BillsTheBassMan

If the recommended guide is Danny Columby pay the 450. One of the best musky guys in the province and the best on Nipissing

If anyone is in the west arm area near St Charles sept 17 to 21 we'll ve fishing muskies and you're welcome to come meet up with us.

 

Edit: cottage occupancy now full.

I would loooove to verify the accuracy of this with a local MNR officer. The area thinks its gifted, while it's just an average fishery.

Just curious, why not an Iphone?

Iphones dont have external storage options or the option to swap out batteries. I have used significant amounts of androids and iphones. The best battery life is undoubtedly the Samsung Note series. Replacement batteries for any Samsung can be found on ebay for like $4. It's good if you're camping or off the grid. The removeable sd card option lets you expand storage to a high level and swap out the card into another device for transfer purposes or use on something else. If you buy an 8gb iPhone you are stuck with 8gb. Buying used iphones is also a lot riskier with locked cloud accounts existing these days. Why doesn't iPhone have these options you wonder? They want you to buy more phones......often.

 

For the purpose of what you want your phone for a droid is much better. You can also buy the dust/water resistant phones like the rugby or s5.

Entropy, I know a ton about cellphones as I have worked in telecom in one aspect or another for 15 years. When you get close to making your purchase pm me. A few things to note:

 

1) Dont buy an iPhone, buy something that you can carry external batteries for amd external sd cards. You will need both.

 

2) Buy the phone off kijiji. Androids or BB can be found at good rates. Test the camera and sim test it on site. Buy one with the original box.

 

Ryan

Hey OFC,

 

Well I have dropped the BillstheBassMan handle and changed to MuskyMotivated. Treat this as an introduction of sorts.

 

I fished my local rivers for years, enjoyed what I did....trout from opener until June. Bass until the season ended. I would take the odd lake excursion but was happy fishing 3lb smallies against the current. Until it happened.....

 

Late last season I was bass fishing and hooked into a river musky....a small 40". I caught my second within 20 minutes. My third and fourth came within weeks.

 

The long winter was spent collecting musky tackle (a very lucky kijiji deal helped). I researched the species, their habits, and waterways on an hourly basis. That first Musky changed the game.....I found myself huddled in parking lots in January buying Legend Tournament rods from Fisherpete. Compres at Tim Hortons from Rob Cadeau, talking Muskies to the point of hypothermia (I mean I could have just bought another coffee). 3 Lexas, 1 boat, 1 humminbird si, 5 rods, 1 kicker motor, and countless lures later I figured it was warranted I change my handle. I drove 2 hours into thunderstorms to fish skis for a few hours this weekend as opposed to driving 10 minutes into clear skies to countless loaded bass holes.

 

For those who have offered their wisdom along the way it is more than appreciated. Fisherpete (I now handtie 150lb flouro just off example of the leaders you gave me), Lew (your west arm stuff put the first ski slime on my boat), Speedtroll, and yes, even Musky or Specks (sorry about the redd survey). Report/Pics to come for when I figure out how to properly load them.

 

MuskyMotivated (Ryan)

Checked twice this year already. Good conversation and good guys. Even gave me a few spots.

Earlier this week I met up with Mattaw to do a trade/sale for a beautiful new Humminbird unit for my boat. We both arrived on time (early) at the agreed upon spot. We shook hands, talked a little fishing and went through the transaction. He had forgot the keys for the lock he had on the unit and the knob the lock had replaced. He said he would mail them and I'd have them before the weekend. While inspecting the unit I found a few dings (nothing major) amd he offered money off. I declined. I didnt have opportunity to test the unit and he said if there were issues when I do (this weekend) we would figure something out. He also advised he would send me some helpful links on using side imaging. We stood around talking fishing for a few hours despite our angry significant others waiting for us to get home. Max extended an invite to go to his cottage at my schedules convenience to fish his home lake.

 

Well, OFC. By Monday night (the night we met) I had my side imaging tutorial sent to me. When I got home from work Wednesday I had the keys/knob in my mailbox. When I test the unit tomorrow it will work. And when I get the opportunity to find some time, I hope to fish with Max. A testament to him and the community itself.

 

The week before I met another OFNer who sold me some tackle. SpeedTroll and I had some brown pops and had good, esox related conversation. He warned me of a few things from his experience and it was another great transaction.

 

Proud to be a part of a place where community, dignity, and mutual respect still exist.

 

Ryan

Beautiful stuff Pete. At the rate I'm going I'll be posting similar stuff soon. Congrats on what is shaping up to be an amazing year my friend. You've really turned into a guru.

I'm assuming I know what lodge you are looking it in NW lavigne area and fyi we received different pricing than quoted upon arrival. As we drove 6 hours we were kind of screwed. He also had our dates recorded wrong. With that said the lodges were nice and the fishing was good.

If you're in it for sport fish bass/pike, not many guys do and traditional bass tackle will work at all times of the day on traditional spots. If you're in it for food I'm the wrong guy. I haven't kept a fish in over 10 years.

They really turned on for me there last Friday Lew. Keep after them. They are there. Got only bad pictures as I had to fish by myself. I'm going back mid September. You been up through the west narrows?

Awesome Mike!!! Impressive. What St Croix LT is that you're using to bomb those?

Thanks as always gentleman.

 

I'm going to buy one and call it a done deal. Looks easy enough to operate. I won't be storing the kicker on the boat anyway, the custom cover doesn't agree with it so taking it off will be a requirement.

I purchased the honda yesterday for $400 and he included a bunch of add ons so I think I did pretty well. I really appreciate everyone's input. You folks are always more than reliable.

 

What type of cable do I need to attach it to the main motor so that I can steer from the console?

 

Thanks again

Ryan

I have a similar boat, but a tiller, and I"ll tell ya, with a 9.9 on the back, she would move along just fine. A 5hp is more than enough for my rig.

I'm sure this rig is a bit heavier, but really its the same kind of hull, same size, just has a console.

My buddy has a 9.9 on his full console 16ft princecraft and it is more than enough.

I'd say 7.5 is plenty.

I'd also go 4 stroke if you can, but the 2 strokers never quit!

S.

Thanks for all the input Sinker. I'll save the $250 and get the 7.5

Isn't 9.9 overkill for a boat like that? I have a similar size boat; and my 2.5 hp will push it around. I would think that a 4 or 6hp would be sufficient.

 

Getting a proper kicker motor that is geared and proped for a larger boat helps too.

Hey John. Yeah, I am starting to think the same and am leaning towards the Honda at this point. I think 7.5 will be plenty. Thanks for the input.

If your gunna get a kicker for a boat that size that has a 50 2 stroke... I'd definitely do wleverything I could to get a 4 stroke... 8 or 9.9 would be lots...

Why the 4 stroke? Just seeking to understand.

 

Ryan

Longhshaft is needed if you plan on mounting the engine right to your transom beside main.

S.

PERFECT! That's where it's going to be. Thank you Sinker

if you want to use it to troll at muskie speeds get the 9.9. otherwise i think the 7.5 will suffice for slow(er) trolling and as a backup

Is there a big difference in what I'll get for trolling speed between the 2 motors? I would hope that the 7.5 would hit 5kph to 7kph no problem.

Hello OFC,

 

I got to know my first owned boat a lot better this week and have decided I want a kicker motor for trolling and insurance if the main engine has problems.

 

My main engine was overheating a little as we rarely needed to travel a lot before starting to troll or find/work structure.

 

Some good to knows:

 

1) 16ft5" aluminum side console boat.

 

2) Usually has 2x 250lb guys fishing in it.

 

3) Main engine is a 50hp 2 stroke.

 

4) Will be primarily used for fishing Musky in non-kawarthas bodies of water.

 

Also, when are long shaft motors more applicable than short shaft?

 

Looking for suggestions on HP. I will likely unmount it after every use.

 

Edit: currently looking at a 88 7.5hp 4 stroke Honda long Shaft or a 95 9.9hp 2 stroke Merc long shaft. Merc is $250 more.

 

Thanks as always.

 

Ryan

I fished the west arm all week too lew and was dry.....until today. Saw 3 in 1.5 hours, landed one and lost a giant trolling by myself. Hope you're still up there this weekend. The big girls were active.

Im fishing a 300 on a legend tournament jerkbait rod and I can throw most baits with ease. It can handle big believers, depth raiders, smaller cowgirls etc with ease. Seems to be the best low profile reel for the money. Would have bought a 400 if they had stock, extremely happy with the 300. 6.3 ratio is a good all round reel. 7.1 if you throw a lot of bucktails etc.

Well in my experience every boat up there jigging around has slow fishing. If you're after pike you usually do ok. Musky as always are on and off. I won't be pickerel hunting. I'd rather catch carp.

Can't really help with the West Arm, but I was on the French, near Alban, the second week of July and the water levels were at normal seasonal levels. The weed growth at that time was said to be a month behind normal growth.

Best guess would be things are more like July up there, than August.

Hope that helps.

HH

 

TBH that's what I was expecting. I thought maybe a little higher than normal, early July conditions. Thanks for the info.