Beats

I had a similar experience here in London. Went to a local store to check one out and was told that not only did they not any but no store in London had any either. I had told my Dad that I was looking for a sled and that CT was having a sale on something they didn't even have. He drove past a local furniture shop and they had a bunch of kids toboggans out for sale. He made his way to a local landfill (Try Recycling) and someone had left 2 perfectly good toboggans leaned up for the taking. My dad scooped both and gave me the shorter one to see if it would work. It's the size that is divided into 4 equal size squares. It just happens that my white buckets for ice fishing fit perfectly between the cross strapping on the top of the toboggan and I towed it around on Virginia Beach for 7 hrs of fishing yesterday and nothing fell off. Held 2 buckets and a flasher just fine and weighs next to nothing. I'm going to attach some sidewall supports soon because any non flat terrain would just be asking for the gear to fall off as it is currently. Saved me $$ and it works just fine for my needs. I don't intend to sit on the sled or anything like that, just use it to pull, so for me I'm glad this worked out. I'll take some pics of it when I'm done working on it.

Hit Virginia Beach today with 2 friends and had a very poor day of fishing. There seemed to be 2 main groups of huts out there and we fished by both groups and points all over the place as well. Probably moved 4-5 times in 7 hrs and fished 8-12 ft of water. Didn't see much point in continuing to move since there was no sign of ppl catching much at any location. Dead quiet out there. Was seeing fish on the flasher at every hole but just couldn't get them to commit to the bite. Tried powerbait maggots, minnows, jigs/minnows, spoons, basically everything we had and in the end I managed 8 tiny perch in about 7 hours. Almost all coming from a pickerel rig. No matter where we moved to the fish caught were all about 7-8" long and too small to be kept. Seemed like the bite was just off today. A few ppl stopped and asked us how we were doing or yelled out from their huts and everyone said the same thing, that the fish being caught were all tiny and very, very scarce. Good day weather wise, still fun to be out. But 3 ppl and not a single keeper was disappointing to say the least. Got a license check from a CO just before leaving. Perhaps the highlight of the day

Went to pick up a sled last night at a local CT and was told that they didn't have any and that no London stores had any either.. OH well.

"I think we're gonna need a bigger auger"

Some ppl are so lucky that ppl with the knowlege and kindness to help them out are on hand. That's quite the system to get that quad out. Nice to see you got your first whitey after reading up on technique.

Cool post. Very original to say the least.

Nice haul. I've only ever used them frozen as bait. I have seen them on at least one menu at a local diner before. Do you just cut the heads off and cook them whole? I take it the bones are so tiny they "cook out" and aren't really noticed? I've always been curious as to how ppl prepare them. Can't tell from the pic, but do you slice their bellies open?

How far is too far?

Only thing I've lost down a hole was a few years back sitting in a hut on Simcoe I lost the little metal clip that comes on the OFC blue hand towels. Replaced it with a small mountain climber type clip. That's all I have lost but I remember my friend the year before that dropping his forceps down the hole and we watched them do a slow spiral the whole way down til they were out of site )

Cool video. The sm's aren't so tough when they are dwarfed in size by a random dude snorkeling with them.

Great post. I am awaiting my first auger to arrive and knowing I can sharpen the blades when the time comes is definitely going to save me some $.

I bought one Willaim's Whitefish lure a few years back and 1/2 of the middle hook broke off just in transporting the lure around in a case over the last few years. Seems to be cheaply made compared to the main treble.

Nice report. When you first said you caught herring and there was no limit, I thought, "uh oh".. but you obviously meant no open season.

Thanks for the help. Ordered the 6" Micro Fin-Bore from Lebarons.

Sent an email to livebaitandtackle.com asking what the differences are and the size comparison. Hopefully they reply.

Thanks a lot for the link. I'll be checking that out. EDIT: the 4.5 and 8" doesn't actually say "micro" just that it's new with a telescopic handle... wonder what the differences are?

THere's a few around. I looked at Angling Outfitter's (near Woodstock) which is the best (IMO) and didn't see one there... didn't try the smaller shops. I guess that's the obvious next step. Usually Angling Outfitters has anything you could want. SO when I didn't find one there, I just started thinking I was going to resort to online shopping.

Yeah, that was my first attempt. Tried 2 different stores in town and they had Normark augers but not the micro. THe online selection doesn't show the micro either...

HI, after talking to a few ppl here on OFC, I am leaning towards buying a Fin-Bore Micro 6" auger. I can't seem to find one in London and I have found them online with quite a range in price. First off, is there only 1 model of the Fin-Bore micro? I have only ever seen it as a 6", is there an 8" version? Also, sometimes it seems to be referred to as a Fin-Bore III micro but usually just a Fin-Bore micro.. is it all the same model? Lastly, anyone know a place to pick one up in the London area or, if not, where I could find a decent on-line deal that won't be a ton of cash for shipping? Thanks

Nice fish! Were you on foot? HOw far from shore do you have to go to hit a depth like that?

Just seems like one more unnecessary thing to lug around when ice fishing.

Great report. Your rod holder design looks pretty cool. I'm still waiting for more local ice before heading out for the first time this season.

Nice report. Those are some really bright perch there.

Try a spreader with minnows on a tip up and jig a spoon or something else with another rod.

WTG. Looks like a nice simple and effective setup.