Raycaster

I used it for snorkeling in Tampa and the quality was great. Just wondering about Balsam's water visibility at 12' with healthy weeds. Might need a 12V underwater light since I'd be tethering anyways. Or I could just wait patiently for a awesome ofc member to pm me about possibly lending a Vexilar FishPhone camera for a day or 2...

MrSimon, darn, was actually thinking of running down to Princess Auto and grabbing a cheap pole to mount the camera! Just thought it would be fun playing with and my kids might get a kick out of it. How was the video quality at 10'? Just wondering how dark 10' down in Balsam with the weeds would be and if I could see the bottom.

Mr Simon did you use normal coaxial cable? I have 100's of feet of cable but they seem to use the RG174u stuff? 10 - 15' depths are what I hope for but concerned about visibility and the need of a high power light. Never heard of the loop function - thx - will look into that, probably good as a dashcam util also.

Just got a Hero 4 Silver and happily collecting gadgets for it. (Boy, if only I had a 3d printer!). Tried building a few DIY attachments like a short handle. Saw a nice cannonball idea today I might mod a bit. I really want to try the underwater wifi hack this summer. Rumors of someone losing his favorite reel last year in Balsam... Looking for high power , cheap, cheap, cheap underwater light probably also as Balsam ain't St. Clair for sure.

Thank you for the story, smiled the whole time.

James, I'm no expert but find LSC like most big lakes, its all in the weather and boating smart. LSC is big and not much protection out in the middle. If you have a small boat scout ahead and decide either Mitchel Bay side or Belle River.... not both. On water everything looks so close but your 25hp will tell you another story.

Every year I try to bundle up against the sun fishing and have started wearing long sleeve t-shirts and a rolled up towel around the neck. I've seen video's of the cool young guys wearing complete camo setups which I assume offer great sun protection but damn I'd suffer huge abuse from relatives worse than a sunburn if I tried that! Any suggestions for reasonable priced UV protection wear for fishing? There a few shirts at Sail that looked ok but again pretty much on the flashy side for this old fart. Don't need to look like I'm in the National BassMaster Tourney... Thx ahead.

Thank you for all the replies, I knew the forum was a great place to ask. The idea is many years off and having rented all over for many years I kinda knew the general answer already but the re-enforcements help.

A lot of the members are close with resort owners and have been around a long time to see the ups and downs so I thought I'd post the question here. Retirement is a few years away but I always wondered if semi-retiring by purchasing a resort would be a fiscally responsible idea. I do know it would come with a lot of hard work with probably zero fishing but I've seen resorts further north going for the same price a some luxury single cottages. I also know most renters don't want to drive 5 hours either... I'm a trades guy and could handle the majority of upkeep etc. but what I'm really worried about is the taxes/insurance/licenses etc. Its the bottom line "money spreadsheet" I'm interested in. Are most resort basically just hard work and a break even situation? Thanks guys, yup know the maintenance problems, just would like some "Ballpark figures" on costs and pitfalls. Scare me all you want, hurt me with the truth!

I'm with you Liverelease, worth the drive just for the chance of sneaking a few spots out of him...

Everyone wants justice but isn't that secondary? Having social media point out these offenders and provoke citizen action will hopefully "spawn" future safeguards or at least broader attention. Fines/jail-time won't do much but all the negative attention may prevent future abuses and speed up responses. Sorry for the pun, just wanted to lighten the subject and tip to the positive side of things...

You guys want to see the next step in 3D printing? Jaw dropping. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VTJq9Z5g4Jk

I believe most modern tablets use normal sat gps but use cell towers to assist if possible. Most are rated with 3 m accuracy which is good but not as accurate as true gps receivers. Of course Ipad/tablets are geared for low power consumption but 3 m is still acceptable. I think the Cell towers make positioning faster as they constantly have GPS info where a phone/tablet without assisted GPS has to search for the sats and decipher data etc. I'm no pro so if I'm fudging this up, someone feel free to correct me.

Just thought I'd mention a few problems with the cheap tablets to be fair. Require waterproof housing of some sort. Require a decent stand or mount. Major glare outdoors in direct sun. Battery drain with GPS and Wifi on constantly. Sound not loud enough for alerts on running boat. All fixable but does add to cost.

Its Sonarphone by Vexilar integrated into Boating HD Navionics. Its a simple transducer with wifi connection. I haven't received my unit yet so I don't know all the details but it looks promising. Being able to read the fishfinder info from a 10" tablet split screen with Navionics maps is pretty appealing to me. I don't believe the transducer hardware is anywhere near the new tech with side/down/chirp etc, but its a great start. I smile thinking of just upgrading the transducer hardware in the future at a fraction of the cost of new units, especially being able to use cheap tablets 10" or bigger with GPS. Vexilar makes camera's too, so why not quad screen with a unit like the water wolf attached also? A nice feature is the ability of everyone on the boat to receive the data also on their phone/tablet... I don't work for the companies and not trying to sell anything, I just love gadgets. You can google all the info.

You might as well go 10! for split screen.

I always mention the "WIFI" needed info as its a pet peeve of mine. The older app Lakes: Canada preloaded all the maps and never required a data update before using. Nothing more frustrating then spending $50 bucks on a new and improved Boating HD and having to view blocky maps that haven't been refreshed. I have both on my tablet just in case I forget the refresh.

I have a Galaxy 10.1 Tab 2 tablet (prob $125 used) that works great with Navionics, and looking forward to using Sonarphone with it. If its just for Navionics I would just grab a kijiji used tablet that has GPS. I think Boating HD list all tablet compatible but most with Android 4.2 will work. I installed a USB connector on the boat for easy charging also. Remember that NEW Navionics app require a WIFI access to "refresh" your maps. You can do this by refreshing before you hit the lake or teathering off your phone if your tablet doesn't have cell data capabilities.

Brian, if I lived closer to Barrie and all my favorite fishing spots..... ALL MY PROBLEMS would be solved.. Just saying.

Thx guys for the ideas. Last year I basically cut some angle iron (From a old bed frame) rust painted and enclosed it with pvc tubing with cap and welded it on. Looked clean and professional and worked great except for a little mishap at the Mitchel Bay Marina. I'm in the Hamilton area and I'm the last guy to open his wallet but the idea of simple u-bolts for adjustment and not having to bug for welding favors is appealing this time. I'll keep a look out and maybe give the marinas a call.

Tired of my crappie pontoon going sideways on me when loading. Last year I made 2 guide bars and welded to back of trailer but had a little mishap... When I was in Fenelon Falls I stopped at a Marina and noticed they had nice adjustable guide bars on the new model pontoon trailers. I asked inside and they had them in their catalog but it was end of season so I thought I'd wait. Any chance they are available to order in Canada?

Mr.Simon, awesome about the success, gives me hope! Just have to build a useable small vessel with lights and I may find my old fishing rod. (Probably cost more to clean than buy a new one!)

I have a small stack of gift cards accumulating that looks like a possible future GoPro purchase. I have been using a HD Camcorder for fishing trips and the quality is pretty nice but kinda getting the GoPro itch for easier control/water protection etc. Being able to remote monitor the video on a tablet would be pretty nice also. Anyways, seen a few guys on the web able to wire up a cable for WiFi communication with video monitoring. Seen guys make submersible little subs with the GoPro attached also. Wouldn't mind looking underwater at a few spot in Balsam as there is a rumour about some moron losing his favorite rod overboard in the lake last year. The same moron lost an anchor also... 8) Might be a fun project building something with underwater lights also.

I think 206 is dead on. I am a old computer geek and hate the crazy cable bills but as lookinforwalleye said "The wife hates the gadgets". I have a home server with around 4T of HD movies/music etc. I have a slingbox and wdtv on each TV. I tried a android box but it drove me crazy and the wife flipped. We watch live TV maybe twice a week and if there were dead links and disconnections during a non-hd movie well.... I have xbmc on my tablets and laptops but don't use it very much. New smart TVs are able to handle most Movie formats and have NETFLIX and slingbox capabilities built in, eliminating the need for a wdtv or roku. X265 is around the corner anyways 8). With 2 teenage kids I pay for unlimited home internet and it gets used (over 250G monthly). I think the TV's have been replaced by ipads and other tablets in out home. We also reserve bluray movies from the library for movies missed etc.

Not trying to promote products (unless I get a cut!!!) but this has been available for awhile and works with Navionics already and is cheaper. Not a super high end scanner ( no side scan/chirp etc and not sure about depth max) but... http://www.sonarphone.mobi/navionics I like the idea of people at back of boat also being able to check depth/fish etc. from their phone or tablet. Everyone on boat can login to the device to view info.