Jer

I also have a 2001 V-6 (3.9L) 4x4 club-cab. It's been a great truck, though it did cost me a new transmission (almost $2500) a few years ago. I've got about 135,000 km on it now. All the mileage is front-end loaded, used it as a work truck for the first couple of years and piled 115,000 km on. Now it's strictly a weekend vehicle, only 20,000 in the last four years. If I can keep the mileage down, I hope to have the truck for a long time to come. As previously noted, the 3.9L loves the gas. I drove a Jeep Liberty for a while with the 3.7L V-6 (now the standard in the Dakota) and it was even worse (even in a much smaller vehicle). My one regret with the purchase...shoulda had a V-8!...more power and better mileage.

Overall, I would say I had an above average year as far as bass were concerned. I picked up my PB LM on one of the smaller cottage lakes and my buddy caught his PB LM on Chemong this year (both were pushing just over 5 lbs). Pickeral were almost non-existent, but I'm getting used to that and I think we only managed 3 musky all year, but to be fair, we don't really target them very often, just usually get more incidentals.

"Swish"...yes "Zep"...no Similiar to the citrus stripper is Swish Citro-Gleam.

I just booked an ice-fishing trip for January with Snowfari Adventures on Nipissing. 6-man bungalow (for only three of us...no top bunk for anyone) for three nights (Sunday - Wednesday) arriving January 20th (has to be ice by then, right?). Has anybody been out with these guys before?

I know it's not within 45 min., but Bridgenorth Sports & Marine is a Lowe dealer as well: 705-292-9751

2004 Crestliner 1600 Angler with a 2000 70hp Johnson now on a 2008 EZ-Loader EZL90 trailer (not shown): ...a bit of a mish-mash (the trolling motor is from 1997), but it all works well for me.

Too bad I just traded my trailer in for a more appropriate model for my boat. It would have been perfect for that rig. All within the last couple years, I had replaced the wheels, bearings, bunks, lights, new paint, etc (just couldn't make it any bigger to fit my boat). Gateway Marine gave me $400 trade-in value which was hard to pass up on a new $1449 2100 lb EZ-Loader. Enjoy the new ride.

Glad to hear that! My girlfriend works at a parts plant in Port Hope making dashboards for the plant in Brampton. Good to hear she won't be laid off anytime soon.

Hi Garry, We fished what I believe was the same lake on Saturday (the dock in the 1st pic is very familiar looking). We had almost no luck at all. Lotsa rockbass and a few dinky LM & SM. I tried just about everything in my box and the most productive bait was my Pop'R. It's a beautiful lake with lotsa rocky structure, I'm sure we'll give it another try next year. There's gotta be some lunker SM hiding in there somewhere. We also checked out the launch at the lake next door. A bit of a rougher ramp, but I think I could manage.

We were fishing a small lake near Apsley yesterday, on the water at about 7:30 and got caught out in abit of a storm around 9:00 am. When we saw the first lightning strike, we high-tailed it back to the launch and waited it out in the truck. After an hour or so, the worst had passed and we headed back out. Nothing but scattered showers the rest of the day and it remained warm and calm. Unfortunately, the bite was off all day. All we could manage was lots of rockbass, a few dink SM and one semi-decent LM.

I was just going through some pics on my computer and came across this one of my dog, Bear... ...thought it was kinda cool. My girlfriend's 15 year-old son thinks of himself as quite the shutterbug, can't get the camera away from him when he's here. He takes a lot of wierd pics...but sometimes they're quite interesting.

Glad I could get you motivated Garry, hopefully you gave all the rock bass sore mouths...

This seems to be getting seriously out-of-hand... I hope the OPP officers involved throw the book at these yahoos and make an example. I'm glad you stood your ground and got the cops involved...scary to think how much goes on un-reported.

Tiller or console... ...you decide!

...you can use any colour you like...as long as it's white...

Thanks for the report, Garry, We were out on the same lake on Saturday (maybe we were the ones on your spot, on the water at 7:30, no time for breaky). Good thing we were out early, I caught my personal best LM after about 20 minutes on the water, just over 5 lbs. He was tight up to shore among some fallen branches. Of course we had no digital camera with us, only my buddy's disposable film camera...I hope the pics turn out. Not bad for a lake known mostly for it's smallies. Two times we have fished this lake and both times the biggest bass was a largie. I also had a small muskie on for a short time before a beautiful acrobatic jump broke him off. I was drop-shotting a wacky-rigged 4" senko. Almost all the fish we caught were on senkos or something similiar. With the wind up, we thought there would be a better spinner-bait bite (obviously there was for Bill).

Great report Garry, My friend Russ and I are planning a trip on Saturday to what could be the very same lake (never to be mentioned), it all sounds eerily familiar. I'm picking up a new boat trailer on Friday, so we should be a lot quicker at the launch. The weather looks to be holding out til at least Tuesday.

I was out last night on Buckhorn, 63 F surface temp according to my Humminbird.

Good to see ya back, Garry. I think that was you I was chatting with at the launch on Big Cedar last week, I knew your dog looked familiar. I was the one struggling to get my Crestliner back on my "too small" trailer.

Looks like a pretty small lake, my buddy and I were on Big Cedar last Thursday and drove past Julian lake on the way. Big Cedar has bass & musky, so I assume Julian would be the same.

Up near Buckhorn, the lake sits in the middle between Pigeon lake, the Balds, and Upper Buckhorn. Spring fed, it drains through Sandy Creek into Upper Buckhorn. We wanted to fish it for a day last fall, but found the only accessable launch wanted $20 for the day...we went to Lovesick instead for $2 parking. That same property is now for sale and I think they have closed their ramp. At one other lodge, I was told by the owner that his ramp was for guests and property owners only. If anyone knows how to get on this lake, send me a PM. I live only 10 minutes away and would love to give it a shot for some smallie action sometime.

There's a Swish store in Barrie at 526 Bryne Dr. (unit A). The toilet bowl cleaner does an excellent job on both fibreglass and aluminum. You can try Tuby bathroom cleaner as well for something a little less corrosive. Spray or brush on, let sit for a few minutes, lightly scrub and rinse well. Both are available in smaller 1L bottles as well, you don't need to get a gallon.

So only a thousand deaths with the fairly severe penalties, laws and enforcement we now have in place... ...imagine the carnage if it was a free-for-all! Again a contradiction, did you stop to think that maybe the death rate is so low (your opinion, not mine) is at least partially (if not mostly) due to the fact that we have such laws in place. I too would like to live in a fantasy society where everybody acts responsibly and in the best interest of others (kinda like OFC), but unfortunately, as the thread subtitle suggests, too many morons out there! I hope your 10% rule doesn't apply to murder, that kinda makes about 3 million Canadians expendable each year...

I had the same problem a few years ago with my MinnKota, full speed at all settings. The speed coil was fried. Of course the speed coil is potted into the bell housing at the front of the motor. I had to replace the bell housing (with speed coil) as well as the shaft as there is no way to get the original shaft off of the housing. You can do it yourself, just be careful to put everything back together the same as it came apart (use red lock-tite on the shaft where it threads into the housing). Did you leave the motor turned on with the prop jammed somehow (like while the motor is in its stowed position)? That's what happened to me. Now I always make sure it's unplugged from the power supply when not in use!

This weekend was a real doozy with boat traffic. I was out pulling a tube on Saturday and the traffic was unreal. Really had to keep a look out for people paying no attention. My buddy on Chemong was telling me about some lady that almost slammed her 10-year-old son into his boat on waterskis. He was fishing about 20 yards from shore when this lady drives by with a boat load of kids and one on skis behind her. She passes by within about 15' (apparently on the way to her dock) and drags the skier to within about a foot of his bow. When he confronted her on her stupidity, all she could say was he shouldn't be fishing there (so close to her dock).