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Quick video from the lower Grand river for those interested. Enjoy!

an hour walk....dang...... is the trail wide enough for an atv snowdog motorcycle dog sled

This is a real fact on Simcoe. Just look at the fat smallies come October and November. I also put the feed bag on in the fall. LOL

Sunrise on the St. Lawrence River! Could really get used to seeing that every morning!

They definitely do on most bodies of water that I fish! Especially noticeable when the gamefish on Lake Simcoe follow the Shiner migration!

Well the camping trip was amazing, the fishing not so much. Struggled to find any bass on any of the shoals i tried.....but got onto awesome popper bites late casting to shorelines, but they were all small. I lost the only decent ones i hooked, about 2 lbs. Got one decent Pike when trolling A DBL 10 Handlebarz bucktail, and the wife did good catching her first ever topwater fish and a decent pike on a tube. Really want to go back already though! The Islands that were once on the Navionics that are now 1' under water almost got me a few times, but i managed to not destroy me prop or lower end!

YYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY SURE I get an invite to go fish some banks for salmon yesterday. Report from the day ,it was stellar. We all know, the stellar days are always the, should of been here yesterday the next day. We meet up in the dark on some dead end road. I had to google map the spot. Plan was meet up at 4am. Son is like me,get there early and get yer spot. I arrive and the gangs is there with,n minutes of each other. I start to get dressed up for the party,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, I am the only one getting suited up,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,WTH. Next thing I hear is, you wearing all that ? My reply, we are fishing the river correct ? My answer, Yes. OK then. I hear a bit of laughter, and chuckles. I have no clue where we are fishing, but do know, looking at the map, the river is not that close . So all dressed for the party, we start our way into the dark with head lamps pointing straight forward. I was the guy at the back of the line , so my head lamp was pointed down, so I knew where I was walking. I let the young guys blaze the trail. After the first 15 minutes,I was thinking we were getting close. I yell up to the leader, we there yet ? My reply, just getting started. OMG.My reply was, you know I have a bad knee,bad back and I need to stop and pee right ? My reply, your good ole man, just follow our lights. So after what seemed like 2 hours , (Was only 1 hour) ,we arrive at the spot, the stellar day spot from yesterday. 1.5 hours still til day light, I sit on the bank and just chill. It didn't take long for my attention to catch the sounds of swirls and jumping of fish. They were every where. To the left, to the right, even right in front of me. It was stellar. I thought OMG, were going to have a great morning. Day light starts to show and I start with hardware. Nada. Chuck for another 30 minutes and, nada. Ok, time for the fresh skein under ye float. I,ll show these young guns how it,s done. 2 drifts, float goes under, pull, nada . HA HA, you missed. Buggers. Continue on. Son tosses a fresh bag , drift and wham . Kids, what ya going to do. A short fight and , gone. Rookies. LOL I re skein,drift, float down, Swing and another miss. Old age reflex. Son drifts again, and dip, dip, yank, fish on. A great battle for a fresh runner. Managed to help him out as the NET man. We, well they, had many on and many dip dip and swings and misses by me, this morning. It got quiet so by 10 am, we made the walk back. Oh to walk in day light.LOL I can sit hear and say , I would do this everyday. The body pain I am feeling now is nothing, compared to, the great feeling of fishing with my son.

I woke up this morning expecting to be a bit sore, but I feel great, and can only think about doing it again this up coming weekend.

been relying on my electronics to find the smallies, they seem to have moved out off of the edge because of the wild temperature swings up shallow and are easily spotted in 20+fow. Ive simply been dropping a drop shot right on their heads. Ive found a few fish shallow grinding cranks, but more consistent bite is off shore. They are all puking up crayfish big time when i pull them up. The pike are all holding to the liveliest sections of weeds. Any time ive found healthy weeds the pike are holding to them as the majority of milfoil etc is now dying off.

Was up north of Kenora and the pike were smashing my Cranking Raps and Divers (Firetiger pattern). Probably could have gone larger as they inhaled them deep. Also caught Mooneye on same.

Like Cliff, walking is a thing of the past...Two of my sons (one from London and another from BC) have started an annual fishing trip up my way the past three years...they rent a pontoon boat outfitted for fishing from Buckeye in Bobcaygeon so that all I need to do is step on instead of climbing into a regular style boat (I even have trouble with a bass boat) some years my grandson and great-grandson join us...Great feeling watching them fishing even if the fishes don't co-operate...

What a wonderful report ? I can't do the walking any more but my son and I have managed to fish some wonderful back wood lakes this summer. You are right, nothing beats it!

crazy...simply crazy

And one of these! That is why B was at the back.

Good read B. But more like pop, you want to go hiking! You should have Notty done that at your age. Lol but may want to ganny again.

It’s just not boat to boat collisions, there are many that don’t pay attention to shoreline activity. On a hot summer day we swim off the end of our dock, umbrella is up, grandkids playing etc. etc. My seasonal neighbour from a few doors down decides to take his kids out tubing. No problem, but he thens proceeds to move closer and closer to the area that we are swimming in until for our own safety, we all have to exit the water while the continues to buzz past the end of our dock repeatedly. It’s an 18 thousand acre lake. Next time they are out, I’m going down to have a word with him. Just plain ignorance.

Yesterday Morning Whitby

So I have been working on the mini truck getting it ready for hunting and ice fishing 2” lift. and atv tires. I wanted to get it painted camo. They wanted way too much and the camo wrap was way to expensive so time to try doing it myself under a hundred bucks and I’m good to go im really happy with how it turned out for a first attempt

Well done David and Rob good job on the figuring out the patterns. Art

No sorry s needed, depth is a relative term anyway, on Erie I was usually in 17 to 22 feet of water, and a lot of guys thought that was shallow.

a couple seconds earlier, passing under the skyway bridge

Joepa, I can relate to this so much, every year at bass opener I spend the week fishing and every evening the signal to go home isnt related to the light, its related to the sound. One minute the bugs are manageable, the sun fully sets and you hear it...its like a distant hum. The next thing you know you look down and your hands are literally coated with a layer of blood suckers. Usually this is when we pack up and head home in the boat...you then hold your breath while tying off of the boat for the night as quickly as possible. Typically by the time you are done tying the boat the bugs have found you again and you sprint inside and spend the next 20 minutes killing all of the mosquitos that have found their way into the cottage in the millisecond you had the door open.

Property taxes are roughly based on property value. Lakefront properties pay lots more than rural/bush properties. If you’re not on a municipal road you’ll have to pay for road maintenance and snow plowing Keep bugs in mind. Hardly any at Yorkdale. You might be a prisoner at your bush property for 2 months. Can be lonely up north in the winter if you’re a social animal. Think about proximity to retail, hospital, hardware/Home Depot. I’d want to be within 20-30 from town. Max 1hr from major hospital. Preferably 10 min from Kawartha Dairies ?

One thing that was not mentioned is the availability of hospitals or doctors when you need them - I would think that this is more of a concern as you get older - I live in the country but not that far from a pretty big city - so I think I have it pretty good - it is quiet where I live but if needed I can drive to the city when needed

Consider working from home a bit longer to see if you actually like it. Then consider making your weekend escape a place to live. Most folks always say they would of done it sooner than later. Lots of these folks are older and are tired of the hustle and bustle of the city. Take the smallest things into consideration. Do you like giving Halloween candy out to children? Living up north off the main highway you'll only be feeding turkeys. How about gourmet food? Goodbye to foreign food and say hello to Timmies, Jacks Chinese and Canadian Food Restaurant, Godfathers and Dixie Lee, oh wait, they're all closed during the winter as soon as the sun sets ( depending on location of course ). Want to go see a festival? Garlic Festival in Maynooth over the weekend, 5 tables with same faces for the last 3000 years. You will need to have good hobbies during the winter. Like gardening? Well, a cold snap in August can kill your tomatoes and you're very limited to what you can grow. Life will become much more simple and slow down a lot. But my goodness does the air taste much better.

Was called the Red Barn.

This is the most important consideration of all. Will your work situation change in the next couple of years, and should it would it be crippling to you.

I think an automatic stand-by generator is one of the best investments a person can make when living in the country and was one of the 1st things I bought when we moved here 9 years ago. Nice to know when the power goes out the Genny will fire up and run pretty well everything in the house which is especially important when you rely on electric pumps for getting water into the house and more importantly getting it back outside. We usually lose several times a year, sometimes for a day or more, and it's very reassuring to know when it does go out you've got nothing to worry about.