porkpie

Cripes, I just welded up a rack extension for my bike and I was feeling pretty good about myself, that's just off the hook lol. Nice rig!

I saw waxies for $7 for a dozen in a bait shop near guilford a while back. I just about doubled over laughing. I can get a scoop of minnows for about $6 on the west side, and $5 on the east side of Simcoe. Pet shop waxies aren't super cheap either, it's probably just as economical to buy a scoop of minnows. If you really want to save money all you need is a half minnow on a buckshot rattle spoon or jigging rap for perch, even jumbos will eat that happily. Lakers I wouldn't really worry to much about bait but for perch it can make all the difference having a bit of scent. Making salties is about as hard as dumping your remaining minnows in a ziplock and pouring in a bit of iodized salt on top. That's all I've ever done for the last 25 years. Anyway, waxworms definately won't be a big money saver in my experience. They used to sell 50 for $5, but that's a long time ago. Even power baits etc won't save you a lot of bread. They dry out over time, or leak, and cost $7 a jar but can be pretty effective and I always carry some.

Yes, my particular phone is an iPhone 6, and I have in the past run with my humminbird mounted to the bars on my bike. I've looked at the phone for consistency and it's pretty close. A lot would have to do with how accurate the GPS is in your phone and or sonar. I can say on Simcoe at least, it's pretty accurate as far as depth and location goes, But I've found a few areas that it's off. I'll say the phone app is certainly more detailed than the old hotmaps chip in my portable sonar!! I also have had the navionics app for a long time, never been charged for it. Maybe I won't do another update?

You'll be fine and an operator will know where the cracks are. It's also unlikely to run into much in the way of pressure cracks on the way to the Beaverton perch grounds. There is generally a beauty on the way out for whitefish and lakers though. If I makes you feel any better about it, I'll be out of port bolster with one of my kids on the weekend and I wouldn't take him if I thought I'd run into trouble. I've been out of bolster a couple of times this year, and been out way past the operators huts and there are no cracks (at least there weren't last week) and the ice is 18 inches thick most areas I've drilled. I don't anticipate much difference on the Beaverton perch grounds, and I usually go out there.

I never would've thought I'd consider selling our gas auger, but I'm thinking about it. I was using a standard Milwaukee homeowner drill for the last couple of seasons, and the first couple of trips of this year. I then saw the hammer drill with 1200 inch pounds on for a great price, and I couldn't help it. I always wanted a cordless hammer drill anyway. I'm going to try it out with an 8 inch bit, and if it works well which I think it will, and I can talk my fishing buddy into it, maybe we'll sell the gasser. I don't have call for an 8 inch hole much anyway. It doesn't hurt that I have a bunch of Milwaukee cordless tools already so it fits right in around the house. I'm using a set of mad dog gun racks for the auger on the front of the bike. The system is so light that it works perfectly.

Yep, the new batteries don't seem affected at all. I bough the 5ah to power my circular saw and hackzall, and I've used it on the drill fishing last year and this. I drilled more than a dozen holes to find fish the other day, then left it outside the hut for 5 hours and the battery gauge hadn't depleted a bit. I was pretty impressed.

I get out of Beaverton often enough through the winter. I'll look for you! Not very often I get out on a weekend though! I have to get my quad and my sled running first. They've both suffered some serious neglect over the last couple of years unfortunately.

Nice idea! Aren't you the guy with the awesome ice hut too?

Ahahhahaahhhaaaahhahaaaa..... Thanks pal, you made my day!!!

I had this surgery last year. I was in no rush to push myself, but I went steelheading within 2 weeks of surgery. I went with a buddy, fished easier water and went slow. It all worked out. Do not lift or strain if it can be helped. You won't do yourself any favours. By all means go ice fishing, just have someone else do the lifting, dragging and drilling!

Smaller holes. I've pulled quite a few whities and some decent lakers through a 6 inch hole no problem. Either that or you can invest in a Milwaukee fuel and 5ah batteries and it'll probably cost you around the price of a nice gas auger. If it where me I'd probably just stick with a six inch drill bit, but I'm frugal so there you go.

I'm not a tire storage expert, but I have stored my seasonal tires in an unheated shed for many years now with no ill effects so I'd just put em in the garage.

As a shift worker all of my life, I have fished xmas day in the past. Since children, absolutely not. Now if I an not at home on Christmas its because I am at work.

Sounds like an adventure!

Your good then. You'll really only need a couple of batteries out there, just an extra for backup. The only time I cut that many holes was when we wanted to see just how much it could do. To be honest I was pretty surprised. I've never been a 50 holes per day guy. Brian, the Milwaukee fuel is definitely the way to go for the guy looking to get into it, might as well go big if your buying a drill for the auger. I only mentioned it because a lot of guys have homeowner drills that will work just fine if they are of decent quality.

I've used a cheap 6" auger just like the one you have bought on a drill for the last 2 seasons now. I am using a standard Milwaukee compact drill with 550 inch pounds of torque on a clam auger plate. A couple of observations. 1) you don't nessecarilly need a 1200 inch pounds drill unless you want to turn an 8 inch. 2) you can get by with the CT adapter but the clam is much better. I have owned both the auger plate from clam and used it last season, the year before that I used the Canadian tire adapter and made an auger stop for it. It worked well enough but the clam is so much easier. 3). The drill you are showing in your picture won't get you the same number of holes that others may be reporting, although it will cut, but I think will be best suited to a 6 inch bit. 4). The cheap auger you've purchased will cut just fine, and I own a nils master that I could've got an adapter for. I'm still using the cheap auger to great effect. I can get 50 holes through nearly a foot of ice on a 5ah battery. And yes we did do this for fun one day.

Nice looking rig, you'll love that full stand up top and so will your wife. It's the greatest thing ever and I love mine.

Yep, nothing fancy but I've made many a loaf of no-knead bread. Check out artisan bread with Steve on YouTube. Lots of tasty stuff!

Absolutely get a sacrificial cover. The last boat I owned had a $1000 snap on fitted trailering/mooring cover. I bought a clearance priced princess auto cover to throw over top and it kept the expensive cover in good condition. The new to me Starcraft has fitted snap on mooring and trailering covers and I went to bass pro as soon as I saw a sale on covers and bought a cheapy to throw overtop and protect the expensive custom stuff. You won't regret it. My buddy has a 2012 pro v and the factory cover is starting to show wear but hasn't started breaking down yet for what it's worth.

When I bought my bike I lucked in to a 2005 with 800km on it 5 years ago. It was spotless. That's not the norm though. I'd say if it looks like it's been well kept and has 3500km and under you'll probably be ok. As mentioned, stay away from snorkels and lifts, big mudders and all the kid stuff, those bikes are probably beat. The only machines I've ever seen in hunt camp that had trouble are Polaris and Arctic cat. I wouldn't buy either (again). My first bike was an arctic cat. By the end of my time with the Cat, I wanted to push it off the trail and light it on fire. Biggest POS in history and it was mint when I got it, with very low KM's. My current bike bought 5 years ago is a Yamaha. I've had it start instantly in -30 with winds howling across the lake after sitting for 6-7 hours. It's pretty much bullet proof but I don't abuse it.

Just drive up, swipe your membership card and then swipe your debit card. No purchase required. Whenever I head down to shop I usually gas up. Their prices are always better than city prices, but not a whole lot better than small town pricing. Worth it if your already there though.

on sale a few times a year for $45. https://m.canadiantire.ca/products/productDetail/0873128P?storeClearance=false&isNonOnline=false&isAutomotive=false&isBarcodeValue=false

I've been wearing kamiks in different variations for hunting and fishing 3 seasons of the year for the last 15 years or so. Every 3 or 4 years they fall right off my feet, but until that happens they are pretty warm and waterproof. Sorry you have had poor luck, but I wear mine all the time and they do the job just fine. I steelhead quite a bit, and for a lot of rivers in southern Ontario especially the smaller ones, you don't need waders and I detest wearing waders to start with so I wear the kamiks an aweful lot. I've had very good service from them.

I buy the deluxe kamiks that go on sale at Canadian tire for $40-45. They last 3-4 seasons and work well for everything, including ice fishing. Can't beat it!

At this point in time, Canadian tire premium as well as Costco premium are ethanol free at all stations. Will this change in the future? I hope not.