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If I get a dog some day, I will call it Cat.

LOL!

Why is that? I rather love the triggers on my Shimanos.

D'oh! Didn't read.. I guess I'm used to lakes around here where it seems there's really only one way to get to the other end, and that's by boat. Sorry for the pointless reply, MichaelAngelo! I would fish both sides, myself. One day try one, see what you get, then try the other. Of course, this is just what I would do, not knowing the depth. Edit: just saw you have access to a canoe - bonus! I don't know much about fishing yet either, still learning all I can, but that makes my earlier suggestion of trolling relevant again! Depth really seems to depend on species you're after, time of day/year/temperature of the water, etc.

Hmm, I may try this with pike. I love my fried bass fillets (oil, pepper, seasoning salt.. mmm, simple) too much to "waste" one. And I rarely go after and catch walleye right now (love them equally to, or maybe a bit more than bass).

Happy birthday!

Good advice. I think BoaterExam lets me pay $10 to order a second card or something, but if photocopies are acceptable, I'll be doing this. I had been keeping my card in my tackle box, since it's always with me if I'm in a boat.

You only gotta ever do it once, and it's about $40+tax if you do it at BoaterExam.com and use a coupon code to get ten bucks off. My wife and I both just did ours not long ago. Just check RetailMeNot.com for a coupon code.

I'm new to owning a battery and a charger, and here's what I can tell you: I bought a Schumacher (model SEM-1562A or so much-1562A, not sure which). It said it was for recharging small batteries, including deep cycle, and maintaining them. Well, after a few trips in the canoe, the battery level said recharge when I checked it with the Minn Kota motor, so I hooked it up. After I don't know how many hours (many), it said it was charged. Took it out, the motor said it was about half (low)! The stupid charger doesn't fill it up all the way. It doesn't even take as long as the manual says it should before the light goes green! I keep disconnecting a lead and putting it back on, then it charges some more, repeat over and over. Do not buy this model. I need a new charger now. +1 to buying a new battery. I'd never buy used batteries. Also, I wouldn't order from Hong Kong or whatever. I did that with a NiMH battery from DealExtreme, the thing is crap. Worst battery life ever.

Some people hate it, but I love it: trolling. This is basically all I do when I'm in my canoe right now, since I don't have a depth finder [yet] and I am unfamiliar with the lakes. I'd suggest, if you can, to troll around and get fish that way. If you find you get a fish in a particular spot, try anchoring and casting there for a while. Again, I'm still fairly newly-returning to fishing, but this is how I did it as a kid (mostly going for pike at the time) and how I do it now (got walleye and lots of bass this way in certain lakes). Once I get a depth finder and/or learn the lakes, my tactics will change slightly, but I think I'll always have a love for trolling.

If I am fishing with someone else who is anchoring and dropping a worm on a hook, I'll do that. I consider myself a newbie too, and I'm not entirely sure what else to do in these scenarios.. I sometimes cast anyhow, but usually end up hooking pike when we're going for walleye. If I am fishing by myself (or with people who aren't "in charge" for lack of better term), I always use artificial lures. Once I tagged a worm onto the treble of a Williams Wobbler and I got a nice little smallmouth bass on it. One of my friends always uses a pickerel rig with either worms or dead minnows on it. Always. Always... He saw me hook a bass on a Rapala and it jumped and at some point it got off, but he says to me, "I didn't think you could catch fish like that." And I asked what he meant, and he says, "with a lure." ... LOL We went fishing at the Montreal River off the shore and again, pickerel rig. He caught nothing. I caught two smallmouths. He saw me working a Hula Popper and goes, "so you just try to snag them?" Uhh, no, that's not how it works. LOL So we went fishing in the canoe another time. Again, he's got his pickerel rig. Doesn't even bring tackle of any kind with him, just one single pickerel rig. I caught two pike on lures, he caught nothing. Finally he says, "Next time, I think I will try a lure." SUCCESS!

Wow, you have been really busy with Photoshop! I can hardly tell that you stretched all these fish to look so huge. I wanna get something big like those sometime... Good job.

Like Mike, I lost my job and couldn't find one for about 5 months and was planning to move cities in hopes of finding work. Nobody gave me a cent - not even my own parents. All I got was EI, which came too late to really help and I paid into to begin with. The parents and coaches should be organizing fundraisers to - gosh - fund this kind of thing, if they have to do it. Wash my car - it costs what, a penny per car? I'll pay for that. Cut my lawn - that costs you nothing, I've got a lawnmower you can use. I'll pay for that. Shovel my driveway in the winter - I've got shovels you can use. I'll pay for that. Begging is not fundraising. This is teaching these kids that the world owes them something, when it's actually the opposite.

Congrats!

Nice!

Nice report! I'd love to get me a bucket o' perch sometime this year.

I've owned many Rapala lures over the years (at one point, it was just those and Williams in my tackle box - I've broadened my horizons since then), and had one or two's lips bust in half, but never had one pull out of the body. I've lost many more due to hard snags than ever broken. I'd definitely contact them and see what they say if it's fairly new. Edit: oh yeah, I did have a treble hook break in half while trying to get the hook out of my net - that was kinda odd, but hardly a real issue.

Yeah, haha. Well, we didn't catch anything except sunburn on my knees, and my cousin who was manning the bow caught a guy's Ugly Stik (w/ Sedonna). Those Auroras must only like very early morning (exact opposite of me!), so I'll give it another shot sometime soonish.

Right on! My favorite catch so far has been a 16"er. I, too, am getting a bit of water in my Sportspal again, but after 10+ hours on the lake yesterday, it wasn't too much. I'm not too worried.

Hahaha, that is awesome! It's good to always have a camera, eh? And nice fish.

Nice walleye! It looks bigger than 3lbs to me, but I'm not a good judge of weight yet. The Fish ON-Line site is really inaccurate. They list no smallmouth bass in several lakes in each of which I have caught several smallmouth bass.

Very nice fish! Good work.

Thanks, all. I guess I really need a scale. I was just going by the conversion approximation charts from RodRule.com. This guy fought harder than my 19.5" I got on Tuesday. It did feel to me that it weighed more than 1.2lb or whatever the chart said, but with no way to weigh it... I was thinking about that $30 electronic scale that stores the weights and stuff so you can browse it later on, I think it's by Rapala. May have to just go get it soon.

She hates fishing. lol, but she likes to pick the lures for me when I'm not having any luck, and she's usually right. Her dad took her when she was young, but I can't seem to get her to pick a rod back up. She thinks all the fish are cute. Well, the small ones. And pike. I don't get it! At least she wants to come with me. Bonus Round I haven't slept yet. I just went off a dock in Gillies Lake. Got a 16" guy, probably just over 1lb, at 6:20am on my new favorite bass lure, Cotton Cordell Rayburn Red Super Spot. It fought like a champ! It was quite a ways out there, too, and it jumped four times, pretty high too. It was almost a majestic sight in the early morning light. It went under the front of the dock I was standing on twice, one time was really tough - thought the line might cut. Easily my favorite bass catch so far, even though it wasn't my biggest. Obviously, I kept it. I'm gonna have a fish fry later today when I wake up, since I am now at my limit (maybe one under, I know I have one pike's filets in the freezer too that I may have counted, but better safe than sorry). Hopefully we will get our Auroras early on Monday, time enough to go after some bass after. My cousin's never caught a bass, so I wanna hook him into his first. My own first was just a month and a day ago. I've been hooked ever since.

Hey, I have a DSi too! I really only use it for Solitaire while on the toilet... Nice fish! Man, I'd love to get something huge like that sometime. I'd be afraid it may ruin me for bass fishing, though.. But I'd still like to! Congrats!