TroutnMuskieHunter

I bought a new boat this year and although we still have a few months of fishing weather, I'm starting to think about what I should do as far as storage goes...I have a 20' Tracker, no garage, but lots of storage area around the property... I saw the "garage-in-a-box" on sale at CTC for $299.97 (12x20x8') and I realize that the bow will be slightly exposed, but I can probably drape a tarp over the top of the shelter and extend it over the bow..any experiences using this?? The other option I was looking at was the blue shrink wrap, but I was told that it's ~ $15/ft so that is going to run me over $300 and I'm not sure if you can reuse it year after year..... Any suggestions would be appreciated!! Steve

Thanks for all the nice replies!!...it's been hell at work with traveling and I'm almost done with it until the fall ....hope to get out a lot more now and post some more troutnmuskie reports

I got a call this weekend from an old buddy that wanted to know if I'd like to meet him up at his camp for a bit of fishing, ATV'ing and slinging some pops back for a couple of days :shock: ......my reply was-----> HELL YA!! I threw a few things in the truck and took off yesterday morning...I helped with a few repairs to the camp that my buddy was tasked with and then we went out and played for the remainder of yesterday and the entire morning today... "dog days of August" :?: .......not that bad!!....caught lots of 12" specks and this years stock of bows... I did however manage to coax this beauty teenage male into hammering one of the many flies I tried presenting this morning..... Some other scenic photos from my quick 1 1/2 day get-away.... Mirror like reflection on the water..... Our hungry buddy..... Another hungry buddy.... I'm in heaven..... This last picture is DISGUSTING!!! :twisted: :evil: ........we rode the ATV's to a few of our old trout stomping grounds and I was appalled at what I saw at one of lakes we used to camp on!!!!!!......What would possess someone to do this to a prestine area????????.......If only we could catch these IDIOTS in the process :evil: :twisted: :evil: :x

Thanks Roy.....I'm just hoping there are no surprises all over my boat cover

Grabbed my first coffee this morning and went outside to only find that I had 2 guys fishing from my dock...I decided to let them stay for a while because they were pretty quiet!

Great report Terry!.....sure beats siting at home or being stuck in the office!!

What an awesome trip Mike and Bill!!....thanks for sharing your adventure!!

For sure Lew.....I had no issues with the new ride but I also have the latest Navionics card for my HDS-5....what a blessing that is!!!!......it's his next investment

Hey Jamie...shoot me a pm with the dates that you're going to be up here in September..I plan on taking a couple of weeks off and might be able to get out with ya or at least point you in the right direction;)

Lew, I gave him a call yesterday and he told me that he took the boat in to one of the local Marinas here in the west end because the motor hasn't been running well since he got back.....the mechanic told him the gears are all chipped/cracked in the lower unit.....$8000 he's putting a claim through his insurnace now

Have fun Rob!.......we were up there between July 4th - 11th....that was the week of the heatwave..Water temp when we launched the boat at the hub was 67F and by midweek it soared to 78F ...Walleye were plentiful but most were caught in the evening..here's my buddy with the biggest... Never seen the water so low...I was talking to a guy that was on his 4th prop during his 2 week stay

Just use the RED and BLACK wires and don't forget to use an in-line fuse for protection....

Like Terry said, if you're just using the sonar and GPS, make sure you tape each unused wire seperately and then tape them up as a bundle....I didn't do that when i first bought mine and I was getting intermittant issues with losing my GPS coordinates and water speed....I called Lowrance and the first thing they asked me was if there were any wires not being used and if so, did I tape them....I've never had any more issues since I did that...

Jer .....Awesome tribute for your buddy and so sorry to hear about your loss!....we are also animal lovers and have 2 dogs and 3 cats, all who have been saved/rescued.... I lost my hound 6 years ago from being poisoned and my wife and I were torn....she didn't want another dog but I was persistant and we went to the local Humane Society in Arnprior.....these were the 2 brats left from a litter of 8 and we couldn't find it in our hearts to leave them there....we adopted them and the household was happy again They're are boys now!!

Felt here in Constance Bay....it wasn't just a small vibration either. Lasted about 90 seconds..

How true Lew....I don't mind for now. It gives me an excuse to get out and do more Trout fishing for another few weeks!!

I recently purchased a boat lift for the new boat so that I could ensure that one, the Muskrats wouldn't get in and chomp on the electrical cables and second, I could try and keeep the Ottawa River "grime" off the boat. ..I put the lift in around 4 weeks ago... So, I finally wait for the Muskie season to open up here and get the boat in the water only to find that we have visitors that have decided to camp on the boat lift and the wife is adamant that they be our guests and are NOT DISTURBED under any circumstances!!!! . ..so now I've got to launch and take the boat out whenever I want to head out which is a pain in the arse!!!! Here's what they look like....I'm hoping they'll soon Flock-off so that I can finally leave the boat in and use the lift 8) Here's Mom...

Are you guys staying at Rick's place?

Won't be up until the following week..

Hey 10point.....what dates are you going to be up there???...I'm heading up in a couple of weeks to.

Awesopme report right there Pete!!!....Those Muskies sure look healthy...congrats!

Hey Brian, If you haven't done the test yet, send me a pm. I have a $20 discount coupon/code for you if you use BoaterExam.com

My bad Stan!!! ...congrats to "the-instructor" for netting your first Muskie

Congrats!!

There's nothing "smart ass" about my reply lad. ......I was giving you some constructive feedback based on your post and based on my experiences as being a fairly knowledgable Muskie angler...