CrowMan

40 minutes ago, Big Cliff said:

I just found out that If you currently heat with propane and you install a heat pump your propane usage should drop significantly (which is good). I currently have two 440 tanks and pay $175.00  a year in tank rentals.  I am told that with the heat pump l should only nèed one. Problem is that if my propane usage drops significantly my tank rental could climb to as much as $750.00 a year for even 1 tank. It's sure making me question the heat pump idea.

I would shop the Propane companies. Here in eastern Ontario it's a very competitive market, we have at least 4 to choose from. I rent my 500 gallon tank for "free" (of course, it's built in to the price of their propane). $750 rental for one tank is steep, considering you can buy a standard 420lb tank outright for $1200.  It's just like folks that rent their water heaters...good for the rental company, not so much for the renter.

Shop around, knowing approximately what your annual consumption would be, and compare the rental costs vs propane costs to find the best deal/plan that fits your needs. 

1 hour ago, siwash said:

Had a guy look at it and he said the same thing - really bad corrosion and couldn't believe how bad. He thought maybe it was used in salt water and not flushed... who knows? That is not the original lower unit.  Appears to have come off an evinrude. And yes I am shopping for a new lower unit and I have also considered another motor altogether.  I did see some Yamahas on marketplace.  
 

he also said that since the lower unit is pooched, that I shouldn't let that stop me from going out. Since it'll be either replaced or new motor sometime soon, just run it, snd replace the lower unit oil thst is lost after each trip.  It's now literally leaking out of the lower end.  I have the electric motor to back me up. I'm thinking if just going out and keep it to smaller lakes and not venturing too far out.  I mostly fish lakes no larger than sparrow... 

boat ownership is definitely an expensive "hobby" 

I'm not sure letting oil, that is "literally leaking out", pour into our lakes (especially smaller ones) is such a good idea.

1 hour ago, Big Cliff said:

I am seriously thinking of getting one, my ac unit is 25 years old so I expect  it would probably need to be replaced in the not too distant future anyway. My furnace is propane and only 8 years old and serviced every year,  just replaced the fan motor under warranty last fall. My place is about 1400 square ft. and I am told I would need a 2 ton system. Cost installed about $6500.00 and apparently I would get a $2500.00 rebate. My annual propane cost is roughly $1600.00 a year but I am told that a heat pump should drop that by over 50%+. My hydro usage averages about $100.00/month winter and summer. Any thoughts?

Sounds like it would pay for itself in about 6 years. The electrical savings with a more efficient A/C in summer (especially a summer like this one) will offset a lot of the cost of running the heat pump in winter. Considering the age of your A/C (and the new regulations for refrigerant), I don't see why you wouldn't do it. Every year that goes by you're losing $600 ($800 propane savings minus $200 extra hydro) that you'll never get back. If you keep that $4000 in the bank/invested, you'd be hard pressed to get an annual return of $600 on it.

If you simply replace the A/C (like for like) you'd have a difficult time finding an installed unit for under $4000 anyway. The gov't rebate makes the deal a "no brainer".

I don't see a downside.

ps. make sure your sales/installer does a "heat loss/heat gain analysis" of your house...includes total interior volume, amount of ceiling and wall insulation, type of basement, size and direction of windows, etc, etc. to properly size the equipment.

21 hours ago, akaShag said:

Nothing beats time at camp!  Now if I could MOVE my camp to waterfront......😉

Doug

Why do you think I'm here ? 😁

It's all about the $$$. It's becoming like that all over the Province. Even in my quiet corner of eastern Ontario, the same thing is happening.

Waterfront and recreational property values have gone through the roof, especially since Covid. When folks buy a $1 million + vacation or retirement property, they do so with the expectation of peace and quiet. That's why they leave the city to begin with. They don't like their lakes overrun with weekend warriors or their streets jammed with cars and trailers. The more "peaceful and private" a property is... the higher the value. The higher the value...the more $$$ the local municipality collects in property taxes. Unfortunately, visiting fisherman (especially day trippers) don't spend enough money locally to offset the gains in property tax revenue.

I've sat through many meetings of the Central Frontenac township council...it's exactly what you hear. No one has a problem with attracting tourists to local lodges, cottage rentals, camps and marinas....but "day visitors" on the lakes cost the township more (maintaining ramps, roads, parking areas and collecting garbage) than the revenue they bring in..and of course, just like local residents everywhere there's a strong streak of NIMBYism..(Not In My BackYard)..

The Province used to take care of public ramps, etc, but over the years the cost and responsibility has been downloaded to the local municipalities. 

When I used to have a place on G'Bay, I always did well on the east side in July and early August. There is a FB group....Kings On the Bay...that follow the G'Bay Salmon scene. Seems the deep channel beside Christian Island has been hot of late. Fairly protected water between Christian and Cedar Point.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/375383119830482/?ref=share&mibextid=NSMWBT

2 hours ago, Spiel said:

 

This bait caster is very soft in the tip John, the number of guides required to keep the line from falling below the blank would be excessive, add undesired weight to the rods tip and reduce sensitivity and performance.

 

This is a fairly good explanation I copied and pasted.....

 

Spiral wrap guides on fishing rods offer several advantages over traditional guide placement, primarily improving rod stability, reducing line twist, and enhancing casting distance and accuracy. By spiraling the guides around the rod blank, the line is kept underneath the rod when under pressure, minimizing the torque and potential twisting of the rod. This design also allows for fewer, larger guides, reducing line friction and leading to smoother, longer casts.

Reduced Torque and Improved Stability:

When fighting a fish, the line exerts force on the rod, potentially causing it to twist or rotate, especially with traditional baitcasting rods. Spiral wrapping the guides, often referred to as "acid wrapping," ensures the line is positioned underneath the rod, counteracting this torque and keeping the rod more stable. This results in a more controlled and powerful fight, preventing the rod from twisting in your hand.

Minimized Line Contact and Friction:

By spiraling the guides, the line has less contact with the rod blank itself, reducing friction and improving casting distance and accuracy. Fewer guides are needed compared to traditional setups, further minimizing line friction and contributing to a smoother casting experience.

 

Enhanced Sensitivity and Responsiveness:

When properly engineered, spiral wrapped rods can be more sensitive and responsive, allowing anglers to feel subtle bites and changes in the lure's action. The reduced weight of the rod due to fewer guides and the efficient line management contribute to this increased sensitivity. 

 

Reduced Line Tangles:

The spiral design minimizes line contact with the rod blank, especially when bent, significantly reducing the chance of line tangles, a common frustration for anglers.

 

Potential for Increased Leverage:

In some cases, the spiral wrap design may allow for a more direct and powerful pull on the fish, leading to improved leverage and potentially making it easier to land larger or more stubborn fish.

 

 

I'll add one more benefit of spiral wrap guides...it's pretty well a "must have" when using a baitcaster for floatfishing (eg.. for Steelhead). The reduced friction and minimal line contact with the rod blank make it easier to effectively trot a float...especially in sub-zero temps when icing becomes an issue.

I also like the configuration for downrigging....I have an ancient pair of Fenwick "RiggerSticks" that came from the factory with the "twist"...still my favourites.

Congrats on the 50 years, Spiel...I assume like a fine wine your work has only got better with age !

Not sure what you mean by "worth it" ? The advantage of an ACR is just that ...it's automatic, so you never have to worry about forgetting to switch the charging from one battery to another. It'll probably also increase your battery life, because they'll be all always kept at optimum charge.

On the other hand, if you're OK with remembering to switch them manually, then yes, save yourself $200. Personally, I like having the manual control, but for some boaters the more automated things are the better.

The only negative I've heard is that if you don't use your boat for an extended period, some ACR's can have a small parasitic current drain.

On 7/20/2025 at 8:28 AM, Big Cliff said:

 

That looks like it would be limited to one area of the house rather than using a furnace duct system. Am I understanding it correctly?

Yes, the head or cassettes of Ductless Mini-Split Systems (the top photo) are generally situated high on the wall to condition the area of a single room. However, one outdoor compressor unit (bottom photo) can supply several heads/cassettes...so several rooms.

The Ductless Systems are great if you have no ductwork. My cottage is a post and beam design...open concept with cathedral ceilings. Duct work would ruin the look. Heating is radiant in-floor powered by a propane boiler, supplemented by a wood stove. With in-floor heating your feet always toasty warm, the air doesn't get dry like with forced air, and it's extremely cost effective as its more efficient to heat a liquid rather than air.

We previously never had A/C, but a few years back the summers got so hot that we decided we needed to do something beyond window shaker units. We ended up installing a Split Ductless heat pump system with 2 outdoor compressors and a total of 6 heads to provide very efficient cooling in summer, and heat on milder winter days. With separate heads you can control the temperature of individual rooms. For instance, in summer we prefer the master bedroom cooler than the rest of the house. As a bonus, the heat pumps save us about $500 a winter in propane.

However, if you have a forced air furnace and ductwork in your home, then I would recommend an integrated heat pump. As I stated, it's essentially the same configuration as a central air conditioning unit...the same outside compressor/condenser,  and same A-coil (evaporator) sitting in the plenum on top of your furnace, that cools, and in this case also heats the air.

Lake Erie is a Walleye factory. The 2024 survey numbers indicated over 80 MILLION Walleye of catchable size (2 years old or older).

I grew up fishing Lake Erie. My grandparents had a cottage on Pickerel Ave in Long Point, backing onto one of the "cuts". We mostly fished Bass and Pike, but if we wanted a Walleye dinner, we'd haul the boat over to Port Burwell and fish a few miles out. The fishing has only got better since the 70's and 80's.

I fished with a buddy last July out of Burwell, and we limited out within 90 minutes. Plenty of fillets to take home in a short time...but it felt more like harvesting than fishing.

I have to say, I much prefer to catch Walleye from a northern Canadian Shield Lake. There's just something about the pink granite and towering White Pines. The call of the Loon and the slap of a Beaver's tail add to the atmosphere. Frankly, trolling for Walleye on Lake Erie isn't that much fun...they're not the best fighters to begin with, and with heavier trolling gear you often just skip them in. I prefer to jig for them on light spinning tackle and zero in on structure...part of the challenge is finding them. You feel the bite, and you at least get a few head shakes on the way up.

Besides..there's no islands to stop at and have a shore lunch on Erie..a crackling fire, sizzling fillets and potatoes, along with a can or two of beans is all part of the experience.

Catching isn't everything. 

ps...hooking a few bonus Steelhead when trolling Erie does make it a little more exciting..

I've fished the area a number of times...we usually stay at Brennan Harbour. I've always used Navionics...their charts have been spot on for that area.

Brennan Harbour does provide printed charts suitable for navigation, and marked with "fishing hotspots"...perhaps they will sell you one.

I spent over 40 years in HVAC as a mechanical engineer, I can tell you this..

Based on current pricing of hydro and propane (also natural gas) here in eastern Ontario, the "sweet spot" to maximize efficiency of a heat pump is when the outside temperature is between +5 and -10c. Warmer than the +5c, and the amount of electricity required to produce heat is greater than the cost of the propane required at those temperatures. Colder than -10c, and again propane is less expensive to burn to maintain room temperature in your home, than using electricity to try and extract heat from the atmosphere. 

Good news is... a lot of the time between October and April, the temperature in Ontario is between +5 and -10c.

A heat pump is simply an A/C unit with a reversing valve...most of them are about 21 SEER efficiency, so savings to be had cooling in summer too.

The other big savings with a new furnace is with the blower motor...the newer and better furnaces use ECM (brushless) variable-speed motors, which can save you up to $400 a year in electricity.

The most cost effective and efficient system for an Ontario climate is a propane or natural gas hi-efficiency ECM furnace with an integrated  heat pump combined with a smart thermostat to automatically switch between the two based on outside ambient temperature and current hydro rates.

If it's equipment you eventually have to replace anyway...calculate the energy savings vs the interest/investment return on the capital cost of the equipment and make a factual financial decision.

18 minutes ago, Spiel said:

Never wavered, a lifetime fan since "77"

 

Horseshoe Tavern 1978...sucked me in on the opening riff...hooked forever since..

David Byrne..the "thinking man's" rock star..

Fished Chandos many times over the years. My uncle (since passed) had a cottage on Winter Bay. Good Smallie lake, and had some decent Lake Trout. Clear water...try Drop Shots and Ned Rigs in natural colours like Green Pumpkin around the offshore rocky reefs in the north end and the west arm. 

45 minutes ago, siwash said:

Just checked... they don't appear to carry the specific one you posted above.  They have Dakota and Volthium in 24 V and Ecoflow plus the other two in 12V. 

 

 

You may want to call them...not everything they have is on their website.

11 hours ago, siwash said:

 what's the store?

Bought two AoLithium 12v 100a  from a local retailer in Milton. 8 year over the counter warranty directly with the retailer. Batteries have BMS, cold weather protection and Bluetooth so you can monitor SOC right from your phone. $249 CDN each. They've been flawless.

Fellow OFC member "akaShag" and I (plus another buddy and his son) spent last week fishing Rivers Inlet, BC. We returned home with boxes of fillets of Chinook Salmon, Halibut, LingCod, and Rockfish. Besides the world-class angling, we fished beside Humpback Whales, Orcas (Killer Whales) and a Grizzly Bear.

Tonight I grilled some Chinook and served it with Jasmine rice, Fiddleheads (frozen, which I harvested back in late April) and a white wine/butter/herb (from my garden) sauce. There is no comparison between wild Pacific Chinook and the farmed Atlantic Salmon in the supermarkets, or for that matter, Chinook from the Great Lakes. The meat is deep red, firm and incredibly flavourful...now the challenge is how many different ways to prepare it all...baked, smoked, Gravlax, Indian Candy...

46 minutes ago, Essox said:

Actually that  is Z-mans largest  Chinlock hook and I do believe it's EWG.  As you know you have to use the special Chinlock hooks.  The baits ~ 7"long. Those are kind of the initial things that occurred to me. Unless they have started making larger Chinlock hooks these were all bought last year. I love the Z-man curly tails, as good as action as Mr. Twister and I can catch > 10 fish on one bait. I just but them on spoons, spinners and jigs. They all catch more fish w a Z-Man curly tail. Good thoughts and nice bass. 

Have you tried the BKK Titan hooks ? You can get them up to 10/0 size. They have an extra long hook point section and a coating to enhance penetration when fishing  weedless plastics. The little teaser flasher is removable, but I find Pike and Musky like the extra flash. The silicon slider keeps the hook in position when casting, but will slide down when settting the hook.

I've bought them from Fishing World in Hamilton, but if you can't find them at your local shop, Amazon sells them too.

2 hours ago, Essox said:

hy I've used these Z-man plastics makes some that are specific for toothy critters they don't break, puncture or tear. My troubles is I bury the hook for weedless into the body of the swimbait leaving ~3.5"  paddle  of the tail behind it. I 'm lucky if one in 4 actually gets hooked. Talked to Z-Mann no solution with them. It's a shame because the pike and bass really like these things. I about gave  up on them. Open to suggestions. Thank you

My suggestion would be to move up a hook size, and make sure it's an EWG (extra wide gap) style. "Texpose" the hook in the bait, so the hook point is just barely under the skin on top of the bait. Also, let the fish eat it a second or 2 longer, before setting the hook...fish will hang onto soft plastics a little longer than hard baits before rejecting them..

I'm a big fan of Z-Man (hence the hat)...their ElaZtech material is virtually indestructible and the buoyancy adds to the action of the bait. One of my favourites is the TicklerZ fished on a Ned Rig for Smallies...I'll catch dozens of fish on the same bait without having to replace it..

Hwy 17 is certainly a more scenic drive than 11. The stretch from the Soo to Nipigon is the prettiest drive this side of the Rockies. Lots of rivers to fish along the way (Brookies this time of year)...the Steel and the Nipigon both deserve stops. As for lakes, good Trout lakes in Lake Superior PP, and plenty of Walleye/Pike lakes in the Wawa and White River areas..

I'm a Daiwa guy when it comes to reels...their drags are phenomenal, and I like the t-wing casting guides. One area the Tranx are lacking is the drag (18 or 22lbs max).

You can get a Prorex or Lexa right up to 8.1 to 1 ratio, but burning blades requires power as even the smaller ones create a lot of resistance. A high ratio reel is going to be tiring. For double Cowgirls (and the like) your 4.6:1 Revo would be ideal.  With smaller blades, like you suggest, you can probably up the ratio...but I think something in the 7:1 ratio range might wear you out quickly.

I have a Prorex 400 5.3 to 1, which works well for smaller blades and cranks. I have a 7.1:1 Lexa that I reserve for jerk and glide baits. However, as long as you keep to small bucktails it might be OK for that too.

If you want something even smaller in hand, look at a Lexa 300...it's a solid lightweight reel.

Unless I'm fishing the jungle, I like to rig large swimbaits on a bullet head jig head...with a 6" bait a 5/0 hook with 1/2 oz head will get you down to deep weed lines and drop offs.

If they are right in the cabbage, then yes, I'll rig a swimbait on a weighted wide gap hook Tex-pose style...

I had a cottage at the mouth of the Moon River for a number of years...June was always big Pike month. Find cabbage weeds at the mouth of bays leading to the deeper basins and channels. G Bay is gin clear water, cabbage will grow down to 20 ft...fish the edge.

9 hours ago, akaShag said:

Back to CrowMan, was that the place you were talking about when I lost cell service?  Just curious...........

Doug

Yeah, one of the places....but I think I was rambling on for awhile before I realized I was talking to dead air..

8 minutes ago, AKRISONER said:

seems like the natives have figured this out again. Theyve been advertising ethanol free premium at wolf energy now for a couple of seasons. Ive been using it in my boats the last couple of years. Glad its back! Although not as big of a deal now that I am no longer running a 2 stroke.

I was told that the First Nation folks are bringing US refined fuel across the border though the Akwesane Reserve which straddles the border on the St. Lawrence by Cornwall.