bigmac1984

I wish these prices would stick around into next summer when it comes time to fill the boat, but we all know that won't happen, it will be up in the $1.30/Litre range again, if not higher. Lets all enjoy it while we can!

X2 on the MBNA mastercard. I've had it for over a year now, and with buying a house and all the expenses that go with it, plus all the gas needed to tow the boat around, I've easily got back $500+ since (my G/F also has the card too). You don't have to "redeem" your points so to speak, as soon as you hit the $50 threshold worth of points, a cheque is sent to your house. Its fantastic.

Does anyone know of a place in/around London that does reel maintenance and repair for a reasonable price? I have 9-10 reels I want to have done, plus one of them might need a minor repair job. Thanks.

The main lake will likely be a mess with the forecasted wind and that means Mitchell's bay too. It's a west wind which means it has the whole lake to build. I've heard the musky have started to move into the Thames which would be much nicer to fish. If its bass you are after, there are a few channels by the Thames where the largemouth bass have started to move into according to some reports. I am going over this same debate myself, I want to get out on LSC tomorrow but I think it will be constrained to the river and channels given the wind.

I have had 3 of these (1 spinning, 2 casting) and they are a good rod for the price point of around $100. I have since started buying mostly shimono stuff and for that same $100 price point, my personal belief is that the Shimano Compre rods are much better for sensitivity and durability. The other thing to consider is howit feels in YOUR hands.... Take the reels to the stores that you think you will be pairing the rod with and check how it balances and feels in your hands. Good luck

You can ammend the rule and say "no new beer" but believe me, people will bail themselves out if they feel they won't be able to drink the rest of the night. I was skeptical at first too about the not drinking thing, but it didn't have an impact - especially if you have to buy tickets at the door rather than pay the bartender the cash.

Also, along the minnow/worm/fishing type plot line, you can buy a box of worms or some minnows, have them at the front, and sell "insurance". What the insurance gets you (sell for say $2) at the door is insurance from having to "eat" the worm/minnow if your name is drawn sometime during the night. You will find that for the $2 at the door, almost everyone will buy the insurance. Make some cards, if someone buys insurance they keep half the card, you keep half the card as proof later in the night that they have the insurance. People don't like the idea of having to eat the worm/minnow. Of course, you wouldn't actually force someone to eat a worm/minnow (or maybe you would), but you can do one of the following options: 1. Buy a gummie worm/candy fish and make them eat that 2. The person who gets drawn (if they don't have the insurance), can opt to pay $5 or $10 to not eat the worm/minnow Its a sick game, but I've seen it work well also.

I've done this one at several stag and doe's and it has generated alot of money.... Set up a jail area (rope off a corner of the room). Anyone can send anyone to jail for a cost of $2 and while they are in there, they cannot drink or do anything. From here, set bail at $2 for someone not in jail, or $4 for the person in jail, meaning that anyone outside the jail can bail someone in jail out for $2, or the person in jail can pay for themselves to get out at a cost of $4. Get the DJ involved because he/she will announce the name of who must report to jail. Also, make the biggest human being you can find the person who must escort the people to jail. Throw in some handcuffs and a fake cop, and you can have yourself some fun. People have fun with this, at least in my experience. Even if 30 people end up in jail, at minimum that generates $120 of cash for the couple to be. Goodluck

North Erie Marina is the place to launch down there, the service in incredible, in fact there was a posting recently on this forum about that. The perch fishing is great down there, I think they are getting them in about 35-40 feet now West of Catfish creek. A tournament there a few weeks ago had the biggest 5 perch well over 5lbs in total. The link below is to another forum that has a ton of reports on Port Bruce fishing and that general area, plus many great stories about the customer service at North Erie marina. http://www.longpoint.on.ca/forum/forum.asp?FORUM_ID=2

Lowrance has that surface clutter option too, should help clear it up for sure.

Forgot to mention they are also located in Owen Sound, so they are a Canadian seller.

Try luremaking.com. you can buy pre-poured heads and then paint them and put whatever skirts on them you see fit. You can buy all the other accessories like blades, beads, clevices, swivels, etc. for relatively cheap and the quality is good. If you are looking to re-build your aresnal of spinnerbaits, this route will be much cheaper, and you know the quality because you made them! It also is a cool feeling when you catch a fish on something you made. The people at luremaking.com are also great to deal with. I've bought 4 rounds of stuff from them now and they ship it same day in most cases, but it arrives within 2 days typically. Good luck

Bass Haven for sure.... To get to 8' of water, its about 1.5 miles out.... Market Buoys XE2 and XE4 and in that general area are lots of weed/sand transitions and 8' + of water. For a map of the lake, go to www.marinecruiser.com/chart and you will be able to see the contours and depths. Bass Haven is in the top right most part of the map in Mitchell's bay. You can usually get out there and see the pack of boats and know where some action is. Pike fishing is decent, the bass are on fire. There have been a few tournaments in the past few weekends where 20+ lbs has won it, and 6.5lb big fish. I was out last thursday and caught a whole bunch of LMB, the biggest of which was 4lbs 5oz, as well as some smallies. Tubes and white spinnerbaits were the ticket that day.

Picture added.

Was out today on Lake St. Clair with my dad and brother for our first time bass fishing this year, caught 2 smallies, 6 pike, and 10+ LMB. Most were caught on white willowleaf spinnerbaits and when the lake settled down a bit, we caught some on wacky worms as well. Biggest smallie was 3.5lbs and caught a pig LMB that weighed 4lbs 5oz (shown on the left in the picture)

Link to the MNR regulation on the A-Rig... http://www.mnr.gov.on.ca/en/Business/LetsFish/2ColumnSubPage/STDPROD_097331.html Here are a few excerpts from it: Most jurisdictions in North America have specific regulations on the number of hooks that can be attached to an angler's line. In Ontario, it is illegal to fish with a line that has more than four hooks attached. As a result, the Alabama version of the Umbrella rig with five hooks or lures attached is not permitted for use in the province. However, if modified to four strands or arms to accommodate only four hooks, it is allowed. Anglers can legally use these rigs in the province if no more than four lures, each with just one hook, are attached. Attaching four crankbaits or other hard-body lures with more than one treble hook per lure to the rig is not permitted. A treble hook is deemed to be one hook on an artificial lure.

I found this on the MNR website, someone with a similar question that was answered, but I suggest just calling the local CO and asking specifically: WATERS ON PRIVATE PROPERTY – APPLICATION OF REGULATIONS Question Re: Private Property I own a large parcel of land with a good sized spring-fed pond on it, the pond drains off of my land into a near-by river. I know there are fishing the pond, do I need a licence to fish in the pond and do the seasons apply on my property? Answer: Because your pond has an outflow the laws requiring a licence and the various fishing seasons would apply to your pond. The Ontario Fishery Regulations, which contain the rules for sport fishing in Ontario, apply to all water in the province with the exception of National Parks, waters that are licenced under an aquaculture licence and waters that occur on private lands that meet all of the following conditions: The waters are not on a regional flood plain, The waters lie wholly on privately owned land, The waters are not connected to natural waters, The waters contain water from run-off, springs, ground water or water pumped from a stream or lake; AND The waters have been artificially created. If the pond meets all of the list above the fish must then come from a licenced aquaculture facility or a licenced commercial fish operation; they cannot be caught by sport-fishing and transferred to the pond.

That is one of the funniest videos I have seen in a long time.

Hey everyone... Anyone know if there are any Ontario or Canadian dealers for Liquid Plastisol for making soft plastic baits? If so, can you please share any contact details? Thanks

If you can find a HDS5 Gen 1 new or used for the $500 mark, they are excellent units.

I was told the newer Merc's (2010+) can hook directly to the engine, no need for the merc monitor, just the necessary T connectors. My 2008 would require a merc monitor as you said and then converted by the NMEA2000 network. The merc monitor level 1 is at least $455 (cheapest I found online anyways) plus the other accessories you need. I may have to call back and talk to them again, but it seems to be in line with what you've quoted below regarding having to use a mercmonitor to convert all the data to the Lowrance and what I said before about the costs and such.

Tupelo, How old is your optimax? I was doing some looking around on this too, and after speaking with the very knowledgeable staff at Radioworld, I was told that my optimax (2008 90hp) was too old for the direct connect to the engine, and that the only way I could get the same functionality was to buy the stuff from Mercury, which was going to be somewhere around $500 when all was said and done, compared to just buying all the proper T connectors and ethernet cables etc. Give radioworld a call and talk to Lawren about it, he should be able to give you all the details you need and what you need, and also say whether your engine is compatible or not.

good luck Mercman, don't be afraid to throw the spinner bait to find where they might be (active fish), and then go through the same area with the dropshot after to catch the lazier ones.

The more power you can have the better, because you can always turn down a 80# to the desired level, but if you need the extra power, you cannot turn up a 50#. I have a 65# Powerdrive Minn Kota, and there are days I wish I could have more power. The next unit I buy will be a Terrova so I can get the Ipilot added on, and it will be at least 80# if I can get away with that.

Those VMC spinshot dropshot hooks that Live2Fish mentioned are one of the best dropshot hooks IMO, eliminates the nasty line twist that comes with dropshotting. I agree with alot of others here, you can use a baitcaster setup to drop shot. As far as I am concerned, if you can feel the weight making bottom contact, and feel the action of your bait in the water, you'll have no issues detecting a bite. The less you do with a drop shot in terms of moving the bait around seems to be better, slight movement of the rod-tip to keep the bait fluttering is all that is needed. Its really important to use a weight that allows you to feel the bottom and maintain bottom contact, hence a wide assortment of weights are needed depending on how deep you are fishing, how windy it is, etc. As far as lure selection goes, there are many selections. Some guys will use minnow imitator baits, others will use senkos, but typically most baits are in the 3"-3.5" range to be most effective, but if they are really munching, they'll bite anything. Good luck, its a great way to catch them when they are on a slow bite, but will also catch you lots of fish when they are aggressive to. Most guys will tell you they won't hit the great lakes without a dropshot tied on.