rhymobot

Hi. Each of those lakes are 55 to 65 minutes from me. I've only fished them as late as early August. I know the weeds are bad then. But can someone tell me from experience if around this time of the year they have died down to May or June levels? I fish a small lake 45 minutes north of Barrie when I'm at the cottage and the past two Septembers the beautiful healthy looking weeds that hold so many bass in this 10 foot lake basically collapsed by mid Sept. Like right to the bottom. Not all the weed beds but I'd say most of them. So I'm wondering what the above mentioned lakes might look like before I make the drive and pay to launch my inflatable. Thanks for any tips.

So I ended up going in mid Sept. I wanted to see the Huron side of Ontario so Thursday I drove to Kincardine, Southhampton, then Sauble. Then I launched on the Sauble river and trolled for a couple hours all the way up to the falls, where I got off and walked around in. Very weedy at this of the year. Didn't get anything but saw tonnes of trout minnows. But that's okay, I do like exploring rivers. When I was at the mouths of rivers in Kincardine and Southampton I so wanted to take a boat up them. I have an attraction to rivers for some reason. They are all different from one another while lakes can pretty much look the same. I decided on a river because when I go to a lake, I want to spend 6 hours. Well my gf wouldn't have any of that. Spent the night in Wiarton and went to Flowerpot and the Grotto the next day. Was nice out and being on a weekday after summer made it way more enjoyable without all the people. Some beautiful sights for sure. After that drove on the Gbay route from Owen Sound to Tiny, which is where the cottage is. Spent the next two nights there. And since I had a rental I decided to drive up the 400 into Muskoka and find somewhere off the beaten path to launch. Gibson river launch just off the 400 was gated off. So went to Go Home Lake instead. Landed three pike. Two on the small side and one decent. Actually hit my wacky rig.

Hi. I've never actually been to Wasaga but I've been doing a lot of reading. The river has no decent public launch for a proper boat. But I have an inflatable with a trolling motor. I see there is a town launch across from the beer store, but that is RIGHT in town. So I'm afraid of having to deal with the wakes of speeding boats and jet skis. And this would be on a Saturday. Do you know if there are any hand launches on the Notty just outside the busy parts of the river? Somewhere that you can set up right next to the launch so I don't have to carry a battery and a bunch of gear a mile to the river? I like to fish for bass and pike. I saw Jack's Lake and it's accessible from the sports park, but judging by pics and the lack of rain the last few weeks, I have a feeling the trek from the launch to the lake won't be good for my rig. Too low I would imagine. Don't mind a PM if that would be better. Thanks for any tips.

Yup. I always would go catch a few suckers in April to scratch the fishing itch before pike and bass open. Maybe catch the occasional bow that wandered into the sucker pool. But rain/flood also ruined that at my "go to" spots as they were never clear.

Technically was flooded here as in the parks and parking lots near the mouth were under water and closed off. TO Islands had carp swimming on the baseball diamonds and did not open to ferry service until July 31st. But certainly not devastating like Houston or even close to what QC was dealing with. Though all the business owners on the islands got screwed. The other places I'm fishing are normal levels. Probably due to them being reservoirs. The one small lake I regularly fish up north, which is a real lake, had high water but I was still catching bass as normal. For these places other than the tribs, wind was def. the problem for me. Wind not a problem on tribs surrounded by trees, so anytime it was too windy for my craft, river was the "go to" spot, but not this year.

I have fished four different tribs from time to time over the years by inflatable. Almost exclusively trolling. The closest one to me I will usually go about 8 times a year. I never once got skunked two times in a row... until this summer. I usually wouldn't get more than three pike or 1+lb smallies in one outing. But when I did they were usually between 24 to 28" pike or SMBs over a pound. PBs there are 33" and a 3 pounder. I have been on that river 40+ times. Last year starting in the first week of Sept., I had 8 pike on and landed 6 in one outing. That was great action for under 3 hours of trolling. So I went back next day and landed 4. But then I went to Montreal for 6 days. When I came back, the action continued. Basically, 6 days in row I had steady pike action. Seems like they were stacked up in there for a good period of time. No idea why. I had never experienced that before on a local river. Then it died down around Sept. 20th. I went this year on opener and of course it was so flooded that no yachts or pleasure crafts were docked in their slips because they were all under water. It was like this half the summer. I got nothing on that day. Went back two weeks later and again nothing. Went back late July with three of us. Got two SMBs under a pound. Went Aug. 18th and between the two of us nothing. So it seems like to me that fish enter the river from the big lake when the river is at a certain temp? Maybe they sense water level too. Regardless, did the high water cool the water temp? Did that irregular water temp in the spring stop them from coming up the river at all this year in big numbers? I'm talking about pike and smallies of course. I've only gone to that one river this summer and not tried the other two as they are farther and harder to launch at. Don't want to waste the time and effort. Instead I've gone to a reservoir 45 minute drive away 8 times this year and have had decent success, but not the "on fire" fishing of the close by river like last year. Anyone else had their fishing affected by floods on the river?

Turns out I'm not going. Maybe Sept. after the busy season. The two main attractions are the boat trip to Flowerpot Island and visiting the Grotto at the park. But they only allow 3 time slots during the day of 4 hours each for 150 cars per slot. And in the summer you can show up at 6am on a first come first serve basis and still get shutout for the day. Even on weekdays. So I'm cancelling for now as I don't want to drive 3.5 hours only to be disappointed. Regarding the lakes, I guess I will pass on Cyprus. There's tonnes of small inland lakes as seen on google maps. I will have to do some more research to decide on which to fish. Definitely a lot of nice sights to see up there on that peninsula. The problem is that I don't camp and I don't have the money to stay multiple nights in $140 hotels. If I did I could easily spend a week checking out the Huron and Gbay sides and a short trip to Manitoulin. No doubt it would be tiring cramming so much into one day. But I got my training 1.5 years ago exploring Colorado, Utah, Arizona and New Mexico in two weeks. Stayed in decent hotels the whole time. Hence the lack of funds for this trip!

Hi. I am going up to Tobermory for less than a day on a Friday. I'm arriving probably around 11am. I just quickly want to see the Grotto and maybe take the boat to check out Flower Pot Island and come back to do a little more walking around. I will have maybe 3 hours to fish in my inflatable with trolling motor before I go spend the night in a hotel in Owen Sound. Next day I drive east to the other side of G-Bay to a cottage. I like fishing for largies and pike. But from a little bit of reading it sounds like Cameron or Cyprus (can't remember which one) is not a good place for this. It has smallies, but in my limited time it might not be worth it trying to locate them on this lake. I see there are some smaller lakes in the park, but are they accessible? Is the parking next to the launch? Got a lot of gear for my rig. Any advice on which lake to try for only three hours of fishing would be appreciated. Thanks.

Yup. It has been windy all year long. In the winter and spring had to keep drilling the latch on my fence door back into place after coming home to a broken one. Finally replaced with a bigger and better one and put in a new spot. Been out in the dinghy on small lakes about 10 times this year and only one day was it calm. Not surprisingly, it was my best day for catching. And I literally have not caught a single fish in the choppy areas of the lakes. Just in the calmer areas sheltered by the treeline. Was on Buckhorn this weekend in a big bay but the wind felt like it was coming from three directions. I just couldn't win. My rig is too small to go out to the better places of Buckhorn.

Hi. I use an 11 foot inflatable with a 32lb thrust trolling motor. I fish from it probably 35 times a year. Out of that, I troll the river about a dozen of those times after work. Meaning, I will throw a lure out and go up and down the local river at 4 or 5 speed for 1.5 to 2 hours of actual trolling time. So my four year old battery has been discharged several times the past couple summers. It's time for a new one. CT doesn't carry the same battery I had anymore, but I think this is the closest one. I think I spent like $220 the last time: MotoMaster Nautilus Group 4D Deep Cycle Battery http://www.canadiantire.ca/en/pdp/motomaster-nautilus-group-4d-deep-cycle-battery-0103028p.html#srp So I need one that will last a long time, but doesn't weigh over a hundred pounds. As for my charger, I had that blue Nautilus one from CT that retails at $100. I bought it half price. First one died just after two years. Got it replaced under warranty and that one died after three years. It won't turn on at all now. Need a new one unless you think it's just some little blown fuse inside or something I could fix myself? I'd rather have a reliable charger. The one I had has many negative reviews on CT. Any recommendations? What about West Marine? I work very close to one. I'm in Oakville. Thanks for the suggestions.

I have a 32lb motor and run it at 5 speed usually and occasionally at 4. Anything under that is a snail's pace for trolling. But ya, I tried it at all speeds out of curiosity and all kinds of retrieval speeds when casting.

by the way, i also bought 3 of the lipless cranks from the same maker and since last summer they caught me several bass. two of them were lost to a snag and a pike while bass fishing while the third i still have and it was my 2nd most productive lure this year. probably landed at least 10 pike and a couple smallies. i have the red one now. the others were a white one and a green and white one. they make various other hard baits and i wouldn't mind trying some of the other variety but first i want these two new ones to be sorted out. the lipless cranks have all worked fine and i'd like to replace the ones i lost but haven't seen them in store yet. next time i pass by different tackle shops i will stop in and have a look.

this is where i got the latest one. at $6.99. which is a good price for one that works properly.

all i know is that i've only seen them selling for 7, 8, and $9. and the beat up one i found and has landed well over 40 pike. nothing over 30" though as I am typically fishing near the city. also gotten a few 2 to 3 lb SMB and LMB. still going strong but hooks have all been replaced and they will need to be again as 2 of the 9 shanks are missing and a 3rd's barb is worn off.

i've looked and looked at still can't tell the difference. if anything, the lip on the old one is 1 or 2mm wider. of course i can't find my tape measure anywhere in the house. the old lip is all scratched up and no longer clear like the new one. so maybe it's an illusion. i would need a microscope to further examine. anyway, thanks. i will try tuning next time to see if it changes anything. in the meantime, i await word from them.

Come to think of it, I've held them both at same time and they look exactly the same. But that's from a side view. One thing I didn't do is put them side by side and look from above to see if they are contoured exactly the same. The first new one is in the mail. I'll try and remember to compare second new one tonight.

Hi. I found this lure on the water 7 years ago. Put it on and immediately caught a pike. Have used it religiously since and is by far my most productive lure, particularly while trolling. It is so banged up that I've replaced all the hooks. Well I thought that I should find the same one as a spare. My friend found it online and in a store in Hamilton. He got the same one for me. Everything exactly the same. Size, colour, profile, lip, etc. But, in the five times I've tried it, casting or trolling, it just will not stay down in the water for more than three seconds. It will always go sideways and come up to the surface. No matter if the rod tip is up, horizontal or submerged in water. And I tried it at various distances. And the leader is never tangled. I looked at the eye of the lure where the split ring goes, and it was slightly crooked so I straightened it with pliers. Made no difference. Two days ago my beat up lure hooked 8 pike. So I thought I'd go to Sail and buy another of these lures but in a different colour because I was bringing my gf for one last outing in the year and I wanted us to both troll them. Tried it yesterday and doing exact same thing. Won't stay down. So I've gotten these from two different stores in different colours and neither works at all. My original one never messes up. Stays down consistently and has almost violent action when you look at my medium action rod with sensitive tip. The side to side action is amazing. This lure dives down to 3 feet. I contacted the maker and they have a policy of returning them and they will try and figure out why. And fix it if they can. And also to determine if a bad batch was made. Well that's down in the US and I sent the first one in and have to wait a while. And now I have to tell them about the next one. Has this happened to anyone? Have you ever stuck something to the bottom of the lip to add a slight bit of weight and slightly change the profile so that it will stay down? I don't want to name the company and give them a bad name while they are working on fixing this issue with me. Here is a video: https://vimeo.com/190765340

Hi. I was googling Quebec fishing but was hard to find what I'm looking for. I'm hoping some of you might have some experience in the Montreal region. I'll be visiting someone in downtown Montreal for a few days. I will have my 11 foot inflatable boat in my trunk along with a 32lb thrust trolling motor. I would like to take it once out of the city to a proper lake to get about three hours fishing in. Would like to keep it within 45 minutes of downtown. I like to target bass and pike in a small to medium sized lake. Preferably fairly clear water with some obvious weed beds to target since I won't have lots of time to figure out the lake. If anyone can help me out I'd appreciate it. A PM would be good if you don't want to burn any spots. Or if you can direct me a to Quebec forum for this that would be great too. Anyone know how much a QC one day fishing licence costs? Thank you.

Hi. I have a Motomaster Nautilius battery. They don't have the same model on CT's website anymore so I can't show you exactly which one I have. I seem to recall it being about $220 four years ago. Anyway, I use it with a 32lb trolling motor on my 11 foot inflatable. And this is the fourth year using it and I go usually about 30 to 35 times a year for a few hours. When I'm on the small lakes I almost never run out of juice even though I am hopping from one spot to another. However, trolling is the problem. Many times I go up and down a river after work for a couple hours. And I troll on 4 or 5 speed. I'd guess after about 1:15 of actual trolling I can tell the battery is losing power gradually. And probably within 20 minutes of noticing, it pretty much slows me right down to the point of me going so slow that it feels like I'm trolling on 2 speed even though I have it on 5. The first couple summers I had it I could troll on the river for at least twice as long. This is the charger I use. Nautilus charger. I let it charge on "optimal" for 6 to 8 hours. And a handful of times I rapidly charged it because I went for a morning session on lake then needed the battery ready for an afternoon session. http://www.canadiantire.ca/en/pdp/motomaster-nautilus-battery-charger-15-10-2a-0111525p.html#srp I also kept my battery in the basement in the winter and would charge it to full once a month between Nov. and May. Is my battery simply reaching the end of it's life cycle? Maybe I didn't maintain it as well as I could have. But is there a simple way of reviving it by adding some kind of water? The battery itself is in good shape on the outside. Looks pretty clean. And I think it's a sealed battery. By the way, I'm not exactly a handy person. But if there's an easy enough way of doing this I'll give it a try. Or maybe I'll just have to suck it up and buy a new one. Thanks for the advice.

Yup. Saw that one. Definitely good value. I bought the 3500 from Sail in Burlington. They didn't have the 2500 there, which I wanted for bass, but the 3500 works well for pike and trolling. After using it several times now, it is silky smooth. Best reel I've ever had. Landed my PB smallie on it last week on G-bay and that bronze bugger just didn't want to be netted. Literally took over a minute to land it and the reel held up incredibly well. Had 20 lb braid on it.

Hi. I have an inflatable with trolling motor. On Sunday I'm going from Oakville to St. Marys and have a look at the town and go to Canadian Baseball HOF. Then up to Stratford to hang out for a bit since I've never been there either. Pretty much anywhere I go I have to do a little fishing. I'm targeting bass and pike. This is the route I'm taking: https://www.google.ca/maps/dir/Oakville,+ON/Saint+Marys,+ON/Stratford,+ON/@43.2402325,-80.5225289,10.13z/data=!4m22!4m21!1m5!1m1!1s0x882b5b8b8f729979:0x5037b28c7231bd0!2m2!1d-79.6876659!2d43.467517!1m5!1m1!1s0x882eb8f546f42cc7:0xc938a742f71d92d5!2m2!1d-81.140653!2d43.2595868!1m5!1m1!1s0x882eadf991b497b3:0x5037b28c7231dd0!2m2!1d-80.9822286!2d43.3700007!2m1!2b1!3e0 I once fished and trolled on the Grand out of Brant CA. Any other put-ins on the Grand north of Brantford you would recommend at this time of the year, especially after this hot, dry summer? Never been to the Nith. Would anywhere on there be worth fishing at all right now by boat? Or would I have to settle for shore fishing? I have been to Pittock in Woodstock and Fanshawe in London. Don't like those reservoirs and it seems like Wildwood is much the same based on google satellite view. I actually wouldn't have minded checking Wildwood out but I'd want to be at the east end where it's quieter but doesn't look like there's a launch there. As for shore fishing, how productive could the Thames in St. Marys, "Lake Victoria" in Stratford or Nith in New Hamburg be? Hell I might even be open to fishing for carp. If PM would be better, I'd appreciate a message. Thanks for any suggestions.

it's definitely clicking and grinding more and more the heavier the load. so weeds makes it worse and with a fish on i'm not only fighting the fish but i'm fighting the reel because it's bad. but it doesn't feel like line is slipping. anyway, thanks for the suggestions. i will maybe try and open it up one day and play around with it.

Hello again everyone. So my 32lb Shakespeare I bought on sale for $103+tax last year died after 13 months. Happened on the water. But that's why I only go out if the wind is calm or wind is pushing back to the launch. And I have an inflatable. Not good for rowing in high winds. I only happened to have bought this last year because my Minn Kota switch broke on me on the water last May and that warranty was long past so instead of paying $80+ to fix my 30lb Endura, I decided to buy this for $103 with the 2 year warranty. The day before I could tell that when I was engaging fwd or reverse, it wasn't working until the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th time I did it. Then the next day it was working fine for 20 mins and then finally no matter how many times I tried it wouldn't engage. So probably the switch broke. Anyway, as you can see in the video, the replacement I got from CT has a serious ding where the prop connects. This was actually the one and only 32lb Shakespeare they had in stock at that location. I only discovered this ding at home and now I'm wondering if that will be a problem for the seal. Is water going to get in the prop and mess it up? It looks like maybe the motor was a mish mash of old and new parts from a previous warranty or something? https://vimeo.com/177499549 It's pretty solid metal there and that would have taken a big hit to dent it in like that. Think I should get them to replace yet again, but at a different store since this one only had one in stock? The location I got it from last year was close because I lived nearby. Now I'm a good 25 minutes away from there. But got two within 10 minutes to where I am now. Thanks for the suggestions.

Hi guys. Just wondering if you think this reel is toast. Some serious clicking/grinding. Considering my two mithcell avocets cost 30 or 35 bucks, I am probably better off junking them and buying something else on sale for $30 to $35 since I'm not a hardcore angler. I have these two: https://www.sail.ca/en/fishing/reels/spinning/mitchell-avocet-iv-silver-110-4-5-4-1-175030 https://www.sail.ca/en/fishing/reels/spinning/mitchell-avocet-rz-500-moulinet-110-4-5-4-1-124510 They silver one much worse than the black one. Both of them within weeks of buying them a year ago started to click when reeling in but only with a fish on. And I landed those fish. And I was using these reels as my 2nd and 3rd options. My Tactik, also for a similar price, was my #1 is still incredibly smooth and works great after 14 months. My old rapala from like 8 years ago from a cheap combo also works amazingly after all these years. But back to these two mitchells, after watching this vid, do you think I could somehow fix myself? No point in getting someone to fix them because it'll probably cost the same as buying. In this video I'm reeling in barely touching weeds. When I'm reeling through a thick weed bed it's worse. And when I had two fish on this past weekend the clicking was much worse than what you hear and I could not reel in smoothly at all and lost both fish. Both probably 1.5 to 2 lb bass. https://vimeo.com/177246412 Thanks guys.