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Official AK fishing thread

Went to a nearby pier for a bit of a fish for an hour the other day, didn't think we would catch anything but my wife hooked a nice boat and I caught a piece of rope, didn't bring them home as we catch and release. :biggrin:
 
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I picked up some new gear this summer and fall and started with a good rod and a centerpin reel.
The reel is a Milner Talisman and the rod is a Sage/Babcock GSH 3113MB

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Also picked up some G4's and a pair of G3 boots. Got a very manly onesie for half price.

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The Talisman looks good next to my stalwart Abu.

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I know this post was 6 years ago, but I didn't know Milner was still making float reels.
 
I know this post was 6 years ago, but I didn't know Milner was still making float reels.
I recently sold that Talisman to a collector who knows Milner personally. He told me that Milner is over 80 now and hasn't produced a Talisman in some time but a few others have been made.
 
I recently sold that Talisman to a collector who knows Milner personally. He told me that Milner is over 80 now and hasn't produced a Talisman in some time but a few others have been made.

Interesting. I know he was getting up there. As far as I know, Milner was also a design collaborator for the Tournament Drifter/G. Loomis centrepin as well. The G. Loomis was just a re-badged Tournament Drifter. I used to have one of the Drifters, but I don't use centrepin reels anymore. I still have an original Stanton with the early style metal reel foot that I never even used after I had ABEC-7 bearings installed in it. Still need to get rid of it.
 
Interesting. I know he was getting up there. As far as I know, Milner was also a design collaborator for the Tournament Drifter/G. Loomis centrepin as well. The G. Loomis was just a re-badged Tournament Drifter. I used to have one of the Drifters, but I don't use centrepin reels anymore. I still have an original Stanton with the early style metal reel foot that I never even used after I had ABEC-7 bearings installed in it. Still need to get rid of it.
I sold the Talisman because steelhead fishing isn't what it used to be around here.
 
I sold the Talisman because steelhead fishing isn't what it used to be around here.

Boy, ain't that the truth. Too much angler pressure and too few fish. They should be catch and release only, and the Ministry should shut things down during the spawn to let them spawn and drop back out of the rivers in peace. Same thing for fishing for them through the ice. That's supposed to be nature's way of protecting them. Just leave them alone. There's just too many people abusing the fishery, as well as WAY too many killers out there only looking to catch fish for eggs or meat. Let alone the age we live in with phones and the internet where a hot bite is just a phone call away, and no information is sacred anymore. It's a disgrace. I still love steelheading, but it's just not the same anymore. Rant over.
 
Boy, ain't that the truth. Too much angler pressure and too few fish. They should be catch and release only, and the Ministry should shut things down during the spawn to let them spawn and drop back out of the rivers in peace. Same thing for fishing for them through the ice. That's supposed to be nature's way of protecting them. Just leave them alone. There's just too many people abusing the fishery, as well as WAY too many killers out there only looking to catch fish for eggs or meat. Let alone the age we live in with phones and the internet where a hot bite is just a phone call away, and no information is sacred anymore. It's a disgrace. I still love steelheading, but it's just not the same anymore. Rant over.
And DFO destroyed the east coast cod fishery and also mismanaged the Fraser River sockeye run so now we are lucky to get one or two fish every four years on the big run. Add in a devastating rock slide a few years back and flooding and the fishery is pretty much destroyed. There are still plenty of pinks and a few red springs but they must keep the river closed to protect the sockeye from bycatch death.

There are fish to catch in the Vedder but it’s a gong show with anglers shoulder to shoulder and fights and arguments ruin the day. I’m a couple of miles from the Capilano River and while I gave up steelheading there I still get enough Coho for the year and the odd white spring.
 
And DFO destroyed the east coast cod fishery and also mismanaged the Fraser River sockeye run so now we are lucky to get one or two fish every four years on the big run. Add in a devastating rock slide a few years back and flooding and the fishery is pretty much destroyed. There are still plenty of pinks and a few red springs but they must keep the river closed to protect the sockeye from bycatch death.

There are fish to catch in the Vedder but it’s a gong show with anglers shoulder to shoulder and fights and arguments ruin the day. I’m a couple of miles from the Capilano River and while I gave up steelheading there I still get enough Coho for the year and the odd white spring.

Ah, I see you're in B.C. I just assumed from your Sage and Milner setup you were a Great Lakes steelheader. lol

But yeah, not to mention many of the other issues some western rivers face with dams and overall habitat loss/inaccessibility, erosion/sedimentation, and other threats like oil distribution, mining, etc.

Here in the lower Great Lakes in particular, many of the issues we face are the ever-disappearing green spaces and ecosystem loss due to development, as well as habitat degradation due to urban and agricultural runoff, and erosion/sedimentation, etc. The overall health of the Great Lakes and its tributaries is actually getting better decade over decade, but much of those gains are being negated with how they keep developing what little (and extremely important) green spaces we have left, which only exacerbates the issues they already face. For instance, literally only 5% of Lake Ontario's marshes remain, and only 9% of its coastline is protected for conservational purposes. It's sickening. I swear, rich corporations are carving up this country and they'll get it all eventually. :mad:

As far as overall fisheries management, the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources is no better. Whether here or elsewhere the level of negligent and even clueless mismanagement is a real issue. I'm convinced that most of these fishery biologists and management types are just people who sit behind a desk 90% of the time and don't spend enough time in the field. Either doing their job or in the outdoors on their own time. Not only that, but their decision making in regards to management is flat out head scratching sometimes. They do their studies, they make their reports and despite all that, things go down the crapper, and they always seem to be out of touch with and behind what's going on in the real world. Most fishermen (or hunters) know what's going on because they actually spend time in the field making real, tangible, quantitative observations in real time. Which is something you don't get while sitting behind a desk or in a truck. I don't mean to denigrate all people in the field of fisheries management, but the disconnect seems to be rampant.
 
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Returned to Mason Neck State Park today....to retrieve my poles which I left at the landing. What a dumb ass. So thought I might as well make a day fishing of it. Much better than yesterday, wish my kid was there. 6 decent bass, Tiny Torpedo got blown up another 3 or 4 times. Caught some on a Senko too.

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Returned to Mason Neck State Park today....to retrieve my poles which I left at the landing. What a dumb ass. So thought I might as well make a day fishing of it. Much better than yesterday, wish my kid was there. 6 decent bass, Tiny Torpedo got blown up another 3 or 4 times. Caught some on a Senko too.

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Tiny and Baby Torpedos are awesome. For open water, they're my favourite and most effective topwater lure by far. :thumbsup: Same with a good ol' jointed Arbogast Jitterbug. I've tried Pop-Rs, Chug Bugs, Zara Spooks, Skitter Pops, buzzbaits, Whopper Ploppers, you name it, but nothing outperforms the old time-tested Torpedos and Jitterbugs in the waters I fish. Also, the black with white rib finish ("Black Shore Minnow") in the Torpedos is deadly during any time of day. Followed by the leopard frog pattern, and the G-finish ones are dynamite too. Especially when smallies are exploding on schooled minnows up top.
 
I'm stocked up on lures now, mainly soft plastics and crankbaits, just have to catch some fish with them. :)
 
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