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Boy, what crazy times we live in nowadays! It's been insanely busy trying to maintain a living in these COVID conditions but luckily I was able to maintain my sanity with a fair bit of ice fishing! Missed the Toronto Boat Show, Spring Fishing & Boat Show, Ottawa Boat Show, Barrie Sportsman Show and all the other spring consumer shows. So I ended up spending more days on the hardwater than I have in a few decades, definitely helped me through the winter! Whenever I went out on a foray onto the ice with friends, we always travelled in separate vehicles, had our own huts, gassed up at home and brought whatever snack we needed to make it through the day! Had many stellar days but of course some tough ones as well, that's why they call it fishing & not catching!😂😂 Lots of hi-lites though: Got to fish some new bodies of water but of course spent lots of time on Lake Simcoe! Was able to test and use some great new baits and equipment - Grumpy Bait Company - HT Enterprise - Garmin Panoptix LiveScope - Erie Secrets Sled just to name a few! Got fish with a bunch of great people and guided 6 friends to their PB Yellow Perch! Took part in a fun on-line tournament - HT Ice Fishing Classic finishing 8th for the largest perch and 3rd for the best 5 perch! This event was open to anyone across North America! Anyway, glad that open water season is here and I hope that everyone had a great ice season! Here are a few pics from this last winter!

Once again I'm totally humbled and thrilled to be asked to asked to be the Honorary Chairperson of the 2021 Orillia Perch Derby which happens to be the 40th Anniversary of this awesome grass roots event! I have had lots of ties to the city of Orillia and have been participating in this event for probably over 35 years. It is a great event designed to get everyone out fishing, kids , families and drew many visitors from far & wide to the "Sunshine City"! Due to COVID times there are plenty of changes, the most recent one is the change of dates to May 8 - 29, 2021 to comply with province of Ontario's "Stay at Home" order! For the first time it has also become a virtual event: Boundaries for the event now include all the waters and shorelines of Lake Simcoe & Couchiching plus any other bodies of water located within Simcoe County! Once registered, you will receive an link to download the "Orillia Perch Festival" app onto your phone! You can entered 1 fish each for the duration of the event! Size doesn't matter! There will be a guaranteed "tagged" fish caught each day of the event along with many other draw prizes! Each day that you enter a perch earns you a chance in the draw for the "tagged" perch of the day as well as the Grand Prize boat at the end of the contest! You don't need data on your phone in order to enter a fish but you must connect with Wi-Fi within the boundaries of the festival to download your entry as it is geofenced! Fun inexpensive time for all, only $5 for a child and $25 for an adult! I hope that everyone takes advantage of these new changes and enters this awesome fishing event, this may be your year! Best of luck to all!

Elect a clown, expect a circus. 🙄

https://ottawacitizen.com/news/local-news/st-lawrence-musky-population-threatened-by-invasive-gobies

Try Bill's Bait & Tackle in Hamilton on Upper James

Sure are Paul. More then you think . A couple of faces look familiar there Dave. Nice outings. Just another 8 months, and back at it again. LOL Looking forward to open water whities next month.

Most other species protect their nesting grounds, muskies breed and leave. They don’t seem to benefit as much from predation of the gobies either like the smallmouth and pickerel do. we all see how the smallmouth are doing in fisheries with gobies. funny how the smallest fish has the biggest impact on the apex predator in the waterbody

You had crazy amazing winter on the ice. Lovely report.

Thanks for sharing your winter adventures with us Dave Art

WOW, great post thanks...

w who had this on their bingo card ? ffs our numbers are beyond frightening and ICU is critical and urgent surgeries are on hold. I'm laying much of this on Ontario's CMOH Williams....and a few others of course. mask up, avoid large crowds (inside or out) and sanitize the hell out of your hands.

I managed to get my daughter and her pup out for some Cat fishing, she (my daughter, not the pup) has never caught one. She was successful, me, not so much. She managed 2 good sized Bullheads and 3 Channel Cats and one small Goat (that's for you JGM, Baaaaah!). The largest cat she was not willing to hold.

They couldn’t beat me last spring brother, they won’t beat me this spring. I made a small trailer out of bike tires so I could strap the back end of my tinny to it and wheel right past the closed launches and down the bank. That, and with marinas specifically named as being allowed to operate (including launches) I’ll be fishing one way or the other!

just a reminder friends...rather than buying at big box canadian tire, walmart and even bass pro. Support local, Gangons, Natural sports, Pro J and Peterborough pro tackle all sell the same gear or better while allowing you to support small business!

No problem Cliff. There is no play book for this type of thing and as such, we see conflicting reports from various sources. People in the know are learning as they go along and passing what they find out as they learn it. The only thing we can be sure of is that isolation and distancing do work. Science is playing catch up with a disease that is not static, hence the conflicting messages. My suggestion to all is to connect with your doctor if you are not sure and follow their advice. HH

Did you bring an XL coffee and foot stool, might take a while to read. Charge batteries before leaving home, if you have muffs, do a quick start to make sure it starts at the launch. Put all your fishing gear into the boat in the parking lot. Put plug in boat. Undo all straps except winch( depends on launch). If you need a Ford with back up assist, then take up a different hobby or go practice at Wmart. Launch, and get the heck out of the way.

Been thinking of getting a new toy for work and play for several years now. Finally took the plunge Just waiting on insurance to get done before I drive it home. That and they're still putting accessories on it. Say hello to my little friend. 😁 This bad boy is sure going to be some fun. Heat/AC w Climate control and heated seats is going to make getting to the fishing grounds a ton of fun. Still have to get a new trailer to haul it around and am putting a Fisher Trailblazer V-Plow on it for pushing the snow around. The 4.5'x6' power dump bed will be good for moving stuff around the cabin and has lots of room for fishing and camping gear for some epic ice fishing trips.

It has been a while since I had last visited this board. Really good to see that community is still going strong with lots of the original members still here. Hope you all have been well and have been surviving this crazy COVID19 pandemic. Only another month and we will be out with the boats again.