AKRISONER

really really hoping this little cold snap will start to get things locked up around here on the bigger waters. Lots of back lakes are skimmed in zone 15...I plan on trying to at least build a rink on one of them. Who knows I will probably end up trying to catch a few pan fish for entertainment too at some point. Its my annual "will scott fall through the ice? Christmas tradition" so far Im on a falling through streak the last two years lol.

never mind winter tires, how many people are running on belted slicks or better yet...driving essentially without brakes.

Just saw a stat on the weather network, Saturday will be the coldest day in toronto since February 2023, and it’s only supposed to be -10

This is a bit of a weird one, like anything there is some inherited nuance. I run big (expensive yeesh) all terrains on my truck, my truck in 4x4 with those tires is certainly a hell of a lot safer than a rear wheel drive mustang with snow tires. My idea, buy one expensive set of tires that gets me through anything. my wifes crv? It’s got winters. as someone else alluded to…it would be criminal to make someone that lives in the Niagara region to get winters, they see snow on the ground 20 days tops these days. they haven’t even had any snow yet this year!

Lake Lanier, it’s not a lake that Chris Johnston is particularly familiar with. He just knew how things were going to be lining up to win the tournament. this is the greatest misconception about FFS, people think that because it exists you don’t need to pattern fish anymore. 1. It’s useless up shallow in grass 2. Fish have seasonal movements, if you don’t know that…you probably aren’t competing in any form of fishing. my clubs current angler of the year, is a guy that throws a jig about 90% of the time. the whole “I lost because of ffs” thing is a convenient excuse for guys that aren’t very good at fishing. Shocking, the best anglers in fishing including in my club and at the pro level, were still winning before ffs. the Johnstons have been taking everyone’s money long before ffs yes, you throw me on a smallmouth lake in September, ya I’m probably going to outfish you if I have FFS and you don’t. But i can assure you, im still going to catch fish even if i don’t have it. It’s not like anyone I know that’s decent at fishing is hopeless without it. It’s one of many tools in an arsenal. Maps have caught me far more fish than any sonar ever has, that’s for damn sure lol.

just to be clear, only some units...mega live 2 will not be supported on the helix series of units.

hate to break it to you...but its the same guys the current Bassmaster AOY entered a no electronics super tournament with a huge buy in...and guess what..he won

improvements will simply be range and target separation for the next bit IMO, the fact that Garmin has 2 transducers for different ranges...someone is going to fix that with the swiftness. Be it a frequency function change, or perhaps just a transducer that is a little wider with a cone selection, similar to choosing your frequency for side imaging for more range...or just figuring out how to stitch all of that together.

good news for the h-bird boys they are finally getting decent FFS...just catching up though, nothing groundbreaking yet.

Don’t run graphs on the same battery as your trolling motor, it will give you interference issues. You’d be better off getting a 10ah or 20ah lithium for the sonar.

Zaldain has the same deal going on his boat too, hds 12, apex 12 and a GPS map. I do have to say, wheeler's set up is horrific and giving me an aneurism. He clearly should have called up the guys at Geigertech but I have to assume he has some deal with Boat logix. Here's probably the wildest electronic's set up on the planet, although he swapped one of the garmins on the bow for an NBT during the season. Here you can see his bow set up at the final st lawrence event. https://www.bassmaster.com/takumi-ito/video/taku-ito-moving-into-the-top-10-at-st-lawrence/ New bassmaster rules now make Taku's set up illegal. Perhaps the biggest impact it will have is that "crappie brakes" are now illegal and no one is allowed to run livescope deucers off of their jackplate anymore. I could see this quickly changing though, someone is going to release an all in one deucer for sure in the near future. The idea of side scanning in live time makes complete sense. I also think that this LVS XR and LVS 34 will just be combined into one deucer with multiple frequency selections. I think thats basically where this stuff is headed in the near term. Especially because they are only allowing one FFS deucer on Bassmaster now. Dont even get me started on MLF..their zany weird rules are ridiculous.

a green christmas in dryden makes me want to cry.

Go to a bass tournament, youll see 50 boats launch in 30 minutes.

Honestly, after what HB came out with in their first iteration, Ill believe it when I see it lol. I have one factoid that is of interest to our members here Mega Live 2 will not be supported on the helix line of HB products. It will be exclusive to solix and Xplore Lets be dead serious here guys, you can get into Livescope + right now with a 10 inch screen for $3200, you cant even come close to beating thar pricing under any manufacturer. I got to fish with a lowrance active target on and HDS 12 this summer and honestly I still like my old junk LVS32 better than what lowrance was offering. Lowrance's mapping system is certainly better than garmins, but when it comes to live imaging no one is touching garmin...yet

we were battling some really warm lake temps here parry sound was still in the high 40's last weekend, but that snow acted like a giant ice cube and sure enough i got word that some ice has started forming close to shore in the back bays. The inland lakes have also skimmed over...we of course are also due for a clipper mid week which I wish would be cold rather than snow, beggers cant be choosers though after last year.

Absolutely agree...youd think there would be a nautilus or discount kirkland lithium by now. Pretty straight forward on this one...1. Cost and 2. Space 3. Charger implications I got word of a deal from a friend and was able to get a Roypow (now Epoch) 36v 100Ah premium line self heating, bluetooth, waterproof battery for $899 US Im seeing the same battery now listed for $1499us...only catch was that it would only ship within the CONUS...so I am going to have to drive down to Michigan before next season and bring it over the border. Im lucky my brother runs a warehouse in Michigan so it is there until I can get down there to get it. 2. Space 3 batteries is a larger footprint than 1, its a big bloody battery though, its 20 inches long and 10 inches wide. 3. Finally, with my current mix of AGM's for starting and electronics (I will eventually switch these to lithium when the time comes) Its easier for me to just grab a 36v charger to add into the boat to do my trolling motor batteries for now instead of needing to buy a 5 bank lithium capable charger. Eventually when I replace my starting and electronics batteries, I will simply buy a 2 bank lithium charger and be done with it.

i was able to get a 36v 100AH Heated, Bluetooth, waterproof lithium for $1200 last week. Canadian tire is selling their AGM's for $440... Lithium prices have collapsed. I spoke with a friend who is an electrical engineer that specializes in energy storage and I grilled him on capacity, output, size, weight and his recommendation was that going lithium was a total no brainer. Encouraged me strongly to make the switch. Heres perhaps the biggest stat change of all. Having two Group 100AH Group 31 AGM's in series to make 24volts in my boat...67lbs per battery for a total of 134lbs I am now upgrading to a 36v 100AH system (equivalent of 3 batteries) total weight...74lbs Ill also add, im on year 3 with my AGM's and they are pooched already. I'm too hard on trolling motor batteries. My other 2 in the boat are still fine, but 10 hour days fishing on the great lakes and close to 400hours+ pushing them every year just cooks them too fast. Apparently lithium will hold up to this a lot better as well. They still charge up and have juice for the first few hours, but they cant get me through a long day fishing in 50km wind anymore and that doesn't cut it in a tournament day. its a big big ol battery...just need to figure out where to fit it in the bilge area 🤪

I’d go with taro Murata

Go to boats.net then go through the process of selecting your model number and it will give you the part number for the water pump kit

change mine every 100 hours!

love a northern bucket!

thats the major difference we experience here in the balmy south. Growing up daytime highs in Southern Ontario were never much below the freezing mark and more specifically when the big weather systems moved in from the south, our snowfalls were always hovering around the freezing mark. Usually a big storm came with some mixing of freezing rain etc. and now with this warming climate a couple of degrees to the warmer side, suddenly most of our big weather events in the winter just fall as cold heavy rain. Up in your neck of the woods, it might not be -20 for weeks on end anymore, its more like -10 or even into the single digits below freezing, but its still winter. I couldnt believe it, i drove to kapuskasing through cochrane for work in early march last year and it was already spring...the snow was basically on its last legs. heck I was boating in parry sound in march! not a skim of ice in sight. I swear any person that "loves" the winters weve been having these past few years is absolutely sick in the head. give me -15 and sunny over +2 and pouring rain/dreary...honestly there may be no colder weather than when it pours rain and its hovering around freezing. Last year didnt we break a record for the most consecutive cloudy days? If i recall we had some kind of stretch of 40 days straight from november to january where it was cloudy +5 and grey...and people are celebrating it?

I used to like winter a lot, but after the past few "winters" weve had, it makes putting the boat away harder than ever. Perhaps an oldschool winter with snow and ice that will allow me to enjoy outdoor winter activities will dampen the blow.

Some of the local marinas charge quite a lot to launch. Personally Id recommend my old neighbors Brian and Hilda Rolf at "the moorings" at the end of northshore road. Brian is a really nice guy and the parking is wide open. Take it easy if you are navigating the area for the first time. The area is beautiful, drive slow and safe, watch your chartplotter and take in some scenery to find the same route to where you are going. If you head into the shawanaga river, be sure to avoid the shoal in the narrows before it opens up.

they roam my yard mid day too in town. As far as im concerned, they are free pest control. They recently caught a red squirrel at 2am on my front lawn. The noise they made as they fought over the meal scared the bejesus out of us as it was literally 15 feet from our bedroom window, however another red squirrel dead is great as far as I am concerned. Free vermin removal.