lew

They have them if their in a township that has the $$$$ to afford them but many small outfits don't have the funds.

It's still early in the winter season and many of the lakes aren't safely frozen over yet, but all you ice fishermen are itching to get out there, and understandably so. Just take into consideration though, that if you break thru the ice and can't get out, others are going to have to endanger their own lives in order to try & rescue you. My brother was a volunteer fireman for many years and they were called out late one night early in the ice fishing season when someone heard screaming coming from far out on the lake. My brother & 3 other firemen who responded to the call for help had to walk out about 1/4 mile on very thin ice to try & help the fishermen. He said in many places the ice was cracking under their feet and water was seeping thru in spots, but they couldn't ignore the calls and had to continue on. Eventually, after following the screams they found the spot where the men had broken thru the thin ice, and crawled the last 50 feet or so till they were able to get hold of them and pull then out. One of the fishermen was dead when they got him out of the water, but the 2nd man survived although he was in very serious shape. Eventually they were able to get the 2 back into shore and the awaiting ambulance and off to the hospital. The one man was lucky and survived the ordeal, although his dear friend didn't make it. One man made it, and one died, but it could have been MUCH worse had things gone terribly wrong and the 4 rescuers went into the frigid waters too, and died also. I just thought I'd pass this story on to everyone incase you decide to take a chance with your own life on the ice before it's thick enough. Please just remember that if you go thru the ice and get in serious trouble, others will have to risk their own lives on the thin ice in order to save yours. Just something to think about.

Hey Wayne, I talked with Lowrance on Matheson just this morning and he assured me their still in full operation as always and rumors of them leaving Toronto are just that.....false rumors. Their still the repair / warranty center for Lowrance / Eagle as always, but for any accessories, they only carry a very limited supply and most things would need to be ordered from a Lowrance dealer.......again, as always. They do answer the phone now as Navico though, but then again, who can tell anymore who owns what these days ??

Absolutely Raf, and even the odd little bass that THINKS he's a musky will hit those 10" Believers cranked on top of the water. As you say, their also one of the best topwater baits around that alot of folks don't take advantage of.

I've never used the Jackpot but have a couple other similar large baits that I use alot. Walk-the-Dog baits are excellent for attracting muskies & you'll get some fish with it, but you'll also miss alot with them too as the fish is moving so much water in front of him that he'll often knock the bait outta the way before he gets hold of it. It's a fun way to fish though, and top water strikes are an excellent way to get the ole heart pumping when things are slow Funny story from this past summer.......I was casting a Doc (similar to a Jackpot) and my daughter was using a Topraider (surface prop bait) and I was explaining to her how the musky will hit topwaters alot but often miss them. I no sooner told her this when the water exploded and a nice musky flies outta the water, knocks my bait about 3 feet in the air and disappears underwater again...... I said to Sheri, "see, that's exactly what I'm talkin about" while she continued to crank her Topraider. Not 2 seconds later, the water explodes again but this time its on HER bait. She waits till she feels the weight of the fish, sets the hook hard and lands MY fish The worst part was, she then looked at me, smiled, and said "what's hard about that, Dad ??" Doncha just hate it when the kids show off

And a Merry Christmas to you too walleyedreamer & all the best in the New Year !!

Sky's nice & clear down here now Brian and the stars are shining.....finally. My shovelling's all done & I'm heading out at 9 to finish off my Christmas shopping hmmmmm, wonder if anyone remembered to shovel out the plaza ??

Thanks for the offer Dawg, but I'm fine with my coat, but would you happen to have something to keep the icicles off my moustache

Ah yes, the winter version of a jet skier ........ J/K Joey, your gonna luv that thing !!

Yup, lotsa nice fish there for sure. Thanks for posting that on such a nasty day, it kinda takes off a bit of the chill !!

I know what your saying John, my wife & I, along with a group of friends were heavy into sledding for years and travelled all over central Ontario every weekend on them. Stayed in motels Saturday nights and parked the sleds right at the front doors. I had to give it up about 10 years ago because of an injury but would sure like to be out there again in this kinda weather.

Well, I shovelled all the snow outta my driveway, trouble is, now it's all on me

Mo, this mornings 10:00 news described the 400 series hiways around Toronto as "treacherous" . Drive carefull kiddo

I believe the Toronto banana crop will survive this storm OK Glen, but we may have to do a bit of extra digging to get at them

That's the exact reason I use wire cables to attach my musky trolling rods to the boat. $5 for the cable......$500 to replace the trolling outfit

Hey Mo, have a close look at the Toronto forecast before you head down this way as I think were sposed to get another 6 - 10" of snow today on top of what we already got overnight. It's also very windy and there appears to be some heavy drifting, infact I've got about 2' in my driveway and it was just shovelled a couple hours ago. Just a heads-up for you.

I shovelled the snow about 5 this morning, but now it's coming down much harder and it looks like I never even touched it. Sure hope nobody needs to travel too far on the hiways today. Of course you all have good snow tires on your vehicles............don't you ??

Hey, what happened to your Peterboro plans ?? Sheesh, I've already got your name tag fastened to the co-pilot seat in my boat

My Mom was out Christmas shopping last week and when they put her purchases thru the check-out, she found she was short about $1.65 or something, so she was gonna put one of the items back and get it next time she was in the store, but the fella behind her threw a toonie on the counter and said, "here ya go Ma'am, it's on me". Small, but HUGE gesture on his part, and it made Moms day !! Great idea for a post Ken, and Peace to you too

Yup, and I've also got all the gear you'll need too, just lemme know when WTG Bud !!

Thanks for that Sean, it was a fantastic read, including some excellent pictures too !! Boy, for a feller that just got back into fishing this year, you certainly accomplished everything you set out to do with some very impressive fish........ Congratulations to ya for a job well done !!

Thanks everyone Roger & Pete, you boys have added a few extra bonus points with Diane for the next time your up at the lake next summer Forgot to mention that we were also checked very closely by a helicopter too Roger, not long after the boat check. We saw the chopper flying up along the Grand Island shoreline , then when he spotted us he made a 90 degree turn and came right over to us where he slowed down and basically hovered, not too high, right above us, while he had a good look at us, then contined back on his original course. I've seen them before, but that's the 1st time they've come over for a close look. We were well inside the Canadian side too, but he was just curious I spose......no problems with that at all either.

Thanks Rich, always enjoy the fireside yaks, and let's plan on hitting the water together for a few hours next June.

We always finish off the musky season with a final trip to the Upper Niagara River in December, mainly because it's about the only water around that isn't frozen over solid yet. Yesterday it was myself, squid, rizzo and keepinitreel who headed out. We met at the ramp at sunrise and got the boats in the water. Very little snow down there and the ramps were in good shape 'cept for a bit of ice on them, but everything worked out fine. I had a shovel & salt, plus there was a pile of gravel beside the ramp. We never got a musky for our efforts but that wasn't disappointing cause that seems to be the norm on that river lately and we almost expect a skunk down there anymore, but it was still an excellent day with beautiful weather, infact I never even wore a coat the entire day. We fished till sunset, then loaded the boats and headed for home after Pete & I stopped at the restaurant for dinner. I'd rather spend a day on the water getting skunked than doing alot of other things. We got stopped on the river about 4:00 by the Niagara Parks Police who just wanted to check all the usual stuff....fishing licences, and safety gear.....but that's the 1st time I've ever even seen them on the water. A couple real nice officers (one male, one female) who were very friendly and efficient, and it's good to see them out there looking after us Now it's time to clean everything up and put it away till next June. I had a decent season with about 85 muskies boated myself this year, plus what ever my friends got. Not my best season, or my worst either, but after losing my brother in May I found it hard to get back into the swing of things this year. We had some good trips this year in spite of things though. Seven days at Lakair in June with the gang is always great and this year was no different. Then in July, myself & Smokey spent a couple days fishing the Ottawa River and got a few muskies. August was another week at Lakair with about 12 of us and was as good as always. In November a group of us always head to St. Clair for a couple days of musky fishing and as usual we all had a great trip. I've got some good friends on this board and spent alot of time fishing with them this year. Our annual spring pickeral trip to Quinte was obviously cancelled this year but were gonna get it going again next season and the 1st pan of pickeral fillets cooked on the Coleman will be dedicated to Eddyk I added a GPS to my boat this season and next year I'm upgrading the sonars too. Anyways, that's my 2007 season over and it was a good one, and I'm already making plans for next year, see y'all at Lakair in June EDIT++++++ I don't take many fish pics anymore but here's a few memorable fish that I did photograph Ottawa River in July Here's a pair I got on figure 8's one morning These 2 came right @ sunrise only a couple minutes apart 1st fish on a Bulldawg that Crazyhook gave me and insisted caught fish And my favorite picture of the entire year and no fish were involved