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Hi all, Boat is put away 😭. Snowmachines ready to GO! 😃. No +℃ forecast for daytime now so the wait begins. This year was one of my best years of fishing. I did not necessarily catch more or bigger fish, its just because I spent more time on my home lake and learnt lots, i'd say I average 3-4 days a week out there. I caught more walleye on my home Lake Wabigoon than ever before and have a pretty good idea of the fishes seasonal hang outs and patterns which I can now build on. I also fished it later and more regularly than I ever did in the last 12 years. I spent a few hours every time I went out on the reefs and found some crappy spots for September/October that will need further investigation and tweaking, and narrowed down a few reefs that produce decent walleye right through those months too. I have to say though that I was mostly casting for pike and musky for the last 6 weeks of the season. Being new to this I'm pretty pleased with the results, I did not catch that many big fish, but I certainly am more confident as to where they hang out and a few baits that get their interest, interestingly smaller baits than the collective literature and wisdom suggests to use were the most productive. All in all I would have to say on this lake at this time shallow was best for me and if you can find weed thats still green BINGO! I did catch a few nice Pike jigging for walleye on the reefs and also had some success with pike casting spoons across reefs that have a nice shallow plateau, only a few follows from musky doing this, but one was HUGE! This fall was the wettest on record, since records began and this spring was the 4th coldest on record so fishing was kind of screwy out there, not even sure the crappy spawned this year as they were not in there usual spring beds, but stayed in the weed and rock piles in 10' to 14' FOW until the water warmed to 63℉ which did not happen until 2nd week of July. The water temps barely hit 70℉ all summer and only registered at that level for 2 weeks max before temps started to drop again, the torrential rains keeping it cool too. Did not hurt fishing other than we seemed a couple of weeks behind 'normal' all year and you had to try different stuff and locations. As usual with the arrival of fall I start to shoot grouse too, and with the wet weather we had a really good late Chanterelle mushroom harvest. The Grouse hunting was tough compared to usual, might have something to do with the cold, wet conditions, and when you did find birds they were jittery as heck and would be airborne into the thick brush before you could set your sight on 'em. We did get some though and my son Jack is loving hunting and foraging more than he ever did fishing, so we got to spend some quality time out in the bush together. Looking forward to ice season now, which won't be more than 4 weeks away at this rate, we already have 4" of snow on the ground and I think it's here to stay. Here are some pics from the last 6 weeks of shenanigans................... BRING ON THE ICE!!!!!!!!! TIGHT LINES!

Yeah it would be crazy talk to say a boat manufacturer would try to get out of honouring their warranty yeah

Use the Muskoka water web, look up the Lake fact data sheets. Hopefully it's listed.

Really no need to fog a 4 stroke. Change the oil, bottom end oil and you're basically done till the spring. Pulling the plugs and spraying some fogging fluid in there won't hurt anything however, whatever you're comfortable with.

Wasn't me or mine. Clipped it from the paper when it was posted. I wouldn't eat the fish out of this lake as they are very wormy. There is a power plant on the lake and the water temps are warmer than other lakes around because of it. The warm water grows fish fast but wormy.

I am also going to chime in about the Smokercraft hull failures...My best friend had an 10 year old smokercraft that is "smoked" the rivets blew and she sank. Not to mention the thing felt like you were getting in a car crash with every bit of chop or boat wake you hit. Myself and the close people that I associate with fish out of/have fished out of Smokercraft, starcraft, Lund, Crestliner, Alumacraft, Glasstron, Skeeter, Triton, Basscat (understanding the last 4 are glass boats) Myself/my dad have run Yamaha, suzuki, johnson and mercury outboards. Ill lay it out simply, Hulls - The smokercraft sank. The starcraft is 12 years old, is fine, but kinda rides like crap, the Lund Crestliner and Alumacraft all look great, but the styling/finish of the lund and alumacraft is probably a bit nicer. The alumcrafts have Lund quality at a slightly lower price IMO. The hulls on em make them like tanks, stable, unshakable fishing beasts. Outboards? The Johnson is dead (electrical issues that left us stranded multiple times) the 2012 mercury causes us grief more electrical issues (my best friends mercury's lower end leaks like sieve its 6 years old) my 88 Suzuki on my starcraft runs just fine having never been properly winterized and treated like crap its entire life. We clean the carb occasionally with carb cleaner and run a can of seafoam through it and it runs first pull. My 98 Yamaha 130 is bone stock and runs like the day it was bought and gets tournament driven and takes me out on the lake for over 300 fishing hours a year, the lower end has 0 water in it every fall and the 2 stroke starts easily and runs clean with minimal smoke. the 2016 four stroke yamaha is like a car, it hasnt had a single issue yet Close family friend runs an evinrude G1 and has had electrical issues. Thats plainly put for your consideration. Its my raw experience with no real bias, its just reality. I will also say BUY USED! I bought my 98 skeeter for $9,000, came with a trolling motor and stainless prop and I put about $2000 of work into it, upgrading electronics, trolling motor, rewiring, new seats and the thing is a tournament fishing machine. Its not a hulking beast like a 20 foot bassboat, but has a couple storage compartments, a rod locker, two livewells and goes 55mph. Does pretty much everything you could ask of a boat. I get compliments regularly at the launch about how nice my boat is. Not bad if you ask me for $11,000.

7 hours in the smoker, building up a nice bark. 1 hour in oven, temp still only 140° at best. It will be a late night. The whole house smells like smoke now.

https://www.swmarineservices.com/inventory/2009-starcraft-fishmaster-196-grand-bend-on-n0m-1t0-10292974i This is a heck of a boat for $20K. If I was in the market, I wouldnt waste any time.

Your purchase is all about your budget. Buying slightly used will save you many thousands vs. buying brand new. Glass or aluminum, welded or riveted, many things to consider. This is a great time to buy new though. Winter sales for new boats is a killer for Marine businesses, they do not want to carry over last years inventory, they need cash to survive the winter. I am a StarCraft owner and can't say enough about them and their deep V design. As far as a family friendly as well as fishing boat to trailer you are looking at a minimum 18' aluminum bowrider with full windshield and interchangeable seating in my opinion. Getting into a new 18'er with a 150 4 stroke regardless of manufacturer you are looking at the high side of $50,000.00. Last week I saw a 17' Crestliner side council at my Marine dealer with a 125 4 stroke on sale for 40K. DO NOT consider a Cracker errrrr I should say Tracker. There is no need for me to explain why here just Google Tracker boat problems, there is plenty to read from owners. I strongly suggest you go to iboats.com, join and enter your question. At any given time there can be 100,000 people on that site. Plus they have hundreds of used boats there to check and compare prices.

So I found some pink #1 curing salt at Cabelas. Then I checked the due date on those pork shoulders and it was getting close so I put one in the freezer and decided to just smoke the other one without the week long cure it would need. Yesterday I took all the skin and fat off to start. Mixed up a cup of 4 different mustards to smear the roast with. Then I mixed up almost 2 cups of spice rub, including brown sugar, salt and pepper, garlic and onion powder, chili powder, cayenne, lots of smoked paprika and a few tablespoons of Blackened Saskatchewan Rub, a Traeger mix I picked up while at Cabelas. It sure smelled good, and I completely covered the roast with it. Wrapped in foil overnight in the fridge and it's in the smoker today. There's no way I'll be able to get it up to temp in my Big Chief, so it will go in the oven to finish. Once it hits 165° I'll wrap it in foil and then return to the oven till it hits around 200°or so, the temp needed for pulled pork. Definitely looking forward to trying this, got a batch of baked beans on the go as well.