Clampet

Thanks fer the warm report. Beats the chills up here, that's fer sure.

Sorry it had to happen that way Lew. Hope that your daughter doesn't sustain any permanent physical or emotional injury. The world is a cold place most times.

It only takes 4-8 days of really cold weather to make good deep ice. It takes about 1-2 months of warm weather to get rid of the same ice. It gets weak around the shore first, then the middle is the last to go. The ground warms faster than the light reflecting ice. I have known some diehards that make their way by hook or by crook onto the ice by first making some sort of gangway to bridge across the open shore to the solid ice.

Mmm sausages.

It is a small man-made lake(?) that is too close to the Big Smoke (GTA).

Wall, me an the missus headed out to the same spot on Lake Simcoe. The wind was much stronger today, as some of you may know. It was quite cold with the wind chill. Anyhow, my pride of Tarpus Maximus took a beating. A humbling experience. I get the first pole in the ice, I begin to fasten the velcro straps to the pole. After the pole is fastened, I begin to pull the tarp in the direction I want, to measure the distance to drill the hole for the next pole. Visions of GreencoachDog laughing and saying "Kite, me boy, your fashioning a kite!" "Shut up"! I say, and pull determinedly on the tarp. My eye catches a fleeting glimpse of the only pole at this point that is holding the tarp. A sick feeling is making it's self at home in my stomach. It has it's feet up on the coffee table with the tv remote control. I do not like the C shape the pole is making from the shear force of the wind. I ask the missus to please support the pole while I drill the hole for the next pole I hope will alleviate the pressure on the 1st one. I get the 2nd pole in, and pull the tarp around it, and admire my effort. The sick feeling in my stomach, is now raiding my fridge. Now, not only is the 1st pole making like a letter that comes after B, but it has convinced the 2nd one do the same! "Darn", I say out loud. "Proceed", I tell myself, after all, what choice do I have? So, I get the third one in, get the tarp around it, and I hear this voice from the missus: "Look what happened"! I turn and....$%*@^..I see the two poles are lying on the ground, their bottom ends folded like they were made of cardboard. My mind is racing. Some little invisible troll is whispering in my ear, "Pack 'er up, go home, this is not going to work, why look at yer poles, they're ruined, go home". The missus is looking at me, her eyes have that slightly widened look, and I can tell she was advising the troll. Probably while my back was turned drilling the hole fer the third pole. Then I start to think. What now? My 2 hours of physics training begin to kick in. Visions of white clad scientists, rubbing their beards, in a clean room come to mind. The head scientist, a well respect Harvard graduate summons the group to meet fer a "Round table". "Gentlemen", he begins. The room falls silent. Someone clears their throat. "We have a problem." "Our Tarpus Maximus has sustained damage, caused by near gale force wind gusts." The door to the meeting room closes. A faint sound of loud conversation is heard for several minutes. The door opens. A buxom young lady in nice shoes approaches me. She is smiling. In her hand she is holding an official looking document. She hands it to me. I open it. In a font I am not familiar with, is the simple message: Lower the poles, so that less wind can exert force on them. Meanwhile the missus, is waiting patiently, expectantly you might say, waiting fer the command: "Ok lets go"! To her utter dismay I announce < "Hold the damn tarp, I'm going to lower the poles". So, I loosen the darn velcro, lower the poles to half mast, thinking how appropriate, the death of Tarpus Maximus. I try to console myself, that it is only a temporary measure. I tell that to the tarp. It stares back at me, coldly. My fingers have a nice reddish pinkinsh hue. Pretty color I think, as I take a couple minutes to jam them in my mits. So I get the darn tarp onto the poles. I have already named it "Tarpus Minimus". I got three poles up, and I sit down, to gather my breath from all the exersion. The missus is busy doing something. Probably trying to wave down passing sledders fer a ride out of this very private hell I created. I feel this warm embrace, well I thought it was warm. Oh I think, the missus is impressed with my obvious skill as an outdoorsman, and rugged good looks. The missus is standing off to my left. Her arms can't be that long I reason. I look over my shoulder, and..............the poles are lying down again, the lazy bums. My back is the only thing between it and extreme kite flying. The poles have elected to fold at the bottom again, due to the onslaught of the 60 km per hour breeze. I think, wall, this might be a sign. The missus looks at me knowingly. Three young virile looking gentlemen are waiting sitting on high powered race bred snowmobiles. One looks at the missus, a look of impatience on his face. I feign to reach in my non-existent wasteband for the proverbial Smith and Wesson. The testosterone boys rev up their machines, and in a swirl of powder take off and decide to look fer easier pickin's. So, I summon the team of scientists, balh blah, they say: Reverse the poles so that the smaller diameter end of the poles go into the ice, instead of the larger diameter of the pole, and maybe the structural integrity of the smaller diameter will sustain the tarp. So , I loosen the velcro (again), warm the fingers, and remove the large end of the pole, and re-insert the inverted poles into the ice, re-fasten them with the velcro, add the other three poles in the same fashion. Everything is holding. Got to make an ice fishing hole. Got one small Perch. Arrived 12:45 on the ice. Got the tarp set-up by 2:08. Fished till 3:05, and left. Here is the picture of Tarpus Minimus holding her own:

I see GOOGLE has made note of this event as well. Cheers!

The fact that yer askin' the community for advise would suggest you do not feel success will come your way, especially when you will be hosting guests intent on catching fish. Since you are already fishing the aforementioned areas, you are in a good position to answer your own question. You are evidently clinging to the hope that one of our members will banish your sceptical premonitions, and allay your fears. My advise is to abandon off the "Bog". I do not fish there cause I know from the feedback I've been reading, that it is chancy at best, and most people who fish there go for the same reason... it is the closest to the GTA. If you are hoping for Walleye, and can make b4 Feb 28, make the trip to Quinte. You can walk, if on a budget, to fish holding areas. If you want guaranteed (almost) Perch action go to the several locations on Simcoe. Hope this helps, Clampet

Hate to say it, hope I'm wrong but.. Get ready fer a skunk

Beans, I would go to an even longer tarp (16 foot) if I were to "side flap" a section. Wall Mart has the right price fer the tarp, and the extensible paint roller poles are 7$.95 ea. The velcro is about 4 dollars for a pack of 8, and worth it. I won't even consider sitting in a small hut ever again. People have no idea what it is like behind the tarp, but I bet with time you will start seeing more of them. I'm happy to be the resurgent pioneer of tarpism.

Tawny Stealth.

Thanks, Joey, I was supposed to go to Arizona's and I usually am a man of my word. I went fishing today, and I am exhausted from tramping through the slush, so I elected to stay home. I prolly would have been boring company anyway because I was sorta wiped out by the fresh air and cardio workout. Doug if you read this I apologise, I was lookin' forward to having a brewski with you.

Wall, I posed the question to Elly, and she asked if you could start with the 6 inch and then try the 8 inch (auger).

Gawd I look awfull in that picture, somethin' akin to a snowblinded Billygoat.

Unbelievable. They have a lot of nerve. You would think that they would be worried you would come out at the moment they had their scummy hands on yer coat. I'm surprised they just didn't take your coat as well. Were you fiddling with the cam in the restaurant? Maybe they observed you. Do you think the restaurant has security cams whare they may have the episode on tape?

I hear Williams Wobblers, Meegs, Simcoe Bug. They say that a Williams Wobbler laid to rest on the bottom in aprox 75 feet then lifted just enough to barely get the hooks to come off the bottom is what was enticing the Whitefish to hit it. And... they were not tipping the spoon with any bait. Here are some threads I found for you: 1. Have found that the bite on hardware has been slower then usual with minnows on light line getting more action. Currently getting Trout and Whitefish working different area's from 53' (on rock) to over 87' on a soft bottom. A nice chunky Laker nailed a #9 Jigging rap with 1/2 a minnow worked slowly bouncing off the bottom in 77 fow. 2. A Ling Cod (Burbot) was a huge surprize while working for Whitefish.... it hammered a Silver/Blk jigging Rap 3. A nice Whitefish also hit a Rap in the same area as the Ling 4. I'm having more success fishing Raps and Meegs then my favourite Williams.

Pike are good eating.

I stand corrected. You did yer best, and fer that I salute you. For those about to Rock (fish) We salute you For those about to Rock..... We salute ... you (AC/DC) But you knew that.

Well, added an extra 4 feet to the tarp wind shelter for a total of 12 feet long , by 6 feet high. This update also incorporates 3 extra support paint roller poles for a total of 6, from the original three used on the 6 x 8 foot long Tarpus Erectus. I also switched to special "One Wrap" velcro fasteners from the re-usable plastic "Tie Wraps" that were breaking off in the sub zero (-12C) temperatures. Some of the pictures were taken by the Missus, so they do not give a good rendition of the actual length of this new Tarpus Maximus. All in all both the Missus and I were quite happy with the outcome, giving us much more room, and even extra room should we have a couple of visitors. The neighboring anglers advised that the Perch bite was off today, but I managed to scrape a few fer the table, so I did not go home empty handed, they are not big by any means, but they will not go to waste, as I have a deep appreciation for natures' bounty. Started fishing 11:45 A.M. and left 3:00 P.M. Tarpus Maximus 1st View Another angle notice x-tra poles.. The Velcro connection.. My 1st Perch of the day, I was worried I wouldn't catch anything else so I thought I'd better take a picture of this little gaffer.. The neighboring Perch crew.. The final tally..

Beans, beans The musical Fruit The more you Eat The more you Toot!

Shades and memories of the unknown angler (comic).

I guess we are never happy. When we are under age, everybody is saying: "No, no, yer too young", so we can't wait to be older. Then when we get older we want to be young (again). C'est la vie.