Ron

Optima Blue tops, best battery you'll ever own. Half the weight (well not half but you get the picture). I am running a 70lb 24 volt Minn Kota and get 2 days easily out of them. Trolling motor ran at 30% on constant today, went to check the battery level and still shows 90%. Good for another day with out charging. I got mine at Wallmart one day when Energizer had a display booth set up and they gave me a smoking good deal. Both batteries for under 250.00

boat tech 1058 copperstone drive unit 2 pickering , ON L1W 3V8 Phone: 905-686-5008 Fax: 905-686-5009 [email protected]

I have already put 5 tanks of fuel through my boat. Been out since the first week of March. Man you gotta love these extended seasons! Ironically, my wife is happy about these seasons too.

Hey ya go Lew, Super nice guy Grant is: boat tech 1058 copperstone drive unit 2 pickering , ON L1W 3V8 Phone: 905-686-5008 Fax: 905-686-5009 [email protected] Easy to get to as well. Brock Rd. South. (Pass Tight Lines tackle). 2nd set of lights turn left (Dillingham/Clements). Cross the tracks, 2 rd on left (Copperstone Dr.)follow to the end, you will end up in his parking lot around back of building. Google map

Hey! Don't you get your messages?

Hey Darren, IF this is a Minn Kota, you should only have 2 wires coming out of the TM. You need to rearrange your battery connections to obtain 24 volts. This is done by disconnecting all wires first. Step 1: Disconnect all wires going to trolling motor batteries. Step 2: Connect positive wire from trolling motor to positive terminal on battery #1. Step 3: Connect negative wire from trolling motor to negative terminal on to battery #2. Step 4: Connect negative terminal on battery #1 to positive terminal on battery #2. This will give you 24 volts to your trolling motor. BEFORE YOU DO THIS, BE SURE YOUR TROLLING MOTOR IS ACTUALLY A 24 VOLT SYSTEM. If you have any accessories added onto these batteries, be sure to only connect to the positive and negative terminals ON THE SAME BATTERY. Hope this helps. Cheers, Ron...

After making the decision to pull the plug with a buddy of mine for Saturday opener, I told him I was going out regardless. My buddy had to drive from Toronto and didn't want to see him make the 1+ hour drive only to be turned down at the launch ramp because of the forecasted weather. I got on the water by 7 in AM, solo. It was pouring down rain even before I got the boat launched. Glad I went though, first spot let me boat 3 nice walleyes one pushing the mark at 22". As someone else moved in to the area I was fishing, I moved off and went to check another spot. Just as soon as I went to start up the main motor, my brand new HDS5 went for a crap-blank screen.... Odd I thought, turned it off, back on and the darn thing wouldn't boot up again. I ended up taking the front fish finder off and put it on the console. I buzz down the lake to get to another spot, find the weeds, drop the trolling motor start my drift. Ended up boating several more walleye and then my friggen foot pedal went on the Minn Kota ! To top off the day I even blew up one of my spinning reels, rightly so though for the reel, had it for over 10yrs and was soon time to retire it anyways. The tally for Walleye for the day was 15 with the best at 23.5". Nice to see the population of Walleye out there, several year classes to boot. Now, back to the fish finder, I call up Lowrance this morning and tell them my situation, no probs they say, they got one on the shelf to replace it with, just come on up and we will take care of it. "I'll set this one aside for you with your name on it" is what they say..... Well 2 hrs later I pull into the Lowrance service office, say "Hey, I just called in about 2 hrs ago for you to look at my HDS5". "Oh" he says, I just gave the HDS5 to a guy from Cobourg, the last one we had, I thought it was you." Now, I had to take a morning off work to get this taken care of so I would have a fish finder for this weekend, I didn't get mad, I just told them that "this wasn't good". Buddy says, no probs, goes out back and grabs me a HDS5 Lake Insight! Kewl!! So to the guys who took my HDS5 from Lowrance 20 mins before me, THANKS! On my way home, I also had to stop off at the Minn Kota repair shop in Pickering to pick up a new foot pedal, the one I bought in Thunder Bay last August went for a crap (cost me 175.00 in T Bay). After a bit of a filtered try again please chat the guy cut me an awesome deal as I didn't have a receipt for it and on my merry ol way I went! Sure, I was ticked off that these 3 things happened by hey, glad it happened at home as opposed on one of my trips! Cheers, Ron...

Whitney Drive In. aka Whitney township garbage disposal. (Actually I photoshoped the garbage into the background so the hunters couldn't ID this location )

A sweet lookin ride JP! The trailer alone looks sick with those rims! I think I will but 10 tickets for the first ride in her. :D Cheers, Ron...

Oh man!!! I'm gonna be stuck in Nipigon from the 17th to the 27th... Bummer...... I'd much sooner be up at Lakair with a bunch of hoolagins talking about how to PP people who fall asleep while in the middle of a conversation instead. Seriously though, if I had to choose, I would still take up Nipigon Brookies, Pike and Walleye. I'm even missing out on season opener of Muskie for this trip. One of these years I'm gonna make it to another one of these G2 summits.

Welcome to the board Pikeguy. I look forward to your reports and certainly some occasional non fishing topics! Cheers, Ron...

Ah.... The season begins! Nice to see TJ. Cheers, Ron...

Moer than just the bite that's "a little off".....

The 170 - 180 is the height profile. The 70 is a width profile. The 13 is the rim size. As for using it as a spare, shouldn't be a problem so long as you have enough space between the rubber and fender. 180 profile is probably about 1" +- higher than the 170. More importantly is the amount of plys, this will dictate the load and air pressure the tire will accept.

Great to hear Cliff. Hopefully the word gets out and these guys stop the over harvest and maybe, just maybe, the Crappies and Sunfish get bigger so we all can enjoy the fishing opportunities! Cheers, Ron...

It wasn't a Seadoo, it was a Jeskie! (That is Harry Jeskie, we used to be neighbours when we were kids.) Small world!

Hey, looking at those pictures, do you know Mike Swan by chance?

Kewl..... Where do the down riggers mount?

By the looks of those wraps, I would have to guess the rod being a Fenwick HMX. If you got a straight razor blade carfully cut the epoxy off on what is left over on the foot of the guide. the rest of the expoxy will come off as you unwrap the thread. Pick up another sz 28 SIC guide from Angling Specialties, grind all edges smooth and make the foot thinner of a taper. Little tip here... take a paper match and "blue" the ground foot, this will make it less noticeable through the threads once you tie. Start about 5 wraps over the tag end of thread (use proper rod wrap thread). Then take a piece of thread and double it over. You will now wrap over this doubled thread to the end of the foot plus an additional 6-7 wraps. Clean cut thread winding about an 1 inch longer and take this tag end and place through the loop you have formed with the loose thread. Carefully and gently pull the loose thread back through your wraps. Once the clean cut end is through (under) your wraps, carefully cut the remaining thread as close to the warp as possible without cutting into your windings. Inspect your wraps for flaws/ furring. Now is the time to repair this. Adjust wraps with a blunt needle and lightly/quickly remove any furring on thread with a lighter. Now you are ready for epoxy. Mix an equal amount of rod epoxy (2 parts) into a stainless steel petri dish and mix it with a blunt needle carefully not adding air pockets in it. If you get air pockets in the epoxy, take a lighter and heat up the under side of the dish, this will forces the bubbles to rise. Too much heat will discolor the epoxy. Now you are ready to cover wrap with epoxy. Evenly apply a coat of epoxy over threads (about 1/32") and a comparative amount on the rod similar to the other guides. Be sure to apply epoxy at the front of the foot where the guide to blank is too. Continue to turn rod slowly for at least 5 hrs to ensure a uniform coating and no "drips". Or, go talk to Spiel...

Temp is more important to Crappie than any other fish. (Other than Brookies and Atlantics). If you find water temps at 56-57 degs, your golden. Look for colored water in shallow Bays. Best bays are ones with a narrow opening at the mouth. Don't look for deep water in these bays. Best is less than 3 ft. Crappie look upwards so be sure to have your offering up high in the water column. I am fishing as short as 8 inches below my float in 3ft of water. Some lakes the Crappies have moved out of the bays are getting ready for stage along the inside weelines. These areas will have a sand bottom with new emergent growth off the bottom. So some searching by covering water. Use the small beetle spins. Don't worry about short strikes at this point. You are more concerned to find at least one active fish in the area. Once you do, slow your presentation down by using tubes under a float. Pay special attention on where you got the hit or caught your first Crappie. You could be the mark by 10 ft and you won't see another fish some times. Once you find where they are hitting, then broaden your area for searching. Find a confidence color to work with too. I always start off with a 2 tone - as long it is a Chartreuse tail (that's my confidence color). Don't overlook small crank baits either. Cheers, Ron...

Oh man! I gots an idea JP, you should have an exclusive contest to OFC members only. This could be a way to raise money for a charity of your choice. Make tickets @ 10.00 per ticket for a chance to win a days fishing in your new ride. Of course, it would be up to the winner to see if they want you in the boat with them! Hey, on a side note, I finally saw one of your episodes on WFN, (I don't have satellite and spend my time fishing instead of watching. WFN is free for the rest of the month too) pretty informative. I liked it! Good on ya bud.

http://www.northumbe....aspx?e=2547513 HAMILTON TOWNSHIP -- A Ministry of Natural Resources biologist faced with a motion from Northumberland County and Hamilton Township asking to specially designated Rice Lake and hold public consultations to develop fishing regulations says these discussions have already taken place. Dan Taillon said that before putting the first-ever panfish limit in place last January and expanding to year-round fishing in Zone 17, including Rice Lake, an advisory group made up of many stakeholders met for about three years to discuss the changes. There were a total of about 30 meetings, he said. The council made recommendations and then there were public consultations last spring and only then did the ministry put regulations in place, he said. The process in this zone was one of three pilot projects across the province. Of the 900 online survey responses to the recommendations, 100 were from Americans, Taillon said. While there wasn't advisory committee consensus on the fishing limit, a series of factors were considered before deciding on the 300 panfish limit for those with a sport-fishing licence, he said. This is for both the number caught in a day and the total number in a person's possession at any time whether in the boat, freezer or in a cooler, Taillon said when asked this month by Hamilton Township Mayor Mark Lovshin. A conservation licence's limit is 15 panfish of any size. "Data shows Rice Lake bluegills are showing symptoms of over-harvest," Taillon said of the data that has not been well publicized. This is one of the scientific reasons for the larger size limit on panfish, he said. But members of the Rice Lake Tourist Association have argued before both county and the township council, that if that is the case, why has year-round fishing been introduced at all. Some members of the association have petitioned that the ice fishing permitted this winter be reversed next year. At the same time, they oppose any panfishing limits because this is what tourists, especially Americans, come to the lake for during the warmer weather. They eat the fish while here and return with quantities that are cleaned and packed for transport across the border. Panfish include species like sunfish, pumpkin seed, bluegill and crappie. Taillon said that the size and overall limits will safeguard the panfish resource that Americans, and growing numbers of local anglers, are fishing for in Rice Lake. Once fish start maturing at smaller sizes, the larger size can be lost, he said of the science behind the decisions. "We may never get the chance again." He said that Rice Lake is in one of the two smallest zones in Ontario and that changing fishing regulations frequently doesn't provide enough time to determine how the fish are responding to them. As to specially designating Rice Lake with regulations that are different than the rest of the bodies of water in Zone 17, including the Kawartha Lakes, some members of the advisory council wanted a level playing field through the entire area without special enforcements on Rice Lake. He noted that there were far more similarities to other lakes in the zones that differences including the size of Rice Lake. "This is the first time in over 80 years" that there has been ice fishing on Rice Lake, he said. Huts had to be removed from the lake by March 1. Deputy Mayor Isobel Hie, who is also a Rice Lake resort operator, said that the voluntary catch and release program for sunfish has been in place for many years and that the new regulations are "kind of jerking people around." But Taillon said only with regulations can there be enforcement and fines. Lovshin asked if there had been instances of people ice fishing species such as pickerel out of season this past winter. He was told the ministry conservation officers did not catch anyone, although the police had caught and fined one person. Ministry area supervisor Tammy Tellier said that workshops are being put in place for early-May so that municipalities can air their concerns. The 10-year plan will also be reviewed in five years, councillors were told. [email protected] Article ID# 2547513

Looks like you had a great time Fish Farmer. I never did make it to the festival, too bad, it looks like I missed out on a great time. Cheers, Ron...

Oh Man!.... It isn't often I get down Hammer town way. One person's loss is another person's gain. I can guarantee you this was my loss. I always looked forward to the conversations we had in the isles. I don't think FW has realized just yet how much of an asset they have gained by having you on their team. Good for you Roger! Hey, I now have an even bigger reason other than Spiel (sucking up) to come and visit the Hammer. Cheers, Ron....

Congrats Brian! Sweet deal!