Sarah Holland
Northern News Services

NNSL (Jun 21/99) - What is summer without fishing? It is certainly one of our national pastimes, especially in the North, which is renowned for its legendary fishing spots.

When people talk about summer in the North, fishing is always a factor. At the first sight of spring, avid anglers lick their chops in anticipation of the coming season and their eyes glaze over as they imagine catching the big one. They anxiously follow the thawing of the ice and gauge how many days until they can drop their lures into the open water.

Fishing can be as simple as a rod and some bait, or as complex as electronic global positioning systems, fish finders and sparkling neon lures, each designed to attract a specific type of fish. For those of you angling for some new products, here we go.

There is a new global positioning system (GPS) available with some handy new features. The GlobalMap 100 by Lowrance comes with a CD-ROM that allows you to download a map of wherever you are going onto the GPS.

The Strata 128 Plus fish finder, made by Eagle, gauges not only the depth, but also the speed of the boat and the temperature of the water. The display is clearer -- 128 refers to the vertical pixel count, and the previous model has a pixel count of 100. It also contains a greyline, a sensor that tells you the bottom structure.

Kershaw makes a knife called the floating filet knife, which, as its name suggests, floats in the water for easy retrieval if dropped. Multi-blade knives are popular, and Browning makes one style of knife that contains a smooth blade, a saw blade and a gut hook, which guts the fish without cutting the insides. Knives vary wildly in price, ranging from $20-$250.

An extremely popular lure on the market is the Delta Tackle.

"It's especially popular for people entering fishing contests who want to fish deeper and catch bigger fish," says Jonathan Metcalfe, manager of Wolverine Sports Shop in Yellowknife. These lures, which are quite large and come in different weights and colours, "work well with char and trout. One spot in particular where these are used is Pelly Bay."

As for fishing rods, "most are made in the States and are for lighter weight fish than we can catch here in the North," says Metcalfe. To accommodate this problem, Berkley came out with the Canadian Specialist Series. These rods are stronger and for heavier line in order to catch, well, heavier fish -- up to 17 lbs. But they are lightweight and, according to Metcalfe, good for char and useful in the Northern fishing locales.

Downriggers are an accessory that connect to the side of your boat and an attached weight brings your lures down to about 100 feet, which saves a lot of jigging. But, you can still reel in your own fish; the downrigger doesn't do that for you. When you land a fish on your lure, a clip on the downrigger lets go and you reel your catch in yourself. There are different kinds of downriggers, and they range in price from about $79-$350.