Moosebunk

Couldn't be happier with the same choice Al. I know you'll likely go console which will be great on the big water, although for what you're doing in some places, the tiller is really quick to respond on windy days. But that's another thread ain't it?? lol. Anyways... I vote Bunks because of the name alone. But seriously though... I remember buying the WarCanoe off an inlaw up north. When I went to see it the boat had been sitting on the trailer much of the summer and had filled with a little water now and again, dampening the cedar strips. When looking at the boats bottom, the rollers in a few places, (especially nearest to the motor) had embedded themselves, leaving ruts into the canvas and wood, and even denting in one spot so much that a tear in the canvas had developed. This wouldn't have happened to the WarCanoe with bunks, and I immediately switched out the rollers for bunks after purchase. I leave my boat on the trailer all summer long as well, storing it the same... and now trailer it far greater distances and more often than my uncle ever did. I used that boat in 1 month more than he did in 5 years. Had I left the rollers on, I am certain cedar strips would be split by now. And although we're talking aluminum not wooden boats, and a Rebel at 1200lbs vs the WarCanoe at 450lbs, bunks still provide greater weight distribution for the boat, over a larger area of the boat. That has to allow for more forgiving trailering I would believe. And as for getting the boat off and on at the water, I would think it pretty much the same roller or bunk. I powerload in alot of places with no issue and launch in all kinds of places... with bunks. You're going to love the boat Al.

Last night was a blast, this morning even better for these two, and us all. Hope you and yours are having an awesome Holiday Season. Merry Ho Ho OFC'ers.

Fine account of a pretty special year in fishing but more so with family. Good show. Enjoy 11.

WHOA!!! Didn't see the metal coming... Cool collection Jacques. It's great to see the otherside of people beyond fishing. Your hobbies, kids and lifestyle paint a much bigger picture. Thanks for sharing the year and good luck in 11.

Thanks again all. Mike & Dan... yer two lads I'd enjoy fishing with anytime. Mike's passion for steel is only equaled by Dan's love of the speck... it's some pretty powerful stuff for the both of yas really. It is too bad that this year things didn't come together. Dan... I surely hope you don't work your life away, I can't imagine how tough it is to not get at least a little fishing in during a year. ( A YEAR MAN!!!) Anyways, in 2011 will likely be visiting both yer backyards again... Maybe Bren in tow for the west. Would like to see more people here do year end reports. They're always worth a view. Fishin' is what these boards are all about!

Lucky to have guys in my corner online and on the water. Even luckier to have the time to adapt. Enjoy the ice Jacques, I know this is your favorite time of year coming.

Isn't she. Her mind faster than the rest of her too. She's a quick little cookie. And lakers... actually Wayne... I caught 7 of them I think it was this past year on the Temagami trip... but the small fish didn't make the 10 choices... I didn't make a report either. One fish was about 3lbs though and I had a walleye too of about the same weight. Best results on the lake were in a new area for me... but we'll talk privately about that some time. Will gladly have you remedy these little fish for me this coming year. Hehehe!!! Hope all is well for you and yours by then, and please have as Merry a Christmas as you can.

2010 in the books. First Full Year in the South. 31 New Waterbodies. 6 New Species. 9 Personal Bests. More days fishing than I should mention. More time spent with family and friends on the water than ever before. An amazing year. Before settling down in the valley, some gloomy and pessimistic insights passed on to me from friends and online anglers couldn't have been more fun this past 365 to prove... RIGHT!!! Yeah... I say... RIGHT!!!... "Ahhhh, you're gonna have to work to catch your fish now." "Ohhhh, you wait and see, it's not what you're used too, you’ll see..." The naysayers in the end were strangely as correct as the small handful who said, "Bunk, you're gonna love the fishin' here." There were great days this year that equaled great days from years past. Overall... the elements and southern conveniences, probably make fishing easier, more available and ultimately more productive than where and when I had once lived in the North. The only thing sometimes lacking is the greater outdoors, the bigger skies, solitude, some timely trips and the scenery I used to love. More time on the water. More casts. More months a year to fish. More options. More friends to share time, insight and experience with. More miles. More toys for play. More and better fishing opportunities for my girls meant more time than ever with them through the summer. More new places. More LUND. More PB's. More learning. More of my father. More improvement. More appreciation of the past, with even more appreciation of the present. MORE "work” some said... well, I'll gladly have more of it then. "Not what I'm used too,"... well, I'll happily get used to it. The day I popped the new boat in the water with my dad. A morning when I spotted the head of huge gar in the weeds then chased after the 5 foot wake monster through the shallows. The second trip onto Quinte ice when it all came together. Sharing a SteamWhistle and walleye fish. Busting through the deep snowy bush with buddies. Seeing a friend cradle my PB pike and later slipping my fingers under the gill plate of his. Hearing my buddy say... “I haven’t had an adrenaline rush like that in 10 years,” after fighting his first muskie. Filling all our bellies after a long day of fishing. Putting the paint on the WarCanoe then getting her wet. Being a part of the happiness only a week of great specks for everyone can bring. Freezing through a blizzard in Kesagami then taking the walk to safety. Zippin’ on the Bravo and enjoying a scotch with the lads at Bogie. Watching the girls light up with each and every fish..... Knowing that all these were only half the good times spent this year. Ontario is one heckuva fishery. North, South, East or West, in any direction we're blessed! Next year it will be great to share every corner of it with more friends. Some big plans are heating up... Ten memorables from this year and just an ounce pics taken... PIKE. Past PB's shattered... twice. WALLEYE. Like the pike, PB's got trumped. SPECKS. Gems shared with close friends. CRAPPIE. A beginning... can't wait for more. MUSKIE. Long hours well spent. SMALLMOUTH. Found some greats. LARGEMOUTH. Always fun, especially fall. CARP. Thanks to others for sharing these cows. GAR. A toothy favorite to stalk. BROONIES. Picture perfect fish and a rare catch for me. Having others pass on their knowledge, trying old tricks in new places and putting many hours in, 2010 felt like a real solid accomplishment. It was in the plans to fish a tonne this year and test the waters so that next year I can actually fish less. 2011 my hope is to eliminate about 20% of my days out. To put in action a more concrete game plan in favor of improving on fishing what, when, where and how; close to home... while also budgeting more for time away on bigger adventures. I truly love a day outdoors on the water and setting a hook, and as always enjoy sharing it online, on the ice and in the boat. Happy Holidays. Good luck to all y'all anglers in the 2011. Bunk.

All the best for your wife.

Congrats on the PB Stoty. 4 weeks of netting fish... it's understandable it takes an odd sort to handle being a guide. lol.

Tonnes of great seasonal fish porn pics Steve. Ya had a good year bud, carry it into 2011.

Kick in the face eh Raf. asses. If I see any ads I'll let ya know.

Welcome to a whole new world of expense Matt. Good luck with it.

To the guys who mentioned Tamar... if you haven't gone, you'll find that Bruce really is a good fella. The camp is great there too. I've always liked Tamar but this year have something else in mind. I find main lake fishing tough but last year had more success on my last day than any other day ever. Back lakes can be hot... sometimes. Hope that all is going well for you by then Wayne as well. I know your posse looks forward to the hospitality.

It's certainly not just the strength of your daughter that'll put your family past this Wayne. You're awesome bud, Leah too, keep being the parents you are. Thinking of you all and well wishes.

Steve... I caught your first post on Yahoo too. lol. But the writer was right and hard to disagree with. Buck... I think every UFC since 100 has been measurably a let down, not to say I haven't enjoyed many a fight night. There should be less viewings and more solid fight cards IMO. The up and comers should head to Spike the odd saturday nights, with a single decent headliner. I've started to become more disappointed with PPVue and wish that the money UFC is to earn from it's followers was more the result of their building upon their greatest achievements in MMA sport and entertainment, not so much in just cash cow fighters.

The old days for a young feller like me... Both parents worked. My mother lived for her boys and her career. An elementary school teacher whom during many (8) of my childhood years studied her nights away in her room while chipping away at her Masters in Education. She rarely missed one of my brother's or my hockey games and after school was first home to pop the Y&R on the TV while cooking us up a healthy meal. She exemplified what it is to be dedicated and giving. She is still revered by many as their favorite school teacher from back in their days. She is the heart of our family. She never skips a beat, never rests. My father lived for us boys, his work and himself. A professional photographer and business owner he put 5-6 days a week into his store from 75-93, later moving on to work with the town Police Department. A perfectionist, he always did things once and did them right. A man who loved and practiced his favorite hobbies as often as he could. He gave Noel and I the longest leash by which to learn yet with a choke chain that reminded us of responsibility first, and he taught many life lessons, and still does... I started work at 14 for $4.00hr. I wasn't allowed to miss work for anything; especially self induced weekend illnesses, although I could get away with skipping school. Most of my friends in highschool didn't work as much or hard as I did during evenings, weekends and summers off... they didn't necessarily play as hard either, as my wallet was usually thicker from work. My father was of the mindset that if I wanted something, I'd earn it and not get it before I could afford it... although alot of people late 80's to 90's seemed to sway to the opinion of "why buy it with your own money... credit." When College came I got loans but still had to work quite a bit. I failed first year but during that time learned that I am the son of my parents. Very unhappy with failure and debt, the remaining years ti'll now I've made sure to live with little of either. Goals that more kids coming up would be wise to wanting to achieve. I don't look back at the old days as much as I compare to just 10 years ago... before I left for the north. Up north to me feels like 10-20 years ago, so when I settled here again, with more time to view things, things seem to have jumped ahead quickly. In 10 years it seems as though the "ME" generation has really taken over and like a vaccuum I find myself; and many raised right people too, getting sucked in. But how can we not? It's pretty much mainstream. This person wants this, this person that. This one gets their way, this one does not. This one complains, and in the old days might have been told to suck it up if even being listened to at all, but nowadays... the complainer gets their way. So we do more complaining now too. And... how dare anyone tell us we're wrong to do so, cause we'll complain about them complaining about our complaint. lol One child in school has a peanut allergy, all children will go without peanut butter sandwiches. God help us all with this allergic epidemic.. lol. Hydro prices are to go up; probably in "most" part because everyone wants new and less effective but more expensive green energy... so we start peeing and moaning... (although probably no one will listen on that one) My home in the north was "all inclusive," but now that I pay heat and hydro separately too, not thinking I almost got sucked into "the complainer vaccuum" earlier this week with the hydro business until someone of the "back in the days" era, my father, taught me again... $3000 a year/ $250 a month hydro... I'll guess. $8.21 a day/ $0.35 an hour. So, for $0.35 this hour all my family's food won't spoil, my TV's will work during this day of miserable Hydro line damaging freezing rain, I can type this out on my desktop while my lights are on, laundry is fluffin' and my coffee is brewing. So what should I really be complaining about??? (I just wanted somehow to tie this in, as the original thread was locked and I never got the chance to make a point. lol.) I dunno where to go with the rest of this after reading people's interesting stories of old. We all hold times in our life as great and some other times not so much. Years gone by have their good and bad points I guess, (Bologna, liver and man-eating sabre-tooth tigers being a few of the bad) just like today has the same. The biggest difference nowadays over yester- years though, seems to be this ever increasing complacency that fosters complaint in hopes to adapt. It's all about me, how I can't handle "No" and am entitled to better because my best contributions to society are my hair, Blackberry and couch-potatoing skills. It's a movement towards more pick-pocketing, piddling, piggy-backing, finger pointing and pining that juat reverberates until it becomes todays and everydays noise which is sadly different from yesterdays and hard for some to listen to. Somedays I can't stand the sound of things either and wish all I had to do was ride my skateboard, mind my P's... and Q's, and go out chasing tail with a buzz on. Ahh well, best have that $0.35 cup of java now and wake up... rereading this post, methinks I fell off the sane train after my parents.

Good stuff Terry. Nice to see ya really pound them with Lloyd out there. Congrats on the PB.

Yes... I think in higher elevations of the Pitt River... I believe..? Jet... outstanding post for people here to enjoy. I've read Bulls are called Bulls for reason... as they're quite aggressive and tough fighting. Would love to add one of them, plus a dolly and cutthroat to the life list. One day. To me, they look so much like their cousins... the laker especially, but with a hint of char in their spots and coloration before the char is anywhere near spawn vibrant. Hope you catch more. Keep it up dood!

Thanks doods! Wayne, hope all is off to a healthy start and things stay that way. All the best bud. Dan, would have enjoyed hearing from ya or seeing you this past summer. Take care over the winter and try not to work your life away.

If people concentrated on the really important things of life, there'd be a shortage of fishing poles. How true is that..? The fall fishing photos saved in the home archives are beginning to stretch the vault walls so, I figured it was in best interest to spend a little time investing in a less wordy but full picture report. This season has been really cool... not the weather so much, that has been kinda hot, not the wind either as it's been constantly a blow, but the fishing for me has been cool. A real test at times but good fun learning new things. September ti'll now has been a consistent mix of attempts for local bass, big river muskie and Quinte walleye. The report on the three would give a mixed grading of a D- for muskies, B for bass and an A+ on BOQ eyes. The greater motivators have been a determination to learn new tricks on new waters, and at the same time share experiences with friends. What can be a detriment is being indecisive with the number of options, not having enough midweek partners to turn too, and still not having a solid work schedule to plan things out how I would like. There won't be any muskies in the report. Five trips out to three different bodies of water; including a totally new area to me, saw not a fish come over the gunnel. I finished the year for them in early October, decidedly wanting to make the switch at that time to BOQ walleye. Next years plans will likely see me trying harder to improve on the fishing during the summer months which there was more success this year. The bass have been on and off, most days on though. Where largies have failed there have been a couple days when smallies and eyes have saved the day. Other times out, the largies have been on fire. A best afternoon in early November had 60+ largies hooked and a dozen or so pike, while an early October outing proved outstanding for bigger smallies. Seven times out for bass this fall, only twice were the fish unco-operative. Lastly BOQ. First outing in early October with my father was a bust. The bigger fish hadn't really come home yet but I was just chomping at the bit to test the new gear and myself. During the next four weeks I ended up sharing two days in TonyB's boat with him and Aaron, and then later during two more separate outings I shared time out once with Grant and once with an old friend visiting from Yellowknife. At BOQ excluding day one, the four days on the water have totalled a pretty solid 56/64 with 29 fish being walleye. And of course the word is out about Aaron's remarkable record-breaking sheepie which I thoroughly enjoyed experiencing with him and Tony. My first year really taking a crack at this has been pretty fun and rewarding. The coming weeks should hopefully allow for some more walleye, steelhead and maybe a few more bass and/or inland trout. As I sit here typing this though, a hizelluva north-wind blows to remind me that the fall is near end. On the shelf at home here the ice gear sits ready, the ATV and Bravo have been prepped, and thoughts of winter trips begin to get planned. Onto some pics... THE BASS. THE WALLEYE. FRIENDS WITH FISH. Tony. Aaron. (with his enormous sheephead) Grant aka Slop. Dan. (with new PB walleyes and a first sheephead) A FEW SCENIC SHOTS. So there. That empties the vault for the fall. Not a usual story type report cause I suffer from S.A.D. and am exhausted of late from playing too hard. Those heading out to try their luck for the big eyes, good luck to yas. Fish safe and stay warm, careful on the new ice to come. Bunk.

I gotta show my wife Skud's pic. Only then will I become unretarded again. lol.

These are brilliant bud. Keep up the good work.

Dood!!! I fished that spot in pic 1. Curly Trees Lake down around Swirlville!! lol. Nice bass.

Had to take a second look bud. Mike, you're making magic with those specks and that camera.