DRIFTER_016

I hate the fact that the sportsnet games other than the West ones are always blacked out for me.

Tried to find a stream of last nights game to keep up on the score with no luck.

The Jets/Wild game was a good one though.

As was the Sharks/Av's game.

Four pages of info HERE

Another option would be books about fishing and fishermen. John Gierach has some books that I really enjoy. Not technical, just fishing stories.

I have all of Gierach's books too.

You just need an older snowmobile trailer.

Check Craigs List and Kijiji.

You never heard of my book Drifter ?

I have a copy.

that is true

 

but at the same time I wouldn't mind having something to read that isn't on a monitor. That and I am being hounded by family as to what I want for christmas, so why not get a couple books to help expand my fishing knowledge

X3 , EVERY THING I FIND IN MY NEW FISHERMANS ENCYCLOPEDIA I FIND HERE , YES I KNOW ITS NOT ALL IN ONE PLACE LIKE A A BOOK WOULD BE BUT WHAT TA HEC ....... ITS

^^^^^ ^^^^^

People will never learn.

1979 the pig run and 1980 the Ganny flood, where Steelhead made it to the extreme top end of the river and drop backs were caught in July in the legendary file hole, the flood washed the silt out of the redds, and incredible runs and year classes occured for the next 10 years with 1989 been the peak. During the peak runs, we had to do 15 minute lifts at the ladder, as the basket was full, with up to 100 fish, the counter could not keep up and count accurately as multiple fish passed through the beam at the same time, only when manual counts were taken with 2 guys standing with counters did we realize that the numbers were off condsiderably.

FYI the peak run in 1989 was over 18,000 fish over the ladder, with easily another 10,000 below the ladder.

Yep, '89 was a good year for sure.

All through the 80's were great.

Cdn Tire is fine for oil changes and very basic maintenance as well as E Tests. Beyond that, I'd take it to an independant shop. Unfortunately, the mechanics seem to be paid by piece work so the more they generate the more they make so they go looking for and create problems. Brakes are easy picking, tell someone their brakes are shot and most times they will get them done on the spot. Brakes take less time than the book calls for so the mechanic has more time to hose other folks. Just have your normal mechanic take a good look at the front end and have him check the brakes just to make sure.

I wouldn't trust them to do oil changes either. An old employer of mine did and 100kms from home the drain plug fell out in the middle of no where.

I would have to say my best year was back in 1999.

I spent 15 years guiding on Great Bear Lake and I get as much if not more pleasure out of my guests catching their fish of a lifetime as I do catching my own.

1999 was "my" year at the lodge with my clients landing at least one laker over 40#'s each week of the season. The best week of the season was the first week of August. My guests caught 7 of the 10 biggest fish of the week. The smallest fish on the board that week was 43#'s and my guest's biggest fish was 64#'s just 2#'s shy of the world record at the time.

they work great, but make sure you anchor them down VERY good. they'll catch wind like a sail and will quickly damage whatever you're storing in it.

 

i thought 8" spikes hammered into a compacted gravel driveway with a 60lb block on each corner would be enough to hold it down and prevent any movement. but, seeing as i walked out one morning to find the shelter had moved 6ft causing a nice gouge in the side of my truck, i guess i was wrong.

I dig two parallel trenches and use 2 pressure treated 6"X6"'s connected end to end with a lap joint.

I then use 4 24" pieces of rebar through the wood into undisturbed ground. I then backfill and compact around the beams leaving them flush with the surrounding ground. Finally I use 3" lag bolts with large washers through the feet of the shelter into the beams. This by far is the best way to secure these shelters. IMHO

I figure painting the door pink and hanging a neon beer sign should do the trick

Don't forget the brass pole in the center.

I'll admit I didn't read the whole thread...so I might be repeating what others have said.

 

I fished with no flasher/finder for years, and when I started taking my HB 565 portable out on the ice, it changed the way I fish. You want some kind of sonar when you ice fish...of that there is no denying.

 

This idea that a fishfinder is not "real-time" is garbage. Jig your bait and watch the display...there is no perceptible delay.

 

As far as display history goes...that part is actually quite nice, and I miss it a little bit now that I'm using an LX-5. I still prefer my flasher over my finder for ice fishing though, for a couple of reasons.

 

First of, the puck is designed to hang straight up and down, unlike on my finder, where I was often friggin' around to get it to point straight down. If it wasn't just right, I'd get a weak return (or none at all) off my jig, and I'd have this hassle every time I moved it from hole to hole. Also the flasher is just more powerful...I can usually tell from the width/intensity of the return whether or not I still have bait on my jig.

 

If I had neither flasher nor finder, I'd probably look at the x-67...I'm pretty impressed with the performance for the money, and you can get transducers in both puck and transom-mount styles (I believe) so you'll be set for summer too.

 

All that said...the LX-5 is beyond awesome. I'll get the LX-7 when my LX-5 dies or whatever, but like everyone I've ever talked to that has used one will tell you...it's a sweet machine.

Another big plus of the puck (flat bottomed transducers) is that fact you can clear the snow off the ice and place the transducer on the ice, pour some water on the ice to couple the transducer to the ice and take depth readings right through the ice. But the ice has to be of good quality (black ice).

I can easily shoot through over 5' of ice and have even marked fish through the ice.

This is a huge bonus when you are drilling through that much ice. Blind drilling is a big waste of time in these conditions. IMHO

You could probably do it with a regular skimmer transducer but you would need to drill down 1/2" or so and clean out the depression and use a ton more water to partially fill the hole.

It's all about efficiency for me. There are no maps of the lakes here and to drill hundreds of holes through 5' of ice would leave no time to actually fish.

I can't imagine how I've smashed whities over the years with just a crappy LCD, I guess I'm just lucky

Nope, you just live in a warm climate.

Sudbury is a rough town.

Only on Saturday night. I think someone wrote a song about it.

me too

 

my x67c is made for the ice so maybe it has a heater

and the hds5 has a computer in it and gets warm on it's own, so maybe older or cheaper ones do freeze up a bit

but not mine

My LMS 350 slowsdown in the real cold as well.

It's older but hardly cheap.

if your hand warmer is anything like mine, it pretty much burns the fingers once it's fully warmed.

Mine too, but I just turn it down.

Luckily my hand warmers are digitally controlled and have 10 settings.

I've never seen a LCD with a delay of any kind while on the ice. Even the lower end units.

I have. I tried 2 of my lcd units on the ice and both were rough wehn it was cold. I'm talking -25 and colder cold (which is most of the winter). They were noticibly lagging due to the cold.

The only lcd units that I would even think of using up here are those designed for ice fishing as the screens are heated.

Done the drive many times. When I moved to Yellowknife I did it the week before Christmas driving my fully loaded down Honda Civic Si towing a 4X8 trailer full of stuff. The only places that I had some minor issues with were a long slippery uphill North of LSPP where I was having traction problems due to all the weight on the back of the car. I made it but spun the tires a bit and was worried for a minute. The second place I had issues was in Sask. the wind was out of the North andit was blowing snow across the highway creating a lovely 600km long stretch of black ice. I kept the speed down and had no problems but I had to be on my game at all times.

If you take your time it is a pretty good drive even in the winter.

I would take HWY16 (The Yellowhead Trail) just West of Portage La Prarie Manitoba to Saskatoon then 14 West to Biggar Sask. to 51/12 West to Stettler AB to 11 West into Red Deer. The Hwy 16 route is much more scenic than the Trans Canada route through Sask. There are more rolling hills and trees to block the wind too.

Have a good trip and let us know how you make out.

^^^^^ What Bill says is true. It will enable you to catch many more fish than without one.

I can't hit the ice without my flasher.

Case in point 2 weeks ago I only managed to catch 3 fish one was a no brainer as it railed my jig. The other two came in to my bait but I would have never known as it took me a long time to tease them into hitting. Without the flasher I would have just been jigging blindly and not working the fish that were actually there.

I want it for something other then ice fishing, lol... I might have to keep my eye open for one.

It works mint for looking behind my washing machine.

Dave, how's it work in gin clear water?

I have no idea.

As I said I have only used it twice (both times without a hut) and the glare on the screen was so bad I couldn't see a thing. Might have to try it again this year in the hut and see what happens.

I have one of the Cabelas cameras.

Got it 3 years ago and have used it twice.

More trouble than it's worth IMO.

Glue and a hose clamp.

I use the same procedure on my auger blades as I do on my chisels.