wuchikubo

Hi all, just a quick report on yesterday's outing. I will not bring a camera, I'm convinced it's jinxed) Location #1: Innisil BP was very busy by the time we got there about 8:30'ish. No signs for a parking fee seen. Fished 80-85 FOW, some big schools came through around noonish and the preference at my hole was a larger blue and white Bad Boyz (not tipped with anything). Iced one and lost 3. Lots of people out despite a Thursday, I would guess over 100 easily. Many left as soon as they got their limit of 2 whitefish. Noted that one of my friends' fish and mine had no missing (clipped) fins or missing parts, could they be natural? BTW ice was about 7-8 inches. Location #2: Left around 2pm to head over to the BOG, got there and setup off GM, 6-7 FOW, a couple of dink perch was all I pulled up on the sabiki while there was still a little light. Darkness rolled in fast and so did my bite in my two holes. One friend that got skunked on whitefish came in with 5 crappie, my other friend pulled in one. Ice was a good 11 inches. Wind was a bit cold at times throughout the day, still saw one pressure crack at IBP open up and water was everywhere (near where the truck went through). Take care out there while we have this mild temperature spell, Stan

Nice lakers Skud! Well, I'll be giving Lady Simcoe a try tommorrow, most likely for whities off IBP. I've tried a number of times with other friends on KBay only to be the only one skunked for lakers! Lady S has my number, one of these days I'll hook up with a laker. Hopefully, this year.

I have the big 18 L refilled at the local grocery store's Trillium Water machine. $2.99 for the self serve refill, water checker shows 4 ppm. Stan

Well it was the first outing for me this year and a long one since the last outing. Dropped off the kids at school and went back to pack up the rest of the gear, meet up with a couple of friends and then head up to Gilford area WAS the plan. Got there about 10:40ish and spoke to two different groups of guys leaving. One fish kept after 3+ hrs of fishing! Lots of people there, parking was not good. Decided we would drive up to Innisfil beach to take a look. Got there and there was only one vehicle there with a fellow checking the ice with a spud. We asked the thickness, reply was 2 inches. Needless to say we weren't going to fish there yesterday. I looked for the parking fee info, didn't see any and then we left to stop at Timmy's. Drove back down to Killarney beach, parking was better, a lot less people. We decided to give it a go. Walked out with the sled in tow, took about 10 minutes, the snow made it feel like it was 15 mins. Drilled the first hole, weeds, good looking but too thick for jigging, depth was about 14 ft. (from the Vex). My other two friends started getting into fish about 20 mins into jigging. (we don't use real minnows) Both of them were working their holes pretty good, one friend had about two dozen fish pulled out of the hole (and returned down the hole - he only wants to fish and not keep his), my other friend had about 15 fish up and he had kept 9. I'm still at ZERO!! Time to change the spot. Drilled the second spot, same thing nothing but salad (with zebra mussels). By now my buddy who's not keeping any of his fish has caught and release at least 30 fish, comes over and asks how many have I caught, I tell him the truth zero, then he picks up my sled and says come fish beside me, I don't like crowding fishing holes so I declined the first invitation, he goes on and takes my gear over to his area. I jig up a few more bowls of salad and then give in to his second invitation. Drilled my hole about 10 feet away from him and down when the jigging rap (red). My buddy pulls another 5 fish while I'm sitting there. Okay, I say to myself this color isn't working. I asked my buddy what he was using, gold and black jigging rap (small). Okay, I don't have the small version but the larger 3-4" version. Went down the hole, jigged a few times and caught .... more salad. Then the bite cools off for my friend. I say " of course it's because I'm sitting here!!!" What better time than now to change lures. While I'm retying my other friend joins us 10 feet to the other side of my friend. Down goes is line, and not even 1 min later he's pulling fish after fish up! I've decided to change up the presentation, one heavier jighead tipped with Berkley maggots (red) and a second homemade fly tied up 7 inches from the bottom jighead (almost sabiki style). Okay, down the hole it goes, 5 minutes later my vex is lighting up with activity. First fish is caught (and released 7 inch perch), I tell my friend "okay, now I'll be able to sleep tonight!" Laughing as the line goes down again, a couple of light jigs and another fish give the line a tug. Up comes up my first keeper a nice 11 inch perch on the home made fly. We fished until dark and noted that the best bite was around 3 pm. I ended up taking home about 10 fish and one of my friends kept about 30 fish within his limit. Some of the fish had 6 inch smelt in their mouths still. Lures of choice were the small jigging rap except for the red and the fire tiger styles. Berkley maggots in white and red also worked very well. Thanks for the read, Stan

Welcome to the board, any info on what you like to fish or what region you fish?

Here's my first thought and suggestion: Approach your wife's friend when you visit him and ask why she has such a problem with you two friends fishing. Get the answer from her and then if it's workable, ask him in front of her to go fishing on the trip. At least you will know your friend has the answer to future fishing trips and what the limits may be without him getting into the doghouse. HF

The past year was a dismal year of fishing opportunities for me and I can only hope to do some more fishing in the new year. Since I will be away from the computer later this afternoon, I'm posting this a bit early. From the bottom of my heart, I wish my OFC family a Happy, Safe, and Prosperous NEW YEAR! May everyone and their families keep safe and have tight fishing lines in the new year! Stan

Very nice Dave! Happy New Year to you and the family!

Happy belated birthday TJ!

Brian, wishing your dad a easy procedure and a speedy uncomplicated recovery!!

From what I recall, the number doesn't expire. But call the MNR to confirm.

From the OFAH website media announcement: "... Under the new regulations, dozens of area lakes, including such popular angling destinations as Sturgeon, Balsam, Buckhorn, Chemong, and Rice Lake, will see winter fishing seasons for bluegill, yellow perch and black crappie. Walleye seasons will remain closed during the winter in F.M.Z. 17 with the exception of where they previously existed on Lake Scugog, Crowe Lake and the lower Trent River."

According to the OFAH website the three lakes that had walleye open for winter will still be open. Yes, that means Scugog is still open for walleye fishing through the ice. OFAH website announcement "... Under the new regulations, dozens of area lakes, including such popular angling destinations as Sturgeon, Balsam, Buckhorn, Chemong, and Rice Lake, will see winter fishing seasons for bluegill, yellow perch and black crappie. Walleye seasons will remain closed during the winter in F.M.Z. 17 with the exception of where they previously existed on Lake Scugog, Crowe Lake and the lower Trent River." Great job to all of those involved on this change, just hope they will have enough CO's to check on the possible walleye poachers.

That's an awesome post of trapped pelts LucG! I look forward to future posts. Stan

Happy birthday!! For all those involved in keeping the board as great as it is, give yourselves a pat on the back as you definitely deserve it!!

Hey Brian, I was looking into boots too and saw a pair of rubber insulated Redhead boots at BPS website that indicated 16" and 2000 grams of thinsulate. I would figure that would be sufficient for most outings. The boot that you indicated only had 200 grams of insulation and a battery that would last 3 to 8 hours, I would consider using the lower numbered time for the basis of reference as rechargeable batteries don't tend to last and the cold would make it last even less. Then you only have 200 grams of insulation once the battery goes. Anyways, I saw some Columbia boots at the Shoe Company yesterday but I wasn't looking for that model of boot. You might want to give them a call. BTW the website you provided only had limited sizes for that boot. I hope you noticed that. Good luck, Stan

Brian, which trail cam do you use?

Brian you're very likely correct, I just remembered that the Hunter's Ed course made special mention of it as it was also not allowed to have the bolt cocked and loaded like other firearms while in transport or during non-hunting hours.

Check your regs/Hunter's ed textbook guys and gals, a crossbow and a bow are considered firearms under the of Fish and Wildlife Act. It's not a long gun so would be excluded from the registry.

Congrats to you both!

Okay, I need you to elaborate on your opinion. Why do you believe it's the best?

I was truly not going to believe it could be that bad, but......... now I can't understand how anyone could listen and watch that longer than the 1m:04sec that I could bear. That was truly awful. I'm still getting shivers thinking about it as I type this. Glad I didn't watch the whole thing.

Uh oh, someone forgot to tell him there are hunting boots out there, I guess that will be the next up for field testing. (Not sure what TJ will put them through.) All said and done, TJ has got me sold on the socks too.

And after that get them to scrub down and maintain the site for a year or more!

Happy Birthday Rick (again)!!! I hope you have a great day!