MrSimon

We are spending a lot of time this year at my cottage in upstate NY fishing the St. Lawrence, Black Lake, and some of the smaller rivers in the area. This September we are going to the Ottawa River up above Algonquin Park. We found a great little campground with nice cabins on the water. There is 60 miles of fishable water up and down river from the cabin. We'll be fishing out of my pontoon which should be a blast.

Every body of water is different and responds differently to a closed season. For example, the lake I fish in NY has a closed season (no C&R) until mid June. However, the bass population is still steadily declining due to over-harvest in the summer and fall. This particular lake would be way better off with C&R until June and then lower creel limits and slot limits the rest of the year. But lots of lakes in Ontario with a closed season don't have an over-harvest issue, and have excellent bass fishing .... so something must be working.

I posted some pics and did a little report a while back on our trip to Quantz Lake with Hearst Air, but here is the video. In short, Hearst Air is top notch and Quantz is filled with big pike and limitless eating size walleye. What could be better!?!?

Downfalls: Pumps are expensive to replace when they break. In really cold temps, you have to have an auxiliary heating system in addition to geothermal heat. Geothermal can't keep up if the temps get below 20ish (f) and then something else has to do the rest. Usually that means electric heat, which is very expensive. In cold climates, geothermal is not cost effective due to this. Benefits: Geothermal is an excellent and cost effective way to cool a house in the summer. It's a fairly simple system and the pumps and heat exchanger tend to last quite a bit longer than regular heat pumps or gas/oil furnaces.

Go talk to him. Don't write a letter, put up big fences, or install security cameras .... yet. Before getting too aggressive with the guy, try to understand him. Be friendly. Maybe even thank him for keeping an eye out. Invite him over for a beer. Heck, maybe you'll make a good friend. Just cause he's weird doesn't mean is a bad person. Once you figure him out a bit you can decide the best way to set boundaries. Or, if while trying that, you realize he actually is a danger to your family, then it's time to get aggressive.

If you are trying to decide between buying a gopro, or buying the Lily ..... get the gopro! It's sooooo much more versatile than a flying camera.

You can put me in the category of people who love pictures. I like to take lots of them and enjoy sharing them with my fishing buddies. Hate me if you want, but I even post them on forums like this one and *gasp* on Facebook. I find pictures a great way of capturing memories. I love to go back through old pics and reminisce about past trips. I also love to see pics of fish other people caught, which is why I LOVE the great trip reports that get posted on here. It's not about bragging or trying to impress anyone. It's about sharing a fun experience with like-minded people. This new rule is taking away a part of fishing that I really enjoy. Granted, I don't catch that many OOS fish, so it's really not that big of a deal, but it does irk me since, practically, the rule is useless for protecting the fishery.

There are lots of marine grade, fully enclosed speakers out there that you could use. Some are even wireless.

Can you send that letter over to the NY officials for me?

My cottage is on a NY lake impacted by these laws. I can tell you from personal experience that OVER-HARVEST is what hurts the bass population, not OOS fishing. And definitely not snapping photos of OOS fish that get released. If lawmakers truly cared about the fish population, they would implement slot limits and lower creel limits .... instead of worrying about people taking pictures of released fish.

When it's windy and I'm catching fish .... it's God's gift to anglers When it's windy and I'm not catching fish ..... it's and egg sucking sow

During bad streaks I try to tell myself how great it is to just be outside and I should be grateful for the opportunity. When that doesn't work (even though it should), I switch to an entirely different type of fishing. Different species, water body, technique, and even fishing partners. Sometimes you just need a change for a while.

That's why smartphones are so great! Pull it out of your pocket ... touch one button ... click ... back in the water. The entire process literally takes 5 seconds.

My cottage is in NY on a lake with these rules so I've been dealing with this for years. I'm a rule follower and do my best to avoid bass pre-season. But this no-pic thing takes it too far in my opinion. If I catch a nice chunky bass while pike fishing, I have no problem holding it for an extra 2 seconds while my buddy snaps a pic. It doesn't hurt the fish at all and we love having nice pictures from our trip. I understand It's breaking the rules and I could be fined .... but enough is enough. The rules on the lake I fish allow for anglers to sit at a river mouth a week after the walleye spawn and catch big fat females all day long - with no size restrictions and a generous creel limit. Facebook is filled with pics of dead 10 pounders every Spring. It's really hurting the walleye population in the lake and a few simple rule changes could make a HUGE difference. But, photographing a bass and releasing it unharmed before June 15th comes with a $250 fine. Seems backwards to me.

I think I will too .... $500 seems like a smoking good deal. Are you at all worried that they won't be delivered in February .... or that you'll never see your money again?

Definitely get it.

It's a fuzzy video. Are you guys shooting arrows back and forth at each other!? If so ...... that's awesome!

That. Is. Awesome. I've always thought drones were a great way to take video, but it's hard to control a drone while also landing a fish. This would be ridiculously awesome!!

I've had good luck with big disk sanders ... or even a small palm sander. Like the others guys said, it doesn't have to be perfect. Just knock down all the big ridges and smooth everything out.

We were curious about the pickerel as well. At first we wondered if they were actually pike with odd colors, but decided they look too much like a pickerel to be anything else. I read that pike and pickerel do breed ... so maybe these are hybrids? Either way, it's always fun to catch something you weren't expecting.

At Cabelas, they always ask me if I want to round up to the nearest dollar to help support conservation and youth education. I always say yes because those are two causes I believe in. However, I must admit I have no idea where the money actually goes and what impact it has on Cabelas taxes. I don't sweat it .... if it helps out Cabelas come tax time, I'm fine with that. They are one of the last large retailers to openly promote and support hunting and fishing. Someone said it earlier, but the I agree that the Salvation Army is an excellent place to donate. They push almost every penny donated downstream to the actual charities. Other organizations like Goodwill and United Way have MUCH lower ratios. I did a project on it in business school and it was sickening how much donated money never gets to the needy.

Awesome video!!! Jig ... jig ... jig ... SET. Watching that NEVER gets old.

This was our first pike opener on the River. In fact, we are pretty new to the River and are having a blast learning it. It's so big though that things can get overwhelming. We launched out of Cape Vincent and I was shocked to see 40'F water. We found some steep breaks leading up into what I figured were spawning flats. Only caught 1 fish. Then we moved into a shallow weedy bay and found temps in the mid 50s. It took a while, but we finally starting hitting them in the middle of the day. Just about everything came on a Mepps spinner. Nothing huge, but we had a blast catching them. We tried Eel Bay the next day and laid a goose egg. I don't know why, but oh well. I really look forward to learning the River better as time goes on. Finding walleye is the next challenge!

It was a bright sunny day on the St. Lawrence, which has absolutely crystal clear water. The camera was about 20' down. I suppose you could use the two cameras in tandem .... I might even try that. The GoPro is smaller than the Vexilar camera and might fit right on top of it. Interesting. I used regular ol coax that I found in the basement. I followed the YT video that Jon posted. After fiddling with the wire and connection locations, I was able to get it to work with acceptable results.

The video quality of the GoPro will blow the Vexilar out of the water. 1080p HD (or more) on the GoPro vs. 240p SD on the Vexilar. Where the Vexilar shines is it's ability to link with your smartphone for real-time viewing and recording - and it's simple and easy. Getting real-time viewing with the GoPro is possible, but it's a pain in the butt and is laggy. If I could only buy one camera, it would be the GoPro without a doubt. It can easily be mounted to a pole and used for underwater filming with great results - just without real-time viewing. The Vexilar is a great secondary camera with some neat tricks. It's especially useful for ice fishing and other static underwater viewing situations. The wifi transmitter is built into a little box that doubles as the cord holder for the Vexilar. You just push a little button and it creates a wifi hotspot that your phone connects to. It works great.