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I stop in once in a while and follow all you scallywags. Finally sold our place on Erie in March, minutes before interest rates went up. Ridiculous price but I'm not arguing, We have looked at every hi rise condo for sale from Oakville to Niagara Falls, a large condo is maybe 700 sqft, maybe for only 1 plus million smakers. We are investing the cash we have, wisely I hope, and renting a place in Ft. Erie. A few Goodfellas I know tell me if I give them the cash I can get 15%, weekly! Sorry Tony I saw that movie. Enjoy the summer all.

So a week ago this past Thursday I took the boat back to Dunnville, nothing unusual about that. However this time was very different. Just prior to Covid I reconnected with my childhood friend and neighbour and now post Covid we finally managed to go fishing together, again after a 45 year gap. The fishing post cold front was not stellar but the day, the memories, the conversation.....well in short everything was quite special for both of us. While the post cold front Walleye would not come out to play with us, the Sheephead finally showed mid morning when the water warmed one full degree F* The post fishing trip ended with my usual stop at the Country Chip Wagon where my friend (Chris) was happy to treat me to a late lunch. For me it's never the fish count, it's the memories created and those revisited. 🙂 Here's a few pictures from the day ending with my boy Gordie's second ever boat trip, exhausted as he was still wagging his tail with joy.

SlipperyVic don’t feel bad about Balsam, I have been fishing there yearly for many years and many hours and still go home empty many days. Every year seems different and I will stubbornly hit the “go to” spots 3 days straight for zero. And then I will lazely troll a walleye harness on the way back and hook in to a beautiful musky… It just seems to be that type of a lake. I do remember having a pretty successful day on Cameron right after the locks leaving Balsam with all those weed areas. I also see a charter guy posting weekly shots of big musky catches.

Congrats Chris, fishing is just not about catching.

the mighty sheephead saves another day. Nice to reconnect after so many years

Very cool, it is always nice to fish with your friends. Art

There are three main issues driving up the cost of new boats. That, in turn, is driving up the cost of used ones. First, supply chain issues remain a huge problem for pretty well every boat builder on the planet. Semiconductors, aluminum, plywood, stainless steel, resin, gelcoat, foam for seat cushions, and a whole bunch of other parts and pieces remain in tight supply. As a result, the cost of components and raw materials has skyrocketed. Shipping costs have also increased massively. The cost to ship a container of parts here from China is now 10x what it cost in 2019. Part of that is higher fuel costs, part of it is higher demand, and a big part of it is extra safety protocols to satisfy covid measures in ports, which are all government controlled. Finally, demand for boats since 2020 has gone through the roof. Dealers have very little inventory, pretty well all boat builders sold out their entire 2022 production runs long ago, and most of them are now well into 2023 meaning if you buy your boat today, it will be some time next summer before you see it. No one wants to wait, so that is driving up the cost of used boats. I don't see prices coming down. The reality is that we're going to see a lot of new, wealthy buyers coming into the market over the next several years as aging baby boomers die off and leave their assets to their kids. In the US, they're expecting millennials to inherit more than US$68 trillion from their baby boomer parents over the next 20 years. Canada's economy is around 1/10th of the US, so reasonable to think that here we're talking about $6.8 trillion changing hands over the same period. Even if only a fraction of these suddenly wealthy millennials become boat buyers, it's still going to be a huge number, and that will hold prices high.

If you wanna use the remote,pop it out! Pop it back in,its a pedal!

I'm sure it started life as a tiller, but some where along the lines someone did a home brew side console conversion.

I have been looking at some many boats. I have seen many that look good,click on it and then see a motor that should be in a museum or it,s way under power for the boat. Then there are those like said,20 years old and want today's prices. I needed to pass on the boat I wanted due to truck repairs, but I am sure something will come. I plan on buying for next season now.