David Chong

They look tasty! YUM!

Will probably drop by to check it out! It will defintely be interesting to see how many vendors would be there! Smaller tackle swaps are becoming very popular like the Hamilton Bassmasters Tackle Swap, Peterborough Tackle Swap and if you're in the GTA the North GTA Tackle Swap in Newmarket! I'll be at all 3 of these events, hope to see some OFC members there!

I do believe that is still being discussed at town council and possibly during the current "Stay at Home" order, hence the change of dates. Because of the virtual format of the event you don't actually have to go up to Orillia to partake in the event. You can fish and enter a perch anywhere in Simcoe County and all waters and shorelines of Lakes Simcoe & Couchiching!

As an industry sales rep, I have seen the shortages already! If you see something that you want, I would grab it!

Once again I'm totally humbled and thrilled to be asked to asked to be the Honorary Chairperson of the 2021 Orillia Perch Derby which happens to be the 40th Anniversary of this awesome grass roots event! I have had lots of ties to the city of Orillia and have been participating in this event for probably over 35 years. It is a great event designed to get everyone out fishing, kids , families and drew many visitors from far & wide to the "Sunshine City"! Due to COVID times there are plenty of changes, the most recent one is the change of dates to May 8 - 29, 2021 to comply with province of Ontario's "Stay at Home" order! For the first time it has also become a virtual event: Boundaries for the event now include all the waters and shorelines of Lake Simcoe & Couchiching plus any other bodies of water located within Simcoe County! Once registered, you will receive an link to download the "Orillia Perch Festival" app onto your phone! You can entered 1 fish each for the duration of the event! Size doesn't matter! There will be a guaranteed "tagged" fish caught each day of the event along with many other draw prizes! Each day that you enter a perch earns you a chance in the draw for the "tagged" perch of the day as well as the Grand Prize boat at the end of the contest! You don't need data on your phone in order to enter a fish but you must connect with Wi-Fi within the boundaries of the festival to download your entry as it is geofenced! Fun inexpensive time for all, only $5 for a child and $25 for an adult! I hope that everyone takes advantage of these new changes and enters this awesome fishing event, this may be your year! Best of luck to all!

Boy, what crazy times we live in nowadays! It's been insanely busy trying to maintain a living in these COVID conditions but luckily I was able to maintain my sanity with a fair bit of ice fishing! Missed the Toronto Boat Show, Spring Fishing & Boat Show, Ottawa Boat Show, Barrie Sportsman Show and all the other spring consumer shows. So I ended up spending more days on the hardwater than I have in a few decades, definitely helped me through the winter! Whenever I went out on a foray onto the ice with friends, we always travelled in separate vehicles, had our own huts, gassed up at home and brought whatever snack we needed to make it through the day! Had many stellar days but of course some tough ones as well, that's why they call it fishing & not catching!😂😂 Lots of hi-lites though: Got to fish some new bodies of water but of course spent lots of time on Lake Simcoe! Was able to test and use some great new baits and equipment - Grumpy Bait Company - HT Enterprise - Garmin Panoptix LiveScope - Erie Secrets Sled just to name a few! Got fish with a bunch of great people and guided 6 friends to their PB Yellow Perch! Took part in a fun on-line tournament - HT Ice Fishing Classic finishing 8th for the largest perch and 3rd for the best 5 perch! This event was open to anyone across North America! Anyway, glad that open water season is here and I hope that everyone had a great ice season! Here are a few pics from this last winter!

Fisherman's suggestion & solution is great! Bolt the wires together and apply multiple layers of the liquid tape! I've used this before and it works great!

Are you connecting the negative feed from your batteries to the negative on your troller? I would just use a shrink wrap connector!

Humminbird – press the Menu button twice, go to the Chart tab, press the down arrow to Chart Select and choose SonarChart (FishN’Chip on older models).

You have to select the SonarCharts under your mapping options! Or it used to Fish N Chip under the old Humminbird menus!

Great to hear but just FYI for anyone else who is buying a card, the $50 USD REBATE is available as a mail-in if you purchase it from Navionics dealer!

Well, you identified the differences, only you can say whether those features are useful to you! The relief shading is really only currently available for the St. Lawrence River and the a bit into Lake Ontario. The Sonar Chart Relief gives you a different look at lake contours but are only available on the Great Lakes, Trent-Severn, Rideau waterways and a few lakes in NW Ontario. I don't use the 3D view or the panoramic photo's. The Navionics+ Regions card (Canada & Alaska) was just on sale at BPS, not sure if it still is! Honestly for most people the Navionics+ Regions card is plenty!!!!

Very nice, my friend! I wish that I had some time to tie again!

That was a crazy good deal on the Striker Hardwater suit!

Correct!

When Erie peaks, we are talking upwards of 100 fish days per person! LOL Next year you should come down for a fish!

The last few years, I have not had a chance to fish Lake Erie very often so this fall I decided to change that up. Made a total of 5 trips down to one of a truly world class Smallmouth bass fishery! The last one was just before the blow and we managed to win a small local tournament with 5 Smallies for a total of 28.98 lbs. We had some good days out there but never really caught the peak of the fall action, there is still a few days left in the season maybe we'll be able to get out one more time. Here are some beautiful Erie bronze to help us make it through a long winter!

WOW, we were out there the day before but had seen the forecast coming! Sadly lots of damaging, private properties, the docks at Crystal Beach etc. Always awestruck by the power of Mother Nature, all I know is I'm glad that we were out the day before when all we had to deal with were 5-7 foot rollers!!

With a glass boat a keel guard is a must and look for sandy/pebbly areas. Power Poles don't hurt either! Aluminum should be a issue, again avoid sharp jagged rocky areas. The TH Marine Z-Launch Cord is handy when launching solo!

Interesting, I have a couple of friends who have SnoDogs and seem happy with them!

Cool, absolute do miss seeing the Aurora Borealis!

Great report & congrats on defeating your demons! My addiction has always been fishing and it has kept me clear of other temptations! Keep at it, you'll get that 50 incher!

Sweet Musky!

My wife and I had to cancel our planned trip to Pompano Beach last April and don't see us getting down real soon. Largemouth Bass opportunities around Orlando are boundless and the inshore saltwater fishing can be spectacular! Lots of piers to fish off of too! Really surprised at the number of people who are flying down still?

Not really sure why it wasn't working but once you're logged in and your maps and been previously downloaded while on Wi-Fi, it only uses GPS which does require any data! Now not all tablets are GPS enabled but seeing as it had worked previously I assume that your tablet is GPS enabled!