muskymike

Great report Glenn.

It was going so well, I was sitting here reading, and then BAM! the shirt came off. Did you have to?

Cliff, thanks for making my day.

GCD, I spit my drink out after reading that.

Probably about 10 months in layoffs for me in 30 years. We call that holidays.

haha Holidays. I never mentioned how long they are laid off for

I just see it in the bricklayers, framers and foundation builders a lot on our sites and a few other large builders.

we push them and they get bigger crews, when we are done, well we cut them off.

its not a nice story but its business.

Welcome to the board ryan. Nice intro by the way. Well done.

Look'n forward to see'n some of those Kawarthas reports as well as GBay.

I'd personally wait for John F. to respond. I swear I dont think I have read any better advice then he has given in a few posts.

I went to college for architecture. I found it very very simple and as long as I paid attention in class, well there was pretty much no after hours work. even with reports, just did everything on spare time between classes.

Trades are a great route, but working in the industry from a construction management point of view, they are always in need but they are always being laid off as well.

If you choose the university route, then so be it. you will make more money out of school and you are essentially training with more theory then anything with very little hands on experience.

Either way, even if you are not sure, after you complete whateer you take, you can always change your mind.

Good luck with whatever road you choose tho. as for the loan, i didnt have to worry about that as i worked pretty much from when school was done until midnight 6 days a week. 3 years of hell but it was worth coming out with no money being owed.

Well its a good question to ask, but if you read the posts, a lot of people introduce themselves before asking for spots. Just an FYI

We took 13 days to do it. but we stayed at Jasper park lodge since a buddy worked there and it was amazingly cheap.

We only took just over 3 days to get home through canada. We stopped at West Edmonton Mall the first night, stayed in South Edmonton Delta, then the next night. Portage la Prairie night 2. Marathon Ontario night 3 was home on the 4th day.

We could have spent another 10 days EASILY.

Whatever you choose to do though, I would definitely recommend the USA trip as it was FAR FAR more exciting then the canadian side unfortunately.

slowpokes is pretty much the route i took but SD instead of ND and a lot more of wyoming. .

Hey Stan, I did this trip about 4 years ago. Went through the states though on the way there, canada on the way back.

Here are some things to see on the way if you go the states route, which is far far better then the canadian route?

Started in Hamilton:

Day 1: Drove through Detroit then Indy then through Chicago. First night stayed in Maddison WI.

Day 2: up to St. Paul Minn, and Mall of America. HUGE Mall. about 6 times the size of square one.

a 2 hour detour will get you to Lambeau Field and ROLLIE and HELENS Musky Shop (before Mall of america)

Then from Mall of America we went to Mitchell South Dakota. Home of the Corn Palace. (look it up) Also in Mitchell, Cabelas.

Day 2 stayed in Souix Falls SD.

Day 3: Across south dakota to THE BADLANDS. Simply amazing. Hidalgo was filmed there. From the Badlands, hit Wall Drug. If you dont know what wall drug is look it up. Neat to see, but kinda odd. Also the Dances with Wolves museum is there. Expensive but again need to see. From there you head into the Black Hills of South Dakota. We went to Mount Rushmore, then Crazy Horse, the Hair Pin Hwy was closed (only open till 6PM or something) but supposed to be AMAZING. Then on the way out of the Black hills there is Deadwood. What a town to see. The original Deadwood. NOTE: before hitting the Badlands you drive for about 10 miles of nothing but Sunflowers. A sight to see on its own. No man made structure other then the Hwy and sunflowers. Day 3 ended in Gillette Wyoming.

Day 4: The Devils Tower of Wyoming. Again look it up. its so amazing. Off through the Buckhorn Mountains and into Cody Wyoming, the home of the Midwest Bullriding. From there, the East Gate of Yellowstone National. If you go this way, Take a COMPLETE day for Yellowstone. There is just far too much in that park to see and it is worth the drive for sure. From Yellowstone you head north into Montana where Day 4 Ended and we stayed in Livingston.

Day 5 we drove to GOING TO THE SUN ROAD. Okay let me just say this, if you have not been on Going to the Sun Road, Go now as they are planning its closure and it was probably the best part of the trip. A 2 hour drive up and down a 7000 ft mountain with breathtaking scenery and NO guardrails. End of Day 5 we were in Fort McCloud. A dump if you ask me.

Day 6: Crowsnest Past and the Frank Slide. Another MUST SEE. as well as Head smashed in buffalo jump. Then north to Calgary, Olympic Stadium and then into Banff and The Glacier Fields then up to Jasper for the end of Day 6.

That drive was simply incredible. there are so many things to see and do and I would do it again in a heartbeat if i could.

I hope this helps.

Stellar. Those are some decent Smallies. I think I may hit simcoe up haha. nice job.

Great intro, Welcome to the board.

Not too much into bass at all. But look on the bright side. I was up in the Kawarthas for 6 days (I posted the pics a few days ago here). Total of 4 fish landed 1 lost 1 follow.

So that roughly eaquals based on a 12-13 hour day : 1 fish for every 18.75 hours fished.

So you shouldnt feel bad.

Ahhhh thats the worst. There will be a next time for sure 9000 casts later. Just dont fish with BillM unless you want to become a Pro caster.

Your average price for a Large Frabill or Beckman is going to run you $135-190 no matter where you go. Depending on how big you want to go.

JB's has a bunch right now. If they dont have what you want, call up Stacey at Pro Tackle in Corbyville, he also carries them.

But JB's should be able to get you what you are looking for.

Plan on spending $150 for sure though.

Looks Stellar Clive. Your guy's line work looks incredible on here.

I was actually looking at a Chronarch B. The Calias is a bit out of my price range I'll have the check out the Abu's and the Daiwa's also.

I have a Chronarch Mg on one of my Pike/Bass rods. Its amazing as well. Another reel you cant go wrong with. Cost a fortune tho, at least when I bought mine.

Not too shabby --- how deep were you trolling? I've never fished Pigeon, but have my eye on it....just curious if it's got lots of weeds that would prevent trolling deep, or not.

Thanks for putting up the pics!

I was trolling in depths from 14' to 48' of water. Baits running in the 12-17' range.

Not sure of rentals, I know there is a Marina where the road splits in the "Y". Dont go down the Killbear way, the other way has one at the end. Havent been to it in ages tho.

I have the Curado 300 Bill and it Fantastic. Even though I am not a huge fan of Low Pros for the Musky gear, I do like this reel. Its very smooth. I just it for Tops, Bucks and some Cranks (not many tho)

Looks like we gotta get out there soon Bill. I dont wanna hijack his thread tho hahah.

Any ideas where?

Great Job. Seems like Pigeon produced for both of us.

If you are on GBay, FISH ON Gbay. I have never fished the Killbear/Sound area, but have boated it from Point Au Baril and from Port Severn. There are TONS of areas I would love to try out there.

If you can head north into the north end of Shawanaga, or the south end by Twin Sisters, they are 2 pretty good areas, but it would take a good 2 hours to get there by 14' tinny. I have done it a few times and it gets ROUGH.

Sorry I cant help you more.

GBaygiant and Jigger may be able to help. I know Jigger has fished Shawanaga, he may have headed south to the Sound

The lady friend and I decided to book up in the Kawarthas this year again for a week. We stayed at Buckhorn Narrows on Upper Buckhorn.

The weather, well, it wasnt great. VERY windy, sun/cloud/sun/rain/sun/cloud/wind etc. every day except for 2.

I decided to try heading on to Pigeon for majority of my time out there. Sunday we started Trolling and about 15 minutes in, the reel goes off on the Tekota, I grab the rod, feel a head shake, the fish is gone. That was all the action I saw Sunday.

Monday and Tuesday, NOTHING. Trolling and Casting got me no where. I tried shallow, deep, deep weed lines, submerged islands, steep breaks, I couldnt budge a fish, other then one follow at Harrington Narrows.

Wednesday rolls around and after Trolling and Casting for much of the day, we braked for lunch. I decided to Troll off the spot where we stopped for lunch, and no sooner then 30 seconds after we got going, this guy hit.

That was all for Wednesday, on the way back (we decided to take the boat to Pigeon instead of drive to a ramp) we hit the biggest caps and rollers I have seen on any Kawarthas body of water. It took us 1 hour and 45 minutes to drive from the north end of Pigeon to Gannon. Horrible. 14' tinny with 2-3.5 ft rollers. Not fun at all.

Thursday another wash.

Friday finally rolled around and I figured since NOTHING was going my way, to try Pigeon again.

Started Tolling and this small guy hit

Got her back in the water, 10 minutes later over the same spot, I got this guy

Let her go and on our way.

40 minutes goes by and I decide to hit my Trolling Milk Run. No sooner do I hit my first landmark and the weekend'r hits.

That was it for the fish. Fun week, not a lot of action, but it was worth the time up there just me and the girlfriend.

Here are some others that were floating around the cottage area

Enjoy Mike

Great Job Bill. (minus the yellow shorts)

You don't eat constantly all day long & neither do they.

Well if someone threw a pizza by me i would be sure to grab it, no matter what time of day. or a beer.