Tom McCutcheon

Geeze Mike I just put two and two together, that's one beauty of a Muskie you got there. Come on out to the meeting and share the stories with all us other nuts. I am sure you will fit right in with that qualifier, beats my personal best by about 14 or 15 inches. Tom.

Meegs; we had a similar problem with our unit. I found it easier to just take the unit to Lowrance in Missasauga and in about 5 minutes they downloaded the updates and checked and or replaced the transducer. Everything was still under warranty. I live near Peterborough on Pigeon Lake but head to THE BIG SMOKE often. Good luck

Just hung up the phone with the Tech guys at Lowrance. They agreed with many others on the forum and stated it was alright to use the unit in the winter so long as it was NOT left out for an extended period of time (overnight) in extreme cold. The unit may react slowly in those conditions but so long as you are aware of this it should be no problem. There is even a cigarette lighter adapter power cord with 3 amp fuse which can be purchased for a quick connection to the ATV. I still think I will enclose the unit in some sort of box to try and keep the wind chill to a minimum while running across the snow and ice. Thanks again for the responses. Tightlines all and be safe out there. Tom.

Thanks again guys for the responses. I will try to get in touch with the Techs. at Lowrance and run it by them. I will let you know the results when I get through to them. Tom.

Thanks for the replies. Sorry I am so late responding I am on dial-up and only check in every couple of days, very frustrating at times. I do have a hand held unit without the mapping capacity but wish to try and keep both hands on the helm of the bike (so to speak). Tom

Just a question. Has anyone used their boats GPS/fishfinder in the winter for ice fishing? I have a Lowrance 522C with the GPS chip and wish to mount it on the front of an ATV. Only the GPS would be powered from the atv battery, the transducer connection would not be used. I am asking this because the instruction manual states it is operable to -28C, thats darn cold but I don't want to end up with an $800. paperweight. Your thoughts are appreciated Thanks Tom.

Lew I did that same job with one of the dealers in London for two years after I retired. It was real neat meeting different people all over the province and they even paid me to deliver a new vehicle to Halifax once. All they had to do was pay for the lobster and I would have delivered it for nothing. Good luck and keep the RUBBER SIDE DOWN. Tom

Sorry Rich I can't help you; it's all Greek to me. I just wait for someone to take pity on me in my fog and do it for me!!!! Tom

Hi Rich. It also was nice to meet you and Pattsie. I'm sorry your luck was no better than mine, even after we showed you where the fish live. LOL!! I couldn't hook into a muskie all week, but Mike managed to get one on Saturday on the Pickeral River 48X19. It was his personal best and good enough to win the Swan Trophy for the MCI Pig Out. All in all it was a great week. I don't mind being the net man. Glad you had a good time with your dad, like Lew said they don't happen as often as they should and the memories will be with you forever. Tom.

I've got a picture on my wall of two 7lb. perch being held out at arms length.

stoty; I just installed the 520C on my brothers boat. When we first turned it on all we got was an error message saying the GPS module was not responding. I called the support number and they asked all the correct questions like; "is it wired right?-- yes" "is the antenna obstucted?--no" and then "can you bring it in?" I live on Pigeon Lake and that is about a 2hr. trip one way but the answer was yes. When I got there the tech. looked at it right away and said that the antenna was POOCHED and gave me another one. I reinstalled the unit and tried it again. Same problem. Called them again and said I would put the boat on the trailer and bring it to them, they said they would be waiting for me. Pulled into the parking lot/loading dock area and 4 techs were waiting for me and they were all over the boat like monkeys on a bannana. First they double checked all my connections and found everything to be correct. Then they checked the antenna again and it was fried again. They replaced everything including the 520C and checked the GPS in the parking lot, everything was working fine locked on 6 satelites. Got back to the lake and launched and the GPS worked but the sonar would not stay locked on a depth even when just drifting (no cavitation.) By the way we also have a 125 sonar which uses the same transducer as the 520C and it works well, (just not colour or GPS) I am not a wizard when it comes to sonar and GPS but I do have over twenty years of experience when it comes to operating them and do know when there is something not right with a certain unit. My brother is going to take it back to where he purchased it and upgrade to a larger screen. We may have just had a lemon and that does happen, but it was very frustrating. Personaly I like and prefer the Lorance products and can not say enough about the staff at the Lorance repair facility. I hope you have many years of reliable use from your new purchase. Tom.

Dutch; we sold our place in London On. 4 years ago and bought a house on a back bay of Pigeon Lake. we don't get any strange boats other than the odd professional bass fisherman past the dock and in the winter I make a large rink with help from the neighborhood kids on the lake. the snow machines are a bit noisy, but then you just turn up the sound of the movie or hockey game until they go home. I also would not trade this life for the world, highly recommend doing your homework and then jump in with both feet. We are also on the east side of the lake so therefore still only about 20 minutes from Peterborough services. Good luck

my brother and I used the Esox rig on Pigeon last year and had a lot of success with them. we lost a lot of the plastic fringe and tinsel after a hit because the musky just ripped them apart. we then decided to use a very small (white or black) electrical cable tie right after opening the jig package, this saved a lot of hassels.

Hi Jenerous; one thing to remember is the season for walleye ends in some areas the end of Feb. and March 15th in most other locations. If you are making reservations, do it soon. Good luck. Tom

Fish farmer; my knees are shot and won't stand the torture of the walk like they used to. tjsa; we knew the fine would be more than $100. each. Thanks all for your thoughts I was just feeling a little frustrated last night. Much better this morning. Tom

packed up the quad and Trap ice hut and headed to Keswick to meet my brother for a day of perching. About ten minutes to Keswick and I get stopped for speeding, the officer was considerate and reduced the ticket to 70 in a 60 therefore no points loss, only $40.00 lighter in the wallet. I thanked him sincerely for doing his job and I was on my way again. Met Mike at Harrys Bait and unloaded the equipment and got ready to head out. Mike went in and paid for parking and two scoops of minnows $12.00. He comes out and looks at me and I said I left our two helmuts hanging on their hooks in my garage!!!!!! He says mayby Harry has a couple of extras he could rent us for the day. Good idea but no go. Tried Crappy Tire but the cheapest they had were $100.00. Decided to call it a day and cut my losses at 9 AM. rather than take a chance and head out with out the proper gear, so we went for a drive to Roaches Point and talked to a couple of guys just heading out, gave them our minnows and headed home. Mike was going to stop at Bass Pro on his way home so it was'nt a wasted day for him. I probably should have turned around at 7:30 when I got the ticket. Oh well the perch will be there the next time. Just a little rant and a kick in my ass to make a check list before heading out the next time.

My brother (Blues) just got a new Lund Mister Pike 18 with 135 Merc Opti on the back. That will look real nice parked at my dock this summer. LOOK OUT MUSKY. He takes delivery in April. Now he has to sell his old boat 16 ft. Smokercraft Resorter. Thanks for 2ft itis.