johnnyb

Always a pleasure reading your posts Ben....can't wait to see what your pull through the ice

I never had much confidence in the chubby darter...tried it a few times...then got a Lindy Darter and bing bang boom I was catchin' fish! They're very similar baits...so I'm sure confidence is the main difference for me. But just do what Ben mentioned above....great for bringing fish in, and getting those aggressive ones out of the way quickly.

Nice work....it was a cold day indeed...but you found the key to success.

I heard that Pyzer was going to be there, and that was my motivation for going....but I had to help my parents get stuff put away for the winter, and there was the potential for some fishing, so I headed north. Unfortunately, the ice was covered in slush too thick to really do anything with the boat....and by the time chores were done, it was too dark to be poking around tribs on the way home. Ah well....there's always next year!

Ice any thicker now, Limey? It's been a week and a half....where's the report?!?!

I always thought I'd like the fish symbols too....but after a short while, I much prefer operating with that feature turned off. With only a few sizes of fish displayed on your screen....you don't get any idea of what you're looking at down there....but when you're in "arch" mode....you see a couple dots...you see a small line....you see a larger line....big fat arch....so much more variety and it gives you a better idea (I think) of what's going on "down there". I paid $169 USD for my Lowrance x67c....rigged it up in a nice little cooler bag to be a portable unit, and use it all year round. Absolutely love it Shipped it to some American relatives, and avoided any border shipping shenanigans.

I'm sure you meant pics of him down on his knees digging...but all I could think of was him doing the "Solo pose" with the scraper, instead of a fish And yeah...I'll bet there were some choice words...I hope this doesn't mean you got rid of the X-Trail?

Ha! Says you...but even if that's the case...it'll be just fine!

You got it first time we've been on the ice together in a loooong time!

I forgot that I subscribed to this thread! And YES I'm excited for ice....already saw a few smaller Muskoka lakes covered with a skim of ice and/or slush. And I've got a room booked in Callander for first ice on Nosbonsing in 3 weeks! Can't wait to start drillin

Ga-heeeze...nicely done. Wouldn't mind hooking the musky that feeds on those hawgs.....

You were cold and wet....so you identified with your quarry nice fish. Try some silicon spray on the float suit...I use it for waterproofing hiking boots, maps, tents...works well.

I pretty much only read your first post on this thread, RC...but the fact that this cat has been "clinically" diagnosed as bi-polar was enough for me. Seriously?! A cat psychologist?!? I dunno....if the gf isn't willing to leave the cat...you may have to move on

Awesome fish...nice to still get out so late in the year...fat ones like that are worth the weather, I say

Awesome stuff!!!!

I hear ya....you guys are most definitely in our prayers. Hug has been passed along

Thanks Wayne....LJ and I are booked for some first-ice fishing on Nosbon....which means I'll get my butt whipped, but will finally be able to put her back in a report LOL. As for the PowerPro, Limey....it sounds silly, but I'm inclined to think its the red stuff. Never had a problem with the green.

Thanks for the nice comments folks....twas a good day indeed. Limey...I think the cold was affecting my brain a bit. My cousin was using a "Trolls-to 20"...and I only had a "Dives-to 7" that matched the same profile. I didn't clue in until near the end of the day that my DT is meant to get to 7' on a cast...letting out enough line to troll had it skipping bottom with ease. I also found, however, that my powerpro was having an uncharacteristically hard time with the rocks....2 passes and I could break it with my hands...without so much as a sharp tug. If I were to get a second crack at it....I'd either use a couple anchors to stay on the spot...or troll something that just hits the shallowest part of the hump...instead of dragging my line right over it. Either way...that line's going in the garbage...not sure if it's because it's the red stuff, or it's just old and rotted....but PP has never let me down before. Switching back to the original green

Amazing report as usual...thanks for the detailed technical info

Wow...people really ARE awesome Wonder how long the vid would be if it showed all their missed attempts LOL

This year has really flown by…bicephalic and I have been busy crossing things off of our "to-do list", but haven't crossed a whole lot off the "to-fish list". FINALLY, late in the season, we were able to put a day together. Left Mississauga a couple minutes before 4:00am Sunday morning, and were in Muskoka, with the boat hitched up, fresh oil in the lower unit of the trusty Nissan 8hp, and rolling just a couple minutes before 7:00am. Now the question was….where to fish? Before turning on the main road, we grabbed a coin and took a minute to study it. The Queen faces right…which will take us to bass waters…and the potential of lakers as they're all year-round in that particular lake. Turning left would take us to pike waters where bicephalic caught his current PB a couple years ago. Heads =bass...tails=pike. To be honest…we were both thinking pike…so when the toss came up "heads" we decided on best 2 out of 3. Second flip…tails. Tie breaker: HEADS! All righty…bust out the bass gear…we are going to try and track down some fall-feedbag smallies! Quick drive down the road…then an easy ATV trail…couple deep puddles but nothing awful…and it was a short carry down to the water. I think we were fired up and floating by 8:00….not too shabby. The wind was quite a nasty wake-up call…and the sun hadn't found a way around the clouds yet, so we stayed in a protected bay and jigged for a bit….not a sniff. Got out into the wind, and did a bit of recon with the Lowrance…figured that we may as well troll while we scanned. 35FOW…up to 26-27…uneven bottom….43 degrees…brrr….ooohhh, here's a hump, coming up to 18FOW….now back down to 35. Hmmmm….our lures should be going over it soon….tick-tick-tick….yup…FISH ON!!! I was first to hook up, on a purple taildancer….and the fish quickly got off. Dang…but not 30 seconds later, bicephalic has one on! This chunky fellow (the fish, that is) found his way into the net just after 9:00. We is on the board!!!! 21 inches and none too skinny. Too big to keep, so back he goes. We trolled back and forth a couple more times, and whaddya know, we got ourselves a pattern! Get the lures dragging bottom over that hump, and whammo! 2 more smallies for bicephalic….19 inches apiece! All the action is getting bice warmed up enough to the point of almost being able to smile! Unfortunately, our pattern did not include any fish for me. Really started to seem like the fish had a preference for the fat, bulky profile bicephalic had (his lure, I mean! ), and were passing on the long slender profile of my taildancer. Knowing that it was swarming with fat, hungry fish, we wanted to be dragging tubes and dropshotting this point, but a few factors were working against us. First, the wind was too stiff for the driftsock to keep us moving slow enough, and second, the motor refused to warm up to the point where it would give us a nice slow idle…so staying in one spot was next to impossible. Didn't need the GPS to know that we were trolling faster than we should…felt close to musky speed. Not to mention that with ice forming on our rods and filling our reels with slush...it was tough to do the casting/jigging thing. A few more passes with no fish, so we went off in search of more similar structure. Found a gorgeous point with lots of traffic on the screen….no takers….dropped off into 60FOW and saw lots of laker-looking marks…dropped down the jigging spoons…one small bump but no commitment. The cold and wind was starting to slow us down….not to mention we couldn't buy a bite at any of the prime spots we were trying…spots that produce some nice fish whenever we hit this lake. You know it's bad when you start taking pics of the scenery…. We stopped off at an island…cranked up a quick fire and warmed up our lunch. I officially cemented my status as Guide when I gave bicephalic half my sandwich….sheesh! Eat my food….catch my fish…LOL The day was dragging on (much like this report), and we needed to either get into some fish, or get packing. We headed back to our original spot, and on what literally would have been our last trolling run of the day, bicephalic nails the fattest bass we've ever seen in person. At 20.25 inches long, it was shorter than his first piggy…but wow, did it ever out-girth it! Dropped the boat back off at my parent's place where they just happened to have a nice hot dinner waiting for us , and then home. And that was all she wrote – not often that I get skunked and don't care about it. We had a great day – no mechanical breakdowns…had a lot of laughs…and we put some nice fish in the boat. Can't wait to do it again!!

*I*F Radioworld is out....WestMarine has carried them in the past. Now I don't know if you're buying the ice unit itself, or what...but I bought the regular unit online for $165 USD last year...had it shipped to a friend in Michigan who brought it up...and rigged up my own little portable setup. If it's a gift for your Pop...well...you probably want to get him the nicey nice factory setup. But if it's something that you're going to permanently mount to the boat.....well there are definitely deals in the States.

Sounds like a good time....as expected when rolling with Lloyd. Pics look great too...but seriously....you wear that camera holder thing on your hat all the time?

Good work, Gman.....keep'em coming

Ohhhh this is painful. Sorry you can't go Wayne....but even MORE sorry that I can't! Hope somebody jumps on what is sure to be a golden opportunity.