Fang

OK it was a little too cold for me to brave the ice so I decided to head out to the shop and test out the new garage heater. Picked up that forced air propane heater at Liquidation world for $65 and temp in the garage was a cozy 19C all day long. For those of you (like me) that end up getting caught looking for a tow bar and find out stores have sold through their stock, here's a quick and easy way to make your own. A stop at Home Depot will have all you need Here's a picture of a store bought (top) and the Home Depot DIY (bottom) Materials list can all be found in the nuts and bolts aisle 2- 3ftx3/4 Aluminum Pipe 4- D shaped Chain bolts 1- 3/4" Chain Swivel 3- Trailer quick connects Basically all you need to do is drill a 5/16" hole in each eand of the pipe. Drill 1/2" from the end and make sure each hole is aligned the same way through the pipe. Then squeeze the pipe down to 1/2" in a vice or you can hammer it down carefully. See these shots to get the assembly . I flattend and rilled out a small right angle bracket and insert top and bottom to give the tow end a bit more stability. About the same cost as a store bought but when you're trying to find one mid season it's easier to make one. At the same Thrift store you can also get really cheap downhill skis. I picked up a pair for $7 yesterday bindings included and set out to fit them to my new Clam Nanook. Set the table saw up for 3/8" rip cut and raised the blade all the way up. A quick trim of the skis cross ways to a more level thickness and they were ready to measure/cut to fit. Boy does that fiberglass stink!! A few stainless nuts and I was done in 20 minutes. Here's the front of the ski with 2 bolts in and the third hole ready to have the next bolt inserted Both skis on Next on the project list is to build another dog sled type sleigh and redo my double decker storage rack. My Son's single up top and mine on the bottom. Keeps the clutter down in the garage and the wife happy!

That 74" hut may be a bit awkward to fit a store bought sleigh around. Easy Fix - make one youreself. I made this one a few years ago and it's super light and easy to pull. It carries 3-5G buckets and my auger and tackle box. I'll be putting it up in the classifieds soon and most likely building another to use up some of the extra materials I have kicking around. You can usually pick up a set of cross country skis at a Thrift shop or salvation armey outlet for $5-$10. A few sticks of lumber from Home depot and you can make it to fit any size and width. This one is 18" wide x 48" long and the seat is 19" off the ice Ditch the seat and widen it out to carry the sleigh. Instead of the straight slats you could easily make a box on top to carry your extra gear and strap the seligh on top. Too bad your in Oshawa. I'd offer my shop/garage and a few hours time if you were close by to build something that fit your needs

I was at GM in Buffalo between Xmas and new years and didn't see the Calcutta deal but they did have the GM reels on sale. Also had Stradic MG500 and MG1000 for $129 Great deals at Dicks on Huning clothing all 50% off

A buddy was out there this morning and there's a bunch of huts off Trenton so ice must be good. Call out to a couple of the bait shops and get an update

Drove up to Gilford around 10:30 this morning. wanted to be able to follow the safe pathways if there was any and I always go by the rule - never be the first out . Stopped by Innisfill Bait and Tackle and picked up 2 scoops of minnows just in case. Got down to the lake and saw about a hundred guys all south east of Gilford. To the north was heavy chunck ice that looked like it all got blown in - looked pretty rough. Talked to a couple of locals and they said to stay to the south. Just north of Gilford about 1/2 Km looked like open water. Pretty wide pressure crack had opened up. My son and I headed out on the worn footpath out to the horde and then followed a path to the most northerly group. Checked the ice a couple of times and there was 4" of black ice or more in all spots. Non stop action from 11 am till 4 pm. We pretty much went through all 2 scoops. Also hit a good number of fish on small ice jigs tipped with maggots. Most fish were typical 8-9"ers but we did get a good number of bigger ones. Wifey's rinsing off the fillets as I type. Then it's a cold beer, the junior game and a plate of fresh perch. Fishing was too good to take a lot of pictures. Maybe post a couple after dinner. Biggest was maybe 13" but most arounf 10" Ice conditions to the north of Gilford still very unsafe from what I saw. A few quads and machines were running huts out but even from a couple hundred yards away the water in hole fishing hole was going up and down. If anyones going tomorrow stay with the crowd and everyone was south of the Kon Tiki marina.

I use a 6" auger cause 8" gets too darn tough to drill through lots of ice. I can drill 2-6" side by side and chip out the middle if I need a bigger hole. Pulled a 17lb laker out of a 6" hole last year. Right now I don't think there's a better deal than the St Croix Premier rods for $22 bucks at Fishing World. They do come with a reel too for under $40 most places. I use the 32" Medium action for walleye, steelhead and lakers but did see a Medium Light that looked and felt interesting. I like the longer rods as I fish all the time out in the open. The medium action has a bit more back bone for when fishing in +40FOW. Have used 6 lb in previous years but pretty much now stick to 8lb Pink Raven (steelhead line). It handles great in the cold and does not ice up as much as other lines and works better on the edges of the auger holes than 6lb. The pink color is great for standing out visusally and I can say I've seen line jump a couple times with hits when the rod doesn't move I run to a sampo or Pline swivel and then tie in a 3 ft section of 10lb flouro. Unless your using an ice braid be prepared for it icing up. Power pro is not to bad but in real cold weather braid ices in the hole too much.

coming home just before dark today. 16 mile and bronte were high and very muddy - distinct sign of the red clay run off. The ice on the lower stretches is all gone but I'd think it'd be another day or so before fishable

yes it WAS mostly iced over in the river, but today is showing a lot of mud.

Stopped by Fishing World in Hamilton. Picked up a new hand warmer, ice line and headed home again. Stock levels looked really low. Hope they had good sales this holiday season.

Funny topic just booked a hotel room through Priceline in USD for an overnight shopping trip to Buffalo next week. Called right through to the hotel just before booking. Best corporate rate for a room was $109 prepaid/night Just snagged it on Priceline for $64. I'll spend the $40 at Gander mountain. Bid $50 and didn't get it but they emailed me back and said if I increase bid by $14 a search for hotels with availble openings would be successful. Oh I forgot to add WW. check out this site or travel booking on trip advisor. They don't just do the hotels but also airlines and other services.

Saw a forced air propane heater at Liquidation World on Thursday.It's one of those tube ones with a blower. Hooks into a 20lb propane tank and has electric start. Would do great in my garage/workshop 35000 BTU for $68 Other than that I'm not busting my hump to battle any crowds tomorrow. Think I'll check out some ice to see what damage the rain did. If it tightens up I'll be fishing on Sunday Gotta look around for a center pin this winter. That was on my Xmas list but never did get out to look at any

Really quite disappointing. Not that I was planning to brave Vaughan Mills mall on Boxing day (did it once and never again!!!)

Yep we've used primarily Avion Travel and the now defunct SellOff Vacation.com What we've done in the recent is check the web and then have a summary of the all the deals we were interested in and then dropped by the sales office to talk to a real rep. We got the same deals and learned a lot more about the resorts we were looking at. Plpus they have the ability to add conditions like room view and beds with the bookings. Something you can't do just online. Other things we've learned to trust is trip advisor. Check this site out to get actual reviews on the place were you're staying plus the top things to do in the area

I'm a fan of the BPS Extreme rods and reels. Have a few (maybe too many) and they've all performed very well High end rain gear? They have great gortex stuff. Boots too! These tend not to break down as you're concerned with warranty and repairs. You also can ship BPS rods and reels to customer service in the US for warranty claims

My all time fav http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gKTHvW2JcAA

Well since buying myself a new steelhead rod, the fall season has been a bust just trying to get out and fish. Always too busy, wind/weather, rivers blown out. Went for a drive on Saturday and tried checking out an old spot only to find the rivermouth frozen completely over. Saw track and holes drilled so I thought what the heck and got my ice fishing gear together for the trek out Sunday morning. Things were slow but had a good chat with a couple of the locals who have been out the last 2-3 days on 4+ inches of good black ice and it was making ice all the time I was out. Really good to hear that ping and crack again. Fished a slack water area in about 6ft and had one hit on a small silver spoon tipped with Berkley Maggots. Asleep at the wheel!! Moved out off the shoreline to a bit deeper water next to the channel after I saw a couple guys go first. I like this spot as it comes off a wall and is a natural funnel for fish moving in and out of the estuary. About 30 minutes later a good solid whack and fish on. Nice fight and colors. Cell phone shot as the camera was left on the dresser this morning. No hits on roe at all . Looking forward to a few more trips over the holdiays

Haven't seen something this cool in a while

BC If you subscribe to Bell HD and have an HD receiver already (but not a PVR) it can be turned into one instantly by connecting an external computer hard drive (HDD) to it. When you plug in the HDD it walks you through a tutorial. I picked up a HDD for about $70. The remotes for Bell HD receivers already have all the buttons to play/record on them. just like the VCR, Only issue is you have to be watching the program to record it. You can set up the box to record shows the same time each week automatically.

Free Time Sports in Woodstock had a sale on $49.99 for brand new ice augers, 5-8" sizes. Saw it on Kijiji - Ice Augers under London You'll get your money back on that one if you don't like ice fishing

Yup! Got the idea from watching all the west cost shows. Kind of a combination mooching/fly rod idea that I'm sure other guys are doing. I ran it with smaller spoons at around 20-40 ft with long leads out in the blue zone. Put the line in the release a little lighter and only a slight bend in the rod. Only had a few hours with it late in the season but it'll get a full workout next year in 300 FOW. Can't wait for a big bow to hit it.

The Albright Bugatti I bought is now spooled with 14lb mono and has made 2 trips out on lake Ontario. With the drag system I'm able to set this reel up in the rigger on the 9.5 7/8 wt GP rod . Only problem in those 2 trips is I never did get a hit on it so I can't tell you how it stands up. Still too new but next season that rod/reel will be out on every trip to the blue zone. Looking forward to some bloody knuckles I've seen and played with the GPX reels, very solid and not too heavy

check out year end clear out at Albright Fly Reels. Decent prices Last year I picked what i figured was a low end 7/8 (Bugatti) for about $35. I'd say it probably a $100 reel at retail. I bought 2 GP Fly rods as well and they are really nice. They even sell some Spey rods. The 9.5ft 7/8 GP rod is really nice and at $59 USD a great deal. For what I was going to spend on trout/salmon outfit up here I was able to buy a 7wt steelhead set up and also a seperate 8-9wt salmon If your looking for small trout reel 4-5 wt PM me I have an Orvis CFO III that has not been outside for 15 years. I'd let it go for $150

Yep 6 inch auger and pick up the St. Croix ice combos - rod and reel for about $40 They make several different actions. There'll be a train of OFC'ers on Simcoe each weekend. I could live with only 6 ice fishing lures and that will cover most fish species. Hooks and minnows are primary bait for most of the season

gotta love a come back!!!

Welcome to the OFC Josh, I've been in Marketing for the last 20 years and this is a real and honest reaction of todays consumers. What I might have suggested is to get some actual positive feedback from a valuable source like OFC members (a lot of $$$ power here) is post a link under contest and provide 25 free copies of the latest magizine and then follow up with each member with a list of selected focused question depending on what type of information your looking to get feedback on. I spend my days sifting through market research and focus group feedback looking for the next diamond in the rough and fully understand how difficult and competitive some fields are especially when comparing grass roots companies to larger coproration in the same market. Everybodies looking for an edge to sell more product. Hope you find what you're looking at and here's my two cents. Your magazine has poor if any retail distribution up here. Can't say I've ever seen it on the shelf. As far as the show, I'd agree with most and say from an overall tone it's bit too much like a long commercial.