SylvanOwner

Not much risk of this at all, the draw from your sonar is minimal compared to the capacity of a cranking battery. Your sonar would take weeks to drain a cranking battery. Another possible alternative for people here is to use the battery from your ice fishing sonar if you have one or 2 or of course you can buy one for around $30. The advantage to using the cranking battery is that it will charge when you're under power.

There was also a spawning bed rehabilitation component to this issue. Sound like anything we've read further up the thread? It's not a single component that's going to fix the problem.

In the interest of preventing an unecessary charge, for the original OP or others, I have to respectfully point out that pike is closed April 1st until the first Saturday in May on Lake Ontario/Zone 20.

Sixteen Mile Creek, the Credit or Etobicoke Creek all have launches free of ice.

My old Director who has a cottage nearby was telling me the other weekend that a single individual has purchased all the privately owned land on the island and has no intent to develop. Let's hope this is true.

Good thread.

Actually the term "volunteer" when applied to firefighting is a lot misleading. Even though they are "volunteer" they get paid for the calls they respond to. In a backwards sort of way this is the only thing that actually makes sense about the bill. If this had happened somewhere where they had full-time firefighters then no matter what they're doing they are working and being paid, the budget is in place and this incident would represent no additional cost to the municipality other than the fuel required to respond to the call. The charge for the firetrucks is harder to justify IMHO, the trucks are bought and paid for, even if they get no use whatsoever.

Thanks all for the responses. Some great advice there for sure. I'll let y'all know how it goes when I'm back. Dan

Just like the title says, leaving this coming Sunday for a week and will be bringing some basic tackle. We'll be staying at the south end of the island (Coconut Bay resort). Anyone tried it here?

What Sinclair said, the offset handles make a HUGE difference.

Not to split hairs here but are you meaning "invasive" or "non-native"? Invasive meaning something that tends to take over or displace existing flora/fauna. Non-native meaning a specie that is not historically found in a specific area and then establishes in that area (usually aided by human means but not always) example: -small mouth bass can be invasive when stocked in a natural brook trout lake, smallies will often out-compete brook trout but surrounding lakes make be naturally full of small mouth and are therefore argueably native to the region. -zebra mussels are non-native to Ontario and wouldn't be here at all without human assistance because they can't move from Russia by themselves, they are non-native and invasive earthworms are also non-native to North America and invasive and also attainable this time of year (even in the Gret White North) and also would make excellent classroom show and tell ....just saying. If she gets an A, I want credit.....

Nice going my friend!! Congrats on what looks like a pretty darned good effort. Telly can't hack the long days anymore huh?

Great job you guys!!! No slips now and you'll be fine, more than fine actually.

Congratulations Rich!!!! Keep at it.

MJL is bang on with the life cycle....interesting creatures for sure. We used to electrofish quite a few during annual/seasonal sampling on the Toronto waterfront and I remember a buddy angling one as kid from the Bay of Quinte - hell of a fight. I don't think we've seen one now in several years and it's quite well known that the population is in severe decline due to man-made barriers. There is some effort underway to improve passibility of these obstacles, hope it's not to late. This would be a very difficult specie to reintroduce given the "reverse" life-cycle (explained by MJL above). How do you imprint/train young eels to migrate from the Sargasso Sea to the tributaries of the Ottawa River for example?

Well I've been reading this one with great interest and can relate to so many of the previous posters and of course to the OP. 17 months plus for me now.......LOVE it. You think you liked smoking? Wait until you succeed at being a non-smoker!!!! Rich, I was feeling the same thing....just wasn't enjoying it anymore....if in fact I ever really did. I believe your receptors enjoy the nicotine, but beyond that there is nothing good to be gained from smoking....period. Nothing....period. I honestly couldn't put a single thing in the "pros" column. I chose my 40th birthday as my quit day and will never smoke another cigarette in my life.....ever....period. Tried many times before (cold turkey, "weaning off", Champix, bets with buddies, blah blah blah) but this time I win. Determination, conviction and more determination is the best way IMHO, not to say others won't work - pick from the myriad of suggests above and stick with it. "Fight fire with fire". "I won't ever smoke another cigarette in my life"....wish I had a penny for every time I've said or thought this since I quit, although I hardly ever have to now. Repetition is what got us all into this mess so seemed like a good technique to get me out of it. "I'll never smoke after my 40th birthday". "I won't ever smoke another cigarette in my life" repeat repeat repeat....by saying these things to as many people as will stop and listen I've left myself little choice but to keep succeeding. I sincerely wish you the best of luck but honestly luck has nothing to do with it, no matter how you choose to go forward. It really sounds to me like you've gotten past the most difficult hurdle.....YOU WANT TO QUIT. You have quit. Stay quit. Cravings are short. Don't make this any more complicated than it needs to be. "I won't ever smoke another another cigarette in my life".....beautiful

uh, maybe patrol and ticket vehicles in the lot every day???

The fauna bio here at work who is a big birder and of course has friends and contacts in the same circles has a reliable report of turkeys on the Toronto Islands!!

x3 on Icers - they're excellent. The "HT knock-offs" look good as well and are not only a little cheaper but likely more readily available to you, being that CT sells 'em. Well worth the investment either way. Be safe.

Very cool pictures. Just wondering if the line is flouro or mono? Not looking to open a can of worms here just curious.

I think Mike has this right and I've seen it many times myself on spring spawning fish. Pretty sure they have to start investing resources many months in advance to develop eggs, especially for spring spawners where the "many months" covers the winter, i.e. slower metabolism and reduced intake of food. Some bass that I've eaten have eggs in September...for a May spawn, you do the math. Interesting to hear Irish relate his experience with lakers which are the exact opposite....egss in spring for a fall spawn. However we all know lakers are coldwater species with relatively low metabolism so I think it all makes sense ultimately. One other noteworthy fact similar to this is that while electrofishing along the Toronto waterfront with an MNR bio on board it was stated that some fish, in this case Brown Trout, actually will reabsorb their eggs if environmental conditions(or other?) aren't met and the spawning attempt is abandoned.

I have a Simano Caenan that I bought from an OFC member a month or so ago that I am selling. It's a CAE101. I bought a couple Curado's from him at the same time and didn't really need the Caenan but bought it anyway . There is absolutely nothing wrong with the reel, it's virtually brand new and I'm just looking for the $50 I spent on it. Dan

I used Pinchin, the lab that Wallacio has put up a link for to test the vermiculite in my attic. They were very professional, helpful and turned the test around in a few days as promised. The test came back negative so to the other poster I can confirm from experience that not all vermiculite contains asbestos.

If you're unsure of property boundaries you can always go to the local municipal tax assessment office and view the parcel boundaries as well as the owner name for a given parcel(s). Some municipalities even have the parcel fabric on-line nowadays that you can view using a map application from their website although they don't post the owner names. Simcoe County comes to mind. Good luck and when in doubt you must assume you don't have permission. "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you".......see Craig's response above

Too funny. That's a cool story for sure. I work for Toronto and Region Conservation Authority and have for 20 years. One of the first years I was here we were doing some bank restoration down behind the office near Jane and Finch (York University/Black Creek Pioneer Village area). We were taking a break and just chatting with the three other students on the crew when down the riverbank comes this mink. I get everyone quiet and the mink keeps coming, running right over my hand like nothing out of the ordinary was there.