Mike

I think we need some of the Canadian boaters to answer this one. There are definitly some big fish caught out of port dalhousie(st catharines) and port credit(Toronto)

Keep in mind that these ports are aproxiametly 25 miles apart by water.

Are we rating ports by the fishing, or the amenities and ease of use?

Welcome to the captains chair Mike and thanks for the intro.

Welcome to the site Lonnie.

Welcome to the captains chair John and thanks for the intro.

I live just up the road from you in St. Catharines.

I might just have to get glf up here and take him out on Lake Ontario one of these days.

Mike

Did anyone volunteer yet?

I would recommeng getting Bens 100 repellant. It contains over 98% deet and it works. It is in a small orange bottle.

This is what I use when I am stream fishing up north,and I have not got bitten yet. Usually I spray it on my baseball cap and watch the wall of blackflys circle my head.

Obviosly some care should be taken when applying it, and never put it on the kids.

Welcome to the site tnail. What kind of fishin can you do in the North of the gulf of Mexico?

Once you get your image size correct, here is a link to a tutorial i wrote, that will help you out.

http://www.greatlakesfisherman.com/forums/showthread.php?t=219

You are on the Niagara River,just upstream a bit from Lake Ontario.

I really thought some of you might get this 1 !!

If you are still having problems uploading your pic. The next time you are on grab myself or 1 of the moderators and go to fishchat. We will be able to help you out easier that way.

BOCA GRANDE, Fla. - Fishing Capt. Bucky Dennis has been trying to catch a record hammerhead shark for 10 years. He may have finally succeeded.

On Tuesday, he reeled in a monstrous 1,280-pounder that ate a 25-pound stingray for bait at Boca Grande Pass near Fort Myers. That would beat by nearly 300 pounds the current all-tackle world record for a hammerhead shark.

Dennis, who was using 130-pound test line, and three friends fought the 14 1/2 foot shark for five hours and it dragged his boat about 12 miles offshore before they got it aboard.

"It's fun hooking them, but if you get too close, they will bite," Dennis said. "And whatever they bite, they will bite off."

The current all-tackle world record hammerhead is 991 pounds, caught May 30, 1982, by Allen Ogle of Punta Gorda, according to the International Game Fish Association. The organization is reviewing the latest catch to determine if it qualifies as the new record, a process that will take about 60 days.

The Port Charlotte fishing captain donated the big fish to the Center for Shark Research at Mote Marine Laboratory in Sarasota, which plans to have it mounted and displayed. Center director Robert Hueter said researchers prefer that people tag and release large sharks because they help sustain the species.

"But we are grateful that this animal has been donated to science. It will help us understand more about these animals," Hueter said.

The largest shark ever hooked was a 2,664-pound great white caught off the southern coast of Australia in 1959.

HEHE- we get the show hear as well, and I have charlie anyhow

I have seen a commercial for it.

and thats it.

Wecome to the Captains Chair, thanks for the intro!

My opinion is based on the type of fishing I do which is rivers,streams and creeks mainly. The structure is rock and trees. So my fishing line has to stand up to all the nicks it gets.

For about 25 years I have used Ande monafilament line. I tried all the others stren,berkley,spiderwire,firewire you name it. I always went back to Ande and my opinion of the others was that they were crap.

This last fishing trip I tried a new line.

P-Line [a fluorocarbon coating that insures virtual invisibility underwater, along with a copolymer construction for unbelievable knot strength and durability. Color: Clear.]

Usually on my weekend fishing trip to Manitoulin I would use 1 spool an Friday and Saturday and switch to a second spool for Sunday and Monday.

This trip I used the P-Line and was most impressed. It held up magnificantly to the rock and tree structure. I used the same spool for the whole trip, and I dont think I cleaned off more than 20 yards of nicked line.

The biggest disadvantage of the P-Line is the cost, it is about 2-3 times more than Ande.

As it stands now I would have to say that the P-Line is great, but I will have to wait till winter to see how it stands up to the Cold Niagara River.

Most lines have failed the cold test.

If all else fails I will go back to Ande.

Copys of this transcript can be purchased for $12.99 U.S. including S&H charges. Michigan residents please add $19.99 for state taxes. This offer void in Alaska and Hawaii. Just Kidding

Or wait for the DVD>>>>>

Welcome Aboard!

Scientists Hunt Bird Flu in Alaska

ANCHORAGE, Alaska - The search for the first wild bird carrying a deadly flu virus to North America is under way on a lonely stretch of coastal salt marsh on the outskirts of Alaska's largest city.

Biologists are ankle-deep in mud and yellowed marsh grass, trying to net and test two types of shorebirds. Both are known to visit regions where flocks have caught the dangerous H5N1 virus that has spread across Asia and even into Europe and Africa.

"Birds up here are going to be interacting with birds that are going to be moving back in the United States. This is kind of Grand Central Station," said Paul Slota of the U.S. Geological Survey, who will be overseeing the testing of samples back at the USGS wildlife lab in Madison, Wis.

The focus now is on long-billed dowitchers and pectoral sandpipers, just two of the 28 bird species that come to the great avian mixing zone that is Alaska. If bird flu can be carried long-distance by wild birds, experts hope to see it first here, before the fall migration through other states.

Of course no one knows if the H5N1 flu will arrive on the wings of a migratory bird. Or if it will reach this continent this year. But if it does, federal wildlife officials want to stop it from spreading through many bird species and threatening domestic poultry.

Bird flu has killed or led to the slaughter of millions of chickens and ducks in Asia. It has infected more than 200 people who had very close contact with poultry. Of the known human cases, about half of the victims have died.

The big fear is that this virus will mutate into a virulent form that can easily infect people and spread among them.

But for now the mission at hand is swabbing the back sides of dowitchers and sandpipers to get fecal samples that will be tested for bird flu. The project is so massive, Alaska biologists have faced a swab shortage. Nationwide, the goal is to sample 75,000 to 100,000 wild birds.

The long-billed dowitcher is a 10-inch gray shorebird with long legs. It breeds in high-latitude coastal wetlands in Alaska, Canada and the Russian Far East.

Those that breed in Russia range near H5N1 outbreak areas in Asia and mix with birds that could be infected. Then they pass through Alaska in spring and fall.

Half of the world's pectoral sandpipers breed in Alaska or Canada, the other half in Russia. Small numbers of Siberian birds winter in Southeast Asia, Australia and New Zealand and have the potential to pick up the virus along the way.

Each May, some pectoral sandpipers make a stop on the Anchorage salt marsh, a beach of mud, grass and brackish ponds that stretches a thousand feet to Cook Inlet. The view is magnificent — across the water is Mount Susitna, known locally as Sleeping Lady because of its resemblance woman reclining on her side — but the standing water, mud and rotting vegetation give off a slightly sweet odor of decay.

To a wading bird traveling from South America, it's a buffet line. The shorebirds feed on seeds, emerging beetles and spiders. With their sensitive bills, they probe the top half-inch of the mud for fly larvae, said USGS biologist Bob Gill.

"They can feel a clam move from a few centimeters away," he said.

Bird tracks blanket the bottom of the shallow ponds. Biologist Dan Ruthrauff ducks down behind a weathered log, waiting for his prey to fly into an 8-foot-tall, 45-foot-wide fine-mesh mist net. Over the course of the day, the net captures more than 20 sandpipers in several varieties.

Ruthrauff quickly extracts the birds, puts them into cloth bags and takes them to a table where Gill and other biologists use digital calipers to measure beaks, wings and legs.

Handling one, Gill says the bird may have flown all the way from Chile. "It probably started a month ago and could go as far as the Taimyr Peninsula" in northernmost Siberia.

He banded its leg, took a blood and feather sample, and holding the bird upside down, swabbed for a fecal sample. The H5N1 virus replicates in a bird's intestines.

Gill heads up the survey for shorebirds. Other Alaska biologists at more than 40 remote sites will focus on waterfowl, seabirds and perching birds. Several thousand hunter-killed birds also will be checked with the help of local subsistence hunters.

Sometime this week, when there are 50 to 100 samples are in hand, they will be sent to the USGS National Wildlife Health Center lab in Madison, Wis. There, under Slota's supervision, the testing begins

Steve. You should contact the bouy manufacturer anf tell them you want reimbursment for your lost tackle. .

To think someone would put a bouy in the middle of the water, jeesh.

Maybe you need a jump drive with a page feature on it. Or a big flashing light.

hehe

Thanks Mike.

Looks thicker than 6lb test.

That is correct Mike.

I am not actually on a lake either, I am off of Lake Ontario.

Welcome to the site Mark! Thanks for dropping in.

I dont know what the laws are in Michigan, but in Ontario you are supposed to kill them and leave them onshore.

Looks like you had an interesting trip that day.