Kerry

Way to go Steve.I just got my first last weekend on Balsam so I know how it feels to be pumped up and raring for the next.You think it's going to happen again as soon as that magic lure hits the water.Half hour later and the shoulder and arm is aching from burning that spinner and you realize they're gonna hit when they want and not when you want.Anyway welcome to the board and again congrats on your first. Kerry

reefrunner, The last time I was on Balsam I also got skunked which is why we were throwing smaller stuff for bass and walleye.Incidentally my buddy had a 20"walleye on saturday besides my musky.Unfortunately being in the slot doesn't help the dinner plans so we ended up changing over to small jigs and caught enough perch and bluegills to make a dinner for the evening.I have flogged the area around Ant island quite a bit in the last couple of years and had a follow once that I know of for sure.I have however got some huge bass from there in the late fall.I'm still having a hard time dealing with weed pockets but that seems to be a real ticket with kawartha fish as long as you're not being blown all over the place.One thing that is rare on Balsam is calm days or at least the ones that I've gotten there.Good luck on your hunt. Kerry

Thanks guys, I have had this disease for a couple of years now.Unfortunately when I started to try for them the MNR up and closed it in couchiching the following year.Sooo,that left me in a dilemma-where to go?After camping in Balsam a couple of times previous and loving the fishing for walleye (Thanks to a few board members suggestions ) I picked it as my go to lake for musky and other than a couple of days on other lakes with musky in them I have really concentrated on them in Balsam.I can only say that BIG eyes and BIG BIG largies have an affinity for trolled believers and spinnerbaits in the late fall respectively.I'm bettin' on that lad's momma's gonna say hello and give me a piece o' her mind this fall. Anyway He was very clean,no marks,came in without too much fanfare and swam away as if I hadn't even held him.Can't complain too much about that. Kerry

Well after two years of trying on Balsam I finally got my first musky.Funny thing was we were trying for smallies just outside swimming area at the park.Third cast of the morning and I have a new PB to work on: At about 28" he's not big or legal size but he's perfect for my first.Caught him on a #4 gold Vibrax plain treble. Kerry

Hey Terry, A two stroke fan cooled is good for around 5,000 miles then you gotta really start thinking top end and seals.Been there 3 times between 5 and 6,000 miles and popped a ring each time.I don't run a machine hard but that seems to be the norm. A two stroke liquid may last to 10,000 miles without any real problems.Some liquids excel at being driven hard and lasting long.Four strokes are going to go long on mileage but probably expensive yet used and there's lots of choice out there in two strokes. Mine's an AC Panther fan cooled 570 and I'm happy with it.I tow a Trap Pro with it and no problems.I don't have to worry about overheating either.Slides won't heat up that bad unless you're really giving it.I've travelled probably five miles at one time without hardly any snow and haven't had them stick.I get a whole season out of them between that and trails.you can get an ice scratcher kit from Royal Distributing I think which might help for liquids to cool but I wouldn't trust them entirely. The Yamaha Venture as mentioned by ecmilley is probably one of the nicest two ups out there.With a liquid cooled 600 it'll get you anywhere and the 144" track pikked oughtta pull you through anything out there.Not to mention that 600 is one of the quietest nicest sounding 600's ever made. Good Luck on your choice Terry Kerry

I've never caught anything on the right side of the launch either but friends have including two musky's in the mid thirty's.Another spot to try though on that side is out from the canoe launch,lots of drops,rises in between weed beds and some scattered rock ledges as well.I haven't really delved too far that way but caught walleye and perch in the drops early in the season on jigs/grubs with a bit of worm. The last time up there I talked to a guy on the water and he said he hadn't gotten into anything unless jigging the base of the weedbeds.He was using a big bass jig at the time.Unfortunately for me I was ready to pack up and leave so I didn't get to try out the theory and I hadn't gotten anything throwing inlines, spinnerbaits and cranks so he may well have been right. Kerry

Next time you're there try giving that outside swimming area a little bit more attention.All the fish you mentioned like those flats and drops at one time or another.My biggest walleye there is a 27" during the early evening on a trolled believer in 22'. Kerry

Right on.BTW you can pick up a 4 pack of stainless steel dental picks at Princess Auto for about 4 bucks.Comes in reel handy on those windy days with a baitcaster.

JB, my wife and I visited Sibbald for a day trip not long ago.Beautiful park and quite the large launch area.Didn't realize how close to georgina island it was and have to try it for sure.How did you like the park for camping.My impression in going thru is it's full on weekends,what about during the week. I'm no expert on cooch but there are pike and bass all thru the weedbeds and edges out from cooch park here in Orillia and also the weedbeds south of Chief's island.Drive out from the park till you get to 13-14 ft drop and work your way back in.After Sept it gets better as smallies start moving in from simcoe around the islands by the narrows. St John pike gotta have the sharpest teeth or they're gluttons and take the whole thing in.Best defense is a short 6" wire leader they aren't line shy and neither are the largemouth or walleye if they're relating to weeds. Reading your reports' sure helps when you can't get away,keep up the good work. Kerry

Any wally world's in your area with the seats having a green/grey motif.Here in Orillia it's just red/grey & blue/grey.There's still some here.As well the bushline fishing vests are marked down.Some as low as 12.49. Kerry

Black Blade, Don't be too critical on the numbers,Bass lake will surprise you.Being a small spring fed lake with a cooler start to the season it takes a bit for it to heat up.There are some real decent bass in there but catch and release is important for the big guys.Theres always been big sunfish and crappies are showing up more and more. Kerry

Good show!Buddies of mine were there opening weekend and didn't encounter any in the usual weeded areas.They ended up with two, 1 largie and 1 smallie both caught in 20 ft plus outside the park.As of this past week things are heating up and the fish are moving into the usual haunts.Early mornings are best over by the woods.The earlier the better.The bugs are awful at night.Still some shadfly activity too. Kerry

Meegs, I'll give you a couple more to try if you already haven't.You said all ranges and I'll assume you tried the manual setting instead of automatic.How about turning the motor off while reading bottom and lifting out or raising the bottom end and see if any cavitation is affecting the signal. If so it may be too close to the prop.The angle may not be perpendicular to the bottom when you look at it from side to side rather than front to back.That used to happen to me with my old humminbird with two people in the boat for some reason and I replaced that with an eagle in the same place and it never happened again.The skimmer transducer is a pretty good piece,your lowrance unit's probably the same or better.The unit itself likely has a factory preset or reset,you can try that when it loses bottom and see if it will reaquire it.You'll probably lose any saved points if it has a gps. Just a couple that come to mind. Kerry

Came out of carthew bay(14th line) on sunday and never saw any in that area.Winds were light from the south/ south east. Kerry

Well I haven't had all that much luck on Simcoe the last couple of years.I've tried about three times on average each year after opening weekend before going off to my usual haunts.Anyway I've been out twice already this year early and the water was cold even at the end of may.47.5 degree surface temp outside of carthew bay and no real marks,schools of baitfish or anything so I kinda blew it off.This past weekend with the Mariposa festival going on ands a lot of traffic coming into Orillia from the east I figured I'd give ol' Lady Simcoe another crack.I'm glad I did as I ended up getting my two, a fat 26" and a 17 1/2".Both were caught in 90ft + water in VERY heavy bait schools.The good old williams half n half strikes again and now I just have to figure out the whities over this side at this time of year. Here's a pic of the fish: Kerry

Ha ha, I was just thinkin' about snowmobiling and the fines.It doesn't matter how fast you're going it's only a 115 dollar fine I think.Now comparing that to not having a flashlight(on a lake that's not much more than a mile wide) and no ownership and/or registration papers handy I think you got hit pretty hard. BTW make sure it's a 'waterproof' flashlight cause even if it works you could get DINGED. Just depends on their mood of the day. Kerry

I think last year it had moved as far as canal lake in the Kawartha's.It's quite possible it just hasn't completely moved thru the whole trent system.Maybe Simcoe is just another in a chain of lakes to be affected. Kerry

Yep check the internal memory on your camera. Kerry

Mines a 72 16' bowrider. I've seen the same hull design as mine in ones as new as the early 90's.The only real difference is the interior layouts and extra goodies installed.Solid Solid boats.I also trailer mine exclusively and don't have leakage problems whatsoever.Can't ask for much more out of a 36 yr old hull. Kerry

I'm leaning in the same direction for my next one.I'd also look into whether you can get the bow mount model with the 3X steering.That would prevent having to lean out at all to reach to turn. Kerry

I might be wrong but my question is does your motor have four cylinders?Most if not all 40's that I know of are only two cylinders. Kerry

My starting battery was like that.It wouldn't turn the motor over longer than 10 secs then it would die out after a night on the charger.Bought a new one. Kerry

My 72 Evinrude 50 is smokier if I use the Shell Nautilus.But if I use the Esso semisynthetic it seems much cleaner.I noticed the same with my snowmobile and tend to stick with the Esso oil.One benefit is it also doesn't smell as bad either.As far as mileage,well a five gallon tank'll get me maybe 25-30 miles.One day I want an E TEC but it's a want and not a need.

Unbelieveable Cliff,that should go up for the music video with the best canadian content. I'll be singing that to myself all day tomorrow fer sure! Kerry

I've used this place to do free conversions of my own camera videos: http://media-convert.com/ It's worked great for me. Kerry