singingdog

I was on Koshlong 2 nights ago: ice tight to shore on 90% of the shoreline, 18" of ice at the holes we checked. Open water is still refreezing on most nights.

Take it out and cast it. Seriously, the more I mess around with lines and different rods, the more I realise just how arbitrary line weight is. Does it suit your casting style, with the rod that your are using, on the water you will be fishing?

I am self-employed, and have seen this over and over again, across all sectors of the small business world: food, outdoor, art, music....It seems quite prevalent in the fur and fin industry, probably due to low overhead of getting started. Having a good product is about 20% of the equation of making a business work. The rest is grunt work that most folks didn't imagine themselves doing. One of the big problems is that the skill set for designing and creating is completely different than the skill set for selling. I dabbled in selling the jigs that I tie, quickly realised that the "real" work had nothing to do with tying, or fishing (the reasons that I tie in the first place) and got out. I do really well trading my work for tackle, don't sell at all anymore.

I find OSP can be "day savers", but often very finicky. I have a couple of the power dunks that can turn on a finicky bite, but they need to be constantly tuned to run true.

Sold.

Reducing this to $14,000 for OFC folks before updating the Kijiji ad. This ATV is immaculate, with top of the line tracks, low hours, handwarmers, winch, and good quality locking box.

I will check the small lake down the road from me for thickness. -30 last night, -20 or lower 2 night before that, with little snow to slow down the ice. I'm thinking the hole drillers might get an early Xmas present.

$16,000, OBO. As the ad says, low mileage, all at low speeds. It was used to groom ski trails. Handwarmers, box on back rack, winch. Reason for all the new parts is that we had a dealer that couldn't figure out a starting issue, and threw new parts at it until he finally figured out it was a sensor. https://www.kijiji.ca/v-view-details.html?adId=1275458835&edited=true&posted=true&adActivated=true

Both genders change plumage. The adults do "abandon" the immature birds by migrating several weeks before them. The young often gather in large groups on larger lakes before migrating. Loons from this area often migrate first to the great lakes, the on to the Gulf of Mexico. The young will stay there for the first 3-4 years of their lives before they ever come back inland to breed. Most folks think of loons as inland lake birds; they spend most of their lives on the ocean.

Are you sure you aren't seeing adults in winter plumage?

Last couple of seasons I have been chasing musky, in a yak, with a flyrod. Having a yak that you can stand up in makes a huge difference IMHO. Otherwise, all the casting stress seems to come to rest in my tired, old shoulder. Having a very 'clean' (very little rigging) boat is key: fly line will find anything to snag on.

The topwater/fluke bite in Haliburton has been on fire for weeks now, and doesn't seem to be slowing down. Hard to beat a WTD topwater right now.

Please, no. I am so sick of seeing these things all over the place. Drones allow one person to project their presence onto an entire landscape, decreasing the enjoyment of the other folks that have made an effort to get there. I am sure that most operators are well-intentioned, but that doesn't change the ever-increasing presence of these mechanical insects.

I always have a 7" stickworm tied on for both pike and musky: great post-follow bait. A big, pink Yumdinger has saved many slow musky days for me.

The Radar is a great boat: super stable, very versatile.

Even better than 2 o-rings is a short section of shrink wrap tubing. I routinely use the same 4" senko for most of my fall smallie fishing on a wacky-jig or weightless wacky rig. I hook right through the shrink wrap tubing and the worm, no issues with hook ups and the senko will often stay on for 20+ big fish.

Great stories guys. Thanks. I wonder if it will revert back to the park at some point.

I can't imagine fishing the area around this camp from a motorboat without a very knowledgable guide, and several spare props. Several times we would be on fairly decent open-water crossings only to find ourselves in 1 FOW with no warning. It's a maze of channels and shoals out there, but some very fishy water. Saw a few monster smallies cruising the shallows. I would love to go back and do a mother-ship kayak or SUP fishing trip. Anybody have a house boat they want to lend me?

We paddled past this place on our last kayak trip. Wondering if anyone knows the story behind it. Some parts looked derelict/abandoned, some buildings looked almost new. All the boats were pulled up, upside down, no motors. It's in a stunning location - right at the mouth of the French River - and I imagine the fishing is excellent. Just wondering what's happening or what happened.

Nothing wrong with a boga grip. Used correctly, it's a great release tool. I have used it on hundreds of fish, of multi species, with no issues at all.

Those are some hawgs for sure. Congrats!

Something up with your scale. That's a really nice fish, but not a 9 lb LM.

Yep. It's an interesting stream. Once it leaves Loon, it really only flows through one other lake upstream of Kinmount. Some of the best backcountry in the county is along that river.

BTW, that's not the Burnt, that's the Drag river coming out of Canning.

No musky there, plenty of other options for the toothy fellas.