tjsa

Heh, Heh, maybe I should have bought it Friday night, the opening of the show, it might have secured me a trout for my team, no guarantees on that though, lol

It was the Central Canada Outdoors Show up here today, made it by for the first time in the 5 yrs it has been happening. Picked this up, and a couple packages of imitation baits, now I gotta figure out how the damn contraption works.

Awesome day again, we are blessed with good weather this year. Wind was a bit annoying, but not unbearable. Fished from about 9 am until 4:15 pm. Tried one spot, I had one hit on the set line, my bud got one about 2 lbs. My other bud with the vex was marking lots of stuff, but they were probably smelt(lake is full of them, an inland lake). Scenery pics: My bud misses one fish jigging, but lands another an hour later, probably around 2 lbs. other anglers way off in the distance, full zoom, they did not do so well either: The reason I know this, a CO came by and checked us, we had one. He went to check the other party east of us, and they did not have a sniff. While he was checking them, I had a rather solid hit, pulled it up maybe 10 ft., and, gone. Ooohhhhh well. It was near 1:30, so we went back over the portage to try the other lake which we had to go across to fish this one we were on. Stopped off an island, in about 50 ft. of water, drilled a bunch of holes, lots of stuff showing up of the vex, but probably all smelt. Then, probably an hour later, my buds set line goes down, and he lands this. We were all set to pack up and leave, but we stuck around for a bit. My bud had his two, so I started jigging in the hole where he caught the fish, and not 5 min. later, I had a hit, but no hookup. Stayed with it, changed to a different jig, no success. I moved to a different hole, and the other bud moves to the hole I just vacated. He is jigging for a bit, then says "this is interesting(he has the vex)", then, BAM!!, he sets the hook, and it is a nice one. The blood under its chin is not from the fish, its from my bud's thumb who helped land the fish. He did not even know he was bleeding until we mentioned it. He got lacerated somehow helping get the fish out of the hole. Wish I could have caught this one for our team, but alas, I got hits only, no real solid hookups. But, it was a stellar day weather wise, we had to peel off clothes around 2 pm, even with the wind blowing 15 kmh from the north, high was probably 0C around then, probably around -10C in the morning. I can live with that, any day.

Crosby's goal

I gotta remember that one. when my bud's or I get a nice one fishing right beside each other a boat, hut, or on a river, we usually say: "I can't believe that fish hit your line, it must be stupid or sumptin""

google humminbird ice 35, the user manual for the ice 35/45/55 is on the site. I downloaded it. Also see my similar thread asking questions about them. http://www.ofncommunity.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=40939

Thanks everyone, I was thinking of a vex, but the only one in town is an anniversary edition FL-20 complete with cupholder, rodholder, protective cover, vexilar toque, and something else added in, but I do not want to spend the $635.00 for it. Thats why I was looking at a Humminbird, better price range, and needed to know from people who have used them near vex's real time. My bud cannot use his FL-18 anywhere near his bud's Marcum LX-5. They were fishing for lake trout in 80+ feet of water at the time, so maybe that had something to do with it. They tried everything to get them both to work, but the Marcum had to be 35 yds. away before his vex would work half decent. There may be a software issue with his vex though, and he is going to send it in for a check-up during the softwater season. But it sounds like the vex/hbirds/lowrance units are working rather well with each other. I know of a hbird ice 35 in town, gonna see tomorrow if there is an ice 45 or 55 around, and what the price will be.

have been reading past posts on hbird vs. vex vs. marcum, etc. I know you cannot use a marcum very near a vex, but has anyone had any experience using a hbird close to a vex fl-18? By the way, I am looking at an ice 35.

I do keep them, but in a bucket with an aerator, and aquarium aerator bought from Zellers. And I do feed them also, I use Goldfish crumbles, also bought from Zellers. I change the water every two days, have a second bucket full of water with the 2nd aerator in it. I sometimes have to chase them down when I pull the lid off, they literally jump out of the one they are in when I put the dip net in to transfer them.

Thanks Bernie. LOL!!!! Gerritt, sometimes I feel that way myself. Jaques, thanks. No real plan, just...............lets go here, and see what happens If we were 10 miles east on this lake, we would have been in the middle of multiple shacks and hoards of people. It was nice to be totally isolated.

probably what you and I cannot possibly do, playing for our country in the Olympic games.

Actually, we did not go off the beaten path, we were fishing Lac des Mille Lac, the go to lake up here, just in a completely different area from the masses. We saw 2 snowmobilers way off east of us, and heard a power auger once or twice today(other than ours). Other than that, it was a nice quiet, warm, stellar day of fishing.

Day started off bad, I slept in, bud was probably banging at my door for 15 min. or so, I never heard a thing. He went to pick up other bud, phone rings, OK, ya, I am now awake, give me 30 min Off we go, and we go somewhere completely different. Totally away from the crowds/huts/usual haunts. All we saw was this, lots of clear blue skies, no wind, picturesque places, and.................no one else !!!!!!! The first place we tried, off of an island, got my one keeper there, bud got a small one(released), other bud got one about 13.5" Photo taken from a mile away. With the 2 keepers, and little else happening, out came the depth map, and........................lets go here!!!!!!!! That was it, decision made, off we went. We were immediately into fish, but they were all small. Stayed there regardless, as there has to be some keepers there. But it was not to be. I landed 5 or 6 walleye under 13"(there is a minimum size on this lake, 13") and my bud must have landed 9 or 10 between 11-12". We did catch quite a few fish, just not of any size. My other bud did get one about 14" in this spot. Pictures of the fish we kept. for my team, 17 7/8" My bud's keeper, same size: My other bud's 2 fish, one 13.5", the other 14.5" One more scenery pic. Did I say blue sky earlier, yup. That was what we endured for the most during the day, the clouds didn`t start to show until 5 pm, which was when I took the last picture. We did take a gamble, went somewhere where everyone else would not. It did not pay off big time in terms of keepers, but we did catch fish, and lost/missed hooking a bunch of fish. I had one on that I said to my bud to grab a camera, but, with a brief line strip off of my reel, then slack, ohhh well, who knows what that fish was.

I HAVE NOT YET BEGUN TO POST FOR MY TEAM................so.....nothing else counts :lol: :lol:

my condolences also, lost both grandma's years ago but remember them often.

Hey Rick, I finally remembered to ask my bud about this. His MIL now rents for a few weeks there now since she sold her place on an island. http://www.vrbo.com/vacation-rentals/canad...he-woods/kenora or: http://www.vrbo.com/vacation-rentals/canad...s/sioux-narrows

http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/Canada/2010/02...2845531-cp.html

Probably are places that other guys can steer you to, but why not e-mail Jiffy directly. I did years ago looking for a place to buy some stickers to put on my custom made auger box, and they sent me almost a dozen stickers free of charge. Same thing happened when I e-mailed Daiwa direct about bail springs for a reel of theirs I had 4 of, not complaining, just looking for a retailer or authorized maintenance shop in Ontario. They sent me 3 replacement bail springs for free. Worth a shot, or an e-mail.

Jacques, the cold spell started just after christmas into the new year, then warmer temps reaching 0C overnight last sunday, then dipping down last monday to what it is now. Long range forecast looks like a warming trend starting wednesday, for how long, who knows. But, whatever, been dealing with it for many years up here.

what parts????? never needed any parts for my old 10" other than spare spark plug and blades. Same with my newer 2 hp 8" model.

Probably a weak bail spring, or maybe the lubricant in the bail spring area does not like colder temps. Could also be a binding issue between the rotating parts. I use some extreme pressure, low temperature grease in the bail spring area, and rarely have issues unless it's below -25C. There is probably some better products out there, but that's all I have needed to use.

Since last Monday night, we have been in -25ish overnight lows to -16ish highs. Colder outside of Thunder Bay. Forecasted to be -22C overnight tonight, feels like -31 with the wind chill. -19C right now, high of -16C forecasted for today. Its not that bad with sunny skies and the wind does not get any more than 10 kmh, but when it gets to 15 kmh, it feels a lot colder.

I have only used white non-scented ones, and rarely even tip them with bait. The one time I did tip them with a small minnow was because my bud landed 5 before I even got at hit when I finally gave in and tipped it.