Fisherpete

I splurged a couple of years ago and bought a pair of fishing specific polarized Oakleys for around $250... not cheap by any means, but by far the best pair of sunglasses I have ever had. Would not hesitate to buy them again. I had a pair of polarized Bolle's before that ($90ish), would not recommend them. http://ca.oakley.com/store/products/men/sunglasses/polarized Peter

After running a 4 stroke now for a few years, I would never go back to a 2... they are quiet, no oil to mix with the gas, great on fuel efficiency, and virtually no smell/fumes. However I know some of the bigger, newer 2 strokes are much improved, and run much cleaner than 2 strokes of yesterday. As for the new vs. used debate, I bought a used boat a few years ago - with my current Honda - the boat was a lemon, and caused me a lot of headaches, but the motor has been awesome. Always a bit of a gamble buying anything used... try and buy from someone you know takes good care of their gear if possible. Peter

Hi, I bought a Legend Prosport 16' two years ago, and am very happy with it. The boat & trailer were quite affordable, and I already had a 30hp Honda tiller to put on it. It moves nicely... 27-28mph when I am alone. It does not have a ton of bells and whistles, and is not a big water boat, but for the Kawarthas it does everything I need. Like others have mentioned, if you are going to buy a package, upgrade the motor to at least 75-80% of the max HP rating. A friend of mine bought a Legend similar to the one you are now looking at with a 30hp on it (rated for up to 60) and the boat performed very poorly. I also recommend Henry (Legend dealership near Barrie) - he helped me with my purchase and was great to deal with. Pete

Sounds like a plan! Give me a shout when you want to meet up. Pete

Go gettem Greg and John!!! My LOTW trip is the end of August... can't wait! Pete

Thanks for all the input guys, appreciate it! Still not 100% decided, but most likely going to go with the Abu 7000. Not going to drop $500+ on a Tranx... just yet Pete

Firetiger, gold and silver have all produced well for me. I swap out the hooks though for slightly bigger gamakatsus. Peter

I assume the calcutta 700 has a trolling type casting bar like a tekota? I too am a big shimano fan. I can cast pretty well with my tekota. It would be handy if I could use it to pull cars out of ditches too (lol Roy) The Tranx sounds sweet too, but is pricey and I haven`t heard much about it. Anyone here used one yet? The price on the Abu 7000`s is good... and since this setup is pretty much just for casting those big inlines, I am leaning towards one. Had any durability issues with them Lew?

Looking for opinions on which muskie reel is best for casting and cranking in those big double cowgirls and other high-drag lures for long periods of time. I am considering adding another Calcutta TE 400 to my arsenal, but was wondering if anyone has any other suggestions. A few friends of mine use Abu Revos, Records and Winches, but they are all lefties so I haven't tried using them. I keep seeing Jim Saric use 'Avid' reels on the Musky Hunter, anyone have experience with these? Cranking power and durability are my main concerns. Pete ps Also wondering if there is a `power handle` option for Calcuttas?

If it was me I would just pick up a new unit... the newer trolling motor technology out there will have more power than than your 1988 unit and likely extend battery life too. Transom mount units are pretty inexpensive as well, you should be able to find a good 36lb unit for under $200. Pete

Hey Clive, welcome back! If you want to chase some esox or anything else that swims when you get here let me know, always a seat for you in my boat! Pete

Sweet fish bud!!! Congratulations on your 3rd 50 - Your bucktails look awesome too... making my own is on my to-do list for the near future. Pete

Air muskie... pic taken out of a video clip so not great quality

Very nice ski! I wanted to fish Tuesday, but saw 30-35k winds so am going tomorrow instead Oh, and happy birthday! Pete

Congrats on the skis! Let the addiction begin. I still remember how pumped I was getting my first one back in 2003 (35"). Pete

Saw it twice in one day last Sunday - my feeling is that is post-release stress related, as there were tons of boats fishing for skis near where I saw them. The first one, a mid 30's fish, surfaced for only a few seconds... the second was a bigger one and probably did this for a good 30 seconds or so before diving back down with a big tail splash. Pete

Incredible report as always Bunk. Very cool, and on my bucket list. Pete

Here's my best from this year so far, a nice 42" And my pal Patrick's 45.5" Can't wait to get out again!!!

The way I looked at it was this... I really didn't think I needed to learn anything about boating, since I have been driving one since I was 7 or 8 years old... yikes that is now 30 years of experience lol... but I took it seriously, studied the guide hard, and did very well on the test, I think I only got one wrong answer. I did learn a few things, and one day, one of those things might come into play out on the lake. My wife does not have her card yet, and wants me to get it done for her online - but I refuse. I really want her to read the guide and do the test herself as she does not have any on the water experience with a motorized craft. You get out of it what you want to... take it seriously and it can only be a good thing. The same goes for my 13 year old - if he wants to drive my boat, he has to do the test first, the right way. If everyone took the same approach, maybe there would be a few less of those jetskiiers whizzing 10 feet past the end of our dock on Rice while the kids swim there (one was nearly killed a few years back when he lost control...) To those parents who just do the test for their kids... Oh, and in response to the original question... I have been stopped 4 times, once they checked my safety gear, the rest they just asked how the fishing was. Never asked for my fishing licence or PCOC.

Nice report Andrew! Nice looking pickereyes.

Earlier this spring, I sat anchored on the Grand River, with a big slimy hunk of sucker bait cast out and waiting to be gobbled up by a monster catfish. March fishing often requires a winter jacket, or sometimes even a survival suit - but here I was, mid March, clad in shorts and a t-shirt. I think the temperature that day hit a balmy 32C, and I went home that day with a wonderful farmers tan. "This is awesome..." I thought, "Early spring... hmmm... bet the June muskie trip this year will be great!" 2011's June trip had been a really tough one. The water temperatures were in the low 50's, and on the day we arrived, there was virtually no weed growth to be found. 9 days of flogging the lake mercilessly led to a whopping total of 4 muskies landed - although my perennial piscatorial pal Patrick did land his personal best 48" ski on the second day of the trip. The weather was cold, windy and wet day after day. We actually debated postponing 2012's trip until later in June to see if it would be better. Thankfully, that delay was not required... and we hit the water opening morning ready to roll. This view was very easy to take as we left the dock every morning... Weedbeds were well formed and in their usual formations, and the water was a nice 62F. It took less than an hour before the first in-season slime of 2012 coated the cradle - and it was a tiger to boot! Not a big fish, but it broke the ice nicely. As the day went on, several more muskies were landed... and two were TINY. Was this dissapointing? Absolutely not. It is always a great sign to see small fish - it shows that the muskies in the lake are still reproducing succesfully, and co-existing with the pike population. Great news Most of the smaller fish were released at boatside, never leaving the water, but here's one example of a hungry lil' girl that made up for her lack of size with sheer aggression hitting a lure that she had NO business even looking at. Every so often, when our arms felt like lead, we would take a break from throwing big stuff, and chase some of the smaller member of the esox family - pike... and on most days they were more than happy to oblige us. I love seeing pike flash out of the heavy weeds and smash a slowly wobbling spoon in clear water... we even saw a good sized one sitting in a pod of lily pads, threw on a topwater and sure enough, she exploded on it first cast! No hammer handles to be found... virtually all fish were in the 28"-32" range, and well-fed. Some of them were overly ambitious and hit on lures as big as 10" Jakes! Pike were not the only species to attempt to bite off more than they could chew... on the same day, Patrick landed the two biggest bass of his life in 15' of water casting 8" DDD's! If anyone is offended by the OOS pics - sorry... look away A few of our usual walleye hotspots on the lake also produced, and we landed some nice gold on this trip. One evening, I had a 5 cast sequence that went like this... walleye, walleye, musky, nothing, musky follow! (We trolled that spot the next morning and nailed that ski btw...!) We did encounter some inclement weather during the week, but after getting caught in that same storm in 2011 that knocked a float plane from the sky into the bay that we had been fishing just minutes before, we were more cautious this time around. One afternoon, it was glass calm and sunny as we cast away... with dark clouds far on the horizon. All of a sudden, it felt like the temperature had dropped by 10C in a matter of seconds... we looked at each other and high-tailed it out of there... and good thing, as we sped down the lake, the wind and waves built incredibly fast, and we actually saw what appeared to be a mini-tornado form - it was sucking up water from the surface and lifting it close to 50 feet up! It lasted for about five minutes, then went up onto land. Not ten minutes later, as we unloaded the last of the gear into the cottage, a savage storm rolled through the area. Often after a storm, mother nature treats us with a great sunset... Oh yeah, this was a muskie fishing trip LOL! back to the matter at hand... there were 3 quality fish caught on this trip, and here they are... Patrick with a 40" Myself with a heavy 42" that demolished my lure as soon as it landed on the surface on a long cast And the best fish of the trip, a beautiful 45.5" that gave Pat the fight of his life We ended up with 16 muskies boated for the week, 14 naturals and 2 tigers... 25 pike, 11 walleye, too many bass of both species to count, and piles of panfish when we felt like just being silly from the dock. It was an excellent start to the 2012 season... hopefully the year of my 50. Oh yeah - the new equipment all worked great... from my home-made leaders to the Trojan tackle trolling tower. Hope you enjoyed reading as much as I enjoyed the making of this report. Tight lines all! Pete

Hi Boss, Sorry for the late reply - was fishing the past 8 days . The leaders I made held up perfectly this week, and were battle tested by a few big girls... I got the Seaguar and crimps at Tightlines in Pickering. The crimps are made by Scotty - and as Lew said, make sure you get the appropriate ones - there are tons of different sizes. I had the crimping tool already. Pete

Just came back from 8 days of ski hunting - ended up with 16 in the boat for the trip, along with many, many incidental catches of other species - some memorable. I will have a report up in a day or two. Overall it was a better trip than last year for numbers - and a few really nice ones... stay tuned ps On the lake that we fished, weed growth and water temps are a few weeks ahead of last years pace - summer patterns were already working for me...

We all hear the bad stories about poor customer service, so I thought I would share a good one that I just had with Plano molding (tackleboxes). I bought one of those Gulp alive storage units last fall, and recently broke one of the front latches (stepped on it). I emailed them telling them what I did, and if I could buy a replacement latch. They sent me not one, but three latches a few days later, no grief, no charge and no questions asked! (I guess they figured that if I was clumsy enough to break it once, that I would probably do it again and they would save on shipping LMAO!) A few years ago had a similar experience with them with one of my bigger tackleboxes - and they came thru on that one too.