Raycaster

Had a great year on Balsam, Gull and Scugog so far. Again many thanks for suggestion from members here. I just got a weekend offer of fishing on Big Hawk Lake and of course said yes! I've been trying to research but everything seems outdated. Just wondering what to fill the tackle box with... Any info would be appreciated. Would love some pike action if possible, missed Nippising this year. Should be a great time and a great warm up for Buckhorn Thanksgiving weekend!

We've got the bluechart apps for phones & tablets (Navionics). We've got GPS built in to the phones & tablets. How long till we see (wireless) BlueTooth Transducers for total integration to include basic sonar? Imagine... <$199 10" touch screen Android Tablet + $20 mount $20 BlueChart App <$100 Bluetooth (wireless) Transducer + App Yes, the high end sonar/gps equipment has advantages but... Sorry, just a geek thinking out loud.

Truthfully don't remember the days before but thanksgiving last year was pretty nice weather.

On Scugog we'll be looking for muskie but will be more than happy chasing bass or walleye all day. Simple chartruess single blade spinners and some walmart fake "gummy" minnows were favorites of the day. Buckhorn looked like a bass haven last year but as mentioned.... skunked in 2 boats. We tried every lure, every color, every speed but it just wasn't our weekend at Buckhorn.

A newbie question: had great success 3 weeks back at Scugog (huge thx to members here) and heading out on the 25th again. Is the fall weather gonna change the fishing much? Also, Hitting buckhorn at thanksgiving but got skunked last year. Do the "feedbags" go away by then or was it just " one of those days"? Sorry, 2 questions....

You guys are awesome! Hopefully some pics when I get back tomorrow night late. Again, thz a ton.

Thank you for the great reply. I've fished Cache Bay alot so I'm used to the weeds, actually kinda prefer them!

Heading to Scugog tomorrow Friday Aug 25 (early morning till dark) and wondering how the fishing has been there. Probably launch from gorski's (suggestion from fine OFC member) and probably will target bass but if a muskie wants to visit... Anyways, any tips would be appreciated and hopefully the storms haven't scared the fish! Should I pick some leeches or worms up for the harnesses or just stick to the standard lures? Thanks.

Not sure if anyone has ever said no to muskie!

Had a pretty good summer so far... 1) Couple weeks at Balsam Lake and finally figured out the spots. Basically threw away all the known "hot spots" and reworked the drop offs with heavy weeds. On a funny note you could actually see decent sized bass in the deep swimming area waiting for you to disturb the bigger rocks so they could grab the crayfish. They would hover around your knees while you tipped rocks over and then quickly snatch the crayfish! 2) Just back from Gull Lake and the Hoola Popper was on fire close to the shore lines with still water (Early morning/ late evening) . My brother said I should mount the lure! Anyways, looks like we won't be getting up to Nippising this year so still itching for some pike fishing in some cabbage. We are in the Hamilton area so thought a early morning run up to Scugog or Pigeon for the day would do the trick. Can anyone point us to a boat launch that would quicken our day? Heck, if there is a better (closer) suggestion for decent pike that would be great also! Thank you ahead of time.

I followed the thread on here about people really impressed with the app. Purchased the app for my LG Optimus One Android phone $13.99. I was happy that it worked within itself without the need for a constant data hookup. Looked great and was excited about it but it didn't really work well. Not sure if it was the phone or app or map information but accuracy was brutal. Just got back from fishing the Ahmic Lake this weekend and the app basically reported I was fishing on land 90% of the time. No wonder it wasn't a great weekend! The GPS's accuracy was good to about 500 yards! not 30 feet. I realize maps get old and land reshapes but something was really off. I'm going to send email to Navionics but for $13.99 I'm not too upset...

Any specific "rattlers" that you would endorse as pre-father day gifts?

Thanks guys for all the replies, looks like we'll have a great time! So harnesses are the way to go? Might have to go load up, been using the spinners chasing the pike for years.

Thanks! You just happen to be flying by when you saw my post?

Thank you for all the replies and pms concerning an upcoming trip 1st week of June. There were restrictions put on distance so a lot of referrals are being kept for another time. We are scheduled for the first week of June at The Woodland Echo Resorts with Ahmic and Cecebe lakes are targets I believe. Just wondering if anyone has a "head's Up" for the location and what we can look forward to. No, don't want the honey spots, just info on what to expect and tackle to pack! Thx gang.

Ah... not to sound too picky but aren't the bugs in NorthBay brutal at the start of June? Damn... doesn't matter how I write the above sentence... I sound picky!

Not sure if the guys are up to a 2 day trip hauling a boat! Truth is... not sure the wives would allow it 8)

Thx for the replies guys! Didn't know that about Buckhorn... Last fall we were up in Buckhorn with not much luck but I had what I thought was a average size pike follow my bait to the boat and then run. Your saying it was probably a muskie? Googling manitouwabing right now... BTW, I'm not afraid of suggestions of lakes with weeds like Cache Bay. Had a lot of luck there, just nothing big.

My fishing buddies are looking for a weekend location for the first week of June. We are looking for pike and have hit Cache Bay a few times plus West Arm Nippising and Brit. Had good luck at all the locations but wondering if we're missing a hot spot for early June. By hot spot I mean different lake etc.. of course. Buckhorn is mainly bass right? Too early? Any help would be appreciated. Thanks guy!

As we were renting an extra boat we had to wait till 9am to get out... Water Temp 55-56... Since we had the smaller rental we actually lifted the 9.9 and rowed into some tight spots hoping the "Pro Boats" had stayed away not wanting to scratch any of their metallic paint 8). Disappointed but the area is just too perfect not to try again. Didn't get down to Deer Bay, maybe next year.

Spent Sunday on Lower Buckhorn with the brother-In-Laws trying to sneak in one last fishing day. 1st time in the area and quickly had a huge grin on my face viewing some areas with 12ft of water, abundant weeds and cover - obvious big game territory. Reminded me of Cache Bay on steroids! Can't say enough about the area, and boy it was busy with atleast 2-3 visible boats wherever we went. We hit it with everything and looked promising as we had 2 healthy fish follow the lures to the boat within minutes. Results: A single 13" small mouth for 2 boats and almost 7 hours... Not a great way to end the year but I defineatly want to get back next year early!

The family is "stealing" one last weekend by renting a cottage on Sandy Lake. This isn't really a fishing trip but the guys will get out every chance possible. We'll probably play on Sandy Lake for awhile but try to get a full day over at Lower Buckhorn. Any advice is sure welcome as it's a first time for all of us at this location. Last year we rented in Brit and out of shear luck landed a couple big pike so hopefully luck will return. Snowed on us too..

I don't want to jack the thread but in the same theme are there boat rentals available at Buckhorn. For Thanksgiving we will be renting on Sandy Lake and have been told (here) that Buckhorn is the best option for fishing the area. 6 weeks and counting...

Thanks for the replies guys, that site was great. I felt bad buying the 160 after so many people suggested others but the wallet won the decision. The 160 was easy to setup and the battery was already charged. The suction cup that I worried about is exactly like many said... impossible to get off without a good set of nails or credit card. The fishfinders fish alert sure brings optimism even after hours of not even a nibble. The depth information and bottom information is pretty sweet. If scugog does time find for a video it would probably help us newbies a ton. Being able to combine the readout with sound fishing techniques and overall fishing knowledge definitely would raise the success level. I was pretty excited when I started marking fish until I noticed them at 23 ft. I was giggling with my new toy and then sat up in the boat and said to myself "How the hell do I get a fish 23ft down?" I'm a simple 10-15ft of water fisherman looking for weeds... 23ft is a whole new story but excited to learn! Again thx guys for letting the newbies like myself post questions that have probably been asked a 1000 times already, its really appreciated.

I posted about a month ago concerning portable fishfinders and recently ended up purchasing a Humminbird 160. I really appreciated all the forum input but this unit was my wallet limit. It installed easy and seems to work great. I read the instructions a few times and googled some sites for more insight reading the display but was hoping for more. A few questions: I understand the cone of sonar but if the display is showing fish where do they correspond in relation to the boat? Are they coming from left to right, back to front, or did we just pass over them directly? Or is this a cone representation with just general cone location? If anyone can point me to some vid tutorials etc. I'd appreciate it.