The Urban Fisherman

Being a young father with a new family I couldn't imagine being tough through a time like this. I never met you or your son Rob, but my promise to you is that I will never take time spent with my children for granted. My family is thinking of you and yours today.

Thanks god I drive a Nissan.

lol that's funny stuff irish..... Lady Evelyn is a nice lake for sure, but you'll want some charts so you don't bottom out as I believe it was a flooded reservoir once upon a time, with plenty of underwater structure to hit.....and from my experience it's a live bait lake...tough bite without dem der' minnow's... Cheers, UF

I grew up with little, to no money at times, and a father who spent the beginning of my teenage years in and out of hospital. I started a minnow business @ 12, got a part time job @ 15, paid my OWN way through college, worked 65+ hours a week for a pathetic paycheck in Toronto while supporting a fiance in university and a new-born. Now I'm going on 27 and am finally starting to get to the point where I don't have to worry so much about money....I'm not by any means making a ton of cash, but with continued hard work and dedication to a great employer, someday I might be able to afford that new pimped out ride - and you you bet your I'll be buying it. Just for the record - it's going to be a Toyota Tundra with ALL the bells and whistles...

wow - look at how healthy both of bly's fish look!! - seems fitting as she is much prettier than you are Cliff! I agree with TbayBoy - I wouldn't complain about a 13lb walleye if it was the only one I caught in my life! lol Cheers, UF

NICE - must've been before we got all this rain....I'm just 45mins down the road from st. thomas and my back-yard pond isn't even frozen over. good job dude, UF

Dave Mercer caught a record fish a few years ago and released it without hesitation. It totally smashed the previous record for this fish, but of course IFGA didn't recognize the catch as an official world record because he released the fish, good on Dave for releasing it, but I'd have kept it! Here's a quick blurb I found online about it. http://www.thefishingnews.com/mercer-recordfish.shtml

Holy crap I'd have been happy to pay for a lesson like that!!!! Thanks man!!! MUCHLY appreciated. For the most part I'll be ice fishing the reservoir down the road which I know really well, so as long as I know the exact depth I'm in, and if I'm close to specific structure, or in the magical 20 to 25' range for Perch, I should be ok. I'm a huge newbie when it comes to hitting the ice though so this was a big help for me. Other than perch I'm hoping to target the ever elusive winter bluegill! which to date have completely managed to dupe me... I know they tend to suspend in the winter so I'm hoping a little graph like this might help me locate those hard to find suspended gills and crappie. I haven't heard back from the seller on this unit though, so if it falls through I might just get a second transducer and graph mount and gimmy rig something for my 597c combo unit. The only down-side is I'll have to drag around my big 12v Battery on my sled. Thanks for all the reply's! UF

I picked up a 15 foot G3 this summer and it handled 2.5 footers on Long Point Bay like a dream! I've had it out on the bay 3 times, twice it was in harsh conditions and I felt as safe as I had in any similar sized deep-v. The 20hp pushed us along @ 20+ MPH into the wind smashing through the waves with 3 adults on board. I'm not saying to go ahead and get a jon boat for use in rough water, but the point is if you're safe about it, as you should be in any boat - I'd certainly endorse the purchase of a jon boat. I LOVE mine. Cheers, UF

Thanks Irish - your word is good enough for me....now it's time for "stage 2" - convince my wife I need it!!

Hey... I can probably get this bad-boy for 40 - 50 bucks and I'm just wondering if it's worth it. All I really want to know is the depth that I'm fishing in - and maybe if the bottom has structure or is flat etc. Anybody ever own one? I think it's pretty old school. Cheers, UF

lol - I've got $50 that says it's Erie! Dare to raise me?

Slice and dice baby! haha just kiddin'.... It all depends on the fish and the situation. First off I don't see myself catching a world record anytime soon but if I caught a world record bluegill it'd be off to the scale and soon after to the frying pan - if it were a Lake Erie Smallmouth and I was POSITIVE it was a record breaking fish, no doubt in my mind I'd keep it in a heartbeat. My keeping a world record smallmouth bass from Lake Erie will have ZERO impact on the fishery. On the other hand if it were a musky or another species of fish that wasn't exactly "thriving" I'd be more than happy to take a few measurements and do a quick release. I could be wrong but personally I don't believe there's any money in catching a "world record" unless you live in the USA, the fish you caught was a Bass, and you're already a pro angler. just my opinion though.

yeah so at one point I had toyed with the idea of doing a 2008 review of my own, and this pretty much crushed that though! lol Thanks dude, UF

That's a tough thing to swallow brother - but as many have said you did the right thing for your pup. At least now she's with you, everywhere you go. Cheers, UF

Thanks guys I appreciate all the input. I'm actually putting a few hours in the office tonight and surfing all these sites while I wait for the computer to do it's thing every once in a while.... If anybody else has ideas don't be shy to toss them my way! Cheers OFC

I have a canvas bag with a shoulder strap - or as Rich calls it "my purse"

lol - yeah Rich and I hit a local trib this morning - he had a 10lber at his feet and lost it, I got 1 decent hit all morning - it's just not meant to be for us, but you guys keep us going with reports like this! Thanks for the fix guys... On a side note, I'm curious to know if you have any feeling left in your finger tips Solo? Or are they just permanently numb? Cheers

Hey guys, Twice a summer my wife, daughter and I make the 6-7 hour drive up to my parents place in Hanmer, ON for long weekends - and it always seems so rushed. You spend friday in the car, you're there all day saturday, usually running around visiting and such, then you leave sunday afternoon and make the long drive back. It's never relaxing and we don't get to spend nearly enough "quality" time with my parents. This spring we're slated to have another little one, so making the drive will become even tougher with two kids in the truck. SO, my wife and I have decided that we're going to start a family tradition, that is to spend 1 week at a cabin somewhere up north with my parent's and who ever else wants to come out and visit during the week. It has to be close enough to Sudbury that my extended family can come out for a day or two if they'd like. I grew up fishing the west arm - my grandmother had a trailer @ victoria park off of musky bay road. So right now I'm leaning towards that area, but if anybody has any suggestions I'm open for ideas. I need a place to keep my boat docked for the week, and the more private of a cabin we can get the better! Obviously fishing is important to me as well, my primary targets being Walleye, Pike and Smallies. Panfish for the kids would be nice to. Thanks a bunch for any leads. Cheers, Ryan

what's your secret?!? lol Mine just went up $200 a month! When they gave me the original quote my wife's accident last year didn't pop up on her record... of course my lack of complete honesty came to bite me in the behind - now I didn't lie, I just didn't say "hey wait a minute, she has an accident, shouldn't my insurance be more expensive?

thanks for the ice teasers dude - I can go outside and cut the grass this afternoon if I wanted to!

maybe it's a transformer - "custom faded" ya have to be a movie geek to get it.

If I'm not mistaken I believe the boat does about 45MPH with 3 guys and a full load. There'd be a little less weight with the tiller model so you'd assume a smaller motor would be fine, but I'm no expert so it probably wouldn't hurt to contact the manufacturer. I might be able to get some info for you if you'd like. Shoot me a PM with your e-mail and I'll see what I can do. My buddy who owned this boat (bought it from Dave Mercer) recently got rear ended and the boat had to be written off... The only thing that somehow didn't sustain any damage was the motor so he's trying to sell it.

I don't know much about the tiller models, but I've used the 17 foot side console G3 with a 115 4stroke on the back and it's an AWESOME BOAT...I know you don't want a side console, but I imagine the tiller version is essentially the same boat....Very wide boat for it's length, and roomy - we shot a walleye show on quinte comfortably with 2 to 3 foot rollers, 2 camera guys, video gear, fishing gear, and two fisherman! Also fished smallies on the middle of Erie in december with that boat. Either way, I'm sure they're both great boats but I've only been in the G3. Good luck with your purchase. Very exciting getting a new boat

yepp, I lived in a fraternity house on the corner of Mill st. and Talbot......anyways, it was about a 5 minute walk to some prime carp angling...we had many good times and fond memories made down on the banks of that river with the boys! The spring redhorse sucker run is amazing to, we got some monsters in there, pushing 24" if I'm remembering correctly. We tried cookin' them up to, they tasted fine, but the flesh was a little bit mushy and they were near impossible to "de-bone". It wasn't until my third year of school that I got a bass on corn and soon discovered a fantastic smallie fishery, as well as pike and plenty of rockies...