Old Ironmaker

Dan Columby is the best Muskie guide in Canada, bar none. If anyone that does not target Musky (like I) or does must get out with Danny at least once. I had 1 Musky under my belt in 35 years of fishing and got 2 that day with him. He apologized because only 2 in about 5 hours is a slow day for him. After 5 hours he wanted to trailer his boat to another area of Nip but I was beat after tossing bricks all morning. I don't know how you Musky guys and gals do that all day. Sorry about the hi-jack Joey.

I didn't know birds could write.

That's supposed to be good not bad luck. Tie directly from line to bait, jig or hook. The least amount of terminal tackle the best. Trolling use the best quality and smallest snap swivel to your bait.

Would you please STOP posting pics Joey. Now I am about 15 paintings on my to paint list. Some of our best trips ever we caught diddly. Maybe it's on my end but it took forever for the pics to come up. ????? Great idea to have each crew to make a meal, until we realized we were having Pasta for 5 nights!!!

Your couple of hours this morning was more productive than some guys entire season on Lake O, me included. Good going my man. But you have that rookie spoiled, he's going to expect that every outing unless you explained it only happens sometimes once in a lifetime for big Kings like you had.

Does watching Rush at Duffy's Rockpile in Hamilton count? 1972, 1 dollar cover charge. Or Sly and the Family Stone, 1970 or 71 at Ancaster Double Rinks.

Pink Floyd Ivor Wynne Stadium Hamilton (73?).

Good attitude FT, these Great Lakes will kill you faster than a bullet. Guys will call me and ask how the lake looks? Call me every 15 minutes and I'll tell you. I love when someone asks me "is my boat big enough for Erie?" all the wrecks on the bottom were very big boats. Nice day you had there FT, congrats.

What can one say Bunk. All my prose has been used on your previous work. This one is a keeper. I haven't read it all yet and look forward to finishing it. Give a heads up on the date the show will air. Now don't tell me a bush kid like you has to be told by an old city slicker like me that you can make a toothbrush out of a twig. I have awaken many times and found myself without a toothbrush over the years.

Those 2 boats are entirely different. For running and gunning the Bass boat, for a general "Fish and Ski" family run about the Princecraft. You may already know that for any given boat just a foot longer equates to a much roomier boat. For me my boat serves it's purpose. I can take 3 others out with me for a nice boat ride. I move the seats around and I can have one on the bow casting and one on the casting platform at the stern, if still fishing for perch I can have the 3 of us comfortably. Take 2 seats out and we run 4 rods longline trolling with myself and another maximum. If it's versatility you want a 17 to 20 foot aluminum is your boat. You need to decide what "purpose" you want before buying. Ask around here and get yourself invited for a day and see what you like best or go to every showroom you can and get in the boats with the number of folks you see yourself out with for a day. A pal bought a 20 foot Ranger Bass boat and was surprised how little space there is once 2 persons and he are aboard.

I have a 115 horse Mariner going on 23 years old. It is the least of my maintenance concerns, never had a problem since I have owned it going on 9 years. Good fuel, regular maintenance turn key and go. The guy that had it before me actually kept every receipt from oil to plugs since new. The Stator was the only major thing during the time he owned it. I don't get wanting a new engine every few years so one can sleep at night. Heck my wife's 07 Nissan Altima just hit 300,000 KMS, never an issue since new and is in showroom condition. I sleep well at night.

If a member here was selling used or a member recommends something I would take that into consideration vs. buying from someone I don't know from Adam on Kijiji for example. I probably have a few years on you guys and as I always say experience is a lifetime of mistakes, wisdom is not making them again. I have gotten great deals privately and have been taken by a few as well. I wouldn't expect a 1 year warranty all you need is 30 days, money back guarantee. If someone doesn't believe it will last at least 30 days I pass on the deal. I spent $14000.00 on a used Lund that was being sold "As is" and I asked for a 30 day warranty for leaks. The Readers Digest version is that boat was cracked from stem to stern and I brought the boat back and got all my money returned. That also taught me to splash a boat before money changed hands.

The same goes for any big lake, surface temps in the 70's and 10 or 15 feet below it has to be in the 50's. Anyone that ever snorkelled or dived with SCUBA will tell you the same. Then sometimes in cold water a column of warm water will hit you like a Chinook. I'm not sure if Walleye go dormant after the spawn. The only reason I found that Smallie laying there basically unconscious was I saw it from the deck and it didn't move for an hour so I walked down and picked it up. It was still laying there an hour latter. A few hours latter it was gone. This was a big female too, 5 plus pounds and almost Jhet black.

In my experience there find a nice cove with pencil reed and you may find largemouth, find a shoal of which there are plenty and you will be onto some nice Smallies. We really never targeted Bass when we had the cottage there, it was all Walleye and Perch fishing and Bass were considered a nuisance fish.

Yep there is a lot of stuff sticking out of the water on a pontoon boat. It will act like a sail in the wind, you know that already. There are 36 and 48V motors avail as well as electric thrust motors that are married to the gas engine. No they aren't cheap though. Personally I would stay away from buying used for many reasons unless the seller is willing to give a written guarantee.

I agree with everything Tom has said above. Those pontoon boats look a lot heavier than a typical small boat of the same length. Find out the weight of that boat before going out and spending money on a electric that won't move it well. And like Tom said mount the transducer to the motor of the electric.

I have seen Smallmouth Bass just sitting on the bottom hardly moving. Once I actually was able to pick one up with my hands, yep illegal please forgive me. It was recovering from spawning was my guess. The fish you saw may have been recovering from being caught and released. I have seen that happen while snorkeling after witnessing the catch and fight underwater, that experience is special. In my unscientific opinion a fish sitting dormant like that will not take any bait. They are not feeding.

Congrats f7. This may be the first place you can't wait to get home to, chores or not. Cut some lawn, make a cast, repeat.

Had a few interesting evenings in Fort Coulonge. The camp was on that lake. Bellows Bay was a fish factory then.

You sure had those Bass Turds dialed in Brian. When you said you made a b line to the spot I was wondering how fast you have to kick those flippers to make a nice wake behind the toon. That's no tune you fished from.

Don Hyde Marine in Hagersville On. had a brand new 2015 ETEC 150 HP on for $9500.00. Not sure if it came with controls. By the way we had a camp down river from you years back in Westmeath. 2 of the guys moved there from Hamilton when they retired from the Steel Company. Gods country for sure. I miss it.

Thanks a million wkrp, their rep from Chicago didn't know that. I'll PM him. Thanks again. A clean cover doesn't mean it will stop water from getting in the boat. Get 303 Fabric Guard.

Tracker boats are an entry level boat and are sold under powered. Once upgraded to the power they should be the prices are in line with a better boat. As they say God is in the details. I have looked at Trackers sitting outside of Bass Pro in St. Kitts On. and the detail and quality of "some" of those boats are deplorable. On one every hold was full of water from rain, welds that looked like a poor apprentice made the passes, and this is a showroom boat. I don't want to offend a Tracker owner but they are the Lada's of pleasure crafts.

I asked the same question on a US boating forum iboats.com. A rep from Gold Eagle Co. actually sent me absolutely free 3 750ML bottles of their 303 cleaner and a Gallon of 303 Fabric Guard. My cover (Sunbrella) was beyond dirty when I started cleaning it. So I took a power washer to it at the Car wash. The 303 cleaner is about the same as Spray 9. It was the power washer that got it clean. I let the cover dry for 16 hours and sprayed the 303 Fabric Guard on it. It beads off water better than new. Here's the kicker, the 303 Fabric Guard is only available in the US but Costco sells the 303 cleaner. I highly recommend the 303 Fabric Guard to water proof after cleaning. It's available at Maynards and online from iboats.com. The next time I go to Buffalo I am getting another gallon of their Fabric Guard. Last week the same company sent me 2 bottles of their vinyl cleaner in the mail. Gold Eagle Co. impressed me.

You hammered them man!! We went out for smallies on Erie this morning and boated 30 nice fish. It was steady for the 4 hours out. What a blast.