EC1

If you tell us what lake it is, someone would know Sinker is right. Depends on what the bait is doing in the lake, and varies from lake to lake, perhaps even different areas of the same lake. Remember which ones run first, and they will likely be first to run year after year.

I'm kind of for it. The folks that fish crappie on Scugog makes it an absolute zoo on the weekends. If the people dispersed across the Kawartha's, it won't be quite as crowded. It'd also make the spring crappie trip on Scugog more worth it, instead of it being the last pickings after an entire winter of beating. I have no clue how the ban will work though - No fishing after Dec 31? No ice fishing in general?

First softwater panfish report. Nice! I can see the lakes close to Lake O getting ready soon enough!

Looks good if you ask me! Don't go trooting myself, but would like to see what you pull out of it! Finding your own is so rewarding!

Pretty sure most lakes are in bad shape if you plan on walking on them, and unless the spot you want to go to has current ripping through it, you're a week or two away, depending on the forecast.

Beauty bass dude! Can't wait for bass season here.

Good video to sum it up. Very light coloured ling you have there! I'm not ready to call it quits for ice yet. 1, maybe 2 more trips for me!

Nice fish bud! Daytime one too!

Geo-engineering is like praying on a magic diet pill instead of eating healthy and excercising. "Let's use more oil and chemicals to try and neutralize our use of oil!" I don't think the chemicals are what's going to kill us, but instead our dependency on oil. Every single person living in modern society is dependent on oil. Your paper Timmy's cup, proudly paddled across the Pacific, right? And when you're done with that cup, someone out there will walk a plastic bag full of garbage straight to the landfill, another few hundred kilometres away. http://www.bp.com/liveassets/bp_internet/globalbp/globalbp_uk_english/reports_and_publications/statistical_energy_review_2011/STAGING/local_assets/pdf/BP_World_Energy_Outlook_booklet_2013.pdf Even BP has an energy outlook saying that oil use will be much less by 2030. Perhaps they want to make less revenue and sell less gas? Or is it that we're just actually running low on supplies? Even if we use less oil, there are plans for more use of shale gas (Fracking - Look it up if you're not familiar!) and other nasty forms fo energy. Whether you choose to believe that climate change is true or not, human society as a whole is pointing straight towards destruction. Humanity would end from 2 causes, either we destroy the environment so bad that the food and water poisons us, or the instant we run out of oil. It's not a 2012, or Y2K where you're given a date, it's just that when it happens you'll know it. To say that we can find an alternative to oil, what do we do to feed to all of the people that are out of jobs in car manufacturing? What about the lithium powered car and all the oil that was used to bring each part into the factory? And all of the plastic in the interiors that we love so much? This is fishing related, because a dead man can't fish

Looks like a great time! Cheers Chris!

You sir, have found the most fun ice fishing method for catching crappies. Very nice fish.

I'd probably use it if it were a one time fee, and to be used offline. Anyways, you've got yourself a great idea, it might not be for everyone, but you should have some sort of following!

I'll save you some google work. http://explorersedge.ca/stories/public-boat-launches/ Walk is pretty awful, hope that the spot you choose has some snowmobile tracks. Lakers will be found as shallow as 30FOW. No clue how to find whities. Look at the maps and definitely fish structure. I'm not very successful on these lakes, but I enjoy fishing these lakes much more than fishing something like Simcoe. Lots of small trout, and I don't know how to pattern the big trouts. And as far as I know, the simcoe "chasing" technique doesn't work very well there.

If you look at this from an even bigger picture, the instant that these energy sources we use are depleted, governments and corporations will no longer have control over anybody. Money will mean nothing, and we will basically need to live like the animals do - Survival each day will become the main goal in everyone's lives, not a 9-5. Get learning on how to pickle stuff like bigugli, because sure as hell our climate won't be able to grow food in the winter. And forget going up north to try and go fishing. You'll be limited to where you can walk / bike, unless you're willing to ditch your home to go on a weeklong fishing excursion. Up until that happens, does any privelidged person owning a corporation or in a government want to be at the same level as everyone else? I know what my answer would be.

I would never go lighter than 55 for samurai. I'm able to snap 40 on a snag pretty easy with just my hands. I can see 30 being worse. It is good stuff, but since its so thin you need to check for fraying often

The cheaper and more moderate - almost panfish rods fish them best. Will catch fish, but I would compare them to a twistertail. Jerkbaits are more fun by a pretty big margin

I've had 2 experiences where I've came across horse meat, once in Japan when I was 9 and I freaked out about eating a "friendly" animal, and once in a French restaurant in Chinatown. My second experience with it was an absolute amazing one (Horse tartar)! I don't think they are serving that lately, so I'll be looking for my own horse meat in the future.

Hopefully your neighbor gets the hut back in working order before the ice melts! Had a trip of trying to chase ling myself this week, and failed miserably as well! I was able to catch a few lake trout well past dark - that was a first for me. They lazily came in and nipped at my glow spoon. I thought for sure those were ling until I reeled them up and heard the burping. Let's compare notes over a couple of PM's about how you find the ling nearing the end of the season!

My guess is that a mom & pop company just can't beat out the big guys in the market nowadays. This is a very niche and exotic market where they've yet been able to solidify their name in the industry. And without a low end product that you sell huge numbers of, you are looking at a tough time to stay in business. Just a prediction after looking at the website / social media. Who knows, maybe they're still alive and well somewhere. I hope they are, because I'd like one.

Please let me know if you do end up finding an ice gator. I read elsewhere that they are getting out of business.

Bud, you need to go out there and feel for yourself! Bring a 1-2 foot piece of line tied to a jig you intend on using, and tie it to the tip guide and you shall see how much you like the rod. St. Croix's bend weird on the blank, but they still work awesome. Fenwick Elite Tech (Not sure about the aetos) bends really nice, except their UL rod is on the stiff side for my liking. I personally fell in love with the 13 Fishing Ice rods this year for the UL. Their Mediums felt ok, but the other 2 mentioned are probably just as good if not better. I would spend the 50 on 2 rods. 1 Medium & 1 UL. Probably a little bit more money would go on the UL (Because I fish panfish more often than other fish), and then a Lightning rod for the M would probably suffice.

Was watching that lightshow on my drive down the 404 yesterday night as well! Kept thinking that I've never seen green lightning before! The trees are all getting very droopy, so hopefully they get to thaw out or we're probably going to lose a lot of trees in the next little while.

Now everyone's gonna know where to look for first ice come next year! Forget parking there the first Saturday you're looking for ice next year now! On another note, nice fishies. Hopefully we'll get back out for some fishing this winter Purenewf!

Problem is that there looks to be quite a bit of snow in the forecast as well. Hope everyone gets out there on the day that they want to safely!

Glad to see you guys went out and had some fun.... Myself on the other hand will wait for the few cm's of snow coming tonight so I don't have to look down clear black ice BRING ON THE ICE SEASON! Be safe everyone.