solopaddler

Nice goin'! In under the wire before the cold snap hit. Seems winter is finally here now, time to give it a rest (as my wife breathes a huge sigh of relief. )

Hey Merry Christmas to you! Nice lookin' purchase and I see more fishin' in your future, both very good things.

Good for you John, some nice deals!

Right on man, beauty pike!

Cabelas Canada has them: https://www.cabelas.ca/index.cfm?pageID=71&...406&ID=4957

This is new years day and not April fools right? Sounds serious, I sure hope you're joking.

Congrat's! Let's see a pic of the little gaffer.

I dealt with them recently, ordered a bunch of Basstrix baits worth around $120. Amazing thing to me...I placed my order online and paid with paypal on a Monday and the baits arrived at my front door the next day on Tuesday. Just unreal. They were delivered by UPS and the total charge was $15.23. Not bad at all imo except for the fact the courier wouldn't allow me to pay with cash or credit card, only cheque. (New system with UPS that's being tried out in our area alone). Long winded reply but the bottom line I was impressed and wouldn't hesitate recommending these guys at all. Great service and the duty/taxes were minimal.

I just spent some BPS gift certificates myself on a Revo Toro 51-HS. It along with the larger Curado are low profile options for musky/pike. Did a lot of research before I bought it, it honestly seems smoother than the larger Curado.

How about tomorrow?

They were probably awestruck by your gloriousness.

With Dave (Drifter016) visiting from Yellowknife we were looking to beat the post Christmas blahs with some chrome. Long before he moved to the arctic we spent many a day together fishing for great lakes steelhead. It was a nice Christmas present to get reaquainted again and hit the road like we did in the old days. Joining us was BillM, his enthusiasm always welcome. Although the temperatures were quite mild (at least milder than the norm) it was a brief 2 hour period in the afternoon when the sun came out that turned the fish on. I enjoyed a nice little session down near the lake that saw me put a good dozen or so on the bank. Not bad at all for this time of year. Most all were caught on fresh skein, some kind of scruffy but many were very clean and surprisingly strong. All in all it was a great day. Very few other anglers were on the river, and enough fish came to hand to make it memorable. Funny thing, apparantly my rod has some serious mojo attached to it. Both Dave and Bill borrowed the magic stick and instantly caught fish. Billy actually caught 2 LOL! First Dave (Notice how he not only stole my rod and my fish but also my pose? ) These pic's of Billy were long distance shots as he hooked the 2 fish right at the 11th hour as we made our way back to the car. (That rod is powerful! ) Great day boys, looking forward to more of the same tomorrow.

Have you heard the expression "the inmates are running the asylum?"

River was open and very fishable on Sunday. We had a great day.

Man it looks comfortable out there on the ice. Great shots Wayne!

Right on Johnny! Glad to see you started your ice fishing season on a high.

If you have any questions you should pm BillM, he knows the diesel volkswagons inside and out. He's got one himself and does most of the work on it himself.

Some nice fish there, thanks for posting!

Fantastic pictures my friend. When you recap it like that it really hits home what a monumental year you had. Just outstanding!

I've put ice cubes right in the batter to chill it. Like Dave said, not too thick either. Fillets should be cold or at least cool as well. They'll absorb very little grease this way. As far as recipes go I've used the off the shelf Mcormicks tempura batter (I think that's what it was) and it was fine. Doesn't Gerrit have a batter recipe that everyone likes?

North of superior for brookies in May. Attawapiskat in June and August. New unnamed, virgin lake northeast of the Beteau lake camp in July (that's a tent/zodiac deal). The usual trips north to my own camp. Should be a good year.

Merry Christmas to you and yours as well!

Me too Garry, I really want to give the hollow bodied shad baits a serious go in 2010. Ironically I just got some of the Basstrix baits in the mail yesterday, merry Christmas to me.

That's great to hear Dan, merry Christmas!

If it's not legal then I'm in big trouble. (herring are my favourite though)