BillyBarilko

Any tips over these 3? The first 2 need coated down rigger cables, the last is transducer supported. I'm indifferent, whatever works the best is good for me. I fish Lake Ontario and Lake Erie. Any suggestions is appreciated. cheers, Darrel.

Sure and thx, I'll msg you closer to the date. I just like getting out on the water, that week will be pretty relaxed. I'm gonna try hitting Lake E this year early for eyes besides my main trips out for early bows/salmon on Lake O. I'm in Kitchener so I'm midway between all the big lakes. Huron/Ontario/Erie.

Guys this awesome. I see a nice trench out from the Thames river mouth at 19 FOW I'll be sure to try for walleye out there. I'll also target Muskey too and post some reports for a first timer. I got 7 days so I hope I can translate my Salmon/Bow experience to landing Walleye and Muskey its been awhile. I'm used to fishing 200-300 FOW so 20' will be a change

Booked a cottage for early August for a week, will be in the Thames river mouth area. Based on this I'm targeting fish I haven't fished in a large lake before. I'm equipped for Lake Ontario Salmon (Dipsey Rods, Downrigger Rods flea flicker line, braid on the dipseys etc). I do fairly well and am comfortable with fishing for Salmon. I've never fished big lakes for Musky/Walleye/Bass. I've always fished for them on smaller lakes (Muskoka/Kawarthas etc) Lake St Clair is shallow it seems, are my riggers of any use? What equipment do you guys use, what lbs test on dipsey rods? Lure wise I'm good for Musky/Walleye I've targeted them before so I know what works. What areas should I focus on, I suspect find the deepest water for summer walleyes in Lake St Clair? Any tips would be appreciated. thanks, Darrell.

Thanks all for the great suggestions. Temagami is definitely on my radar for next year, unfortunately we booked a cottage on Lake St. Clair today where the Thames river mouth is, so I'm targeting Musky and Walleye, and maybe bass. I'm equipped for Salmon so not sure if this translates to these new targets, I haven't targeted Walleye or Musky since I've bought this boat. I'll ask on a new thread... cheers, Darrell

Thanks all these are great suggestions. I've fished West and East lakes before so Picton area would be an interesting trip I think. I'll look into it. I'd love to get back up to Temagami too so I'll look in that too.

Hey everyone, Normally I spend my days on Lake Ontario trolling for Salmon/Bows. But with the family, wife and 3 young girls, they are asking for a week at a cottage this summer, and there's not many cottage options on Lake O so I need to switch strategies for that week. My hope was to target Walleye, Muskie, Smallies, or Lake trout etc. I have 19' deep V fiberglass fitted for Lake O, Walkers riggers, Dipsey rods etc. I'm comfortable in deep water. No bow mount trolling moter (yet), just a 115 4 stroke Merc for power. Any suggestions on focusing my search? I've hoped to try Turkey Point, or even Western Basin Lake Erie for walleye. What about Lake St. Clair, or Lake Huron? I'm even tempted to try Honey Harbor area and make the runs out to Georgian Bay. I have the Navitronics Gold maps for my Lowrance so I've covered for great lakes + Nippising + Kawarthas. In-Laws live in Penetang area so I'm comfortable with navigating in those areas, and have made the run out to deep water from their place. (not much luck) Not sure if I'm comfortable with navigating for fishing purposes a lake like Stoney Lake (Which I've done before in tinnys) but not sure if my GPS is accurate enough vs local knowledge. But' I'm considering any water system inland that can hook me up with Musky or Walleye (or Lake Trout) If anyone knows of a cottage that suits me, let me know Driving distance from TO < 6 hours is acceptable. thanks all. Darrell

I was out this morning in anywhere from 40-130 feet, lots marked from 45 out to 110 by the ship canal. Managed one 15 lber only out for a few hours. Boats were all in close, almost within casting distance Lots jumping too, I'd say casting from the ship canal in the next few days esp after these rains should yield some, good luck! It's been a crazy summer trolling, spring was good, then fish were out way deep most of last July and Aug, might have some good later runs too. Fish I got today was still very silver.

If you're fully vested you made $44800 on paper. Now the Q is do you sell or do you hold. My rookie advice is to sell and diversify, unless you need the $$, say for a new boat That amount of cash is not life changing, only life helping. When you get to $1,000,000+ then we are talking life changing.... I've been in the options game many times, my advice is, unless your think your company is going skyward sell and diversify. Take the profit you need, and re-invest the rest elsewhere, get a proper investment adviser (I am not one, so don't take my advice!). And finally congrats!

any decent rod 7-10ft in length, with a spinning reel with a *good* drag and 10-15lb test I tend to stay at 10 lb test, and toss cleos or buzz bombs. You don't want downrigging rods, these are not meant for casting off piers. I like 10-12 foot rods that have a nice whip to them to get more distance casting. That covers more water = more hits. Go with what you can afford, but I really recommend a better reel than rod, since drag is important for the angry hooked Chinook. Have fun.

When I was young fishing off the shore in Lake O, I found browns can be found along break walls and piers during the hazy days of summer, esp in the morning or eve hours. I've caught my share of browns from 50 point to Bronte. There's an old Ontario Fisherman magazine article called "The Browns of Summer" that details it quite nicely. From experience, up until the end of June, and then back at the start of Aug I caught browns from break walls and piers. Back in the 80's & 90's the MNR use to stock browns (and other salmonidae species) right off the beach at the breakwalls and piers, not sure if they "imprint" on that location like they would a river, but I always had most luck at breakwalls that the MNR stocked at (You can get this info from them, well you use to be able to) Summer browns are fun, let us know if you catch any.

Renting a cottage hopefully in the Southampton area, from my old trolling books, it looks like the only place for salmon or bows is out 5 miles in 100 FoW. Anyone have any tips for fishing this area? Do the same Lake O techniques work out there? thanks, Bull

Its going into my local mercury dealer to have them look at it. It's all under warranty so not really concerned. I know it's new but things happen, I'd expect it to have 0 issues, but I'm dealing with it. Called the dealership that sold it to me, they said it could be a bunch of things, they didn't think it was fuel pump related. They said there's not much pressure coming from that pump. I didn't expect a diagnostic over the phone, but I'm surprised the 3 beep code wasn't known to them, it should be in their maintenance manuals. But I still can't see how that is accurate. The 2006 115 Merc 4 stroke EFI says it doesn't need to be primed, the motor pulls up fuel itself with it's low pressure pump. It should have some pressure to lift fuel up from the tank? you'd think you could at least feel it. but even if this magical force wasn't perceivable according to them, when I took the fuel line off it was dry as a bone, no fuel. That tell me the pump ain't working. thanks for the replies, I'll post an update once it gets diagnosed

Oil check was OK, dip stick anyway, is there another check? I siphoned it the main tank with an oil pump, gas flowed with no issues. It's gotta be the fuel pump, the line to the main pump had no suction, 0, nothing. I can't seeing it being more complicated. Turn key on on, fuel pump engages, pumps gas into engine. If the pump doesn't do any suction, it's gotta be a problem. I'm no mechanic, but some suction seems reasonable.

I remember 20 years ago attempting to net a nice rainbow for a gentleman at the Burlington lift bridge pier in the spring, and the hook pop'ing out of the fish's mouth, flying by my face (no glasses) and landing in the upper lip of the gentleman. Things I learned from this: Never land a fish like that unprotected, and 2nd, wear eye gear at all times. You can't cover 100% of yourself, as this case points out, but if one thing is taken from it, protect the most important parts

Boat was new 2006. Got the motor from a different dealer, who had a new 2006 overstock Merc 115, I didn't pay PDI. If you want the dealers named just say so Yes a saved a bunch doing this, but lessons learned, and I'm dealing with it now, regardless I'm just stating what my situation is, not looking for sympathies. This is not like me buying a mid 80's boat and motor and finding problems, this is a new 2006 boat and motor, so I'd expect the ability to run the motor without any issues for at least a little while (First time would be nice) I checked the fuel lines, gas flows fine from the internal tank. The motor doesn't pull it up, it should. This is where I think the problem is. I can see the line to the tank, no kinks, very clear. I also siphoned the gas very easily from the internal tank via the main outlet at the stern. I can't see it not being a motor problem. Sholuldn't the low pressure fuel pump pull some suction at the hose before the fuel filter? It doesn't do anything but make noise.

According to the 2006 Merc EFI 4 stroke manual, the trouble shooting sections read about not cranking, but the motor cranks fine, so I don't think it's battery, besides once it's running shouldn't there be enough power to keep it running? The engine not starting section talks about Fuel not reaching the engine, which I'm pretty sure the problem lies, given that I've seen the fuel pump doesn't seem to be doing anything. I guess my next plan of action is returning it to the the dealership. They better give me some nice perks given it's 2 hours away. Thanks for all your replies.

Update: Ended up being the fuel line connection on the motor was not air tight. Seems the dealership thought a plastic tie on the fuel hose was sufficient for securing the line to the motor fuel input, the place I brought it to replaced it with a proper metal clamp and all is well. Apparently the pressure wasn't there to keep fuel flowing, and thus became fuel starved (like I suspected) and died. Also he prop pitch was too high, at 17, it should be 13 according to the Merc dealer I brought it to. So I see 2 problems: 1) They should have had that fuel line secured solid and tested. 2) prop should have been selected properly. I know I should have verified both by an in water test but it wasn't available. What recourse do I have against this dealership? Do I just learn from my mistakes, or should the dealer who I bought it from own up and compensate me for their mistakes. Frankly I find it hard to accept that I could have verified this even with an in water test. It ran for a awhile before the loose hose became a factor. But it's clearly their fault that they installed the motor incorrectly. The fact that I had to have another authorized dealer fix their mistakes makes me think I shouldn't have to pay for any costs incurred, esp since they suggested that I use a local dealer to save from hauling the boat much further to them. Anyways the boat is good to go and I can finally get on the water, I'll be sure to carry a spare fuel line and some clamps just in case =============================== Well not a good first outing. Wanted to break in the new boat and motor. Had everything checked last night, ran the motor with the muffs on Sat for a 5 minutes everything sounded great. Launch Sun morning at Fishermans pier, running idle at the doc sounds fine for a few minutes, untie backout get out about 100 yards and try to bring to plane... can't get it up on plane after a 20 seconds, backoff the throttle, sounds good, try again, still no plane. At idle now, then I hear 3 beeps, go back look for fuel line kinks etc, sounds fine, then put put put, dies. Hmm not good. Turn it over again, starts up fine, decide to head back (about 500 yards away), hear the 3 beeps again, try to full throttle, but no power its running smooth but no power at all. A minute later getting close back to the launch, motor dies. Well not too impressed at this point. Looking through the manual while adrift away from the launch, I don't see any 3 beep references. 4 beeps = low bat, and I know the bat is fine. Nothing else in the manual about beeps. Tried for 10 minutes again to get it to turn over. At this point I figure I need to call to get a tow in, jail the coast guard (thank god my electronic skills were well honed, my VHF installation was perfect As I pull up the VHF antenna, my cell phone clips the rails on the walk around and sinks into the harbour Did have some luck 2 guys come into view trolling with planer boards and I flag them down for a tow in (Never got your names, sorry for the hassle if you ever read this, and thank you very much again.) This is my first boat, but I've been around boats long enough to know the basics. Run switch was up, motor was getting water, exhaust wasn't blocked, yes plug was in... etc etc. I figured like my in laws old 50 Merc frequent problems with fuel: this thing was fuel starved. (can't figure out why 1/2 tank of gas and BRAND NEW motor would have fuel problems...) When I got her home, I try to turn her over, astonishingly runs for 5 minutes, but dies again. Then couldn't get it to turn over. There's no fuel bulb, I was told the boat didn't need one. Check th internet, 3 beeps seems to be fuel pressure related... hmm... Disconnected the motor to boat fuel line and hooked up a siphon to the boat's fuel line, after a few pumps, fuel is flowing. I know there's no obstruction from the tank to the hookup so thats good. I take the hood off and disconnect the fuel filter to the low pressure fuel pump line. I turn the ignition to the on position to get the fuel pump to go, I hear it doing something, but the hose as 0 suction. Covering it with my thumb proves to just block the pump noise, there's no suction at all. So my guess is that the fuel pump is hosed. Am I wrong in this diagnostic? What else could it be? My beef is that this is a 2006 Merc 115 EFI with 0 hours on it. (Well 0.2 hours) I know warranty covers this but shouldn't the dealer have checked this? The boat ran fine when I picked it up, but what are the odds of a fuel pump failing in 2 weeks while sitting in my driveway? I bet the pump was faulty from day 1 and they either new about it (figured I'd get it serviced closer to home) or they just didn't even check (Probably primed it full of fuel from an external tank and not the boats internal tank. actually this must be true since the boat had no gas when I picked it up) Moral of the story, buyers when you pick up your new boat run the motor for 30 minutes from your fuel tank, and run it for a while at the dock before heading out Hopefully I can get it resolved in time for some fishing this spring!

I spent a week up there last summer at the south west side of the lake. Tons of pan fish near shore great for the kids Had some luck with a pike and bass Also landed a few walleys (2 a day, nothing too big < 2lbs) I did see a 5 lber caught in the mid day hot sun! Best technique I found for walley was find islands with good drop offs and just troll, drift jigs thru the drop offs Tip with worm, leech or minnow. Good luck.

Who do you all use? Any recommendations? Any tips on who I should stay away from? I was thinking of just adding my boat to the my statefarm policy, has anyone here done that? thanks, Bull.

I've fished the section of river by Wardsville before but didn't have much luck (Carp and suckers, first time I ever caught a Carp on a jig). Every time I'm down there the river is swollen with previous nights of rain and run off. I might be down there again end of May, might try it again and will let you know. I have seen on occasion small boats in the river by Wardsville that seemed to know what they were doing, but I've only fished from shore. Boat would be nice since you could cover a good stretch of river.

Is there any spring time action out of Victoria Harbour for Trout/Salmon? I know the Sturgeon has a small run of bows, but is it worth trolling out in the bay? How far out do I have to go to get Salmon/trout? How about the summer time, is there any action out past Giants Tomb? I've never really fished out in the open waters of Georgian Bay, just mostly around Honey Harbour for pike/musky, bass and the odd pickerel during lazy days of summer. thanks, Bull.

Here's where genetic engineering can help... Provided they don't mess it up... Engineer their genes so that the carp only grow to be < 2 lbs max in size. Put these engineered carps in the missisip now and have them interbreed. They will remain lower on the food chain and won't reproduce in the #'s they are at. I know GE has risks, but at this point some fisheries are already gone what's there to loose in those waters? Its not like this is anything new, eg: MNR/DNR and the Splake program. The problem is you have these fish that come in and swamp the who ecosystem and grow to such a size that no predator can take them out... limit their size and at least we have a chance....

wow. All that's stopping these things is an electric barrier in the Chicago canal that connects the Mississippi with the Great Lakes... At 2:50 in the video its apparent how bad it can get with these things...

Thanks for the link! Great info. According to that site: The "Vehicle Permits Regulation", made under the Highway Traffic Act, provides an exemption for light trailers, specifically; "where a trailer transmits to the highway a total weight of 2,800 kilograms (6,173 lb.) or less, that weight shall not be included in determining registered gross weight". I'll be well under 6173lbs.