Ron

You guys did much better than we did a week back. We had the cold front come through and the water temps went from 56f to 47f. Talk about shutting them down. There were several other boats out with us and we only managed to SEE one caught! Hoping to get down again but i still haven't had time to get out Crappie fishing in the Kawarthas yet. Cheers, Ron...

I muskie fish a lot. I went with an 80lb power drive v-2 with auto pilot. Casting for muskie I like to cover a lot of water so I put the speed at 50-60%. I can fish all day long and still have lots of reserve. I have 2 blue top optimax to run this and the bow mount HDS5. I run a 75 Yamaha with another HDS5 on the console plus my Garmin 276C chart plotter. This battery also runs my bilge pump, lights, radio plus whatever other electronics are in the boat. I have yet to run into problems with the starting battery run short of power to start the motor. I am 95% casting, 5% trolling. Walleye fishing, I can get 3 days from the bow mount before I run our of juice. I generally recharge after each use but in some occasions when I am backwoodsing, (is that even a word), I don't have the option of charging the batteries. NOt knowing your fishing techniques, whether you cast from the bow or back troll or drift or face backwards trolling forward... It is rather difficult to recommend what to get for trolling motors. Personally, for my use, I got the biggest power thrust I could afford and solely have it on the bow. My boat is a 17.5' Lund Explorer. Narrower than most lund boats but is common in the northern out post camps. It came as a side console and front casting platform. I added a top ledge to mount the tm and ff. I also constructed a back casting platform which in turn, gave me additional storage. Cheers, Ron...

Thanks for pinning this to the top of the page boys but I think it will draw more attention if we just bump it up daily until April 25. Very much appreciated. Cheers, Ron...

Wow! Check out the swag I got for simply uploading a picture! Thanks once again for such generosity amungst all the members here at OFC! I am looking forward to trying out BIGUGLY"S salsa. Chad's worm harnesses are a fine piece of work as well. Mostly, thanks to Vince and his girls for taking the time to put such a contest together. Cheers, Ron...

Very impressive smalliefisher. You hit the nail on the head in regards to not getting kids involved in our outdoor activities. Hunting and fishing will soon be a thing of the past if we don't get our kids out there and enjoying it as we do. Hope your daughter smokes ya with her set up! ha ha ha Cheers, Ron...

Excellent video Young-one. I usually spend my time with the other volunteers on the upper portion of the dam. Next time, introduce yourself and I will let you take video footage on the work involved above as well! It's nice to see the documentation like that. Cheers, Ron...

Once again, many thanks to those of you taking the time to fill out the survey. This will have a great impact for the kids in this area. Cheers, Ron...

Thanks for everyone's support. At the Town meeting even Dave Chong's episode was brought forward. I spoke briefly with Dave and he was in the same boat as myself. Fortunately the outcome was fast worked well in Toronto anglers favour. We can only hope that the same outcome applies here in Cobourg. Cheers, Ron...

Yes, that is very similar to what my buddy has. It does work very well to protect the boat and trailer.

There is also an attachment that you can put on your trailer hitch itself. It is made of a bristle similar to that of a broom. I tried looking it up on the internet but no success. A buddy of mine has it on his truck to haul his Bass boat around. I am very impress on well it protects his boat. It stops the stones from becoming a problem in the first place. This goes on the hitch so if you are not towing, it will come off the same time you take the hitch out. My buddy leaves his on all year round, towing or not towing. I will get the name of it. Cheers, Ron...

The Town of Cobourg is conducting an online Community Survey to gather input for the development of the Parks Master Plan. The following is a link to the Parks Master Plan Community Survey: http://app.fluidsurveys.com/s/Cobourg-ParksMasterPlanSurvey/ The survey should take about 5 to 10 minutes to complete and must be completed by April 25, 2012. All are welcome to complete the survey, so if you know others who would like to participate in the Parks Master Plan, please feel free to pass along the link. The first thing you will notice, they did not put fishing on the list of activities you do in parks, rather disappointed in this myself.However there is room to include fishing in the "other" box. Remember, this is what I have been fighting for, to ensure kids are able to fish with in the Cobourg harbour. Very few kids are fortunate enough to have parents that have a cottage, own boats or are able to drive their kids to Rice Lake in order for them to fish. This is one opportunity they are trying to take away from our future anglers in generations to come. The Cobourg Harbour is a great destination for not only kids but for all anglers to come and enjoy fishing. It is an under utilized area for some great Carp, Pike, Walleye, Rainbow trout, Lake trout, Perch, and both Bass species just to name a few. Please, please, please take the time to fill out the survey and make it clear to the Town of Cobourg that fishing is of great value to the community, more so to get kids involved in fishing and what the outdoors has to offer. Taking away fishing opportunities is just one more reason for kids to get into mischief. I would understand if fishing was dangerous. For more information regarding the planning process, please visit the Town website at: http://cobourg.ca/parks-master-plan.html Thank you for your help in preparing a plan for the future of Parks in Cobourg! Cheers, Ron...

Can anyone tell me where I can launch a boat to fish for the big Channel cats on the Grand? I want to take my daughter out for some extreme bottom fishing. She has caught many different species but she has never hooked into a big channel cat. Any help would be greatly appreciated, PM me if you don't want to make it public. Cheers, Ron...

As far as I am concerned, there should be zero fish lifted over. The Brook Trout fishing has gone down hill drastically since the 80's when the lifts first started happening. As for cohabitation sure that is true, if you only knew the size of the stream ended up as you would understand. At one time we use to be able to catch numerous Brookies in the 14-15 inch range. Lucky if you see one in most pools now as the Rainbow fry, smolts and Par have over run some of them pushing the Brookies out. Competition is fierce for food in what is mostly a shallow stream.

200 fish upstream is a good enough number for the rainbow to establish a sustainable population but not too many to create an issue for competition for the native stocks of Brook Trout.

Just a reminder for those who are interested. The fish lift starts at 8:45 this Saturday. I took a peak and there is an unbelievable amount of Bows waiting to go upstream. Only 200 of them will be the chosen ones though. Click here for location

They would hang out further up if they don't get caught and kept. They don't get a chance to grow before they get tossed.in a pailand eventually in a pan... Cheers, Ron...

OK, lets go by species... Rainbow Trout - Skein roe, pinkys, Henry Lee homemade lures. Crappie - Tube jigs on slip float, Bettle spins, Power minnows on swimming jig head. Perch - Tube jigs, jigging raps, Hali jigs Bluegill - Tube jigs, floating ants, hook and worm. Walleye - Tube jigs, Bucktail jigs, Shadraps Brook Trout (streams) - Panther Martins, bucktail jigs, hook and worm Brook Trout (lakes) - Bucktail jigs, Little Cleo, Xrap Pike - Monster tube Jigs, Huskie Jerks, Silver Minnow Muskie - Handlebarz inline tandom spinners, Sledge, Suick Bass - Tube jigs, Berkley worms, white spinner baits Long Nose Gar - Yarn flies, Xraps with hooks removed, Slip float with dead minnow Channel Cats - ball of worms, chicken livers, chopped Creek Chub Lake Trout - Northport Nailers, Swedish Pimples, Power minnow ( I don't troll, all fish caught jigging).

I too was fortunate enough to have a chance to try this before it got out on the market. I kinda wished I hadn't though. I ordered a 1500 filler spool of the stuff, I liked it so much. I have never used anything so cast friendly, so quiet and slippery when it come to braids. I would actually be curious to see if this would work for the guys trolling in Lake O as a flea flicker line. The thinner diameter, I bounced up my lb test from 10 to 15 now. I am a fan of the high vis yellow as well. Eventually when my higher lb test I use for Muskie fishing, I will switch that over too. Cheers, Ron...

For 80 lb leaders you could lightly stretch them to easily straighten them out. What I do is use my closed needle nose pliers in one loop, stand on them with both feet and then use my jaw spreader wire in the other end and pull about 40 lbs worth of force. Hold it for just a second or 2 and see how it is. It's not often you have to stretch it the second time.

Great to see Jason, Too bad that LOMU and the MNR don't deem it necessary to collect data this year. The data shows this should be a record year once again in quantity. I sure do hope they know what they are doing. Cheers, Ron...

Perhaps you haven't been down our way, you are correct, the fish have moved up stream for quite some time now but the water temps have only just begun to rise. They haven't even started to pair up in the redds just yet. I am certain there will be more than enough bows to lift over the dam. This in fact, is one week earlier than most years. Hope to see you there. Cheers, Ron...

The cobourg fish lift is set for Saturday March 24.this is a great oppotunity to get involved hands on with the fisheries we all get so much enjoyment out of. We will be lifting around 200 rainbow trout over the pratts pond dam. So set your colanders and attend this great event. Cheers, Ron...

All great replys but each way to straighten are for different pound test leaders. If you are using 140lb leader for an example, 3oz of weight over night will not straighten it out. Streatching a 6lb leader will surely effect the leader strength. What lb test are you referring to?

The first Crappie I caught on Rice Lake was in 1990, the same year my oldest daughter was born. I didn't know what it was at the time and was afraid to tough it! I first thought it was a tropical fish someone had dumped into the lake.