Sinker

Hey, its all about the adventure!! I left home this morning at 4:30am in a whiteout. What normally takes me an hour to drive took me 3. I hiked 1.5km out to my spot, started drilling my first hole, and the bolt that holds the blade on my hand auger let go!! I managed to jimmy rig it well enough to drill 2 holes, and sat in the 40k winds and whiteout conditions for 5 hours. I got one fish. The drive home was closer to 4 hours. It was a great day!! Sinker

That's some AMAZING work Nanook!! I just started carving working duck decoys........I suck compared to that......WOW!!! Sinker

Welcome back Rick, and fer gawd sakes.......TAKE 'ER EASY!!!!! Sinker

Those are water boatman. The will travel on the surface of the ice, under the water....if you can make sense of that. I've caught lots of brookies with those in thier bellies......fish shallow, and stir the bottom with a stick. Just try it and see what happens!! Sinker

Its even more fun when you get one on each!! Sometimes not so much fun when you get one on either, and it wraps up in the other Every fish I've caught from simcoe this season so far has been on the badboy tipped with a 2" tube. I did, however, snag a laker, right in the side, with a williams What a pain in the getting that one up the hole to get my lure back!! I'm a die hard williams fan though. I don't go icefishing anywhere without a rod rigged with a williams. Sinker

Specks can be anywhere in the winter. The water temp is the same throughout the whole water column, so they can litterally be anywhere. Those black water bugs your talking about will often be right under the ice. I've caught some of my best specks in iches of water under the ice. Sometimes I'll even stir up the bottom with a stick to get their attention. They're curious little buggers!!!! Sinker

Yes, if you leave it on for a long time, it will get hot, and may cause damage. I've left mine on long enough to drain the battery in the boat, but still works fine. It was a cool fall day though.......maybe that helped? I know icefishing, its not gonna get too hot!!! LOL Sinker

Yep, crazy for sure. I ran into these guys on Lake ontario last fall on a scouting trip looking for ducks and geese. It was blowing a gale, and FREEZING cold. I had a good long chat with them in the parking lot.......they really are nuts!!! LOL In he goes.....Notice the ice on the pier.......this was early in the freeze up, so it was glare ice.......super slippery. When they walked out there with thier boards in the wind, they would just slide on the ice, and the wind would pull them off the pier into the water!! I thought for sure this guy was going to get smashed into the breakwall!! Waiting for the perfect breaker...BRRRRR Heres a shot to show just how rough it was out there that day!!!! Sinker

The hot packs for your hands work great for keeping batteries warm. I've never had a problem with my graph battery, but it works good for other things in the cold, like your camera in the case.......might even help with a slow LCD screen.....not sure, haven't tried. Aaron, I was wondering why you turn the ping speed all the way down on your graph thru the ice??? I turn mine up........what's your reasoning for the lower ping speed?? Seems like when I turn mine up, I get better readings in deep water. My Lowrance X-96 will pick up my williams/badboy in 80ft no problem......but will it be better with a lower ping speed??? I've never tried. I've been using the Lowrance for 3 seasons now, and unless its super cold (-20 or more) it works very well. I get real time readings, and great marks in deep water. I had an old eagle portable unit that fits the lowrance perfectly, and I run it off a rechargeable 12v gell cell battery, which also fits in the case perfect. The only thing that messes it up is interference from flashers that are too close to me.......but I like to stay away from the crowds, so its not much bother. I used 1/2" copper pipe, and attached the skimmer transducer to it with a bolt. Its a really simple T set up, with the transducer hanging down a separate hole right beside my jigging hole. Sinker

Mine seems fine when I forget to turn if off when I pull it out of the lake

I would think brookie fishing in that area would pale in comparison to what you guys have up in the algoma region. There are, however, some good opportunities. You probably won't get many replies with lake names, but if you do your homework using the stocking lists, and a good map of the area, you can figure things out yourself. Fishing pressure is moderate to heavy on most lakes in that area, but there are fish to be caught. I've had a cottage in that area for 25 yrs, and I'll honestly tell you that the biggest brookie I've ever caught was 21". Its not a trophy are for specks, but sometimes, if everything lines up just right, the chance is there for a good fish. If you have an idea of a few lakes you'd like to try, send me a pm, and I could maybe offer some advice on whether its worth your time or not to travle into them. Sinker

That IS pretty cool!! WOW Sinker

I just scale them because I can. No reason. I know you can smoke them with scales on, but it makes a mess when your eating it....my wife doesn't like it when the scales fly off and land on the floor . I'd rather scale them out in the yard, not in the house. Whities are really easy to scale. Takes like 5 mins to do a whole fish.....so why not? Sinker

Whities will usually pick up a bait off bottom. Set a minnow right on bottom, but have your tip up set so if a fish picks it up, it will lift up, instead of going down. I use a slip float myself. If a fish picks up my bait, the float will lay flat in the hole......if it takes it....It will sink.......most times though, it just twitches a little in the hole. If it moves at all......set the hook, you got one!! Sinker

I mix my jiffy 40ml of oil per litre of gas. I use any 2 stroke oil that's handy. Sinker

Oh man, now our rods have to match our reels!! You guys would laugh at my gear, but I'd still out fish ya's!!!!!! Sinker

Nice report Cliff!! Bernie, those boats are friggen awesome!! I didn't know your family did that type of work!!! AMAZING!! Sinker

Best reply I've read on this site!!!! Sinker

Its not a Y bone, its a pin bone. Best way I find is to fillet it like normal, but cut right thru those bones, then along the ribcage like any other fish. Once you have the fillet removed from the fish, you can either take needle nose pliers and pull them out one by one, or slice around each side and cut them out. For smoking, I scale them, leave the skin on, and fillet them......then pull the pin bones with the pliers. For normal skinless, boneless fillets, I cut thru the pin bones, go around the ribcage, take off the fillet, take off the skin, then remove the line of bones with my knife. Make sure and remove the "lateral line" and any fat. Sinker

What???? You've got an evil twin.......or are you the evil twin? Honest to god.....My bud mike even goes to kesagami in the spring..............are you sure??? Man, you look just like him! Crazy.........your pullin my chain right???? Sinker

Or a clown suit!!

Yeah, make sure the vent is open before you touch the carb!!! And also make sure you close it when your done, and put the auger with the gas cap up when you set it down. I've got out to my spot to find all the gas leaked out of my auger thru the vent cap!!! I replaced that little junk rubber gasket, with a thicker piece of leather. Sinker

Take a look at this. What I do is run mine on half choke if it won't keep running. Sometimes they are finicky. Temp and altitude can make a difference on these things. I did what it says here, and it helped for sure. Sinker

Yep, mobilty is the key. Don't sit and wait for them to come to you, go to them. If your not marking within 30 mins, keep going. I like to stay away from crowds, the middle of nowhere seems to work best for me. I usually head out past all the groups, and start in the middle of nowhere......nobody around for miles. I never fish structure.......just the middle of nowhere......kinda wandering aimlessly. I usually move about 500m at a time. I find the williams brings them around, the badboys get the job done..........so far this season anyways. Last year it was the williams all season, the year before it was set lines........every season is different...locations, baits, jigs........just keep atter. Sinker

Hey Mike!!! I worked with you this summer dude! Nice fish!! Wheres the musky pics man??? I know you got some nice ones In my boat even !!! Sinker