tbayboy

Manged to hold myself to the 3 for 10 type bins for the most part but picked up some new pliers and a glove at leBarons and a few spoons and spinner baits. Oh and some buzz baits and some gulp. Oh and a spare set of glasses. Oh and some crappie baits and line and .. ah hell, I'm a sucker for shows like this, I was just happy to keep it under $200.

Annual trip with the old high school gang up to the Thunder Bay area (thinking Dog river for this year), already pumped up about it (spent most of my cash at the fishing show on walleye related gear). Want to try a 4-5 day canoe trip somewhere as well but nothing planned yet.

Ugh, pay day just had to hit the day before I go to the show. Tomorrows gonna be an ugly day isn't it? If you see a guy that looks like this picture on the left only with drool and a slightly rabid look to him and has his credit card taped to his forehead do me a favour and block the path to the next booth please.

When I was in high school we did a group hiking trip to Isle Royale for 5 days. It has a really interesting ecosystem due to the island usually being totally isolated every now and then an ice bridge makes it out (last time was something like 50 years ago when I was there in the 80s). The wolf and moose populations swing back and forth every few years (wolves eat too many moose and start to starve off then the moose recover etc etc) and I was there in a moose year which meant most of the hiking involved staring at the ground or winding up with moose putties up to your ankles . I can still vividly remember going off on my own one night and following a moose trail into this marshy area but there wasn't any signs of life. Kinda dejected I wandered back towards camp staring at the ground (gotta keep them boots clean you know) when I heard a rustle and looked up to see a bull 15 feet in front of me. DAMN THEY ARE BIG. Before we left the ranger station they'd made us watch a film about what to do when you run into a moose and what they're capable of and growing up in Thunder Bay you certainly are aware of them and see the after effects of them vs cars but it still doesn't prepare you for that first close up. We both just stared at each for a while then I tried to get my camera and he started towards me - ok screw the camera - I froze. Back to the stare down for another minute or two (I'm sure it was hours) then he just turned an sauntered into the woods. What a great trip, I highly recommend doing the loop to anyone who loves hiking.

Hey guys, quick question about Bon Echo if you don't mind. With the walk-in/canoe in backcountry camps they've got do you still have to book them like the regular camp grounds (meaning book way early like most parks?) or is it more like crown land - find a spot and pitch a tent? I want to do a 3-4 day canoe/camp trip somewhere this spring/summer but don't know when and would love to be able to kinda 'last-minute' one.

Great report, sure sounds like a good time, wish I could have made it, maybe next time. And I promise to remember boots

I'm going to have to bail on this one unfortunately, parents have a 3 hour layover at the airport mid day and called to see if I wanted to hook up for lunch . Didn't have the heart to say I'd rather be fishing.

Yeah no kidding, all that cash and still no fish finder (I dont own a boat so I'll probably pick up a little portable one for canoe trips and other rentals). Was gonna pay off the car loan but come on, thats just crazy talk

I hear you Tony. I'm still not clear as to what "exactly" ships with it but I'll be heading over to a store that can fill me in. For me I'm more interested in topo's then detailed hydro maps so probably this one: Ontario Topo Chip - $90US Then depending on what metro guide comes I'll get one of those as well (north american city guide or canadian metro guide).

Thanks guys, I'm beginning to think that something like a tomtom or other 'driving direction' gps seperate from the 'camping/fishing' one might be th way to go. For what they cost these days and the fact that they come with the roads and spoken driving directions as well as other car friendly features it just miakes more sense to have one device thats great for the outdoors and one thats great for the car. With the driving maps being close to $200 and a tomtom running $300 it might be the way to go. Come on tax rebate, daddy needs new toys!

Hi everyone, I've been reading reviews and posts here and checking prices on a few handheld GPS units but I'm getting confused with all the map chips and what not. It seems that a lot of the fine members here have these devices so I'm hopefully I can get a real world final answer on this so here goes. First off, I'm currently thinking of the Garmin 76CSx which seems to have all the features I want. My goal is a device that I can use on the water, while camping, hiking and also on the roads to find my way. Given that the 76CSx seems to have it covered: 1) water proof and floats (good for clumsy oafs like me) 2) expandable memory (lots of map options) 3) turn by turn direction (yeah there's better direction ones with spoken text but you can't have it all I guess) But here's the problem, it doesn't come with any maps and I have no idea what maps I need, where to get them or how much they're gonna cost me. From what I'm seeing it looks like I could easily drop $600 on a few maps! I'm hoping that I'm misunderstanding some of this so please let me know what maps you all find most important and any tips on where to get them would be appreciated. For the most part I'm only concerned with Ontario: - driving direcdtions for GTA would be nice (I still get lost downtown) plus the Ottawa region would be great. - Of course enough detail to find some lakes and camping spots throughout ontario (south/central) - say Toronto - Algonquin - Ottawa areas? While detailed marine maps would be cool I gather they're really expensive - are there topo maps that will show me where I am at least if not all the structure info and what not? - North West Ontario - I spend at least a couple weeks up there with a regular bunch of guys and we're always looking to try new fishing and camping spots. Places like Quetico, Lac des Milles Lac, Lake Nipigon, etc. Any and all advice is always welcome Thanks a bunch Sean

FEELS LIKE -41 -54 -53 -42! Well think of it this way - won't have to worry about the ice being too thin (always tyring to be a half-full glass kinda guy)

I can offer to drive from the Thornhill area but I only have a 2 seater (potentially 3 if the 3rd is kinda short and doesn't mind be squished into the back). Just let me know

I'd love to give it a try (never been to quinte before, summer or winter). I'm in Thornhill but can meet up somewhere depending on the ride situations. 3-4am means in Hamilton means I can sleep an extra hour right?

Nice looking perch, thanks for sharing.

Wow great job and great pics, thanks for sharing.

Looks like a great day on the ice to me. Nice job.

Wow, gotta agree with everyone else. Perfectly said, its all about the friendship and good times, even if if the fish don't want to comply: We still talk about how much fun that trip was.

When I went ice fishing up in Thunder Bay over the holidays I picked up a couple basic rod/reals spooled with 6lb mono and some glowing jigs and a couple rattle spoons for about $75 all in. We got out on the ice and did all right but next to us were guys pulling walleye after walleye out and their equipment: 6lb line tied to a twig embedded in the ice and a single treble hook tipped with a minnow so you never know (actually the also had jigging rods like us going and weren't doing any better than us with that equipment - the simplest presentation won that day)

haha, thats great. Hes got a few good underwater camera vids there but ice ice fishing is too funny, thanks for sharing.

I've also been burned on UPS. Not always but they seem to get the brokerage fees a lot more often than any other method. Good old US postal service seems to work best for me not getting charges if you dont mind taking a day or two longer to deliver.

Thats the funny bit, I'm just building up my collection (was away from fishing for a while and generally borrowed gear) so I have a total of about oh 10 crank baits so to buy 2 duplicates is just embarassing. Is 36 too young for senility? But I'm sure I'll find a use for them sooner rather than later so no big deal (at least they were on sale).

How many times has this happened to anyone else here. I drive up to BPS for, well becaues it was payday what other excuse do I need? So that means I'm not looking for anything in particular, just checking out whats on sale. Sure enough I start digging through the x-rap piles they always have and pick up a couple that I'm sure I don't have (shad and perch, one shallow one deep). So I'm happy as a clam that I kept the bill under 3 figures (picked up a spinner bait box and some new cheap backup sunglasses as well). Get home and open up the plano boxes with my crank baits and sure enough right in front of me are the exact same lures. Sigh. I suppose I could drive back and try to switch them but what the hell I'm sure I'll loose the originals to some underwater log at some point and now I have backups but I swear I'm gonna have to write some mobile phone software that keeps track of my lures so I can check what I have when I'm wandering the aisles. Anyhow, thats my rant for today - was still a nice day for a long drive and buying fishing stuff is kinda like actually fishing right? Have a great weekend OFNers

Yeah sure, love to meet some more 905ers

Let us know how Island works for you urban, I enjoyed it there this summer (pics at http://www.flickr.com/photos/emosworld/set...7594254216284/) and noticed that they do ice fishing (they have shack rentals and will drag them out and drill holes if your really lazy too). I went ice fishing for the first time over the holidays up north and I'm itching to try it again though I know none of my friends down here will sign up for the idea of going outside in the cold - look for a 'looking for ice fishing buddy' post in the hookups section as the reports start breaking down my willpower