wuchikubo

Thanks everyone for the info, definitely very useful insight and has me reconsidering. Obviously, their site is all for them, thus the reason for me asking for real life experiences here. I have no need to break any speed record land or on water, but ongoing maintenance is definitely a concern. Again, this board has some of the best people on it and the reason why I ask/look for advice here.

Hi All, With my fishing time dwindling every year, ice fishing gear getting heavier with growing kids. I am starting to consider saving up some money for a second hand argo or another amphibious vehicle. It would satisfy my needs for a back road lake for fishing, duck hunting (when I get into it), and trail hunting grouse. Typically, I fish with 1 or two other people (my kids being one of them) and hunt with one close friend. I am interested in the Argo based on it's amphibious features and I don't have a boat to use normally. My question is if there are any concerns or things I need to take into consideration before taking the plunge for an Argo or similar type vehicle? I have been thinking of an older model 8x8 for more capacity, new is too expensive ($20K+), and 6x6 seems like it may not work out for capacity of 3 or 4 people with gear. Any advice or suggestions? All are welcome to answer with their opinions. Thanks

I am not sure about Tamar's spot, but I was up at Bluehaven last week. 12-14" of ice on top was about 15-20 cm of snow. We caught some whitefish, ling and OOS lakers (one was about 10 lbs). The whitefish and ling had 90% shrimp in their stomach when checked. Smaller was better for the most part last week. Not sure about this week.

Paul, I'm saddened to hear the shocking news of Joey's passing. My deepest condolences to you and the entire family. She was a great and helpful person on this board. May Joey Rest In Peace, fishing in the great pond in the afterlife.

Hey everyone, It's been a while, work has been busy and I haven't had much time to check in or do much fishing. I was wondering if anyone here has any experience with ice fishing salmon on Georgian Bay? Any ice hut operators that could be recommended? Please PM me if you have any info that you don't want to post here. Thanks, HearingFish

I was up there March 2016, two guys, 4 days 3 nights, 2 lakers, 2 herring, a whole lot of mudpuppies after dark. Lakers were taken in the morning, we saw 2 walleye caught the whole time (about 13 people fishing in total). These are not ice bungalows, just day huts. They pick you up and drop you off morning and evening at the cottage. We didn't find out until after we left that the deep hole was 1/2 way between the cottage and the day huts. They said there have been whitefish caught on the lake but no one targets them anymore, everyone goes for lakers and walleye. Silt bottom for the most part (seen on FishTV). Bring your own emerald shiners as the chubs and darters get less hits. Stomach check on fish caught the last day yielded alot of hellgrammites in the 1.5 inch size in the larger laker. Both lakers were taken with the tip up with minnow suspended 6 inches from the bottom, anything on the bottom will likely get you a mudpuppy. Use sabiki with small flies for the herring when the schools come by, herring sizes were about 20-25 cm. They make their own maple syrup up there in 3 grades, light, medium and amber. I would suggest getting some from them if you go up there. Much cheaper and better quality than Costco in my opinion.

Hi All, It's been a while since I've had any chance to do any serious fishing and even less coming on here. I'm going to be going to blue mountain for a seminar this Thursday and Friday. I'm considering taking my fishing gear but am not sure what the conditions are there or if there will be any fishing opportunities from shore. Could someone please PM if you have any suggestions to try, if you'd like to post a reply, I'm good with that too, just don't post any specifics, thanks Stan

Just a quick recap of a great trip up to Temagami. Sorry, no pics. Our mid week trip was last week during the some cold days of -32 to -36 C. The first stop was to pick up some bait in North Bay. Of the places we went an purchased bait, I would recommend Trout Lake Outfitter's Bait and Tackle. Very reasonably priced and had pin-heads (when others didn't). Our destination was Tamar Vacations with Bruce Rice, a very respectable ice bungalow operator who when out of his way to try and locate active fish (targeting whitefish). The bungalows were nicely equipped. Just to note, if you plan on sleeping and like it warm, take the top bunk. Of our two nights and three day stay we did ice one of my target species (burbot, while only about 12 inches, it was good to have it crossed off my list of species caught). Many lake trout were caught and released (season not open until Feb 15th), and only one herring and one whitefish were caught about 1 hour before our departure time. A few heavy fish were lost on the way up while hand lining the tip up. I guess that Lake trout are the main target for most anglers up there as we were the only ones around during the week. Small flashy spoons and pin head minnows did the best. Glow in the dark spoons and jigs got the Lings. We also bought worms to try, but nothing touched them. All in all a good trip and break away from the city grind. Definitely an operator that I would suggest and will use again given the opportunity. Thanks for reading, Stan

Thanks to everyone for all the info. I've narrowed it down and have put in a request, I'll wait to see the response. Wayne, one of these days I'll spend some time and build RV trailer, wanna help? Then we can patent it and sell them off, then after selling 5000 or so MAYBE we'll have enough to buy Ketchuneny lodge for that 900K. All kidding aside, thanks for the info. For those looking: The prices have ranged from $140-$200 per person for a two night mid week stay.

Thanks, I did see that in the 2014 regulations. I'll look into Tamar Vacations too.

Hi everyone, I trust all are well and keeping safe this holiday season. With the early colder weather, I'm looking forward to an early ice fishing season! I'm looking to book a couple of nights in an ice fishing bungalow up in Temagami towards the mid-end of January 2014. I've never been up there for ice fishing and would like to see if anyone has had any experience good or bad with any of the operators up there (if it was a poor experience, please PM me instead of making a possible "bashing" on the public forum). I am hoping to try and catch my first ling on this trip too. If you don't want to post a reply here please send me a PM instead. So far, I've come across King Huts and John's but would like to know of any others I should consider. Be safe and look forward to some responses. Thanks, Stan

Although I have never met you or your son, my thoughts are out to you and your family. In order to send the email to Sean, we will need to enter his last name too. Stay strong. Hoping he will come out of his coma soon. Stan

I wasn't looking for other's personal spots just some indication that there are some active whitefish to target. I do understand all of the secrecy though.

No whities but you've got some nice lakers, the lake trout on simcoe don't like me so I'm going to try so see if the whities will co-operate. Doesn't sound very positive at the moment. It's east-side versus the west-side toss up right now for me. Either case, it's a significant walk in deep slushy snow unless it hardens up tonight. Stan

Hi all, I'm taking the day off tomorrow to fish with another friend hopefully for whitefish. I've been thinking about IBP but haven't heard or read much about anyone having any success. Anyone here with any info? If you want to keep it quiet, that's okay, you can send me a PM too. Other than Simcoe, I've not tried anywhere else for whitefish, is there any other body of water I should be considering? I've heard of GB but not even sure where to begin there. Thanks, Stan

Good to see you got into some fish, definitely looked fun. Thanks for sharing.

Met up with Christopher k.and his dad. Fished 100 FOW, marked some fish but couldn't induce a bite. Ice was about 7-8" thick. It was still a great day to get out and meet another OFNer.

Thanks Drew, I haven't had a chance to take them ice fishing last year because of the warm spell. It's always fun to watch the littlest ones light up with joy with their first catch of the day. I look forward to reading up on your epic fishing trips. I can't phantom the amount of prep work needed for your trips. Leaving to do some fishing in about 40 mins with some OFNers. Tight lines and be safe out there, Stan

Great job Lew, if you did the brickwork, how long did it take? It's been a project to do on my mind too.

I have already gotten some PMs for hooking up. I'll be up there in the IBP area tomorrow morning only. Bringing my HT Instashak and homemade fishing gear container (rubbermaid with skis). If you see me, give me a shout. Stan aka HearingFish

PM sent back Thanks Lew, it's always fun to watch kids having fun fishing.

This trip was in the plans when I found two weeks ago that there was to be a PA day on Feb 1 and 15th this month. Taking the day off work to ice fish with my kids and a couple of friends was sketchy with the warm spell we got mid week, back up plan was to go to the movies. Anyways, when I checked the earlier reports from here and the forecast, I confirmed with the kids that we would be ice fishing (they were both excited to go with me and leave mom at home). Told my friends that we would meet up at my house at 8:00am, after a few stops for last minute items including minnows, coffee and food, we were at the ice (guildford)at about 9:30am, quickly set up the pull out equipment/sleds and clothing. A few hut operators were out and were transporting guests in their makeshift passenger sleds pulled by their ATVs. One person (working for the operators?) mentioned to me there was 14" of ice, I found the ice to be more around 10". We walked towards the huts and stopped about 3/4 of the way and set up our portable fish huts/tents. About 18-20 FOW, the Vex showing multiple fish at the bottom. Drilled out two holes in the hut/tent and gave the kids the rods to fish with lures tipped with minnows. My son ended up going over to my friend's hut about 10 ft away. Could hear them getting onto fish (mostly dinks). My daughter stayed with me in our hut/tent. After loosing some minnows to those sneaky perch we decided to focus on the small hammered spoon and jigging rap. After a quick tip to my daughter, she pulls in her first fish after figuring out the hook set. After a while, the fish became less active and the kids were getting hungry, made some instant noodles and had some timbits. After that, the kids needed to run around to burn off some of that sugar. Returning back to the hut/tent to fish for a couple of more hours before we headed home. My son hooked a large fish (likely a pike) and fought it for about 5 minutes before I tried to help him and ending up with a snipped line. On the way back my son decided he'd pull the sled (running) back to our launch area. I was surprised he didn't fall as it was like a skating rink, ice was smooth and hard to walk on. We all must have caught at least 50 fish in total (between the four of us) and it was a fun day for all the kids. I enjoyed watching my kids get into some fish. Well, I've had my fill of perch for the year (not a perch fan) and look forward to possibly some whitefish / lake trout fishing sunday morning. Tight lines and be careful out there, Stan

Hey Brian, as for the report any time, how's the conditions up your way? Looks like the Kemp out to BBP seems locked up on the MODIS. My reports are not great like Drew's or Solo's but I don't mind sharing info. Take care and hopefully we'll meet up on the lake.

Hey Wayne, it's been a long time since I was more active on this board. For the past year and half I've been on physiotherapy rehab due to reinjuring a 15 year old car accident when I drove to NFLD in an RV. The past year has been bad for me (business wise) and I haven't had many chances to consider fishing. But since I'm feeling about 96%, I figured I might as well try and get rid of the fishing itch (the itch has been aggravated since visiting this board, ). You've had it even worse in my mind, I hope everything works out for you, Leah, and your daughter. Always good thoughts and well wishings to you and your family when I think about you and your family! 16" would have been nicer, but it was only 16cm :0 Nah Roy, may be just crazier. As you may recall, I don't take many pics, so my reports tend to be a bit less interesting. I could've taken a pic of the minivan while it was all iced up from driving there though. Be well my friend.

Background: This was a planned trip up to a lake that none of us, I or anyone from our group has ever been to before. After visiting several websites for information on some suitable target lakes, we were down to 3. Two of which had topographic info, the third was a stocked splake lake. Of the three, I had decided to try one of the two and have the third as a back up should the first lake deemed not worthy of trying. Jan 22. Waking up at 2:55 am to get my fishing gear sorted and packed into the vehicle. 3 guys with hand pulled sleds and gear into one vehicle and off we were at 5:15am, morning temperature was -18C, drive up to the lake was cold and getting colder. When we got to the lake the windows were frosted on the inside with the vehicle heat at max. Located a spot to park and access the lake at about 9am after trying some places that looked like public boat launch only to find unmaintained roads. Temperature was -26C, taking off the gloves was met with stingingly cold wind. This small lake had snowmobile trail marking on shore and on the lake. No body was out there fishing or snowmobiling this colder morning. Using the topo information in my head, we set out to locate an area between a shallow shoal and the drop off to the deepest part of the lake. First drilled hole was registering 38 FOW on a Hummingbird, 2nd hole was about 20 ft closer to shore, 30-35 FOW on the Vex. There was about 10 inches of ice and 4 inches of snow on top of that. The Vex showed activity in both holes. About 15 mins of jigging proved fruitful for the first fish of the year for me and my PB haliburton laker 6.1 lbs, 57 cm, female, stocked (clipped/missing fin). About another hour passes and nothing to show for but having a lot of fish follow showing on the Vex. Then comes a light hit and a 16 cm perch which was quickly returned down the hole. Fishing slowed so I went to drill some more holes in some deeper water. 70-75 FOW and not a stir for 15mins on the screen. Drilled a hole in 20 FOW only to find the screen lighting up with small markings (baitfish or weeds most likely). Decided to head back to my first spot. Finally, a the last lake trout caught by me was about 10 inches and was subsequently released. Although the temperature was minus 26, we didn't feel we needed to use our pop-up cube tents or heaters until it was closer to the time to leave (about 2pm) when the wind started to pick up. At about 3:30 pm we called it quits and packed up everything back for the drive home. We didn't make it to the splake lake. All-in-all not a bad day, we checked out a new lake and found some fish. Thanks to a couple of members for providing their insight when I was still deciding. Thank you for reading. Stan