Once A Skunk Dog, Always A Skunk Dog

For almost ten years I worked in a small animal veterinary clinic and, among many other things, learned that most dogs will never learn. It amazed me how many times we would see a dog come into the clinic for the same reason it had been there the last five times.

The most obvious of these were the dogs that came in to have porcupine quills removed. Now, if I got a face full of painfully sharp and barbed quills, I would be very careful to prevent it from happening again. Not so for dogs. ‘Quill dogs’ just can’t resist chasing down a porcupine.

Another repeat offense was being sprayed by a skunk. Usually this did not require a visit from the dog, but a few people were sure to stop in every year asking me to wash their freshly skunked dog, even though we did not provide grooming services. On those occasions I would sell them a de-skunking shampoo, or provide them with a recipe they could make.

I remember many conversation with clients where  the phrase, ‘once a skunk dog, always a skunk dog’ was uttered with a shake of the head and a downcast look. At the time I would give a little smile and respond that I was quite lucky to have dogs that were smart enough to stay away from skunks.

What goes around, comes around.

Fast forward a few years and enter Jack, our Australian shepherd. Jack is often a smart dog. You tell him no and he stops. Call him and he comes. Tell him to get away from a fish and after a second look, he’ll get away from the fish (very handy when hooks are flying). Jack, however, is a skunk dog.

I don’t understand his fascination with the skunks. At first I thought it was because he had a buddy that was a black cat and maybe he thought he was just visiting a friend. After he was sprayed three times, I started to realize he just wasn’t computing that the funky black kitty was making him smell and causing Darrell and I to scream in horror.

This morning Jack found another skunk to try and make friends with. I woke up well before my alarm, because of the intense smell of a dog that had received a direct hit. It was not a great way to start the morning.

Jack has now had a bath with the amazing recipe that eliminates skunk odor almost instantly. Molly was given lots of kisses and praise for not visiting with the skunk. The house absolutely reeks, despite my best attempts at cleaning and covering up the smell, and all the clothes that were downstairs this morning now need to be washed. With any luck the smell of skunk will leave my nose in the next few days. I have begged Jack to stay away from all creatures outside.

What more can I say? Once a skunk dog, always a skunk dog.

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Recipe For Skunk Odor Removal

• 1 quart 3% hydrogen peroxide
• 1/4 cup baking soda
• 1 teaspoon liquid dish soap

Mix the ingredients together in a bowl or bucket. Never put this solution in a closed container. Use the solution immediately, when it is at its most effective. Apply the solution to your dog, let sit for 5-10 minutes, rinse thoroughly. Be careful not to get the solution in your dogs eyes. I often add some warm water to the solution to make it easier to apply to Jack’s thick coat.

*This is only for reference, always seek medical advice from a veterinarian.

Family Day Fishing

Family Day here in Ontario is one of those weird holidays – some places are closed, some are open, This year I was one of those lucky people with the day off, but Darrell was not. Since I wasn’t going to have the major part of my family with me, I had planned to spend the day working from home and catching up on paperwork. A few technical glitches later and I felt my motivation waver as the sun began to beckon me.

The sun proved too alluring and outside I went. After spending a couple of hours with the horses and playing with the dogs, my thoughts turned to the inevitable – I wanted to be out fishing. Fortunately, Darrell felt the same way, and after a few texts we agreed to hit the ice when he got home. Since it was Family Day, we decided to include some other members of our family, our two dogs.

Molly and Jack getting ready for their first fishing trip of the year.

We don’t normally take Jack and Molly ice fishing because a typical day on the ice for us is just too long for them to be out in the cold. In fact, this was Molly’s first trip out on the ice and I had no idea what to expect from her.

Knowing the dogs could be a handful, we decided to go old-scho0l for this trip – a couple of buckets, two fishing rods each, a fish finder, and a small selection of lures. Taking that gear, plus the auger, was easier than dragging the hut out while trying to keep the dogs and their leashes from tangling us up.

Traditionally, going old-school means using the ubiquitous 5-gallon white bucket. I don't have any of those. I do, however, have lots of flat-backed horse buckets.

Darrell getting settled in for an evening of fishing.

Right from the start, Molly was thrilled with the wide-open space to run. She was even more excited when she started sniffing around holes from earlier in the day. I think she may have found some leftover bait. The sound of the auger drilling holes spooked her at first, and she made sure to avoid the snowmobile that was running across the lake. I knew she was feeling relaxed when she started drinking out of the hole Darrell was fishing in.

Jack settled down quickly, as was expected. He enjoys sitting beside the hole and waiting for a fish to be pulled out. Unfortunately, he was disappointed on that count tonight. Despite several hits and some action on the fish finder, no fish agreed to be caught tonight.

Night fishing for crappie is definitely an area I need to work on. While I can find them on this lake during the day, once the sun starts going down I can’t seem to buy a good bite. It’s something to work on and hopefully I’ll figure it out soon enough.

Despite the lack of fish, it was a great night on the ice with my family. Molly and Jack spent their time chasing each other and running from hole to hole, and when I decided to lay down on the ice to look at the stars, I was greeted by two crazy puppies jumping on top of me and giving me kisses. All-in-all, my Family Day turned into a great day with my family, out on the ice doing what we like to do best.

Belwood Lake Ice Fishing – February 12, 2012

Winter has finally made an appearance here in Southern Ontario and Sunday came complete with snow, howling winds, and chilly temperatures – exactly the type of weather that would have kept me off the ice and in the house last year. This year is a different story. With warmer clothes, an ever-growing desire to be out fishing, and a wonderful ice hut, I was doing my best to rush Darrell through breakfast so we could hit the ice at Belwood Lake.

It was a blustery day on the ice in Belwood.

Even though I have fished Belwood Lake several times, this was my first ice fishing trip to the lake. I am always surprised by how different a water body looks in the winter but Belwood, being a reservoir lake, does more of a transformation than I had expected. I found myself walking out on the very shores that are normally well under water and provide good smallmouth habitat. The low water levels made for an interesting backdrop.

The low water levels give a chance to learn the structure before returning here in the spring.

Driving right up to the ice sure is a convenient way to pack up at the end of the day.

With both of us bundled up as much as possible, we began punching holes and checking the fish finder. Eventually we settled on a location with a steep drop into the main basin that showed some irregularities on the bottom. Choosing a location was my main goal because that meant we could set up the hut and get out of the wind. What a relief!

My home away from home. With snow piled against the outside for insulation and the heater turned on inside, I spent the day fishing without a hat or gloves.

The outside rig. It was pretty neat to have one of the transducer's set up outside and running to a finder in the hut so we could watch the action in that hole without having to be out there.

The fishing itself, well, it was slow. The catching was non-existent. I did have enough action on the fish finder to keep me interested. I managed to interest a few fish with a Rapala Jigging Shad Rap but there were no bites. A minute or two after I saw those fish, the kid in the hut not far from us pulled up an 18-inch pike. He was pretty excited and it was great to hear.

It was a day for huts, as our neighbour here decided after setting up some lines outside. There were only a few brave souls out on the ice without the protection of a hut.

I had lots of new lures to play with, and even though they caught nothing today, I can’t wait to get them in the water again, they have some fantastic action. I spent a lot of time dropping these lures down the holes, watching the action and making modifications to how I used them. I honestly can’t remember the last time I was so happy just to watch lures in the water and not worry about whether or not I caught a fish.

My fascination with my lures was interrupted at one point when I chose to pull out my phone and check Twitter.  As I was scrolling through tweets, the rod I had set in a holder began jumping. I threw my phone into the tote and grabbed the rod as fast as I could but it was too late, the fish was gone. I seem to be making a career of losing fish this ice season.

Our ice hut tote. Decked out with rod holders, it carries everything we need and has turned out to be a valuable item for the hut.

Never before have I had such a great day on the ice when I haven’t been catching fish. As the hours passed by I found myself thinking of fishing and little else. I practiced techniques, played with lures, and tied knots. I thought about other places I want to fish in the upcoming weeks and where we’ll take the boat for our first open water outing this year. It was honestly the most relaxing day I have had in ages and something I was in desperate need of. When we were packing up I told Darrell that I hadn’t realized how nasty it was outside, I had been in my own little world in that hut.

While I didn’t catch anything on this trip, Belwood Lake is certainly a good place to visit during the ice season. Admission to the conservation area is a reasonable price, there is ample parking and you don’t have to walk too far to find a fishing spot. The ice was 10 to 12 inches thick in places and it took me awhile to drill holes though it. You can target pike, perch, and even walleye on this lake in the winter. Get out there for a day and have as great a time as I did, but hopefully while catching some fish.

Book Review – Building Outdoor Gear By Gil Gilpatrick

www.foxchapelpublishing.com

Spending time in the outdoors is, in my opinion, the best way you can spend a day. However, for many outdoor activities at least some gear is required. You can always stop at a local store and buy your required gear, but there is more satisfaction in being able to build you own gear and tailor it to your needs.

In Building Outdoor Gear, Gil Gilpatrick presents all sorts of great projects that will meet your needs, whether you are fishing, hunting, camping or canoeing. Each project is laid out in a chapter that will guide you with ease through the steps necessary to create a useful peace of gear. Each chapter contains many photographs and diagrams for reference, which I found very useful when I was unable to visualize a step. At the beginning of each chapter you will find a list of materials and tools required to complete each project. Upon first glance, I was a little daunted by the length of some of the lists, until I took a closer look and realized that many of the items were things I already had, or stuff I could readily acquire. There is nothing missing from these lists, if you follow them you will find you have everything necessary to complete the project.

I know many people choose to skip the introduction part of a book. Do not do that with this book. Not only will you learn more about the author’s qualifications, but it will guide you to the layout of the book. While you may be tempted to skip over chapters to a project you can’t wait to begin, have some patience and read the first two chapters before starting anything. Chapter 1 focuses on using epoxy, a skill required by many of the projects, and chapter 2 teaches you the technique of caning, something that will be required for some of the projects.

I began by reading the first two chapters, and then found myself browsing through the other chapters, depending on my interest on a given day. Eventually I realized I had read the several times! As I read through the book I found my fingers were itching to get a start at some of this gear.

Some of the projects found in this book are:

• Trip Boxes,
• Bucksaw,
• Canoe Motor Mount,
• Reflector Oven,
• Canoe Chairs, and
• Canoe Paddles.

While I have not had enough free time to dedicate to one of these projects yet, there are two I am most eager to get to – the trip box and the reflector oven.

The trip box has so many uses, aside from keeping your food protected on a trip.  It can be used to store items, as a tethering point for tarps, a table, almost anything you can think of, and I think it would be one of the biggest assets I could add to my camping trips. The idea of being able to bake some fresh biscuits or bread on the reflector oven makes me a whole lot happier about being away from my own oven for a length of time.

Scattered throughout the book are handy tips and recipes that the author has come across in over 40 years as a master Maine Guide. The Maine Guide Breakfast Buns (found on page 51) look like a great way to start another wonderful day in the outdoors.

Building Outdoor Gear is a beautiful book and great resource that you will be happy to have on your bookshelf or coffee table, whenever you don’t have it beside as you go through the steps of creating a unique and wonderful piece of gear for your outdoor adventures.

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Disclaimer – This review is my opinion and I received this book for free in exchange for giving said opinion. I have no association with Fox Chapel Publishing and was not reimbursed or paid for this review.

Fishy Fun In Ontario For February 2012

We have somehow arrived in February, much to my surprise, as my brain is stuck in January with all of my paperwork. February is a great month for fishing events in Southern Ontario so I thought I’d take a moment to point some out.

February 1st – 29th, 2012 – Annual Island Lake Ice Fishing Derby
If you get a chance to to fish Island Lake in Orangeville, sign up for their ice fishing derby (can be done on site). There are all sorts of prizes, and entry into the month long derby is only $30 (park admission is extra). Visit Credit Valley Conservation’s Facebook page for updates on the standings. The largest pike so far is 25-3/8 inches, and the largest perch is 5-3/4 inches. No one has entered a crappie yet. If you find the secret spot for crappie, let me know, I can’t find them anywhere in that lake in the winter!

February 4th, 2012 – Feed the Fish Tournament
Yes, this takes place tomorrow so it’s short notice, but if you are in the Frenchman’s Bay area, consider spending your Saturday here. The tournament raises funds for the Ringwood Fish Culture Station.

February 17th – 20th, 2012 – Spring Fishing and Boat Show
Held at the International Centre in Mississauga – parking can fill up so get there early. This is my favorite show of the year – lots of great exhibitors and seminars. Ashley Rae just announced yesterday that she will be doing kayak fishing seminars and that is sure be a treat for everyone able to attend. Tickets are only $14 so this is a great and affordable way to spend your day.

February 18th – 20th, 2012 – Family Fishing Weekend
If you’re not at the Spring Fishing Show than you should be out fishing with friends and family for Ontario’s free Family Fishing Weekend. This is the time to introduce people to the incredible sport of fishing. No one needs a fishing license to fish on this weekend so get others out there and interested!

February 25th – 26th, 2012 – Canadian Ice Fishing Championship
Want to put your ice fishing skills to the test? Enter the Canadian Ice Fishing Championship on Lake Simcoe. First place is $7,500 and there are lots of great prizes. I’d love to be fishing this one myself, but due to other commitments I’m not able to. I’ll be up there at some point though and hope to see everyone catching big fish. For more information visit here.

As you can see, there are lots of great fishing events to attend in February. This is just a small sample of what is available. Get out there and have fun!

Fairy Lake Ice Fishing – January 29, 2012

Cody (on the left) and Darrell trying to entice some Fairy Lake crappie.

One of my goals for this ice fishing season was to spend time on new bodies of water. This past weekend I was hoping to do just that, but Mother Nature and some other factors conspired to keep me close to home, and on Sunday I found myself once again traveling to Fairy Lake in Acton, Ontario.

Now, I may sound like I was disappointed to hit Fairy Lake again, but the truth is, I love that lake. Like my old brookie river that holds a special place in my heart, Fairy Lake is a place I am always excited to fish. With the exception of late fall, when I can’t seem to buy a bite, the fish here are willing to bite and provide me with a fantastic day on the water.

After the incredible winds and snow squalls of Saturday afternoon, I was unsure about how active the crappie in Fairy Lake would be. But Darrell and I, along with his brother Cody, grabbed our gear and headed out on the ice.

I love that sight!

It was a quick start to the day for me. Within the first 45 minutes I iced five crappie. I once again went with the red angleworm on the pink dropper and watching the fish finder, I slowly jiggled my lure just above the line of suspending fish. To get their interest I would do one or two big jigs, then settle with a soft jiggling motion. Time and again I was able to see the fish rise to look at my lure and quite often I would feel the change in my line and reel in a crappie.

One of my early catches on the day.

They sure love those Gulp! red angleworms. Nothing else would work, and we tried quite a few other lures.

One change that I made from last week was to switch over to my Fenwick rod, which has a much slower action than the St. Croix. I found I lost fewer fish with this switch. The softer action meant I was not ripping the bait away too early and I was not ripping through their paper-thin mouths.

Having some fun playing one out. Crappie are such great fun.

While we drilled a lot of holes – Cody has a strong desire to drill holes, something I do not understand but find quite useful – we never came across a very active school of fish. We all managed to get bites throughout the day, but there were never more than two fish in a hole willing to bite. It usually took a lot of work with the sonar to find and entice the fish, but Cody managed to ice a crappie the old school way – without the sonar. It was a pretty decent fish too.

Another little crappie.

Despite the lack of a hot bite, the fairly steady action kept us occupied throughout the day. At one point I managed to hook up with a pretty large fish that gave several good head shakes before breaking me off. Upon further investigation I discovered that the 3lb-test line I had on that reel was actually breaking apart easier than my 1lb-test line did! That line is being replaced this week.

The snowmobiles have finally ventured out onto Fairy Lake so if you get out there, just be very aware of your surroundings. While most of the people driving snowmobiles are considerate and safe drivers, there are always a couple that give you cause for worry. With a good 7 to 8 inches of ice, there were all sorts of winter activities being enjoyed out on the lake.

While I still hope to venture out to new fishing spots, I will love every trip I am fortunate enough to take to Fairy Lake. Located right in town, with easy access points and a short walk to the best fishing spot, as well as fish that bite it you take the time to finesse them, this is an excellent place for anglers, young and old.

Gear Review – Vicious Panfish ICE

Line is an important factor no matter how you choose to fish. However, the winter presents even more challenges for your fishing and it’s important to have a line you can rely on in even the toughest conditions.

Last year I was looking for some new line to spool some ice fishing reels and the tackle shop was sold out of the brand I normally used. My eye was then drawn to the Vicious Panfish ICE line and the price – less than $2 a spool at that time. I really could not go wrong. At that price, even if this line only lasted me a month, I could spool my reels again and still be saving money. Plus, it was easy to find very light line and I went home with 2lb test and 4lb test spools to put on my crappie and perch rigs.

On the first outing Darrell and I made with this line we were both very impressed. Maybe the low price had lowered our expectations, but we spent much of our time, between landing crappie after crappie, talking about how great this new line was.

Vicious Fishing has done an excellent job with this copolymer line. There was very little memory, something that becomes even more important when you’re  fishing with tiny, light-weight jigs. In fact, it had less memory than any of the other lines we used. And the line seemed to have little stretch, making it easier to detect those subtle crappie bites. No matter how cold the weather, and no matter how much ice it rubbed against, this line performed perfectly.

The line served us well for the remainder of the ice fishing season. We did replace all of the line to start this season as some of it was getting brittle, and we prefer to start the season with new line anyway.

The Vicious Panfish ICE line comes in HiVis Color and LoVis Clear. I opt for the HiVis as it makes it easier to see the line move when a fish picks up the lure. On the Vicious Fishing website you can find the line ranging from 2lb test to 12lb test. I was able to find the 1lb test at Bass Pro Shops in Vaughan.

I have had difficulty finding this line in my local tackle shops, but if more anglers begin to use it and demand it, that problem can be rectified. After having such a positive experience with this line, I am reluctant to switch over to other brands. I was given a spool of ice line from another brand for Christmas, and have had nothing but headaches with it so far. That line will be replaced with the Vicious Panfish ICE line very soon.

Fairy Lake Ice Fishing – January 21, 2012

The hut made for a great day on the ice. What a great gift this was.

The sun was shining as the truck was loaded up for a trip to Fairy Lake in Acton for a crack at some crappie fishing. After two slow weekends of fishing I was hoping to find a hot bite and my spirits were high as we drove to the lake.

It was amazing to walk out on Fairy Lake in the winter and see no snowmobiles. I don’t know why they aren’t out on the ice yet this year, but it is a nice break from the usual noise and and sometimes dangerous walking areas.

The first few holes we drilled revealed that we were finally locating fish. To be honest, over the past couple of weekends I began to wonder how well our Humminbird PiranhaMax 160 PT fish finder was working. For two straight Sundays the finder had marked almost nothing. Today, however, proved the finder was in excellent working order. From the first hole we marked fish in, to the last hole we fished, the finder reliably told us when fish were in the area, what depth they were at, and when they were moving.

This is what I looked at all day. The thick black line above bottom shows where the fish were. I never before had used a fish finder like this and it really was like a video games, watching my lure dance on the screen and then seeing the line arcing up towards it as a fish showed interest.

While we started marking fish immediately, neither of us could entice a crappie to bite. Both Darrell and I began fishing with our finesse rods and the white dropper jig tipped with a white Gulp waxie that had worked so well for us last winter. Of course, it’s always a bad idea to stay with one lure just because it worked in the past. What worked last year or yesterday, may not work today. The fish were obviously there but we needed to find a trigger to make them bite. With only one crappie pulled through the ice we started changing up our lures.

Darrell eventually ended up with a pink jig head tipped with a red Gulp angleworm and started getting bites.

Darrell with a crappie

Darrell may have been getting bites, but I was beginning to get a sense of deja-vu. I had lost a very large fish at the hole, again, and had brought nothing through the ice, again. I continued working through holes, drilling more and checking them with the sonar. Lots of fish but still no bites. So I did the only thing that made sense – I put on the same rig that Darrell was using. That worked.

The relief and excitement I felt when pulling that first crappie through the hole was amazing. I know there was a big smile on my face as I held that lovely little crappie in my hand and pulled the hook out. For the next hour or so we sat in the hut and pulled up one crappie after another. Our eyes were glued to fish finder screen, watching our lures go up and down, seeing fish raise to check out our bait, and even more fun, watching the fish we had just released swim away.

One of the fish I caught apparently liked our hut better than the water, he tried to come back up.

A nice Fairy Lake crappie.

There were a few things that were key to helping us catch fish today:

• We drilled a lot of holes,
• We only fished a hole if we marked fish,
• We moved around until we found active fish,
• We changed up our lures until we found what the fish wanted,
• We paid close attention to our fish finder and made adjustments to our presentation as needed. When we were softly jiggling our lures we would see a fish rise to check out our bait, if we decided to dead-stick we would see the fish swam away. A more aggressive jiggling action could get the fish to turn around, but they would only bite when we returned to a soft jiggling motion.

We ended up having a fantastic day. As I often do, I thanked all those wonderful crappie for biting my lure and giving me the thrill of reeling them in. There were other anglers out on the ice and I hope they had as much fun as we did.  If you are looking for some good crappie action, plan a visit to Fairy Lake.

Ice Reports For January 20, 2012

Tonight was a chance to visit a few fishing spots and check ice conditions.

At Fairy Lake in Acton, Ontario, we found 7 inches of ice out from the boat launch.

At Guelph Lake the holes showed 9 inches of ice in the shallows. Those of you familiar with this lake in the winter know that one resident makes himself a rink on the lake each year and he was out with the ATV clearing the rink off tonight. It’s another positive sign.

Belwood Lake opened for ice fishing today. Check the Grand River Conservation Authority website for more details.

And of course, Island Lake in Orangeville is open for ice fishing.

As always, test the ice out for yourself as conditions are always changing.

I hope everyone has a great weekend and gets a chance to hit the ice!

Website Wednesday: Noise On The Line

Tossing spinners for trout was the basis of my fishing education. The countless hours I spent down at the river, tying on spinners and trying to entice those delightful brook trout to bite are among my favorite memories. Because of this, I am always on the lookout for new spinners – something a little different than what the fish are used to.

Last spring my attention was drawn to a post for a contest for spinners and I found myself on Noise on the Line, the blog for John Delaney, the owner of Fish Creek Spinners. John’s creations were exactly what I was looking for – something different than the usual fare available in my local tackle shops.

I managed to win a few of the 1/8oz Glass Armadillo spinners and had a great time fishing with them. Not only do they provide a slightly different vibration than what I normally use, but they also provide a different look. The fish aren’t the only ones who enjoy the change in appearance – I loved the packaging these spinners arrived in – nice, clear containers that I have used over and over.

A little bass I caught on the Armadillo

Noise on the Line is the place to find out about what’s going on with Fish Creek Spinners, as well as other fishing stories.  It’s a great read and well worth a visit.

In fact, if you get over there soon, you can get yourself entered into Noise on the Line’s Birthday drawing for some of these awesome spinners.

I intend to do some shopping for Fish Creek Spinners come spring time – trout, beware!