singingdog

Based on Armatech's proposal I would choose them as a neighbor over a shoreline of typical cottagers with 2 stroke outboards, snowmobiles and ATVs.

Was that your plane on Head lake this weekend?

If you have ever tried to get anywhere on an SUP in a stiff headwind, you would understand. They are great fishing platforms, IF there is no wind, and you don't need to carry much.

Nothing beats a yak for solo fishing. A good SOT, compared to a canoe, is virtually immune to wind and far easier to handle on your own. Don't even think of taking a SOT on a portage-interrupted trip, unless the portages are short, flat, and level enough to use a cart. The achilles heel of SOTs are their weight and difficulty to carry. But, like you said, you can always rent a canoe for trips with portages. Yes, you can put a downrigger on a yak. Spend a bit of time over on yakfisher.net. The folks there are dedicated fishers of every conceivable species and have already asked and answered all the questions that you are asking.

There are definitely coyotes in and around Algonquin Park. DNA tests on scat have proved that. ONbuckhunter is spot on about the size of the wolves in that area, as well as their tendency to interbreed with coyotes.

The application was denied by council already.

I'll second the Muskoka stout. Don't let the "double chocolate" put you off, it's not sweet at all. It is also one of the best rib braising stouts I have used. Ontario microbrew: check out Whitewater Breweries MIdnight stout....very tasty. http://whitewaterbeer.com/

So glad I am not a CO. On this board, it's a lose/lose proposition to be one. If they do their job, people whine, if they don't do their job, people whine. If someone on the board sees suspicious behaviour, there aren't enough CO's around. If they actually check someone from the board, there are too many COs around, wasting time and gas to (gasp) check and see if the regs are being followed. So, you grabbed your cell and warned folks that they were coming. That implies that you were worried that folks had something to hide, which means that they were breaking the regs, which means that you were interfering with COs "protecting the resource". How often have I seen huge threads on this board, complaining that the COs weren't around to "protect the resource"? Sorry Chris, but your whole post (and many that follow it) sounds like one big whine.

Netbait paca craws are my faves. Tube jigs are the only other craw imitation that I fish once the water warms up.

If you can find the flashminnows, you will find that they get hit on days that rapalas don't. The flashminnows have a much more subtle action than the floating raps.

The other option is to fish jerkbaits that run shallow, but cast better. The LC flashminnow is a good example. Fish it with your rod tip up and you can keep it in the top 1' of water, and it casts much better than a floating rap.

If you are fishing mostly inland, small water, take a look at the Wilderness Systems Commanders. They are a hybrid, like the Nucanoe, so you can stand and fish. The captains chair on the Commander makes is super-easy to go from sitting and paddling to standing and fishing. They are also specifically designed to take a trolling motor.

Spend a bit of time over on yakfisher.net reading the old threads on yak selection....lots of great info there. There are lots of great fishing yaks on the market right now, and narrowing it down to "type" (sit-in, sit-on, hybrid) will help. A few questions that I think help that process: 1. What "size" water are you going to fish most of the time? Lake O for salmon? Small back lakes? Rivers? 2. How portable do you want your yak to be? Will you be car-topping/trailering right to the water, or do you want to be able to cart/carry/drag it into more remote water? 3. Are you a gear junky (6 rods, downriggers, full-size FF, gps) or more of a minimalist? 4. Do you want to be able to stand and fish? Each type of yak has it's strengths and weaknesses. Figuring out what you want it to do most of the time will go a long way to ending up with the right one.

Yes, hawk owls are daytime hunters (diurnal).

That's strange....something has done a number on that RT's feathers. It doesn't look like a juvenile to me. Being a juvy wouldn't explain the feathers anyway.

So, it will be C&R for LM....big deal. Several jurisdictions in the states have year-round seasons on bass, and amazing bass fisheries.

Yes. Anyone that has ever tried to moderate a discussion forum knows that it is a thankless (until now....thanks mercman) job. Kudos.

Hmmm....if half of this stuff was written about an OFC member, this thread would have been locked in a heartbeat.

Decided to brave the rain yesterday and hike into a lake. It felt like early May; high humidity, warm temps, easy on the hands . The only sign of the recent cold weather was the ice on the puddles while walking in. Water temps up this way have dipped below 40, so I was thinking the trout would be biting. It was a tough bite. 2 hours on the lake only turned up one fish.

Splake. This is a great time of year for them, and they will be biting until it freezes over.

They aren't steelhead, but there's also no crowds.

Last time we went down we went to buy a SIM card for the phone. Ends up it was cheaper to buy a phone ($15) and do a pay-as-you-go plan.

Nice. Where did you see it?

Buy the yak that you will use 90% of the time, not one that you think you will use the other 10%. If you are going to fish primarily smaller water, then I would look at a smaller boat: 12' range. Weight: SOTs are heavier than either SIK (traditional yaks) or hybrids (look more like canoes: WS Commander, Native Ultimate). SOT's, on the other hand, are the safest of the 3 types of boats. They won't take on water, are easier to self rescue, and generally sit lower in the water so that wind affects them less. IF I were going to own just one fishing yak, it would definitely be a SOT. Keep an eye on Kijiji. Better yet, join yakfisher.net: lots of Ontario yakfishers there. There is a Jackson SOT on the classifieds board there that fits your needs.

What kind of water are you planning on fishing with the yak? Small, sheltered lakes, or do you want to be able to fish bigger water as well?