Rizzo

some fine looking bass, thanks for the report

if you got the $$$$, go for it. like others have said, october is great. I fish musky in the niagara right up to close in december (when the water isn't chocolate milk that is). I usually do the best in late October early november so you appear to be right on schedule

hahaha thanks for the offer wild. My partner the first day guestimated it at 50+ inches and 30+ pounds. i'm not sure what numbers I would give it, but I don't think he's too far off. fish is in a system that comes off GBay so it is possible

Three weeks back I found a real nice musky. Would be a personal best for me if I could land him. He hit a big white grub, then casually let go of it only to follow it back to the boat and scare the bejeebers out of me. An absolute submarine. The next week I went back to the same spot and speed trolled a big black/orange spinnerbait over his house. Wammo the fight was on. Made a jump where only part of his body got out of the water, came down with a mighty splash and spit that bait right back at me. Yesterday we tangled for the third time in a row. This time it was a magnum bulldawg that caught his attention. I reefed as hard as I could to try and set the hook, but I don't think i dislodged the bait from his toothy grip (these soft baits are starting to wear me down!) After about a 5 second tussle he let go and I was left shaking in my boat again. Its great that i find him in the same spot each week, and amazing that this fish has been willing to bite each week (naturally I am assuming it is the same fish)! This is starting to get personal though, with me on the losing end each week. Anyone ever had a similar battle? how many times before you actually won (or did you never win)?

hahahaha 6 pound average in Ontario?? This post is hilarious. No way No How. Singingdog summed it up nicely with this comment are there lakes where you may have a shot at a 6 pounder? Sure. but to average 6 pounds is impossible.

zoinks (said in best shaggy voice) that is a beauty. 5 pounds for sure, but I've never actually seen a bass over 24 inches so not too sure about that. Seems like when they get to 22 inches they just get fatter rather than longer. Either way, one heck of a bass

mmmm, wasn't aware of all these other issues, I just saw they were both 5.30-12 and bought it! Guess I'll take a closer look tonight.

Nicely done! I do a lot of fishing alone, and almost never take any pictures. Some day you'll catch a similar fish with someone else on board...take a picture of that one! congrats and welcome to the board

I'm not sure about shore fishing at little lake as I've only ever ice fished there but I believe its pretty shallow close to shore. Won't be long now before people will be at the Barrie Marina filling garbage bags full of 7 inch perch though

thanks Bly, I had thought about that (could the load on the tire be causing the difference) but for some reason I had envisioned taking the tire right off to compare (too much work for a lazy fart). But just jacking the trailer up will accomplish the same thing (getting the load off the tire). I will give that a try when I get home. Thanks for the input

does this matter?

Bought a new spare tire for the trailer. Current tires are 5.30 - 12 so thats exactly what I bought. Got home and the new tire seems to be at least an inch bigger diameter than the existing tires. I measured and the new one is about 1 inch bigger diameter. Could pressure differences in the tires make that much of a size difference (ie the new tire may be at 80 psi and the existing tires only at 50?). I tried to measure the pressure but my crappy tool only goes to 50 psi and they both reached that. Is it possible that different manufacturers have a different idea of what 5.30 - 12 is? For example, my wife is a size 6 at store A, but a size 8 at store B (take a guess where she ends up buying :rolleyes: )

big chute/severn falls was 69-70 degrees friday. Sorry, that's the best I can do for you

whatever you do, don't fish cooks bay on pike opener unless you are a fan of crowds and shoulder to shoulder fishing...and I'm talking from a boat! There is also Little lake off of Duckworth in Barrie

good for you! I find there are a lot of muskies that size in Balsam...things should be real good there in 5-7 years!

wow that was a hungry pike!

ah yes, this would make sense. That was the problem, that the biscuit or puck or whatever you want to call it sits too tightly to the boat. raise it up and voila. bassboy, my 'puter is taking too long to see your full-size photo but I think its the one. the bracket is just a black rectangle basically

magnetewan river at Britt (see #4 above). Not that I've ever caught a 50 there, but they do exist.

uh oh, the secret is out. Although I haven't checked personally, a relative kept a few pike from our cottage lake and they told me the same thing...crayfish in the stomach and nothing else.

I'm not the most mechanical guy, but I was quite excited to install a mounting bracket and trolling motor on my new boat. I got the same minn kotta I had on the last boat (powerdrive) and the matching bracket. I see they have changed the bracket style in the last few years. I was sweating buckets mounting that bracket getting it nice and tight so that the screws won't have any room to wiggle around and eventually make the bracket loose. When it came time to place the motor on the bracket, it was next to impossible. There is a handle that passes horizontally through the motor bracket and then through the mounted bracket. This is what holds the two together. Well I had mounted that bracket so tight to the boat I couldn't push the handles through the holes as they no longer lined up! What to do? Loosen the bracket I had worked so hard to make "flush" with the boat? No way, ended up applying enough downward pressure on the motor so that the holes lined up again. Do you think standing on your motor voids a warranty??? I'm hoping by keeping the motor in this position for some time it will flatten the carpet out and next time won't be such the ordeal! Either way, I prefer the old style bracket where the motor slid in rather than this one where it fits over top.

no advice for you but that sounds like a pretty good day in my books!

good point...I was thinking where would I go...forgot the "family" part...change my vote to St. John as well

I've always found L St. John very predictable and have always done well there. Pretty much a big bowl with weeds around the perimeter of the whole Lake. Pike up to 10 lbs a possibility. Having said that, I would choose Head Lake. Likely less company due to lousy boat launch, great variety of structure to fish and a pretty good shot at a musky, and lots of smallmouth.

Right on! And a good looking kid too (must get that from the other side of the family ) Congratulations Brian

thats what I was thinking and why I asked the question...but most of the responses have said keep it tilted. I guess either way can be right depending on what your priorioties are (save transom/hydraulics or keep fluids where they belong0