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Look out fish, my son just arrived and we are booked for Simco with Tim Hales tomorrow and I got my shipment today. Thanks Brian they are beautiful 🤣

Had an unexpected opportunity to hit Simco yesterday, turned out CPH was planning on getting out for the day and we were able to hook up. What a great day, we did really well, no idea how many fish we caught but it was plenty. I only kept 10 nice sized perch and 2 herring. I'm not sure how many Steve took home but his pail was a lot heavier than mine. I started off with some of my favorite go to presentations while Steve used some of his own creations, both were catching fish but I can tell you that artificial out caught live bait. So now I plan on spending today making some more grubs for future trips. it's always so satisfying when you catch fish on the artificial baits. We talked to other fishermen in the area, and from all accounts, we did significantly better than most that relied mostly on minnows! So in summary: a great day fishing with great company, some new lessons learned and a nice feed of fish, how can you ask for better than that😊

😆 Yesterday was my first outing on the ice here . Lots of bait, no whities . Was getting lots of tag hits on my larger blood worm for whities, so this morning, I tied up some smaller ones for the high hook . They worked great. Just enough bait to chow down on for a lunch snack. So so scrumptious 😋 20250125_082331.mp4

Well,I was able to hook up with our member this morning ,as he was fishing with an outfitter on the 2nd line. Met up with him and handed over a whole new batch of baits . Canada post, nor wind nor blowing wind and low vis,will stop the loony bin bugs and grubs guy ,from getting to those that want. Well, to a limit 😆. It was a nasty morning, but it was a day that was special, so I made the extra effort to make sure the day started off well . Must be the newfie in me byes.

I have not been on Loughborough Lake the last 2 winters, even though it is only half an hour from my home in Kingston. The ice has been sketchy, and I am not religious enough to walk on water............ This winter we have good ice, probably on all of Loughborough, but certainly on one of the spots we fish on the south shore. A buddy of mine has been out a few times, and caught some nice lakers, and he invited me to join him a couple days ago. We had 8 or 9 inches of good ice, with maybe five inches of snow on top, but no slush. We were in 65 FOW according to his graph. I used to own a Vex, did not care for it too much and gave it away, then bought a Marcum LX7, which was a very nice unit but fairly heavy, and I rarely used it, so I gave that graph to a younger fellow who I figured would get more use out of it. So even though it would have been useful to watch a graph whilst jigging for greys, I did not have one. I watched my rod tip instead of a screen........ Going back quite a number of years, I would fish a large dead bait (especially smelts!) on bottom with one rig, and jig a white tube jig on my second rig. Both produced lakers, and it varied by outing whether the fish preferred the meat on bottom or the imitation up higher. Often enough we would see a streak coming up off bottom, reel the bait away, and WHAM! a laker would take the fleeing bait. My buddy reported that white tubes were not getting any interest at all this winter. SO>>>>>> I set up a line with a small Williams Whitefish in silver with a red slash on it and a live minnow, about a foot off bottom, and started jigging with a heavy Hopkins Shorty, silver with a dressed treble. Up and down the water column, banging bottom etc etc, nothing. I switched to a small gold Mister Champ, same thing, no hits. OK maybe they want something different - and I tried a larger Rapala Jigging Rap in electric blue with chrome belly, nada. Then a medium sized Williams Whitefish, with the crinkly half gold/half silver finish. No dice. OK, I switched that up for a medium Buckshot in fire tiger colours with the fluorescent chartreuse back. Nope. In the meantime, my buddy was washing a bunch of his tackle, and the only interest he got was on a small black tube about a foot off bottom. The fish would come up and look, maybe hang around for a minute or so, but no hits. It was a cold day with a brisk wind, and not terribly comfortable, holes kept freezing over, etc etc, and I was thinking it might be time to throw in the towel. So I looked again in my boxes of tackle - I am betting most ice anglers, like me, take a hundred or more lures out with them even though we will NEVER use some of them (like that 2 ounce Swedish Pimple we used in the late 80s for Quinte walleye 🙂) Anyways, I spotted a Sutton West River spoon with the silver back and copper inside, and put it on my snap swivel. I was letting it flutter slowly down to the bottom, when I had quite a vicious strike down maybe fifteen feet. And the fight was on, yeehaw! Because the fish had hit so close to the surface, I had it up to the hole fairly quickly. All I could see was a very thick back and broad tail, and away it went, sounding for the bottom... .....and at that moment, for reasons I cannot fathom, my fairly new, decent quality reel decided to loosen off the drag. By several full revolutions of the dial, what the hell??? The laker was now really screaming to the bottom, while I feverishly tightened the drag back up. Fortunately, it was going down not up, and did not get any slack! Anyways, after several attempts to bring it up to the hole, I finally got it out onto the ice. My lure was JUST hanging from its lower jaw. Weighed on a digital scale, it was 12.64 pounds, and my best trout from Loughborough. And yes, I KEPT it, to EAT!!! The flesh was a beautiful orange, and it had a bunch of smelts in the mouth and belly. That was our only fish. We stayed until 1:00, with no more action. But that one fish sure made my day! 🙂 Doug

I was out with my dad who is 82 to spend the day on Simcoe. Really appreciated the incredible effort you made, Misfish, to deliver the package of lures to me before going out (since CP can’t seem to deliver packages from Barrie to Waterloo in 2.5 weeks!) You drove through some nasty weather to make it out to our meeting place and I truly applaud your commitment to service, dedication and generosity. You are a class act and I’m glad to have met you in person, Brian. BTW, those bloodworms worked very well - thanks for everything. You are an asset to the fishing community! Michael

Glad you had an enjoyable day Cliff with your son . That blood worm has been a hit with many anglers this season. Sold out right now and hope to have my supplies here soon to catch up on new orders that just keep coming in. Funny how a season of ice,gets everyone in a buzz. Thank you again for reaching out and supporting my adventure.

I'm currently working on rebuilding one of the original 10, 1562 Loomis GLX prototype blanks (my 6th to date), and I've been playing with a new resin medium that has had me see numerous failures on the grip wood inserts. The frustrations have been incredibly frustrating to say the least, the learning is as of yet, not perfected, but I am making progress. This is a series of pictures showing the rear grip from failure to success. This was the first finished attempt that shows many air in inclusions in the finish. The results were clearly a failure so I started again by removing the finish. Then I started again with a new perspective and slower more methodical application method.

My son got down for a visit and naturally we had to hit Simco for some perch. I started off with my Simco bugs, (thanks to CPH) and it didn't disappoint. My son started off with a traditional drop shot rig and minnows. He set up a second rod with a Swedish pimple but he tipped it with a small piece of sponge and shad scent (ya I know a little different but it worked) Well, the artificial baits out fished the minnows by a huge margin. We only kept 20 perch, one herring, and two smelt but we caught a heck of a lot more perch. The artificial caught 90% of the fish caught today, with the Simco bug clearly the winner. Another amazing day on the ice! Besides any day fishing with my son is a fantastic day🙂

I just got off the phone with Kim at Tim Hales, they have had to cancel all hut rentals since last Saturday because of all the snow and Kim wasn't sure when they would be able to resume normal operations, everything is canceled for the remainder of this week at least. Even the bomberdiers are getting stuck and once they can get out they still have to move huts...... If you are planning on going out on Simco be very careful, if they are having trouble then emergency services will probably have trouble getting to you if anything did go wrong. Please stay safe, there are no amount of fish worth your life.

If as an angler, you want to make a conscious decision to support Canadian manufacturers, there is on-line retailer that offers only MADE IN CANADA products.. https://greatcanadianfishingstore.com/ Of course, there is also a lot of gear that comes from China, Japan, Taiwan, South Korea, and Europe if want to avoid US goods. The same for big box stores....Sail and Canadian Tire vs Bass Pro and Cabela's. Personally, for a number of reasons, I've always patronized the smaller local retailers...although I do miss LeBaron's.

An update to my previous thread, the handle on the G Loomis 1562 GLX prototype handle rebuild is now done. As per the customer's request the original decal was not removed so a work around was required, building and installing the new handle from the back of the blank. It does present some challenges especially when the customer states exactly where the reel will sit with new fixed reel seat, which in this case was 8.5"s from the back of the rod. And while the customer is a young man he wanted the rod restored in an Old School fashion, figured Walnut wood seat, grip inserts and wood/mushroom but cap. The next step will be to replace the original garbage Recoil guides with high quality Fuji's. The following are a series of pictures I took for him from the beginning. Cheers

Hi all, We got into the lakers today, so cool watching them under the ice as they come up. Got four for the morning, saw a bunch and had a couple get off. Got them on a tube jig, a blade bait, a rattle trap and a white paddle tail...they got the full smorgasbord treatment today.

Mine was a '65 Pontiac convertible identical to the one pictured 'cept mine was dark green with white converible top and white interior. Riding in this beauty was like driving your living room couch. To this day I wish I'd never sold it.

Here is one from the archives. I think I have photos some place, which I will add if I can find them.... Back in the mid-80’s I lived near Barrie Ontario. I had been introduced to steelhead fishing a few years earlier, and by this time it had taken up a prime spot in my life. I was fishing about a hundred days a year, and lots of that time was spent chasing ‘bows in the area’s rivers, as well as out in Lake Huron, Lake Ontario, and Georgian Bay. I knew a lot of the serious steelheaders by sight and a few by name, and really got into the whole steelhead game. During this time my main partner was a buddy named Marcel, and one spring at the Toronto Sportsmen’s Show we met a legendary angler called John Slade. John took a shine to us and invited us to fish with him down at Grimsby in his boat come summer. When that weekend came and we joined him, four of us caught about two hundred salmon and trout, many double and triple headers, just an insane number of fish, and two topping thirty pounds. Never before nor since have I experienced such non-stop fishing action. But what do you do for an encore? Well, John took us up to a couple of his favourite steelheading spots, where we watched him catch fish after fish right under the noses of other anglers, as if by magic. He had an eye for a drift, and I think he could actually think like a fish. Nowadays I guess he might be called a “fish whisperer.” He introduced us to a number of the best steelheaders that he knew, and one time we met his friend Gary Watson from Owen Sound. In time, Gary became a good buddy and we shared many fishing adventures with him up in and around Owen Sound. So it came to be that one summer in the late 80’s Gary and a bunch of his fishing buddies went to fish in Alaska, and the stories he brought back (along with a couple coolers of fillets) were the stuff dreams are made of. They had fished the mighty Kenai River and caught gigantic chinooks; they had taken limits of bright red sockeyes; they had flown in to a remote river for back-country trout; and they had taken a charter off the coast for halibut. As Gary described the size and power of these latter denizens of the deep, I decided that some day I would fish for them. Little did I know at that time that halibut would become one of only two items on my “bucket list” – stuff I want to do before I kick the bucket. You know how life gets in the way – a career, kids, family and other responsibilities – and as time passed, my days on the water shrank each year. Then I took up bow-hunting for deer, and found out that I could either spend my fall bow-hunting or steelheading, but did not have time for both. I chose bow-hunting, and my steelheading gear kind of gathered dust, along with my memories of Gary’s Alaskan adventure. I moved around a fair bit with my job, and in 1996 I wound up in Kingston Ontario, which is quite a nice town and where I still live. That fall a good friend told me about a fellow he knew who was an avid bow-hunter and migratory bird hunter, and that I should meet him. Phil and I hit it off immediately and soon were fishing and hunting all over this region. Then Phil got an opportunity to move to Whitehorse with his work, and away he went. BUMMER! One of my best hunting and fishing buddies now across the country………………but I had never been to Whitehorse, so a couple years later I went up to visit Phil and to hunt Yukon moose. When I got there, Phil said he and another buddy wanted to go halibut fishing in Haines, Alaska, and would I be interested, before the moose hunt? Well, hunting for the planet’s biggest moose is an exciting prospect and I was surely keyed up for that, but when the possibility of fishing for halibut was raised, I forgot all about the moose! Phil arranged for a charter and the next day four of us went by van to Haines Alaska, which is a gorgeous drive through mountain valleys down to the ocean. That evening we had a feast of halibut at the local fish and chips restaurant, which only whetted our appetite to not just CATCH some of these fish, but also bring back some to EAT! None of us slept that well in the motel room that evening, we were all just too pumped about the morning’s excursion. We were up plenty early, fuelled up on coffee and breakfast, and down to the docks we went. Some readers will know that tides are a key factor in ocean fishing, more so than weather, wind, moon phase, or whatever. We landlubbers had no such knowledge, or perhaps we would not have booked a charter for the highest high tide of the year. At the dock, our charter captain was nowhere to be seen, and as we stood there somewhat perplexed, another fellow came up to us, inquired if we were the party booked with Captain Billy-Bob (yes indeed) and told us that Captain Billy-Bob could not make it but he would take us out instead, and for the same “discount” rate. Onto Captain Substitute’s sad old boat we went, stowed our gear, pulled away from the jetty, and then listened to his one-cylinder diesel struggling mightily to take us out to the halibut grounds. Several other charters passed us, waving happily at the sight of our ancient boat disappearing in their wakes. Some time later we got to an area where three or four other boats had set up, and our captain announced that we were going to start fishing here. Each of us got a rod with approximately the flexibility of a pool cue, topped with a monstrous level-wind reel filled with line that looked to me like aircraft cable, and terminated in huge jigs on which we impaled some choice pieces of an unknown fishy-smelling substance. Down to the bottom, a couple hundred feet, and then a slow jig up and down, up and down, up and down………….. And up and down, lifting about five pounds worth of tackle each up-stroke, then allowing it to crash to the ocean floor many leagues below. My fervent images of halibut fishing were starting to take something of a licking at this point………..and then, a BITE!!! And my rod was doubled right over and the reel screaming as the drag gave up line, and then more line, and then………….it was obvious that I had snagged on the bottom. Quite a while later we finally cleared the snag. By this time the sun was high overhead, we had been fishing for perhaps four hours without an actual bite, and the other boats in the area were apparently having similar luck. Captain Substitute then informed us, rather matter-of-factly, that we were fishing the highest tide of the year and there was about zero chance of connecting with a halibut in such a flood. But if we wanted to go home early he would only charge us for a half-day charter. Nobody argued with that suggestion, and soon enough we were crawling back to port, and with lighter wallets to boot. So when life hands you lemons, you make lemonade, right? It turned out the Chilkat River which flows through Haines to the Pacific was full of pink salmon, with good numbers of other salmon species also present, and easy public access. We bought some inexpensive spinning rods, reels, and Pixie spoons, and spent the rest of the day fishing for pink salmon and watching a sow grizzly and her cubs fishing not all that far downstream from us. Action was steady, and so the trip to and from Whitehorse was not a complete bust. Our moose hunt went kind of like the halibut hunt, and I returned to Kingston mooseless and halibutless, but determined to try again when I could. (Yes of course I am getting to the trip that is purportedly the subject of this story. But it is important to set the stage, so the reader will understand the excitement of the titular excursion.) When my oldest son was in university, I promised to take him on a bear hunt if he graduated. He did indeed get his degree, but life got in the way again. In the meantime my old buddy Marcel had moved to Campbell River on Vancouver Island. So I suggested to my son that we do a bear hunt on Vancouver Island, during which his old man might just do some fishing. I contacted another buddy to see if he might act as a bear guide, and asked him about halibut fishing. Well, by golly it turned out that Dan would both take my son bear hunting and take three of us halibut fishing in his boat, and plans were made for a May trip to Vancouver Island. My son and I arrived in Campbell River, me with my baggage but my son without, and we were leaving the next morning to the north end of the island for a hunting and fishing trip. John had only his street clothes, which are a sub-optimal choice for hunting in wet cold weather, and snow on the ground. Fortunately his baggage arrived late that night, and we got up the next morning, packed up Marcel’s truck and boat, and headed north. Here one should note that the highways on Northern Vancouver Island are NOT four-lane expressways; in fact they are pretty rough, and speeds above 30 kph or so both threatened to eject the loads from the truck and boat and to scare the living daylights out of yours truly. We eventually arrived at Port Alice, where Marcel had booked part of a house for us to stay in. Upon unloading the truck, we discovered that the cooler of frozen food, that being our meals for the week, were still in Campbell River. So was the prawn trap puller which allows a person to pull one’s prawn and crab traps from the depths of the ocean. Marcel was somewhat disappointed, but there was a grocery store in town and we had a strong young man to pull up the traps by hand. That evening we set prawn traps and crab traps out in the inlet in front of the house, met Dan the guide and planned our strategy for the next few days. John and Dan would hunt for bear, and Marcel and I would trailer the boat back to Port McNeill to fish halibut and rock cod. Now when we were planning this trip I told Marcel I would buy all of the halibut tackle if we could use his boat. So he had found a couple good used rod and reel combos, spooled both with new eighty pound braid, and bought a selection of known-to-be-deadly halibut jigs. These included the Gibbs Mudraker jigs which weigh sixteen ounces each, and “spreader bars” to which one attached a heavy weight on one end and a lighter jig, say only a quarter-pound, on the other. This is not finesse fishing. And Marcel had also bought some dandy octopus and other hali-delicacies. So out we went, jigging a pound of weight in two hundred to three hundred feet of water. All day. In some very fishy-looking water. But by dark we had not connected with a single halibut, just one under-sized rock cod. My back was highly unhappy with me, as were both my arms, myself not being used to such physical exertion. Back at the “camp” we found that the bear hunters had been stymied by snow covering virtually all of the roads and trails, and no sign of bears coming out yet for their normal spring feeding binge. Things were somewhat glum around the table that evening, but we still had three days left! The morning brought howling winds and no chance whatsoever of launching into the ocean, so Marcel and I did some odd jobs and the bear hunters went off in search of Blackie. When Dan and John returned that afternoon, they had seen no bears, just more snow. The wind had dropped enough that Marcel could launch his boat at Port Alice and recover his prawn and crab traps. John was recruited to haul in the traps, in place of the electric-powered trap puller. And that evening we had a FEAST of fresh BC Spot-tail prawns and Dungeness crabs, yum yum! Dan suggested that we take his boat out the next day from Port McNeill, so in the morning the four of us were out in a nice big “herring skiff” and armed for battle with the mighty halibut. Once again, the fish avoided us, and then………………..I had a BITE! The rod doubled over, line screamed from the reel……………………………and yes I was snagged on bottom in deep water, like three hundred feet. Well, we tried to get that rig unsnagged, no dice, and eventually Dan suggested I take a bite of the line around a cleat and we would pull with the motor. Either the line would snap, or the jig would come free. The line snapped, somewhere between the jig and the boat cleat and I reeled in what was left – not, evidently, enough line to get a jig to the bottom. We had no spare spools of braid (note to self for next time) but Dan had a spool of hundred pound test monofilament that was only slightly smaller in diameter than my pinky. I tied the mono to the braid, tested the knot, and resumed fishing. Some time later, I had a REAL bite, felt the take, felt the head shakes of an enormous fish, and then nothing, no weight at all. I heard Marcel suggest that my mono to braid knot had failed – nope, that wasn’t the problem. The line had broken at the point where it had been tied to the boat cleat earlier. And with that went my dream of a halibut for this trip. But fortunately the next day John shot a bear, and we had a huge celebration that evening, a return to Campbell River, and a flight out the next day. Score: Halibut 2, Doug 0. I swore I would get back there and catch a halibut. Kind of like Captain Ahab and Moby Dick, I guess, it is a worse obsession than steelheading ever was. Over the next few months, plans took shape for a trip the next May to Winter Harbour, on the Northwest tip of Vancouver Island – an area known for its plentiful halibut. Marcel and I would be joined by an American friend of mine, Pat from Wyoming, and our friend Dan from the preceding year’s adventure would assist us with some of the logistics. Chief amongst these was his offer to drive a truck full of gear from Port Alice, where we would launch, to Winter Harbour and then back at the end of the trip. It would be an EPIC adventure. Once again, Marcel’s home in Campbell River served as our departure point, and once again we filled his truck and boat for the back-breaking road trip to Port Alice. But this time we remembered all of the gear and food – other than Pat left his overnight kit in Campbell River. Meeting Dan in Port Alice, we re-jigged the loads so Marcel and I could travel by boat, and Pat and Dan by truck, to meet at a resort called Winter Bay Cottages. Off we went on our respective journeys, and in due time met up again in Winter Harbour. Most of us have stayed at a number of lodges and resorts over the years. Some are good, some not so good, some downright awful (like Wayne and Cathy’s House of Horrors on Elbow Lake, now bulldozed but then threatening to collapse on top of us). A very few are absolutely top-notch operations with exceptional hospitality and first-class accommodations. I am pleased to report that Pat and Phil Wainwright have such an operation, Winter Harbour Cottages, and this was to be our home for the duration of our stay. Our cottage was cozy, spotlessly clean, and furnished with everything one could hope for in a rental – including excellent kitchen tools, cooking dishes, pots and pans, linens and indeed everything one could need other than personal gear and victuals. Pat and Phil are warm, friendly, and welcoming, and we were made to feel immediately at home. Evening was upon us, but Marcel announced that we had some weather coming in, so we had best go out while we could. Accordingly, we stowed our fishing gear on his boat and slipped away from the dock, headed to a couple spots to soak the prawn traps, and a couple local fishing holes. We deployed the prawn traps and hit two prime-looking jigging locations. The wind and waves were building steadily and we had difficulty maintaining bottom contact because of the eight to ten foot swells. Eventually we called it a day and returned to Winter Harbour. After you leave Winter Harbour, all there is in front of you is the ocean across to Japan. So winds coming from the west have a good chance to build up speed before they make landfall. As we returned to port, there were several large fishing boats also tying up alongside. You KNOW that if a two hundred foot boat is coming in to harbour that an eighteen footer might find it a wee bit rough out on the briny………….. And we were not disappointed by the weather forecast – the winds hit with a fury and lashed rain against the walls of the cabin. But inside we were warm, dry, comfortable, and enjoying the opulent digs. In the morning we were still warm, dry, comfortable and enjoying the opulent digs, but it clearly was not going to be a fishing day. Pat and Phil had suggested some local attractions, so we walked around the area and enjoyed our day ashore, albeit a bit damp one. I admit to some cabin fever amongst the three adventurers by the time we could get back out on the water. Our remaining two days found us bobbing like corks out on the ocean, in swells ranging from twelve to twenty feet. It was just not meant to be, and so we called it a day and planned our return to Port Alice and Campbell River. Dan arrived as planned the next morning, loaded up the truck and Pat, and was off down the island to Port Alice. With the boat key. And there is no cell phone service up there. There being not much in the way of alternatives, Phil volunteered to drive Marcel, at break-neck speed, to catch Dan and Pat – hopefully before Port Alice. Happily, they found each other, got Marcel back to Winter Harbour, and the rest of the trip was thankfully uneventful. Back in Campbell River, Pat left for home but I still had a couple days to kill before I headed back. Not being a pair of quitters, Marcel and I were out in his boat again the next day, but launched from Campbell River this time. The halibut were not playing there either…………so when life hands you lemons, you make lemonade, right? We stowed the heavy tackle, and went jigging with light rigs near a huge kelp bed. In the course of the day I caught my first Cabezon, Copper Redfish, Canary Rockfish, Bocaccio Rockfish, Pacific Cod, and Rock Sole. Earlier I had trapped some JUMBO prawns. Seven species, seven PBs, one trip. Just like I promised in the title. And yes, the tally now is Halibut 3, Doug no score. But this year I am going back! (Please wish me luck!) (And yes, I know what happened to Captain Ahab…) Doug EDIT: This story was from a number of years ago and since then I have caught a bunch of halibut........

Our local grocery store has now put "Made in Canada" stickers beside the price sticker to make it easier to buy the right stuff.

My second hali (in 2017) was a good one, a keeper JUST on the nose. One cm longer and it would have had to go back in the briny.

Yes it was a great day. I ended up with 37, thanks to you donating many decent fish to my pail. I froze 6 meal portions for us and it was perfect timing because our freezer was down to our last bag of fish. My version of the Simcoe bugs where definitely a hit with the perch yesterday. As I told you since I started using them 30 plus years ago, I always have 1 rod rigged with a bug when I'm chasing perch on Simcoe. Good luck Cliff at making bugs like the one I gave you to copy. They are very easy and fun to make. I hope we can hook up again this season to enjoy another day on the hard water.

I use to make all my spending money when I was about 12 shooting groundhogs and foxes for local farmers. A box of .22 shells was $0.25/50. I got $$0.25 for a groundhog tail and a whole $1.00 for a fox tail. I had a little single shot cooey no scope or anything, just ramp sights but I started target shooting with my dad when I was 6 and I was taught 1 shot one kill. That was a lot of money back then, I could sometimes earn $4.00 or $5.00 for a whole day of hunting.

Well.... go big or go home... I built a smoker capable of holding about 300lbs of meat. The last few weekends, my nephew and I got into processing our wild game as well as pork and beef. Over the 2 long weekends we did up 110lbs of summer sausage, 15lbs pepperoni, 5lbs fresh Chorizo, 12.5 lbs dried Chorizo (7 week wait), 50lbs Willie's pepperettes, 12.5lbs Maple Habinero pepperettes, 12.5lbs Teriyaki pepperettes, 25lbs Homey BBQ, 30lbs moose sausage in hot Italian, mild Italian, and a new one to us, Philly cheese steak (will do this one again). To top it off, about 50lbs of brats. After all the processing we had 9lbs of cubed bacon left over. It got a 7 day cure and double smoked.

First and only brand new vehicle I ever bought for myself. Wish I still had it.

Well, they did not disappoint, I won't say we hammered them, the bite was very light and slower than the last few times out. Many of the perch were 9 " or under but our numbers were pretty good. We caught 6 herring, only kept 4, and we only kept 20 perch. The clear winner was the bloodworm jig by a long shot. The other huts we talked to had very limited success today, nothing close to ours, one fellow offered to buy some jigs, I just gave him Brian's website and gifted him one of the bloodworm and one of the jigs. There seems to be a lot of slush out there, we saw many tracks where ATVs had plowed through, that's going to make it rough when it freezes. All in all a wonderful time (any time fishing with my son is wonderful 😊) Thanks again Brian for getting the order to me so quickly. It made a great day even better🙂

So I get lots of recipes through email and I save the ones that look interesting and I might want to check out in the future, the folder is quite large lol. In the last couple of months I've signed up for A Southern Soul and get almost daily emails. This one recipe caught my eye right away so I printed it out and made it the next day. I've now made it 3 times in the last couple of months and it's gone over great with family and friends. I mentioned to my daughter early last week that I was making another batch up and before I could finish my sentence she was going yes please, yes please, when can I come over to get some lol. "Soup was sooooooooo goood!!!!!" was the message she sent me on FB. Of course I've dressed it up a bit each time. I just happened to have some frozen smoked pork hocks I did up way back so one of them went in each of the three batches I've done so far. Once the soup was about done I removed them and put the meat back in. I've also added some bacon to each batch along with at least the half pound of ham called for. One batch I fried up all the cubed potatoes and ham in bacon grease before adding to the soup. I've also added at least a tbsp of thyme to each batch. I've also added extra stock on top of the 900ml carton each time that I just made up with the powder, last batch was an extra 2 cups. I add extra onion and chop the carrots and celery somewhat finer, it mixes in better that way. Extra fresh garlic too of course.The recipe isn't completely clear on step 3, I remove a cup of stock and a cup of potatoes from the soup to mash up in a 4 cup measuring cup and I mix the flour with the half and half before adding it and the sour cream to the mash mix and mixing well before adding back to the pot. At the table I add shredded cheddar and my own smoked paprika to the bowl. The soup turns out great, nice and thick and with bread it's a meal on it's own. It's real thick cold. I use a 6l crockpot and it's at least 3/4 full. Highly recommended and great for feeding a crowd. Cheers https://www.asouthernsoul.com/crock-pot-ham-and-potato-soup/

This is going to be quite the S show.

Took my grandkids out on Simcoe today...PA day at school. Fishing for Perch was somewhat slow, but enough flurries of activity to keep the young lads from getting bored. Threw the whole tackle box at 'em...didn't like the bugs today...best success was jigging a Slab Grabber to call 'em in, then feeding them Pinhead Shiners on a drop shot in the adjacent hole. Tim Hale's operation made sure the little guys had a fun and safe day..

Oh god, I can attest to that, 10 incher's would make a excellent meal, those were the days.

Hi all, At the beginning of the month my local tackle shop held a promotion and we’re choosing 10 lucky people to receive a complimentary sample of some new plastics they are selling, I was one of the lucky few that got a pack. I was sceptical when the shop owner told me they were hammering walleye with them, I’m almost exclusively a live bait guy for walleye on the ice, but gave it a go. I got out twice for walleye and once for trout in the two weeks since I got the lures. The first day out for walleye was a slow day, only saw 3 fish but caught them all, 1 on a minnow and then the other two to my surprise ignored the minnow and hammered the plastic. Two days later I went for walleye again, my confidence in the plastic was higher and although I got one on a minnow the rest took the plastic. I even got a whitefish on them, which really surprised me because the whities on that lake are so finicky. About a week later I went for trout. I got a really nice one on the paddle tail, a bait I’d never tried before. Since they caught fish and I could give a positive review I decided to do do just that…. Fun video. I’m not sponsored nor have I received any compensation from the brand, just an honest user review with a mention of my local tackle store.

It pays to shop around for tires. In Sept 22 I bought a 95 Lumina with only 117k on it, never winter driven. Summers had plenty of tread left but the sidewalls were getting cracked. I found a set of snows in fantastic shape for $200 and for $500 total I had them mounted on winter steel rims and on my third winter now. Summers still have plenty of tread but cracking is getting real bad so I found an almost new set of all seasons on rims last fall for $300 that will end up being less than $500 to get them removed and mounted on the original rims that I have to use due to the real deep offset. For the miles I put on they'll last me for another ten years I figure. So deals can be had.

the biggest issue with mandatory winter tires is that Canadian's by and large have no money any more thanks to the sky high cost of living in this province/country. There is an affordability crisis of everything right now, people don't have an extra $1200 lying around if they were forced upon drivers. I get the benefits, I get the fact that the summer ones will last twice as long etc. it's the mandatory up front cost that is the problem. People can barely afford to eat right now, let alone buy winter tires. and the carbon tax is going up again in April.. A fart could do a better job than Justine Dildeau.

I got a .22 single shot , Winchester 67 , at 13 but all dad would let me shoot around the property at crows and groundhogs etc were BB caps. CIL bb caps came in a box of 100 for a buck and a quarter at the hardware store, they were actually more expensive than the CIL Whiz-Bang hp Long rifles at 50 cents a box of 50

Good to see.. meanwhile idiots like me drive 19 hours for a shot at one.. https://www.cbc.ca/player/play/video/9.6642147

Absolutely, brutal display for a fish that can't be retained...but even more blatant is that the fish is out of season (December 15th) and out of slot (54" + for retention)...which both call for IMMEDIATE RELEASE...no photos (certainly not posed ones) and no measurements.

Let's remove ALL THE SLIME off the fish before we release it. Good god those guys need some lessons in handling.

His twin brother also caught a Musky in the harbour in October 2022. It was larger at 43 ", so there's at least 2 of them.. The Sampson boys seem to have it dialed in for Esox in sight of the CN Tower...plenty of 40" + Pike from the harbour too.. https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/muskie-toronto-harbour-1.6637077 Yes, my salty favourite too....the original "Silver Bullet"...Nothing, pound for pound, pulls drag like a Bonefish. Wet wading, then hunting/sight fishing in skinny water. A 10 lb is a trophy, but even 5 lb will pull 100 yds of drag in a single run..

Ever since I was young I was always a fan of driving big boats as opposed to some of my buddies who were into muscle cars. With 3 kids I mostly owned 4 door Buicks, probably more LeSabres than any other model but the nicest one I had was a Park Avenue Ultra. Some of them were strictly summer cars while having a winter beater and always a 4x4 pickup year round. Nicest car I ever had by far though that I bought from a mechanic buddy in the late 80's's was a '73 Cadillac Coupe DeVille with a Fleetwood Brougham d'Elegance package. Barry had completely redone the interior in a brushed velour that drew constant comments from onlookers, sitting in those front Captain's seats was more comfy than any furniture I had ever sat on. With a 502 engine it had tons of power and just about every option available including auto dimming headlights and coil over airbags in the rear. Even though I never drove it in the winter eventually the frame in spots got past the point of doing any more repairs on it and I had to scrap it even though the body was till pretty good. Similar to this photo with the same wheel covers but with the super wide whitewalls, that car was a real looker that I loved driving for the dozen or so years I had it. Even drove it to Kipawa one year and rented a boat from Alwaki lodge. Got stopped by the QPP about 5 miles from Kipawa, I was barely speeding but the cop told me he really just wanted to take a good look at the car lol. For years every time I went up there Mary the lodge owner's wife would comment on it as it was parked in their lot for the week.

Bytor and The Snowdog Actually Ursa and Orion

red coloured squirrel tails maybe? 😉 Sounds like I should have ordered some of those too! Doug

2 things 1. i owned one of those premiere ice rods and hooked into a big trout and the lack of butt end nearly broke my arm after fighting it through multiple runs. I said "never again" and literally bought a new laketrout ice rod on the drive home. 2. Trout are the worst for deciding to but their heads against the ice. Its almost like they know they can knock the lure out of their face. I keep my drag stupidly loose when i get them up top. The buggers can be a handful to land. Heck last weekend I had one roll itself up in my line to the point that I could no longer land it head up, so i tail grabbed the thing to bring it up backwards, once i got it up on the ice I began to try unwind the frigging knot it had tied itself into and sure enough the thing went nuts and somehow managed to find the hole and take off again before it was unhooked. I got two fights out of one fish 😄

I’ve fished LOTW many times in the early 2000s. The smallie, largie, pike, walleye and musky fishing opportunities were endless and I only fished the North Eastern corner of the lake. Unbelievable fishery. I could happily spend the rest of my life fishing that lake. Eagle Lake on the way up is another great fishery. Lots of others along the way.

You got THAT right! I bring lots of snacks that are otherwise on the prohibited list. Stuff like Calvin's "chocolate covered sugar bombs" and POP!!! The kids are so happy stuffing their faces that catching the odd fish is just a minor annoyance....

I do prefer to hit small local brick and mortar shops for all of my needs when possible CM. I only resort to online when there's no other option and given my numerous daily walks with the pup, the driving skills of these to your door drivers leaves a lot to be desired and I do mean "a lot!" It's hard to be a good driver when you're constantly illegally staring at your hand held device.

I should clarify the amount of time spent actually fishing...with boys in the single digit age bracket, there was a lot of untangling of lines, pulling stray hooks out of clothing, playing with flopping fish, torturing of minnows, and a football game on the ice... But that's what made it fun...I'm sure a couple of "experienced and dedicated" anglers would've resulted in a fuller bucket or two. Fishing with kids and grandkids isn't always about catching.

Glad you had another good day Cliff. Tim Hales really does have a great set up. Such a nice way to spend the day. For anyone trying to copy my version of the Simcoe Bug. I use an egg sinker. If the hole is to small to fit over the eye of your hook just drill the hole a little bigger. Slip the sinker onto the shank of the hook and squeeze , I just used a pair of pliers , into the shape above in Cliffs picture. Then I used spools of thread we had with our sewing machine and wrapped the lead to cover. Over the years yellow background with red at each end ,like Cliffs picture ,or black at each end seem to my most productive colour patterns. Then I just coat with Debbe's clear nail polish. I made all my bugs at least 30 years ago. About every 5 years I give them a new coat of nail polish. Not because they are starting to fall apart, just to make them shiny again. I can't remember what size the hooks I used are or the weight of the egg sinker but go as heavy as you can with the sinker. It is much nicer to fish with because you can really feel when the fish hit and the extra weight gets it down to the bottom fast. One last tip. These bugs although heavy are not very big so I recommend you always have a pair of hemostats or pliers for hook removal. They can be a PITA to get back out of the fishes mouth if they have inhaled it.

Ohhh I could use some of those come May 1st!

First go at pickled walleye

I don't need to have the government tell me what to do. I'm in my 60s and have never had winter tires and as long as my tires are in good shape with good tread I don't need winter tires. You want winter tires, that's fine with me, I've got no problem with that. I'm just tired of other people's opinions being thrust upon everyone just because they think they are right BTW, I drive over 30k a year, I used to drive 60 k a year. Never had an accident caused by snow or cold.

Hey Spiel, stag film, that's a good one Haha, you are absolutely right, the last time I tended to this camera I had it on stills and video and switched it to stills. he did this several times.

Well at the age of 4 Gordie finally went ice fishing for the first time. This dog is crazy happy when he's out in the snow and yesterday was no exception, in fact when we got home he came in the front door and immediately went out the back door to go sleep in the snow. We stayed close to home to make it a short first outing and he loved it. We stayed out for about 4 hours and at 3.5 hours the winds shifted to the east and it cooled considerably so I finally coerced (gently forced) a scared pup into the confines of the one man flip over on the bed where Brook used to sleep. He was extremely nervous when I closed her up but quickly accepted it and fell asleep for the last 30 minutes of our outing. While I have no pictures of him in the hut I'll include one of Brook from several years ago for reference as to the available space Gordie was in. Oh and for what's worth fishing wise, no Walleye were to be had but I did save myself from a Skunking in the final moments with a dink Perch. Brook snuggled in her little nook ......

😆 There are days when I certainly feel that way Ron. Thanks for the props and yes we are due for a good chin wag. You'll get no argument from me Cliff, there's a multitude of talent here from making and crafting to successful application and use of the tools in our trade.

I've been to Cozumel twice...both times fished a day with Nacho, and then DIY on the North Beach. March and April are good months to go anywhere in the Caribbean for fishing. Cold fronts (and wind) don't creep down that far south any longer, and temps aren't ridiculously steamy yet. Enjoyed Cozumel, however I keep getting drawn back to Belize...quantity and quality of fish, variety of species, and unlimited DIY. Probably the best place on the planet if Permit are on your bucket list. I also find the atmosphere a lot more chill (no big all-inclusive resorts) and the people super friendly... My nephew with nice Permit from last winter...