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Got out from Jordan Harbour yesterday hoping to fill my fancy fish bag. Filled bag with ice and was on water by 7am. I have a small 16ft not deep hull so weather is a huge factor on getting out. Water was perfect, bimini up and rods ready. Zig zagged 75ft to 150ft back and forth with a dipsey/flasher/fly on one side and downrigger spoon off the other. Dipsey probably 30-40’ down and downrigger at 60 or so. Downrigger grabbed 3 or 4 decent size lakers and dipsey handled a nice salmon. A couple small guys were handled by the dipsey and a few shook off. Think I went 5-9 on the day and out by noon. This is my 3rd year on Lake Ontario after 30 years chasing Kawartha fish in 4-20ft of water so big learning curve. I’m getting more comfortable and successful and feel like I’m 75% along the way. I think I caught 2 fish my first year putting in many many hours on the water and watching youtube instructions. My second year was an equipment adjustment with proper rods and a used decent downrigger. This year I’m tuning in to location and depth, speed (at the ball) and lure presentation. I still love Kawarthas and Lake St. Clair but Lake Ontario is pretty incredible.

Another consideration is the rod holders you use or plan to use. I have Down East holders which work great for large, round traditional type line counters but they do not work for low profile line counters. Many other rod holders would work with either type of reel.

In the Okuma line up the Coldwater is OK, but the Convector and Magda have just way too much plastic for my taste. However, it's the drags that are a problem for me. They suffer from "drag creep" so you're constantly tinkering with the setting (especially when pulling something substantial like Dipsy's). Plus they also exhibit "drag fade" particularly with a fish that makes long powerful runs like a big King. Like I said, that's been my personal experience. Depending on the application you may have a different opinion. Okuma's come in at a great price point, but in terms of "value" like most things you get what you pay for.

I wrote two articles about Georgian Bay Fishing Camp for Ontario Fisherman magazine back in the day. One was about the walleye, and one about the smallmouth. I caught my PB walleye there one spring, about 12 pounds. I had just paid fairly big $$$ to have a 10.5 lb walleye mounted and did not think I wanted to invest more in a fish that was not "THAT" much bigger. I had previously asked Dave if he wanted a good walleye that he could have mounted for display and to show off at the fishing shows, and he said yes, so I kept that fish and gave it to him. He agreed that he would put a plaque on it with my name. Well...........Dave was not always real good about following up on stuff. He did get the fish mounted and brought it to the Toronto Sportsman's Show, but with no plaque on it with my name. But he always intended to get that done. And it was a LOT bigger than the one I have on my wall....... When he drove guests back and forth to Key River he would go through one shoal that had just a hair more room on both sides than the width of his boat. And he would take it at full throttle. That always got reactions from his guests........😉

There are rarely any completely oblivious or completely perfectly aware people. Same goes for considerate people. Being a bit selfish sometimes is how we end up not being run over by everyone else. I don't matter but given you got a bit of a rough ride it shows good character you took it will and figured it out. Always learning till we die.

Here's your sign. I would have moved your boats about a hundred yards down the lake and tied it, if I was in a good mood. It's not proper to take up a loading unloading dock at a portage unless you are loading or unloading

So if I understand this right - if you catch your limit at some time and put some of the fish in your freezer - then you go fishing a week later and again catch your limit you could be fined for having too many fish - it seems to me that a lot of guys do that - maybe I'm wrong but kinda makes me wonder -

You must be referring to Dave Bulger?