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Hi all, with the laborious initial 2hr break in under the belt it did not take long to get the next 8hrs on the new Merc. The sliming got better the last few days as I hit up the trout lake at our local Provincial Park where we have been tent camping the last couple of nights. The lake trout have been fussy but got a few, the bass have also been fussy, but got a few, and the walleye have been fussy as well…. sigh… but have had 3x26”, 1x 28” and a chunky 29”er with a couple small ones thrown in during two crack of dawn sessions.

Its been a while since Ive had something to report.. but we finally.. finally made it up To Camp Jiggy Jiggy. It was winter of challenges, and a spring of projects we couldn't get away from but finally after 7 months we are back.. It always amazes me how well the place holds up in our absence. Last year I installed a camera with cell service outside, and added a solar panel the battery made it to the end of Feb before it died.. but had manages to take a charge again and reset it self late march. Its really quite nice to see the pace all winter long and know all is well. The camera overlooks the river as well. The one couple we know locally used to comedown here to fish occasionally, but they retired in the fall and moved away. Its the beginning of july and the camera hasn't picked up a boat or a canoe on the river yet. So for now at least we have our little stretch all to ourselves again, something Im very grateful for. We've had the place for about 18 years now i think and i know its selfish, but its hard to share lol. here are some pics for everyone. My mug.. yes i need to shave... My view from my office this morning.. Had to clear the trail in as always every year. The kids got me this Milwaukee chainsaw this year.. honestly for light to medium work its a game changer. Ill never ever tire of the view up the river Fishing is still as good as ever, maybe even better this year.. theres a nice size year class of pike that's prevalent in our space that are all about 30 inches, and some like Moniques best yesterday are a bit bigger: this one went right back in the water: LOL.. this one diddnt... Creek is still coughing up dace which we used last night to get four eating sized pickeral. After all this time bigger pickeral still elude me, but we have at least found some spots for some for eating. Still cant find the bigguns though. So that's it for now.. gonna be a hot one up here.. oh and last but not least... they look silly but on a breezeless day saved our afternoon from baking in the boat.. although we had trouble not laughing at each other.....

I see no reason to unplug the trolling motor while charging, mine is hardwired in so it never gets unplugged

Leave the charger connected.

We just spent a week at Quinte and the place is loaded with swans, they're everywhere. We had this little family group living on the shore next to our cabin and they're fun to watch. First few days there were 4 babies, then Wednesday morning one was missing and only 3 babies were there. Woke up Friday morning and another one had disappeared leaving 2. Locals said the baby swans are a favorite for the pike and they grab them all the time plus we had plenty of ospreys and hawks flying around so who knows what happened to the little guys. Nature can be tough sometimes.

OK, cut off the other connector and replaced with what I used on my last Minn Kota. I use a clunky welding connector but it worked flawless for years before and besides being non-waterproof they really work well when needed. The other detail was that I disconnected a onboard charger that was directly hooked to the batteries. The boat has a 4 bank noco charger hooked up to the 2 trolling batteries and 1 to the cranking battery. I may re-install the charger but I will make a separate thread for that. As Akrisoner mentioned the connector looked to be the culprit as the batteries now work like brand new! I trolled 8 hrs on Lake Ontario and started with 4 bars and ended with 3! It was just used for gps steering at speed 2, but I'm happy. Was kinda looking into new Lithium batteries but no need yet and my wallet is happier. Thank you for the help guys.

We owned the cottage at the end of north shore road with the green boathouse for 15 years. My parents have since retired and we now have a place in Carling on the sound. i still miss pointe au baril a lot, its a really special place.

For some reason I find birds eating fish less disturbing than fish eating birds. Makes no sense---just nature's way. But I'll never go skinny dipping in pike 'infested' waters LOL

Another thing you might consider given your motors age is getting all of your fuel supply lines changed over to ethanol tolerant lines.

This ^^^^ I've been running my 2006 4 stroke on ethanol 87 octane from the get go, no issues. And yes, install a water/fuel separator.

Dropped a brand new fillet knife over board to see how well it floated. Well, it was advertised that it would float, but I guess not while still in the sheath. Dropped like a rock. HH