Weedman

Hey all. Think I can help with the question about duty charges on cross border shopping for fishing gear. I've been doing some shopping the past while with a couple outfitter type stores out of Minnesota and getting some great deals on St. Croix rods, Team Daiwa and Shimano reels. Here's the scoop as explained to me by the Brokerage folks at the border. Thanks to the free trade agreement, there is no longer any duty on North American made merchandise when bringing it across the border (attention boat shoppers). With the dollar at parity, don't even think about buying your boat on this side of the border right now. You will save 20 - 30 points on new if you buy Merc/Evinrude motors and American made boats. As long as you have the correct paperwork, you can drive down, pick up your craft and only be responsible for GST (possibly PST) when you cross the border. It will take a year to two years before pricing adjusts on this side of the border to the new world we live in. Ok, back to the fishing gear. You may be responsible for some brokerage fees when your shipment comes across but again, as long it's North American made, no duty. If your purchase is made outside the U.S., technically, duty can be assigned. There is so much merchandise moving back and forth across the border right now, that Customs may NOT assess duty if the shipment originated in the U.S. I'm pretty sure it's hit and miss merely because they can't be dissecting every waybill, looking for what brand the gear is and where it was made. Hope this helps you guys, I'm doing some more shopping in the next couple weeks. Definitely, going to check out that reeldeals site, sounds interesting..... Tight lines,

The gulp leeches do work very well for bass, I like to drop shot them in the weed pockets for largies as well. They're fantastic just rigged with a small worm hook, but they can get damaged after just one or two fish. Gotta let you all in on a little secret though. The 4 inch gulp minnows are unbelievable!! They were just deadly rigged on a 1/4 oz jighead, with a stinger treble and dropped down on the deep side of the humps in various areas of our lake this summer. The smallies hit them like no tomorrow. One evening, my 7 year old son caught 3 nice 2+ lb. fish on 3 consecutive casts. I just sat back and watched him as the fish took the bait and wham, set the hook home. We turned one into a double header. Also tried June Bug with excellent results....

Hey all, there's been some good advice offered here regarding various tactics for salmon and trout, once they run the tribs. I have to comment though, about most salmon being caught in tribs being lined or flossed....this is simply NOT TRUE! I keep hearing comments to this effect by certain fisherman, who feel the fish should be left alone once they're in the streams. Unfortunately, there are some fisherman out there who use all kinds of tactics to intentionally line or floss salmon, which taint the experience for the rest of us who utilize finesse methods, and they really do work. I can count hundreds of salmon landed who've ventured out of the their resting places to engulf a well presented roe bag or single egg, or a perfectly positioned kwikfish or spinner. I will agree that most of these fish hit out of aggression, but that's all part of the cycle. Do not pay any mind to these naysayers who try to justify their bad behaviour, or say you can't coax these salmon to hit. They will, and once you get them on your line, hang on because they offer some great battles which often are won by the fish. Release those large females so they can continue their journey upstream to spawn. Most Ontario tribs have naturally reproducing fish in them these days too, which is very exciting. A bunch of us are involved in the egg collection operations with the MNR and Metro East Anglers out at the Credit starting next week. Keep trying different things, your patience will pay off. Tight lines all!

Hey, I have some great memories of the heydays when they stocked 20K fingerlings per year for about 5 years, and yes, the browns used to come right up the ramps after heavy storms and the water would funnel down the ramps off the big parking lot. That goes back about 10 years or so mind you. Man, there were some big browns we caught back in the day. Fish over 18 lbs. were fairly common on the cooler nights in late October, early November. You had to get used to the nightly rising of the sewer rats after dark scurrying around the rocks that surrounded the harbour. There was also these two gentlemen who would arrive some evenings in the fall to "snare" a few geese using some coat hanger contraption. After slipping on goose grease a couple times, I wasn't gonna say anything about it. They were doing us fisherman a favour!! Tight lines.....

Well, at least a couple of you caught the fact that the guy's fingers are the envy of any proctologist in the picture. It's a classic case of camera trickery. Matter of fact the fish is so far out from the guys body, I don't even think his elbows are bent. The fish is 6 1/2 to 7 pds. max!! But, a very nice fish none-the-less. It looks just a little bigger than my PB of 6 1/4 caught on a spinnerbait from an island saddle in Chemung 3 summers ago. Can't believe the reporter getting snookered into printing that story.....

I agree with Lookinforwalleye, the Sedona is a good reel. Depending on your budget though, the Sahara or Symetre are both excellent quality reels for $$. Both of my kids are using Sahara's and they love them!!Smooth retrieve and very dependable drag. Gotta have both to drag a 30LB Chinny out of the rivermouth. Good luck.....

HI all, We have some friends heading up to Sandy Lake for week with their kids, rented a cottage. It's that pretty spring fed lake with the turquoise water near Buckhorn. I've never fished the lake, although we've driven past it a few times. Does anyone know of what fish call the lake home, or have any experience fishing the lake. Any general knowledge would be appreciated. Thanks!

Superdad, great to see you posting here as well as all the contributions you make to the Quinte site. Glad to see you've had the opportunity to experience some fabulous inshore fishing this spring. Two great outings back to back like that is rare indeed. You just gotta love the feeling of great timing like that. We treasure those days! We've got a warm water outflow down the road from us, and we've been taking full advantage. The brown's are not quite as plentiful as in your case, but we've been averaging 4 to 5 fish an outing, with the odd sheepie, pike, walleye and laker mixed in. If we want to concentrate on the lakers we just move out about 1/4 mile and they're there. Our PB's thus far are 14 lb. laker, 11 lb+ brown, 9 lb. pike, and 7 lb. sheepie. A couple nice eating sized walleye have been the bonus fish. Keep up the great fishing.....we'll be down for the walleye opener too!

Hi all, We've been enjoying our '05 Crestliner Sport Angler that we bought slightly used last spring......great boat, handles extremely well....especially pleased with the performance of the 90hp Mercury Optimax that it came with the package. Just fires up and runs smooth on every outing. Also been running the standard aluminum prop, as was recommended for the first while, to get a feel for the handling of the boat. If I was to buy a quality stainless prop, to maximize all around performance (fishing, cruising, tubing), what should I be looking for. There seems to be a number of excellent choices out there, but not sure where to start......certainly, with the boat being a bit smaller and lighter, I'd like something with enuff bite to get the boat on plane quickly and also hoping not to break the bank......does anyone have some thoughts and/or experiences to share. Thanx in advance.....Paul

Hey, those are nice Rockies. Hit like a ton of bricks, then roll over and play dead! I have frequently caught them up to 12 inches with big, fat bellies. The bigger ones are good eating too. I was curious to see your comment about expectations of the bite being slow due to the onset of the storm. Some of my best outings have been in the hours prior to a frontal system blowing through. One example, two years ago on the Bass opener fishing Lake Seymour. Around 9am, we had a frontal system setting in on us (we could see it's approach on the horizon), and up to that point we had landed 5 or 6 nice fish. But suddenly, all hell broke loose and for the hour and a half leading up to the first drops of rain, the bass went nuts, hitting everything we threw at them. Several double headers, fish lost, even a triple of 2 to 3 pounders. We were laughin' our heads off, and whoopin' it up because we'd never seen action like that. As soon as the rain started, the frenzy was done. We landed 16 more largies up to 4 lbs. and a bonus smallie around 4 1/2. One of those outings to remember.....keep up the good fishing!

Wow, all this discussion regarding the seat bases had me out ripping the tarp off my boat this afternoon to check mine. I've got a 1650 Sport Angler and sure enough, both of my bases have got the same symptoms, although I think the damage isn't as serious as the original poster. My Crestliner is only two years old, so I'm going after them for new bases. I don't care how moist my floor gets, those seat bases (especially aluminum) shouldn't be doing that after only two seasons of use. I appreciate the comments though on how the stainless screws can contribute to the corrosion problem. I left my batteries connected, but kept them topped up. Is that a no no? I keep my garage at 40 deg fahrenheit all winter so it stays relatively dry in the boat. Would appreciate any feedback on the battery issue or storage tips. We'll let you know how we make out with support at Crestliner. Cheers!

And perhaps most importantly about the hitch locks.....if you are not using one and your boat gets stolen, most marine insurance underwriters will not pay out. Check the fine print of your policy....it's front and center on mine. I'm insured with ELCO....I use the Master Lock kit combo too, although I think I'm gonna invest in the stainless version next go 'round. Tight lines.....

Yep, I gotta side with Daiwa.....I love Shimano too, have a beautie ChronarchB but I think Daiwa has them beat on braking and drag. I fell in love with the new Daiwa Zillion the first moment I held one in my hand. Guess I'm becoming a bit of a tackle junkie. I managed to pick up both a high speed retrieve and regular at the BPS sale too. At $210 each with a reel trade, the price was right! Couldn't get anyone talked down below $280 at the Sportsman's Show. Daiwa invented the first super free spool on baitcasters, and the Zillion is just a masterful reel for the price. At 8.6 ounces for the 6.3:1 model and 8.8 for the 7.1 high speed model, they're light enough to cast all day with little fatique and we're ready to throw whatever those bass are in the mood for. I've got some line on one, and couldn't help but make a few tosses out in the yard. The dog is a good test for the drag.....kidding! Tight lines, Paul

Hmmm.....Sticky, I think perhaps you just got stung by a defective reel. Although $75 is not alot to spend on a decent rod 'n reel combo, you should have gotten something that worked ok for your investment. I purchased two combos last year for my kids in that price range, and they worked fine all summer for them. Even got them at CT, and the price was right on sale for $36 bucks. Problem in our case was the rods were really poor quality. Good news is that for $50 more, you can get a really decent outfit from LB's or BPS. For my money, you can't go wrong with Daiwa, Shimano or Quantum. Try a reel in and around the $70 range and rod around $50. For a good all around rod, go 6' 6" medium heavy with fast action or 7' Med with fast action. My kids new combos are Shimano Sahara's on Berkeley Lightning rods. Combo was $90 bucks on sale.....reg $130. My kids thought they'd died and gone to heaven. I just don't believe in buying super cheap stuff for the kids. Time with them on the water is too precious. Although they're equipment gets beat up a little faster, nothing turns a kid off fishing faster than crappy equipment, line that messes up and lost fish. Hope this helps! Tight lines....

Well, I think a couple posters here figured out the common denominator in this debate of quality with the Fenwick Rods going downhill after they moved production offshore. Quality control just hasn't been one of the strengths since Fenwick stopped manufacturing the rods here in Canada and the US. At the end of the day, you get what you pay for. I just traded up from my Fenwick HMG's, which I had 4 of and really enjoyed using. They are a very nice rod for 100 bucks a pop. No issues whatsoever. My suggestion is to get away from 2 piece unless it's necessary for car travel. You just don't want a weak point in the middle of your rod if you can avoid it. I switched to all one piece rods about 5 years ago and haven't looked back. Haven't had a single break, or even crack in any of my rods since then. Over the years, I've used Shimano Compres & Crucials, G.Loomis, HMGs and now St. Croix Premiers. I've been very happy with my Fenwick's over the past while but I do think some of the blanks are a little thinner than others to minimize weight. I'm now moving up to St. Croix Avid's to match up with my Team Daiwa reels and can't wait to give them a go on the boat this spring. They're so light but incredibly strong. Soft water fishing is just around the corner, need another couple weeks of milder weather to get the spring panfishing going. Tight lines, Paul

Hey Tony, You can call me a self-proclaimed expert on the matter of storing a boat in the garage, Unfortunately, I had to take the opposite approach and find the right boat to fit in my garage. We do love our neighbourhood out in Brooklin (north Whitby), so moving was not an option.....yet! What an arduous process it was. I had 18 1/2 ft. of space from the back wall of my garage to the garage door. For me a trailer with swing tongue was the only option. I had to be mindful of the length of the boat and motor, length of the total package, width of the boat and width of the trailer. Just a reminder to anyone who's looking to buy a boat, motor and trailer.....remember you only have 94 inches maximum to work with on 2 car garages with individual doors. That leaves an inch or so on each side of the garage opening. It takes some practice, but it's doable. The majority of manufacturers are making their boats wider all the time, which is a major consideration, even with 16 footers. I looked at Princecraft and Smokercraft in that length range, and the beams were 90", thus making the trailer were too wide for the opening. My Crestliner has an 87 inch beam, and the trailer is 92" wide. Even when I finally settled on my Crestliner Sport Angler 1650, it's 16' 3" in length, with a 90hp Merc Opti on it, I had to make some adjustments to the bed of the trailer and the winch location to make it fit. It wasn't a game of inches, it was a game of one inch! I have a 1/2 inch of clearance with the boat on a very slight angle and the motor turned to one side. Just to add to my headache of storage, I had a couple neighbours that I knew were aware of our municipal by-law (Town of Whitby) forbidding a homeowner from parking a boat in your own driveway, and as I expected, ratted me out after leaving my new baby in the driveway for only a week. I know we had a very lengthy debate on the board here about that issue recently. That by-law is very real, because I've seen it and the threatening letters that go with it. I had already planned for that in the selection of the right boat package. I left the garage open for two days straight after I slid the package in just to say "" Some people just have too much time on their hands..... In summary, there's no question that developers are buidling shorter garages, and they have for some time. Many can barely accomodate a full sized car today. If you can find a 25 ft. garage, more power to you. It will be a great find. One day, I'll build my own house and make sure the garage is good and long. Cheers, Paul

Check out the Super Specials that LB puts in their catalogue every year. Some of the deals for spinning outfits are excellent bargains and the quality is there too. Get yourself to the Spring Fishing Show and LB's will fix you up no problem. For your $75, you can get a decent Daiwa or Shimano combo. I managed to find a super buy at BPS for my kids last fall. They were selling Shimano Sahara's (with fluidrive) with a BPS 6 1/2 ft. IM6 high mod graphite rod for $79. Just the reel retails for $85 at LB's. My kids can't wait to test drive their new outfits in the spring. They're fishing nuts.....Our friend's cottage is on a lake loaded with both small and largemouth bass, and walleye and pike are pretty good too. Non stop action can be had most days. We're so fortunate as we get to be custodians of the place most of the year, as our friends work overseas and are only home for 6 weeks in the early summer.

Well, glad to hear your Jeep was recovered. You're a very lucky man! Less than 40% of stolen vehicles are recovered, even with an alarm system. Have you guys heard of Boomerang Tracking? They have the best theft recovery technology on the planet. Boomerang's system involves a device called a boom which can be buried in up to 40 different areas of your vehicle and has no antenna because it's cellular based. Thieves cannot detect the boom in your car, short of tearing the vehicle apart. OnStar, AirIQ and all other theft deterrent systems are GPS based and must have antennas. Put a foil gum wrapper on your GPS antenna and you're offline. If your vehicle leaves line of sight with a satellite, your cooked!! Boomerang's digital cellular signal can be "tracked" through containers, within buildings, in underground parking.....your car has virtually nowhere to escape being tracked. If someone moves your car more than 10 feet and your digitally matched key fob is not in the ignition, the Boomerang tracking team is notified within seconds, that your car is on the move and monitoring begins. Even if your keys and fob are in the ignition, you can notify Boomerang that your car has been stolen and again within seconds, the tracking team is hunting down the signal from your Boom. The Boomerang tracking team gives chase until your car is found, then the local police are notified to move in. Boomerang Tracking recovered an astonishing 94% of stolen vehicles equipped with their technology in 2006. Sales grew 280% last year in Canada. All Boomerang's competitors combined in all the years they have been installing anti-theft technology could not match the $$ value of vehicles recovered by Boomerang just last year!! Check with your local car dealer regarding prices, but packages range from $499 to $1200 depending on the options chosen for 2 years monitoring and installed Boom with key fob. It's very sexy technology, almost standard at certain dealers in southern Ontario now..... Don't forget to ask your dealer about Boomerang!! Get smart, get Boomerang! (Hey, I don't work for Boomerang.....just love to talk them up!!!!)

It was a great day to be on the big Lake O, and as most of you can attest is almost unheard of this time of year. My fishing buddy Greg and I decided to get up and out for what may be our last kick at open water. We were gonna get out to Quinte, but opted to work another area of Lake Ontario. Light north winds, moderate temps and some thick snow flurries greeted us as we cruised out to our fishing spot. We started out flat lining silver/black and chartreuse/holographic husky jerks just as light started coming through some of the thick cloud cover and snow flurries. The port rod jumped first, after just 10 minutes of trolling. Managed to boat our first fish of the morning, a chunky little 3 lb. brown. After that, two quick whacks at the same rod, then all quiet for an hour or so. Then, sliver/black goes off again with another scrappy brown about 5 lbs. This one was a little beat up from being in one of the local tribs, so a quick release and off he goes. All is quiet for an hour and a half, just a couple taps on each rod. Sensing a need to change tactics and maybe location, we start to work our way west towards the launch and about halfway there, a screamer takes off with the bait on starboard rod which we switched to the same silver husky jerk that was doing the damage on the port side. Man, it pays to have duplicates of hot lures in the boat. My buddy Greg is all smiles as he's working this fish, there were some strong runs and lots of thrashin' with this one. Get it to boat side and in the net, a beautiful silver brown with tons of spots.....about 7 lbs. After that, my buddy hooks a strong fish that buckles the 8 1/2 ft. boat rod right over, Greg hands it over......man, I'm thinking strong sideways runs runs and lots of resistance.....that usually means....a roll at the surface and that familiar green with white spots.....what a surprise, it's a nice pike....it was 7 or 8 lbs for sure, and a thick gut full of bait fish. What a great fight that fish put up. Managed to get the net around it, snapped a couple quick photos and a nice release. That feels good I thought. We troll the same area, then wham, the rod buckles over and a fish is off running. Clicker on the reel is hummin'. After a minute or so, we can see the fish cruising along the surface, then it kinda starts coming in like dead weight. As Greg gets the fish closer, we both started laughing, 'cause it's a dang' carp hooked just under the chin. Poor Greg just took his turn on a foul hooked carp about 10 lbs. Greg looks at the fish as I'm taking the hooks out and says "stupid thing, if wanted to see something red with big lips, I coulda stayed home"....(Greg's wife has red hair, I'll stop there). Things went quiet again for awhile so time for another quick change of tactics. This time back to the east for some drifting with the shiner minnows we picked up. There were another couple of boats in tight, who were there quite awhile so we figured they must be getting the odd fish. We pulled in tight to the channel, rigged up and started drifting with our first minnows, tap, tap.....and I set the hook into a nice fish, it's running.....then slack....fish gone! Crap, I thought. Well, same drift, another hookset and a pocket rocket leaps out of the water, another brownie about 3 lbs. This fish is all around the boat but after a spirited tussle, we get that one to the net. The next drift, a couple taps but then, "Greg, we got another one". This fish is stronger, exhibiting some strength and nice jump too! We see it roll near the boat, and another good brown, about 5 lbs. Greg is not so amused at this point as he mutters "oh, let me put my rod down so I can get the net. It's good to be ahead I'm thinking. Greg managed a sheephead after that last brown, we finished with some casting of minnow baits but it was time to go. We were really hoping to complete the smorgasboard morning with a walleye, but we weren't complaining. Managed to boat 5 browns, 2 sheepies, a pike, a carp, and a sucker. It was a great way for us to (likely) end the open water season. And, how can fishing open water in middle of January be a bad thing!! Tight lines! PS - Sorry about no pics guys. We did get a couple of the large pike and big brown, but I gotta figure out how to lower the resolution yet....

Happy New Year all. Wishing you many safe and successful fishing trips in '07. As we wait for hard water to get our ice fishing season underway, thought I'd re-post a Classifieds ad for a pile of rods and reels I have for sale. Just to be forthright, I did post this stuff back in the late fall but I think I may have had lofty expectations regarding how much I would be able to get for the stuff. So, if anyone got sticker shock when I sent you my original list, I apologize for that. Good news is, I've done my homework this time, and the new list is priced in keeping with re-sale of preowned and brand new merchandise. Plus, THERE'S SOME BRAND NEW ST. CROIX RODS IN THE MIX!!! So, go check out the ad and hopefully we can do some deals. Kind regards, Paul

Hey Fishinguy, you can't go wrong with the that ultralight Stradic. I have a couple including the ST1000 that I use in the creeks and ponds for trout, and on the ice. Super smooth reel. Just sent you a PM with further info.

Hey guys, I was looking for some feedback on the new Catalinas. They're new and was thinking about four on my boat for salmon next season. Gonna run two line counters for wire dipsey rigs and two on the riggers. I hear they're fantastic. Any idea what Carra's price is on them?

I have a Chronarch B myself which won a bunch of awards in 2004, the year it was launched. Got mine at the Sportsman's Show for a great price. They're $100 more to buy them now. Didn't think that I could do better than my Team Daiwa Z, but that reel is golden. Mine's on a new St. Croix rod as well. Can toss baits with that outfit all day with little or no arm fatique. I just bought up 12 St. Croix rods outta the US and saved some money. Heading to Niagara Falls, NY to pick them up tomorrow, can't wait. I will have some for sale, if anyone's interested. We'll get them posted to Classifieds later this week hopefully.

Hey guys, I'm a tad curious about the timing of your action on the weekend. We were east of the ferry and in the cental basin between the cement plant and the ferry and just couldn't seem to hit the active fish. First we had south east wind, then south wind then the wind died. Ran 4 lines including two on inlines. Those fish saw everything from Husky Jerks, to Reef Runners, to Stretch 20's and Deep Diving Taildancers. Even tried a couple old favourites (Bomber Long A's) weighted down. We saw 70 boats and were always in the pack somewhere. Only one net over the side all morning and every boat we talked to got nada! On the upside, the graph was marking fish all morning long. They were stacked like cordwood, but the highest concentration was west of the ferry. Fish of all sizes too. If I extrapolate our data, there were thousands upon thousands of walleye under the surface from 15 to 50 ft. down. Just never seen numbers like that in all the years we've been fishing Quinte. For the most part, they had lock jaw though.....water's still very warm and best fishing is yet to come. We've got three weeks of good fishin' yet. It doesn't get really fun 'til we're cracking skim ice in Picton Harbour to get to open water.

Blyte, I owe you an apology. Note to self......pay closer attention to the people in the pics instead of being consumed by the size of the fish. I just would've assumed a woman wouldn't be out braving the wind, rain and cold temps like that at this time of year so kudos to you guys as a husband and wife team, you're truly the dynamic duo. As far as the spot you guys were fishing from, don't even think about disclosing it. You've worked hard to find it and you deserve to keep it to yourselves for awhile. Perserverance pays in the end!!!! Congratulations again, you guys have one of this year's best fish stories for sure.....