lew

Nice on Jen, hope you do as well with the pickeral this weekend.

It looks like a good boat, but do yourself a favor now before you order it, and step up to the 1775 with the larger corresponing motor......probably a 115 ?? It'll be a few $$$$ more initially, but a year from now you'll be thanking yourself you made the jump. There's a HUGE difference between a 16 and a 17, without too much difference in $$$$

mudbutt, those are a couple decent baits you bought, specially the Believer, but they're generally used as a slower presentaion, and you often need faster baits to trigger a strike, even in the cooler spring waters. That larger Believer makes an excellent trolling bait, specially on the deeper setting, and is also great for casting, but can be tiring after awhile because of the drag. I'd suggest you may also want to get a couple bucktails and larger spinnerbaits (1 ½ - 2 oz.......not bass size) in various colors. Jerkbaits are excellent too, and can be used either fast or slow with pauses in between to entice a strike. 10" weighted Suicks are my personal choice, but similar baits will work as well. As suggested by Marc, a few crankbaits are also a good investment and they too can be worked at varying speeds or even twitched or jerked at different depths. Musky baits are very expensive, so you don't want to buy a bunch of stuff you don't need, but if you can get enuff to cover shallow, deep and somewhere in-between at varying speeds, with a few different colors of each, your off to a good start and can then build up your tackle box as you figure out what's working...........or what's not. Nothing worse than $500 worth of baits that don't catch fish. Best of luck and let us know how your makin out !!

I just purchased my 1st ever GPS unit this week and went with Lowrance because of the fact most of my fishing partners use them and have nothing but good things to say about the product. As for Depth Finders, I've always used Humminbird and have 2 on my boat now, but I'm gonna be upgrading and will be going with Lowrance again for the same reason. For bowmount trolling motors, my choice is cable steer. I've used them for years on different boats and have never had a single problem with any of them. I went with a Minn-Kota PD when I bought my current boat but didn't like it and got rid of it after the 1st season and went back to cable steer.

Hey Tom, really great to hear you've finally decided to join us for the OFC event of the year. Guaranteed your gonna luv it & we'll see you in a few weeks !!

Sorry guys, but why on earth are you people spending big $$$$ to go to a place that's so admittedly unsafe, you can't even venture away from the resort ?? jeeez, gimme a tent, a Coleman stove and the north woods anyday.

Smaller baits can indeed work well for muskies early in the season. Opening day a few years ago I headed for the Tri-Lakes where I was gonna start in some shallow water filled with new weed growth and plenty of stumps so I clipped on a small #5 Mepps to make it easier to work around the structure, and got a fish on the 3rd cast of the season. I decided to stay with the small bait and ended up getting 9 muskies in the next 2 ½ hours.......not a bad way to open the year. I normally prefer bigger baits, but never rule out the smaller ones for certain applications.

My thought's exactly TJ......hope yer right

Cabelas customer service could probably help you out with that 1-800-237-4444

I recentely purchased the 14XG....XL9 myself from West Marine in Toronto for $ 240. Most of my fishing is also in the Tri-Lakes area, but I also fish Quinte and the Ottawa River area and hope to hit the St. Lawrence this year too. I talked to several different dealers at the various spring shows, plus I phoned Navionics and they all recommended the same card. Unfortunately, it doesn't cover Nippissing.

Good to see you finally back out fishin Chris and your efforts paying off, looks like a nice little spot. See you up north next month.

Definetely sounds like Alzheimers and it's a horrible thing to see happen to someone, especially a loved one....... I know it all too well. You did a good thing Rick.

I phoned Cabelas last Thursday night and ordered a GPS unit, and was told delivery would take between 3 - 7 business days to arrive here in Toronto. I received it today.........3 business days. No wonder some companies flourish !!

I'll be in my usual spot early Tuesday morning and will probably head home on Sunday.

Sorry to hear you never got into any fish Brian, but good onya for taking the time outta your day to help someone that needed it Being stuck on an island with a dead battery isn't a nice way to spend a day, whether in a boat, plane or anything else, and it's good to know some people are willing to give up their time to help out. Some folks ignore others distress and and just keep on motoring.

Jack, I've had the pleasure of dining at Meely Manor myself a few times, and the Gentle Giant is definetely a master of the BBQ. You don't always need to catch a fish to have a great day of fish'n

Thanks Mike, I didn't have time to read your story last night, but it was the 1st one I looked for this morning and it was well worth the wait. Great to hear you and your son had such a fun day on the water !! Awesome pictures too !!

My cranking battery is a Walleye1....(should be pickeral 1 though )..... and the 2 deep cycles are OMC and are all still working well after 7 years. I'd buy them again

I never see anyone posting here about buying boating supplies at West Marine, but I was in the Toronto store last week getting a price on a new GPS and their prices were better than anyone else that I called in this area. LeBarons was $925.....Radio World was $850 and West Marine was $825 West Marine seems like they're mostly Garmin products and only carries a few Lowrance items but said it was no problem at all to track my unit down and order it in for me. I called BPS in Vaughn and even though they carry Lowrance, they didn't have the model I wanted and refused to order it. The unit I wanted isn't in Canada yet and nobody knew when it would be available, so I ended up getting it from Cabelas, but just thought I'd let you Toronto folks know about the store at Lakeshore & Jarvis and that they seem to offer some decent service and pricing, plus they carry a very large selection of boating gear. And no.....I don't work there

There ya go Joe, that's what happens when you get up at Lew o'clock Great stuff, you obviously had an excellent day on the water !! Never eaten striper, but I'm assuming those bigguns taste pretty good ??

Good to hear your day on the river was successful Kemper !! Sounds like the pickings were pretty easy everywhere yesterday, seems like everyone that posted a report of the opener got into a bunch of fish.

Truly an impressive fish and I still remember your original post when you caught that brute. It's certainly one of biggest pike I ever recall seeing caught by an OFNer.....congrats again !!

You had an excellent day on the lake with quite a variety of different species...well done !!

Incredible way to start off your season and congrats on a great day on the rivers

Good to hear you got everything fixed up Cliff, even though it sounds like it turned out to be a rather messy job or you . My Merc actually has a warning label right beside the fill plug that tells you to leave the motor in the down position for servicing the fluid levels on the trim pump.