sleepjigging

Actually, kids have very good attention span. They just pay attention to everything. But they don't multitask. They concentrate on the task at hand. So if you subtract the distraction of the adult, they can actually do it all by themselves. The amazing thing is that she landed 2 lakers. That means she got the first one, EXTRACTED THE LURE/HOOK, then put the lure back down the hole. So she's not one of those princesses that are scared of touching the fishese. Jiggy

Hey MercMan, I saw that same shirt on you the other post when you were holding a fillet knife and a fat walleye, but no face. I recognized that blue shirt. jiggy.

I made my own adapter. Piece of steel rod about the same diameter as the shaft of the handle. used a grinder to make a hex shaped bit for the drill to grab. $0 and lots of fun learning metal work. Bought a DeWalt 18V drill. It's not XRP. It's not Lithium. The drill was for home reno, but gave myself the excuse to buy the best. Comes with 2 batteries. The 6" hand auger is from Crappy tire. It is the Nomak or something cheap ass one. $60 on sale. 3rd season. (had I known, I would have bought a better one.) I did sharpen the blade a little with fine sand paper. Just got back from Simcoe today. Ice as 5-6 inches by Minet's point. I get 10 holes per battery. Makes it much easier than by hand. About 1000x easier. I keep the battery in a thermos bag with warm water bottles. Now I have some confidence in Running and Gunning. I only found one herring today. There were no fish in all the other holes that I drained the 1st battery on. Out on Cook bay, ice being about 8-9 inches it was about 10 holes too. I go out with the auger handle just in case I run out of juice on the drill. I have been told by professional trades people that Lithium does not like the cold. Since I made my own adapter, I can say that I have 2 issues. 1. The diameter of my adapter is still too small to fit snugly in the hole. 2. It being too skinny, after I tighten the lock nut, it's off center. And I did not do a proper job on the chuck portion - which is not properly centered. So the auger has a wobble to it. I installed a 7" piece of wood below the lock nut, just incase the chuck lets go - and it has. I usually try to guide the shaft with one hand, and caught the falling auger. Lastly, the handle acts as an extension, if you need to drill deep holes. The adapter will only drill until you run out of auger - and almost submerge the drill. About 16" thick ice is all it can handle. I love my drill/adapter/auger setup. Jiggy

No. It's a ridiculously wet and messy affair. The final hole will only be 1-2 inches wide. Personal experience. Jiggy

Nice going. Any concerns of water on the floor rotting the plywood? Jiggy

That's a good Dad.

Dad? Can we go ice fishing? My son has just finished his set of exams and is off for the day. I took a day off work. How often are you going to have a teenager ask you if we can go fishing. He'll be busy enough in a few years with work and life and I'll never get a chance like this. Temperature overnight : -1. Today +7 and a bit of SUN. Could not be better. There were lots of cars by Gilford by 9:30am. Went left, 23-25FOW. Plastic minnows until after lunch. Wind picked up. (forecasted for 30km/h). I actually brought out a tarp, and a stick to make a wind break. I drilled into the ice using 2.5" SCREWS as ice anchors. That's not long enough. We had to repair the anchors every hour due to the softening ice. My DeWalt 18V drill + homemade auger adapter made it easy to carve a few holes. We had noodles and soup on the little butane burner. Lunch was so wonderfully warm. You can only appreciate these little wonderful moments if you are starving from being outside in the wind on ice all morning I was annoyed that the bite was so slow. A front did go through last night dumping 4 inches of snow everywhere. So I tried a PERCH EYE. It was non-stop action from there on. The perch love EYES. Couldn't get the lure to the bottom before it's fish on. We must have cleaned out all the dinks out from under our holes. All 70 of them. I though that if you work through the dinks, you would fine a few keepers. Well I don't think we worked hard enough, because only 1 fish showed up that I would consider a keeper. But it would take too much work to move our little camp so we stayed. Packed it up at sunset. Then I treated him to some veggie burgers at Harvey's. Only after we came home then he realized that we had been vegetarians all day. Spending the day with teenage son: PRICELESS Jiggy

I like to set the hook as soon as I feel a tap. People have written that fish might not swallow immediately, wait for it to chew, swallow then set the hook. When I use LIVE minnows, I hate the fish stealing my minnow, so I set the hook immediately. When I use plastic minnows, I don't mind waiting. BUT, can perch tell? If it tastes like chewing gum, will they spit it out? Jiggy

What do you do if you are using plastic minnows? The perch can tell that It's not real and spit it out.

Lived in Boston for 10 years. Only need the Pats to be up by 1 point when time expires! Jiggy

I tried my brother's panfish ice rod. Too soft. Lost fish due to the lack of hookset. And when I really yank on it, he goes "easy does it." I think a short rod is good, but for panfish I wonder if a very hard rod is good. However, I would want to be able use the same rod in a shack for whities. What kind of rod is a good compromise? Just saw the other thread http://ontariofishingcommunity.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=59905&st=0 Jiggy

I got a family membership to the Ontario Science Center (OSC). Then I visited Science North for free - the membership works up there too. I go to the Science Center about 10 times a year. (I get the gold membership - free parking and free IMAX movies at the science center.) Science North only gives you free admission with the membership to the OSC, (parking and IMAX is extra.) IMAX movies travel around so you can catch the movies at the OSC. The membership also got us into the science center in Montreal. Science North is beautiful. It sits on top of a great rock, right on a fault line. The kids loved the butterly place. There are some awesome demonstrations. We went there 2 consecutive days and saw a demo on "Dancing Fire" and "Bats". There is a computer lab on the top floor - and the kids will love the games loaded on the computers. There is a big pile of Lego to play with. My personal favorite was the "globe" on the first floor that animated the world's weather and volcanic activity (that might have been part of a traveling exhibit.) Jiggy

Hammer, were you fishing near Hamilton? I didn't see much "winter" in your pictures. Awesome haul. Are you sure you were not catching the same fish 10x. Jiggy

I think the foam insulation looked better than OSB. We should all contribute Sunshine Girl posters to help with the wall paper. Even my wife has started to read your epic thread. She said 2 things that I found funny. 1. That's something my dad would build. -- real high praise. Her old man is a construction worker. 2. She's looking forward to reading about "the maiden voyage of the Titanic." Jiggy

This has turned out to be the MUST READ THREAD. Thanks. Can't wait to see what the Old Man has done while you're at work. Jiggy

I am by Yorkdale in TO. Cooks bay is starting to skim over. I am happy to go when there's 6 inches. Happy New Year! Jiggy

Racoons chewed up the seats in a boat in my backyard in Toronto.

Every time I see "Dryden, ON" the reports are fabulous. Loaded with fish. Make me want to move up there. Thanks. Envious.

I am envious. I am usually fishing bass/walleye/pike, so a Big Beautiful Trout like that is awesome. So, I wish to learn: What is a big streamer? Is it like a fly? And the brown trout is a stream only fish right? It's not migrating for the spawn? Thanks, Jiggy

I have started just started to move into lures from worms and minnows this year. Fact is: worms and minnows will always catch something. However, if you watch a school of fish go after a little worm, it's the small aggressive sunfish that rushes in and swallows it first. I have realized that to catch something bigger, it's better to give them something that the little fishies can't eat. I used to catch lots of sunfish and rockbass using live bait. Now I use an artificial frog (kicker frog - about 5" long). The bigger fish love it - bass and pike. Secondly, what ever you use, it helps to have fish in the water. Your best bait will catch nothing in your toilet. Jiggy

My family is reading your post and are in a heated debate as to whether you grew that in a weekend? Very original. It's a work of art. Jiggy

Update: Conditions at Fenelon Falls: 500m above falls - ice free. Rest of lake - thin ice where I tested. All of lake is cover in white ice. Wind from the west and bone chilling cold. Washed my lures in the beautiful sun. Awesome. Below falls - ice free. Sign says fish santuary until May 21. Locks still frozen. There is a restaurant sitting right next to the falls. It will open April 1st. I will go back just to enjoy lunch by the falls. SJ

Conditions at Fenelon Falls: 500m above falls - ice free. Rest of lake - thin ice where I tested. All of lake is cover in white ice. Wind from the west and bone chilling cold. Washed my lures in the beautiful sun. Awesome. Below falls - ice free. Sign says fish santuary until May 21. Locks still frozen. There is a restaurant sitting right next to the falls. It will open April 1st. I will go back just to enjoy lunch by the falls. SJ original post: Hi will be at Fenelon Falls, ON on Saturday all day. Wonder if it is possible to fish that area? Is there still ice? Open water? I know that below the falls (for 1km) is a fish santuary until May. Anyone going out? Thanks in advance.

Don't forget some Montreal style bagels: St Viateur or Fairmount 263, Rue Saint-Viateur Ouest, Montreal 74, avenue Fairmount Ouest, Montreal Got to see both of them in action as they baked them with those long planks.

Were those bear tracks or something on the wooden path? They were awfully big and did not stay on the track as a human would. Jiggy