Ron

So tell us, what was more exciting... Catching the nice clean Muskie or seeing 3.3 on the fish finder? I would have to say the fish finder myself, the reason being this lets you know it is set up properly in the sense that the transducer is at the right angle to pick up 3FOW at high speed.

Good on ya Mike. In my eyes, there is nothing more gratifying than putting something back into what someone has a passion for. Ironically lots of people have a negative opinion on the Atlantic Salmon program. The sad part of it is, most of them are avid fishermen/women and do squat for ways to improve the fishery. What I don't understand, people harp and whine about what a waste of money. I always ask them, "what did it cost you?" They don't have an answer because it didn't cost them a dime. It didn't cost them a dime for the amount of volunteer hours spent to improve the stream sides. It didn't cost them a dime for the amount of volunteer hours spent raising awareness in the high schools where students took on a handful of fry to raise as fingerlings and then to release them into the streams. It didn't cost them a dime for having volunteers organize a "clean up day". It didn't cost them a dime to have volunteers improve the structure on the river and stream beds. It didn't cost them a dime to have volunteers stock these native species in the water sheds. In fact, the people who hope this stocking program fails should know it didn't cost them a dime to improve the over all fisheries of native, naturalized and introduced species. The Atlantic Salmon Restoration Project was funded in large part by Banrock Station Winery, OFAH and the LCBO. Here is a web site for those of you who think this is a waste of time. http://www.bringbackthesalmon.ca/ Mind you, how can it be a waste of time if it's not your dime?

Looks like we missed out on a great time. My Niece's wedding was this weekend, I would have enjoyed that just as much. (OK, I'm lying, I would have enjoyed that more). Some mighty fine folks you chum around with Joey. Say hi to Snady and Adam next time you guys chat. Cheers, Ron...

Hey good catch Wayne. Ya gotta start somewhere! It still aint the bottom of the barrel fish at least. Cheers, Ron...

I agree PT. This is my largest to date on the Kawarthas: Just over 30 lbs I figure.

Glad to see you back on line Lew. I take it you won't be coming to tonights meeting in Peterborough? Cheers, Ron...

Terrible news to receive. Hope all is well for Big Cliffe and Sue. We are thinking of them. Give me our best wishes Norm. Ron...

Well if people are going to harvest fish out of season (poaching), I guess we might better close all seasons of all species to coincide with Bass opener and then close them on November 15th. Cause everyone knows, guys keep walleye, bass, muskie and pike starting on the 4th Saturday in April.

September 23, 2009 A Toronto man has been fined a total of $3,750 for bass fishing-related offences. Robert D. Alexander pleaded guilty to possessing a quantity of fish that was over the limit, fishing without a licence and illegally transporting fish. Court heard that in July 2009, Alexander was stopped by Ministry of Natural Resources conservation officers on Trent River Road, in Trent River, Northumberland County. An inspection of his fishing gear revealed a large quantity of skinless fish. Further investigation showed that Alexander possessed 56 skinless fillets (the equivalent of 28 fish) that had been harvested without a fishing licence. It was determined that the fillets were all bass. The possession limit for bass in the area is six. Justice Allison Forestall heard the case in the Ontario Court of Justice, Cobourg, on September 21, 2009. Anglers are reminded that each individual is responsible for being aware of their limit and fishing within it. To report a natural resources violation, call 1-877-TIPS-MNR (847-7667) toll-free any time or contact your local ministry office during regular business hours. You can also call Crime Stoppers anonymously at 1-800-222-TIPS (8477).

Instead of our fishing license going up in price, I think every person that generates an income from OUR natural resources should pay for a separate license. Look at all the resort owners, guides and charter boats that reap the rewards with the money of our existing funds from the fishing and hunting licenses. I too agree with the tag system, buy 3 - 5 tags, use em up, that's it, your done harvesting. This should be done with all species (excluding panfish and coarse fish), as far as I'm concerned.

I am so sad to hear this news Joey. I am sure Paul is there to help you out through this tough time to go through as well as all your friends here at OFC. If there is anything we can do to help out please don't hesitate to ask. God Bless. Ron...

Well Wayne, You definitely got some great memories from the Summer and certainly some not so great memories as well. It's hard to do a juggling act on your Summer but I do hope the good memories far out weigh the bad. Chin up bud. Cheers, Ron...

Don't forget about the "drift" and be sure to leave your "tea bags" at home Gerritt

Talking to Lloyd, he said teh pair of ya had a great time. Good on ya's.

Good to hear your are having a "good" time there Cliff. I'm sure Carole misses her net man.

I know the spot I know the spot! Can I tell huh huh can I can I???? Nice Brookie Guido. I bet that fish had hook marks in him from when we were up there a while back. I can almost guarantee you on which rock you got him on too! PS: Too bad they did the Fishin Canada Show up there, I think it made it busier than normal. Cheers, Ron...

hahaha actually, she can steer that thing with one hand on the wheel. (Thanks Roy, I'll pass on the words to Steph)

Crap, I'm almost tempted to jion just to be the Camera man now!....Not that there's anything wrong with that.....

MY daughter was guilty of stirring up a traffic jamb at our local Tim Hortons.

I saw you fueling up on the 12 by Beaverton on Sunday morning. I was on my way home from Nipigon. You actually guided Harrison out there? Nice Bass, not sure about the typical muskie though. My average on the Kawarthas is in the 38" range. But then again that's all I target. Too bad about the vertical hold, they deserve much more than a bone stretch. Cheers, Ron...

Hey Wayne, Just got back from our trip, heard the news on the way home. So sorry to hear bud. Kinda kewl seeing that ol train bridge. I'm sure you and your family had lots of great memories there. Cheers man, Ron....

Sorry Lloyd, Wayne, Terry and Dan. I will be busy hooking up with the toothy critters on the Kawartha's. It will be the last weekend of the season for them on my home waters.

Our Lake of the Woods and Nipigon trip was steller! Being on a new body of water is always a challenge and boating your first Muskie on Lake of the Woods on a spot you pick out for yourself is always a great feeling. The weather could have been a little more accommodating but to say the least, you have got to be prepared! Lake of the Woods reminded me of fishing in the middle of the Muskokas at first for the amount of cottages surrounding Kenora. I was a little more than disappointed at first seeing this as I had always envisioned LOW being such a "remote" location to fish. Once you get through Devils gate things change…BIG time! It seems as though you had gone through a time change, oh ya, we did. The color of the water was something I'm not use to either. In the Kawarthas, the water is so clean, you can see follows for what seems to be 15 feet behind the lure. On LOW, you had to constantly watch for any shadows behind the lures. My buddy Keith tagged one of his 45 inchers doing a figure 8….for what seemed to be an eternity, well over 30 f8's! She was hot on the Spinner doing laps off the tip of the 7ft rod. By now Keith was on his knees with the rod in the water to the cork wishing he had an 8 footer to get this girl to hit. Talk about an adrenaline rush when they hit so close to the boat and with as little amount of line out. This was the first Muskie Keith has caught on a figure 8, I am sure he will do this as a follow through on all his cast now! We seen many a Muskie on this grand lake, definitely an experience to remember. Total count for myself was boating 4 with the largest being 40inches and Keith with 2 twins at 45 inches. I know Mike boated a Muskie and Cupcake unfortunately didn't receive anything for his well worked out efforts. Areas to fish were weedlines, rocks, fallen trees and of course don't forget to add water. I was surprised to see how close to shore all the fish were. A GPS is a must on this lake. Especially driving off the lake in the dark back to the trucks, in the wind, in the rain, fully loaded with much less free board than one is use to. Did I mention wind, Devils Gate, dark???? Back on the road, drive all night and now off to Nipigon, we set up base camp and fish the river for the afternoon. Mike and myself didn't fair so well educating any of the world renown trophy brooktrout, however this is where Cupcake boated a nice Brookie in the 19 - 20 inch range. Ironicly, it is still not considered a legal fish until it reaches 22 inches. The next day we awoke to a calm morning. We knew this would be the day to do the 30 mile trek into Lake Nipigon to persue the trophy Northern Pike we have always heard about. Nipigon didn't let us down either. Having Mike with me and Keith with Cupcake, it wasn't long for Keith and Cupcake to start laying a beating on the Pike. I was still in the mode of exploring and traveling 30 miles into uncharted waters still didn't cut the urge to see what else is out there. As I controlled the boat and checked out the GPS Mike was up front of the boat laying a beating on Walleye! Now we know where to go for Walleye on this lake too, you just gotta pick your days… Back into the mode of hooking into one of these monster Pike has now come back to me and Mike certainly was the man to do a good number on them. I still came up fishless for most of the morning but as Mike put, I was just waiting for the right one to have a dance with. I guess he was right as this one was definitely worth the wait. On our way around the weed bed to do another drift through I was doing some cast into the nearby lilypads and this Pike put my heart up into my throat. She had at least another 20 lbs on the one I caught. (Hey I'm a fisherman, you know the story about the one that got away)… Getting back to camp that night fight with the rain to keep the fire from going, it was a few extra beers under the tarp and then off to bed. The next day was no better weather wise, hoping we could get another 30 mile boat ride under our belt, was not going to happen, the waves were more than 2 metres high… Time to explore new waters…Note to self, this is not the time to find new shoals for potential Brook trout. Luckily I managed to stay clear of any skeg busting rocks, marked it on the GPS for another day. With our tails between our legs we opt to stay near the quiet side of the Islands and work our way back towards camp. Nothing to show for in the morning, we get back towards a shoal I hadn't fished in many years. Keith is up to bat with a nice Brookie starting it fall colors. We had 2 more follows and that was it. The last spot we hit for the day once again produced 3 legal Brookies with the largest being 23 inches on the nose beating Keith out by a mere half inch! Getting back to camp, Cupcake and Mike were breaking up camp as the forcast wasn't looking to promising and opted to go elsewhere to finish off their week. We hung it out, managed to find one more spot for Fall Brookies with this heaviest Brookie being caught on the rocks. Once again being blown off the lake and not wanting to stop fishing, off to a Smallmouth Bass lake to finish the afternoon off. Non stop action it was…. We had a bit of a scare back at camp, Keith yells out BEAR!!!!, put the hair up on the back of my neck…with axe in hand and about to fight for my life with this charging "Bear" only to discover it was a black lab….. heart still pounding thinking about it… Needless to say we had a bond fire of all fires that night, Matt would have been proud! Waking up in the morning only to see a downpour we decided to pack up 8 hours early and see what trouble we could get into on the way home. On a tip given to me by a reliable source, (don't ever listen to your brother), we hit a lake on the way home which has "hoards" of big Pike. Somehow I think he added the words "Big" to the hoards of Pike. Still a great day with almost every cast getting a hammer handle but wasn't really what we were looking for. We finished the trip off with a fun day of catching and finished the long drive home. Overall if a person was to do this again, do only one or the other. Lake of the Woods deserves a full trip and the same goes for Nipigon. Trying to put both into the same trip kind of gives you a taste and not the full experience. Cheers, Ron….

OK, it is a telescopic rod. Count the tiles (4). Your handle is on tile 1, the telescopic joint is on tile 2 and the first line guide is on tile 3. Grab your rod with both hands, one on the foregrip (handle, wood like thingy where you put the reel on, some people call this stuff cork.) Take your second hand and place it about 6 inches below the first line guide (a line guide is where you put your fishing line through to the tip of the rod, there should be several of them on a fishing rod), apply moderate pressure as you are twisting the rod at the same time. This will make the rod collapse inside each other. You can then relocate the line guides to the position you wish.

Cost of batteries - $100.00 to $350.00 per battery. Taking pictures of wiring and posting on the internet = free Go to a marina or automotive shop with boat in tow to seek advice = free to $30.00 Not knowing how yours are wired up, I would be willing to spend the $30.00. That is still cheaper than the battery charger if you happen to blow that up too.