charlesn

Summary of the situation from my third hand knowledge: -2 alleged cheaters (and an assistant) were observed laying down in their boat in the reeds. They were pulling up reeds and such and laying it over an area as a canopy. This was witnessed by a competitor who just luckily happened to be driving along a road. They saw something weird as they were driving so they parked up the road and snuck back down on foot to observe. They then recognized the boat of the competitors who had come out of nowhere to win 3 events and finish 2nd in their 4th event. They waited for the perps to leave and then went to investigate - found a basket device holding bass and contacted OPP and MNR. OPP said that no crime had been committed as yet so they could do nothing. MNR was just going to let the fish out of the baskets. The basket were 2 laundry baskets zip-tied together. They were then weighted down and covered over with reeds and such and placed in an area unlikely to be encountered by other anglers. After finding the first basket, they were able to find 2 others in the area (presumably since this was a multi day tournament they were going to have to come back on day 2). The perps skipped the meeting the night before where the attempted cheating was addressed. They did show up on the morning of day 1 of the tournament - when confronted - they turned tail and ran and will probably never be heard from again in tournament circles. However, they stole close to $20,000 this year if they cheated in the 3 events they won plus the 2nd. Based on the situation, I personally find it hard to believe ANYONE could give these clowns the benefit of the doubt though at this point. The pictures of the fish they are holding up in their victories are consistent with fish damaged by being held in basket type devices. Fin damage, scale damage etc. Unfortunately everything is circumstantial. I doubt the anglers that were cheated of close to $20,000 will ever see their money which is a shame. Yes it would have been much better if feasible to somehow mark the bass, set up cameras, put the crime scene back together, say nothing and then wait for the guys to bring the fish in each day and then try to collect the 5 figure payday. I'd think a $10,000+ theft or fraud would carry serious implications. BUT, I also understand the emotions of the guy who found the basket and understand that the organizer when contacted would have been somewhat at a loss as to how to act on a somewhat unprecedented scenario. Really tough pill to swallow for me that these guys got away with it. Regardless it's a sad day and black eye for a sport I love. Charles

Saw the Garmin Panoptix demo at Radioworld and it is truly sick. I sat there mesmerized for awhile. Unfortunately the unit is 3.5 g's and the transducer is another 2. That's a little bit out of the price range for me - for what would be just another fancy toy for my expensive hobby. As far as DI and SI, I think alot of the "is it worth it" comes down to personal usage. If you primarily fish pads and reeds and slop - your units are probably not even going to be on most of the time. If you're planning on spending time on vast bodies of water for structure related fish - then it will probably be really helpful.

Kids are still little Brian but a man's gotta fish right - tourneys are in my blood! The 8 year old has done 2 tourneys and the 7 year old just did her first. Trying to get them hooked early. Results weren't great but nevertheless had a blast and already talking about the next ones. I just wish there were three person events so I could take both at once. Getting the itch to do a major pro/am again though... Maybe Erie this fall. Will see how the rest of the summer goes. You should come down and insult Andy and maybe Palotta will stick you with me as a punishment... I'm better on Erie than Rice - I promise - uh kinda maybe?! Hope all is well with you.

Brian, The CBAF event was the one that was restricted to the river. The Renegade boys definitely made the run to the lake. Some even ran to the Ducks in that stuff. I give them credit for big brass stones. Even if it was open for me I would not have gone. Just too much of a beating on my gear and old man body. I guess it makes a difference when you actually have to pay for your rig. lol The biggest difference in the weights between Elites and Renegade is the Lake being open - but take nothing away from the top finishers in the 1000 Island Open, some of them could definitely hang with anyone on the planet on that body of water. The other difference in the weights is that the Elites fish solo - WITHOUT A NET! I don't know about you - but having a net has definitely saved my ass a few times with lightly hooked smallies or largies. And in a team event, 2 baits cover twice as much water and working as a team is simply a bunch more efficient (not to mention a net man) than going it alone. The CBAF event was a true draw meaning the two people in the boat fished against each other which adds complications and strategical implications all on it's own. We don't normally think about "defense" in fishing. lol But in one particular boat in the CBAF event (the one I was in for the grassroots non pro level angler) the boater had 19.5ish and the non had well over 22. You can imagine if they combined their best 5 it would be upwards of 25. I think I would've need my best 10 fish to come close. lol I don't have a ton of experience in the river but thought I knew enough to hold my own. I was WRONG. Bad assumptions, a weak practice and terrible execution caused me to do terrible. But learned a ton and like the area even more than I did before even though it kicked me in the stones 4 days in a row. Really beautiful water body - so diverse and stretches on forever and ever. Charles

I'll look for ya Phill. Good luck with the show!

People complain about the safety kits, socks, shamwow and other cheesy booths, but if not for them filling the booth space - the organizers might decide to can it altogether. To some that would be no big loss - but to some vendors it's a hefty portion of their yearly income. I don't think I've actually bought anything at a spring show in 10 years so I'm probably not an expert on the "deals" available. I just go to walk around - see guys that I fish against that I haven't seen all winter - check out some new products. It's cheap entertainment. No parking fees, lots of free seminars, lots of informative and top notch anglers. Lots of fellow fishing fanatics. You can sense the cabin fever starting to break. To me it has always been the signal that winter is winding down and fishing is just around the corner. Perhaps earlier this year than most. And it beats sitting at home doin' nothing. Go without any big expectations of finding a deal of a lifetime and you'll probably enjoy yourself more. People like to say how "awesome" the deals used to be and whatnot - but I've been going to the spring shows since about '95 or '96 and it hasn't changed all that much in terms of the "deals" offered at least as far as I can tell. Most of the time getting acquainted with a local retailer and earning perks and discounts through loyalty will get you better pricing on whatever you need in the long run. Charles

I've had 2 issues with my ETEC 225 HO. Neither warranty claim had any issues from the BRP side. Both were handled - but the dealer handling the first issue was terrible and the second dealer (Bay City in Hamilton) did great. Kept me in the loop and got it fixed as soon as they could. Considering our shortened soft-water season - every day matters. Go to a reliable dealer for less headaches - the extra drive will be well worth it.

Funny you mention Linda Colt. Maybe google what Lowrance did to her as her reward for spectacular customer service. Or go through the BBC archives to see how they treated her. That was in my opinion the beginning of the end for their Customer Service. She truly did treat customers like human beings and people as opposed to wallets attached to a number.

Unfortunately very common.

How many Navico built Lowrance units have you used Roy?

I've had 9 diff Lowrance units. X25 (died), X135, X75, X85, X15, LMS 330 (died), 4 x LMS 332 (all died), 2 x LMS 520 (both died), X 26 (gps died 2 twice on day 1 of multi-day trip or tournament). I'm not surprised the older units are still kicking - I bet my old x15 and X75/X85 are probably still working too. Navico (who bought Lowrance) certainly don't build them the way they used to. Buddy had 2 HDS 8s right out of the box dead on arrival. Anyone can go google the unbelievable amount of Lowrance issues and customer service issues they've had in the last few years. I was as die-hard of a Lowrance fanboy as there could be - but enough was enough. I now run an 1197 and 858 networked combo that is pretty awesome. BUT I also added an HDS 5 in dash as well for gps only backup because it can't hurt to have some insurance. I might also go to dual 858s up front to have a dedicated sonar unit and a dedicated map unit. Would be a bit more insurance in case 1 goes down. Better safe than sorry. No manufacturer out there makes a perfect trouble free unit - only a paid shill would even try to claim that. Humminbird is definitely better than Lowrance at the moment in terms of reliability but they both should be a lot better for the amount of money we pay. Go google the results of Lowrance vs Humminbird issues and see for yourself. If we paid 2000+ for a laptop - would we settle for 10-15 second start up times, constant firmware upgrades just to be usable and 3-4 week waits for dead on arrival units?

Thanks to all of you who put in the work to help raise awareness for the fight against this terrible disease and also help to raise angling awareness and show the compassion and good heartedness in the angling community as a whole. Lots of negative things make news - so it is very heartening to see something positive also make the news and be a big deal. Good on ya all.

Thanks Phill - just got lucky for once on that lake - don't expect it to happen again soon (or ever again). No big bags of largies that I saw Brian. In fact during the brief time that I watched the weigh-in while waiting to trailer and after trailering - I didn't see any get weighed. I do know some teams did target them though as I heard them talking about it. I know a lot of teams also just try for the big largemouth money if their smallies aren't going as a bail out plan. Charles - my apologies to Jason G and Henry V - getting old means you don't remember so good any more.

Winning weight was 25.85 - Joey Muszynski and Scott Murison (both 2nd time winners although they each won before with different partners) 2nd was Barry Graves and his partner (my apologies for not knowing his name when I really should). They had 25.65 I think. 23.80 was 3rd last year's defending champs Chris Vandermeer and Jeff Slute. Nick Cousvis and his partner (again apologies) were 4th with 23.60. I think the last pay spot was just over 21 lbs. Paid 19 spots. 93 boats total. I think 18 lbs got you about 35th place. What a great fishery. Congrats to Joey and Scott - bragging rights for yet another year!

Someone send this to my wife - she keeps telling me to do yard work! lol