tbayboy

So sorry to hear that Tom, my condolences to you and yours.

Nice stuff leachman. Bit chilly but the perch probably helped keep you warm running back and forth.

Hehe, I'll be back in town soon - just let me know when you're ready to warm up with some perch and then move onto the whitefish

Nice update Simon, chasing perch beats sitting inside all day.

Only 5 or 6 hours or so depending on how many trucks you have to pass. Setup a get together for the holidays next year and maybe we can organize something half way Not sure at all really - didn't measure and I know it took forever to drill holes (got the sore arms today to prove it). The 8" hand auger was down to end of the screws when it went through so yeah probably more like a foot or more now that I think about it. There were probably 15 other guys fishing the area with us so I'm not surprised you've fished the same spot . If you bud goes tell him it was either basic pickeral rigs on willow sticks or green jigs with light lift/drops that were working.

Water we were in was 5-6', pretty shallow really. Lost a couple at the hole because you'd wack the ice before you realized you were there already. The wide angles were actually edits (I always edit and crop now, find it make for better pictures - thanks to Dan and others on the board for that tip)

Thanks Wayne, the toll actually wasn't that bad considering the plowing - $10 a vehicle or $5 a person. Thanks, The ice where we stopped to fish was 8" or so, didn't hear a crack or boom anywhere we went (but kept the jackets on and the windows down just in case we needed to get out in a hurry).

I knew I'd posted that year end video too soon! Anyhoo, I'm spending my holidays up in Thunder Bay visiting friends and family and after much bickering about family responsibilities and how to get out of them 3 of my buddies and myself snuck out today for a day on the ice up here in Thunder Bay. The lake of choice today was Lac des Milles Lac, a familiar haunt for any local fisherman. After a stop for timmies, gas and minnows we drove up, paid the toll keeper our small fortune and hit the ice road for today's target - sand point. We drove about 4k on the ice to fish in 6' of water . Normally I hate guys charging to let you on the ice but in this case I'm fine with it - the guy plows a road to all the key spots, sweet since it snowed last night. Of course our plan for being on the ice really early fell through but eventually we got there and setup, sorry for the pics, just had the phone with me: <a href=" title="Keep drilling! by Sean Maurik, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3117/3139945918_6550c92a5e.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="Keep drilling!" /></a> Our spot was near a bunch of full timers with their shacks. They saw/heard us whining and whining with the hand augers and helped out with a few holes using their gas behemoths - nice guys who kicked our asses all day on the fish. We put it down to the amount of whiskey they consumed - it meant it they let their lines alone more than us and that probably caught them more fish. Anyhow, we got our holes done and got to it <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/emosworld/3139946634/" title="The battlezone by Sean Maurik, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3134/3139946634_f983c59f1e_b.jpg" width="1024" height="378" alt="The battlezone" /></a> After a slow start we started getting into fish, real keepers: <a href=" title="Not going to measure up by Sean Maurik, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3199/3139946678_01aa659fec_o.jpg" width="558" height="979" alt="Not going to measure up" /></a> But eventually we figured out the pattern, green jig, slow small lifts off the bottom and the keepers started to appear <a href=" title="Mmmmm dinner by Sean Maurik, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3294/3139116953_2acb94b426_b.jpg" width="594" height="1024" alt="Mmmmm dinner" /></a> Even your intrepid author got into the action <a href=" title="The author by Sean Maurik, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3121/3139117113_8b15b57a2f.jpg" width="500" height="376" alt="The author" /></a> Soon enough the cooler started to look respectable <a href=" title="Getting there by Sean Maurik, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3120/3139947266_f3a1e386fa.jpg" width="500" height="376" alt="Getting there" /></a> Then Mr. Plow came by again to tidy up the roads and we took the opportunity to head out soon after <a href=" title="Thats my name, its mr plow! by Sean Maurik, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3296/3139117533_2005282eb3_b.jpg" width="1024" height="256" alt="Thats my name, its mr plow!" /></a> All in all we were on the ice for 5 hours and kept 12 fish (11 eye's, one big perch) and tossed back 7 or 8 little ones. Not a banner day but it made my mom happy to come home and fine some fresh fillets ready to fry on a day she probably thought we'd be eating left overs. mmmm those were good. So Merry Christmas everyone, hopefully I'll see some of you on Simcoe soon, nothing like the first trip out to get the itch going again. Sean

Great set of pics Raf. Congrats on a great year.

Great day Simon, other than than the snow machine that is Very tasty looking pile of fish for sure.

Very tough to pick a favourite but Moosebunks are always something to look forward to. Snags are always a great laugh on a crappy work day. Solopaddler is responsible for me wanting to get into steelheading. But really, everyone who take the time to post a report is worthy of an award, keep them coming, I can't wait for the next batch. Sean

Congrats to team extreme and everyone else in this years tournament and big props to all who helped out!

Sounds like a fun time was had by all a nice fish to end the season too. Thanks for the updates and pics guys.

That was the answer I was given by a resort owner (who'd benefit from renting in the offseason) Danbo. They said that Scugog is open as it is the only one that doesn't have the levels mucked with.

May not be your best fall but still a whole lot better than most of the rest of us. Congrats to the both of you for another nice set of giant fish.

You're a credit to the board MooseBunk - an amazing year made all the more amazing by sharing the year with us via such incredible photos and stories . I just can't believe you summed it up in such a short post . Looking forward to the first ice stories.

I used one last year and like everyone says, you get what you pay for. It's better than nothing and is easy to carry around. If its windy you definitely want to use the ice anchors (the one man onyly came with 2 anchors). Mine help up over the 10 or so times I took it out last year but if you plan to go out every weekend I'd say your better off spending more money on something a bit more serious (I've upgraded this year). However if you find one used for a good price than I'd say say go for it - it's better than a bucket out in the open wind. Here's a quick video I made last year during a really windy day - pretty much pushed it to its limit: <object width="445" height="364"><param name="movie" value=" name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src=" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="445" height="364"></embed></object>

You know I don't think you're getting out nearly enough this season Nice to see the fish get the upper hand this time hehe.

Weird, I used mine all last year on simcoe and a few times this summer, never had a problem with it and i don't treat my stuff particularly well. You get more for the $200+ models but I paid $90 for mine and it was well worth it.

I'm in the same boat - I just have to pick up a shipping tube. I chatted with them and you can just give them your phone number in a note and they'll call you to get a credit card number (otherwise you have to have a cheque drawn on a US bank). The canadian drop off spot is in missisauga too so if you're in the area you can just drop it off and not pay any shipping to get it to them which is cool. Hopefully I can follow up with a good story once I get around to shipping it in (at least it happened at the end of the season).

A for effort right guys? Good on you for getting out there.

Great recap Bruce, it's always a pleasure to see so many friend and families in reports like this - that's what fishing is all about. Thanks.

Well I finally orgainized the lures, took the reels off the rods and pulled the ice fishing box out from under the stairs - guess I've finally admitted to myself that I'm done with the softwater (one of these years I'll have to try a center pin and the rivers but I've spent enough already hehe). As many of you know I got out A LOT this year (thanks mostly to MikeH and the crazy high gas prices). I even made it to my first OFC GTG this month and look forward to heading up to Lakair next spring. The weather certainly wasn't nearly as nice as last year but I managed to try a bunch of new things and lots of new water. Started moving from just fishing whatever way I felt wherever I happened to be to trying to look at maps, look at weather/water conditions and actually apply some logic to my fishing though I have no idea if it made a difference . Anyhow, I got bored last night and played around with Google Picasso's video maker and put together a little slide show so if you've got 3 minutes and 14 seconds to kill go ahead and hit play (plus it's easier than pasting all the picture links - damn I'm lazy): <object width="425" height="349"><param name="movie" value=" name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src=" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="349"></embed></object> Big thanks to everyone I managed to fish with this year and of course everyone on the board for all the great tips, tricks and laughs throughout the season. Sean

Great recap Rich, remember all your posts well and can't wait for next years crop of new PBs!

Great stuff limey, the cat looks very sedated. The weather sure looked great too, now I'm starting to get the ice fishing twitch