crappieperchhunter

LOL....Your turning into my father Cliff. He has been all over this for years....watching like a hawk when they ring his stuff through. Pretty much every time we chat he's sharing stories of the freebies he has got recently.

To avoid the mess I have a small pail...actually a 7KG sized cat litter container...I noticed your cat in the video maybe you have the same sized containers. I put a plastic grocery bag in it and sit in on a chair pulled over right beside me at the table. Soon as the carcass comes off it goes right in the pail and your done with that. Skin the fillet and that goes straight in the pail too. When I am done I tie the bag closed and take it out to the garage but I leave it in the pail until garbage day. Leaky bags had the garage smelling and the boss upset. I have never had a problem holding the fillet down with a finger nail while I take the skin off. But I have one buddy who uses a fork to help him with this and another buddy who uses a corn pick.

That's what it's all about right there....enjoying the great outdoors...in your backyard so to speak. Looks like you definitely made the right decision and thx for sharing.

Love my electric too Simon. Cleaning crappie bluegills and perch with a manual knife is like torture to me now. I sit down at the kitchen table and get at it. The one thing I do different...I go right through the tail and take the fillet right off. 1st side fillets go in one pile...2nd side fillets go in another pile. I then take the skin off the harder pile first and then breeze through the 2nd side pile afterwards. I never do any of this in a hurry ....but I do find it quicker this way then flopping the carcass around with the fillets still attached. Thx for sharing your video and enjoy your fish fry.

Cliff I'm glad the insulated coffee mug idea was helpful. A few other things that I always brought. 1. A good chunk of nylon rope. Used at 2 camps for clothes lines we strung inside for stuff to dry on. If you get crap weather nothing dries hanging outside in the rain. 2. Nylon fish net meshing. One camp we stayed at had no anchors for any of there boats. One camp had useless anchors that where not heavy enough to hold in any kind of wind. Took the netting out of one of our landing nets filled it with rocks and tied the whole thing off with a chuck of nylon rope and we had a solid anchor for the rest of our trip. If you do the portage lake with the boat stashed there I'm betting it will have no anchor so take your netting and rope if you go. 3. If your taking anything in a can. Pack a good can opener. Most camps have them but lots are complete garbage. Might not bother others as much as it bothers me....but I hate working with tools/gadgets that are broken or are just junk. You will love the trip Cliff.

Enjoy your trip Cliff. Did three fly-ins with my brother and friends....lotsa great memories. The one thing I would recommend you take is a good plastic travel mug. Keeps the cold beverages cold longer and the warm beverages warm longer. And great in a pinch if you get some rain and have to bail some water out of the boat. I always had mine but a few others didn't and some camps had only glass water glasses and glass coffee mugs. A bit of a PITA around a rocky northern camp or out in the boat.

Good to hear. I gave it a weekend off because I was mostly worried about shore access where I have been going on the west side. A buddy went Friday and said it was fine but I already made other weekend plans. I'm just glad it didn't all go. Last ice perch in March-April is hard to beat.

What I use every spring to determine if it is safe "FOR ME" is the shovel test in my veggie garden here in Oshawa. I have found frost in the ground to be a real good indicator of how the last ice is holding up. No frost at shovel depth and I'm done for the year for the spots I fish. Tested just 10 minutes ago...still some frost at the full depth of the shovel...which means it will be gone before dark today and LONG gone after our 2 days of rain. So I'm done until we get some cold weather. When I do this I have an American friend I perch fish with who still comes up and sneaks out to our spots on foot...but I'm not with him. He usually kills them on these last ice trips too and gives me the gears for hiding at home. But I'm OK with that. BTW I have never ever done the shovel test in February before so I am hoping for a refreeze to get out some more. If you go for gods sake take all the safety precautions you can.

We have switched back and forth several times over the years. And both companies are aware that when they don't give us a good deal we will simply go to the competition. The result is we have cable/phone/internet for way cheaper then we where paying 8-10 years ago with a far better package too. I will have to respectfully disagree with Bells poorer service. That has not been our experience anyway. The last time we left Rogers was mostly because of the crappy service they provided us. Bell on the other hand has been rock solid once they knew they couldn't rape us with high prices anymore. Good luck with whatever you choose. If you switch back and forth a few times like we did I think they will lower there prices and up there games to keep you happy. That has been our experience anyway.

I find when you get these type of days the perch bite is usually short and early. I was out early today fishing 27FOW on the west side. Put my first perch in the bucket at 6:40 and my last perch at 9:40. and never got another keeper so I came off the ice at 11. I don't know if they move or just shut down on days like today but I've seen it over and over and over. A little sweaty from walking in off the ice, so I had the AC on in the car for about half the drive home.. Can't say I've ever done that before in February.

I have a 2013 Santa Fe Sport bought new in March 2013. Have just under 70,000KM's on it. Love the ride love the roominess. Tows my 14footer no problem but it is much lighter then 2500LBs. I do have a utility trailer that I have loaded up real good a few times and it has handled it with ease. It gets under 8L/100KM hi way when your NOT towing. I'm real happy about that. It's costing me much less $$$ for fuel then I thought it would. Only thing I don't like is the blindspots you have. Drove 3 VW Golfs before this car and blindspots where basically non existent. SUV are a different animal....but I can't compare to the other choices on your short list because I have never driven any of them. Again very happy with this vehicle. Any other questions you may have just ask.

Such sad news. My condolences to all her family and friends.

What a trip for a few rookies who have never been before. I hope you told them that wasn't a typical day. And congrats on the PB.

Another great day Cliff. Good on you guys. Sounds like Tim has his huts in the right spot.

OI I don't consider myself a sheep...but I understand your point of view...which I respect. However back in the day I joined this fishing board to learn and share about fishing. And I would wager that is most every newbie's intent. There is a bunch of NF topics..always has been..so nothing new...but how many heated political threads where we get a little hot under the collar have turned good people away? No one can answer that obviously but I'd wager it's far greater then actual fishing threads chasing people away. People are people and no one solution will be the fix all for every situation...but I truly think politics only sour whatever can be created here. Respectfully CPH.

Lords knows I've responded to my share....it's like a train wreck that you can't ignore. But at the end of the day it only serves to separate us from each other. Just yesterday I was wagering with fellow fishermen at work that because NF political threads generated so much "BUZZ" they would NEVER disappear. Well today I see the new stance from the board. Overjoyed!!! Glad to see this crap go the way of the dinosaur. Good job guys and glad to see My apologizes for ever doubting. And thx for cleaning house. Now back to regular scheduled programming. Lots of great people and great stories on here that are so much better to share.

Any water body can be effected by over harvest. Perch fishing on Simcoe which is still really good....isn't what it was 30 years ago when I first started fishing it. I think it would be in far worse shape if the limits had not been put into effect.

Sounds like a good day to me Cliff. Thx for sharing.

Thx Brian. Give us lemons and we will try our best to make lemonade. Still have camp firewood at the cottage that I scavenged from that ice storm and I also got 2 winters worth of good hardwood for the wood stove here at home. Like I said....bring it on.

Thx for the heads up HH. Agree with others the wood stove actually made the last ice storm adventure fun. Kept the whole house at 70F. Candles and my coleman lantern did the rest. The kids even came and stayed overnight...because we had heat and they did not. Grilled some veggies baked some potatoes and burned some steaks on the BBQ and played cards at the kitchen table by the light of the coleman lantern. Beer and wine chilling outside on the frozen porch. Bring it on I say.

X2 I concur my friend.

There will always be meat hunters with no regards for the resource or the laws and there will always be the hardcore C & R guys who look down on anybody with a stringer of fish. Luckily the vast majority of us fall in the middle of these to extremes.

Nice rack !!!! Funny how that usually means something entirely different

Looks sweet Brian. If I chased bigger fish that's the route I would go. For perch my 4 inch FB3 or my 5 inch Lazer do the job with minimal effort as long as you have sharp blades.

Love it Lew. I'd never get tired of seeing that in my yard.