Wagoneer

What exactly are 1ft contours? I don't seem to have that upgrade option on my iPhone version.

So I made a few last minute purchases. Picked up some 18" 130# fluoro leaders, some hook cutters, a third rod holder and another solid body perch coloured musky lure (my buddy just had good luck with them last week). I also picked up my dads down rigging rod/reels and his giant net. Any other last minute suggestions? Forecast looks like nothing but calm overcast weather, should be good for fishing!

Talk about family domination!

Oh I see. That price difference seems absolutely ridiculous. It seems like a bargain for $14.99!

I just purchased it, what a cool app! I've been using a cheaper app with next to zero options that navionics has, not to mention my handheld GPS with topo maps but it doesn't have any of the depth charts or automatic weather updates or wind charts or anything like that. Very cool! It's going to come in very handy for trolling and easily drop markers and attach a photo for any fish.

Am I missing something? The navionics US&CAN full app and maps for US and Canada is only $14.99? This for the iPhone though. Is the tablet version that much more expensive?

Not a huge fan of the Noco chargers. They seem to cut out a little early before the battery is fully charged. The cut-off is set a little bit too far on the safe side. Not a huge deal if you're using it for a maintainer or using it on something that has an altenator, but it made a significant difference on the run-time for my trolling motor. They are nice to charge up a completely dead battery though. I really only use mine for that anymore. I have two battery tender juniors - 0.75A. One is constantly hooked up to my deep cycle and the other to my motorcycle. Both are ready to go whenever I need them. After I discharge the deep cycle after a trip I use the Noco to bring it back and then use the junior to top it off.

There are so many more factors to an engine than just cylinders and displacement. Comparing the pentastar V6 to an old duratec V6 is apples to oranges. And comparing the old 4.7L V8 to the new Hemi 5.7L V8 is the same. The new hemi with cylinder deactivation can actually be pretty fuel efficient if you drive VERY carefully. You also can't really use the excuse of fuel savings to purchase a diesel in this country. With the premiums they come with, you have to do a lot of driving to make that up. What you have to look at is what engine do you want to live with on a daily basis. The 3.0L diesel is an incredible engine. It's bulletproof and has gobs of torque not to mention fuel efficient (you take a hit on the sticker price but at least it feels nice to pay less down the road). And the downfalls of a diesel in the old weather are a thing of the past. The 3.0L will blow almost everything away when it comes to towing - even the Hemi. I'm not a big fan of the Hemi. It really is a garbage engine, especially if you abuse it. They've had nothing but problems with the VVT system and a lot of them burn oil with not a lot of miles on them. Chrysler got so tangled up in the horsepower wars that they forgot that people actually use these things as tow rigs and they forgot about the most important part... the torque! The poor torque converters have to work real hard in these trucks when they're towing their limits and they run HOT, even with the tow package with the external cooler and lower gearing. But it does heat up and starts pushing heat in next to no time in the winter. So if you're using it as a run about with nothing but short trips, that's probably a better option than the diesel. If all you do with the diesel is short trips and it never gets to warm up properly you'll never see the benefits of it. Even though the diesel cold weather issues are next to non-existent, they are still present. So if you're the kind of person to start up their car in -20deg weather and floor it onto the highway right away - you'll have to change your habits. And as far as the pentastar... well... the only reason you'd opt for that engine is price. It's not very fuel efficient because it has to work so hard all the time and it's a super thrashy engine in the upper RPM's. And if you tow with it, you'll be using the top of the rev range a lot believe me. So even if you tow a couple times a year and do any sort of highway driving I would go with the diesel even with the ridiculous primium they charge. It really is a sweetheart of an engine. The weight of the vehicle just disappears with the diesel. Mercedes knows how to make a bulletproof diesel!

Speaking of which, motorcycle accident at putnam westbound on the 401. Anyone heading that way it looks like it's going to be closed for most of the morning.

We'll put you in a crown Vic and see if you can catch a liter bike in heavy traffic on the 401. If you can do it without hurting yourself, the car, or anyone else for that matter, you get a cookie. I'm not saying it's right, that's just how the poop plops. They do the same thing with extremely fast cars too. All they can do is write down their plate, or at the very least a description of the car and catch up with down the road. Sometimes they catch them at gas stations. Good thing is you don't get very good mileage at those speeds and sport bikes only have 20L tanks.

I had the same thing growing up in a small town. Our licensing office was always booked solid because our town was too far away from a 400 series highway so they substituted merging onto a 80km/h road. We also have very little side streets that are full enough with parked cars so you usually end up just "pretending" there are cars and slide ride in to the imaginary slot. To bash this point in even more, I just finished college and one of my friends was so excited about passing her G test... HER FULL G TEST. She called me on her way to my house (while driving), stopped outside my door (I didn't have a house at that point, I was living in a condo), and preceded to ask me to reverse her into the parking spot for her because: 1. She didn't know how and, 2. She didn't want to reverse out when she had to leave and potentially hit my car. She went on to have two collisions in her first two months of driving (both at fault) and one single car accident in the winter a year later. And she still pays less for insurance than I do with a completely clean record!! Tell me there isn't something wrong there... At the very least we need skid pad training for every single new driver. If it were a perfect world, I'd have everybody do it. Usually the first time someone gets in an accident is the first they've had their car in a skid. 99% of the drivers have no idea how to control their vehicle in a skid.

I have a feeling this is going to get into politics in law enforcement rather than motorcyclists. The only way a police officer will pursue a person going that fast is if he's wanted for some other crime. If an officer chases a bike down at 200km/h (which is the top speed of a crown Vic - which takes about 5 years to get there) for a simple speeding ticket, he's going to get his butt reemed by his SO. They'll maybe radio ahead and see if someone can set up a road block, but that's about it. He can safely hand out 3 20-over speeding tickets in the time that it'll take to pull over the bike. Cops hate handing out serious traffic violations because that means they'll be stuck in court for an entire day. Because who in this country isn't going to fight a careless or reckless driving violation?

Crappy thing is that possession is everything. If he denies it's yours and obviously you can't prove it's not... The law says it's his.

Traffic tickets should be doubled for bikers with passengers. Especially drivin like that. What bothers me is do you ever see a passenger on a bike with proper equipment? Never. When my girlfriend is on my bike she's wearing her full equipment every single time, I don't care how hot it is.

I see more bad drivers in cars than I do on bikes. People in this province.. heck... this continent, are so ignorant towards motorcyclists and driving in general. This goes for law enforcement, the government, insurance companies, AND the general public. You know how many people pull out in front of me? Or change lanes into me? Or stop two inches from my back tire? There's no reason for this. I have extremely bright twin headlights, and my exhaust is super loud. Driving in the city has lost all it's fun for me because of these things. Not to mention being followed by cops all the time. It's too bad that the few idiots on crotch rockets who obviously have a death wish give all of us a bad name. If my bike wasn't so much more fuel efficient than my vehicle and the fact that I want to ride all l can to get my money's worth out my insurance costs, there'd be no way I'd ride in the city anymore. I have to make at least one evasive maneuver a day to not die. This should NOT be the case. I wish people could see motorcycles as an efficient and environmentally friendly means of transportation. The level of ignorance towards driving in general in this country is something I don't take sitting down. Its laughable how easy it is to get a license in this country. Nobody knows the rules of the road, nobody knows how to drive on the highway, and everybody has this holier than thou attitude and nobody admits fault. What's the first thing people do when they get pulled over? Blame the cop. Who should they blame? Themselves. Maybe if officers weren't pushed so hard to write speeding tickets all day long and actually wrote REAL traffic tickets, they'd start getting a bit more respect. But it's not their fault. You can basically do anything you want on the road and not get a ticket - cross 3 lanes without a blinker, enter any lane you want when turning left or right, pack the intersection with 4 cars all waiting to turn left, follow someone two feet off their bumper... but go 15km/h over the speed limit? Oh Hells no! That's dangerous! This issue goes all the way back to our licensing programs. We need at the very minimums: skid pad training, evasive maneuvers, tougher driving tests (and a complete revamp about what gets you failed and what doesn't), and everyone needs to enter an amateur racing event (yeah, I'm not kidding about that - it works WONDERS in other countries, no better way to learn car control than driving on the limits of your vehicle in a safe environment). If our country really cared about safety on the road they would start implementing these things. Why don't they? $$$!!! Gotta get that revenue from those speeding tickets! So having the attitude that motorcycles are dangerous to have on the road is ignorant and a perfect example of why everybody sucks at driving in this country. I see vehicles flying on the 401 at speeds above 150km/h multiple times a day. But you see that one motorbike going that fast and you immediately group all motorcycles as a danger to the general public? You know what motorcyclists are doing while they're driving? Actually paying attention to the road! Can you say that about people driving cars? Sorry to say guys, some of your attitudes are pathetic. Expecting police officers to put their life in danger to hand out a $300 speeding ticket? Have any of you ever driven a crown Vic at those speeds? C'mon guys, be reasonable. Remember, driving on public roads is a privilege, not a right - that's important to remember. Respect ALL vehicles on the road.

My dad and I are heading out to the point this week hopefully. He's been hearing reports that it's the best down rigging in 10 years. I guess it's true!

I think I might come back and fish that area another day. I don't think my girlfriend is up for an hour boat ride just to get to a fishing spot. I live less then 2hrs from LSC, I really don't know why I don't go fishing there more often. Easily a day-trip distance away. I've seen that Gar activity on Erie too. It's crazy to see in person. Hundreds of Gar breaking the surface and swinging their huge snouts out of the water. They wouldn't hit anything, so they weren't feeding. I actually hooked one but I don't think it actually struck th lure as I caught him on the outside of his mouth. That was back 5-6 years ago, neither me or my dad has ever seen it since. But yes I always have my iphone on me with the weather radar. Like I said I'm usually on Erie where weather can turn in a matter of minutes.

So what you guys are saying is do the exact opposite of everything this guy did? Tiny net, 20lb line, small tackle and weak rods and reels?

Possibly more practical in the fact that you can just take it off the roof your car, throw it in the water and go. But inflatable boats are so stable compared to a canoe that I could NEVER go back to fishing in a canoe after getting my inflatable boat. I can literally stand on the edge of the tube and the boat won't flip and barely even goes deeper into the water (I'm 250lbs). Try doing that in a canoe. And I've had mine long enough now that I can set it up and have the motor strapped on and be ready to fish in about 20min (I have a high speed 12V pump). I'm sure with these float tubes and whatever this is called (sorry don't know what people call these things) that time is probably cut in half considering there's less to setup. Canoes have their ups. They glide through the water easier, they're silent and they're nice to relax on, but I almost get the same sense of serenity when I have my electric trolling motor on my inflatable.

Brent is absolutely gorgeous and one of the quieter sites with it being way up north. Campsite number 5 and 6 are really private and have perfect water access. Water is nice and shallow, perfect for launching a canoe or small boat. There's also a mini beach right beside them, great for kids. Make sure your vehicle has 4x4 though. There was lots of construction being done on the dirt road and a bridge being built on the long gravel road to the campsite from the highway. The bypass had just been freshly rained on so it was nice and mushy! Had to lock in 4x4 and power through it as I was towing a trailer and even with aggressive all-terrain tires I was sliding around. Fun if you like that kinda thing but I know some people don't. I thought it was great fun but I regularly off-road my car so that's nothing for me. Hopefully all that construction is done by now though and it should be clear sailing. I didn't get to do a lot of fishing but my girlfriend caught more with a simple worm on a hook than I did with a load of lures. But I was fishing blind with no depth finder or anything, we were mostly just out there for the view and to relax. There are apparently trout and pickerel in the lake, but we didn't see or find any. We weren't exactly trying very hard though.

I highly doubt the axle is too light. Most of the time they overrate the axle by at least 500lbs for the heaviest boat that will fit on it. So even if you trailer your boat fully loaded with stuff in it you're still probably below the limit. The first thing to go if you're overloading the trailer is almost always the bearings, especially if the axle is flexing and suspension is bottoming out. And even still, you'll notice your leaf pack bottom out (it's perfectly straight or even bent upwards) before the axle reaches it's weight limit. So moral of the story, pretty much everything else will go before the axle does - safety regs. Things that won't cause a catastrophe as you're doing 100km/h on the highway are designed to break first, or at least give you warnings that you're overloaded. If both edges are wearing faster than the middle it's under inflation 100%. And anyways, if the mechanic seriously thought your axle was flexing he should know that different tires are NOT the proper fix.

On a different note, the entire north shore seems like it would perfect for bass fishing. Any success with top-water lures there? That's my favourite kind of bass fishing.

It's a shame. People just aren't willing to purchase quality products that last anymore. All people care about is the price. You find this with camping products as well. Some of the best companies are going out of the business because their top of the line products are too expensive. It's the times we live in!

The eagle claw rod holders are actually insanely strong. I think my rod would snap before the rod holders gave way. I regularly check them when I'm trolling to make sure they're tight because I know the vibrations of the motor can sometimes cause the clamps to untighten themselves.

I was planning on just camping. My memory foam mattress in my roof-top tent is better than any cheap motel mattress I've slept in I'm okay with a 30min ride out. I regularly travel from the inner bay out to bluff's bar in lake erie to troll for pike. My girlfriend doesn't like to travel too far though, she sometimes gets a bit seasick in rough waters but I don't mind it at all. I find it relaxing. I scrapped the bench seats in the boat for MUCH comfier seats so it's actually really comfortable for long trips.