THE
REEL THING
Februaury 2001
Well
here we are already in the second month in the third millennium and there’s
still a lot of great trout
fishing to be had out there. Witness
what the fellows in our club have produced since the hard water trout season
began here in January: Paulo
Conceicao, four beautiful Brook Trout, from A/B Lake, Jim Lloyd, Rainbows and
Splake from Limit and Beanpole Lake, along witha bet-winning Brookie from A/B,
Ray Cockburn, a fat Splake from Coburn Lake, Jim Davidson, a gorgeous Rainbow
from Beanpole and I lucking out with enough Brookies, ‘Bows and Splake from
all the above lakes to make about
ten pounds of Gravaadlax and several delicious evening meals.
The ice fishing this winter is
turning out to be one of the most productive seasons in recent
memory………….but…and it is a big but……it becoming physically
demanding, especially for us old fellows.
Because we are getting almost record snowfalls in southern and central
Ontario, there is such a huge weight of snow blanketing the lakes that they
have been unable to build their customary 20 to 25 inches of good ice.
Therefore the weight of all that snow is pushing the ice down, with
water squeezing up through the myriad cracks in the ice surface.
This creates a foot or so of slush as the snow sucks up the water and
the enormous layer of snow on top of everything acts as an insulating blanket
that prevents, even the thirty degrees below zero night-time temperatures,
from freezing and tightening up the conditions.
Just getting around in this mess is
great exercise and preventing one’s boots from filling up with freezing
water, a challenge. Compounding
the situation enormously is the
mess we get into with the skidoos when they bog down in this stuff, with the
slush freezing into the machines’ undercarriages.
I don’t think our wives have the foggiest idea how hard we work just
to put food (the odd fish dinner) on to the table!
We would like to take this
opportunity to welcome our newest addition to the club, Peter Gulde.
Peter, present member Hans Gulde’s son and a member of our club
almost ten years ago, has re-joined, even though he now lives almost forty
miles away from Scarborough. With
a salt water fly fishing vacation on his agenda, Peter decided that it was
appropriate for him to get back into our fold to work on his fly casting
skills. Peter will also be able
to hone his fly casting abilities
next summer on the bass cruising the shallows just a few feet from his home on
Scugog Island in the lake of the same name.
Although the fly tying action in
the club, largely due to Instructor Leon Schwartz’s absence, has been in the
doldrums, our rod building fraternity is hard at work on a variety of split
bamboo wands. Jim has built a new
hollow and fluted cane beauty for the trout fly accuracy game that should pile
up even more medals for him this year, if his results with it in the gym are
any indication. If any A.C.A.
competitive casters would like one of these, Jim would be pleased to build the
blank for them at the very reasonable price of $325.00 U.S.
They could then finish the rod according to their own handle and
fittings preferences. Jim can be
contacted at 416.438.8540, or e.mail at jglloyd@home.com.
Another gentleman utilising some of
the skills mastered in the S.F.& B.C.A. is young Richard Sluce who has
been making superior Despair Trout Flies and selling them to a wide number of
Canadian and American fly fishermen. I
can personally guarantee that Richard’s Despairs are worth every penny spent
to obtain them. They can be
purchased directly from Richard for $25.00 Cndn. a dozen, sizes 4, 6 and
8’s, or $20.00 a dozen for quantities of two dozen, or more..…….a real
bargain for our American friends! He
can be reached at 416.905.837.2772 or e.mail
tom.sluce@bell.ca
***We have a few members who
haven’t attended any of our meetings for quite a long time, yet profess to
still be part of our club, although for one reason or another have found it
difficult to attend regularly. This
is a special plea for you folks to please make a solid effort to get out to
the gym at least once or twice before spring when we move outside to Milliken
Pond. We have a number of new
members who see your names on the club list and would like to meet you all.
