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A few years ago, my daughter and I started a little project to create a fishing alphabet book. I figured it was a good way for her to learn about fishing, reading and books. I could also use the opportunity to try and convince her that I was a better angler than I actually am. It took about two years of long stretches of procrastination, sprinkled with some focused work, and fishing interruptions to get it done. The original idea was just to create a simple printable book in black and white but as I got more into it, it kept growing with the eventual goal of publishing it on Amazon. I'm really happy with the end result and would love for some people to see it. The book is called "L is for Lunker" and is available on Amazon. I'm also more than happy to send anyone a digital copy of the book. Just send me a pm.

With the help from family,they are doing up some T,s . Family is getting the 1st off,s

I was out 5 x,s before the deep snow. I walk and my knees will not allow me to walk through that mess we had,as short of a walk it is . Past 2 season were,warm temps,sketchy ice,this season,good ice,way to much snow and slush . Am I giving up,hell no, there is always next season. As for my equipment when heading out well, KISS . A good push smitty,pop up hut,heater,3 bottles of heater fuel ( I LIKE TO STRIP DOWN ) Auger, finder and 2 sticks. Pocket radio and thermos of java.

I’m going to try to make it to the perch fest. then maybe small lake for lake trout. then Erie for eyes. st Clair for Muskie. GB for salmon and rainbow. Then small lake north for whatever bites. that’s all I have so far. I’ve bought a bunch of gear. Hope to get a second boat too.

Hi all, Got out with my neighbour for a couple hours before sunset. We missed quite a few at the hole and got a couple keepers and a couple big girls. Lots of fish swimming through that would inspect and chase without committing, frustrating, but fun.

We used heavy canvas tarps supported by 3 lodge poles sourced near our destination to keep outta the wind.

Took this picture on my way trout fishing mid February, do I need a shelter and a heater? For me A BIG YES. Do I need a fishfinder…no, do I need a power auger? With my arthritis another big yes. Do I need live scope… nah. Do I need a snowmachine and a quad, no…. But I wouldn’t get to 80% of the places I go. Life is short…make it as fun and comfortable as you can is my thinking.

Kicker for strolling or moping ? We generally use the bow mount for those presentations...but, yeah, the line between trolling/strolling/moping/bottom bouncing/drop shot/etc is pretty blurry.. As mostly a Bass and Musky guy, I prefer to cast. However, after a morning of flinging half-pound lures with a 9 ft broomstick and a winch, by lunch time I often turn to my partner and say" how 'bout we troll for a while"..

Great points, I had a very unrealistic expectation. I thought I know enough, only realise it was not even the tip of the ice berg. I'm glad that so many of you share experiences here with me and I learned alot from this forum.

As most of us sit around in the "transition" time of the year, I get excited for the the adventures I have booked (and random trips) for the 2025 soft water season. I would say right now is when I do 90% of my fish gear buying. Big trips are: 1. June - French river for a week 2. Aug - 10 Mile Loge QC (thanks Iggy) 3. Aug - Round Lake (family vacation) Mix in some trips for lake trout in QC and Big Rideau as well as some local lakes for bass pike ad walleye I plan to fish as much as possible this year. Anyone else doing anything special for the 2025 fishing season? Cheers, BM

Big time! This is the only reason I fish from a hut a lot of the time....

Long point fishing is similar to lake simcoe in that it's a long walk from shore and if you get cold it's a long walk back. Plus, half the fun is when you are sight fishing which means you need a hut.. with that comes a machine to pull it .. when I was younger, I would pull a small sled and it wasn't a problem to go 40 minutes.. my limit now is 10 or 15 minutes.

T is for Terrific. Well done!

A is for Awesome 👏 👏

This is how I fish. Lake O for salmon? 3 guys trolling. Lake St C for musky? 3 guys trolling (maybe an hour or 2 of high-risk crowded casting). Kawarthas for musky? 2 guys casting

caught just as many fish, because the lakes were teaming with fish and were unpressured.

Number one rule of fishing, dont "overthink" it. If youre attempting to ice fish laketrout without electronics...good luck If youre hiring a permanent hut from an operator at the end of the season? Good luck you say you are deadsticking minnows...but what does your presentation look like, do you have all sorts of "cheater" mechanisms all over your line, like snap swivels, too big of jigs, big hooks etc? good luck. To me at least in my experience, the devil is 100% in the details, but overthinking about fishing on this day or the next or not is a load of whatever as far as I am concerned. In my observation, the moon has impact on two things, 1 in the spring for bass, the first full moon when the water reaches 60 degrees, youre going to see a huge wave of a spawning. 2. if its perfectly clear and calm during a full moon, ive observed that the fishing can be tougher as I personally believe the fish have fed a bit more through the night than normal. as far as the moon having any impact on fish that are below ice that cant see the sky, or observe any water level change on a small lake thats not tide impacted...ehhhh the presentation of your bait, the line your using, the knot, the hook is far more important. Permanent huts are the equivalent of going and fishing in your boat on the same shoal every single day all day...Seems crazy to think that the fishing is going to be excellent all of the time for the whole year doing that no? staying mobile, adjusting depths all matters, at the end of the day though, ice fishing is a giant unproductive PITA. As far as im concerned its something to do during the winter, but the really "banner" days are few and far between no matter how hard you grind at it. Laketrout specifically, its hard to get around them, once you are, then its hard to get them to bite, then if you do, its hard to land them. Thats the name of the game, youre either in or your out. The payoff can be pretty sweet, nothing in ice fishing beats catching lakers through the ice, but holy heck id much rather target them from a boat! Ill add, im totally aware that this is a lot of complaining...but your talking to a guy that has the snowmobiles, the livescope, the huts, heaters blah blah blah and spent 12(ish) full 8 hour days out there this winter chasing lakers, caught some, skunked some, literally didnt have any "great" days all winter this year, still did it!

Yes you are right - regs say no chumming . So when you are fishing with live or dead minnows or worms - where that is allowed - you would have to be very careful when you added a minnow to your jigging spoon, or a piece of dew worm. If you were jigging it too aggressively, the minnow or part of the minnow or worm might fall off down at the bottom of the hole. Then you are just fishing with live bait, and NOT chumming, , perhaps not t(e most efficient angler in terms of how many worms or minnows you might need for an outing. Also if you are fishing with live minnows or dead ones, take a good look at them , like very closely, to see what they are. As a guide over the years in Muskoka and Halliburton m and Kawarthas , I would very often have some minnows on board purchased from various bait shops. I very carefully LOOK at every minnow before using it. The bait shops DO NOT I have purchased minnows from many different bait shops and have found all sorts of Non baitfish mixed in with them. A 5” Brown Trout, a 4” Walleye, many perch minnows, many catfish minnows, burbot , all sorts of “minnows” that are not legal baitfish - so have a good look at them before use - they kinda all look the same in a minnow bucket of a couple dozen. Re dumping “fish guts” back in the lake , make sure of 2 things. 1 - Only ever the legal game fish you catch from that lake , river. 2 - not on or along the shoreline, but out in the deepest water you can find.around the area - no one wants stinky fish guts on their shorelines, beaches . If a fish from that lake dies of old age, it doesn’t get scooped up and put in a PLASTIC garbage bag to go to a Landfill. It sinks to the bottom and decomposes and feeds the bugs, and leeches and turtles,- NATURE - sometimes it floats for a bit and the birds get at it until it sinks. So “fish guts” minus the filets, do the same when dumped back. One less plastic garbage bag goes to a landfill.

I watched the lunar calendars for some time. If I was honest weather and time of season makes a lot more difference. Got skunked on new moons and full moons. And to be honest how many of us haven't tried to figure out some scheme to improve our odds when fishing. The theories are endless..... I'd say in all likelihood you went not over a feeding pod of fish.

A couple things can make a huge difference to success or not. If you are on a lake that allows live or dead minnows, - grind up with pliers, knife, whatever - a minnow or 2 for each hole, bring some worms, do the same - fish "smell" better than you would imagine - brings them to your bait. Also noise - a vibrating "blade" bait - I use Showdowns - or a rattle bait on a jigging rod, very aggressively jigged up and down to create a commotion below where you are can also bring fish to your baits - sometimes the lure gets hit, sometimes a nearby tip up. If you start fishing and you don't get bit fairly quickly, there usually are not any fish below you, so you either have to move, or get the fish to come to you -they move around pretty slow in winter so it sometimes takes a while - but I have had many days on the ice where a noisy bait and a bit of smell has "called in" a bunch of fish. GL

Your right an ice angler does not need all that much gear - but it sure can be fun running and gunning, on the Reelpro Ice fishing Sled at 80 mph

not mine, had one just like it.