DRIFTER_016

Dave's Slab-O-Chrome

 

 

 

Great way to cap the 09 season!

 

love the rod sweet work, could you PM with the details on the handle and who made it

Thanks, yes it was done by yours truely.

The rod is a 15' CTS 4-8# blank and is very nice to fish with.

Handle is just cork and cocobolo wood, quite tame compared to some of the others I've put together.

Here's a 15 foot Raven IM8 I made last year. The handle is cottonwood bark with maple/cocobolo checkers and brass trim rings plus a couple of burl cork rings to finish it out.

The seat and cap are Amboyna Burl.

And a 10 foot 7 weight Rainshadow fly stick.

Sad indeed.

I heard about two deaths on tonights news.

The one was the young fellow that hit the pickup. No mention of the breakwall incident.

There was also a fellow killed when his sled went through the ice on a lake North East of Simcoe.

Our ice in Yellowknife has been safe since mid November but I steer clear until Christmas so the current and spring areas are safer.

There are several spots I won't go near even in February though.

I fished on the 31st with Dave (Drifter_016) once again.

Man did we put a lot of miles on the truck in search of fishable water!

We burned an entire tank of gas, got lost, made 2 border crossings and ultimately ended up at a spot 30 mins from my house in the early afternoon.

From our vantage point high above the river it looked prime: slightly off coloured, up a bit and no slush.

 

We quickly geared up and hustled our way down to the river.

 

Without having a lot of time to fish we were both pretty pleased to each put one fish on the bank.

The small chromer I managed to subdue actually took me for a walk downstream and was surprisingly powerful.

 

 

The Battle And The Prize

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dave's Slab-O-Chrome

 

 

 

Great way to cap the 09 season!

I still think we had enough time to make it to the Soo!!!!!

My vacation is pretty much over, so now I need to figure out how to get all my new fishin' goodies back home.

Can't wait to hit the ice next weekend and try out the new gear!!!

Plus a bunch of balsa for new floats, a stack of exotic wood and blanks from JC (Thanks John) and a new set of trailer tires and rims for my sled trailer (shipped Canada Post) to Yellowknife and still saved about $45 over buying them back home.

I also have a nice new custom 9' bottom bouncing stick thanks to Mike (solo) that needs to be packed up with the rest of my gear.

So tomorrow it's off to the hotel Indigo up on Carlingview and an early flight back to the promised land by lunch.

Sometime in March.

You won't have much ice by then, but I still have another couple of months.

Nice going scott.

I got me some too, but on new years eve.

thanks all for your input, i ended up with a Hjc from my local Yamaha dealer.

thanks again

happy trails

Great!!

I wear one along with a balaclava as at higher speeds wind gets in right at the corners of the visor.

When it's -30 and I'm ripping along at 130K it can get a little nippy without it.

I have a friend in BC that does well for lakers after dark, but I have not had much luck.

awesome as usual mike. nice to see dave down again too.

Thanks Scott, it was nice to chase some GL Chrome again.

Nice to see Drifter found a patch of open water. Can't imagine Yellowknife has too many soft water options this time of year... especially ones for steelhead.

 

Good outing fellas.

Yeah, my home water is a little thick right now.

At least until late May!!!

But it's easier to drill through when it's like that.

So my advise is buy what suits your requirements. You don't pull that boat every day (well most of us don't ) You could make do with something a little less powerful in most cases and save fuel in the long run.

Whatever brand you like, shop not only price but the dealer too. They should have a good service department with technicians that know what they are doing. You may need to have good dealer relations in the future.

 

 

I also have a Honda CRV that I have been running since last March. I also really like this one. Not great for a long trip but for booting around town it's a lot of fun and easy on fuel.

 

Take my words or leave em'....Just speaking my piece.

Exactly, why would I buy a 1/2 ton pickup with a V8 when I tow my snowmobile or 18' aluminum.

My Honda's 255 HP is plenty to pull them and I'm nowhere near the tow rating of the vehicle.

I had an '89 full size Bronco that was a nice truck, except for all the issues with quality plus it only had 190 HP out of it's 5 liter V8.

So I have 65 more HP and I get better gas milage to boot!!!

No problem.

Drifter must have thought of it as "Balmy" compared to out west with his jacket wide open and all lol

Yep, she was a nice warm day.

I spent the whole morning with only 2 tee shirts and my wading jacket.

It cooled down a touch in the afternoon so I had to don the sweatshirt.

I gather it's a 4 stroke right?

No different than your car in very cold temps, add a block heater and battery warmer to it.

Plug it in over night before you head out and keep it covered. It should hold in enough heat for starting on all but the most frigid days. My 4 stroke snowmobile is the same way at -25 or colder if I don't plug it in for a couple of hours before I head out.

If it's really cold and you are staying put make sure you run it for a while during the day to put some heat back in the block so you don't get stranded on the lake. If you are ice fishing and your machine won't start because of the cold cover it with a tarp and put your heater under there to warm up the engine.

I spend about $25 a month on whole expresso beans and chocolate to make my morning mocha.

Before I got my grinder and expresso machine my morning coffee was $6 a day or about $120/month.

The machines have already paid for themselves 3 or 4 times over!!

Not only that, I figured out that I make a way better mocha than 95% of the coffee houses out there now.

I thought this thread was aboot trucks?

 

Aren't Pilots and Ridgelines just slightly modified Oddessy minivans???

If I wanted a truck I would get a Tundra!!!!!

If I wanted a truck that will self destruct at 70K I would purchase from one of the North American Money Pits!!!!!

Since you asked .... I took a leap of faith and bought a truck made in Aliston, Ontario, a 2009 Honda Ridgeline and I have been blown away by it and the dealer service! It is a light duty truck but is perfect for hauling my sled & boat trailers and shuttles me downtown every day with reasonable gas mileage to boot. I looked at the big 3 and they wouldn't give me the deal I needed, so I went Honda. Only 35k so far, so it may be a bit early for a long term report but so far I am very happy with it (knock on wood!).

My Honda Pilot is almost 5 years old with 55K on it so far.

I have a couple of minor issues that need to be fixed under the extended warranty (sticky power window switch and a malfunctioning air bag sensor). Other than that it has been an excellent vehicle.

I don't think the windows are removable on my hut. They're integrated in to the walls of the tent with a velcro flap to cover them.

It's my understanding that the new Eskimos have removable windows now because of the failures they were experiancing.

I have a 3 man sub zero and the windows are removable.

FYI

The Eskimos have had reliability issues with the windows.

Make sure to remove them before folding the tent up.

They have been cracking when folded because of the cold, so put them in the bag last and don't fold them.

I would remove the windows from any shelter just in case.

The best cure for icing of the guides during winter is a trip to BIMINI for some bonefishing!!!!!

I have one of the original Stylus cameras, a Stylus 300 and it is still running strong after 7 years of being beaten on in the outdoors.

It was billed as splash proof but not water proof, however it has been submerged to depths of 6 feet and survived with no ill effects.

So if the new ones are half as good you're going to love it!!!!

I saw that camera in Future Shop last week and the first thought I had was I'll never buy that camera because of the colour!!!!

I envisioned putting it down after the shot to release my trophy steelie only to never be able to fid it again due to the como paint job.

Give me a bright red or silver one instead!!!

The VOICES compell me!!!

I keep thinking if I do what they ask they will go away, but they never do.

I'll be sitting at home or work and the VOICES will tell me to go fishing and they will keep hounding me until I do!!!!!

Are they doing it for the money ..or because thats what they like to do ....

Most do it for the adrenaline rush, I think.

my ice fishing season is over even before it begins. was working on my sled trailer, walked back to the truck to get parts and wipe out.... big time.

dislocated shoulder = pain!!!!

 

5 hrs in hospital, 6 weeks min recovery.

Dang, that sucks!!!!!

The best physio for a dislocated shoulder is a soft jigging motion with the afflicted arm.

ok is there a specific porpotion of it all

The biggest mistake people make, is making the batter too thick.

You want it thin, thin enough that it runs off a fork quite quickly and leaves a thin coating on the fork.

Once you get it right it is easy to repeat using the fork drip test.

If you make the batter too thick you get that terrible doughy stuff that tastes terrible.

Attawapiskat in June,

Me too probably.

Plus a week long ice fishing dream trip to the East Arm of Great Slave Lake for big lakers and my yearly month long trip to Alaska for trout and salmon.