lew

Sorry boys, she was 48 inches, I thought I included that. A nice fish but certainly not a monster by Nippisssing standards though.

Hi guys, I got home from Lakair this morning after another fabulous week up there and can't wait to get back up there again in August. As has already been said in several posts, the 2008 trip was excellent as it every year. We had some scattered showers Wednesday & Thursday, then myself & Aplumma got caught in a huge downpour on Friday but other than that everything was beautiful. I was using a new tent & dining shelter this year and everything worked out perfectly and never leaked a drop even in the heaviest of the rains. Musky season opened on Saturday for Lake Nippissing and I was on the water & heading for a favorite spot as the sun was breaking over the horizon and when it looks this pretty, you just know the rest of the day has to go well too. There was a nice chop on the water and I wanted to start casting to a rocky point up in Muskrat Bay before it got too bright out. I was twitching a new Firetiger Shallow Raider and after a few minutes it got smacked real hard by a musky I but only had her on for a few seconds before she spit the hook. With the cool water this season the cabbage isn't as high or as dense as usual in many areas, but I headed to another favorite spot about 1/4 away mile to have a look and found some nice thick patches in some areas with plenty of open water between them which is something I actually prefer to cast to, rather than trying to cover a huge indistinguishable flat of weed. I got downwind & clipped on a large black/orange Grim Reaper spinner bait and started working it thru the cabbage patches. The wind was working in my favour and with the help of the tracking lines on my GPS I was able to make several long drifts towards shore and move about 50' apart for each consecutive drift and cover all the patches. On the 4th drift and about 150' west of my starting point, I tossed the bait out and almost as it touched the water about 50' away, this big girl nailed it from just under the surface put up an excellent fight before I got her in the net. A quick picture and measurment and she took off strong and headed for home. It was interesting too as I got her only about 100 yards from where I landed another big fish in the fall of 05 and both fish came from 8 fow in the cabbage patches. I'm already lookin forward to heading back up there in August to see if this girls Momma is hanging around the same area. Thanks to all the OFNers who helped make this another fabulous week @ Lakair

Thanks for the great tale Mike & congrats to the pair of you on your anniversary. Whenever I see a long post from either you or Moosebunk I always leave them to read in the early morning hours with my coffee, they always make an excellent start to my day.

Thanks again for all the suggestions boyz, but I did a bit of searching on the net and found a guy not too far from home who deals in nothing but batteries, plus he came highly recommended by another OFNer who has dealt with him quite a bit. I picked up a pair of group 27 deep cycles with 225 reserve for less money than most others wanted for batteries with far less reserve. I'll install them tomorrow, then give them a good workout over the next week

Thats a great story TG and congratulations on 50 wonderful years and a good lookin family to go along with it. Diane and I will join you in the 1/2 century club in another 8 years.

Thanks for the responses guys, I've decided to go with the dedicated deep cycles rather than combos as that's what's always worked best for me in the past. I've been on the phone with various Walmarts in Toronto for an hour before I found somebody who could actually talk English, and then he had no clue what I meant by deep cycle batteries even though he works in the automotive section......what a terrible city Toronto is becoming..... Tree30eight, I'm getting the Group 27 deep cycles in Bridgenorth tomorrow for $120 each and to me I think that's a decent price compared to a few other places I've called. LeBarons is $125 but sold out Gagnons is $110 but sold out Paris Marine north of Peterboro is $147 Never called BPS so don't know their price. Very often the lttle guy is who we should start with 1st

My 2 deep cycle batteries for my trolling motor have given me flawless service for 9 seasons now but I think it's finally time to put them out to pasture and replace them. I use group 27's as that's the biggest I can get in the battery compartment but all I can find in that size is the deep cycle/ starting combo and I have only ever used the straight deep cycle and am wondering if the combo will work as well. Anyone ever use the combos for running troll motors and how are they ?? I'll be very pleased if I can get another 9 years outta them

Don't be too concerned about not getting one yet Bly, the 1st one is always the toughest but they get easier after that

Thanks fellas, my daughter got bitten by the musky bug about 3 years ago and has now become one of my regular partners in the boat and it's always a blast when she gets one, infact I'd rather she gets the fish than me.

I'm heading back up to the trailer at noon tomorrow to get the boat, spend the night, then will be heading out around 4:00 AM on Wednesday morning and arriving about 9 or so. I normally head up on the Monday (today) but musky opener is a week late this year so no sense sitting and twiddling my thumbs for 5 days, but I'm gonna stay over into next week for a few days Lookin forward to seeing everybody again.

Very very sorry to hear that news Barnie, it's tough to lose a good pal like that.

Like everyone else I spose, we got blasted with that huge electrical storm on Friday night so I figured it would shut the fish down for Saturday morning and sure enough, I never even saw a fish, at least not a musky. I didn't bother heading out early and never got on the water till around 7 yesterday morning and fished for about 4 hours, but never even had a follow, although I got a nice largemouth in a back bay but that was it and I headed back in for some lunch. I hung around the trailer for a few hours and worked on the honey-do list, then my daughter and I headed back out around 3 o'clock and by then the muskies had turned on and become really aggressive compared to the morning. I got the 1st musky in a weedflat casting a black / chartreuse bucktail, then switched over to a large yellow / red spinner bait and had another hit awhile later but never hooked up. I moved up the lake aways and had a follow from an aggressive fish but couldn't get her to hit on a figure 8 and she took off back to where she came from, so I threw the spinnerbait back at her and sure enough she followed it in again and this time she hammered it right beside the boat.....that's always a blast when they do that I hung around there for awhile but nothing was happening so I moved again and this time had a musky do what I don't recall ever seeing before. I was cranking in the same spinnerbait and about 30 feet out from the boat she blasted outta the water like a cruise missile, went about 3' in the air completely missing the bait, did a cartwheel in the air and when she hit the water, she turned and chased the bait again, and just like the last fish, she nailed it just as I was going into a figure 8 Sheri & I were both laffing so hard I could hardly grab the fish to un-clip her hahaha I had to get my boat ready for the upcoming Lakair trip so I only went out for 2 hours early this morning. I was casting another favorite weed flat and got a largemouth around 3 pounds or so and then just before I was gonna head in I got another nice musky while twitching a Double D in 10 FOW over a cabbage patch so that was a good way to end the morning before heading back in for a great Fathers Day breakfast on the deck. So the weekends fishing turned out pretty good with 4 nice muskies in the boat plus a few missed ones, a couple good largemouths, and best of all, spending time fishing with my daughter, which is always great, specially on Fathers Day !! Hope you all enjoyed your weekend as much as I did

I never shop at Wal-Mart but have heard they sometimes have good deals on batteries so I took a run up to the local store this morning. I picked up a group 24 Energizer Marine starting battery with 1000 Amp cranking power. It was regular $88 on sale for $69 so hopefully it'll do the job I need and if it works 1/2 as good as the original I'll be happy. 24 is the size of my current battery so it should be good. I stopped into CTC first and told the guy in the battery department what I needed and he argued with me for 5 minutes that I need a deep cycle because it's for a boat and doesn't matter if it's for cranking a motor or not, so I walked away from him and drove over to the Parts Source, and told HIM what I needed and he knew less about batteries than CTC dood, even though he also works in the battery department. How do you get a job in retail these days when you don't even know what the heck your talkin about ?? Anyways, I'm off to the lake in a few minutes in search of Mr. Musky so I'll see y'all on Sunday and thanks again for your responses

Thanks boyz, that's what I figured, so I'm off to purchase a new battery. While I was under way, it'd register around 13.75 but drop below 10 on start-up. I sure can't complain though with getting 9 years from a battery, it pays to look after your gear from day one Still going strong with the 2 origianl deep-cycles too, but their days may be getting numbered also.

Last weekend while I was fishing, my GPS & sonar units shut down a couple times when I started my motor and I had to turn them back on again, and I'm assuming it happened because my battery is getting weak ?? The cranking battery is 9 years old and I'm replacing it before I head to Lakair next week anyway, but I just want to be sure I don't have another problem somewhere. Last month when I arrived at Quinte my battery was totally dead and I found I'd left a light switch on for a week but it re-started with no problem with a boost from my deep-cycle and seemed to charge fine after a few hours of trolling. I've heard before that a weak battery can cause electronics to shut down as there just isn't enough juice to crank the motor over, plus keep the toys running. If it matters, it's a 90 HP Merc 4 stroke, and I use a Lowrance Global map 7200, Lowrance X510c and on the bow is a Humminbird Wide-Optic Never had any problems until last weekend....any thoughts ??

I bought a new Starcraft tiller in '86 and another new one in '90 and they were both excellent boats and it's a make I would highly recommend to anyone.

Cliff, Pete told me just a couple weeks ago that he was gonna pick them up from you. I'll be talkin to him this morning and will let him know about this post incase he doesn't see it.

Mornin TJ, welcome to the best part of the day

Have a great trip Will & best of luck up there.

Cliff, it sounds like you've got the transmission concerns taken care of, but now make sure your boat trailer is up to the job too. If the bearings haven't been looked at, get'er done before you make the trek north, and also be sure your trailer tires are set at the proper pressure and that they're in good shape with no cracks or splits in the sidewalls. Don't leave your driveway without a spare tire for the trailer. You also need to double check that the lug wrench for your car wheels will also fit the lugs on your trailer wheels cause very often they're different sizes. I always carry a couple areosol cans of tire sealant and a compressor in the truck too, just incase. A flat tire on the side of a dark hiway without the proper gear is a bad situation to be in A few spare bulbs for your trailer lights is always a good idea too. Just a few extra things for ya to think about.

I've been retired for close to 8 years now but I was a fireman here in Toronto for over 32 years and it's a well known fact that firehall food is excellent, and if your that good of a cook, there may just be a place for you on the Fire Dept. You'll never get rich being a fireman, but you'll have a job that you'll enjoy going to every day of your career and there's not many jobs that can offer that. It's tough to get in, but well worth it if you can make the cut.

redfin, by hand control I assumed you meant a bowmount that was controlled by a handle rather than a foot control like in the picture below, or were you referring to an electronic remote control that's held in your hand ??

I remember watching Izumi one time and he was talkin about the same thing and brought up the same point as you, where he said the hand control gave him more stability in the boat when fishing rough water with both feet planted firmly on the floor of the boat. I spose it has it's advantages although I've always preferred the foot control myself It's a good question though and should bring up some interesting replies.

You also need to understand that many of us on this board don't find it necessary to weigh, measure, photograph and post pictures of every fish we catch, but will still often post a written report of our catches.

Your welcome steve_paul, just be sure to tie them to your boat with a long lanyard or something, they're too darned expensive to drop in the drink I use a long expandable telephone cord that works well, it was a tip I recieved from TEP