Fisherpete

6 to 7 lbs would be my guess. Nice fish!

While fishing up in New Liskeard a few years ago, I was bringing in a 1.5lb smallie on an ultralight rod when a huge pike (probably 15lbs) grabbed it at boatside. I fought both for almost a minute, before the pike let go. The sides of the smallie were a mess, his entrails were actually protruding from a few of the tears. It was the highlight of the trip! (not so much for Mr. Bass)

Got out to my favourite little pike lake yesterday, always good numbers there with a chance at some decent fish. My wife Cheryl came along, as did my bud Patrick. We had a decent day, fished for 9 solid hours under beatiful weather conditions. 10 pike landed for the day, all between 22" and 27", all released. (I caught 7, Patrick 2, Cheryl 1) We also had numerous follows and Cheryl had what was probably the best fish of the day on for a few seconds at boatside and then lost it (probably a low to mid 30's inch pike). Water temps ranged between 60F and 63F, weeds have not really come in at all yet. Spoons were the hot lure for the day. I was also extremely happy with the warranty repairs done on my boat by BPS thru Grumpy's Marine - the boat stayed bone dry all day, every rivet is perfect now. One "duh" for the day, I forgot my OFC tourney sign at home - sorry team Angler Management! No bigguns anyhow, I will try to get a 30"+ for us on the next trip there...

Here is the reason why she was fired. If she was not fired for this, another employee could give away food, and when caught, could refer to the fact that the first employee was not fired for the same offence. (Can you say labour board?) The same rules must be consistently applied to all employees, theft is theft, whether or not it is a 16 cent timbit or $20 from the register. Nobody likes to hear that someone (especially a mother of 4) lost a job over something so small, but in the workplace sometimes a clear message has to be sent about theft. That being said, I think it is silly that Tim's does not have some sort of policy in place where if a mother comes in with a crying baby, that if the employee first gets permission from the mother, they can give a timbit away. It is great PR, and you can create customers for life like this. The same goes for the dog example. Just have some sort of tracking system in place (it could be as simple as a piece of paper) to record any that are given away so management can account for them. I see that she has just been rehired... maybe they found the page in their training manual where it states the policy I just wrote about!!! LOL!!!

I was thinking of heading down to the islands on Sunday with my boat, but I seem to remember that you need some sort of Harbour licence? If so, where can these be had? Oh, and where can I check if I have been added to a team for the tourney?

Couldn't resist hahahahahahahahhahahaha OK, OK, here's the real guy, Milo.

Yeah, when I did the lower unit there were just small rubber O-rings on the two bolts, but I had bought some of those Honda nylon washers, so I put them on, with the small O-rings afterwards.

*PHEW* Good enough for Wayne, good enough for me! Thanks for the superfast response.

So I did my first oil change on my own today, and all went well, except for one thing... AFTER finishing, I noticed in the manual that the recommended oil weight for my motor is 5W30. The Honda Dealership gave me 10W30, this is what they gave me when I told them my motor model, and that is what I put in today... is this still OK? I know with cars you often put 10W in the summer, 5W in the winter. Grrr, hope I don't have to do it again... not a huge deal, but messy and annoying... Anyone know? I also changed the oil filter, 3 spark plugs, fuel filter and lower unit fluid (which still looked perfect). All went well, it just took me 5 times longer than it probably should have. Ready to fish!

Sweet... lucky #7!

I am a very happy camper today... Tracker has come thru and decided to do a warranty repair for me on my boat after all. (see my previous posts if you want the full story). They realized that backing the quality of their product is more important than following the fine print on one of their warranty transfer policies - good for them! It is in the shop right now at Grumpy's marine near Newmarket being re-riveted. By the way - if anyone alse is looking for boat repairs, be it aluminum or fibreglass - these guys are very down to earth, honest and straight forward. I can't comment on pricing - as mine is warranty Wayne - thanks again for your previous kind offer - you and many other members on this board are amazing people. While I am here - I will post a brief ice fishing report from a few weeks ago out of Keswick. (Sunday Jan. 27th)Four of us headed out and set up in 16-18ft of water off of Glenwoods Ave, and got into some great perch action. All in all, we landed almost 400 perch in 8 hours, with only one true jumbo for the day, but enough 7-9 inchers to have a decent fish fry that night. We kept around 60 or so. The other three guys were using minnows and doing well, I kept up to them using tiny spoons tipped with power maggots. Very nice day out there - virtually no wind - fished out in the open almost the whole time. Nice first day on the ice! Next trip will be to the laker and whitie grounds... looking to bag my first laker ever this year.

Hey all... some of you may remember the leaky rivet problems I have been having with my 16' Tracker, and the warranty transfer issues I was (and am) having. (Look at my old posts if you want the full details). Well. my boat is currently at Grumpy's Marine in Holland Landing (near Newmarket), being looked over and an estimate being sent out to Tracker. They still have not told me whether or not they will honor the warranty - I think they are waiting to see how much the repair of the defective rivets is going to be. But at least this is progress... hopefully some positive updates to follow... I would also like to let you all know about a GREAT customer experience I just had with Plano (tacklebox company). I own two model 7592's, and over the past 4 years of heavy use, on one of them I managed to crack the lid, and the front panel as well. I emailed Plano to find out if I could order some replacement parts for it. Their response : "The parts you have requested will be sent out to you at no cost." Well, the parts arrived today! No shipping charges or anything! Just goes to show - there are still some companies out there that will go that extra mile for their customers!

To have a reason to change the name of my boat, which is currently named Quest for 50"...

My affinity for Musky began at a VERY early age. I was minus two years old at the time.

Well, I am still in email limbo at the moment - I did hear back from a few of the Tracker execs that I sent my letter to, and it did sound encouraging - but nothing to tell as of yet. I'll keep you posted...

My letter has been emailed today to all the Tracker execs that Gerritt listed, I am leaving it up to them whether they want to bend the rules a bit, back the quality of their product and create a possible customer for life, or choose to uphold a fine-print policy and lose one (well, probably lots actually). Stay tuned...

Don't worry, I will not be doing the water fill demonstration in their parking lot any time soon, it's just not my style. I will be emailing all the execs on Monday and trying the more diplomatic approach. Here's the summary if anyone missed something along the way... I bought the boat, used and a little over 1 year old, in a private sale from a guy this May. He had the boat in his apartment building's underground parking, where it had been stored for the winter, so I did not have a chance to take the boat on the water for a leak test, my bad, but the boat-motor-trailer + ton of accesories was a really good deal regardless, so I still took it. I switched the boat's license to my name the next day and got my plates for the trailer. I was given the original bill of sale, and manufacturers statement of origin, but no warranty documents. I went to the Tracker website, looked up the specs on the boat, and saw that the boat has a 5 year riveted structural warranty. First time on the water, I notice some water in the bottom of the boat, but because I have some plywood & marine carpeted flat floors down, I wasn't too concerned, and actually thought that the water may have come over the transom in when I was reversing (it was choppy out). After a few more trips, and water getting in even on calm days, I began to think the boat may have a leak. It is now probably July or August. Some time in September, after coming home from a day on the lake, I decided to take the garden hose and put some water in the boat to see if there was a leak, and was shocked to see an entire row of rivets dripping away under the boat. Well, my thinking at this point is that I have dealt with the water all summer, I am not missing fall Muskie season, I might as well fish until closing and then bring the boat in to Tracker/BPS to see what they can do for me. Last week, I contacted Jill Salkeld (Tracker Rep at Vaughn BPS), and she asked me to bring in the boat, which I did. She took a few pictures of the boat, to email to Tracker, and informed me that I needed to switch over the warranty to my name. She gave me a number to call (Tracker US), which I did, and that is where the trouble began. This is where I was informed that there is a policy whereby there is only a 60 day window from date of purchase to transfer the warranty over to my name. I voiced my displeasure regarding the entire manner, and mentioned that in MY line of work, there are policies, but in order to keep a good customer happy (I told them how much I honestly spend at BPS), rules can be bent at times. They should stand behind the quality of their product, not the steadfastness of policy. She said she would speak to her supervisor and ask if he could do anything for me. He simply said no. As one of you mentioned, for them to save a few hundred on a relatively simple repair, how much potential $ could they now stand to lose from negative word of mouth? So, here we are. On Monday, the email will go out, and I hope that they will be able to help me out. I really do like the boat, apart from the indoor swimming pool LOL, and they still have the chance to turn this "ow" into a "wow", and maybe keep me (and maybe some of you) as a future customer. We shall see... if not, maybe I will be seeing what Wayne's shop looks like... To be continued...

Wow, you guys are amazing! Wayne - if Tracker does not come thru, I would love to take you up on your offer. I think most if not all the leaking rivets are accesible from the inside. First I will try to email some of the names of the Tracker execs that Gerritt posted, and see where it gets me. I did buy the boat used, in a private sale, not from BPS directly (It was just over a year old), and it WAS my mistake for not knowing to call and change the warranty over, but regardless, a well-taken care of boat that is two years old should NOT leak like a sieve. I do have ALL the original paperwork to prove when the boat was bought from them. Thanks to all of you for your input, I will keep you updated! This is the rough area where the rivets are leaking.

Well, after days of being passed from CSR to supervisor to another CSR etc, Tracker Marine has decided that they will not be honoring the 5 year warranty on my 2006 Tracker 16' Deep-V Guide riveted boat. There is an entire row of rivets from the front of the boat to the back that began leaking this summer, I never hit anything or did anything that would have caused this. I bought the boat (used) in May, and because I didn't call them within 60 days to transfer the warranty to a new name (I didn't know you had to do this), they now refuse to honour the warranty. Policy is policy I suppose, but in order to keep a good customer (ask my wife how much I spend there!) sometimes the rules should be bent a bit... I have to say, this is the first time that BPS/Tracker have let me down, they have been pretty amazing about anything else in the past. However, this does leave a VERY sour taste in my mouth and I will definately hestitate to look at a Tracker when the day comes that I will buy a bigger boat. I know a few of you on the board work at BPS here in Toronto (Vaughn), maybe you can help by speaking to someone? I doubt it will make a difference, but if you think it would, I would really appreciate it. You can message me here on the board if you need my full information for them. I was dealing with Jill Salkeld in the Tracker Marine Department. That being said, in the event that they do not help me out, I am looking for help... does anyone on the board know of a place that does this type of repair? Any idea what type of ballpark cost it might be to repair the rivets? I hear there are ways to fix it yourself, like to hold a mallet on one side, hammer the other, etc, but bottom line is I want it done right. Getting a 5 gallon pail of water in the bottom of the boat during a days fishing is a real pain in the butt. Thanks in advance for any and all help!

Well, in 2004 while walleye fishing my biggest muskie (45") was landed on the exact line you bought today, so I have to say it's pretty darn good LOL... I think that if you mostly fish walleye, bass & smaller pike, 8lb fireline will do you just fine. I have since switched to 30lb Power Pro for every day fishing, 50lb on my Muskie setups, I find it still casts very well, and I love having the extra strength to rip thru weeds, snags, etc. It still has a very thin diameter as well.

My 16' Tracker has been named QUEST FOR 50"...

Lose a few $10 lures on cheap line and you begin to see the value of the better stuff! I used 8 or 10lb Fireline for quite a while (and landed my biggest musky 45" on the 8lb with no leader), but once I got more into muskies and bassing in heavy cover, I switched to 30lb Powerpro (50 on the Musky only rods). You will break your rod, open the split rings or straighten your hooks before breaking this stuff on a snag. But as for lakes with Zebra mussels, it can slice thru your braid like nothing!!!!!

Hey Kevin! No, I never had a chance to build the deck yet. Wish I had, last time I was out by myself in the boat and the wind was high, it was not fun and very slow going due to the weight in the back issue. One of these days...

Not sure of the exact girth hee hee

Part 2 The next evening, we headed out to another spot that had produced some nice largemouth in the past. Sure enough, it was hot again... after a few decent fish, Curtis got a beauty 18.5" Largemouth, his first ever OFAH award fish. Paul followed with a nice 17.5". Soon after, Paul nailed a HARD fighting 18.5" Smallie! I then caught a nice 23" Walleye, but on the horizon, lightening lit up the sky, and it was time to call it a night. We set out the next day in 2 boats, with the ladies and kids tagging along for a fun little tourney. Our boat won 6-0 (heh heh)... the wifey put us on the board first up with a decent largemouth. Paul lost one a moment after. A few small ones later, I closed out the day and my vacation with a fat 18.5" that fought like a freight train, plowing deep into the weeds several times trying to shake my spinnerbait. OFAH award #3 for me! A great couple of days all in all, despite having quite a bit of rain and wind up there. Can't wait until next time!