PickerelHunter

Thanks to everyone for their insight and comments. Here's what I ended up with, worked like a charm. Didn't go full speed on it as had no need but went up to 3 of 5. Having the hand knobs to tighten made it much easier than playing around with a wrench/socket. Might add strips of rubber where the two pieces of wood clamp down on the gunwhale for added support. Even got into some brookies!

Awesome thanks for the replies guys. I left it as is, when I tightened it seemed to be very secure. Giving it a shot this weekend

Hi guys. Looking at different styles of building a motor mount for an electric trolling motor for canoe. Here's the style I'm looking for, but now wondering if with the thrust of the motor, wouldn't the mount just pop forward and off? Sure I can tighten significantly, but isn't that always a risk when setting up inside the gunwales? Has anyone tried this style setup and can give some feedback about it? Thanks

Hey guys...heading to a cottage on Loon Lake in Proudfoot township (North or Kearney/East of Burk's Falls) for a few days. I'll have a couple mornings to head out on the canoe to jig for some lakers and whitefish. Found everything online that I can on the lake but not much out there. It's connected by a narrows to a Grass Lake. Has anyone ever fished either of these lakes?

Awesome

Thanks for the feedback guys. Canuck, good point about trying to attract/catch attention of fish rather than solely just trying to match baitfish patterns Seems like the glow is something to include in the arsenal when heading out. I'll pick up a couple to put in the tackle box and see what happens with them.

Hey guys....curious about your experience with spoons (or other lures) that glow in the dark for deeper species (lake trout, whitefish, burbot etc.). I'm just getting in to fishing for these deeper species and always saw these lures as a bit of a marketing thing. Baitfish don't glow in the dark so why would a Laker go after a glow in the dark spoon? A buddy of mine swears by them, but aside from that I haven't heard much else either way. Would love to hear some feedback.

Awesome setup!!

I've gone with both, electric and gas in the past. Both have their pro's and cons. For the electric, go with what Joeytier said....I have mine in a battery case, as well as extra long cables for front canoe placement of battery. In terms of the actual side mount, it was very simple. Will take you a few minutes and cost very little. The canoe at the moment is buried under the deck but for now take a look at this video, I basically followed this but I used 2x4 for all pieces. Has held up really well for over 5 years now.

Devastating effects to trout lakes for sure. There's an area near Bracebridge/Huntsville that used to be very trout friendly, now they're all filled with bass. Stocking has stopped in a few Muskoka Lakes and Haliburton area recently for the same reason.

Might be too late for this now but some nice pike are caught in and around Lake O piers after ice out

Great read, great study. Nice to see some intensive studies done in this sort of area (and 22 years worth of data set is impressive). The general findings don't seem all that surprising but I had no clue that the numbers were this high. End of June opener in the south is great to help with the harvesting impact but problem lies that other cohabiting species (perch, crappie, pike) are open during this crucial nesting period. I went out last weekend and trolled for some pike...first 200 metre stretch (max) and 3 smallmouth caught...went deep to try whities instead to avoid catching these males. Then you also get the "hey I'm just pike fishing" guys that catch bass after bass after bass, snap pics etc. I get that it's fun but knowing the impact it has to the populations would, hopefully, end that practice. Curious...how come bass is open all year in the Northern Zones? Are they seen as a non-native species?

That's what it's all about right there....awesome

Hey Guys...this spring I purchased a Bayliner 175....not exactly the fishing boat I hoped for when I started saving for it but during the "saving" phase I went from being single to now having wife and 2 young kids so the needs of the boat changed with time. This is a bit more family friendly. However, I'm going to make the best of the situation and try to make it fishing friendly as well. I've always been a big canoe/portage fisherman, but time for that is long gone for now. I've got a portable downrigger setup (flush mount rod holders, with gimbal mount for the downriggers)...I think I'm all set to go to tackle some Lake Trout, Whitefish, and Pike. The fish finder is on the weaker side (or I am not good at reading it yet), but hoping to upgrade next year, so I'll have to make due for now. Trolling speed is at 3.2-3.6 mph so I've got a couple home depot buckets going off the sides to slow things down a bit to around 2.5ish. I'm trying to stick to Kempenfelt and learn it as best as I can since it's close to marina where the boat is. Since every lake is a different beast, I was hoping I might get some expertise from someone that knows Lake Simcoe. I've searched throughout the board and elsewhere on the internet and gained a significant amount of info in general. However, I still have a few specific questions... 1. Any suggested lures/colours that Simcoe seems to like? I've got a few things I'm excited to try (Williams whitefish, flatfish in blue/silver, Mepps syclopes blue/silver, Coyote 5.0). Trying to keep to silver's with greens/blues to match whitefish/cisco colours. 2. Kempenfelt is deep. Shallow ledge on shore then a pretty steep drop off. Would you suggest fishing deeper flats (e.g. in the 70-100 ft range) or fishing the steep drop offs in that 70-100 range? I've added a hydropgrpahic map to show an example of what I mean..."A" would be steep drop off...."B" would be flats. 3. Pike...haven't found much info online with regards to the Kempenfelt pike habitat. It'll take some time to find deeper weed areas so I'm planning to start trolling 20-40 foot range on the north shore of Kemp closer to the opening into main lake. Hoping to find some sort of pattern eventually...main concern is that 20-40 range would see a steep slope the entire way along that north shore (very few flats in that range that I can see) and not sure that's where the pike would hold. Kemp must have a healthy pike population (maybe not like Cook's or the east side) but can't seem to find any really interesting spot using hydrographic maps. 4. If anyone is willing to take a passionate and experienced angler, but green Lake Simcoe angler to show the ropes I'd be forever in your debt....gas and Timmy's on me of course. Thanks for any discussion this may brew up.

Hi everyone. A 1 week window opened up for my wife and myself to get out for a fishing trip. It's been 2 years since our last trip due to our first addition to our family last year (in-law's will be watching the boy for the week to give us this opportunity). Usually we take the canoe to the Nakina area and rough it for 10-14 days, but we are thinking of staying closer to home (Barrie) and sleeping on a bed rather than a sleeping pad in a tent. I have fished the Gogama area extensively and want to try something else, and was intrigued by the Temiscaming area or even in to Southwestern Quebec as I have never been. One lodge in particular stuck out to me in terms of what we are looking for (drive-in, remote, ability to access multiple remote lakes for day trips with canoe/motor boat). Opimika Wilderness Camps and Cottages. I haven't seen much in terms of info or reviews aside from their actual website and Facebook, and a couple quick posts in these forums, so was hoping to get some information from the board if anyone has been there or has heard about it. Any info would be greatly appreciated, or even general comments on the fishing in the area or specific lodges that anyone has been to in the Temiscaming/Southwestern Quebec area. Thanks

I just bought my very first boat...small aluminum, 12.5 foot, great condition. The purpose of the boat is for some back country fishing outings and put a small motor with internal gas tank on it. With that being the purpose, I want to pop it on to the top of my car, however the widest part of the boat is about a foot and a half wider than the roof. Have any of you guys tinkered with creating a wider roof rack that could hold the boat? I've thought of using two 2x4's to support the boat on the roof (one front and one back) and just strapping the boat down with ratchet straps to the underside of the car. But not being the most handy individual, I don't know if this would work, if it would hold the weight, if it would slide around etc. I've looked online and found very little information/instructions for this contraption but I've seen it numerous times on highways and roads where individuals transport small tinnies on the roof. Any help would be great!

Who knew all all the campsites would be booked for the long weekend??? Well apparently everyone that booked ahead of time and anyone with common sense (not me!!) Finally decided last night to fish pike this weekend and Massasauga was my destination (Spider lake specifically). I had no clue that sites book up so quickly! I thought it was more a formality than an actual reservation needed well ahead of time. Guess I lucked out the other times. Anyways....There is a spot on Canoe Lake...and also two neighbouring laakes which are not part of the park but seem to be crown land (Jack and McCoy)look like interesting alternatives to the original plan. Has anyone been to any of these lakes? I am just looking for portaging information (length, difficulty, location) and if there are pike in the lakes. Don't want to go to a bass lake and get fined!! Thanks

Thanks for the input guys...maybe we'll give the brookies a try. Will just be nice to get away camping for the first time.

The girlfriend and I are planning on camping this long weekend on a remote lake. I have a few in mind that have brook trout in them and a few others that have pike. I've only fished brookies once (unsuccessfully) in April on a small lake just north of bracebridge. Beautiful lake though...The pics tell the story My question is do you more experienced brook trout fishermen think that they will still be in shallow? Or have they gone deeper. If they've gone deeper I might choose one of the pike lakes I have in mind. What do you guys think?

Glad you enjoyed the pics guys...heading back out tonight to see if we can find a few more! Not expecting those big girls to be hanging around much longer

It feels like I waited forever for today to come...hours of research, sleepless nights in anticipation, day dreaming of success...pike opener was finally upon us. Alarm clock rang at 4:45...hit snooze till 5:15...didn't think I was going to make it out of bed. Finally a little voice in my head said 'man up and get your a$$ out of bed'. Done, up and packed, out of the driveway by 5:30. Quick Tim's run on the way and I'm at my buddies who has gotten the boat set and ready to go. On the 400 by 5:45 with the feeling of excitement I used to get on Christmas morning. This was going to be our first pike opener on a boat, and our first time fishing cooks bay... (soft water). 6:15 we're launched and on the water...I had a rough gameplan in mind...5-10 feet and some weeds...but once you get out there it's much easier visualized than in reality. Our excitement turns to despair as we looked at this massive body of water and wondered where the heck to start. We headed south...stopped the boat in about 7 feet of water...and decided to try there. No real reason for it, just wanted to get the line in the water more than anything. We had said on the ride down the lake that we would be happy with one nice pike in the boat, but due to our inexperience on the lake and no real 'spots' that we knew of, we were more hopeful than anything. What followed for the next 3 hours was the best pike fishing, pound for pound, that I have ever experienced. I fish pike often. I've caught some big ones, I've had multiple 20 fish days in the Gogama area...but nothing like this in terms of consistency and size. We ended up boating 15 fish in those three hours (1 was a nice 3-4 lb largie). And all were a good size!! I'm used to catching 24-28 inch pike all day long in Gogama...our smallest of the day was in that range! Honestly...it was amazing. Enough with the words...on to the Variety of lures were used...spinners, spoons and x-raps. Most were caught in that 7 foot range and not too far from our starting point. Here's the smallest one of the day Here's a few of the beauties from the morning

Cook's Bay at sunrise. First time. We'll see what happens!!

Thanks for you input Any suggestions as to what size, and amp hours etc is best for a 30lb thrust? I found this nice article here http://tufox.com/hobie/TrollingPerformance.html and helped me a bit, but the terminology is all new to me.

A recent spur of the moment purchase saw me get an Endura C2 30lb thrust trolling motor on sale for $99. The goal is to get it onto the Coleman canoe (similar to this http://northtreasure.com/canoe%20copy.jpg ) that we have and bring it into some back lakes. I've built the mounting bracket and the next step is now the battery. I have searched the web for info and the only conclusion I've come to is it needs to be a deep cycle battery. Went to Costco today, and there's different grouping, amp hours, crank somethings etc. Frustrated I left to research some more. Hoping you guys can help me out in determining the right specs for a battery, I'm really uneducated on this topic.

Great stuff guys, thanks for the action in the poll. Looks like the Wawa/Chapleau/Missanabie area is winning a majority I've got about 8 lodges in the area shortlisted and I'll look through them...heard negative things about the fishing on Dog Lake but that camp looked quite attractive for the price