charlesn

Pike in Port Credit. It's been awhile (like 20 years), but I recall some very good sized pike being caught from shore out of the marina on the east side of the river mouth. That little man made peninsula is now fenced off presumably due to trespassing and trash, but I recall going back there long ago and fishing off the main lake side for salmon/trout, and seeing a young kid catch 2 nice pike in back to back casts on a spinnerbait fishing the sheltered marina. I had nothing but big spoons on me and the harbour had too much weeds for them. I always meant to go back and try for them but I never did.

If the peninsula is off-limits, you might be able to get back there in a boat.

I think they are talking about the boardwalk that surrounds the marina. There are signs posted there about the no fishing.

The boardwalk to the east where the 4 sisters used to be is fine for fishing. There's a nice ledge at the far east end by the retaining wire that was created by the current that used to pump out of the generating station that used to hold nice bass and carp. In the fall I used to see salmon (presumably lost) and trout in there and I think the Ontario record brown trout was caught out of the hot water discharge, but I could be misremembering.

I haven't been back (to fish) since the demolition of the stacks, but I take my daughters down for a walk quite often and have not seen many people fishing there. I recall lots more people fishing there when the hot water discharge attracted the bait which attracted the predators. Last weekend I was there and saw 1 small moldy (had some fungus on it) sunfish by the walking bridge and nesting swan, that was it. Thought I would see some pike, smallies or largies in the harbour, but nothing.

I'd agree with Highdrifter that your chances of finding fish are better west of there. Good luck.

Nice combo stoty. Know a couple people with avys and they are awesome on gas when towing a rig.

Enjoy it and the BM115s, some really good sticks in that circuit and you will have a great time and learn a lot!

My opinion, which means squat, is that if they are minors (and they need a licence) probably.

I thought anyone under 18 didn't need a license, did this change? Do non-resident kids need a license? I took my 5 & 7 year old nephews out a couple years ago and never even thought about it to be honest, figured they were fine without it.

Charles

Was only there once but it was a fun trip. Lots of pike and bass in that lake. I'd say try all the points with search type baits (spinnerbaits, rattletraps, jerkbaits) and when you find some, then work it over a bit with tubes and drop-shots. Very standard smallmouth fishing. We caught pike incidentally just about everywhere. No giants for us, but it looked like there would be some in there.

This was like 8-9 years ago though.

Have fun.

You probably hit a deadhead floating out in the middle of the lake, been there, done that!!!

The log that punched a hole in your boat would more than likely just dent an aluminum hull.

The hull on my aluminum boat is completely filled with floatation foam anywhere there is room.

The whole center of the floor on either side of the gas tank as well as the rear casting deck behind the storage compartments and live well.

I have no concerns of my boat sinking to the bottom. From about 3' forward of the console to a foot and a half from the rear of the boat has floatation foam in the floor.

I guess I should have mentioned that I sunk my first boat (an aluminum Smokercraft) at the launch ramp in Lindsay when the ribs separated. It was an older boat and it definitely did not have positive flotation. Also, the day I nearly sunk my Lund bass boat on Simcoe, a Lowe aluminum boat did in fact sink. Had I had my fibreglass boat I would NOT have even gotten wet. Take that for what it's worth. Just my experience.

I doubt very highly that it would've only dented an aluminum hull at the speed the boat was traveling. But you could be right, it could've maybe only had a dent. Or I could've lost $20,000 worth of gear to the bottom of the lake and enjoyed a gentle float in my PFD to Gananoque... lol it's just conjecture at this point, but as someone that has owned both, there's no way I would ever go back to aluminum by choice.

One other pretty major thing is the positive floatation in a fibreglass bass boat which I think is not as present in an aluminum. When I punched a grapefruit size hole in my hull in the 1000 Islands area, I was in 134 feet of water. Even though water got in and filled the boat up to the top of the driver seat, the boat never fully sank and my cell phone and GPS worked until I beached her several miles away. The front deck stayed dry through the whole ordeal.

Can you beach a glass boat without too much damage to the keel/bottom? Some of the launches I uses are not in the best shape and don't have docks. Pretty tough to launch and park yourself without beaching it.

There's a thing called a keel guard that I see catching on up here. You put it on your boat and you can beach on a concrete, dirt, gravel or sand ramp no problem.

I put her up on the crystal beach ramp when they pull the docks with no problems.

For the type of lakes you visit, you really can pick any boat you want and be pretty safe. You might need to watch the weather a bit for Simcoe and Quinte, but I've never been scared on the water on the Kawarthas like I have on Erie or Lake O.

40-50 mph is still plenty fast and gets you from point A to point B in a hurry on those smaller lakes.

Good luck with the boat choice, but if it were me, I'd go for about 17'6"-18'0" fibreglass bass boat with a 135-150 HP on the back. Can cruise at 40-50 no problem and for those really nice days when you feel the urge, can hammer down and enjoy the extra speed that is available.

As I said, I just prefer aluminum as it's more fogiving IMO than glas and rides a bit better. Not ruling out a future glass boat though.

Not sure which comparable glass bass boats you've ridden in, but on an apples to apples (or as close as you can get) basis, there is no comparison, the glass rides WAY better than tin from my experience in both.

I went from a 17'1" Lund Bass boat (they stopped making them in 94 or 95) to a 17'1" glass boat (Champion 171) and the ride difference was like night and day. Same length, same horsepower, totally different ride. The speed was actually quite similar though even though I expected the glass boat to be faster.

Charles

Trimming the outboard up makes your boat more susceptible to the back end wandering, I'd leave it trimmed down to act as a rudder/keel somewhat. I think the drag is fairly insignificant, you're not going to gain a bunch with the motor up. I've tried it myself and noticed very little difference other than the back end wandering making it a little more work to go in a straight line.

I'm not sure exactly what the top speed is, maybe 3-4 mph, but I have a 101 lb MinnKota Maxxum and a Champion 198 and I would guess it's not much (if any) better than what you are getting.

If you need to go faster than that, you're probably better off just cranking the big motor and idling over. Just remember to lift the troller if you're going to do anything much more than a fast idle. Yes, I am speaking from experience... twice.

Charles

The hooks these days are unlikely to dissolve in my opinion, but I have seen them passed through a fishes digestive system. The line and the hook basically 99% out of the anus when I caught it, and that's not just once, but many times I have caught fish like that. The fish were also fat and healthy at the time of being caught.

Certain species are probably less tolerant of leaving the hook in than others.

Awesome fish and hopefully another angler hooked for life. Great work getting the missus involved.

Would like a Canadian Tire be able to do it?

Most auto garages are not the easiest to navigate with a boat in tow. At least CT has a nice big parking lot.

Where are these inspections available? Is there a place an OFNer can recommend that won't overly gouge you?

Preferably in the west end - Mississauga area or in Vaughn.

Charles

Braid is probably cheaper in the long run for a recreational angler. I fish probably a bit more than the average recreational angler and I can go two seasons on a spooling of braid unless I've had a number of break-offs. The memory from just one winter of storage for mono or fluoro would give the recreational angler enough headaches to want to respool. Some mono lines also break down from UV and temperature exposure, so you don't even need to use it for it to go "bad". I love the limpness and lack of memory of braid. I also use a fluoro leader most of the time on spinning gear (a study it then eat it bite). I never use a leader with a baitcaster (reaction bites).

I have recreational angler friends using reels spooled with the first generation of Spiderwire. Try going 12 or so years with a spooling of mono and tell me how that works out for ya...

Stoty,

Before you spend the money on 4x4 consider if you really need to do it. It may sound hypocritical coming from someone who has owned 4 trucks - all with 4x4, but the 4x4 saved my butt maybe like once or twice in 13 years of trailering. It's nice when the algae gets up on the ramp where the rear wheels are and on the rare occasion where you do some extreme launching, but with a bass boat, you're not likely to be going off-road and trailering in places that are not intended for launching a boat. I can't remember a single instance last year where I "needed" 4x4 to get up the ramp. Most times the truck stays in 2WD anyways.

If you can afford a new truck or want to match the truck colour to the boat, that's cool, but I'd recommend using the existing truck for a season and see how many times you feel it was even questionable as to whether you need 4x4 or not.

You can buy a lot of gas and baits for the cost of 4x4.

Great looking ride and enjoy the season. There's nothing like that first legal bass in your very own rig.

Peace,

Charles

How much wieght have you lost Charles?????????????Dave seems to be a bit thinner.LOL

 

Barrie would be a local.

So tell me,how do I go about asking them,Subway that is? Do I contact the head office,as we all know,these are just franchises.This is money out of thier own pocket,or does head office compensate them?

 

 

Hope alls well with you and the family and ,GREAT JOB DAVE, ON THE SHOW.

I'm doing the opposite of losing weight, what's that called again? Oh ya, getting FAT. I tell people I need the buddha belly to help hold up the baby when I'm multi-tasking.

I'm guessing the franchisees as an association in the area pool their marketing to put it together in their local area. If the money was from the head office, would it not make sense to spread them out?

I'd do whatever from just going in to the local Subway and chatting about it with the local staff/ownership to emailing their contacts from the website if you really want one in Barrie. One email might get lost in the crowd, but get a handful and suddenly you are on to something.

Dave has lost the weight that I found. Damn those scientists and their law of conservation of mass! lol

I don't know if it would help, but I don't think it would hurt to talk to your local Subway franchises. They are the ones who are putting up the marketing dollars and food to bring this great information/entertainment format show together for you. Supporting the businesses that support our sport is something we all need to do. I know I've eaten at Subway more in the past few weeks than I normally would because of the show series.

Let them know it is something you want in your area and you will be increasing your odds I bet of the series being near you next year and of course the positive feedback also helps Dave.

I had no idea about that rule. About 10 years ago when I worked in etobicoke, I would drive thru Cent Park every day just for the relaxing drive and view. I stopped once and fished the horseshoe shaped pond after work. I caught 1 crappie, 2 largies and and a bunch of sunnies. I saw several guys with serious carp gear.

You'd think they could put up a sign or two if it is a sanctuary. I walked the entire perimeter just about and saw no signage but several other anglers.

Oh well, I broke the speed limit once on the 401 too so maybe it's just that I am a scofflaw.

Charles

What is the purpose of a virus? I mean the ones that steal credit card info or are identity theft based for profit I can almost understand. But the ones that are just intended to cause problems for the corporate world... OK, so your virus just cost corporations around the world 17 billion dollars or whatever... Proud of yourself? Good for you, you just stuck it to the "man" (Bill Gates) real good didn't ya?

Whether it was an April Fool's joke or not, corporations have to take these threats seriously and it costs time which equals big bucks to do so. All of that gets factored in to the prices we pay for just about everything.

I just don't get it.

I guess they help keep people like me employed, but man what a pita.

They're open year round on Lake Erie (and other inland lakes) on the NY side for those with less patience. A NY non-res license is $40 or so for the year. I read it might be going up to $70 or $80 on a NY based forum, but what can you do, I'll still pay it to not have to wait til late June. Harmonizing the regulations would probably earn the Canadian businesses on Erie some extra money. I'd say 70% of the boats I see at the US launches in the spring are from Ontario.

I've seen it help when fishing with 2 rods on Erie for bass. Same tube, same weight, one has a fluoro leader, the other does not because I was too lazy to re-tie the leader with cold hands after multiple snags. Now it could be the properties of the fluoro line and how it impacts the bait's action versus any "invisibility" stuff, but regardless, I'm a believer because I could even switch hands and the rod with the fluoro keeps on catching. But that's with braid main line (because I am lazy and cheap and only want to spool up once or twice a year). I don't buy "leader material" fluoro though, and since I'm only using 6-8 feet at a time on a several hundred yard spool it lasts a really long time.

They really don't seem to notice cram. Never seen one actively try to remove it. It actually helps in that they are handled far less and kept out of the water a lot less too. 99.9% of the time, you open the livewell and the fish are fine, but try to grab one and then they go nuts, with a culling tag, you simply grab the tag and the fish is subdued before it can hurt itself.

I think the Ardent balls with the weight on them is a really great idea. But I prefer the clip on style tags, to the stringer style. Easier to put on and off. The clip on ones I use come with coloured floating polypropylene rope and do not fall off if put on correctly. I wish I could remember the name brand, but it is really the best kind for the fish and super easy to use. I just wish I had that problem of needing to cull more often. haha

I stayed there one year with a group of friends. All in all was not too bad from what I can recall which is very very little. It was a long time ago. But it must not have been that bad because I hold a grudge for forever and a day and they are not in my bad books.

I love that area, the only thing that gets me is the ridiculous (like $15 in $15 out) launch ramp fees in the area.

Charles