few on this method.

 

People on this forum like to mess with people like you asking legitimate questions, they want to keep the "snagger" "flosser" "loogan" circle jerk alive, hence IR4J's comment. I find it quite immature and really annoying at this point, they act like they're the only ethical fisherman on the planet, everyone else is a "loogan" and unless your're centerpin or fly fishing and take a pic of the fish still in water you're the bad guy.

 

Anyways, hopefully you found my answer helpful, and sorry for the rant, just get used to this stuff around here and hopefully there are some nice enough guys to give you a legit answer.

 

BTW I've had good luck with the cheese flavored ones with the sparkles, bought em at Canadian Tire.  

I think there's a widespread misconception out there that salmon don't bite once upriver. 

 

Agreed. Very similar to steelhead, in that when they're not spooked and fresh run, they'll hit like crazy. Wrong bait, or wrong presentation/time of day etc, and you won't get any bites.

 

Think of the countless people that don't even get a single bite day after day when steelheading in the Spring. The steelies do bite in the Spring, but several factors will determine whether you get any or not, and it takes experience to figure out how to leverage those factors in your favour to consistently catch them. 

Interesting to read the different opinions out there.

Personally I agree with the idea of educating people about fishing regs and ethics as a precondition to getting a fishing licence. Perhaps an on-line course like the boating exam with a marginal fee would suffice. 

I think there's a widespread misconception out there that salmon don't bite once upriver. Having fished the tribs for the 25 years I can categorically tell you salmon will take various presentations from roe to various artificials (whether they do this out of instinct or aggression is another story).  For example, I have witnessed many times salmon coming up from the depths of a pool to snatch roe mid-descent. 

 

I've also noticed they are more likely to strike when they're not spooked. Unfortunately snaggers spook pools. If there were no snaggers there would be less spooked fish and more sport for everyone. Also remember, amongst the salmon there are browns and later steelhead, why give up the opportunity and let the snaggers win the day? 

I believe there is much that can be done to improve the fishery and I think education is the key.

Hey gang - that time of year again - salmon insanity is slowly coming to an end and two sections of a popular creek in the Samuel Wilmot Nature Area ( located in Newcastle, Ontario ) need our help again.  Usually this takes about 2 - 3 hours to do.  Gloves, water and hand sanitizer will be supplied. 

 

The plan is to meet at the Toronto St. parking lot ( PM for details if you need ) at 9 am on Saturday October 25 / 2014.  We will wait at the parking lot for 20 minutes for any later comers and then hit the water.  As mentioned before this will take approx. 2 - 3 hours.  Heavy lifting is not required as we usually have a few big dudes to take care of that.  A lot of the time we fish together afterwards and shoot the breeze so its a great oppurtunity to meet and greet fellow members. 

 

If you are interested in joining us  post here or shoot me a PM.

 

Thanks to all

I've been having one heck of a time finding them. I tried Sail, Lebaron, nothing. CT has nothing also. I am in Ottawa so not much here. I saw a bunch that you guys stock on Fisheads but shipping is a bit much for small packages.

just go to the dollar store and get the generic arts and  crafts beads that are about the same size and in either red, orange or pink. I use them and see no reason to pay a premium because they have trout in the name 

 If it was the lady with a golden retriever, she's a cool local lady.  Told me enough info about number of anglers on her walking path, tells me if anyone up or down river from me has caught anything.  She's never let her dog jump into pools while I was fishing, but if she did, I wouldn't get annoyed in any way.  She probably honestly lives 2 mins from there as I see her every other time I'm there.  

 

I never got any bad vibes from her, but I can see how she might get offended by some sport fisherman's attitudes.  You have to understand it from the local's perspective, people park in front of their houses day after day and trash their beautiful parks and leave dead fish on the banks.  

 

As a fishermen, I'd say to avoid spots like that if you are bothered by locals (please respect them) or loogans (respect is optional lol).  Most guys have waders, so it's not hard to move to a spot on the river that locals and lesser loogans can't get to.  And if the crowds and hoopla still bother you, then you probably shouldn't be fishing on such a popular trib.   

 

She had two dogs, one might have been a retriever of some sort. I have no issue sharing the water, I just expect some common courtesy and respect. I do get that a lot of anglers may be disrespectful to her or others, but it wasn't me and I was more than happy to pack up and move on to somewhere more productive.

 

A simple, " Hey do you mind pulling your line out of the water while my dog cools off for a bit or takes a quick swim" isn't too much to ask. If her dog was in the water, and I came to fish, I wouldn't walk into that situation and pitch my hook in the water until the dog was out without asking and I would have a little common courtesy doing it. 

 

I am actually a "local" in the area and if someone parks in front of my house, its not my property, all of the power to them. If they litter they will hear about it it whether they are on the water in my view or elsewhere as litter sucks anywhere, but I don't think it was the same lady as she seemed genuinely unpleasant overall. 

 

Not bothered by locals, just rude people in general whether its an angler or passerby. 

 

Rant over

 

Have a nice day everyone. 

Recent encounter at this location was with a lady walking her dog. 

 If it was the lady with a golden retriever, she's a cool local lady.  Told me enough info about number of anglers on her walking path, tells me if anyone up or down river from me has caught anything.  She's never let her dog jump into pools while I was fishing, but if she did, I wouldn't get annoyed in any way.  She probably honestly lives 2 mins from there as I see her every other time I'm there.  

 

I never got any bad vibes from her, but I can see how she might get offended by some sport fisherman's attitudes.  You have to understand it from the local's perspective, people park in front of their houses day after day and trash their beautiful parks and leave dead fish on the banks.  

 

As a fishermen, I'd say to avoid spots like that if you are bothered by locals (please respect them) or loogans (respect is optional lol).  Most guys have waders, so it's not hard to move to a spot on the river that locals and lesser loogans can't get to.  And if the crowds and hoopla still bother you, then you probably shouldn't be fishing on such a popular trib.   

Recent encounter at this location was with a lady walking her dog. I was fishing the pool by myself and the lady comes up to me and says I am letting my dogs off the leash to swim for a few minutes. I thought she could have asked, instead of just telling me she was going to let her dog in. Maybe she encountered push back before and was being rude because of that but whatever, I took my line out of the water so it didn't hook her dog. 

 

While her dogs are swimming in the pool I'm getting ready to move because the dogs would obviously spook anything in the water. as I am securing my line to my rod and locking my pin she comes over and asks if I am fishing for trout. I was quick to the point that I was and she asks if any where in the pool. I said probably not anymore. She then asked why, and I said they usually don't like dogs too much. As much as this sounds sarcastic, I really was mild mannered, annoyed but again not being rude. 

 

She proceeds to flip out, you need to share the water, your fisherman are all the same, I will let me dog swim if he wants to swim. So much anger, I am just looking at her she is yelling and spitting and obviously looking for an argument. I just look at her until she stops, she is breathing heavy, visibly upset, catching her breath, one of her dogs in actually sitting beside me and I'm scratching his head with my free hand. 

 

I wait for a few more seconds and in a calm tone let her know how nasty and unattractive her attitude is, how I took my line of the water with no push back and how I never complained that her dogs where off the leash when in reality some people would freak out as they are afraid of dogs. I told her the water is supposed to be a peaceful place and her attitude ruined it for me, not her dogs, so I was leaving in reality I just fished a few pools down. 

 

Its not always anglers that cause issues on the river bank hopefully she now realizes that. 

Night fishing would require a good ol' Coleman lantern but is well worth it. They are smashing everything from fly's to slip-rigs, marshmellows, troutbait... anything that floats... I ran out of bait so I found a piece of styrofoam in the bushes, they hit that too! lol. Everything in the mouth, I foul hooked one by accident but landed a ton. I let all the fish back to do their business, but even if they get the job done, I'm not optimistic about the proceeds. Environment Canada has been doing a great job trying to replenish this river since 1990 but I think the pollutants are still a little much to handle after 50 years of morons. We'll see, but still amazing to see them trying... let's be hopeful.

My son and I fished TTP for the second time this weekend. We ran into a lot of nice guys fishing and had a great time!

 

Hooked onto a big carp but lost him after fighting him for while. Some other guys were able to land a nice one. Saw some really huge ones and a huge bass as well. One guy caught a huge largemouth bass and my son caught his first pike!!

 

GOOD STUFF HF!

Theres your proof!  "Game" fish at tommy thompson park.

 

sorry about the sideways pic, doesnt show up sideways on my pc. 

One from last week.  I actually prefer these smaller ones compared to the huge ones.
 

Some "old" photos of GBA having a great day 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Love the fishes. And also love the details of those pictures. lovely shots.

Not to be a deuce or anything but, would you consider me flossing if im fishing in my estimate a 7 foot pool with a 4 foot max float rig? Im a big fan of the pinkies and out east that was the ticket for me last monday, not as much pressure i guess compared to the weekend, i was drifting roe the first 2 hours got myself 3 nookies, on various colored bags and similar sizes, then when the bite suddenly stoppedi switched into the pinkies, 10 mins later the bite was on like there was no tomorrow, i switched to roe again every hour or so, changing from roe to pinkie every hour, but when i move pools i make it sure that im about estimatedly 3 feet from the bottom, i considered last monday to be one of my sucessfull days 11/15 more or less 5 on the roe and 6 on the pinkie, dont take it wrong from me but i dont think there was anything wrong with my method. And i might have get what your trying to prove the wrong way, (please correct me if i did so) but in a way i kinda got offended that some people were against drifting pinkies, i was searching and hoping a brown or a steelhead would take my offering( specially the pinkie) but i dont know for whatever reason it ends up in the salmons mouth either its pissed off from it drifting beside it, did he really want to eat it or did it have a case of flossing, some folks from quebec were saying im a pro flosser cause i seemed to hit fish more often than them when they were fishing beside me, i got offended that time and decided to be the bigger man and kept my mouth shut. Few hours later they left cause all they were doing was snagging anyway( i mean heavy rods loaded with 60 lb braid and a nasty big spoon and float rigs with 50 lb braided line set deeper than lake ontario) in my very honest opinion my intentions to fish is clean, none of these methods i.e snagging, lining flossing is in anyway acceptable to me, to me if people assume that i was doing such methods to catch fish i wouldnt be on the water, cause i take pride in how my methods were developed and honed. I got nothing bad against you brother or to anyone who gets affected but this thread kinda rubbed me off the wrong way, and if i stepped on someones foot i apologize, i might have just got the message or the point the wrong way