SlowPoke

Okay George, but let me know anytime you want to do some 'research and development'! It's too difficult to describe, Roger. Probably easier if I just show you. lol I'll be launching from the Thames River and fishing nearby with water conditions dictating direction. Let's hook up! I have lots of room if you already have a partner.

Leaving from London for Lake St. Clair Monday early and return by mid afternoon. I've got plenty of gear for trolling & casting if needed or bring your own. Weather forecast looks great.

Anybody looking for a new signature? Toronto - Ottawa Playoff History 2000 - Conference Quarter-Final - Toronto won best-of-seven series 4-2, outscoring Ottawa 17-10. 2001 - Conference Quarter-Final - Toronto won best-of-seven series 4-0, outscoring Ottawa 10-3. 2002 - Conference Semi-Final - Toronto won best-of-seven series 4-3, Ottawa outscored Toronto 18-16. 2004 - Conference Quarter-Final - Toronto won best-of-seven series 4-3, outscoring Ottawa 14-11. Games Played: 24 Results: Toronto 16 (.667) Ottawa 8 (.333)

You might consider doing what I did. I replaced my downrigger rod holders with Bert's ratcheting rod holders... really slick setup! I mounted a custom plate on top of the Bert's swivel base and then a 17" track to support the rod holders and the downrigger in between them. You get the benefit of the ratcheting rod holders and the ability to swivel them as if the were part of the rigger like the factory rod holders. Hope that made sense? lol

Nice goal fer sure but I don't think the "A" will be on the jersey for the regular season. The kid can play - without doubt and I think we've yet to see him really shine. More mature = more smarter! lol

It blew a cushion half way across the deck. Close call. It was a little windy in our area and some heavy rain around 6pm then it got sunny. Rain started back up around 7:30 and we had a good light show for 45 minutes but it seems to be settling down now.

Pro wraps are pretty much worry free. Woven tarps (typical blue and brown variety) get thin and weak from UV damage and don't like to be stretched over corners. Without stretching tight, snow tends to stick and you have to keep an eye on it. That's not to say you can't build a good frame and use a quality tarp. I elect to store indoors and save the build time, material expense and storage of materials in the off season.

I bought what I wanted and found a solution. I've been storing boats indoors for years now so I guess it's a matter of deciding that's your storage method and buying the boat you want. It gets to a point where the boat is too big for the garage but still small enough for the driveway and the cost of a wrap exceeds the cost of indoor storage. I don't want to waste my time building a frame and tarp system or keeping snow and ice off.

I've done indoor and outdoor, indoor wins hands down. I value my time at higher rate than the price of storage. When the price of storage exceeds that then I'll look at other options.

It's cheaper to store indoors than to wrap my boat but a good wrap is nothing to be concerned about. Not to tight & proper venting are the key.

My 20' boat and full size truck are stored indoors Dec-April for $75/mo The rest of the year, the boat and truck live in the driveway. I have a full travel cover for the boat and have not had any issues but I don't leave my gear inside or leave the Terrova mounted.

Great idea to prep but speaking French is low priority, reading it is what you need to know. You will not find any provincial English signage, only federal signs are in both languages and they are few and far between. As fishindevil pointed out; Nord=North Sud=South Est=East Ouest=West Perhaps put a sticky note on your dash for quick reference. Construction is always a big issue in Montreal. The good news is if you're re-routed, routes are usual well marked Drivers are a little aggressive downtown but unlike Toronto, they know what they're doing. They cut you off without damage lol Montreal works on a different time zone for social gatherings. Restaurants are busiest around 8-9pm and clubs don't start getting busy until 10-11pm Scope out the core of the city for parking via google and plan to walk to your attractions. It will be faster and far more enjoyable. You may want to look into an Old Montreal carriage ride to set the mood for the evening Yes, beer is cheaper but advertised prices don't include tax AM800 on the radio for news/traffic/talk radio in English

Another way to do it is using <ctrl><v> to paste from photobucket, Saves clicking the button then pasting.

Happy with my 3 bank MinnKota for the bow-mount into my second year. I'll probably add another 2 bank charger for my main/kicker batteries. I had a Cabela's house brand 2 bank and I was never sure if it was charging correctly. Once in a while the bow-mount seemed sluggish and wouldn't last long but the next time it would be fine.

This was a last minute trip that seemed doomed from the word go. My wife's uncle Ronnie from Sudbury was visiting his son a block away from us. He wanted to look at an old boat I have that I was thinking of restoring but offered it to him for his camp in Espanola if he was interested. A little mis-communication took place as my wife thought he wanted to look at my big boat in the driveway. Long story short, he walks over expecting to see a vintage 15' Starcraft and there's a new 19.5' Starcraft in the driveway. He calls my wife back at work and says "I don't think this is the boat Brian was offering me" lol Calls back and forth, I pick up Ronnie and take him to my storage lot to see the little boat. Ronnie didn't have plans for today so I asked him to go fishing with me. He was quite excited because he's had a bad year health-wise and hadn't been out more than two or three time times all year. This is a man that has been fishing over 60 years and for the last 5 or 6 flips a coin to decide if he's going to golf or fish that day. Need less to say< Ronnie needed a day on the water. A few hours after I dropped him off from looking at the little boat I get a call. "Brian, I hate to do this but I just fell and banged my eye on a chair and messed up my shoulder pretty good. I don't think I can make it tomorrow." Most people would show concern for a man of 72 years taking a fall but I know Ronnie, a pretty tough bugger. I told him "a black eye won't bother me at all and I can reel in the fish for you if your shoulder is that bad." He had a laugh at that and then I told him we could do it Sunday if he was feeling better. An hour or so later he calls me back and says "Brian, if we wait until Sunday I might fall again and break a hip. Let's go in the morning. See you at 5" At precisely 4:36 AM my wife says "It's 4:36". I said something I can't repeat here and jumped out of bed! I had been up for 27 hours and I guess I needed more than 6 hours sleep. Scramble, panic, rush around, go to tilt the motor on the boat and the battery is dead. Screw it, head over to Ronnie's son's place, pick him up at 5 and come back for the boat. I put a set of jumpers on the battery and get the motor tilted up and away we go. I had left an auxiliary power switch on for a week as it turns out. I thought we'd have enough gas to get to Bloomfield Road in Chatham but we ran with the cover off the boat and used a lot more gas than I thought we would. I didn't think I was going to make it so I pulled off at a truck stop on the way. Turns out the truck stop is open but the gas bar is closed. Fortunately, the attendant was there and she said she could turn on the pump for me and do a cash sale. I handed her a fifty and expressed my appreciation. Off we go. We get to the launch and quickly get the boat in the water.... almost. Forgot to unhook the safety chain. I normally forget to put it on, not take it off! Winch the boat back in a couple inches, unhook the safety and we're golden. Hook up the jumper cables to the kicker battery and off we go. It was just one of those days. If anything could go wrong, it did but Ronnie was just happy to get out and it was such a nice morning. We trolled out of the river and met up with Dax (pigeontroller) near the mouth. It was nice to see him again and hopefully we'll hook up some day in the same boat. We exchanged some info and phone numbers and blasted off for the fishing grounds. My last two LSC visits had been solo adventures and I was skunked checking out new spots. With Ronnie in the boat, I wanted to fish known areas with a higher probability of hooking up. Even the prime spots are no guarantee but today paid off. I was showing Ronnie all the bells and whistles on the Lowrance HDS and explaining that the size of the arch isn't necessarily an indication of the size of a fish. A classic arch rolls across the screen and I said "that's definitely a fish, we'll know in a minute if it's a big fish or a small one." ZZZzzzzziiiiiinggggg! The Super Shad rod goes off. I grabbed the rod, set the hook and handed off to Ronnie "That was a small fish". (I love it when you call it on the screen and the fish actually hits!) Ronnie takes the rod and fights it like a pro. A bit of a screamer and a bunch of head shakes... and I'm talking about Ronnie! He was having a blast! It was a mid 30" fish and normally I'd just unhook it at the side of the boat but Ronnie said it was the biggest muskie he'd ever caught. I grabbed the net and he got his camera ready. He took it out of the net for picture and tried to hold it over the side for a release. The sides are a little high on my boat for Ronnie and I tried to take over but we lost it and it wasn't going down. We circled around and re-netted it for the livewell. Ronnie nursed it in the livewell while I got back on course and deployed the rods. I took over for a bit and then we tried another release. It stayed upright but didn't go down so we fished the area for a bit keeping an eye on it. About 20-30 minutes since taking the hooks out at this point and it still wasn't going down. What do you do? Too small to keep it legally so we'll keep our fingers crossed for that one. I mentioned to Ronnie that that was a small fish by LSC standards and hopefully we'll get him a good one. Not long afterwards, the 10" Jake rod goes off. Anybody that has fished with me knows what lure I'm talking about. That lure had a bad year in 2012 but its seen probably 30 fish prior to last year. I had expressed this to Ronnie and that I hadn't given up on it. That lure sees the water every time out. Sometimes all day but last year maybe 20 or 30 minutes. Hearing that rod go off was more than just the 'fish-on' kind of pleasure, it was more like an 'I'm baaack' statement! It was a solid rip and I knew it was an upgrade from Ronnie's PB from a few moments ago. I grabbed the rod, set the hook and drag and handed it off. Again, Ronnie was in his glory. His eye injury from the night before and sore shoulder was the last thing on his mind, he was having the time of his life. It was another small-ish fish by LSC standards but a trophy in his eyes. It had donned on me at this point that I just need to shut up about being a small fish or "hopefully we'll get something better". This was his second personal best moment of the day and I started sharing in his excitement. A bit of a botched net job on my behalf with the hooks catching the net but I managed to get 'er done. Ronnie got his camera ready and lifted it out for a picture. I asked him to set it back in the net because it was easier for me to reach over the side for the release. This one took a few minutes but ended up kicking out of my grasp and disappearing out of sight. I feel pretty good about that release; 6-7' of visibility and it went down out of sight. Feeling pretty good about now. I like to say "any day muskie fishing is a good day. When you get one, it's a great day." Now we're 2 for 2. We took a hit on a Handlebarz Double 10. The same pattern Mike has been slamming them with, Disco Inferno. Don't ask me what or how big it was because it snapped my 80lb fluoro leader right in the middle. There must have been a nick in it because I just refuse to believe a fish could bite down on a leader 2' up from the lure! I told Mike his Handlebarz float just as well as his GoPro camara Hit number three came on the Super Shad again. Bigger than the first two but still a low 40's fish. I handed it off to Ronnie and by this time it was pretty routine. We already had some pictures so asked asked if we could just let this one off at the side of the boat. That's when things went horribly wrong. One of the rods I cleared was leaning over the side of the boat and the lure was in the water by an inch or two. Well don't we get a fish on... about an 8 lb decayed carp. It probably would have went 12 lbs but part of it had rotted off. I was prepared to cut the line and lose a lure rather than deal with the carp-cus but fortunately a sharp tug on the line tore through the white flaking heap of stink. Hit number four was back on the Jake. Nice to see a few more teeth marks into that already furry, torn up mold of plastic glory! Ronnie wouldn't take the rod on this one and it felt pretty good to hang onto a lively stick once again. Don't get me wrong, deploying rods and clearing weeds a thousand times is nothing short of breathtaking but actually reeling in a fish was a nice change A quick release at the side of the boat and a pretty good splash in the face for my efforts. Pretty refreshing splash too, it was almost noon and warming up pretty good. That would be it for the day. Nothing big but one of the best days I've had on the boat. Ever. In sixty plus years of fishing, Ronnie had never caught anything that big or experienced that type of fishing. I learned to shut up about small fish and let him enjoy every minute of it. We have it pretty good on Lake St. Clair; a good muskie population and an opportunity to land some true trophy fish. As cowanjo stated in Mike's post "a lot of people would like a day of teenagers." http://ontariofishingcommunity.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=71225

Well done Mike and Da.... , well just Mike I suppose. It was a small fish day today but after two, I had an epiphany and it relates to John's post about "a lot of people would like a day of teenagers." I don't want to take Mike's post in a different direction so I make a post of my own and post a link here for anyone that cares lol http://ontariofishingcommunity.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=71245

Getting off is the easy part, getting back on can't just happen accidentally!

As much as I am a Yamaha fan, that would be a really tough call. Ten years ago, the Grizz was the 'be all and end all' of ATV's. It would be a safe bet with no regrets but I keep hearing so much about the Outlander. BRP usually has great warranty incentives as well, that might be a consideration.

The ETEC and other direct injection 2 strokes are a different breed. I've trolled with an Optimax and have been very impressed and I would imagine the HPDI Yamaha wouldn't be any different.Two stroke DI vs Four stroke is a non-issue and both would benefit from a kicker to save hours on the main motor.

On a 4 stroke, yes. On a 2 stroke, no.

I can't help you with the 2 cyl ETEC but I'll offer my opinion with regard to my 150. I've had it since April last year and I just put a kicker Yamaha T9.9 on last week. The kicker was going to be one of my priorities until I realized how nice the ETEC trolls. And I'm not talking a little bit.... logged 200 hours & nearly 700 miles (don't bother doing the average speed math because it's only calculated at a specified speed threshold). Anybody that fishes with me can attest that I do a lot of trolling vs casting. I put the kicker purchase on the back burner until I found the right deal. The kicker excels at ultra low trolling speed (1-2mph) but anything above that the ETEC is smoother, quieter and odourless unless you have a stiff wind at your back. The smell is no more offensive in that case than the Yamaha, just a different smell. I've trolled non-stop for 6-8 hours on the ETEC, pinned the throttle and been pinned to the seat. No burp, fart or hesitation. I like the thought of having the kicker to keep hours off the big motor and I suppose it will save fuel but that's not a big concern. I can only imagine that trolling can't be beneficial on a motor this size but I've yet to see any evidence of it. The best part about putting the kicker on was my top speed increased by 1.5mph.... and NO, I DIDN'T HAVE BOTH MOTORS WIDE OPEN! I think my boat likes the weight in the back... 5 batteries + main + kicker. I wonder if I could squeeze a little more speed by adding another kicker? I should also add that I'm not an ETEC fanboy. I bought my boat below dealer cost and options weren't an option. My first choice would have been an F175 or F200 Yamaha but I have no regrets or hesitation in recommending an ETEC based on my experience so far.

Nobody has longer arms than the Klatt family! Thanks for posting and ALWAYS informative!

I have all the gear but you can bring what you want. Leaving London early for Lake St. Clair.

Clearly you've never fished Bronte before. Wings and beer 7pm-9pm; walk across the street catch 4 30lbers and have 3 fist fights in 5 hours and your sober enough to drive home at 2am.

He'd need another 10lbs and a derby ticket for the lead but that's a dynamite fish all the same! Nicely done boys!