singingdog

IMHO, trolling for lakers in the summer is an exercise in washing lures. IF you have a good idea where the fish are, then jigging is a much more efficient way to find fish. Even if you are going to boat around to find fish - presumably with electronics - then why putt along at trolling speed through all kinds of unproductive water? Jigging spoons, heavy tailspins, and heavy white tube jigs will all catch them once you find them.

Lucky you. We get one every couple of years. Once it figures out there isn't a reliable food source around, it goes somewhere else. We had one on the front deck about 5 years ago, trying to get the feeders. I was all ready with the broom to go out and chase of the "racoon" I thought was out there. Thankfully, I turned on the light before I opened the door.

Don't get fooled by surface temps, especially with specks. A couple of years ago we were on a great speck/laker lake in late May. Surface temps were 72 F. We caught fish all day, mostly lakers, 7' down. That 72 degree water was only about 2' thick.

I imagine they are still shallow: lots of cool nights are keeping the water temps relatively low. Ditto on the leeches: a jig with a black zonker strip is good if you don't do live bait. Otherwise I would go spoons for specks, with lots of pause-and-flutter on the retrieve.

Lots of good advice. A couple of things I would add....

For smallies, don't be afraid of painted blades. My best smallie sbait has white/chart painted blades and almost always has a swimsenko trailer.

Fish sbaits like jigs: pitching into holes in weed beds can be deadly.

Don't be afraid to try them in open water, no cover to be seen. A big, bright sbait over 20' of water will get smallies to hit when nothing else will.

Hit wood....alot.

It is early for red admirals. The butterflies that you are seeing are not hatching out in Ontario, but were part of a huge migration of red admirals that came from Louisiana and Texas over the weekend.

Lakes in this area they have been in the shallows for at least 10 days. My buddies dad has had a couple of 30 fish days, all in less than 15' of water.

No musky that I know of. You are right, you won't have to drive far.

If you are on Redstone, Kinnesis Lake Marina would be the closest spot to rent.

Jet skis are not allowed on any lakes in the Haliburton area. Try the Muskokas....they love that buzzy irritating stuff.

Every lake I have seen the past couple of days is ice-free. Backroads are as dry as they usually are in late April.

That's a great splake/laker/speck colour combo as well.

I can see using a snap if you aren't good with knots. I definitely don't use a snap-swivel unless I am using an inline spinner or a spoon. A snap-swivel will often cause lures like cranks and jerkbaits to run untrue.

Did the drive from Carnarvon to Huntsville yesterday. Most lakes are within days of being open. If there is still ice, it's dark and punky. Several lakes were already open. I checked out a couple of side roads: very few ice patches on most and very dry for this time of year.

"All you need to catch ___________, is ___________, but they aren't biting today."

Most of the lakes in the Haliburton/Minden area are right on the verge of opening up, but it will be dicey for this weekend. Smaller backwoods lakes usually hold ice longer than larger lakes that are affected by wind. You are probably a week early.

Did you just use "strike king" and "quality" in the same sentence?

Neither lake is a good speck lake, but both are close to lots of good speck fishing. Depending on where the lot is on Kawagama, you could be a loooooong way off the beaten path.

Almost all 2 pc rods for me. Most of the prejudice against 2 pc rods comes from older technology that caused decreased sensitivity and strength problems. Fishing a 1 pc Compre side-by-side with a 2 pc Compre; I can't tell the difference.

Best advice I can give is to not overdo it. I have 3 fishing yaks. The one I use the most has the least amount of outfitting in it. When I see the outfitting in some yaks, I wonder how folks actually fish out of them, with all the stuff sticking up in front and in back of them. The only things that I consider essential:

1. A rodholder for trolling. It needs to be accessible enough to get the rod out quickly, without being in the way of casting and landing fish.

2. A fishfinder. Nothing worse than paddling around wondering if there is any good structure underneath your yak.

Start there, and slowly add other stuff. Almost everything else - extra rod holders, tackle storage.... - can be removable via a milk crate.

Don't confuse modern fishing yaks with touring or even recreational yaks. Boats like the Wavesport Commander, and the new Ride 115 are stable enough to stand and fish musky from (my current stand-up PB is 43"). Is it impossible to fall out of one? No. But it is easy to stand and fish, which allows for all kinds of possibilities that no sit-down boat can provide: true flipping, great sight fishing, and way easier flycasting.

5-600 dollars will get you a good used yak, often already outfitted. Check out the board at yakfishers.net: great group of guys that have paddled/fished everything on the market and will give you good advice (and maybe sell you a used yak)

I have 20 lb PPro on most of my bcs: 30 on my jig rod. I've never understood the need to run 50 lb or heavier, but what do I know?

I used to think that 90% of all braid problems were user-generated, not line-generated. Now I think it's 98%.

Not a new idea at all: Mountain Equipment Coop and REI in the states are run on almost exactly the same model you are talking about. If you are serious, you should talk to someone on the board at MEC.....it all started with some backpackers having a conversation very similar to this thread.

A few things to think about:

1. Becoming, and maintaining a not-for-profit organisation is not easy. The requirements for organisation and operation are fairly strict and very time consuming to govern and administer.

2 Anyone that thinks that outdoor retailers are consistently getting 400% margin is living in an alternate reality. 40% margin (less than double wholesale price) is typical. 50% margin (double wholesale price) is good. Check the prices on the MEC website: they are typically running somewhere around 35% margin, which generates little or no profit. They have the buying power of 3.3 million members.

The amount of buying power that the membership of this board would generate may get you past a sales rep and directly to the distributor. I seriously doubt it is going to get you dealing directly with the manufacturer.

About 10 cms. yesterday it was 1 cm of fresh stuff with slush/wet snow below. Today it is probably very hard pack underneath.

My buddy in Haliburton Forest was testing ice on Saturday: barely an inch in the middle of good sized lakes.