NAW

I've been running a 565 for the past two years. Both for soft and hard water. I love the unit. I think I paid around $300 with the case any everything, but that wasn't on sale.

The transducer mounts on the transom of the boat with a suction cup, just under the water line. It's a bit of a pain in the arse though. If it's not in the exact right position, it rooster tails like crazy!, and it can pop off at high speeds.

The unit it's self works fabulous. I can mark a double uni knot at 40' no problem. Mark a small williams ice jig at 120'.

I would highly recomend this for your first fishfinder, as it's very easy to use. It doesn't have ALL the bells and whistles, but it's very easy to figure out.

I think there's some conservation land around the southwestern part of cooks bay. I see a ton of duck hunters using if to hunt from. Not sure if it would be the best place for wading out for carp, but it's worth looking into.

I carp shoot in that area all the time from my boat. Where I go, the bottom is not safe to wade. There's spots where you can be walking in knee deep water, and the next step, your up past your head. Super soft bottom..

PM me if you want more info in Simcoe Carp, and some great spots to go in the coming months..

Great report Ben,

Looks like you had a productive season.

That was great man. Nice job on the video!

You said you'd be using the gun for varmint control? I'm not sure about the regs, but you should look into them. You might have to take the hunters safety coarse, and then purchase a small game hunting license if you want to kill varmints.

Not sure if varmint control is considered hunting..

I posted almost the exact same thing about simply fishing about 6 months ago..

I'm not much of a musky fisherman, the only muskey i've ever had hooked up swam away with my entire lure still in it's mouth!

Sly to the rescue eh..

I know he never would, but he should charge them for the ride.

I use cod liver oil on occasion but I don't recommend you leave it on the lures. It'll dry to a tacky brownish goo that just attracts dust, dirt and grime. If you need to store 'em and are worried about rust.....WD-40.

That's what I was worried about. I wasn't sure what the stuff does as it dries out..

Thanks Spiel, and everyone else for your comments...

As an attractant, oils are poor performers. They don't disolve and release scent into the water as a solvent does. Think of oil and water mixing, the oil peels off and they remain separate.

 

I would slug a shot of CLO instead of dousing my hardware in it

 

My take anyway.

 

Paul

You know what man, I never thought of that. That's a good point..

By the replies I've received, it sounds like a good tactic for steal heading. I'll have to give it a try!

Thanks for the replies folks!

I've never made beef jerky, but I have made venison, and goose jerky. Both where done in the oven using a jerky cure/seasoning I bought a bass pro. They have a bunch off different flavors.

First you cut the meat into 1/4 thick strips. Then mix the seasoning and the cure and apply it to your meat per the instructions on the package. Let it sit in your fridge for a few days to tenderize. Then cook it on low in the oven for a few hours, turning a few times an hour.

The goose jerky was the second best tasting method of cooking Canada Goose IMO.. First being Goose summer sausage..

I would think that this would be okay on your lures and hooks but probably not to good for feathers etc. Maybe you should just do a few and put them in a seperate box and see how they fair out while stored for the off season. you can even try WD-40 since it is primarily fish oil and comes in an aerosol which would make it easier to apply. Let us know how it works out for you.

Good idea on testing a few and setting them aside from the others.

As for the WD-40, Is it really mostly fish oil??

The other perk of the Cod Liver Oil is (I'm assuming) it's environmentally friendly.

I spent a few hours last weekend pulling my summer lures out of the storage box, and cleaning them up. There was some tarnish on my Williams spoons, and meps spinners, so I took the CLR to them, then rinsed them in water.

I want to coat them in oil now, to keep any further tarnish and hook rust from occurring. Same thing goes for my ice fishing jigs before I store them away until next hardwater season.

I bought a bottle of Cod Liver Oil. I was planning on lightly coating my ice fishing lures in this stuff before putting them away for the summer. I was also going to coating my steel summer lures in this stuff too.

I know some of you use Cod Liver Oil for fish attractant. My question is, will this stuff damage the lures (paint, feathers, etc) if I coat my lures, then leave them for extended periods of time?

Also, any feedback on using this stuff as a attractant would be great.. If it works good for specific species, and not other, amount to use, how often to apply, etc…

It sure does have a powerful scent to it.

Thanks eh,

If you do remove the console, and replace with some 1/2 type console, you going to want to stiffen the front of the V with something.

My boat used to look similar to that, and now it's a tiller (mods before I bought it). The entire front console was removed, and replaced with a ply wood deck that takes up about the first 3.5' of the haul.. Great for storing things under, casting from, and mounting trolling motor in the future.. The middle bench was modified, but not removed. There also was a rear bench, which was removed, and replaced with two side boxes. Let me know if you want, I can e-mail you some pics..

Keeping big perch of that size does not help the fishery in terms of reproduction. Those females are prime spawners. It is best to let them go and keep the smaller ones. The huge decline in perch numbers on Lake Simcoe is for that reason. Ask any biologist. Nice fish though.

Nice report, and some very nice hogs, but I have to agree with Terry.. Don't get me wrong, I do keep big perch, but I also keep smaller ones. I don't go out and just target the hogs..

Keep it up man. Make sure you let us know what the results are.

Ya, I bet the DFO is steaming.. My cousins girlfriend works for the DFO, I'm imagining what she would be saying looking at those pics.. Not very nice words, that’s for sure.

I got one for the same deal last year. I like the knife, but the sharpening tool that comes with them is garbage..

I will do just that.

Sorry for your loss Flex. My condolences.

I use the loop knot for vertical jigging. I use it on a two jig set up, usually with tubes, and mainly for panfish. I find that top tube tied with the loop knot gets me a lot more fish than the bottom jig every time. The tube has a different action, that is for sure.

 

S.

Sounds very similar to my perch rig, except I use a spoon on the top, not a jig. How far apart do you spread the jigs?

On a different note, did you make it out for the late goose season??

Welcome Back

That's very "bigredfisher-esk" of you..

Yes.. I just made up a word.

It may be a little high, but I would say over 50% of the fish I cought this year where natural. Some monsters too! 5-6lb natural whitefish!.. I started to think the clipped fins where growing back or something!

Another fantastic hard water season on Simcoe has come to an end. I know there’s been a bunch of reports from the last weekend of the season. I thought I would add one more to the mix.

For the first month of the season, I did great. Caught at least one whitefish every time I went out. My confidence was very high, as was my fishing partners. SO we decided to enter into the CIFC out of Sutton,.. Well.. As soon as my name was on the tournament registry, the fish stopped biting. I went a full month without icing a single friggen whitefish!! including the weekend of the tournament!! The confidence went down the crapper, that’s for sure.

This second last weekend of the season things started to turn around. We took the 12Km ride from Alcona over to the mob that grows up north of Georgina Island ("Slyville"). It was worth it, because I broke the loosing streak with two brute Whitefish..

This past Saturday, I invited some old friends up from my high school days.. It was a great end to the season. We were all limited out by 10:00am, and then released another 10 before we left the ice at noon. I managed to ice 6 whitefish, released 4 of them. My fishing partner iced 8, and one of my high school buddies iced his first fish ever..

Here a pic of the group.

P.S. Of the 15 fish we cought, 11 where natural to the lake.

Thanks Harrison. That's some great info..

Cool,

Thanks guys.

I have been using a polymar knot for pretty much everything for the past few years. It’s so quick and easy to tie, and hasn’t failed me yet.

I am wondering if I’m selling myself short by using the same knot for everything??

I was watching a fishing show last weekend, and saw a guy using loop knots to tie a jig head.

I know that loop allows a lure to move more freely because the line is not tight on the lure.

I was just wondering what presentation you guys use loop knots for? And if you really think it's worth the extra time to tie them?

I was also wondering if they're as strong as a polymar?

I’m thinking they would be beneficial when using heavy flouro leader that would really effect the action of the lure if tied using a polymar knot. I mosly fish with a 6lb flouro leader, so that's not really an issue for me..

Any input would be great..

Thanks,

F-is-H

Just pulled the hut off a few hours ago. Alcona area. Access points are getting sketchy, but the ice was good (in our location). If the rain holds off, we're hittin er with the quad this weekend..