Roy

OK OK cut to the chase....where are the pics? And you arrive a half hour late, drop your keys in the water then expect all the others to wait while you retrieve your keys? You gotta know that many lesser dudes would have left you there Vin.

Yes, a happy and peaceful July 4th to all of my American buds. Have a great day with your families. Enjoy. I'm happy to be able to call most of you my friend.

I have the 24v, 70lb "piece of junk" and it works flawlessly.

Thanks for that Mike. These are the kinds of reports to be saved and re-read all winter long..... What a classic. I'm sorry Mike, that sonar would have stayed down there.

51 pounds eh?

Good stuff guys! Glad you had a good time.

There's also another option John. The last 4-5 rods that I've purchased have been made by Spiel. I know, I know, sounds like spam but since you're asking.... Spiel seems to know what you want from listening to your needs/wants, species that you're after, style of fishing etc... right down to rod weight, balance, type of reel to be used with it, strength, action right down to handle shape. I'm very happy with mine, at reasonable prices and quite certain that I couldn't get the quality that I'm getting from a retailer's rod rack. Just sayin'.

That's an excellent point, Dan. I my case, I don't really fish big waters and if ever I encountered problems, I'm always close enough that I could power back with the electric and the club is never more than a couple of miles away. I can certainly see that on a Great Lake a kicker would be very useful if not essential. Very good point.

I agree. Took me a while to go to 4 stroke but finally pulled the trigger 2 years ago. I have a Princecraft pro series 167BT. The boat is actually 16'9" and the max. HP rating on the plate is 60HP. That's what I bought, a Merc 60HP 4stroke tiller. Get the maximum HP for the model boat you have. My concern at the time with maxxing out the HP is that I didn't think I'd be able to troll down slow enough for walleye. I was wrong. I've taken it down to 1mph and can consistently stay at 1.3mph. After one season of trolling for walleye mostly, the plugs were absolutely clean. I don't fish Lake Ontario but I assume trolling would mean staying in the 2-3mph range? You'll have no trouble with that at all. I can't speak for other brands but I have absolutely no problem with the Merc. Not to mention all of the advantages that Lew gave as well. Good luck.

WTG!!!!! Don't tell chessy though.

Chessy, I didn't make it clear enough. Look up...see my post of 8:11pm? That's my last word.

I won't remove your post. You're doing quite well. My concern is that you're peeing on people for fishing in all legality. I'll repeat...if you don't like the present catch/possession limits, have them changed. Until such time as you do, leave the members of the community alone and let them post their reports.

Gee thanks smallie....just wait till the next time you need to know about torque.

You beat me to it Lowerunit.

Mercury manual says finger tight then go to 20 ft lbs.

Hey chessy, have you ever posted a fishing report? Just curious.

With GPS being on virtually every boat, speedometers are useless. As far as I'm concerned, a speedometer gauge on a dash serves to fill an esthetic gap next to the RPM gauge. Sounds pretty crude but that's my opinion.

That's fantastic Bill! Looking forward to seeing more pics. I'd say you owe your bud big time. At least three Hail Mary's and maybe even an act of contrition. What a great day you had!

WTG Joey and Paul! Weather looks pretty calm too. Clean looking fish...who gets to eat the lamprey?

Great job with your daughter and happy birthday to you Jacques!

Well thank you muchly, Joe! And for that, here's a little something from one of your Cajun compatriots and probably the best bottlenecker in the world outta SW Louisiana. Sonny Landreth playing with Mark Knopfler. <object width="480" height="385"><param name="movie" value=" name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src=" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object>

Many of us gripe at the little things but we really are blessed. Happy 143rd Birthday, Canada!

WOOOOOOOHOOOOOOOOO! You're gunna be a happenin' dude down by the river now, Sam. The Stradic happens to be my favourite spinning reel. Don't know about the rod but if it came from Spiel, it's a good one. And John is right don't trust hairy OFNers....Old bald guys are not much better though....Old hairy dwarfs are ok though...I'll give you $50 for it. I'm happy for you Sam.

Lew, it might just be good karma coming back at you from Shimano. If they only knew how many people you've converted to their products. Not that you've ever pushed their wares...you simply mention them in a positive way if you were satisfied with them.. I have 5 Compre rods and I remember that the very first one I bought was on your recommendation. A few other items you have recommended I have purchased and I have always been happy with the results. You only reap what you sow. This little blurb should get you your $5. back. Thanks Bud.

I spoke to Marc Thorpe this morning when he proceeded to tell me about the pinnacle of his fishing years. He'd just gotten off the water from filming, this morning and yesterday, with none other than Big Jim McLaughlin. Everyone knows that Big Jim is a mainstay in Canadian fishing and has been for many years. So when Marc got the chance to fish with his hero, he was just overwhelmed. I understand that, especially because for all the years that I've known Marc he's always told me just what kind of a selfless man Big Jim is. The show they filmed was an episode of OFAH's The Angler & Hunter with host and executive producer Cam Brownson. I don't have all the nitty gritty on the episode itself aside that they fished for 8 hours and were able to land 5 muskies. The episode will air sometime in November and I'm really, really looking forward to seeing that one especially. Thorpe is no slouch when it comes to fishing so when he tells me how elated he is over this I can only understand why so many people like Big Jim. I have asked for permission to post a couple of pictures from yesterday. Thanks for reading folks and watch the show, I know I will. Big Jim with Cam Brownson Be well....