wormdunker

Congratulations to you & your beautiful bride. We just celebrated 44 years in August. I was working in Kashechewan on our anniversary date, so when I returned we enjoyed a feast of Prime rib, 10 oz lobster tails & jumbo shrimp! Woo Hoo!

Fisherman's Grizz at $153.00 per year sounds like a very good price including fire & theft. In 2012 I had a brand new Polaris Sportsman 500. My insurance cost was $29.00 per month with TD Canada Trust insurance. I was covered for PL/PD, fire, theft & collision. I'm not sure if I was covered while travelling on a frozen lake. The amount of deductible will also play a big part in your premium.

I also wear Icebreaker merino wool long johns & long sleeved undershirts. They are very warm, cozy & nice fitting. I hardly know I have them on. They are also odor free after wearing them several times. Also if wool gets wet, it is still keeps you warm. I'm 5' 11", 200 lbs. I wear XL.

My sympathy to you & your family. Also the family members of the innocent victims. You have had a bad luck streak going. How's your knee rehab going?

I haven't been around much lately due to working in a remote area in Ontario, My work experience took me to a native reserve named Kashechewan a 1 hour flight north of Timmins. I received a phone call in mid August to hoist modular homes on a rez. I was very interested in the offer due to the remote location & I have never been that far north. I left Niagara area August 14, returned home yesterday. The job was to demolish 30 homes that were inadequate housing due to flooding of the Albany River & build 52 new homes for the natives. Working directly with the native folks was awesome. I've learned a lot about their culture, their habits & of course the fishing & hunting opportunities in such a vast wilderness. The modular homes are fabricated in New Brunswick by a company called Maple Leaf Homes. They are transported to a rez on the east side of James Bay called Wemindji. In Wemindji they are loaded onto a barge which then sails west into James Bay. Another barge from Kashechewan (our job site) sails east to meet the barge from Wemindji. They exchange an empty barge for the one loaded with houses, then they head back to Kashechewan. The houses are then transported to a location near my crane, I hoist them onto their new foundation. There are 52 new houses being constructed at the site. We have 29 homes in place, & 23 left to complete the project. I'm home for a week, scheduled to return this coming week end. I'm happy to report that 93% of the work force are all natives. They have many talents, such as quality carpenters, plumbers, electricians & labourers. Kashechewan houses 2,600 people with a rather large grocery store. A 24 case of water sells for $37.00 (yes thirty seven!!), a 900 g can of Maxwell house is $23.00, dozen eggs $6.00. Luckily I'm in a camp which provides all of our food. Presently the natives are moose hunting. They travel 40 kms down the river to an area which has a rather large moose population. 1 fellow was kind enough to bring into the camp a large tray of moose meat stew with potatoes, onions, & peppers which was very tasty. Fishing is very good with large quantities of pike, whitefish & pickerel near by. They have an indoor arena, church, medical clinic, community centre & their own police force. They also have an elementary school & a secondary school which has 200 students. I'll be flying back to Kash Saturday to complete the project before I return home for Christmas. Hopefully we finish the project before winter hits, as I'm told temps can reach -60 in January!

Very nice report, Thanx for sharing the pix. Looks like an awesome spot to fish.

You guys got too much time on your hands! LOL! I love it.

Welcome to the zoo! You'll have fun here. Be careful reading stuff from Old Ironmaker. He is different!

Welcome to the board, lottsa good people here willing to share info. Don't pay attention to Old Ironmaker - he is different! LOL!

Not a good day Rick. I'm sure it will get better. Keep your chin up!

Im sorry to read you are giving up fishing. Only you know the decisions you must make. Have fun on the east coast. Send us some pix. Myself - I can't imagine giving up fishing! I've been fishing since about 5 years of age & have no plans of giving up yet. Matter of fact I'll be heading to Horwood Lake in 10 days after my 21 day work schedule at Kashechewan reserve north of Moosonee.

Hey Chad I'm insured with Cooperators. Great service & the annual premium is fair. I did have to get a WETT cerification about 10 yeaqrs ago which cost me $100 at that time. My stove & installation was approved with out fault. My premium is $82.00 per month which also includes my boat which has a value of $10,000.00

I have the ram mount on my 14' Lund with a Humminbird 798. Solid as a rock & versatile for moving to different positions.

AWesome Mr. Bunk! THat is a beautifuk fish!

Sorry to read the bad news Rick. I hope you recover soon. ive been out of touch with OFC working long hours on a rez north of Moosonee. NO cell service, internet only if I,m in the dining room. 1 land line that I share with 15 co workers. Get well soon!

Very sad news John. In regard to the 39 year old man at Maitland, I do believe he launched out of Crystal Beach. He was trolling & the reports say he fell overboard but did not have the kill switch tether attached to himself. Since reading that report I ensure my tether is attached. I have always worn my PFD at all times in the past 10 years. Now, when are we going fishing? Monday wind conditions look favorable & the air temps are lower than the past few weeks.

Go to batterystuff.com they have very good info about batteries, chargers & how to maintain them properly. I purchased one of their chargers which also goes through a desulfation process as it is charging. I have an Interstate & a Nautilus which are 4 years old. They are still running strong. I recently returned from a northern Ontario trip & I was getting 12 hours trolling time out of each battery. Yes I use my 55 lb MinnKota on my 14' Lund for trolling for extended periods of time.

Nice pix Rick! Thanx for sharing. It's been too hot hear to even think of heading out onto Erie. Lilly is certainly a little sweetie.

Minn Kota has a small battery gage which I have used to determine how much charge is left in the battery. Cheap, about $20. if I remember correctly. Also my Minn Kota 55lb thrust has a built in gage right on the motor.

Agreed Mitch. It is an awesome area to explore, lottsa lakes & beautiful scenery! I wish I knew the area better, I'm sure there is some awesome angling opportunities. I trailered my boat down Twin Lakes road about 5 kms to the Y at the snowmobile trail. At that point I was able to turn around. Good thing I did cause the trail gets very narrow & I didn't want to have scratches on my truck. I met 3 guys on atvs who had travelled another 7 kms to get some nice walleye. Foleyet is a nice little town, Red Pine is a very nice trailer park but he was booked solid. I will definitely be going back to that area in the future. It would be gorgeous in the fall!

Phelps is a porpoise! He has more medals than 170 countries!

Lottsa god ideas here! Thanx guys.

Well at least 2 guys missed me! LOL! I left Fonthill last Wednesday heading to Duke Lake & a couple different lakes for 6 days of camping & fishing. After setting up camp I was on the water at 3:00. Wow! I had a line in only 3 minutes, fish on! A small walleye. 2 minutes later a nice chunky 24". I released both feeling there was lots to land. Then a nice 16", the next 5 were only 10 -12". That's 8 & 1 small pike in only 1 1/2 hours! They were on fire! I then headed back to camp to gather firewood for the evening campfire, made dinner, then headed back out on the lake to find dinner. 5 more smaller walleye that were all released. Sorry no fish pix. I camped at Duke for 2 nights then headed to Ivanhoe Lake Provincial Park (west of Foleyet) for 2 nights. It was a bust, too windy to launch my boat, so I just hung out with neighboring campers & enjoyed a few cold pops. Very interesting people I met with & absolutely beautiful park with washrooms, hot showers & gorgeous scenery. Sunday morning I packed up & headed a little further south to Mattagami Lake. I found a nice little camp ground & set up camp for 2 more nights. I fished the north end of Mattagami to find only smaller walleye. I feel the hot weather & warm water temps at 82F were responsible for the slow fishing/ or lack of good sized eaters. I landed 6 smaller walleye in 1 1/2 days of fishing. I fished Monday from 7 am until 12 noon. At this point I had only landed 1 10" walleye. Man it was so hot I decided to break camp & head for home. I left Mattagami at 2 PM, arrived home @ 10PM. Long day! I feel the big ones have departed for deeper water & I couldn't find them. Well there's always next year. I'll definitely wait for cooler weather, I'm sure the big ones will be more plentiful.

Nice video! Thanx. Lottsa fish pix which is what I like.

Welcome to the zoo! You'll have fun here. Lottsa info to be shared.