Badger Shark

Nice carp Cliff. I am leaving in about 2 hours to Long Sault on the St. Lawrence, my buddy Jackel is already down there and they are biting like crazy today. He has already got 26 , with the biggest cominig in at 33lbs. I have never caught one before so I should get my first one today. I will bring the camera and post when I get back. I am staying till Sunday night. Man are they ugly or what?!

I built a cheap enclosure for my boat because I was tired of rain and cold wind, I didnt have enough money to have one built so we threw this together. Not going to win any beauty prizes but it does the job.

I have a minn kota power drive 70 lb thrust bow mount. I bought it from a professional walleye fisherman. It came with his new boat for the year but he wanted a minn kotta terrova instead so I asked him what he was going to do and he said sell it so I bought it. I finally used it on the May long weekend and it seemed to work just fine. It takes a little getting used to though. Now you got me nervous, I hope there isnt a problem with them.

Nice report, I would love to be able to do a fly in someday. My wife will stay out with me in any conditions too, she is a trooper. Or maybe it has something to do with me not going in and her being stuck?

Im hoping to get into some carp on Sunday, it will be my first time, my buddy Jackel loves to catch them and fishes for them every weekend in the spring. He is shooting for a forty pounder, he has already got a 30+ lbder. He says they are really fun to catch so I hope I can get one. If I do I will post it. Interesting background colour you have there! I wont block out my background in any pics I post but I do understand why others do and it is not a big deal to me. I took alot of flack last year posting a pic of my first ever muskie, I didnt block out the background and I said the area we were fishing, it is a well known muskie spot. I was asked to remove the area and the name of the person who took me out, I did this out of respect for him because he had taken me out and taught me how to fish skis. I did not however remove the pic. He is a really good guy and apparently he got alot of e-mails giving him crap for taking me to this area. None of the crap he got was deserved. I dont think anyone should give someone grief over blocking out the background or not blocking out the background. It is a choice and should be respected either way. This is just my opinion. Don

All these years of fishing I had never hooked myself, now it has happened twice in 4 years. The first time was in the thumb and I had to push that one through too, man I had no idea thumb meat was so tough, it was like pushing through gristle. And this is why I hate panfish! I had caught a sunfish on a rig with a stinger, well I am trying to take the devil fish off and he thrashes at the wrong time and in goes the stinger! Well I didnt let that stop my day of fishing either. This time it was a brand new taildancer so the hooks were clean, not that I would have gone in anyway. And man was it eerie coming back in in the fog at night. You could just see the front lights of the boat and nothing else. I am just glad there wasnt anything on the water. I have to say it was really cool though and I proved to myself that I could navigate back to the launch completely blind. But I do have two gps', one is a magellan with a detailed map of the river, contours , depths, and the other is part of my new Lowrance 334c igps. They worked great together. Well hopefully I can get out this weekend on Sunday( probably crappy weather again) I may meet up with Jackel for a little carp fishing on the st.lawrence near Long Sault. He is going there for the weekend, I couldnt find anyone to camp with so I will be going just for the day. It will be my first time carp fishing. Don

Well I finally out on one of my favorite locations on the Ottawa river to fish on Sunday ( Constance Bay ), this area has everything to fish for. At this time of year you can get large pike, walleye, and big cats, and of course PAN FISH! I hate panfish! The weather of course had to be like last Sunday (seems like a trend ) cool, rainy, but not to cold, and the winds died down. We didnt get out until after 2 pm, we erected the new and improved welfare top to keep us dry and warm. We came out of the bay we launch from (Buchams Bay ) rounded the tip and were met with big waves! Now we were kinda shocked but the wind that was blowing was coming straight out of the south, right up the river and we were going directly into it to get to the Constance Bay side. We were bouncing through the waves pretty good at time catching some air. I would be lying if I said I wasnt having fun, but am I still sore! Finally we arrived at a previously marked way point where we have always had luck in the past, let me tell you it is really a good thing to have a gps on your boat and I will explain later. We decided to just plain bobber fish with large minnows for a while as this has worked for us in the past. We fished for a while and not much going on, we did get a few strikes and some torn in half minnows but no hook ups. Finally my bobber takes off and I set the hook, it is a good fish, right away I know its a cat. I was right, this one was the largest of the day. Unfortunately no pic, as I seem to have erased it ( moron ) After a while we decide to troll around the bay. I had decided to throw on a tail dancer, well the tail dancer had different ideas and didnt want to go because next thing I know, I catch the biggest thing of the day..... ME Man I got me good ......... The hook went deep inside and of course to make matters worse didnt poke through the other side so I had to push it through, surprisingly not alot of pain. Well after getting it through I managed to cut the barb and remove it from my finger and start fishing again. We only got a couple snot rockets trolling so we decided to anchor of a large sand bar for the night bite. Wasnt long before we started catching some fish. I ended up with 5 eyes, and 4 cats and my buddy ended up with a few cats. Only a couple of pics because it was dark. Around midnight we noticed everything had disappeared, fog rolled in and we could not see anything, man this was going to be a fun ride back. Like I said before, thank god for the GPS'S, yes I have two on board. And we needed them both. If I did not have them we would have ended up who know where, kinda scary but cool too. I only went 5 mph the whole way back and it took about 1.5 hrs but we finally made it and got the boat out of the water and packed up. The ride home was very slow to because of the fog. Bottom line is I walked in at 3:45am and was beat, so I called in to work and stayed home to catch some zzz's. Sorry I dont have a lot of fish pics this time but nothing really good to shoot, but it was an interesting adventure to say the least. Don

Looks like you guys know what your doing. Its nice to see you are willing to share some tips with people as well, sometimes when you ask someone for some tips they look at you like you want the caramel secret or something. Now you know next time out Bly is going to get more fish than you eh?

That is a wonderful tribute to your brother, I am truly sorry for your loss. Rest in peace Ed.

Fawn is where we got the eyes. nice sized pike you got. Maybe do up a report with some pics.

There are certain spots that always produce, you just have to ask people who know them. The only reason I havent fished them is because there usually are a bunch of boats around them, one spot in particular gave up at least 30 or more to two boats each day and these guys were on it all the time and about 4 to 6 others were around them. We found our own spot that produces a variety of species so we tend to go there and avoid the crowds. But even this area had 4 or 5 boats, only difference was they werent in the right spot, we know exactly where to fish and what works.

I gotta say its nice to have the Ottawa right in my backyard. I love fishing on it. My favorite spot is Constance bay, there is everything in there this time of year before the water heats up. Big pike, musky, smallies, largies, eyes and big cats, and of course annoying panfish! Anywhere on the river you can catch fish. Man thats a long haul to drive. And I dont see your pics either, but I sympathize as I am still trying to learn the whole upload deal.

Man Easton imagine what those fish were thinking! Swimmin on the chain gang, that would have sucked for them . Hope they all didnt decide to swim different directions, OUCH! You think if the guy was all about the regs he would have known the difference between rockbass and other bass. Unless he thought that all bass were out of season. But still he shouldnt have gone on your boat.

Once again sorry the pics are small, Cliff explained why and next time I will post them the right way. To bad there isnt an easy button to help the computer illiterate like me.

Man what a read, I was feeling your pain, are you sure your Lund isnt a Legend in diguise? I went through hell with a legend I bought 2 yrs ago, everything went wrong with it, I think it was a Friday afternoon special, at least the marina is trying hard to get things resolved, I had to threaten legal action to get them to act. I finally brought it back and got my new boat, an Alumacraft and am very happy with it. It is a very solid and well crafted boat. When you said your camera fell in the water it reminded me of when my razor cell phone took a dip, first in my pocket when I had to get in the water, it worked after drying out, then I bent over the bow to release the clip and PLOP! it drops into the water, another inch and it would have landed on the concrete. Well this killed it, had to buy another one. Same outing everything on the boat just quits at full throttle, cant find the problem and drift downstream for 2 hrs. We had time so we trolled. LUCKILY a couple of guys came along and towed us the rest of the way to the ramp, unfortunately the motor was all the way down and we couldnt find the manual release so we couldnt load it on the trailor. Finally after a while a bunch of people helped lift each side and placed a log underneath so it was high enough to trailor. Turns out the man. release is a tiny plastic screw to bleed the hydrolics. Well hopefully all the bugs will be worked out before your next outing. Good luck and I enjoyed your sense of humour about the whole thing.

Nice report, You gotta love the Gonq, nice moose pics.

Man Moose you are one lucky guy to be able to fish that area of the country. I hope to someday fish up north, I just love the thought of being surrounded by nothing but nature. :clapping:

Ok I am uploading pics to photobucket, now I have to get them from there to here. Lets see if I can figure that out.

Snog, thats scary! Funny but scary.

Yep thought it was the same one.

I did the exact thing you are talking about with my first boat. It was a 15 ft. Lund. We built a casting deck from the last bench to the front and put a pedastal seat in. We also made 3 seperate compartments, one in the middle for 2 batteries and a switch box and one on either side of this for storage, we also made a compartment up front for the anchor and life jackets. It really wasnt to hard. You will need a brace down the center to the bow for support, like a 2x4 or something. Then outdoor carpeting. Also if you run electronics off the batteries, we ran the wiring through plastic tubing under the floor. Just make sure it is water tight. If I can find the pics I will post them. Hope this gives you some ideas.

Not sure if this is the same catfish as a couple of years ago in Kansas. Looks kinda the same, same thing happened there a big cat tried to eat a basketball and it had to be cut to get it out. Pretty wild none the less.

Once I get the pics posted you will be able to see how I made the top. Basically I used existing rod mounts to hold two poles, made a frame from copper, used my existing boat cover which was doing no good, cut into the shape we needed and hemmed, etc..... bought industrial plastic from Bou Claire for windows. It really makes a difference on those cold windy days and hot sunny ones too. It isnt gonna win any beauty awards but it serves it purpose once it is set up. Believe me I get alot of looks but once people see us out on the water and they dont have a top, they change their gazes into questions on how we did it. It is a work in progress to get everything to fit better. As for my pics, I figure it is a size issue and will have to wait for the wife to show me how to reduce them. I am a computer moron.

Now thats a nice report to see , I wish my dad would come out with me but it probably will never happen. Good to see you got some fish at least and hey you have pics.;

Hey guys and gals. Well I was hoping to post a report with pictures but I seem to be having a bit of trouble trying to figure out how to upload them to the gallery and then to the report, so I will write the report and add the pics when I figure it out. Me, my wife and 6 friends headed out on Friday for our anual trek to Crotch Lake, we always stay at Tumblehome Lodge in a cabin because the weather is usually bad. This year finally it was nice (except Sunday) . We arrived at about 3pm and got checked in, unpacked and then launched the boat. I wanted to make sure everything was working properly since it had been sitting since Jan. so we headed out for a couple of hours. The optimax turned over on the first crank (I love this motor). I bought a brand new sonar/gps this year and was anxious to try it out, it is a Lowrance 334c igps colour. Everything worked great except a higher speeds I would lose sonar signal. I will have to work on that. So after a bit of touring I decided since we were out we might as well fish a bit. We decided to troll for a while, we trolled around a point we have had luck on in the past but nothing really to speak of except one OOS smallie. So we headed in for the night to cook up some steaks mmmmmmmmmm.........STEAK! Next morning me and my usual fishing partner and his girlfriend head out finally for a real day of fishing. We decided first to try a spot where a creek flows into the lake, it is usually pouring in like a torrent but this year it was just a trickle (damn ontario hydro ) it is a known spawning area for eyes and we were hoping there would be some post spawn males hanging around. We tried jigging minnow at first without any success then I decided to throw on an x-rap and cast, BOOM as soon as it hit the water fish on, unfortunately not what we were looking for, it was a nice oos largemouth. Back he goes quickly and next cast to a different area and WHAM another one, this one alot bigger and again a oos Largemouth and my buddy hit one at the same time. For a lake that isnt supposed to have to many largemouth, we have found alot in the past couple of years. So since three of them in a short time we decide to head to another location. This spot is an area of the lake we found on our own and had the most success on . In a 1.5 hour span last year we caught a fish on every cast and troll. We got there and there were 5 other boats But they werent quite in the right spot. We set up to troll and got out the go to lure for this area ( rapala origional #9 or #11, blue and white) didnt take long, first fish on and its a typical Crotch lake pike, nothing huge but a fish none the less. On pretty much every pass we go at least one and the other boats that were there got only one fish. They were anchored and using jigs. My buddies girlfriend got her fist two fish ever and they were pike. So we were only there a little while but we got 11 pike, with 2 being decent, the rest were snot rockets but fun anyway. We decide to head back in for some dinner and some beverage, whoa did I have a bit to much! I usually dont drink but I was working on the boat for 2 hours after we got in setting up my home made top because the next day it was supposed to be cold and windy. Well it was driving me nuts (short drive) and took forever because I couldnt see properly. Anyway finally It was put up and we would be comfortable the next day. Am I ever glad I took those 2 hours to set up my home made welfare top because when I got up the next day the wind was howling at about 30k and gusting, and the temp was maybe 5 deg. Me and my buddy headed out and straight to our spot. Not one boat to be seen and it was nice and cozy with the top. We arrive and set up for trolling, using the same method, well it didnt take long, first pike of the day followed by my buddy(Eric) getting one on. Then we do a slow turn and wham my rod gets smacked, I thought it was a bigger pike but as I got it close to the boat it was doing the Walleye skip and yes it was an eye, just under slot at 17.75 inches, slot on Crotch is 18.1 to 24. So into the livewell it goes, I usually release all fish but I promised everyone that if we got any we would have a fry. Right after that Eric gets one on and its an eye, this one 15 inches and in it goes, then I get one on and it is the same as his at 15, then I get one more but decide to release it as I remember last year three were enough for a good snack. As quickly as they turned on they turned off, but the pike didnt. We ended up with 4 eyes, 14, pike and one huge rock bass. On the way back we decided to troll for a bit, now we didnt catch anything but as we were heading with the wind I noticed we were going quite fast, so I put the motor in neutral to slow us down, well we only slowed to just the perfect trolling speed and no less, We couldnt believe it, with the home made top we were now sailing and I could steer! So I turned off the motor and we sailed for a good half hour along the shoreline at between 1.5 and 2.5 mph. This was just funny, saved fuel and trolled under wind power. Got back in and cleaned the fish, fried them up in a beer batter for a snack after dinner and man was it good. These fish were so clean, not a mark on them. Now we go back to this lake every year multiple times and it is not for the amount of fish we are going to catch. Your not going to get a tonne of fish, it is a hard lake to fish. The main reason we go there is because the owner of the lodge has to be one of the nicest and most accommodating people I have ever met, he is very helpful if there are any issues and he runs a first class place. Sorry if this report isnt the best, I am writing in between runs at work. And I hope I can figure the picture thing out so I can add them later. I have them all loaded into my computer but cant seem to get them to load in the gallery to attach them to this report, I will try again later. Hope you enjoyed what I could write in a short period of time. I should have another report for my outing on this Sunday. Don Ok there are pics now but they arent to big, I was hoping they would be bigger. Next time I will figure this out.