Aaron Shirley

Good stuff to everyone that sent letters in, it all helps. The township more than likely did not consider the massive ice angling tourism when they shut out the parking to non-residents. Hopefully we have made enough noise to promote change. Time will tell.

Hahaha, typed mine before I saw your reply.

Hey guys, my Base Camp Thermal is 6' x 6' and 7' high. Plenty of room for two guys and all your gear, a bit crowded with three, but doable. They make larger sizes, like the Summit that would be ideal for three guys that could fish 4 at 6' x 8' wide, and a monster Command Post at 6' x 12' wide good for up to 6 guys. There is also the Fish Camp at 7' x 14', but I don't think it has Thermal fabric. You can view my unit at this link, and check out the larger models as well: Clam Base Camp Thermal Not sure what the Thermal material is made from, I forget from when I did the research, it was a while ago. Here is a video on the thermal: Thermal Fabric I bought mine from Fishing World in Hamilton. One thing I forgot to mention is the Thermal models weigh a lot more than the thin material models. The extra 10 pounds (Base Camp Thermal) is worth it IMO. I talked about sleeping overnight in it on the wekend lol. A couple of cots would probably do it, although I would use the 5lb or 10lb propane tank for overnight. TonyB just picked us both up a 5lb tank, which will be much better than having a few 1 pound tanks, and cheaper over time. I used a 10lb tank last year, but it's a bit heavy and bulky with mo machine lol. The larger Summit or Cammand Post Thermal would be better for overnight sleeping, as you could have lines down fishing while you have the cots set up for sleeping. Doable with Base Camp model, but would be tight. The one note about camping in them that was brought to my attention on Saturday, you would want LED lights in each of the 4 windows at night so you don't get run over by a snow machine. The HDS5 noise reduction settings are in the sonar setting menu. Hit menu twice, then choose the sonar menu. You can adjust the screen rate as well, which is better at about 4 in deep water 90' or more for watching fish chase in real time. Good fishing! Aaron

Very nice. Glad someone is getting them, cause we didn't get squat Sat lol. Good job.

You did well considering how cold it was. Nice work.

Thanks again Grimace, sent!

I got out onto Lady Simcoe on Saturday with Tony, Johnny and Dave. It was definitely our first trip on the big frozen pond, as we packed heavy and didn't realize how much snow there was and how out of shape we were We couldn't physically walk all the way out to the spot we wanted to fish, so we had to cut our walk short and settle for fishing closer to shore. fishing was not good there, but we just couldn't move lol. We did see fish moving through all day, but they were very inactive. I got 2 bites all day, 2 more than the other guys. Four of us registered a skunk and almost killed ourselves walking out The Clam Base Camp Thermal: although it was tough fishing, I was able to test the HDS5 and my new Clam It was a cold day at -18 in the am, so it was a good test for the thermal aspect of the Clam. After a day on the ice in very cold temps, I am amazed by the Clam thermal! With my old Eastman, I would have had the Mr.Buddy on high all day. I only had it on low, and I had to get some air once in a while because it was so warm in there! Needless to say, I am very impressed with the thermal model, and it will pay for the extra cost in propane savings. Another note about the thermal model, is the claim about no condensation dripping down on you during cold days is absolutely true. Not one drop from the roof. I would have been dodging cold water droplets all day in the Eastman and got wet. I really like the design with 2 doors kitty corner with quality zippers (2 per door), with storm flaps to protect the zippers from snow and ice build-up. The interior is mint with all the storage. There is two large mesh storage areas on the inside of the roof. There are 4 nice sized mesh pockets that veclro shut on each side inside at chair level which is great. There are also 4 windows (that velcro shut not zippers) above each mesh pocket as well, which is awesome. There are 2 vents that fully velcro closed on the roof. The workmanship seems to be equally as good as the design, but time will tell for sure. The hubs and poles appear to be more solid and rugged than my old Eastman, although it requires more elbow grease to open up with the added strength. The material and stitching seems to also be good, although time will tell with heavy use on that as well. The one thing I found odd, and I'm not sure I like, is the way the hut secures to the ice at the base. I like that it can be secured in any corner for windy conditions, but it secures on the inside with a strap, not like the Eastman which has a metal gromet in one outside corner to make it easy to secure in wind. I can't say this is a bad design, as there wasn't much wind on Saturday for me to test this part. Setting the pop-up designed huts in a wind can be difficult, but securing one corner of the base first makes it much easier. I'll find out on the first windy day how well this design element works out. Overall, the quality and design is excellent on the Clam Base Camp Thermal, and I would highly recommend it to anyone looking for a quality pop-up shelter. I like the carry bag for the shelter as well. It has a nice carry handle and ample room to fit the hut easily. The only thing I did was silicone spray the heck out of the door zippers on the inside and out, as well as the storage bag zippers. This will keep the zippers working well in really cold temps and help keep snow and ice from impeding the zippers. I do this with all zippers on any ice fishing gadget including my Lowrance soft case, rod carrier etc. I got my Clam from Fishing World for $355., and it was money well spent. I'm glad I upgraded to this unit this year. TonyB has one ordered now As for the HDS5 unit on the ice, I really liked it. It has an ice fishing mode as one of the options, which I will now leave it on for the hard stuff. It also has 4 noise rejection settings, which worked well when Tony fired up his bird close to me, although I switched over to the 83 transducer frequency setting and adjusted sensitivity that worked even better. I played with a lot of settings until I got it working the way I like, and I was able to mark my lures, a minnow on a hook well in blue and green. Fish would show up as blue and green on the edge of the cone, and yellow and red under it when it was close to my offering. The real time window was great with no delay, and I enjoy having the history. Often when I wasn't paying attention for a few seconds, I would look back at the sonar to see a fish had checked out my bait and left. A few times when I noticed early enough, I enticed them back. It was also nice to have the flexibility to dial in to whatever area in the water column I wanted, which was the bottom 25-30 feet on Sat. The Lowrance PPP 161 soft case worked well, as I threw out that slide-out contraption for the transducer that came with it and tie strapped two pieces of pipe insulation doubled on the transducer cable to act as a float. I also like the fact I had the Navionics hydrographic charts on the unit If you have an HDS5 on your boat or a 5" Elite unit, I would highly recommend a soft case to use it on the ice, you will like it. As a bonus, you can use it on a fly-in trip, resorts where you rent a boat, or just a small boat you use in rivers or back lakes FYI: I don't work with either company and paid full price for my units, so these are just unbias reviews from a hard-core angler. I'll be back on Simcoe next weekend looking for some redemption! Good ice fishing! Aaron

Thanks RR. I'm sure that will help as well. Just sent an e-mail to the mayor, Chamber of Commerce will be next.

Thanks Grimace, may as well bring her up to speed on the situation as well

It has nothing to do with noise or garbage. That was an assumption by us because that type of thing is prevalent. I agree as a group we need to be more respectful and not litter, and show respect for locals. This isn't the reason for closing the government dock parking to non-residents at BBP. I received a reply from the township of Innisfil. You can review what they had to say at this OFC link: http://www.ofncommunity.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=50246

This is what I was sent today from the Township of Innisfil as a reply to my concerns regarding the restricted access to parking at Big Bay Point (below). I heard TonyB had a similar reply. If enough people contact them, it just may make a difference, who knows. These restricted lots are going up all over, and I find it a slap in the face since non-resident ice anglers contribute so much to their local economy during the winter months. limiting access spots for non-resident ice anglers is ridiculous, especially when I see big parking lots for residents that are pretty much empty on a weekend. If the township was smart, they would open up the lots to everyone and charge non-residents to park. Here is what someone from the Innisfil township in customer service sent me with copied replies to the clerk's services Kim Creamer <[email protected]>, Michael Dorion <[email protected]>: The non-resident parking restriction at Big Bay Point was approved by council this past summer in relation to scuba diving off the dock. The project was coordinated by the Clerk's dept and bylaw. I have forwarded your e-mail to Clerk Services for inclusion on Council's agenda. Regards Maureen Wester Customer Service Representative Town of Innisfil 2101 Innisfil Beach Rd. Innisfil, ON L9S 1A1 705-436-3710, Ext. 2522, Fax 705-436-7120 E-mail: [email protected] This information is intended only for the person, persons, entity, or entities to which it is addressed; does not necessarily represent the views of the Town of Innisfil; may contain information that is privileged, confidential and exempt from disclosure under the Municipal Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act. If the reader of this message is not the intended recipient or the employee or agent responsible for delivering the message to the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that any dissemination, distribution or copying of this communication is strictly prohibited. If you received this communication in error, please notify us immediately by return e-mail and delete the correspondence from your computer. -----Original Message----- Sent: Friday, January 21, 2011 11:33 PM To: Mark Asseltine; Inquiry Customer Service Submitted values are: Name: Aaron Shirley Address: Phone Number: Email: [email protected] Inquiry: To whom it may concern; I am an avid angler that has enjoyed spending a lot of time fishing on Lake Simcoe during every season, including ice fishing in the winter. I have spent a considerable amount of my hard-earned money over the years in the township of Innisfil. Accomodations, fuel, bait, tackle and food are some of the examples. One of my favourite spots to go ice fishing in the winter is Kempenfelt Bay and Big Bay Point. It has been recently brought to my attention that the small parking lot at Big Bay Point to access Kempenfelt Bay and Big Bay Point has been closed to everyone but local residents. As an angler that has spent a lot of money in Innisfil over the years, I find this to be a huge slap in the face. This is completely unacceptable. You are biting the hands that feed you, and your recent decision to close the Big Bay Point parking lot to anglers will be met with major backlash in the angling community. I will personally make it a point to not spend any more of my hard-earned money in the township of Innisfil until suitable parking for anglers is established at the Big Bay Point area. Furthermore, many people I know will be doing the same. And if this doesn't raise your eyebrows, we will be asking every angler we know and meet to also avoid spending money in the township of Innifil until suitable parking for anglers is established at Big Bay Point as well. Please do not respond with "oh but there is a parking lot over 'there' on the lake. If you would like to keep enjoying the economic benefits that anglers bring to the township of Innisfil, you must establish suitable parking for anglers at the Big Bay Point area. Period. Sincerely, Aaron Shirley

Very cool. Those things are amazingly huge! I really wanted to take my 2 year old son to this, despite his fav Blue Thunder not being there, but wifey said no. He's too young and he'll keep taking off the ear muffs or plugs, she's prob right. He also likes Taz, Grave Digger, Maximum Destruction, Stone Crusher and Destroyer lol. He's been into monster trucks for almost a year now. Most kids take a teady bear to bed, he has to take Blue Thunder and Taz, or Doc Hudson lol. Hopefully I can take him next year. At least I got Monster Jam for the PS3 for Xmas. He has a hard time controlling the trucks, but loves watching me for a bit then trying. Thanks for the photos, they are pretty neat.

I am very dissapointed with the township of Innisfil about this. I fish there a lot and used to park there. I used to spend money locally there whenever I could, and this is just such a slap in the face I just wrote the Township of Innisfil on their on-line form. Here is the link to the township of Innisfil to let them know how you feel about losing access to a prime Lake Simcoe ice fishing spot. We need to flood them with comments people!!! Don't just sit back and let this stuff happen without a fight! They need to have a lot of backlash on this to consider making changes. http://www.innisfil.ca/contact-us This is a copy of what I sent the township of Innisfil: To whom it may concern; I am an avid angler that has enjoyed spending a lot of time fishing on Lake Simcoe during every season, including ice fishing in the winter. I have spent a considerable amount of my hard-earned money over the years in the township of Innisfil. Accomodations, fuel, bait, tackle and food are some of the examples. One of my favourite spots to go ice fishing in the winter is Kempenfelt Bay and Big Bay Point. It has been recently brought to my attention that the small parking lot at Big Bay Point to access Kempenfelt Bay and Big Bay Point has been closed to everyone but local residents. As an angler that has spent a lot of money in Innisfil over the years, I find this to be a huge slap in the face. This is completely unacceptable. You are biting the hands that feed you, and your recent decision to close the Big Bay Point parking lot to anglers will be met with major backlash in the angling community. I will personally make it a point to not spend any more of my hard-earned money in the township of Innisfil until suitable parking for anglers is established at the Big Bay Point area. Furthermore, many people I know will be doing the same. And if this doesn't raise your eyebrows, we will be asking every angler we know and meet to also avoid spending money in the township of Innisfil until suitable parking for anglers is established at Big Bay Point as well. Please do not respond with "oh but there is a parking lot over 'there' on the lake. If you would like to keep enjoying the economic benefits that anglers bring to the township of Innisfil, you must establish suitable parking for anglers at the Big Bay Point area. Period. Sincerely,

Very nice whities! I'm hoping to find a few myself tomorrow. Good job.

That is outrageous Terry. What access point on Lake Simcoe will be next? Where will it end? If this keeps up, the OMNR will be laying off the CO's that enforce Simcoe, because the only people that will be left fishing will be locals and people renting huts The town of Innifil has enjoyed the economic benefits from anglers for years, and this is a big slap in the face. Talk about biting the hands that feed them! I will not be spending any of my money in the township of Innisfil anymore, and I know a lot of other people that will not either over this. I will be making it a point to even fill up my gas at home from now on. I will be contacting the township of Innisfil to let them know this as well. I encourage anyone else that enjoys fishing on Lake Simcoe to do the same. If the township thinks they will lose revenues with a lot of backlash, they may make parking available at Big Bay Point. Fishing in Ontario and our rights seem to be slowly eroding. This is very sad. One day I may have to explain to my son why we have to travel to New York State to go fishing Fishing in Ontario seems to be heading in a very bad direction, privitization!

If you are planning on heading to Big Bay Point on your own, you will not find parking anymore from what I have been told. Apparently the Township of Innisfil has closed parking in the only lot with access to Big Bay Point unless you are a local. Another access point taken away from the everyday angler if this is true. If you want to go out with the new hut operator at BBP you should be fine. As someone who walks miles out to a spot, this was a good spot for me to park and hit deep water without walking a marathon. Does anyone know if this information on restricting access to parking at BBP is correct or a hoax? I will find out tomorrow if I can park at BBP, I'm keeping my fingers crossed!

Nice lakers, that one your GF got is a tank! Well done and cool vids. I like the fish handling tips, it really doesn't take long for eyes and gills to freeze outside in cold temps, just seconds! Another reason I like the heaters and pop-up huts.

Nice fish to get on 4lb line! Cool vid.

Hey Canucker, if clicking on the link doesn't work, try right clicking over the link and choose "save target as" from the menu. That should work, and you can save the file to wherever you want on your computer. Wallacio, cool gar pics. I have always wanted to try them on the fly rod, and I'm going to try that this year Hammercarp, hope to do a carp episode this year Grimace, that is weird about the Norton? I also use Kaspersky (hate Norton), and I didn't get any Norton crap when I downloaded DivX. Although I downloaded the DivX a while ago. I bought the Pro version recently for converting episodes and didn't get any Norton crap either. Hope that is not a problem for anyone, DivX is a widely used format now, probably the most widely used as it offers the best quality with such small files. Heck Playstation 3 uses DivX now as well as most newer DVD players. I think that Windows Media Player plays the DivX videos better than the actual DivX player. If you watch movies on your pc and some movies don't have audio, you can install a plug-in for WMP called AC3 Direct Show Filter (just Google it). I had to install it to watch some movies on my laptop, as some DivX vids didn't work. That is cool you have gar in Chataqua Blaque. It's amazing that not many people target them, and they are one of the coolest fish I have ever caught and go nuts when hooked! Heck, I'm hooked on gar now, they are awesome!

The first episode of Surely Fishing is now available on-line. Episode 01 You have a couple options to watch it, either streaming from YouTube in 2 parts, or a high quality full length DivX version is available for download, all for free of course. You will be able to download an entire year of episodes in high quality and burn them to a single DVD disk to watch on your computer, Playstation 3 on your big screen TV or DVD player that supports DivX. I am really having fun with this, and there is no pressure to film or edit. I just do it when I have time. I plan on putting up one episode a month. Enjoy, and let me know if you have any issues with the DivX video. You can watch DivX videos in Windows Media Player on your computer as well, but you need to install a plug-in. If you watch downloaded movies from the internet, you more than likely have DivX, it's a standard format now. More info on DivX Good fishing! Aaron

Thanks, that will keep me satisfied for a soft water trip for a while so I can go ice fishing now Joey, I believe that is a tagged eagle.

I spent Friday and Saturday fishing the lower Niagara River, and it was an absolutely awesome 2 days of fishing! Friday was like a sunny spring day, and Joe and Thom joined me for this beautiful January hammer fest It was so mild, we didn't even wear gloves, and Thom spotted two mature bald eagles, which cooperated for a quick photo shoot. The company was great and the numbers of browns and steelies were unreal on this unbelievable windless winter day. We shared some laughs and kept busy with multiple fish on most drifts, and a few double headers for good measure. The hungry trout seemed to bite at everything we presented to them, but they did show a preference. The best baits were bow roe tied in pink, peach and white bags, nickel and quarter sized, and Joe's hot corky and streamer combo. The water was a perfect steelie green colour with about 6-feet of vis. The fish are scattered all over the river as is typical for the winter months. The ice flows were not that bad, but careful navigation was needed to avoid a repeat of the Titanic, albeit much smaller proportions. This is one of the reasons I own a tough Lund ProV and not a glass boat. Saturday was a much different day. It was snowy, windy, damp and downright cold! Tony was quick to join me after hearing how Friday was, although the fishing wasn't as good for us. Roe wasn't working as well on Saturday, and my livewell full of shiners was not accessable with the frozen door. I didn't have streamers, and I didn't want to take my hands out of my gloves to retie and try different baits. After such a nice day on Friday getting spoiled, I was a wuss on Sat lol. We still got about 10 fish and we left early for a hot coffee. Still better than sitting at home dreaming about fishing I saw Paul Castellano out there, and he nailed them as well. If you get the itch to hammer some chrome after viewing the pics below and your boat is all cozy for the winter, send Paul a PM. I'm sure he would be happy to have you out for some winter trout action. Ok, enough talk, on to the photos and videos! Enjoy. BTW you can watch the vids from my Playsport pocket cam in full 1080p http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QwEejme_WPg http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BkpbGP_tOow And Yamaha Joe by the end of the day Friday was known as Joe Brown, with the baddest streamer in the whole damn town lol Glad you boys could join me for some Niagara Winter Wonderland fun, it was a blast! On to some ice fishing for me now See ya on the hard stuff! Good fishing! Aaron

After the Leafs hot start and into 5 games, I was a bit excited at the prospect of a good season like many, but also realistic. I thought they would have their typical slump but do better than last year, and predicted they would finish between 8th and 10th in the Eastern conference. after their major skid it didn't look promising! If they can keep up some good play the rest of the season for the most part, they should be able to accomplish that realistically if other teams continue slumping. I hope they get as close to a playoff spot as possible if they don't make the playoffs. I would hate to see Boston get another great pick if the buds end up in the basement again. I'm hoping they can continue to improve every year so I can watch better hockey from them more consistently. The past few games have been nice to watch for a change!

I think the Ottawa River is on my Great Lakes card if memory serves me correctly. I have a Hotmaps Premium Canada from a few years ago, and it is awesome to have. Navionics has added thousands of lakes since my card, and add more every year, so I'll upgrade maybe next year. * One word of caution: Hotmaps Premium Canada is not as accurate as the Great Lakes card. You need to be careful on new waters on the Hotmaps, as it can offer a false sense of security for boating hazards. I have some shallow shoals marked on my gps now that were not on the card. I got lucky before I realized this. I believe that I read somewhere that if you map out something like a shoal that isn't on the card, you can send Navionics the info to update their database. I'm not sure what kind of a process is required to do this, as I haven't for selfish reasons

I learned that the hard way. I lost hundreds of valuable waypoints when my 937 went for a crap. I back up my waypoints onto a card and my pc now. Great tip.