Jonny

There are no bass around Timmins (except stocked). The water temps stay too cool. To get into some decent bass from Timmins you have to go south to around the Gogama-Shining Tree area. There are lots of people in the Sudbury - North Bay area who fish for bass... smallmouth.

I'm just wondering whether most people, in a blind taste test, could tell the difference between fresh fish or frozen fish* after it's been pan-fried your favourite way? I don't think I could tell. Maybe my taste buds just suck. ------- * Not frozen "freezer-burnt", just frozen for a few weeks.

Yes, Fishnwire, striking a balance is the key thing. Always in the back of our minds should be the true definition of "conservation" --- "wise use". Not non-use, and not excessive use. The fishing regs give us the guidelines and within them or in addition to them we can use our judgement as to our impact on the resource. If I already have a wall-hanger walleye (which I do, from Little Abitibi Lake, north of Cochrane), I don't need to keep a big breeder, though I'm allowed. A picture or two and back into the lake it goes. But if I happen one day to be able to put four under-slot walleye on my chain, I'll probably keep all of them if I don't have any in the freezer*. If I have a nice pike on the chain then a couple of those walleye will go back into the lake. (I like pike for eating probably better than walleye.) For me this lake (Nipissing) is the only game in town. When I lived in Timmins and trailered the boat to many lakes the whole dynamic was different. Lakes were hammered hard when the fishing was good, then when it tailed off people would go to other lakes and the stocks would eventually recover to a decent level (they never got as good as when they were first accessed). I don't think Nipissing can stand that, so yes, I make some personal choices which reduce my impact to less than what the regulations would allow. Like I was trying to emphasize, I'm not a "fill the freezer" fisherman... but I will almost always "catch and keep" something. Tight lines to you too. ---------------------------- * Topic for another thread... fresh fish vs frozen. In a blind taste test I don't think I could tell the difference. Maybe my taste buds suck.

I guess there must be catch-and-release allowed for sturgeon during the "open" times? That's the only way I can figure this out...

I appreciate the more even tone of your second post, Fishnwire. Let me clear up a couple of things. My wife and I eat a lot of fish, and almost all of it is store-bought salmon, cod, tilapia, etc. I would guess that in a typical year my wife and I would catch and keep about a dozen pike, about a dozen pickerel, about 100 perch, maybe half a dozen lake herring, and about a dozen bass, and a few incidentals (white bass, catfish, ling, etc.). We’re as much interested in the summer in picnicking, swimming and beachcombing on nearby islands, either alone or with family, as we are in fishing. The times when we “limit out” are rare, and not particularly sought after. To me, a “feed” is enough for two or maybe three people. I’m lucky when I have several feeds in the freezer. In my freezer right now, and this is probably typical, I have three feeds of smelts, about three feeds of perch, one of pike. I’m hoping to put up a feed or two of pickerel for when my son comes to visit. This despite the fact that we live right on the lake and I can launch either of my boats off my ramp in 10 minutes. And in the winter, our hut is a short 1 ½ mile run out from our home (we can see the hut from our kitchen window). When we lived in Timmins, and used to fish a lot of different lakes (many of them a long drive), we caught more, kept more, froze more, and ate more. I tell you the foregoing to give you some context for my remarks. Most of what we catch and keep is eaten the same day or the next. Yet I have nothing against someone who has a freezer well-stocked with a rotation of game fish, within the catch and possession limits of the regulations. Fish lots and you eat more fish. Predicting fish stocks is an inexact science, but from where I sit it seems to me that the predictions are on the conservative side and the regulations are correspondingly conservative. The independent sport angler, particularly the one who gets out infrequently, is already the one who ‘contributes’ disproportionately to the balance, compared to commercial fisheries and tourism operations. But I accept that. Do I trust government? No, except in the sense that I trust that they will restrict the independent angler to benefit others. I don’t complain about that, but I also think that if they give me the right to take a limit (that they set), I can do so once in a while. And I object when someone tries to lay a guilt trip on me if I don’t release everything I catch. I felt that was the tone of some earlier posts.

Well I'll be darned! Thanks for the info. I must be moving in the wrong circles. But I wouldn't mind targeting these little critters a couple of times a year.

Really. Now that sounds reasonable. Everything I checked, even ebay, had transducers that were $70+. Can you point me to a source? It might be a good source for other stuff too.

If I have 4 pickerel in the freezer and I bring home 6 pike, or 2 lake trout, or 50 perch, or any combination of those, how does that put me over the limit? Yes, I know all about catch and possession. And no, I never have that many fish in my freezer. They go pretty quickly, especially in the summer for family fish fry's.

Oh really. Here on Nipissing the sport fishery has seen a reduced limit and a slot size directly because heavy winter fishing through outfitters, and a native commercial and sustenance fishery for walleye, have required it in order to maintain fish stocks. Everybody has a stake in it. Deplete the stock and everybody suffers, and everybody knows that. Commerce and sport are not separate issues. They all fish out of the same "pool". That's a poor analogy, but I wonder what makes you so cocksure that your perception is correct? Your politics? That's a whole other issue for a political forum which, I gather, this is not. Figure of speech, sir. If a twinge of regret at letting a big fish go, especially when you haven't had much other success, isn't in your hard-wiring, then so be it. And I didn't write my post for my (or your) edification. I was describing what I do and how I see things. I think that's one of the purposes of this forum, unless I mistake the intent. I didn't talk about "stuffing my freezer", did I. Don't try to put words in my mouth to make your case. And if you don't like my philosophy of "catch and (selective) keep", I won't lose sleep over continuing to do what I do. Like someone else above, you seem to be easy with trying to lay on a guilt trip when someone doesn't see it your way. Well thanks for the reply. Now that I'm finished responding, I'll file it.

This week I saw my first white bass from Nipissing in many years. I was wondering whether others have come across them more often?

I keep my smaller aluminum fishing boat on a ramp at the shore (Nipissing), and a big storm early in May snapped the transducer off by pounding a log or something against it. Transducer was an Eagle/Lowrance "skimmer" type. I shopped around for transducers and man are they expensive. At the Bass Pro Shop in Vaughn (off the 400) I found a transducer for 89.99. And the price for a complete Cuda 300 depth finder? ..... 89.99. Just nuts. Of course I bought the complete unit but, from what I've seen, transducers alone are way over-priced. I figure a transducer should be about 30 bucks, tops.

I was doing an edit about the time you posted, Anders. Yes, to give the guy credit his hands were probably cold. A shame about the tail meat, though. He unnecessarily wastes a lot there. I guess it must be what he was shown and he's never tried to take the whole piece.

That first video is a good one except for one major thing. I do my pike like that, but he's wrong about the tail section. You can get MUCH bigger boneless pieces off the tail by starting your knife below the dorsal fin (at the FRONT of the fin) and running your knife all the way back. The WHOLE section from the front of the dorsal fin to the tail is boneless. I was really surprised to see that he ignored it. I've never tried it the way the second video showed, but I will give it a shot and see if it saves more boneless meat. Someone said the first video wastes belly meat - actually it doesn't... you can take it all if you want. I usually discard a strip of the lowest belly meat, but it's there on the side slabs if you want it.

55 degrees surface temp in the Great North Bay yesterday. And the water levels are still way over normal.

I guess I'm more of your Dad's generation, TJ, though I'm not quite 60. I learned from my Dad (and my Mom), and to them fishing was a sport and a recreation with a tangible result - fish on the table. So the money spent for recreation had a considerable side benefit. I have that same attitude. Of course all within the law (the regulations) for the species and the lake, and I think by doing that you respect not only the letter of the law but also the spirit of the law. Within that, as you say, C&R is a personal choice. One which I use when I feel it's appropriate, which is often enough.

I just finished reading the rest of the thread and I'm surprised by a few of the statements. Fishing is not golf. While I can respect the opinion that catch and release is the only personal choice for some, I cannot respect the advocacy of it, especially in terms of us “ruining” the future fishery, and by implication having to feel guilty about bringing a few fish home. Europe is no good example, no good at all. The European fishery was wrecked long before any regulations were in place to maintain a sustainable harvest. The European experience does not translate to Ontario. Neither does some limited fishery down in a place like Arizona where people are fishing for stocked fish in artificial reservoirs. We have regulations in place for sustainable harvest, and those regulations have been (and will be, wherever necessary) adjusted to reflect fish populations and pressure on them. That’s the MNR’s job; that and enforcement, of which they do too little to catch people who disrespect the law. (There’s part of the real problem, and one that can lead to depletion.) If I respect catch limits and size limits and fishing seasons, I am doing exactly what I need to do to follow an expert assessment of what needs to be done so my great-grandkids can catch fish too. Feel guilty about taking home a limit? Not on your life. Not when I’ve fished on days when I’ve gotten skunked or only caught one or two. Not when I’ve released undersize fish that I could have taken home to make a limit. Not when I’ve bitten my lip and released a big breeding female. Not when I’ve taken less than my limit (but could have kept more) because the freezer already had several feeds of fish in it. By the way, I’ve got all the goodies: depth finder, temp gauge, GPS – all the modern gadgetry – and I know where to fish. But if they ain’t biting they just ain’t. It’s like the old ‘Bits and Bites’ commercial – you never know what you’re gonna get. I was out day before yesterday and caught two fish. Yesterday, I was skunked. If I go out tomorrow and catch my legal limit of legal fish, you can bet they’re going to come home with me. True, there is nothing like the excitement of actually catching a fish, but the pleasure in preparing fish and serving them up to family and/or friends, for a treat the like of which they can’t get anywhere else, surely ranks high in the reasons to go fishing. Part of the pride in being a fisherman is in providing yourself and your family with food. If all it were was just whipping the water with a lure, or dragging a troll, I wouldn’t do it. Fishing is a little more than just a game, bass tournaments notwithstanding. If I didn’t want to eat some fish, I’d leave the fish alone; it’s too much trouble and I could more easily just go boating --- and buy salmon and sole and tilapia in the grocery store at a fraction of what I pay for gear and gas and bait. I used to find duck hunting terribly exciting - a lot more exciting than fishing - but I gave up duck hunting because I don't really like to eat duck, and neither does my family. As long as I respect the fishing regulations I feel zero guilt about bringing home a feed of fish. Sorry if this post sounds more passionate than respectful, but that's the way I see it.

Smallmouth bass is fine eating from Nipissing. Shhhhh! You don't want to blab that all over. With pike you get it all. Good fight, no slot limit, often bite when other fish are turning their noses up, great-tasting meat when you take boneless fillets. Take boneless fillets off a 3 or 4 lb pike and you've got more meat than off of two or three under-slot pickerel. I think people avoid them because of the reputation ("they" say pike taste crappy unless they're caught in cold water - Bull), and because of the mess of cleaning them, and because of the bones (they don't know how to fillet them boneless). Best way to clean pike (when you know how to take boneless fillets in the first place) is on newspapers. You can do this even on your kitchen counter (especially handy in the winter). Take a cutting board (scrap piece of plywood or chipboard will do), cover with layers of the Toronto Star (Saturday edition will do LOTS of fish), and go to it. The remains go in a plastic grocery bag, crumple up the wet layers of newspaper and chuck them in the bag too, then you're ready with a clean surface for the next fish. No muss, no fuss. Wash your hands with lemon-scented dish soap and you're done. Sprinkle the fillets with lemon juice and rub in. Dredge in salted and peppered flour, and fry in hot oil with a dab of margarine. You'll come back for seconds. Of course you probably know all of this already, Cram. I'm just blabbing to the uninitiated.

My first ATV was an '84 Yamaha Tri-Moto 250cc. That thing could go through some TURRIBLE mud and even though I'm a big guy it seemed to have plenty of power for getting around. You're talking a 4-wheeler which will be better for keeping your front end up, though it will also be somewhat heavier. I'm thinking that all-round, you could be happy enough with it, if you tell yourself from the outset that you will NOT be going out on the ice in all conditions. Some winters you'll be out there often, others you'll be biding your time on shore til you get the conditions you prefer. We all make compromises because of money (doesn't grow on trees) and/or preferences (i.e. small boat that's handy for getting into tough spots but when you decide you want to get on big water... oops! no damn good for that!) Anyway, if you pick this machine up and use it this month, it would be fun to hear how it works for you. Good luck.

Try some internet searches. Here's one that came up when I typed in "viking outboard parts canada". Looks like you can get some help with Viking/Chrysler if you follow up the email addy... http://www.mapleleafchapter.org/parts.html BTW, it seems your motor could be newer than you think? ......... Looks like a 6 HP model wasn't made til 1968... according to this source anyway... http://www.discount-marine-parts.com/ob_viking_model.html

If you have the time, and aren't in a hurry to sell, do some searches on ebay on the stuff you've got. Sometimes you can establish what things are worth just by seeing what other people put them up for sale for, and/or what the winning bids are. Trouble with taking stuff to a dealer is he knows what the stuff is worth and you don't, so he can sandbag you. Are you familiar with ebay? It seems a little daunting at first but it's a great resource!

Your Viking is probably a Chrysler underneath the hood. My Dad had some good luck with Vikings. Lower unit oil is a must, and plugs. Other than that, check the rubber components (like spark plug wires) for cracks. Use some black electrical tape, or heat-shrink tubing, where you see signs of wear. Grease or oil any joints and moving parts that are visible. Some can be sprayed with LPS 1 (my wonder cure and problem preventer for a lot of stuff - much better than WD-40). After you have had the motor in operation for a few hours, drain and refill the lower unit oil again. If there's any water in the oil, you might have to change the seals, or at least drain and refill a few times per season. Depends on how much you use the motor, I guess. 6 HP is a nice little kicker for a 12-footer. And old motors are much more fun than new ones! Good luck with it.

Sled or quad? From what I understand about that area, if I were fishing Simcoe (and I could get only ONE machine) I would get a quad. Most of the time you will be in little snow, and at times when you are not, you will have compacted snowmobile tracks you can follow to almost anywhere. No worries about burning out sliders in glare ice conditions, you can pack a lot of gear without needing a trailer, and in almost all conditions except deep snow, you will be able to go wherever a sled goes. I would, however, get a machine that is 4x4 and large (2 up seat and lots of rack/bin space). I would not settle for 4x2. In that case I'd rather go with a sled. No machine is perfect for everything and all conditions. But I can use my quad regularly here on Nipissing in all but the deepest snow cover, and I can use it for bush riding in the other seasons as well. There have been slush conditions where my sled didn't have a hope in hell of pulling my ice hut off the lake in March, and yet the quad bulled it out without a pause. Not all quads are the same, just as not all sleds are the same. It's a bit of the luck of the draw, especially if you're buying used. You can only go by word of mouth and general principles (like you know a 4x4 will go where a 4x2 can't). You won't know how your machine works in certain conditions until you put it into those conditions! And as you learn, you'll learn to pick your days and conditions so your machine works the best. Oh yeah, a quad also works A LOT better if you have to travel some gravel road to get onto a lake. When everything's melting and wet, but the ice is still beautiful, I have sometimes cursed the gravel I had to drive my sled on to get to a lake.

Thanks for the info! So "Snowfari" is a poor choice. Some of you mentioned other poor experiences. Could you elaborate and tell who they were with?