Fisherpete

My fishfinder looked similar to that a bunch of times on Simcoe this winter... it was schools of herring, sometimes only 5' down in 100' of water!

Nice... I'll drop by on my way in to work. Thanks Raf!

Thanks Bly! I have truly enjoyed both the fishing and creation of this summer's reports! Greg's camera work was a bit shaky on these two, as was mine in the previous video, but I'm sure we will get some even better footage as time goes on. The boat was a mess when we got these two, rods, lures and bags everywhere... made it difficult to hang over the side and get the camera in deep for a good shot... I just checked the Acklands Grainger website... they do carry Knipex products but unfortunately I didn't see any bolt cutters listed... https://www.acklandsgrainger.com/AGIPortalWeb/WebSource/Main/globalSearch.do?%7BglobalApp.quickSearchSearchType%7D=&%7BglobalApp.quickSearchCriteria%7D=knipex

Where can I find a pair of Knipex in the GTA?

LOL thanks Henry... did you paint the hull with muskie attractant too? The boat has been great so far... loving it. Hey - one question for you, when I mounted the trolling motor I used a piece of 3/4 ply underneath as some additional support, but I still find the front triangle a bit flexy (not the cast part where the light is, but the aluminum sheet metal ledge behind it). Seen any modifications to beef this area up? I was thinking of some square aluminum tubing underneath, but am not sure how to mount/rivet it to the sides of the boat. I'll try to take some pics so you know what the heck I am talking about... here's the pic of the boat from the Legend website and the area I am talking about.

Nice ski! And WOW, that prop pic is crazy... I have always wondered what would happen if somebody hit a rock or shoal with a big outboard... now I know! Was there any damage to the boat? Growing up on Rice Lake, I heard many stories of boats tearing their transoms off on the sunken railroad tracks... never saw any to confirm though.

I have the CTC one, it is great for trailering and summer storage (I made a sloped wood frame underneath to eliminate any puddling when it rains). For winter storage, I would do what the other guys suggested - just buy a big tarp and tie it down. More waterproof and the snow slides off better...

My tackle purge worked out great for me! I sold off a ton of stuff that was just sitting around taking up space, and ended up using the money towards new toys. As a bonus, many of my sold lures have been catching people fish - like fishgreg's 43" musky!!! I say GO for it!

Yep, the cooler route is the easiest... BPS and many other tackle shops sell an aerator kit that you can get for cooler livewells. I had one before and it worked very well. It was around $35 if I can remember correctly.

Hey Greg - finally got those lures from my bro... and the bolt cutters. Ther lures look great - but don't know if the bolt cutters will be beefy enough to cut thru some of those thicker hooks...

Flexible work schedule and awesome wife = lots of fishing for me! It really has been a great summer so far... lots of time on the water.

I grabbed one (Fuji XP10) a few weeks ago on sale at F-Shop for $169. The regular price is $199. It has been great so far! Ryan - did you take out the memory card and battery? I am betting that the memory card will still work after it dries for a bit... you might still have your pics!

For most of July and August I fished one lake for musky, and did very well... but it was time to shake things up and head back to try one of my old favourites. Fishgreg met me at 5am, and we headed to the lake. When we got to the launch, I was amazed at just how clear the water was... you could see the bottom perfectly 10+ feet down! The other day at LeBaron when I grabbed the trolling motor and Tekota reel, I also picked up the same musky cradle (Frabill Pro-Tech 60") that I sold last month during my tackle purge... although I really like the huge Stowmaster, especially when fishing alone, with a partner the cradle makes releasing smaller skis faster as the hooks don't seem to get caught in the mesh at all, even when the fish rolls. We headed over to my first location and started fishing. The Tekota is one sweet trolling reel... and cranks in big baits, even at trolling speeds like they are nothing. About an hour later, Greg broke the ice with a musky that can only be described as "cute"! Hey - it was an overachiever (hit a 5oz bait), and also shows that musky are successfully reproducing. As small as that fish was, I would have been happy with one like it - because the next 8 hours of fishing produced nothing for either of us except for a few bass and panfish follows! But if you put in the time, things are bound to improve and around 5pm, the fish turned on. Greg had a huge follow, probably around a 43-45" fish, and shortly after, I went on a tear. I started out with a feisty 34". Five casts later, I caught another, a 33". Ten minutes later, my best largemouth bass of the season was in the boat at 18.5" and 3 to 3.5 lbs. Right after that, I got a 3lb smallmouth which after a great scrap shook off at boatside. Not one to be outdone, Greg then boated a bass of his own... tee hee heeeee.... can you really call this one a LARGEmouth? Sorry man, had to get that in there... All 4 of my fish came while casting, all on the same lure! Five minutes later, I had a huge follow of my own - but she took off before I could start a figure 8. We casted for another half hour, and then went on a trolling run back through the area we had just fished. Good idea! Just after we passed the area where Greg had his big follow, my lure got smashed by a beautiful fat 40". The Tekota performed beautifully. After a quick pic, and some underwater video, we resumed the troll... and my lure got hammered again less than 5 minutes later! Right after the hit, she LAUNCHED skyward, clearing the water by almost 4 feet! She jumped twice more during the scrap, to Greg's enjoyment... in his short musky fishing career he hadn't yet had the pleasure of seeing an aerial display... and she was certainly a skywalker. She was just as energetic at boatside - and was not very co-operative getting in the cradle - but we got her in. When she jumped (quite a ways out) she didn't look that big, and we figured her to be a low 30's fish, but she turned out to be a healthy 38"! We fished for another hour until dark and packed it in. Not a bad day at all - I felt bad for Greg as he fished his butt off with not much to show for it. If I he was a righty I would have gladly handed him the rod on one of the skis! I'm sure the fish gods will repay you next time bud! But remember, if you catch that 50" before I do, you have to swim back to the launch... Here is the underwater video of the 40" and 38" releases, I made it a much smaller video file this time, and did a bit of editing in Windows Movie Maker. Enjoy! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7WTVfYs5bes Almost forgot to mention that the Motorguide wireless 45 performed flawlessly... it has more than enough juice for my boat. I grabbed an Interstate deep cycle battery (180 mins RC) from BPS for $120 - and still had 3/4 power left at the end of the day despite running it for quite a long time. I seriously don't know how I did without a trolling motor before - it makes fishing structure and weedlines SOOOOOO much easier and more accurate!!!!

The only appropriate response is WOW. What a beast, can't get over the head on her. Ducklings? Buh-bye. Ducks? Buh-bye. Moose? OK, maybe not just yet...

Well, after lots of research and humming and hawing about dropping $1000 on a trolling motor, I decided to take the not-get-killed-by-the-wifey (cheaper) route and bought a Motorguide 45lb 54" shaft with wireless footpedal that I found on sale at LeBaron for $447. Last one they had... I would have loved to grab a Terrova 55, or even a Powerdrive V2 55 with iPilot, but I'm sure that Motorguide will do just fine on my boat. Has a 3 year warranty, and I am already familiar with it as it was the same model as on Al's old boat. Installed and ready to go! Next mission... find a deep cycle battery! Suggestions anyone? I had a Motomaster Nautilus before, and it was pretty decent... any suggestions? Need to pick it up tomorrow... OH - and while I was at LeBaron, what did I happen to see but a beautiful Tekota 500 trolling reel in the display... on 'super special' for $150! Yoink! I made a post a few weeks ago about finding an ideal trolling reel, and let me tell you, this puppy is sweet. Spooled her up tonight with 80lb PP... she's ready to rock some esox.

WOW now that is what I am talking about! Beauty, Rizzo! Your friend's 42 is also a great fish - makes some of the 42's I have caught lately look anorexic in comparison.

Great pictures and fish Mike! Those are some sweet buckets!

I called LeBaron and spoke to their sales rep who sells most of their trolling motors. He is 100% that the 70lb is indeed a 24V system. Guess who sold the trolling motor to Al, and insisted that it was 12V? The manager of that location! I called Al, who is currently up at G-Bay with his boat, and let him know not to use it... and BOY is he pleased. If anybody sees some fireworks above Markham early next week, you know what is going on!!! Back to the search for mine... no, I don't and won't use it for trolling at all, only for scooting around docks, weedbeds and other structure, and boat positioning. Hey, does anyone know if the Motorguide wireless series has that battery maximizing feature? I an guessing that any of the ones that have digital speed control basically accomplish that... There is also a used Minn Kota Riptide 55 bow mount for sale here in the classifieds... kind of intersting, bow mount but with a tiller style handle. I think I have seen this style before on saltwater boats for redfishing, tarpon, etc. What would the advantages/disadvantages be of this style? Made for people who just can't get the foot control thing down?

Funny, I had 2 of those long cast minnows, they were great on Rice for walleye. The bill broke off of both of them - looks exactly like the bill on the flat raps!

My buddy Al just picked up a trolling motor for his boat, he went for the Minn Kota Powerdrive V2 @ 70lb, with iPilot. Seems like a really nice unit. I was a bit shocked to hear that it can run on either 12 or 24 volt according to the guy at LeBaron who sold it to him. Have any of you heard of this? I looked at the Minn Kota site, and all the 70lb Powerdrive V2 models are listed as 24v. Al has hooked it up, and it does run... Would a 70lb not run a single battery down really quick? And on to me... I have permission from the wife to go out and buy one for my new boat, any suggestions of what to go for? My boat is a 16', and boat/motor/accesories weigh in at say 850 pounds or so. My initial thought is the Motorguide wireless 45 or 55, as I am pretty comfortable with using it, and the 45 is on sale for $447 at one place. Al's last boat had the 45, and it was a much heavier boat, and ran pretty well with it. I also love being able to put the foot pedal anywhere you like in the boat, and you can get the hand-held remote for it too. Any thoughts or suggestions? I am only going for a 12v system, I want to keep the boat balanced with not too much weight up front.

Johnny, the McChicken sauce only works on channel cats... muskies prefer Big Mac sauce by far. I do live fairly close to several of the Kawartha lakes guys, and do my own schedule at work... I also prefer weekday fishing anyway, and get out at least once a week. Lately the wifey has been really good to me, and I have been getting out even more! What more can I say, my name is Fisherpete and I have a muskie problem!

Fishgreg and I headed out to try another round of muskie fishing. The day started out slowly, no muskies for the first few hours, se we did a bit of bassing. Greg caught a decent smallie near a dock. We resumed muskie fishing, and it was slow. Greg had a hit, but she broke the surface and was off. Not a big fish, but enough to get us pumped up again. Around 1pm, the sky went black, and in the distance we saw a bolt of lightening strike the hills... so we packed up and headed towards the launch. Soon after, a cold wind hit us, and the lake whipped into whitecaps faster than I have ever seen. Then came the rain - so hard that it hurt! After what seemed like forever and soaked to the bone, we arrived at the ramp. I pulled the boat out, and we decided to wait it out a bit to see if it would clear. Ten minutes later, the storm broke, and clear sunny skies resumed! I had checked the forecast, there was supposed to be no rain... grrr.... Back to fishing. About an hour later, the first ski was landed by yours truly, around a 34 or so. Once again, the Disco Perch produced. Two hours later, I had my second of the day, another mid 30's fish. She was hooked perfectly - and I released her without using the net. Here you go folks, the lucky lure, aka DISCO PERCH has been unveiled - and is approved by disco Stu! Another three hours went by without a sniff... so we packed up and headed out. Pretty tough day overall, maybe the weather had something to do with it. Oh well, at least no skunkage! Sorry you didn't get one today Greg, you threw everything at them!

Heyyyyyyyyy!!!!!!!!! The price is one beeeeeelion dollars!

Great, thanks Dave!

Got a few interesting ones... bat muskrat anchor rope... with anchor at the end! t-shirt beer can clam fishing line with lures still attached (probably 10 times) rod & reel combo 10-12 pound lake trout carcass while ice fishing (somebody filleted it and dumped the rest down the hole in a rental hut! I didn't catch a fish all day, pulled that one up on a Williams spoon with half an hour to go before pickup, GRRRRR!) While ice fishing in 85ft, dropped my metal rod holder down the hole... and caught it 3 hours later and pulled it back up!