hutch4113

cool report few feelings like finally putting a pattern together after multiple tries. Something to build on for future trips. close call with the skeg. Looks like you have an HDS 5 or 7 at the helm? you should able to make your own charts while exploring, trolling using the insight genesis feature?

I do have an HDS 5 - have no idea what Insight Genesis is - but will have to take a look. It also appears I need a new Map Chip - looks like Navionics has an all north America chip now, that has Georgian Bay. I think if I had been using that Chip, it would have covered the area I was in.

I guess in order for me to use the feature, I would have to take my Map Chip out?

A very good read and very nice pics there Tupelo. I have saved a few in my "to paint someday" file. It sounds like a great time. My ex in laws had a beautiful place on Nipping's south shore. The entire family would head up for the holiday and my Brother-in-law would spend a few more days fishing then close the cottage until January for ice fishing. Great times and your trip brings back fond memories, thanks again, well done.

Let me know when you get around to painting one of them. Would love to see the results.

http://www.adventurefishingmaps.on.ca/blackstoneharbourandwoodsbaymap.htm

 

 

http://www.clrm.ca/vrp/unit/MoonBreeze

 

" Maps to the waterways are available at the marina. "

 

Georgian Bay = rocks? No idea if the maps the links mention would be any help, years ago when I started fishing Pointe Au Baril one of my first purchases was a navigation map, and I still used a lot of caution.

Thanks for the links. I do have those, however they are not for navigation purposes. For some reason, there are no navigation maps for Woods Bay - or the surrounding water. They are available for water a little south, and a little north, but not for the area I was in. My Map chip is the same.

​Very strange, and not sure why (unless someone can point me to proper charts?).

I see you found your way out to the main boat channel. If you fish the islands and shoals out there in the clear water you will catch tons of Smallies all year long and the bigger ones in September and October.

Yep. When we did the run up to Parry Sound, I was looking for spots to try. I did not catch anything big out there - but I did lose something big - not sure if it was a Pike or Bass.

Now that I know the route, and there is nothing to hit on the way, I will probably focus more out in the Bay next time I go up.

Nice pics, those 3 locos way up there would make me a wreck of nerves. Bridge looks sooo skimpy.

Ya. When I look at the Bridge it just seems to be a combination of parts they found elsewhere. But it has worked for years, so I guess it must be strong.

My Parents rent a cottage in the Moon River/Woods Bay area - just outside of Captain Allen Straight, on the October Long Weekend. My wife and I have gone up regularly - where I proceed to fish my brains out.

I always start by targeting Musky, but have never even had sniff (I think something big did take a swipe at my lure one year - as the Twister Tail I was using came back in - minus most of its tail). In many ways I think the problem is usually the weather that weekend. We get up on the Friday, which is nice, until a cold front comes through that night, and ruins the fishing pretty much for the weekend. But having said that I have pretty much been skunked every visit.

With the weather forecast holding steady, I did have high hopes that this year would be different - and it was. While I still did not get a Musky, I at least saw some fish and caught some decent ones (along with losing some decent ones). It was also encouraging to see much more in the way of bait fish - I hope it is a sign that fishing in that area will rebound.

Anyway the weekend start on Saturday afternoon, with me going after Musky that day, and the next. But this time I decided they would not be my focus - if I was not seeing anything, I would switch to Pike or Bass. That switch seemed to work as I started to catch a lot Hammer handles. That was at least encouraging, as it meant there were fish around, unlike previous years.

Finally got a decent strike on Sunday (I think):

By no means a monster, but compared to what I was usually catching, it was a step in the right direction. It also gave me a better idea of the colours in play, and the Lure types. So I switched to a single lure - which caught pretty much every day.

I started to explore a little more, in some back bays and shoals. Started to get some Bass - again not monsters, but decent for the fight they put up:

On the Monday, the weather was awesome, so we decided as a family to do a run up to Parry Sound - so not much fishing that day. However I did pick out a few spots on the way up, that I tried later that evening. The shoals were great - and that is where I lost something big (total brain cramp on my part) but again it told me something about the area.

On Tuesday we had the Cottage to ourselves. However I was a little nervous of going out to far from Base Camp - I had hit a rock pretty hard the day before:

Fortunately it missed the Prop - but because the area is not charted (why I do not know), I figured I would stick close to the cottage, in case anything happened. It was also really windy, which made boat control a little more difficult (as it was I nearly threw myself out of the boat, when I made to sharp of a trolling motor turn). There were some nice shoals near the cottage, which I had not checked out - but were similar to the ones I had seen out in the Bay - there was also some shelter from the Wind.

Coming towards a point that led to a Shoal, I thought to myself I should cast across it - and I am glad I did.

Probably my biggest Bass for fishing that area (or at least close to it), which made the trip all worth while. I caught it on my lighter rod too, which made the fight a lot of fun. I put him back, marked the location - and know where I am going to try next year - .

I usually fish up there once a year. Have never tried for Muskie.....I wonder........

EcoDiesel with the ZF Transmission. 2014 Ram Laramie. 4x4 with Air Suspension, Limited Slip Diff.

What motor & transmission do you have

I have no regrets buying my Ram Diesel (forget the Eco part - that is just marketing...lol). It is the best riding vehicle (for its size) I have had, and is great for short runs, or for long distance driving. The low end grunt is awesome for towing - particularly pulling the boat of the water.

A couple of years ago we did a Golf Trip down to Mrytle Beach - and took my Truck. The guys loved it so much, that the next year, there was a request that we take it again. On the 2nd Trip my Brother In-Law who was driving a Ford Eco-Lie-Boost (See what I did there) came with me. He loved it so much, that when we got back, he went to the Ram Dealer on a Tuesday, and had his new Truck on a Wednesday.

The issue for him was Gas Mileage. The Ford was a great truck (I love the size of the interior) - but it drank fuel like crazy.

I think for anyone looking for a Truck, forget Brand Loyalty (they are not loyal to you). Try them all (I checked out all the Trucks before I bought), and buy what is right for you.

​However I will buy another Ram Diesel - no question on that. I have had zero regret on it.

I have a 2014 Laramie with the Diesel. Love it - and so does everyone else that rides in it. Of course it has Air Suspension, 4x4, etc. The outdoorsman I believe will ride a little rougher - think it has different suspension in the back end? But it will also be able to tow more.

Wanted to thank everyone for their suggestions. We launched out of Penetang - but spent all of our time on the other side of the Bay.

​Started up a Giants Tomb - there was a point I wanted to check out, but never saw anything. Tried some shoals, etc. around the Bay - caught mostly Bass, and a small Pike. Father and Son had a Bass double header to that was fun (no real post worthy pictures however).

Best opportunity of the day however was early morning - had a 40++ Muskie follow my lure back to the Boat. Gorgeous looking fish - Really Fat. But could not entice a strike . (That bugged me all day ).

Saw a Bald Eagle, which was cool.

Honey Harbor was a bust - way too much boat traffic.

Anyway, have a better idea of what to try next time. Looking forward to a trip back.

I may need to submit a FOI - what is this Dalrymple you speak of?

You say in your post you're already familiar with Honey Harbour, so I'd stick with what you know if you're trying to put newbs on fish

Sorry - should have said I am familiar when it comes to boating - no idea on the area when it comes to fishing.

Thanks for sharing. Gotta add that to my list of things I would like to do.

I am planning on taking a Father and Son out fishing this weekend - most likely on the Monday. He is a avid fisherman, but only on streams and rivers due to a lack of a boat. He wanted to get his son out this year, so asked if I could assist.

We will be launching from Penetang.

I have never fished in that area at all, and wondering where I would be best to concentrate. I have Navionics and a Chip, so should know where most of the Rocks are. I spent most of my summers as a kid in Honey Harbor, so am familiar with the area.

I figure we will target Bass - but really I think he just wants to catch something (or more likely wants his young son to catch something) so Pike would be fine to (we are catch and release anyway). I will bring my Muskie gear, and will probably try for that, at least for a bit.

There is a lot of water to cover, so send me your suggestions (PM if you like) - I am thinking it would be better for us to go across to Honey Harbor - might have more of a chance there.

Thanks in advance.

Thanks for sharing. I can never figure that area out - usually get skunked, but it might be the time of year I am there (middle of October).

Hi OFC,

 

Hoping I can get some help from the board..

 

My long weekend hasn't gone as planned thanks to some engine failure while out fishing. Boat was running fine but early saturday morning I would be driving at cruising speed and engine would suddenly die. Happened a few times and finally I got worried so decided to leave it off and use the kicker to get back to the cottage.

 

I had a marine mechanic come by the cottage and he delivered some bad news. Two of three pistons were in good shape, but one was showing 18psi when compression tested. I was advised that the best option would be to replace the entire powerhead with an estimate of roughly $5k.

 

I only got this news yesterday so I'm still scrambling to figure out next steps and how to get this fixed. I bought the boat at the beginning of the summer so I want to get it fixed ASAP, hoping to lose as little time on the water as possible. I'm wondering if anyone can help me with the following:

-recommended marine mechanics within 2-3 hours of Toronto that could handle this job

-suggestions on what is reasonable price to pay for this repair

-any other suggestions/recommendations from others who may have had the same issue

-reasonable expectations for how long this should take to complete

 

The boat is currently at the cottage in Muskoka but I'm hoping to be able to take it somewhere by Wednesday of this week. I'm in a little over my head with this one so any help would be greatly appreciated. I know this isn't going to be cheap, I'm just hoping to minimize cost while still being confident in the repair job.

 

Many thanks,

 

FF17

Any update on what happened? I have the same motor, so any feedback would be great.

Hey guys my name is Andrew used to fish with my old man a few years back just recently started getting back into it mainly in eastern ontario (bancroft wilberforce area) since we have a cottage that way. anyway just wanted to say hi and looking for advice on what baits work out that way, bass out there seem to be really dumb and go for anything so mainly looking for pike, trout and pickerel.

 

if i could figure out how to make my pictures small enough in size id post up a picture of my sea nymph fm142 and 2015 colorado ext cab

Welcome.

I just switched to IMGUR for my pictures. When you upload them and are ready to post, click on the picture. At the bottom of the page will be the different Photo Sizes you can use to post on the Board. Experiment with the on you want (keep hitting preview on your Post, which will let you see how it will look once you save).

Cool report! Well timed, too. I just landed on Kashagawigamog last night due to many many technical difficulties. Had a smallmouth off the dock in about 5 minutes. Looking forward to throwing some tubes, and kinda-maybe-hopefully finding some eyes.

Have fun. Hope the weather works better for you, then it did for me.

thanks for the report. I have a cottage on Kash and I agree with you that the Musky has been a challenge. I'm getting ready to spend 24 days up there starting next week and plan on targeting them a bit more than I normally do. I have got 2 this year on a Senko wacky rigged fishing for bass talk about being surprised. Both times I thought I had world record Bass hooked. Maybe that's the secret, target Bass and catch Musky.

That is one reason I decided to keep targeting bass. I got my 1st big Musky with a Bass Lure casting towards Docks. Figured if it worked then - it might work again.

​Spoke to another fisherman on Head Lake - he said the bite has been really slow, ever since the opener - on Head Lake at least.

Before you go that route, have you checked to see if your Prop is the correct size? Maybe a 4 blade would help - from what I understand it drops the top end speed, but makes the hole shot/handling better. I will probably go that route myself, and keep my current 3 blade as the backup.

Anyway - might want to check that first, as it is much cheaper than a new motor - lol.

I am actually pretty surprised you didn't get into more musky. I have had pretty good luck in that chain for musky. Mostly in head lake and the north end of Kash...there are some HUGE fish in there too.

 

Looks like a great vacation though, good stuff.

 

S.

I am pretty new to Musky fishing, and have not targeted them in Summer - so pretty sure it was more me than the fish - lol.

Nice. I have not had too much success on Simcoe. Glad to see someone else does

Great post. Thanks for the report.

First -> want to send some thanks to Singing Dog and Musky or Specks for their suggestions on where to fish for Musky. While the tips did not pan out, I really appreciate the shared information.

Every year we do a family cottage week with the Wife's side of the family. Generally speaking I am in charge of finding/renting the cottage we will use. I usually look for lakes that we have not been on before, with an eye to fishing of course . Some choices have been bad (Kennisis Lake - I hate you), to moderate (Healey Lake/Little Redstone Lake), to what I would call Epic (Bob's Lake).

However my Epic now has a new category all by itself -> the chain of 5 lakes in Haliburton.

I had never fished any of these lakes before. I knew however that they contained Musky based on some discussions with friends, etc. That was enough to get me. So once a suitable cottage was found that the entire family agreed to, we were off to Lake Kashagawigamog.

Now I have a bit of an issue when I am going for a specific species of fish. I concentrate almost entirely on them, and when I do not have success - get a little discouraged. Combine that with hunting Musky on new water and I am sure most would understand the issues that would come up.

NAMELY NO MUSKY

The weather did not help, as the first day we were there a cold front came through. That really knocked back the fishing. In fact we (my Brother In-Law joins me) never got a real bite the 1st two days. I had a nudge on the 1st day, and my Bro had a smack on the 2nd day (20+ plus feet - think it was something big).

However that changed in a big way by day 3 when we decided to venture down to Canning Lake. Because this was a new Lake we did a lot of trolling, so we could get an idea of structure. Also discovered a bit of current which seemed to be key for the big guys.

All of this ended up in a new PB Bass for me (5.5 Pounds).

Bon Voyage

Needless to say this got us both pumped - but that was it for the day.

This led me to make a new challenge for myself - try to catch a fish in each of the 5 lakes. I basically had given up on targeting Musky at this point, as the only thing that seemed to be active were the Bass - so when in Rome and all that.

Tried Soyer Lake the next day, and had some fun.

Then we went back to Canning Lake - I was tired of Bass so tried for some Musky again - and ended up with this (4.5 Pounds):

Again Bass seemed to rule the day. But at least I had knocked off 3 of the lakes at this point. Next Lake to try was Grass - again tried to for Musky 1st, but quickly gave up. There was a rocky point that I was sure had a fish in it - and sure enough it was a Bass.

So that was pretty much it. We had crisscrossed the lakes, and I had caught in 4 out of the 5 - so not too bad. The fishing had been a marathon to say the least, often involving us being out all day - from early morning to late evening. It is amazing how time flies. Before we knew it, it was pack up the Cottage day.

For some reason however, that morning i woke up really early - around 5:30AM. There are a lot of ducks in this area, and one was really cranky that morning - which disturbed my sleep. As I lie in bed, I heard my Barometric Pressure app (from another member on the board) go off, telling me conditions were optimal. As I continued to lie there, I got to thinking, I am not going to get back to sleep - why not do a quick troll? Checking my Solunar time, also showed a spike of activity - so I quietly exited the cottage, and jumped on the water.

I started trolling as soon as I got off the dock, and BAMMMMMMMMMMMMM....about 30 feet from the Dock, got the largest hit of the week. At this point my heart is pounding as I felt the power on the other end. The fish jumped, and my 1st thought was - great - another Bass. But as it got closer, I realized I had finally hit what I was looking for:

It took me a while to get it in the boat - when bringing the fish in, it went through a large ball of weeds, which made finding the hook fun. As such, I did not take any time to measure or weigh it, as it needed to get back in the Water. But as you can tell from my face, it was heavy. Going to guess 10 to 12 pounds, which would put it around 33 to 35 inches. Not my biggest Musky, but probably one that fought the hardest.

Held it gently in the water until it revived, at which point I was rewarded with a well deserved tail slap to the face .

So that is the trip. It was by far the best cottage lake we had been on. I caught the majority of the fish trolling, and basically used one Lure the entire time, as it produced everywhere we went. The only Lake I was not able to catch anything in was Head Lake - but I am ok with it . My Brother In-Law may disagree as he did not catch a lot - but was a great NET man, which is always appreciated.