Sharkbait22

Does anyone know what the ice conditions are like for Kipawa Lake and area? Supposed to up there this weekend. We'll be snowmobiling in. Thanks.

I think the entire day is rated relative to other days in the month. In addition they provide specific times during the day.

L0K 1A0 I Googled Beaverton. Afternoon bite looks best. Major Times 12:40 AM - 2:40 AM 1:04 PM - 3:04 PM Minor Times 6:56 AM - 7:56 AM 7:20 PM - 8:20 PM Solunar Rating Best

Monday was supposed to be hot and heavy around 12-2pm and one of the better days for the month. Well I'm not so sure about the tables. Went out this Monday on Simcoe and got skunked. Moved many times, covered a lot of water. Armed with good information and had a hard time even finding fish. Yikes. Looking at some of the message boards it sounds like every one did poorly. An MNR friend noted fish few being caught. Time to think outside the box. Down-size, live bait, set lines? I don't know. Go old school. Looking for some great days in the next couple of weeks.

Great video. Retro looking and the audio was refreshing. Wish every hole I drilled was like that.

That's the website I've been using.

Are reels on sale too?

What website are you using Roy. The solunarforecast website asks for a postal code. I used Tromblys Fishing store in Orillia just north of Simcoe. The app has a map of North America for which I also used Tromblys fishing store. The app is one hour earlier (10:34 vs. 11:31) for the start of the 2 hr major time. The solunar website is likely the correct time, particularly if you notice that Boucherville should be a little earlier than Simcoe for today. Sun comes up earlier in the east. So that makes sense. Either way it looks like the good fishing is soon to begin for today. I wish I could verify but I'm stuck at home. Maybe tomorrow.

Yup. I could also look at the solunar times. Getting a free solunar calendar that can handle past present and future daily rankings and major times is the challenge. A free app (my fishing advisor) for my phone allows you to get data for any period but the major times seem off by 1hr when compared to the solunar website (solunarforecast.com). Don't know who is right. For Feb 24th today the major time from the app is 10:34-12:34, but the solunar website says 11:31 AM - 1:31 PM. Both pretty similar. Anyway thanks for the advice. It's something I'll try keep my eye on.

When has the ice fishing for lakers or whites been outstanding for you on Simcoe? I'm interested in looking at the weather leading up to this great day you had when you couldn't keep the fish off. I want to see if there are any patterns. It would also be good to know if you went out the next day expecting the same great result but met the skunk instead. I need the exact date e.g., March 5th 2011. Some of you might keep fishing logs/journals that would help. I don’t have enough of these great days unfortunately to do this myself! So with that please give me some dates to work with. No locations required. I’ll report back when enough data comes in. Tight lines.

The reel is a brand new Sahara Shimano 1000 which when not on the short ice fishing rod works fine. The 1000 is not large. It is spooled with 10lb Nano and placed on a St Croix 32" heavy action rod - it's beefy. Hopefully the right stuff for big lakers and pike. I add hot sauce oil which works well in cold weather. I have to check out ht reels.

I made some adjustments to the rod reel pair in question to point the axis of the spool towards the choker eye as noted by Sinclair. I traced the reel foot on the cork and dugout on a slant with a Dremel tool. Good fit and the angle is bang-on. Try it out soon. Thanks for your replies.

Surfing the net tonight I came across a collection of old Field and Stream magazines dating back to 1969. They are priceless. The advertisements alone are worth a look. The articles seem more “sportsman” or “woodsmen” oriented with lots of good information for the adventurous. Interesting to see how techniques and gear has changed and not. Might be interesting for any outdoor writers. I’ll be bookmarking the url. Better than a dusty pile of mags in the basement or the absence thereof. http://books.google.ca/books/serial/ISSN:87558599?rview=1&lr=&sa=N&start=480 Zoom if the print is small

Anyone else have issues with spinning reels on ice fishing rods? It always seems the reel is poorly angled for such short rods. It gets worse with bigger reels and heavier rods which you might use on Simcoe for lakers etc. I suppose you could use a shim or cut down into the cork to adjust the angle of the reel. Seems like something the industry could address either on the reel or rod. I my try something.

Yikes! There has to be a better way.

I have the 3.5 Guru for spey. Nice real and I got it cheap. The Sage is likely the better reel.

Thanks for the quick reply Mike.

Sorry to bring this up again but do you think going with a higher test Nanofil would reduce the line digging-in? But is there a downside to using 17 lb test Nano? Below are the Nano to Triline XL line equivalents. It seems out West guys use 20# powerpro! Thanks BTW it does come in a low-vis green now. Test Nanofil Nano diameter inches Test Triline XL 4 0.004 6 0.005 2 8 0.006 10 0.007 12 0.008 4 14 0.009 6 17 0.01 8

I recently bought the Ion. Eskimo makes them. Looks good so far. Tore a hole in my back yard pond in no time. I have an SUV so I can't deal with gas and I already have enough gas engines to deal with each year. I've put off getting a power auger for years but finally gave in. So I'll be a Guinea pig. Not really my style: I'd rather wait a year or two to see the reviews but what the hay. It's not heavy at 22lbs. The battery is Li ion which operate well in the cold - better then other type of batteries and they are easy to maintain. The components seem fine. Electric motors are dead simple and will like last a life time, the battery - I hope for 5 years but I've read they are good for ~500 charges. Couple things I thought might be better: reverse capability, variable speed control, and the safety switch may be a pain with gloves on. I may replace the blades with true Swede steel after this year. Bought mine at Bass Pro for $520. I'll still use my ca. 1998 Fin Bore III 8" for most of the season. Report back in a month or two.

Well I thought I'd just give it a try. Used mono for years. Sounds like 8-12 lb test would be fine. Thanks for the advice. Braid would really pay off at river mouths. This year I was doing some long casts (Cleos) out into Superior and it was nice to have the low stretch. I likely would have lost a lot of fish with mono. I used Nanofil all last winter for ice fishing a liked it, but I'm not casting. I'm trying to find some Tuf Line XP for ice fishing but no one seems to have it. I like the the green colour instead of the white of Nanofil and on a float rod I'd be temped to run 8lb green Tuf line directly to my leader. I can appreciate the comments about ice. I really hate ice on my guides. In turn, 90% of my steelheading happens above 0C. Even during heavy snowfalls it is often above 0C. Sometimes there's ice in the morning but it quickly burns off.

Looking to try some superline on my floatrods, pin and casting. Any advice on pound test would be appreciated. I usually run 10-12 lb test mono. Thanks

Good deals but after shipping and brokerage fees is it still a great deal? I'd like to know the final cost for future ref.

Very Nice Chris. What are you going to do for a reel? I recently bought a Avid 10.6 #6-10 caster on the advice of others here. Amazing deal too. Now I'm thinking of a reel. Spriing is still far away so I have time. I did look at the new Calcutta. They are smaller than before. The 400 is more the size of a older 200, and there is a 300 available. Just an FYI.

Big fish do make big fish. By fishing and removing the large fish you can get harvest-induced evolution. This is where fish spawn at an earlier age. Spawning at an earlier age means you limit growth in body size earlier in life for the production of expensive eggs. Why do you want to spawn earlier? Because you might get harvested. We should likely remove the younger smaller fish to avoid this? A big fish from Erie is different than a big fish from Timmins. V. Thériault, E.S. Dunlop, U. Dieckmann, L. Bernatchez, and J.J. Dodson. 2008. The impact of fishing-induced mortality on the evolution of alternative life-history tactics in brook charr. Evolutionary Applications 1: 409-423. E.S. Dunlop, B.J. Shuter, and U. Dieckmann. 2007. Demographic and evolutionary consequences of selective mortality: Predictions from an eco-genetic model for smallmouth bass. Transactions of the American Fisheries Society 136: 749-765. C. Jørgensen, K. Enberg, E.S. Dunlop, R. Arlinghaus, D.S. Boukal, K. Brander, B. Ernande, A. Gårdmark, F. Johnston, S. Matsumura, H. Pardoe, K. Raab, A. Silva, A. Vainikka, U. Dieckmann, M. Heino, and A.D. Rijnsdorp. 2007. Managing evolving fish stocks. Science 318: 1247-1248. Older fish also make better eggs. At some point in their life they don't make as many eggs per pound but still way more than a little first time spawner. There are likely more environmental factors that determine taste than just fish size or age. Also, any cook can screw up a good fish.

Looking though the comments section I figured stuff about the money some people have. Must be nice. One comment was funny "An appropriate memento of a crappy team. Unbelievable."