grt1

The other day my fishing buddy in Calgary called and asked me how to get a replacement for the recreational boaters card he had inadvertantly put through the washing machine and destroyed. I went on the web and of course the first thing the site I went to suggested that he contact the company that did the testing for him to get a replacement. He told me he had tried this but it seems the company no longer exists. So I went to the marine enforcement site for transport canada, since this is a national program the feds are responsible for it. I asked them the method to replace the card and they told me the same thing. contact the firm who did the testing. I also asked if the person who lost the card could go to a central registry site and get his registration number, that is on the card to prove that he did in fact take the test and passed the test. Surely, since it is an enforceable offence, the authorities must be able to go somewhere and verify the individual has the licence. Transport Canada informed me there is NO central registry of the cards. This tells me that the enforcing agencies have absolutely no way of verifiying who does or doesn't have a card and is unenforceable. What a joke, pass a law, make it mandatory to have the card then ignore the process to prove you have complied.

I haven't fished Lac Seul before athough it was on my to do list last year. Maybe this year I can get a day to go down to it. There are many lodges on Eagle Lake and a variety of pricing to go with them. I would suggest you google "sunset country and that should bring up a pile of web pages for camps on that lake. As for Lac Seul, it too has a pile of camps, some are out of the Sioux Lookout area others are on the West end of the lake by Ear Falls. I have a 16 foot lund skiff that I was going to take to use on this lake but the guys I talked to that live in Ear Fallls seem to think that might be too small for the big water of Lac Seul. On the west arm of eaglelake where I fish we go in 14 foot boats with 15 hp motors and get aroung just fine. I don't know about the east side of eagle and the weather conditions you might encounter. Just as a quick thought, the trout I'm holding in my avatar was caught on Eagle Lake while fishing for walleye in 14 feet of water on the long weekend in May last year. It was about 9 pounds and was the smallest trout I got that weekend.

I have one of the berkley grippers and I got a rapala gripper too. the berkley is just a grabber and doesn't have the scale but the rapala does. I like the idea of being able to weigh the bigger fish but the jaws on the rapala are very hard to keep open and grab the fish with. I would not like to handle big northerns without one of these on board because once the thing shuts, it is extremely hard to lose a fish.

I saw a fishing show for the eagle lake Island lodge wiith Italo on it. The lodge is on the eastern side of the lake and I fish the west arm of eagle lake, so I can't say much about the fishing there. however, on the fishing show it showed them running up some rivers to catch bass and walleye. I know guys who fish the eastern side of eagle in the fall for really big muskies. we fish the long weekend in may, have done that for the past 15 years and the walleye fishing is extremely slow at that time. So if you are planning to go after that I would think your chances for good fishing would be better. I would also suggest getting a guide for at least a couple of days, Eagle is a big lake and not marked for reefs. you gotta be careful, and bring a gps so you can track your routes. good luck and enjoy our little piece of heaven here in Northwestern Ontario.

this is a really interesting site. when you see what is happening around the world, it makes you glad we're living where we do.

currently under development is the new web page for the Red Lake Fall Classic . take a look at redlakefallclassic.com you might think about adding web pages for the ontario tournaments so we could see what is going on out there.

We live in the boonies of North western Ontario, outside of red lake, and have radio phones and satellite internet. What we did in our little subdivision is went in with the neighbours and got the satellite internet , originally it was from directway, who then sold it to hughes , who then sold it to xplornet. while it isn't really high speed it is defineately faster than dial up and we are going house to house through a wireless router. it seems that you can buy different amounts of band width and the speed increase with each increase in band width. currently we are paying about $30 each per month and the total cost per month is about $100 for the bandwidth we have. if you have the satellite stuff in your house and don't run it through a router I would suspect the speed would be faster than what we get in our houses since the router seems to limit the speed to 54 mps. It is a fairly reliable system andfor those of us without phone lines it is a viable option.

I just filled up the truck, it took 83 litres and cost $102. it's $1.23 a litre here in Red Lake

Be thankful you can get to BPS. I'm planning to go to Cabelas in April and it's a 2 day drive. JUst got the old plastic card down and now it's going to take another licking, damn I hate that!

lets face it many of us have tried to scam the government, either federal or provincial out of the dreaded sales tax by some way or another. I guess this guy tried to devalue the product too much, and then lie a couple times to cover the event. I guess this proves the old addage, if you do the crime you got to be prepared to do the time.

When I was a kid, my dad was going to take me up north fishing. We lived in Brantford and his idea of up north was Bellwood Lake. So one day we drove up there and he rented a boat for us to fish from. To me this was a big deal since all the fishing I had ever done to that time was from shore on the banks of the Grand River. Anyway, we got in this boat and he started rowing, yup, rowing across the lake. I spent most of my time bailing the water that was seeping in this old boat . We got partway across to a fishing spot when a storm rolled in and the lake started to churn so we turned back and never did wet a line. I have always wondered what kind of fish live in Bellwood Lake and what did I miss out on catching. Anyone out there able to fill me in on the fishing species for this lake.

I've been looking for a while now, My wife had her hummingbird give up the ghost on her (power button crapped out) and I've been looking at the Lowrance X91 and the eagle fishmark 480. for the same money $199 at cabelas and bass pro the price is right but I'm leaning toward the eagle as it is 480 x 480 pixels compared to 320 x320 on the lowrance. For the type of fishing I do, recreational, not tournament, I think the eagle will be my choice. unless something comes up in a better buy. a couple weeks ago I was looking at colour units when I was in winnipeg but the extra cost can't be justified for my use. another interesting thing I found was the x91 was listed at Wholesale sports (a new big box store in Winnipeg) at $599. Where's the price difference justification for a $400 difference?

Currently we live in NW Ontario, just south of Red Lake. The wife wants to move to the city. Since we are both from southern Ontario (30 years ago) we know the area generally, but since changes occur over time, we know the area would probably not be recgnizable to us. We are considering Winnipeg since it is close and has the shopping and entertainment the wife wants but it has become so violent in the past couple years and the car thefts are skyrocketing, i'm becoming leary of moving there even though it's close to great fishing. Where would the members of this board live if they could live anywhere. bearing in mind shopping facilities and entertainment and fishing availability? Thanks for your opinions. Bill

Been doing the midnight shift so I'm kinda late with this reply. Stormer and Kirkness lakes hold some amazing pike. each year at the camp the owners have a list of the "trophy" walleye and pike on the bar counter top and you add your catches to the list. The walleye size is 26" and the pike is 36" to qualify. There are usually 50-75 names on the list by the end of the year and the person who nails the largest wins a free trip the following year. Pike in the 25-42 in range are quite common if you know how and where to get them. Get a guide for your trip and you will not be disappointed. The guides that work there are on the lake everyday and know where the fish are.

If you don't want to cook you are probably looking at an american plan camp and I've got a dandy for you. Just up the road from nungessor lake is stormer lake lodge. the do the american plan and for shore lunch all the boats meet at a cook out location and the guides cook the fish and the salads and potatos are brought out to the site by the camp staff . Stormer Lake has a connecting lake called kirkness and I've guided for this camp for 5 years when the need extra guides for large corporate groups that they get. It is the highlight of my year when I go there. the walleye are numerous and big and the pike are huge. if you can't catch a fish in these waters, you were never meant to fish. Google Stormer Lake Lodge and check out the web site. It is truly a great camp, with good equipment. the boats are 17' lund outfitters with 40hp honda motors and equipped with depth finders and electric trolling motors. In my opinion it puts most camps to shame. The meals are great and the owners are super people. And no i don't get a kick back for recommending it, it is just that I'm very impressed with the operation and the fishing on this lake system.

Thanks for the information and providing the link to the team rules. Now my next question is : Is there a link or site that I can see the team results and current standings at?

Ever since I started on this site I have been seeing postings on the fishing teams and I finally am curious to find out what the teams are fishing for and how to participate in this "event" with the other members. So, can a new person join an existing team? Can a new team be formed? Whats the total scoop on them? I'm probably not alone in wondering this so maybe it can be explained to those of us who have recently discovered this site.

Hey guys why not come north to get your gas, our prices went down the other day by 4 cents we now only pay $1.23 per litre in Red Lake.

I guess that depending on the type of fish you want to get, this will help you determine the location you should stay at. LOTW is so big with so many lodges that certain types of fish are more prevelant in some areas. for example I have seen huge lakers caught in the sioux=narrows area, huge muskies in the nestor falls area and good walleyes caught near Kenora. Googel : sunset country, this should give you the web site for the areas around lake of the woods and the camps located on them. Personally, I would stay in Sioux Narrows or Nestor Falls. I have guided in both areas and I like the waters there but I also lived in Kenora and used to fish out of there too. the problem with Kenora is there are so many boaters (from Winnipeg) on the weekend that it is hard to find a quiet location on the lake. another word of advice, get a guide. With 60,000 + islands it is easy to pass by so many good fishing spots and get lost in the process.

I just returned from the annual meeting (fishing,drinking, eating fest) of our Eagle Lake Hookers Club on Eagle Lake just west of Vermillion Bay. Opening day saw rain,sleet,snow and wind. It was pretty miserable for fishing. I managed to get a 34" lake trout the day before and on opening day I got a 23" walleye (that was released) and a couple of eaters . This is unusual since opening weekend is not generally the time you can get the walleye in Eagle to bite. I guess the early spring and warm temps for the 3 weeks before the opening had warmed the water enough to get the walleye a little more active than they usually are for this time of the year. On the Sunday I got another lake trout that was 30" and this one was in 8' of water where I was looking for wallleyes. Monday produced another couple of eater walleye and a pike. When we hold our annual meeting the main point of the whole thing is the friends getting together to share a few pints (quite a few actully) and relax for a weekend. By getting a line wet and getting some fish was just a bonus.

GreenFeather was a local artist here in northwestern ontario. he lived in the kenora area and produced a lot of work in the 1980s. I have a couple of his prints . He died sometime in 1990s and not much of his work is available these days. I would hold onto that print. It may not be worth much artistically in value, but he did qualitiy drawings and they are a nice addition to any wall.

first of all, why go on holidays now when the prime fishing season is on? Looks like Mount St Helen's in the background.

A restricted fire zone went into effect last night at midnight for Northwestern Ontario. This was due to a large number of man-made fire starts over the weekend. The Kenora newspaper reported 21 new fires over the weekend and with opening of the walleye season on the 3rd saturday the MNR want to keep it fire free. The bush up here is tinder dry.

I took a look at the program at the local dealer here and it seems to be ok but for my money (price here is 250) I would just use the local maps that are $14 to see where the structure is.

if you want simplicity, get the Rocky Madsen batter mix that features labatts blue. the directions tell you to add the contents of the package to a bottle of Blue minus 2 sips (you gotta love it when you get to test one of the ingredients ). This makes as good of a beer batter as any I've tried and it beats the daylights out of adding beer to pancake batter mix.