bigbuck

I use braid (PowerPro and TuffLine) on my Muskie setups and on one of my 2 bass setups. 50 lb for bass, 80 for the Muskies. For walleye, I just use Trilene XL in 4,6,and 8lbs. Pike, 12-14lb Trilene.

I feel for ya bud!!! My in-laws live up near Kenora, when they visit, it's for weeks at a time. The first few days are ok but after that, I'm sick of sharing my oxygen, couch and remote. Good luck, I'm pulling for you, mine just left on Monday (here since Dec.1st - shared b/n us and my sister-in-laws place). I think I deserve a medal.

Welcome Andrea. Hope you enjoy the board.

How much do you want to spend??? That's usually a pretty good starting point. A nice Calcutta and a Legend Elite will set you back 800 or so. Or a decent rod and reel for under 200?? (Abu C3 and a Shimano convergence).

B/C, sorry to hear about that. From your last update, it's sounds as if one of your old suppliers might end up being interested in your services. Sometimes when you help someone out, you get the long shaft. BUT it makes you feel good at the time. I haven't met you but if you are like most of the people on this board, you are probably a good guy and things will work out for you. They always seem to for good people over time.

Good Luck and I'll second the 'no competition clauses'. Say NO!!!

Congrats!!! My two little future fishing buddies (2years and 9 1/2months old girls) are getting trained already. Daddy watches fishing shows on Saturday mornings with his two fave little'uns.

Cheers and good luck!!!

Congrats!!! My two little future fishing buddies (2years and 9 1/2months old girls) are getting trained already. Daddy watches fishing shows on Saturday mornings with his two fave little'uns.

Cheers and good luck!!!

Pop by LeBaron's, they've got a few that are a bit more than what you are looking to spend but are still in the ballpark, I think that for a$150 including taxes and batteries they should be able to hook you up.

Look around, there are deals to be had. JB's has boxes full of decent rods for pretty good prices. Your best bet would be to buy yourself 2 rods for around $100 as opposed to just one. That way, you can have 1 that's a medium action and one that's a medium/heavy or heavy action to haul out the big pike and big bass outta the weeds.

Best bet is go to LeBaron's, they have the 535 Portable unit for about $220 I think, it was $40 or so more than the regular 535. It beats buying a regular unit then spending 70-80 on the portable kit. Then you can go over to BPS and pick up the gel-cell and charger for about $26 (LeBaron's'll cost you about $60 for both). I read somewhere that you can use a dremel to modify the portable case for the gel-cell. I just bought the Eagle 320 Portable and so far after messing around with it in simulator mode, I like it. The true test will be when I'm able to get out on the water.

If cost is a factor, definitely go for a 65-6600 but a C4, a bit bigger and stronger. It'll last a long time and stand up to a lot of abuse as long as you give it some periodic TLC (all reels need it anyways). It'll run ya probably about $200 or so with some 80 lb PowerPro. Enjoy the rod, I have it in a 7ft 2piece and absolutely love it.

Welcome, you'll find that people around here are a pretty good bunch.

After trips to JB's, BassPro, LeBaron's, and several websites, I decided on an Eagle FishMark 320 Portable. It's a pretty decent unit and was much cheaper at LeBaron's for $268 and change, at BPS, it was $319.99. It takes 8 D-cell batteries or a 12 Gel-cell. I stuffed it with the D's and have played around with it. It's a nice unit that should meet my needs, whether they be a boat rental or HOPEFULLY, a fly-in trip this summer. For the money, it's great and on fish-finder-review.com, it's considered an absolute best buy in LCD fishfinders. So, I'll break it in hopefully on the Muskoka river on May 2-4 weekend fishing for Pike at my buddie's cottage. That is, if the wife and kiddies let me sneak out for a couple of days.

Nice shiny new ride. I hope you make it nice and dirty with tons of musky slime. Use it in good health.

nofrills, you work at Dickie's no frills store @ Golden Mile??

The Walmart superstore will probably hurt the local businesses for the first month or so until people have been there and go back to their normal place to shop.

Jeez, in the summer they stick it to ya in Dryden. When passing through last summer it was about 10 cents more than Toronto. In the winter, it's about the same. Go figure.

No ice fishing for this kid, too cold for my liking, besides, standing on a frozen lake is kind of an unnatural act to me.

I figure up to about $300.

Well, I'm going to try to do more fishing this year and plan on hitting Rice Lake since I'm familiar with the area and have relatives who have a couple of cottages on the lake near Bewdley.

To be a bit more serious, I figure since I'll be renting boats, I need to get myself a portable fish finder. Every well equipped fisherman needs one. So, the question is, which one?? What are the advantages/disadvantages. I have a pretty good idea of how they work but need some more expert/experienced advice.

Thanks in advance.

B

I'm green with envy. It doesn't look like we'll be making the annual pilgrammage to LOTW this summer. I've got too much on the go at work and a 20+hour drive with 2 rug rats would be a bit much.

I agree, take the GO train down there, it's worth the $6-7/person once you figure in gas/parking, etc....

Too many people at the shows are trying to take money out of your pocket. It's ridiculous to see how many booths there are at various shows that have nothing to do with the show, it's just people trying to hock their overpriced and useless goods.

If I wanted a new boat, I'd just search them on the web, once I had a short list, I'd physically hit a few dealers to see them.

That baby would 'blow up real good' like my old friend John Candy would have said if someone lit a match.

One of my colleagues lives in Barrie, I gave him a heads up call, I wonder how he made it home. (mind you, the guy knows every sideroad in Southern Ontario)

Good luck and a speedy recovery. If your doc is not sure about exactly how to go about doing the procedure, you may want to see another Orthopaedic Surgeon. Don't screw around with your hand, you need it to cast and pull in those big HAWGS!!

An hour and 10 minutes from North Oakville to Yorkdale Mall. Not too bad but it's slippery out there. I'll second the motion on tossing out a lot of salt on the roads and sidewalks/driveways. I'm gonna stop to pick some up on the way home today, the snowblower is ready to go but I'm not sure if I'll be needing it.

Well, we'd definitely like winter access. As for types of fishing, pretty much anything goes. Muskies, wallys, big fat basss-turds, panfish, I like catching'em all. We live in Oakville and I figure the max travelling time has to be inside of 3 hours (we're about that far to Haliburton village).

Thanks for the replies, BigCliff and Pigeontroller, I'll probably be taking you fellas up on your offers in the next few months.

Cheers,

B

We're kinda thinking about buying a cottage in the next 2-3 years and I'd like to make an educated decision as opposed to a knee jerk one. I like the Muskokas but the prices up there are just insane. Haliburton is gorgeous but so are the Kawarthas (having a bit of an advantage with Peterborough being within 1/2 hour or so). So here's my conumdrum, where is the fishing better?? I'm sorta familiar with the Kawartha lakes but have no clue as to what's up in the Haliburton area. I'd like a bigger lake to be able to waterski, explore, and let's face it, to fish my brains out. Being able to get onto other lakes in a chain would be a huge bonus.

So, what's everyone think????