ccmtcanada

Friday Jan 23rd I knew Gerritt's 3rd, 4th, 9th (whatever) annual trip to Bernie's cottage on Lake Nipissing was coming up soon, and I was looking forward to the report, but this year took a different turn for me! I got a frantic PM Thursday morning from Gerritt. There was a last minute cancellation, and I was asked if I'd like to join them!! After a few quick phone calls to him and home, it was all set...I got to head up north Friday morning for a weekend of some ice fishing! The plan was for me to meet up with Gerritt and his buddy, Terry, at Bass Pro Shops on the 400 at 1130am. They were right on time, and after buying some fishing licences we were on our way. Terry has never been ice fishing before, so we were all hoping he'd get into a few this weekend! We arrived in Powassan around 330 in the afternoon. I had never driven right onto the ice before...and neither had Terry, so I shot this quick video as we approached the boat launch. After being asked if he was nervous out on the ice in a truck Terry replies "How well does your truck float?" LOL. <embed width="448" height="361" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" src="http://i120.photobucket.com/player.swf?file=http://vid120.photobucket.com/albums/o185/ccmtcanada/Bernie%20Jan%202009/DSCN8821.flv"> We arrived at Bernie's and unpacked and quickly got out onto the ice to hopefully catch the walleye late afternoon/early evening bite. Bernie got right to work on drilling some holes for us. Then Terry was handed an auger as well...not quite as fast as Bernie's method!! LOL. A little while later, we're all chatting when a rod goes off!! Gerritt tells Terry to pick up the reel and here he is...fighting his first ever fish on the ice....he handles it like a pro. I shot a quick little video of this momentus occasion! <embed width="448" height="361" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" src="http://i120.photobucket.com/player.swf?file=http://vid120.photobucket.com/albums/o185/ccmtcanada/Bernie%20Jan%202009/DSCN8826.flv"> And the money shot.... As the sun was going down, Gerritt's rod goes off and he fights this nice walleye. Just as it peaked it's head through the hole, it gets off and makes off for freedom!! Gerritt yells out "Oh no you don't!!!" and sticks his arm down elbow deep into the frigid waters and brought it up...only to find out it was in the slot...so back down it went!!! I'd write what he said, but this is a family board.... We headed in to warm up a little after the winds kicked up and the snow started to fly! Had a great meal...hot chilli to warm us up and some drinks all around. Gerritt, being the OFC ultimate partier showed us his stuff by going to bed at 830pm.... Saturday Jan 24th We knew that a massive cold front was coming through, so after we woke up Gerritt headed to the weather station in Bernie's cottage. Holy mother of cold!!! It was -30.8C...-39.1C with the wind chill!!! After some cursing and about 6 layers of clothing later, we headed out into the arctic tundra!! Bernie decided to cut another hole...but no...augers are not good enough for him. He got right into with with a home made ice chisel and got to work!! Eventually we got all the lines setup and it was a watching and waiting game... I was still waiting for my first fish of the trip. I kept walking back and forth to my two lines I had down...and wouldn't you know it...just as I left one, that rod goes off and no one notices at first. Gerritt looks behind and only sees a little bit of my rod holder above the hole, so he takes off and my fishing rod is completely submerssed in the hole, so he once again puts his hands in the frigid Nipissing waters and gets it back for me. The fish was lost after a quick fight...not really his fault since the whole reel froze on him...lol. As it turned out, that reel would be destroyed...but that's another story.... Terry, who is now showing off and pissing us all off gets another pike!!! As the day wore on, exhaustion was taking it's toll on Bernie and Gerritt... A ice fishing cottage operator stopped by to ask how we were doing...we could see his bungalows off in the distance. He was impressed we caught what we did...as on Saturday not a single client had caught anything at all!!! We went back to the cottage mid afternoon to warm up and rest a bit before trying again just before it got dark. Terry, Gerritt and I headed back out around 330ish to try for more walleye, and Bernie stayed behind to cook up his famous venison stew!! More on that later... Bernie took this shot of us after we headed out... Alas...only one fish was caught...Gerritt's rod went off and another eater walleye came out of the hole!! We got back to the cottage...starving...and smelling Bernie's stew!! If it tasted half as good as it smelled then we were in for a huge treat tonight! Here's Bernie, wondering what he forgot... It's really great to get away like this...away from the hassles of work and home. You know the feeling...just getting out in the great country air...no worries at all. Here I am cruising the internet...and the other guys checking their Blackberries....LOL. Finally it was dinner...and I have to tell you, if you EVER get a chance to have Bernie's venison stew...it's worth the drive to Lake Nipissing to have just a taste! It was an incredible dinner...Gerritt gives the thumbs up! Tonight, Gerritt promises a party...so after a few games of euchre....he goes to bed. At least he made it til 10:15 tonight!!! Sunday Jan 25th I really wanted to catch a fish on this trip...any fish...didn't really care! I woke up early Sunday morning and decided to head out on my own, while everyone else snoozed in the cottage. I figured it would be easy...heck, it's only about 300 yards away!! I stumbled out on the ice into knee deep snow. About 50 yards in my leg muscles were on FIRE...jeez...I'm so out of shape. At that point I wished I ate something...anything...because I needed it! I had to stop 3 times on the way out there...and despite the -20C temps, I was sweating by the time I arrived. I got there just in time to see the sun poke over the horizon. With a view like this, a fish would be nice, but to be out there alone...with no sounds except the ice shifting and cracking around me was priceless. I quickly set up one rod...and before I had the tip up done, I could see some action! Maybe I'd get a fish!! As quickly as that happened, it stopped, so I continued setting up. It was another cold day...I was taking a drink of water when some spilled on me. When I looked down, I saw that before it even had a chance to roll off the fabric, it froze in place! Since I was catching no fish I wondered what the hell I was doing out there....then I remembered the sunrise shot. Terry and Gerritt showed up a little while later, and wouldn't you know it...that first setup starts going crazy, so I pick up the rod...set the hook and the fight is on....for about 10 seconds before I lost it!!! Bernie showed up with his ATV and plow...and decided to plow a path from the hut to his place. When he returned I politely yelled "You pick NOW to plow that path???" The bite had turned off big time, so we packed it in and left the cottage around noon. Next on our agenda was a trip to see Bernie's family boat building manufacturing line!! I've always wanted to see this since I first saw pictures of their boats...what an amazing place. I asked Bernie if things had changed at all in how they made these boats, and in his lifetime, nothing had changed...still built the same way...pretty cool if you ask me!! I snapped a few pictures.... Here's where all the cuts are made for the boats... A boat that has just left the mold...the mold is up in the air in this pic... A few work in progress shots...the craftsmanship is incredible! And a finished varnished boat... Well, sorry for the long rambling report...but it was such a great weekend, I wanted to do it justice! Thank you very much Bernie...you were a great host...had lots of laughs and many stories were told. Also, thanks to Terry...no matter what Gerritt says, I thought he was a pretty good guy! Finally...thanks to Gerritt for the last minute invite and for driving through snow squalls on the way home...hope we can get together again to fish again soon.

Lew....you should be able to scan them at a much higher resolution. That way when you print, they wont be blurry. Check your scanner settings....for mine there are multiple settings...for instance...100 is 100% of the original picture size. I can choose 200 (scan at twice the resolution), 300 (3 times the resolution) etc.... If you set it around 500 or higher, you should be able to print photo quality 5x7s or 8x10s if the resolution is high enough. We do this every year with our kids school pics. We order one 5x7...scan them at high resolution and then print all the 8x10s we want. If you need more help, just let me know...there are few things I can do. Either head to your place and show you...or remotely from my own computer if you have windows XP or later. I can even drop my scanner off at your place to use for a week if yours wont do it.

How about GPS coordinates???

I'm was just glad to hear that everything went well with the test Will!! Had I known way back when I offered the snow removal thing that we'd get the worst dumping of the winter, we may been "busy" this past weekend...LOL. I hear you too...this is a great community...we've had plenty of laughs both on and off the water thanks to this board!

Yep...like Drew said...like him or not, it's still history in the making. His legacy starts today...whether he does well in office doesn't matter today...today he delivered an amazing speech.

Take a day off? Nope. That's what live internet video streaming is for!!!

We called his place last night and talked to his better half... Great news: It all went great...no issues at all!!! He's at home recovering comfortably. Bad news: I told him if we got any snow this weekend I'd be over to shovel it....with 15cm coming today and tonight, guess what I'll be doing in the morning?? LOL. All worked out great...I'm sure he'll update himself when he's back online.

Seeing the kids' smiles is just priceless Mike! They sure looked like they were having a great time out there. The fish are just a bonus on a day like that! I'm suddenly hungry....gotta eat some lunch!

LOL...you can pay up at Lakair...

No problem...thanks for your reply!

The draft is complete...teams have been set up! Go to the tournament section or click the following link to get to the thread. Click here to see what team you are on! If you want into the tournament...it's not too late, you can join any time and I will put you on the next available team as quickly as possible. Be sure to read the rules before you sign up. Click here to read the tournament rules. Click here to join the tournament!

We'll miss you there Cliff!!!! We've only been there twice, but seeing you at the bbq was always something to look forward to for us. Carole will be in touch with Sue soon...hopefully we can come visit in the next few weeks!

Ahh ok...tried that with 3...and didn't work...just my luck! I'll go back now...Thanks Terry.

Just went to those links...they used to work...now they just go to the ontariofishing.net splash page...the messageboard posts are not there anymore....

Terry...you just beat me to it! I was going thru Gerritt's old posts...I remembered he posted that link a while ago.

WOW!!! Incredible pictures!!! they sure do warm the blood a little on these frigid days of January. Glad you found that pic posting tutorial helpful too!

Will...aka Fishnsled posted earlier this week about going in for an angiogram. Good luck today buddy!!! Hope they find all is clear! I'll call you this weekend...and don't forget to call us if you need anything. Don't even think about shovelling snow this weekend...no matter how little falls!

I've used this little tutorial a few times...hope it helps! First step...get a photobucket account and upload your pics. If your pictures are huge, it'll automatically resize them. A good size for the board is 800x600....you can choose this in Photobucket. From there you need to copy code...do this by clicking on IMG Code as seen in this picture... Once you've done that, you paste that into your report. When you start your post, you'll see the posting window. Simply paste into the spot you want to see the image...again here's a pic. If the pictures whosn above are too small, click on them...you should be able to read what's on the screen... Good luck!

Tell you what...bring me on your spring trip...and I'll stoke the fire every few hours...and I wont even ask to be paid...lol

Our tree just came down a few days ago. Would have been sooner, but we were out of town from Dec 27th until Jan 4th. When we got back we were all sick...so it took longer than usual!

You and me both!! You've been on a roll today Mike...LOL.

I surrender...

What I want to know is why can solopaddler use a net and Bly cant? I mean she is a girl... I gotta go...hope she doesn't read this thread....

Yes, please.

Ok...that explains it...I'll cut you some slack...today....