Jer

Thanks for the heads up. I've often wondered what may be in Emily Lake.

This is what we arrived to at a "remote" boat-in campsite a few years ago: We had to take a whole boatload of crap back to the launch before we could even get set-up. There was alot more spread throughout the site including piles of actual crap

My "sportspal like" canoe says Sportsmaster, Toronto. Who knows much about these?

The Pop'R is my favourite as well. The skirt doesn't always last long on these as well. Dressed trebles for an X-Rap work well to replace the rear hook.

Not much use when you're alone.

Another thing helpful for the fishing would be to tow a small tinny along with you.

My advise would be not try to travel too much, head east no farther than Stony or west no farther than Balsam. Beyond those lakes it gets pretty boring with canal/river travel and lock after lock. The last thing you wanna do is hafta rush your last couple days to get back.

I too found myself there, back in 2001. Having just moved to the Kawarthas a few years before, I was worried I'd be selling my dream home on the lake and scurrying back to the GTA if I couldn't find anything local (and quickly). Luckily enough, I was able to get onboard with a Peterborough based company within 3 months and was able to stay put on the lake. Keep your head up and keep looking, you just got new full-time work, it's called job-hunting.

I live right in the middle of the Tri-Lakes, Phil, and work all over the place including Scarborough, Durham Region and Markham. When traffic allows, the 401 to 115 is always the best route. I usually exit at County Rd 10 (Cavan) and head north from there. If coming from Markham, the 407 to Brock Rd, north to Coppins Corners, east thru Port Perry all the way to 35, Mt Horeb Rd takes you to Omemee from there.

Most every other year it would be right here on Buckhorn. This year a smaller North Kawartha lake for a change.

Beautiful pup. I hope you have some water nearby for swimming. We have a 2 year-old. Even though her mother was a golden, she looks more lab than anything else. I have to say she has been one of the most well-behaved dog I've ever known.

How would a tourney like this work with the slot-size taken into account? I can't see 4 fish with a maximum of 19.7" each, possibly weighing more than 20 lbs.

I just picked up a product called "tenacious tape" at Can Tire in the camping section. I used it to repair a small split in my boat cover. Very impressive stuff. I don't know if it will stand up to the pressure of a butt on a seat, but worth a try.

...or not!

Thanks Roy, I've been having the problem for a while and now it works, as easy as that. Is this a permanent fix or will I have to "hard refresh" every once and awhile?

Just my opinion, but I wouldn't want to tow much more than 2000lbs with a Caravan. You'll really be pushing it to it's limit with that kinda weight.

More chance of losing my man card if I stick around for the weekend...

Found a spot on Eels Lake north of Apsley.

Maybe I posted in haste. Booked a spot, looking forward to fishing a different lake on opener for a change, though I have fished the lake once before in late summer.

I've been informed I have to vacate my house on the bass opener weekend (June 23) due to a "girl's weekend". My buddy and I would like to camp somewhere for the weekend preferrably on a smaller lake somewhere in North Kawartha or Haliburton to keep it a reasonable drive from home (Bridgenorth area). We will be tenting it but would also need dockage and a launch for my 16' boat. Hydro & water on-site would be nice but not necessary. We camped once at Limerick Lake Lodge and they had a decent set-up but they have nothing available that weekend. Most parks, it seems, are really geared to the seasonal trailer camper and not so much for the "transient" weekend camper anymore. Anybody have any suggestions? PM is fine if you have a "secret gem" not to be advertised world-wide.

Golf courses are exempt from the legislation, not sure about ball-diamonds, city parks, etc.

I've had a few tussles with some hooks over the years... The first was when my buddy managed to hook the back of my neck with a spoon on his backcast. I felt a whack on the back of my head and at first thought he had just hooked my hat, there was no pain. When I removed my hat, the line was right through the adjustment hole at the back with the lure firmly imbedded in my neck. After a few minutes with my buddies tugging and pulling to no effect, off to the hospital we went. I could hear the giggles from people behind me in line once they noticed the shiny gold spoon hanging from the back of my head. Removal was painless at the ER. Another trip was cut short at the dock when my buddy managed to hook his finger real bad simply putting his rods in the boat, off to the ER he went. I've removed a couple myself by pushing the point through, cutting the shank and pulling the hook through. One on my thigh, another in my hand. The worst by far though, was while poorly handling a small musky. It thrashed while trying to remove the hooks and, for just a brief moment, was attached to my arm by the second treble on the lure. The fish came off on it's own and I was left with a very large hook firmly imbedded in my forearm. We made the mistake of cutting the shank before we had the point coming back through and after a few minutes of fiddling managed to lose the entire hook inside my arm. Needless to say, off to the ER once again. They had to X-ray my arm to locate the hook and still the doctor had a heck of a time finding it while digging around in there, even threatening to leave it in as he was getting frustrated. Eventually he got the hook and removed it. He had to slice me for 4 stitches that time.

I can atest to that, my 12 year old Citica Bantam 201 was almost completely re-built for $25 plus hst. All the parts were no charge. It works like a new reel again.

That surprises me. I broke the tip on an almost new Compre on the door of the boathouse fishing last year and Shimano replaced it, no questions asked. This was at the Shimano office in Peterborough.

One of my favourite ways to fish is top-water bassin', usually with a Rebel Pop'R. I've almost always used a ML spinning rod with 8lb mono and have the technique down pretty good. I now find myself with an extra (if there is such a thing) baitcasting rod that I've used before to pop, and it works well, but always with mono. I just recently spooled it up with 30lb PP slick and was wondering how that might affect the action. I want to dedicate the spinning rod to drop-shotting. Will the braid work alright on top-water? I think it floats so that should be OK, I'm more worried about reeling in slack line leading to birdsnests and also tip-wrap from the jerking action. The hookset may require some practice as well with no stretch.