Rizzo

my sentiments exactly. Freshwater fish taste pretty much like dirt to me. Even walleyes get a "get out of jail free" card in my boat! Nice walleye's by the way out of St. John. I was also unaware there was a slot there...but when you don't keep any fish its not really on your mind!

now THAT'S a boat!!!!

thanks Wayne

that is just nasty. Don't let your kids play down there! My biggest fear playing near streams when I was a kid was a crayfish pinching my toe or a leech getting a meal out of me...not stepping on a used needle

Whatever you do, don't call Sunset Cove to find out! Doesn't it seem that when the fishing is lousy, Lodge owners will always tell you how well the guys did the week before. Just once I want to be that guy the week before!

can't believe nobody has jumped on this one yet, unless of course they have an earlier opener there than most of the province

that wasn't rambling, because if it was I wouldn't have read the whole thing line by line. A good read and a nice tribute

holy smokes guys, those are peacock bass, not perch! (except Paul's...definitely a perch)

inconceivable

Had the same thing as Musky or Specks...as soon as the camera turned on there was a big 'ol largemouth staring right at it. I actually thought the dang thing was broken because I had it out 3 or 4 times before and didn't see a fish. Having that bass up close and personal shocked me. While ice fishing I watched a pike follow my bait for about 10 minutes which was interesting. Finally, seeing a sturgeon on the niagara river was a highlight

Unfortunately the fact that this happened doesn't surprise any of us as it is a yearly occurrence. What did surprise me was NOT seeing anyone on Kempenfelt Bay today...after all, it has been frozen since yesterday.

time to get me a birdfeeder! Lots of neat accounts there of nature up close.

wow, the sight of those hurt my eyes!

all I can say about that second one....ouch! (ah, he deserved it though)

I need a beer fridge in my garage to keep them from freezing!

wow what a variety! My ice fishing involves pike, pike and more pike. You've got more variety in a day than I get in a season

Unless it was something I could fix myself, I have not repaired appliances. With the cost to buy new (600? 700?) versus the cost to repair ($200?) I'd rather have a new warrantied appliance. Maybe you can find a second hand shop that will repair and re-sell it? And if you don't need a bi fridge in the basement, those half size fridges are only a couple hundred bucks.

ooooh son, that's a biggun'!

terrorizing our pets I'm sure as a rambunctious 3 year old

ya what he said. I've never personally had problems, but the fact that others have does not come as a surprise

Are the deals really worth it? I think you'd have to be spending BIG bucks to make it worth the aggravation. I went once about 10 years ago and found prices really weren't that good and the crowds ridiculous. I've never been back and have no plans to.

can't help you there as I have never actually expended the effort to jig for them, and have never even used a rod! (just the tip-up method or spool of line laying in the snow with a real small bobber to keep the bait off bottom). I've done a very small amount of ice-fishing for perch, where I've got one jig that will be right on bottom, and a second jig about a foot up, both tipped with a minnow. I use 4 lb test for this.

call it simple, but for pike I like to use a tip-up (orange pop up flag type) baited with a 5-6 inch minnow about 2 feet off bottom. I use a split shot or 2 to prevent Mr Minnow from swimming back up the hole and tangling everything up. I don't bother with the spreaders/2 minnows. Sit back in my lawnchair, fire up the portable bbq and wait for the flag to pop. Because I plan to release the fish, I set the hook as soon as possible, rather than waiting for the pike to stop, swim off again etc. Don't catch them all, but successful release rate as far as I can tell is 100%

right on gents, good to see people getting out

thankfully just boxing day for me this year