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Man, it has been a very bizarre ice fishing season! It was our first good ice fishing season in a few years! Lots of good ice out there, if fact the first year in a while that we've seen truck out there but the latest snow that we had received has made it a mess out there> Not sure I'll get out there again this year. One interesting thing that I noticed this year, was the number of BIG JUMBO's that stayed relatively shallow <15 FOW. We did catch some great fish, lost some possible giants and hope that conditions improve to the point where we can get out again!

I can't wait to see how this "stunning" piece of highly figured Quilted Poplar turns out once finished. It's in full round now and will become a reel seat, butt cap and two wood handle inserts over the next several days.

Well,I was able to hook up with our member this morning ,as he was fishing with an outfitter on the 2nd line. Met up with him and handed over a whole new batch of baits . Canada post, nor wind nor blowing wind and low vis,will stop the loony bin bugs and grubs guy ,from getting to those that want. Well, to a limit 😆. It was a nasty morning, but it was a day that was special, so I made the extra effort to make sure the day started off well . Must be the newfie in me byes.

I was out with my dad who is 82 to spend the day on Simcoe. Really appreciated the incredible effort you made, Misfish, to deliver the package of lures to me before going out (since CP can’t seem to deliver packages from Barrie to Waterloo in 2.5 weeks!) You drove through some nasty weather to make it out to our meeting place and I truly applaud your commitment to service, dedication and generosity. You are a class act and I’m glad to have met you in person, Brian. BTW, those bloodworms worked very well - thanks for everything. You are an asset to the fishing community! Michael

Hey Lew, Hopefully I can clear this up for you. I wont provide my opinion in order to keep this thread open lol. But to put it in plain language Trump imposes 25% tarrif on Canadian lumber entering the united states, the American purchaser of the lumber pays a 25% tarrif on the lumber. The money is collected by the US government. Canada imposes a retalitory tarrif on american goods a boat for example, the purchaser (your local boat dealer) pays a 25% tarrif on the boat here in canada that is collected by the canadian government. That cost would be passed down by the boat dealer to you or me when we go to buy a shiny new boat. So contrary to your understanding, canada does not pay both ways. In fact trump has been somewhat succesful in confusing americans into believing that by imposing these tarrifs, countries like canada and china will pay for them. This is not the case at all. The entire concept of a tarrif is to promote manufacturing within your own country by penalizing anyone that purchases products from a foreign manufacturer or supplier. The most recent tariff on canadian steel is an easy one...by imposing a 25% tarrif on canadian steel the US government is incentivizing any american that needs to purchase steel, to purchase it from american sources. This should boost the economy in a place like Pennsylvania that have massive steel manufacturing. Part of me even questions if Trump understood what he was doing when he initially brought up the concept, hence the continued pushing back of the imposing date. You may ask yourself then, why is everyone making such a stink about the tariffs here in Canada if its the americans that are going to pay them. The answer is that the Canadian Economy relies heavily on selling its products such as oil, lumber, potash, uranium, etc etc to the united states. If canadian resources and products are hit with a 25% tarif Americans will immediately turn to purchasing these products from other markets where tarifs are not imposed, and thus this will severely damage the canadian economy. One blatant oversight by the Trump administration was the idea of tarffing canadian oil. What they failed to realize is that Canada currently discounts oil by upwards of $17 a barrel to the united states. By imposing a tarrif on canadian oil, Canadian oil companies would essentially be forced to begin marketing their oil elsewhere while americans would be stuck going to the open market. For areas of the United States that are heavily reliant on Canadian oil due to their distance from the american coast line such as the american midwest, transportation costs to move oil from foreign sources would skyrocket the price. These areas of the states are heavily reliant on oil produced in canada and moved down via pipeline saving significant transportation costs. If the American midwest was forced to pay a 25% tarrif, they are then looking at 1. paying 25% more immediately, plus most likely needing to go and purchase oil on the open market which they would then need to transport to the middle of the continent. I dont think theres much appetite for americans to pay what 40? 50%? more for their oil. This is the real catch in all of this. Trump can threaten tariffs etc all he wants, but at the end of the day the USA does not have/has not enough resources to sustain itself. It doesnt have the oil reserves, lumber, potash, uranium, etc etc to provide itself. It will always be reliant on countries like canada to provide those resources to it. Thats what makes this all a little nerve wracking too while Trump keeps bringing up making canada its 51st state...we just saw what Russia decided to do when it needed some resources...could USA do the same? Youd hope not.

I just got off the phone with Kim at Tim Hales, they have had to cancel all hut rentals since last Saturday because of all the snow and Kim wasn't sure when they would be able to resume normal operations, everything is canceled for the remainder of this week at least. Even the bomberdiers are getting stuck and once they can get out they still have to move huts...... If you are planning on going out on Simco be very careful, if they are having trouble then emergency services will probably have trouble getting to you if anything did go wrong. Please stay safe, there are no amount of fish worth your life.

Hi all, Finally starting to warm up here, forcast tomorrow is +6C and not much colder than -4C daytime temps all week. Clocks go forward next week...spring is my favourite time to fish crappie. Got out today but there was a stiff wind so took the shack along for a quick morning session.

If your attending, be sure to stop by and check out my work and say howdy . Date March 30th is getting here faster and faster .

Hi all, At the beginning of the month my local tackle shop held a promotion and we’re choosing 10 lucky people to receive a complimentary sample of some new plastics they are selling, I was one of the lucky few that got a pack. I was sceptical when the shop owner told me they were hammering walleye with them, I’m almost exclusively a live bait guy for walleye on the ice, but gave it a go. I got out twice for walleye and once for trout in the two weeks since I got the lures. The first day out for walleye was a slow day, only saw 3 fish but caught them all, 1 on a minnow and then the other two to my surprise ignored the minnow and hammered the plastic. Two days later I went for walleye again, my confidence in the plastic was higher and although I got one on a minnow the rest took the plastic. I even got a whitefish on them, which really surprised me because the whities on that lake are so finicky. About a week later I went for trout. I got a really nice one on the paddle tail, a bait I’d never tried before. Since they caught fish and I could give a positive review I decided to do do just that…. Fun video. I’m not sponsored nor have I received any compensation from the brand, just an honest user review with a mention of my local tackle store.

Hi all, We got into the lakers today, so cool watching them under the ice as they come up. Got four for the morning, saw a bunch and had a couple get off. Got them on a tube jig, a blade bait, a rattle trap and a white paddle tail...they got the full smorgasbord treatment today.

Hi all, Managed to get out a bit later than I prefer but still did ok from around midday till 2 pm.

I use to make all my spending money when I was about 12 shooting groundhogs and foxes for local farmers. A box of .22 shells was $0.25/50. I got $$0.25 for a groundhog tail and a whole $1.00 for a fox tail. I had a little single shot cooey no scope or anything, just ramp sights but I started target shooting with my dad when I was 6 and I was taught 1 shot one kill. That was a lot of money back then, I could sometimes earn $4.00 or $5.00 for a whole day of hunting.

Looked out the back door this morning and saw a dead deer that was ripped apart right beside my garage last night. I back onto woods and often hear the coyotes but last night never heard a sound. Couple years back they killed a fawn 100' from my back door. I'll drag the carcass back into the woods later today.

I am a testament to that.

The only vehicle that works in these conditions is a Scoot. A lot of my neighbours had them when I owned a cottage on Wahsoune out by San Souci. Also, the only way to get out to your place on the Bay during te shoulder seasons...ice too thin, or ice breaking up..

Just slip some pontoons under it, drop anchor, and call it your pontoon boat, there's no limit on when pontoon boats have to be off 😄. You're welcome!

Those are real beauties! For eating to be honest I prefer the 10-11" fish but those jumbos sure fun to catch.

Yeah Cliff it certainly wasn't close to what we have been experiencing dealing with Tim Hales. And then forgetting to pick us up. How the hell does that even happen? Still enjoyed getting together for the day, but I agree I won't be going out with this operator again.

I'll be there too with my son at his booth

I like the old huts with wood burners.

It pays to shop around for tires. In Sept 22 I bought a 95 Lumina with only 117k on it, never winter driven. Summers had plenty of tread left but the sidewalls were getting cracked. I found a set of snows in fantastic shape for $200 and for $500 total I had them mounted on winter steel rims and on my third winter now. Summers still have plenty of tread but cracking is getting real bad so I found an almost new set of all seasons on rims last fall for $300 that will end up being less than $500 to get them removed and mounted on the original rims that I have to use due to the real deep offset. For the miles I put on they'll last me for another ten years I figure. So deals can be had.

the biggest issue with mandatory winter tires is that Canadian's by and large have no money any more thanks to the sky high cost of living in this province/country. There is an affordability crisis of everything right now, people don't have an extra $1200 lying around if they were forced upon drivers. I get the benefits, I get the fact that the summer ones will last twice as long etc. it's the mandatory up front cost that is the problem. People can barely afford to eat right now, let alone buy winter tires. and the carbon tax is going up again in April.. A fart could do a better job than Justine Dildeau.

I got a .22 single shot , Winchester 67 , at 13 but all dad would let me shoot around the property at crows and groundhogs etc were BB caps. CIL bb caps came in a box of 100 for a buck and a quarter at the hardware store, they were actually more expensive than the CIL Whiz-Bang hp Long rifles at 50 cents a box of 50

First and only brand new vehicle I ever bought for myself. Wish I still had it.

Went out again yesterday, it didn't work out well. First I guess ive been spoiled, comfortable spacious huts, warm transporters, great service. Yesterday was none of those things, the huts were small, there's no backrest, the seats were narrow and very little padding making for a very uncomfortable day for an old guy like me. No one bothered to check on us for the entire day, in fact they even forgot to pick us up at the end of the day. We saw transporters come and go had all our gear packed up and ready but no one stopped at our hut. Finally at about 5 we looked around and there wasn't a transporter to be seen anywhere on the lake. We phoned the office and just got a voice mail saying they were closed, so I left a message. Thank God someone did get it because at 79 there is no way I could have walked back to shore. They did send a transporter out to get us but it was almost 6 by the time we got back to shore. Made for a very long day for two old friends, and as much as we love fishing I can assure you that if our regular hut operator isn't available we won't be going again. Oh, and the catching wasn't very good either, can't really blame that on the operator but I got the impression the hut hadn't been moved in quite a while.

Beautiful! Champagne all the way!

Lol….you can have the best ‘depthfinder’ in the world and still suck at fishing.

Ahh if only I was 40 years younger!

Small hovercraft.

OK, thanks to all who replied, I guess we'll learn something tomorrow.

We don’t know what they will look like, the idea will most likely be to specifically target some American products where we can buy them elsewhere…like China…

It was slow going today with the side by sides on simcoe and when they broke through the frozen slush But we didn’t get stuck today so I will be back out again tomorrow

Hi all, Got to our spot around 5pm, usually pick up a couple of whitefish and the odd walleye and pike before the bite turns on but it wasn’t until 7:20pm when the switch got flicked. We didn’t even mark a single fish before that, was getting worried… lol. Once they turned on it was non stop bites.

Do like the guys at the gun shows, rent a table to get there early and scoop up all the best deals............. 😉and maybe misfish needs a table assistant! Doug

Yipes! Thank goodness they checked the messages. Glad to hear you made it safely back to shore. Unfortunately it doesn't sound like a very good experience.

Thanks Cliff, smiles are good medicine 😊. I’ve done the plastic challenge for walleye in the boat before, same result every time, I pull up on a reef where the bite is on and have always found the “outfishes live bait” claim to be just that, a claim. For sure it catches but it’s 10:1 in my experience. So I was quite excited to even get a bite and to watch fish on the livescope swim right past the minnow and hammer the plastic increases my confidence, the latter being 75% of success a lot of the time.

Really nice, I have been enjoying playing with artificals this winter too and amazed at the success even compaired to using live bait. The only compensation is the smiles on the faces of the people I share it with! Thanks for starting my day off with a smile😊

I have had more than my share of issues with CP over the years Brian. I'm not sure if you remember a former member here, IceGuyD? Many years back now I ran little raffle on this site for a custom built ice rod and he "Don" won it. So he gave me his work place address to ship it to. As the weeks rolled on he failed to receive so I inquired with CP as to the whereabouts of the parcel. They claimed it was undeliverable as the address I used did not exist. Strange! When I asked why the parcel had not been returned to me they said they didn't know where it was! So they eventually issued me a cheque for the value of the contents ($150.00) as I of course had insured the parcel. So to be fair I built another rod for Don and this time delivered it to him in person on the way back from a Lefroy ice outing at the address that CP claimed did not exist, it was at the time the well known adult entertainment establishment known as "The Cannon Ball Express!" It was a good afternoon to say the least. So months passed and I'd forgotten all about it until a parcel arrived at my door. Yes, it was the ice fishing rod. It seems that once it was deemed undeliverable they sent it to a sorting facility in Ottawa rather than returning it to the provided return address on the packaging. Idiots! Needless to say, I now had the rod and I also kept the cheque.

Mine were imports from Germany, made by RWS Dynamit Nobel. 6mm round and pointed along with a .22 #11 shot round.

That's awesome. I went to a seminar Mike gave at Fishing World in Hamilton a few years back. I learned a lot about muskie fishing.

I put my permanent hut out this year, out by big cedar. The one I built last year when we had no ice lol. Me and the boy were out Saturday, fishing was slow but we ended getting stuck with the ATV for about 20 mins trying to leave the hut, tons of just powder snow and just spinning. I was finally able to just go backwards for a while til I hit some better stuff lol. It's going to be brutal out there now with the additional foot of snow or so.

Reading and hearing, that many are stuck and leaving their machines to get back to shore today. Reports of 4ft of snow and 6ft drifts. A year when we get ice,mother nature goes and throws a huge curve ball . This snow is alot of weight which many do not understand. . Cracks in the ice will allow water to seep through and creat slush,which you will not see til yer on it and that there,ends yer travels.

No mail today . I guess they take provincial holidays as well as snow days. Should be called Newman Mail

Went today and caught the tail end of Mike Handlebarz’ presentation on muskies. He was shanghaied into presenting as a couple that were supposed to be there didn’t make it in. I thought he did a great job. Had a great conversation with him. Solid guy. Some great deals on boats and fishing tackle. By the time the Sportsmen’s Show rolls around, things are going to be much pricier. Wasn’t busy at all.

Don't forget about those .22LR mini shot shells, they were real handy for smaller varmints at close range. https://www.thefirearmblog.com/blog/2019/09/27/rimfire-report-22lr-shotshells/

Hey Spiel, stag film, that's a good one Haha, you are absolutely right, the last time I tended to this camera I had it on stills and video and switched it to stills. he did this several times.

Good to see.. meanwhile idiots like me drive 19 hours for a shot at one.. https://www.cbc.ca/player/play/video/9.6642147

Absolutely, brutal display for a fish that can't be retained...but even more blatant is that the fish is out of season (December 15th) and out of slot (54" + for retention)...which both call for IMMEDIATE RELEASE...no photos (certainly not posed ones) and no measurements.

His twin brother also caught a Musky in the harbour in October 2022. It was larger at 43 ", so there's at least 2 of them.. The Sampson boys seem to have it dialed in for Esox in sight of the CN Tower...plenty of 40" + Pike from the harbour too.. https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/muskie-toronto-harbour-1.6637077 Yes, my salty favourite too....the original "Silver Bullet"...Nothing, pound for pound, pulls drag like a Bonefish. Wet wading, then hunting/sight fishing in skinny water. A 10 lb is a trophy, but even 5 lb will pull 100 yds of drag in a single run..

Our local grocery store has now put "Made in Canada" stickers beside the price sticker to make it easier to buy the right stuff.