camillj

Wayne, I so glad to hear ... hopefully there will be some R&R for ya'all ... its been a long road for sure. Just drove down that way and the roads are all cleared up now.

So anyways ... I thought I'd share something you might get a giggle out of ... against all good guidance I tried to get up to the cottage on Tuesday ... vortex schmortex ... I gots snows ... alls good to Barrie ... but at the 400/Hwy 11 cut off I see a sign flashing "all lanes closed at Vasey Rd - in both directions" ... not having a clue where the heck Vasey Rd is I figured it must be some road off Hwy 11 ... and carry on northbound on the 400 ... got a little slippery (ok a lot slippery) ... but I trudged on ... almost to your place ... when I figured out that Vasey Rd is in fact Hwy 12 (just before waubaushene) ... basically did a U turn and after almost 6 hrs ... ended right back home .. wifey poured me a scotch - sweetheart that she is

Not sure why, but I find the gloves with the finger tips cut off seem to make my hands colder than no glove at all ... my choice is a pair allweather golf gloves if I really need to keep them on all the time ... if not I prefer the great BIG Skidoo mitts .... I just toss em off when I need to use my fingers (or tuck em in my waders if Im in a stream)

Ice fishing I go bare most of the time ... and tuck em under my arms if they start to get numb

Nice report ... sorry about the hat

Awesome .. I did the same thing last weekend .. checking out an area near Orrsville that was 'open' for staking ...In march I staked a claim up near Kearney (800 acres) that I have spent a number of days walking around .... and its in the middle of speck country ... I've been looking at the area north of Cobalt ... thar be diamonds, gold AND Silver up thar !

I totally agree ! You Gotta love the google earth overlays and tie-ins to the actual geologist reports... now I spend more time 'exploring' online ... and reading the original (handwritten) reports from yesteryear ! I definitiely got the 'bug' ...

What beautiful fish ! And broad shoulders on em too !

What part of the province were you ?

Heh ... actually thats exactly what the original buck tails were ... I still have a few from the first deer ever harvested by my father ... he died the hair yellow and made a bunch of jigs .. there's still some of us 'old schoolers' who believe they outperform all the newfangled technology

How about 'birds nest' ... never been too fond of that one (especially when it happens to me or one of my guests) ... 'drift sock', 'cannonball', 'cheater', 'stinger', 'wooley buggar', 'squaretail', 'tail walking', 'walking the dog', 'shooting tip', 'spoon',

'passer moi la pissiore' - pass me the bailing bucket

And one of my LEAST favourite ... 'cold front' ...

Wow .. nice fatty right there ! And awesome Musky too

Woulda loved to join you but I missed the post ... and had a fam-jam commitment. But feinitely got me thinking of dragging some big spoons around real soon !

Thanks for sharing Brian.

Thanks for all the advice fellas ...much appreciated

Where would you recommend a visitor from Chicago take his 10 yr old son to experience Ontarios finest Pickeral, Pike, and/or Musky, laker action ... lodge style ?

Blah Blah Blah ... whine whine whine .(or should I say wine wine wine)... where's the speck pics ... my monster this weekend was 1lb 12 oz .... probably BAIT for your coasters

Still waiting for my invite btw

May not have been any gold in the waters .. but Im thinkin thars gold in them thar hills !

Great report ... and next time cook up some of that laker action !

On a similar note .. I wonder what would happen if one were pulled over with 10 legally caught Specks from Quebec (with ZEC papers and Quebec Licence) as they enter Ontario ...anyone had that experience ?

You do not need a licence to possess your legally acquired fish (within your possession limit)... but you DO need a licence to fish for them as stated above ...and transporting fish especially with fishing equipment in the vehicle would, l believe, leave you with a burden of proof that they were obtained legally.

Yep .. I left the pike alone this weekend so the bass could guard their nests .. and bagged a tasty little three piund laker for my troubles

Just off my dock there's about a 5lber ...he scoots whenever I go down to the water .. so I've been avoiding that ... hopefully in a week or two it'll be safe to go down again ... the perch and sunfish dart in as SOON as they are off their nest ... not devastating but if it happens alot the results will definitely have an impact... so its not just about targeting the fish .. its about disturbing them ...

(BTW my biggest musky 44" was caught flipping - for musky - right under a guys dock who told me he'd been there 30 years and never caught a musky ....next day there musta been ten cottagers in a row all casting off their docks ... so I moved out to deeper water and landed another 40+ just to prove it wasnt luck ...heh

And YES I always do the figure 8 for pike and for musky .. and I use pretty much the same baits ... only chasing the big girls .. no snot rockets here

Give ya $100 for it .. I can always doante it to a good charity

I insure mine through these folks ...

Jason Laurin R.I.B.O.

Account Executive

Tel: 705 325 4461 Fax: 705 325 9974

Toll: 877 525 4461

390 Laclie Street, P.O. Box 308

Orillia ON L3V 6J6

Heh .. spent an hour under the cottage today too ... Pump was running but no water ... figured out the fittings had come loose and air was getting into the system so the water was running back down to the lake .. tightened em up ( a little plumbers tape for the fittings) and primed her up .. and presto .... (well not quite presto ... it DID take me an hour to figure out how it all worked - darn plumber never even returned my calls so I figured it was time to get "handy":)

And ... you are in speck country there

I have found that there is a huge difference in line drag (and sensitivity) if you drop down to 12lb from 18lb ... we often fish 10 colors in Aug for Brookies (which we figure gets us down 60 - 70ft over 100 FOW - and boat speed is everything) with some success .. in the spring we fish 3 - 5 colors (and even as little as 2 colors) with lots of success on little flutter spoons or tiny rapalas

So sorry to hear Dan, it really makes you appreciate how important it is to cherish every minute in this preciously short life. I suspect you'll be tossing a Rapala Countdown on your favourite haunt with a cherished memory for a long time to come - and just maybe a 7lber will treat you to a little sign that he appreciated his time with you just as much as you did with him.

Granite rocks .. did my kitchen a couple years back .... looks like yesterday ... did the cottage this winter ... looks like fantabulous .. I wish I did it years ago

I am going to be spending a little money this year on my new venture... and would prefer to give it to one of 'us' .... pm me if you dont wanna share it with the world ... especially if you are in the Huntsville/Sundridge area ....

Thanks ...guess who's packing the car as we speak ....

Not sure if its just me .. but winter flew by so fast I almost feel like I missed it ... only got a couple meaningful trips onto the ice ... so here I am wondering .... do I wait till the boat gets launched (and get busy until then - like I haven't been already) ............. or ......... do I fill-er-up and head north tomorrow for some last ditch ice efforts in the Muskokas .... anyone up in the Joe/Rosseau are please chime in ..... orrrrrrrrr .... do I go check out my brand spanking new 1600 acre claim up north of huntsville and start running dirt ....ok I admit it ... I now have TWO reasons to be scouting out new creeks

Sorry .. maybe its just me ... but I couldnt see it ...