craigdritchie

You get a few salmon wander upstream in July and August every summer. That first good thunderstorm where it rains enough to raise the water level is all it takes. If it gets really hot again, they'll most likely croak. If not, they'll be spawning by Labour Day. For what it's worth, no it's not too early to hit the piers and yes, there have been a handful of fish caught at night off and on over the past couple of weeks. Go explore, you might be surprised. By the time you read about it on the internet, the best fishing is over and done.

I don't think there's any issue with that provided the buyer clearly states that the boat was a hurricane write-off. Where it gets greasy is when someone cleans it up, makes it look like an undamaged boat, and doesn't say boo. I know one story involving a 23-foot center console that went down in a hurricane and spent three months laying on the bottom of a bay, completely submerged in salt water. Someone fished it out, cleaned it up and once the sand and seaweed got washed out it didn't have a scratch on it otherwise. A bit of Armourall spruced up the upholstery, and a new outboard made it look like a brand new boat. Problem was, all the electrical wiring, steering components, pumps, T-top frame and other metal fittings corroded from the salt water. Apparently you could pull the cleats off with your hand, and a zillion little hairline cracks in the hull let water soak through to the aluminum stringers. The boat might have looked new, but it was a death trap. Just last week there was a story in the papers about some guy who bought a big cruiser in Florida, brought it home and had it sink on him in Lake Michigan. Bad enough the boat went down, but he's now facing an environmental salvage fee of over $100,000. Like I said, buyer beware ...

I would be extremely careful with buying any used boats from the southern US right now, especially considering how many of them were written off last year between the three hurricanes (Harvey, Irma and Nate) and four major tropical storms that all made landfall in the US. There are many people patching up these trashed boats and re-selling them. Shiny new gelcoat and some Armourall on the seats does nothing to repair hull cracks or splintered stringers. Seriously ... buyer beware. You don't want to get stuck with a hurricane boat, and US insurers wrote off well over 100,000 of them last fall alone. Before you lay out any cash, have the boat looked over by a certified marine mechanic.

Whether to go 115 or 150 depends on what you're trying to achieve and what kind of hull you're screwing this thing onto. Things to consider: The 150 weighs nearly 100 pounds more that the 115 (455 pounds versus 359 lbs). Sure it has more power, but that much more weight on the transom means actual performance gains might not amount to much. The 150 costs more to buy than the 115. The 150 will cost more to operate than the 115. Both engines are inline fours, but the 150 uses a 3.0L block where the 115 is a 2.1L. The bigger block will use more fuel. The 150 has a much bigger alternator than the 115 (60 amps, vs 35 amps) so if you run a lot of electronics or spend most of your time moving a slow troll, that could be very important. For what it's worth Merc's Command Thrust is designed to deliver more grunt for heavier, bulkier pontoon boats ... on a fishing boat that glides through the water pretty effortlessly, the extra traction is hardly noticeable (okay, it really isn't noticeable ... at all). The big benefit is that the larger diameter gear case spins a bigger prop (same props as the 150) so you have more selection to pick from. Seriously? I'd go talk to your dealer. Terry is absolutely right, the hull you're putting this engine on makes more difference than anything else.

Last weekend was a busy one for thieves, evidently. Please keep your eyes out for these items and call OPP if you come across them. Yamaha Portable Outboards At some point over the weekend five brand new Yamaha portable outboards went missing from Pirate Cove Marina. Models and serial numbers are: F2.5SMHB #6EG1010675 F2.5SMHB #6EG1011633 F4SMHA #6EC1012914 F8SMHB #6FWK1009248 F15LMHA #6AGK1053480 Lund 14' Tinnie and Merc 25 Stolen from Village Marina in Honey Harbour was a 14-foot Lund tinnie registration of ON3824730, with a 25 HP Merc, serial number of OR685588. It was on a silver Easy Loader trailer, serial number of 1AEAAKMB7FA014142 with Ontario licence plate L1298Z. Here's a photo: It's a good bet some or all of these items will wind up on Kijiji before long. Please call the OPP if you run into any of this stuff, I'm sure the dealers would love to get the stuff back. Cheers

Old news. https://plus.ibinews.com/2018/06/28/alumacraft_sold/ Also over the last couple of weeks: Polaris buys Bennington, Rinker, Hurricane and Godfrey ( http://www.polaris.com/en-us/company/article/polaris-industries-signs-definitive-agreement-to-acquire-boat-holdings-llc ) ..... Winnebago buys Chris-Craft ( https://www.tradeonlytoday.com/industry-news/winnebago-buys-chris-craft ) and C-Map merges with Navico (parent company of Lowrance ... https://plus.ibinews.com/2018/07/02/navico_and_c-map_announce_merger/ ). Lots of consolidation and new players in the boat industry!

Crestliner Raptor is a high-end aluminum boat, on the same rough level as a Lund Pro-V or a Starcraft Titan. They're very nicely equipped, fit and finish is quite good. Overall build quality is pretty typical Crestliner, so you shouldn't have any problems. Of course that's assuming the boat is in good shape to begin with, and has been properly cared for by its original owner. I've driven the 21-foot Raptor (I wrote a boat test on it for Boatguide magazine a couple of years ago when it first came out) and it had no problems at all in rough water. The hull is a moderately deep V ... deadrise is around 17 or 18 degrees if I remember correctly, and with a reverse chine so it will handle more of a chop than most people are comfortable with. I have not driven the 18 foot Raptor but I don't imagine it would be substantially different from the 21, length aside. Like a Pro-V or Titan, the Raptor is a comparatively heavy boat, so it doesn't slosh around in waves or get blown around too much in a wind, in spite of having decent freeboard. The trade-off is that you'll eat a bit more fuel pushing that extra weight. The 200 Opti is a good engine, though IMHO it's beginning to show its age compared to more recent designs. What kind of trolling speed you wind up with depends to some degree on how it's propped. On a boat like the Raptor I would think you should be able to get it down to a little under 2 mph ... maybe 1.5 mph, again depending how its propped.

Deer hair floats like a cork, so deer hair flies are generally surface bugs. Hair bugs for bass are super easy to tie. Use a lightweight, long-shanked hook and tie on some sort of tail (a couple of hackle feathers works great). then you form a body along the length of the hook shank by spinning deer hair. This video ( https://youtu.be/I9UxjnRFfiE ) is pretty crappy quality but it shows you the basic process. As you spin the hair, you get this round ball of deer hair sticking out all over. Obviously you need to use sturdy thread for this, to avoid breakage problems. Here's the critical part --> Use a small tube (drinking straw works well, or the plastic shell from a ball point pen) and shove it over the hook shank to push the hair so the front end stand of your clump stands more or less vertical, and wrap one or two winds of thread over it to hold it like that. From there, just keep repeating the process of spinning and compacting till you reach the hook eye. Finish up with a few wraps of thread, then tie the whole thing off and seal it with head cement. What you have should look like the shrunken head of a burned out hippie. You can shape it to look like a bug, a mouse, a frog, or whatever makes you happy with small, sharp scissors ... I use an electric razor, which works much faster and seems to do a better job. Just go easy on the barbering, you don't want to take off too much hair or your bug won't float very well. You can get all fancy and glue on little eyeballs and legs and stuff, but what matters is that you pack the spun deer hair compactly so you get a dense body that will float well and have a bulky profile in the water. Give it a try, these things are stupidly easy to tie and they're a lot of fun to use.

That's about right, an inch or so is fine. you just have to be sure you water the hell out of it for a couple of weeks, so the seed doesn't dry out and that the roots go deep. Haven't tried the burlap trick but I expect that would work well,. Good idea.

Not much to it Chris. Lay down a solid coat of good grass seed, then cover it with an inch or so of topsoil mixed with some sort of fertilizer (bagged sheep manure from the garden center works great). Make sure you water it every day for at least three weeks. Ta-da! Nice thick grass. One more thing - the dirt needs some clay or peat moss mixed in to hold the water ... if its too sandy, the water just flows through and the grass will die. Nice speck by the way!

I was saddened to hear this as well. Really liked his shows.

Bingo. The problem with reporting on this issue is that it consistently ignores the fact that the Canadian and US economies are completely and totally integrated. Everyone talks about a 10% tariff on aluminum. Consider this ... A mining company in Canada digs up some raw ore and sells it to a smelter/refiner in the States. It crosses the border - boom, tack on 10%. The smelter will pay it. The smelter in the US turns that rock into aluminum bars. They're sold to a company in Canada that makes boat equipment like cleats, hinges, windshield frames or whatever. The stuff crosses the border. Tack on a second 10%. The component manufacturer will pay it. Aluminum bar gets turned into a boat cleat, and sold to Boston Whaler. Back it goes across the border to the Boston Whaler factory, where en route it gets taxed yet again - 10% for the third time. Boston Whaler will pay it. Boston Whaler makes a boat, and sells it to a dealer in Canada. Guess what? That's right, another trip across the border and another 10%. Dealer marks up the boat accordingly. Before it even gets to the dealer showroom, that aluminum cleat has been taxed and tariffed four times. You, the guy who buys the boat, ultimately pay for it all. Sound ridiculous? Perhaps. But that scenario is very real, it's not an exaggeration at all. And it applies to all sorts of things that we buy. If you think a boat is complex, try keeping track of all the components in a car. The big issue with these tariffs is that it's not necessarily just a simple 10% price increase. In some cases, because of the way manufacturing works in North America, the surcharges will be much, much higher than that.

Yes, it includes boats, boat components and replacement boat parts. Marine engines are not specifically identified in the tariff list but there is a line that mentions "other miscellaneous products" that are made primarily out of aluminum. Since that applies to virtually every outboard on the planet, they would presumably be included. Same for trailers, downriggers, rod holders, you name it. Basically anything made of aluminum.

I think most people are aware that Trump has went ahead and imposed new tariffs on steel and aluminum that's exported from Canada into the US. I think most also know that in retaliation, Canada has outlined something like $16 billion on tariffs on various products coming into Canada from the US. The official list of products specifically includes boats, both aluminum and fibreglass. IF YOU ARE LOOKING AT BUYING AN AMERICAN-MADE BOAT, you better get on your horse and do it asap. Effective July 1, those new Canadian tariffs come into effect and the cost of your boat will go up by 10 percent. Beyond that, the cost for dealers to replace inventory that's on their lot today will also go up by an additional 10 percent (at a minimum) since boat builders in the US are now paying 10 percent more for the aluminum they import from Canada. The net result is that the retail price of US-made boats sold in Canada could increase by 20 to 25 percent by mid-summer. Barring a sudden flip-flop by Trump, or a deal on NAFTA, boats and engines are going to become much more expensive. If you're in the market, do the deal now before the new taxes come into effect and save yourself some serious coin.

If you want a real eye-opener, look outside of Ontario. Our place on the east coast was 12 years old when we bought it ... large waterfront lot at a river mouth ... the river has a good run of sea-run brookies all summer long (up to 6 pounds!), plus the occasional Atlantic. House was in beautiful shape and move-in condition ... bought for $190k. Yeah, it's cold there in the winters. But anyone can buy a place like that plus a condo in the sun for half what a dump in Toronto costs. Better quality of life and great fishing year-round. Just sayin ...

Doral was a Canadian builder of fibreglass sport boats and cruisers. Originally all boats came from a single factory in Grand Mere, Quebec. In 2002 production of sport boats and Doral's Thunder Craft-branded models moved to a second plant in Midland, Ontario. The 2003 bowrider you ask about would have been built in Midland. The standard engine in this boat was a 135 hp, 3.0L four cylinder MerCruiser sterndrive, with a 190 hp, 4.3L V6 MerCruiser available as an upgrade. Volvo Penta never made either a 3.7L or 3.9L gas engine, here in North America they also sold 3.0L and 4.3L sterndrives. The 4.3L was made by GM for both Mercury and Volvo. I'm not sure who manufactured the 3.0L block. Doral has been in bankruptcy three times - in 2012, 2008 and 1992. Build quality of the boats has been notoriously inconsistent over the years ... some boats are very well made, some not so much. The cruisers, which were all made in Quebec, tended to be more consistent and are generally pretty good. I'd strongly suggest you hire a marine surveyor and pay them a couple of bucks to check this boat out for you. As far as a fair price goes, talk to the surveyor because it all comes down to condition. $12k is middle of the range value ... it could be worth a good bit more or less depending on what kind of shape it's in. Original cost in 2003 would have ranged from between $22k and $30k depending on engine and other options. Today, $8k to maybe $18k is about right.

Huzzaba, your fish is a young chinook - 100%.

Line twist issues are more likely to do with using inline spinners, rather than the reel. They all twist line something fierce. Either use a small barrel swivel a foot or so up the line from the spinner, or just take a pair of pliers and bend the spinner's front eye off to the side about 45 degrees. It works pretty well - not as well as a barrel swivel, but good enough.

I'm surprised no one has mentioned it yet but the other big reason to always fish with glasses is safety. A few years back I had a steelhead shake off as I was about to beach it ... hook popped out, the bend-over rod recoiled and a split shot cracked the lens of my (prescription) polarized lens. If I hadn't been wearing the glasses, I would have caught that sinker with my eyeball ... not a pretty thought. I won't fish without them. Ever.

Who cares about bass, you can catch them here. If you're going all the way to Florida, fish saltwater for tarpon and snook, since mid-summer is prime time! Snook - they behave like a largemouth but fight a steelhead. You catch them off piers and jetties, or in shallow weedy spots where you can't quite see bottom any more. They eat topwaters like crazy, jump like crazy, and will peel line faster than anything you've ever seen in fresh water. Average size is about 6 pounds. Tarpon - enough said! There are lots of guys who do charters, it isn't that expensive. Baby tarpon (up to about 20 pounds) hang out in the same paces as snook. You catch them on live shrimp under a little float. Do some research, Google is your friend. Salt water fishing totally rocks, it completely blows away fishing for largemouth. Try something new and have an experience you haven't had before.

It has already happened here. Not on a regular basis, obviously, like in the US, but make no mistake, Canada has its own first-hand experience with mass shootings. You're right though, be thankful where we live and the fact we don't face this every week like our neighbours to the south. Unfortunately for American families, this will not stop until someone in Washington finally grows a set of balls and brings in some level of gun control. That's not a chop at hunters or target shooters (like me), our system works just fine. But simply being handed a free assault rifle when you buy a car, or some jewellery for your girl, or fix your roof is freaking insane, straight up. The US gun culture is completely out of control. No one needs an assault rifle, and no one needs a flame thrower. Sadly, nothing will change in the US because its politicians continue to hide their heads in the sand, and not one of them has the kind of backbone or true leadership to stand up to the NRA and say enough is enough. This latest event will just become one of a long list of shot-up schools, and these 17 young faces will simply become anonymous statistics to a growing list of dead kids. It's really sad.

The Miami Boat Show is coming up in a little over two weeks, which means it's time for the boat builders who will introduce new product there to start taking photos of it. This includes Hydra Sports, which has some interesting, custom-coloured Yamahas to go with their new boats. I especially like the way that last photo looks, shot at night under black light.

Looks to me like an old Dardevle. They made several series of spoons, some of which were long and thin like the one in the first pic. The originals were fairly thick and heavy ... there were many knock-offs made over the years, all of which were thinner and lighter. The originals usually fished better in deep water because they got down to the fish. In the shallows, the imitations often worked better because they wouldn't get stuck on bottom. I believe the Len Thompson company made some very similar spoons ... could be one of them. I have a number of retired lures and reels that now live on bookcase shelves in my office. Every time I look at them, I'm reminded of the great days on the water that they represent. It's nice ... especially in the dead of winter.

If you think pizza tastes good coming off a good pan, try one baked on a stone. It's easily 100x better!! Put the stone in the oven before you turn it on, then pre-heat to 425 degrees. Take the stone out, sprinkle on a pinch or two of cornmeal, and lay on the dough. Paint the dough with olive oil, and bake for 5 - 6 minutes. Haul it back out, put on your toppings, then bake for an additional 10 - 11 minutes. Easy. A proper pizza pan is a great investment. But once you try using a pizza stone, you'll never go back. They're about $20 at any kitchen supply store.

It doesn't really matter whether a boat is welded or riveted, what matters is the quality of the construction. Not slamming Monark boats, since they were okay for what they were. But let's just say they were designed and built with the first priority being ... to meet a certain price point. Any time you do that, there will be compromises. Guys say that welded boats crack. Not the good ones. The Coast Guard search and rescue boats are all welded, and have been for decades. They go out into really nasty stuff all the time, and never have a problem. Every jet in the sky is riveted. Flight at 40,000 feet puts them under unimaginable stress. But again, never even heard of a problem with rivets popping. Welded or riveted doesn't matter as long as you buy quality. No one ever regrets buying high-end product that's built to last. But plenty of people regret buying low-end stuff that was simply built to be inexpensive.