AKRISONER

if only we had some ice making weather 😒 This looks like an open water tournament for the foreseeable future. what a season were having thus far. The prizes set up for this tournament are impressive. I noticed yesterday there were already winners and they haven't even wet a line yet. Impressive.

I still see a few mr pike’s in use. You wanna talk about a bulletproof boat, sheesh

Seemingly all of my money goes into my electronics these days. Maybe I’m a gadget guy and I just didn’t realize it lol. although with the amount of laketrout fishing I do with one rod through the ice these days, I’m heavily considering getting a high quality reel for the rod. Seems worthy since it’s the only rod in my hand for 90% of the winter with parry sounds 1 rod rule.

Merry Christmas everyone, hope you are all staying somewhere warm tonight

I’m still a believer that if you want to simply invest money in your reels you’ll never be disappointed. stradic 1000’s and you’ll have an ice real that will last you a life time.

Ya, I fished out of longford In July? Not sure if anything has changed?

There’s a public launch on the west side? Is there a limitation to the amount of time you can park?

how about the fact that a huge volume of fish are caught on the ice every year hand bombing tip ups. Once again, please do not confuse me with the "my $30 canadian tire combo catches em just the same" crowd. Im not claiming to be that, I do spend a bit of money on my ice fishing rods, I just dont see the need what so ever to go above and beyond. Especially for any fish either >2lbs and under 8lbs. You can pretty much use any medium/MH rod and it will do the job. You want to try fight a big laketrout, you might want to beef up your rod, you want to detect negative bites from crappie, you might want a really good tip. No need to blow $300 though. Reels? Line capacity and a decent drag system. You arent concerned about casting distance, you also dont particularly need smooth retrieve because you arent winching in baits on the retrieve non stop all day. Ive been using the same shimano sienna 1000's for the past 7 years? I paid like $50 for them.

13 seems to make some decent ice stuff. Id honestly never fish their stuff softwater, but own a few of their ice rods. I don’t over complicate it when it comes to ice gear. It sort of is what it is. can’t speak for their reels, not sure I’d bother, stick with a decent shimano and call it a day. I will say, finding a rod that “loads” nicely when you start going into heavier rods for laketrout, or one with a light enough tip for crappie IS where money needs to be spent. But it’s not like you will ever suffer “working a bait” i saw that loomis started making $300 ice rods and I couldn’t help but laugh…this is coming from a guy with a bunch of loomis rods, I even agree that they are just stupid.

I agree with Crow, if you actually broke the rod itself, the rods basically toast. If you just screwed up the eyelet then it can be repaired. Ive got a broken Orochi in my basement as we speak that I for whatever reason havnt thrown in the garbage even though I know I will never repair it.

If you have a terrova, go with a pole and you will be happy, just make sure you have a pole that is easily handled from where you fish the most or it will drive you insane. I dont personally like the configuration of how my old man has it set up, its too on the side of the boat and not easily handled without leaning over and annoys me. Re: seeing your trolling motor, you wont be able to see a ton in the first foot of water anyways on the scope. I kinda argue that anything shallower than 8fow is basically pointless with the livescope unless in perspective mode. If you go with the lvs32 and want a perspective mode mount a guy reverse engineered them in the states and 3d printed them. He sells them for like $25 a piece shipped instead of the $100+ that garmin charges.

well, i can give you my opinion cause i fish it both ways extensively. To me its dependent on the trolling motor you are using. Electric steer like a terrova, id probably/maybe (im still not fully convinced) opt for a hand mount, cable steer/cable style electric steer id 100% put it on the trolling motor. I run a garmin force with it mounted on the TM on my boat and I will tell you right now that it is the ultimate way to use livescope, that is until this target lock system really hits the maintstream. The way to use livescope is to scan around for fish, while fishing and with a hand mount, you simply have to stop fishing to be able to use the livescope. Not to say that a lot of the time if im really intently searching for fish to pitch to, im not doing a ton of casting anyways. The speed and agility of having livescope connected to your trolling motor via a fast steer system the livescope essentially becomes a part of your body, almost like you are some form of terminator cyborg that can scan underwater in real time. This ability is hindered by the slow steering speed of a terrova or other MK electric steer style motor. Terry has a point about spot lock being a little annoying, I dont disagree, you lose your target the second you hit that anchor button. So consider how you will be fishing the most. I did a vertical walleye jigging trip a few weeks back, and if im being honest, ya I wish my livescope was on a pole because it can be hard to pick up whats going on underneath the boat. At the same time, I have another screen with 2d sonar to show me what is going on underneath the boat. The livescope was shining when the bite would taper off and I would simply flip the pedal around and find the next pod of fish. I think if it was me, and I was running a terrova or other electric steer style TM, id run it on a pole, the inability to have the feeling of the livescope view being directly connected to my body instantly would be the deal breaker for me. Youd be surprised how hard it can be to really really dial in on a fish while the wind is blowing and the waves are crashing moving your boat. You need that ability to finely tune the aim of the transducer, and I just dont find that it would be easy with a trolling motor that steers somewhat slowly. Ill give you another tip of advice as you embark on this journey, it may or may not be implied, but if you spot fish off of the boat with the scope, stay the hell off of them. Youd be blown away at how much of a difference this makes.

If the user knows how to use their electronics? With utmost absolute certainty, especially with ffs.

funny how it works right, because the newest tech is still insanely expensive. it’s absolutely nothing these days to be running 10k+ worth of electronics on a boat!

that 598 is almost the same size as a helix 7!

No one “needs” a stereo in their vehicle either. it’s all about what you like spending your money on. As a guy that lives completely “vice” free, no smokes, no coffees, don’t drink much, don’t gamble, I effectively spend my surplus cash on my favourite hobby. as described above, I’ve grown from having two 7 inch screens on my boat to now setting up 3 10’s. can the two 7’s I started with do some of the stuff my 10’s do? Ya, but definitely not everything. if you are running forward facing sonar on your boat I quickly realized that the single 9 inch screen at the bow left me wanting a second screen so that I could see a map and 2d sonar still. You may or may not believe it but electronics without a single doubt if you use them well will put a heck of a lot more fish in the boat. I’m not just saying that, ask the guys that fish in my boat, nearly every trip I go out I manage to catch a fish that I watch eat on livescope. Never mind just locating fish with it. My spring laketrout program that I run with livescope puts me at an absolutely ridiculous advantage over anyone not running it.

im going to disagree about going with a 5 because a 5 in a boat feels very very small. I personally believe that you are best to get something that is dual purpose to get more bang for your buck. You wont regret getting a unit that doubles up as a GPS that has autochart functionality and doubles as an ice unit. I brought my helix 7 up with me to Capreol and spent my time autocharting around our fishing holes and it allowed for us to dial in our stuff much more effectively. I didnt find it to be a burdon at all, it still fit in my Ice unit bag.

always go with the biggest you can afford is how I look at it. You will never regret having "too much screen" just like boats, you dont ever hear anyone say "dang i wish I had less horsepower and a smaller boat" lol By the way, you can run a 9" garmin with panoptix effectively all day on one lithium battery. They were on sale with the charger last winter for $100 and save you a lot of weight vs carrying 2 lead batteries to power a 7 inch screen for a full day.

the noco genius line tends batteries and charges them. You can effectively leave your battery plugged into one full time and it will not overcharge your batteries. It monitors voltage and ensures that they are topped up when needed.

Can’t go wrong with a Humminbird helix 7. either that or a Garmin echomap 95sv

I rig it number 3, but I also dont throw a senko, ive thrown a trick worm on them, but truthfully my fave is the jackall neko flick. that little curve in the tail is just so nasty. I still havent found a hook I think I am totally satisfied with. Unfortunately the Gammy finesse wide gap with weed guards have really disappointed. The wire just doesnt hold up, the glue fails and the wire spins. The wire also tends to bend constantly and is maybe too light to really pull through weeds and stay shut. I think I picked up some wild JDM ones at PBPT last summer, they were a lot better but still left something to be desired. Whats funny is that I am actually in the market for a new jig and worm rod. The addermire looks super nice, to me though it might be a bit too gummy for my liking, reason being is that I kind of double the usage of my jig N worm rod to also fish 1/2 vibratos for laketrout. My specific technique for them is to cast and then rip and tickle bottom as I rip the jig, you have to feel that bottom contact in 80 fow, but not leave it too long, while also being able to smash hooksets on big lakers when they chew. Ive honestly always preffered my rods to be on the heavier action side. Even my drop shot rods, ive played with the Aaron Martens special, the NRX + DSR the conquest DSR and I find although, ya the tips are stupid light and sensitive, they are too soft for me. Its also probably because I just sort of learned to drop shot a particular way i.e. drop swim and therefore I am accustomed to it. I baby hand my OG brown LOOMIS DSR because I doubt id ever find another rod like it. My old man has an Loomis IMX Jig N worm specifically for that ripping jigs type of fishing and its gained my attention for sure. Softish tip, but not soft like a drop shot rod, ridiculously sensitive but tons of power and backbone. it might be the direction im headed, my old GL2 Jig n worm has pardon my french, seen some schitt it was the first "expensive" rod I ever owned. I bought it used off of a guy with an old stradic on it for like $200. I thought Id never own a rod nicer than it at the time lol. While were on the subject of rods...Anyone anywhere should be looking at the shimano Expride line of rods, they punch soooo far above their weight its stupid. My favourite rod is actually a medium expride, I paired one up with a bantam and If I had to fish one rod for the rest of my life it would be that one, and ive got destroyers and MB reels etc and its still not even close. I love talking about the nuances of stuff, thats the part of fishing that really gets me going. I could sit for hours and talk about these little details.

no hook is perfectly weedless, you fish that junk in the tri lakes and even with the weedgaurd you are still going to foul up, Here is where I am a massive believer in using high end gear when it calls for it. The absolute most feely type of fishing you can do is trying to get a finnesse worm through thick thick weeds like you get in the kawarthas. Its a balance of pulling, but not pulling hard enough that the weeds break off. All while trying to sense bites. Even fishing suspended crappy, or drop shotting walleye doesnt require that level of feel. Takes practice, my tournament partner is one of the most impressive people I know at this type of fishing. Its so friggin boring too but he makes it happen in deep thick weed beds like no one else that I have met.

As much as people say two pieces are the way to go, a top of the line one piece allows you to pop off the jacket and wear the suspender system so that your jacket is still with you while you get warm working drilling holes, walking etc there is no suit warmer than a 1 piece. And if you go through the ice (which I have) you’ll be happy that your one piece isn’t allowing a single breath of that warmth out of your body. i made the investment in a Salus odyssey suit and have never looked back. pros - it’s the ultimate survival suit, you are effectively a super ice soldier while wearing the thing, it’s like impenetrable armour against the elements. Has pockets for everything, even spots for your picks on the exterior of your suit. (Technically for flairs while sailing) a built in winch system so someone could haul you out by your full body weight. has an incredible suspender system in it that is more than just two buckle straps. they actually make just the coat if you go that route. canadian made in Waterloo, I even had a factory defect in some of the stitching near my crotch and brought it to them and they completely repaired and reinforced the area for me. cons - it’s heavy admittedly, wearing that much armour comes at the cost of some weight. That’s what you get though with a suit that literally is impossible to get cold wearing. Ive taken that suit out in -35 in the wind and haven’t felt a single bit of cold. My hands and feet might suffer but not once have I felt cold wearing the thing.

Ngl, when I fish tournaments, I’ve been fishing my worms rigged neko more often. It’s a bit pricier and finesse but I’ve found they get bit even more. could be a confidence things but I think the bait standing up the way it does on bottom gets the attention of a few more fish

Buckeye flickit with a O ringed yamamoto senko rigged whacky is absolutely deadly in the spring and summer. Fish it like a tube jig and hold on. Notable by catch caught on this set up, pike, walleye, musky and spotted gar!