JoshS

LOL. You guys will have some good laughs looking back at that one. Reminds me of the time I fought a garbage bag on a windy day. What a great fight.

If you used to get good readings at 40mph that seems like an anomaly to me. That's possible? I've never seen it. I thought getting a reading at 25mph was pretty good.... No interference on the screen over 10mph would seem pretty good to me. But I'm not a fishfinder guru. I get a lot of interference on mine when travelling at any speeds and loose it around 20-25.

If I need to I'll look at a few of them and take an average. But for a quick fix I like windfinders phone app. Never knew about the windfinder "superforecast" however as spincast mentions above.

I'll be out there tomorrow fishing pike opener on lake O, getting wet.. but hopefully catching fish There's conflicting rain forecasts on the few weather sites I visit, hoping we get some breaks. Don't think the pike are gonna mind too much. Boats already docked at the spot to avoid the nasty open water 6km run from launch to the area and I can't let down the fishing buddy who's dying to go. I don't really mind fishing in the nasty stuff as long as it's above 0.. and when you get off the water and sit down to some warm food and cold drink, it's an incredible feeling!

Gonna fish for some pike to warm up for musky season. I look forward to this holy weekend all year. Maybe sneak some walleye or lakers in. Can't wait!

Probably works. Why don't you just call Humminbird and ask? However considering you have a new transducer, it's not very difficult to install, I'd just use it. Then the old unit is complete with transducer that you can sell or reuse elsewhere.

Thanks for your efforts in fighting for our angler rights. The town needs a reality check on these issues. Thanks Ron!!!

Glidin raps have a time and place. my fav colour is bluegill. That jointed clackin rap looks like it would be good too fished slow with shakes of the rod to twitch it back erratically. Guess I'm gonna buy one now ! There's a lot of jointed hard swimbaits out there.

Last season I lost my cabela's jacket.. flew out of the boat somewhere on the french. Then end of season I lost a bag with my bibs and backup jacket lol. I had the cabela's tourney trail suit.. I liked it. It kept me 95% dry for 4 seasons of good use. However if standing in hard downpour for most of a day, there'd be a bit a moisture in side the jacket. Pretty good overall though. This was the old model, the new model doesn't fit as nice on me so I passed. It was on sale last time I was at cabela's FYI around a month ago. I just got a suit at coscto made by wetskins that will get me by for now. Nylon waterproof treatment so I'm not expecting top performance but fits nice and not expensive.. undoubtedly it won't last, but will be nice to have in the boat for warm months and backup until I get something heavier for fall. Can't go wrong with cabela's or bps jackets at the higher end level. Both get good reviews.

Sweet. I was itching to go Sunday but my boats still in storage. did you catch a water temp?

Awesome! Thanks for sharing that trip and the details.

That's a great story Lew!

Cool report, thanks for putting it up. I did some fishing around Santa Maria and then Cayo Coco few years ago. I'm looking forward to going back one day to explore more.

I've got an '06 highlander and it's been a great vehicle. It tows my 16ft aluminium probably around 1700#'s loaded without issue. I got it used 4 years ago and put a lot of km's on it and only reg maintenance has been required aside from a wheel bearing. Decent fuel millage and kind of drives like a car which is nice as I do a lot of GTA and city driving for work without tow. Drifter - how come you change the rear diff fluid so often? Also do you flush the tranny system completely when changing the fluid? Hoping to learn a few things here

Just reread my post and judging by my enthusiasm I need to go fishing lol. I rig the flipping jig generally just with a swimbait. I don't have a pic unfortunately but look up the ERC jib a beast lure, same concept. I don't use it often but it can be good bait when you need a bit faster presentation or something different. I throw more standard jigs with big grubs or tubes with really light heads so you can swim and hop them slowly. Just found this pic of a few lures I had on deck. You'll see 3 x F-18 floating rapala's in this pic, this old school bait has been getting a lot of water time last few years. I fish it like a jerkbait, it gets down to around 5-6ft and has a bit bigger profile at 7" then other jerkbaits. I've been waiting for that 8" huskyjerk or rogue forever and doesn't look like they are making it lol. The grubs in the pic are 8" on a 1/4oz head. Sometimes on pressured fish the black grub can't be beat. Can't wait to launch the boat and go looking for some 40"ers! Fingers crossed for a late spring.

I kinda do what Craig and msp say above. If it's early spring and fish are shallow -jerkbaits and lighter jig's are best. If they are a bit deeper - jerkbaits or swimbaits or jigs. When they are transitioning to summer - big swimbaits are my favourite. Regarding jigs, I like primarily 6-8" jig n grubs, larger tubes, or flipping jigs with plastic such as a swimbait. Regarding swimbaits, I've been rigging them on jigs as light as 1/4oz but I find 3/8 to 3/4 is what I use most spring depending on the swimbait and depth you're targeting or how fast the fish want it. Larger swimbaits are heavier and have the rig built in. I love spring pike, it's generally the christening of the boating soft water season for me. I like them on all patterns - early, mid and late spring - each are fun in their own way. Early you can sight fish and play on the fishes reactions more. Mid spring can be crazy numbers targeting ravenous post spawn weed edge fish. Late spring is fun tossing big swimbaits in deeper transition areas covering water for a big cruisers outside spawning areas. I don't throw a lot of spoons or spinners, they do work, but I have more success on other baits on the southern ON waters I fish. The best all round bait IMO is a jerkbait such as the husky jerk. Jerkbaits usually take the most fish every spring and every size fish will eat one from 25" to 40+.

I'm very sorry to hear that. I never met Joey in person but being on this site for long enough I've enjoyed many of her posts and great photography. She seemed like a great person and always brought positivity and charm to this forum. Sorry for your loss.

There has to be the odd cougar around. I've heard stories but nothing confirmed. I spent a lot of summers around the boskung's and my neighbour up there said he's only seen a lynx once, in the late 80s. It would be cool to see what produced the scat you picked up. I remember those chicken deli cougars. Fierce animals.

I've been mulling over getting one for years but always hear bad things. I'm dying to see how fish react to my baits. Has anyone had success with any that allow you to get down to the depths?

Sorry just remembered I don't think the current tranx comes in lefty. So think you're best shimano option is only the calcutta if this is intended for an all around reel for every bait.

The D is a better reel and feels nicer in the hand because of it's smaller size. Not sure it's worth the $500 whatever price tag though. I have one and have sent it in for new gears and other things a few times, but I'm pretty hard on it I guess and use it a lot. If you're getting a deal go for it.

A bonus with balsam over sturgeon is you can ice fish pike. If you look at sturgeon on the map, the lake looks like a big opening in the river, flowing down from fenelon into pigeon. I don't ice fish those lakes but can see how it can have more current than the others. Make sure to get a spud bar if you are going exploring on early ice. Don't go wandering around new areas without checking ice every few feet.

Depends how much musky fishing you plan on doing.. If you're going few times a year and don't plan on throwing large bucktails, then you can get by with a curado. But the curado 300 is definitely not a good reel for big bucktails. I have one and have grown to use it only for small bucktails and topwaters. One bonus is it doubles as a good pike reel for bigger baits.. If you're dead set on shimano and are looking for an all round versatile reel to handle every bait, go with calcutta or tranx. For $500 combo, I'd be getting an all around rod like a premier 8' H and a used calcutta d or something equal in versatility. A new calcutta B can be found within your budget as well. There are other options that should be considered aside from shimano. I've had good experiences with warranty from abu as well. Tons of reviews on all reels online. There are rumours of a new smaller tranx coming out soon, makes sense to confirm that and wait. Might drop the price on the old tranx or put some more used ones out there.

If I had to pick one for non-esox, I'll take a jig n grub. If I had to pick one for esox, I'll take a big black spinnerbait.

Nice one's MB! The little one is adorable.