NAW

My hunting partner used him last year. And was very happy with his work. Certainly hope he gets back on his feet again soon!

I assume they are a 6 bolt pattern? What are the specs? I know a few tire guys that have lots of rims kicking around. There's a slight chance they might have something kicking around.

I like to feel every little tick or tap on the end of my line. So a Med. Heavy action, with some good back bone for walleye. It's also my Laker, and white fish rod. Running 8 to 10 lb braid, with a 6' fluorocarbon leader roughly 8lb test. I have a 36". and a few smaller ones as well. Depending on the hut I'm fishing out of. My fat fish, I can use the 36" rod no issues. But my hut for white fish on simcoe is narrow, and the 36" is a bit to long, so I use my shorter one for that hut. My preference is the longer rod though, as other have said, you get to play the fish a little more. But you need to make sure you have the right stiffness of rod to match the style of jigging your doing, and the weight of lure your using. There's a few things to consider....

That's rubbish.

Oh man!that's the money shot Joey!! All the ponds where skimmed over down here the last couple days. Might be worth a quick check on some of my back bays!

My thoughts exactly!!! I have been teaching at Georgian College for a year now. Every morning I sit and do prep work in the new building that overlooks Little Lake. It's getting me anxious for some ice!! When little starts to skim over, that means my muskoka Crappie back bays are "creepable".

Well fancy that! I should pay more close attention! You got any ice up there yet?

Thanks Drifter! The one from Norway is cool, but it doesn't show the daily lows! I'm very interested in the night time temps.

Good stuff Joey! Can wait to catch up for the anual nip trip this winter.

I also have the Weather Underground App on my phone and it seems to be pretty accurate. I've looked at a few different websites, and for the most part, they are all calling for the same weather in the coming month. Which is great. I am being very optimistic here.. But a nice feed of fresh Crappie before Christmas might actually be a reality this year!

Who do you use for a decent long term weather forcast? I looked at the weather network today. In their "calender" part of the website for Barrie, it is showing some great daily lows. Steady nights with double diget lows starting mid December. I don't want to jinx myself. But I really hope I'm on the ice earlier this year than last!

Don't feel bad. He outfished everyone that day!! I went and fished out of his hole later that afternoon and got skunked!!

X2!!! Every Thanksgiving for the past decade is Its the same thing for me. Duck hunting and fishing at my hunting partner's cottage. By far my favourite time of the year!

I keep anything over 6-8" if I'm hungry. And I keep the monsters. Maybe I shouldn't keep the big ones, but I love getting a big haul of meat. My girlfriend LOVES crappie, and gets quite angry if I come home empty handed. So if it's a slow day, I'll keep pretty much any size, as long as I can get a slab of meat off it. They are easy as all get out to clean. The larger crappie I fry up the entire fillet at a big chunk, and make fish sandwiches out of them. Delish, once you figure out how to fillet the bones out of them. You know what's going to happen now though.... Now that someone want some crappie meat, you won't catch any more this summer!!! Come out with me this fall for some early ice crappies!! They are fun to catch on first ice.

Nice Shooting Dara!! As if I wasn't already pumped up enough for goose opener down here!! I have a feeling it will be slow this year. The farmers where I hunt aren't seeing many birds this year. They thinks it's because of the heat. But I'm not sure.

I ended up drying the entire thing out in the oven last night. It took a few hours, and I actually need to finish it off a bit more tonight. But I am super excited to see how it tastes in a chilli! It really is amazing how much they shrink when you dry them out.

Thanks for the ideas so far! I would harvest that 10" one right away. If the bugs find it, they will eat it up in a hurry! There's likely some animals that would eat them as well I assume. I picked mine last night. It's in the fridge, and I am going to dehydrate most of it tonight, cook the rest up tonight to have with dinner. No waiting around, because I think to go bad pretty quick. I'm no expert though.

I found a decent sized one last night. The plan is to dry it out and use it for cooking in stews and chilli. A nice natural chilli this fall with goose meat, vegies/tomatoes from my garden.. I was just wondering if anyone knows any unique recipes that I could use some of the puff ball for? Aside from the usual stuff. I don't often stray to far from my basic meals, but I was thinking it would be cool to try something new with some of the puff ball. Any suggestions?

Thanks Guys! It was a hoot for sure. I am taking Alex out camping on our first father son "backwoods" camping trip this weekend. I'm sure I'll end up posting a report of that trip as well.

We spent the weekend at my hunting partners cottage this past weekend. Up on 6-mile lake. It's always nice when you see the weather reports all week, and they are predicting rain, thunder and lightening, and winds all weekend. So you plan for the worst, bring movies, games, rain gear, back up plans in case your stuck in a small cottage with 3 kids!! BUT.... when it came down to it, there was very little rain, and LOTS of sunshine and fun!!! We spent hours jumping off the dock, swimming, boat rides, and 4 wheeler rides. Saturday night we sat in a gazebo on the water, with the full moon rising behind scattered clouds, and listened to Gord sing his heart out with the radio cranked. I have to admit, I was holding back tears several times through the show. Saturday morning, we let Mom sleep in, and I took the 3 kids out for an early morning fish and boat ride. I know a few good spots on 6-mile for pan fish. So we went there (after trying trolling for a while unsuccessfully). We plowed through a dozen worms in about 30 minutes. All the kids where catching seeds and gills steady, fish after fish. I was scrambling to keep worms on their hooks! Payton was using a Barbie rod, and Alex was using a Lightening Mcqueen rod. Poor Tia (she's 9) got a bad tangle in her rod, and I had no time to fix it, so she ended up helping her little sister land fish after fish. It was a hoot. The poor cottagers in the area had a rude awakening by our screams of joy!! Near the end of our fishing, Alex starts screaming at me!! I look over to see his little rod doubled over, and the tension is flying out.. I was worried he was going to drop the rod, so I took it from him and helped him land a nice little large mouth bass. The kids wanted to eat it for breakfast, so we did! And they loved it!! A true 6-Mile breakfast of eggs, bacon, English muffins, and fresh fried fish (and a Caesar for mom!!) I'll stop typing now, and let the smiles in these pictures show you how happy they where to boat some fish!! Payton didn't want to hold a fish for a picture. But she was totally OK with kissing it!! Crazy kid!

Thanks for the heads up! I won't kiss you guys the next time I see you!!

I like the direction this post it going. Keep the recipes coming!!

I'll toss a few breasts your way Brian! if my hunts go well! At minimum, you'll get a bag of jerky!

So Tyler just hooked me up! All the parts where less than $20 after tax. And he removed the old seals, and bearing, and pressed knew ones on for me at no charge!! Great guy, and great service.

I'm pretty sure this guy is a competitive javelin thrower, and body builder. Obviously dedicated to his sports and his hunting. If anyone out there is capable of "ethically" spear hunting, it would be this guy. Any anyone who has had a successful hunt know the exhilarating feeling when you hit your mark. Every hunter on TV gets excited about their kill, and they don't get flamed for it. I've watch many spear hunts for bear on Wild TV, most from a tree stand though. The only difference here, is the Go pro he mounted to the spear. That was a little to much for some people. And the fact that he let the bear die alone and came back the next day, which is also a very common practice. Rarely do hunters get flamed for letting their quarry lay overnight to be sure they are dead. I think they actually teach you to do that in the hunters education coarse. It's ridiculous that Alberta is considering banning spear hunting because of this video.