Bondy

I would say that 99.9% of people that hire guides are good all around people. They just love to fish and tell fishing stories. I only brought one guy back to the dock in 21 years of guiding. Nothing pleased this guy so I told him since none of us were having fun, we were done. I was happy to let him rot in his hotel room for day two as well. But again that happened only once in all these years.

Thanks Fisher...I've got no open dates until August though. Wish I could help em. And I'd surely like to know who doesn't respect the fishery.

I sent this thread to a well know fisheries biologist and here is what she wrote me back... Hi Jon, It looks like the fish has 3 anal spines and it is definitely deep bodied, this gives us one of 6 species: Too bad there isn't a scale on the photo. Warmouth Orangespotted Sunfish Bluegill Pumpkinseed Green Sunfish Longear Sunfish Fish has a large mouth, reaching to the eye & so the list is reduced to: Warmouth Orangespotted Sunfish (but it is not this species because the fish depicted does not have white edge around the ear flap& for many other reasons) Green Sunfish This gives us: Warmouth (has teeth on tongue): has 3 to 5 dark radiating lines going back from the eye (not seen in photo) Green Sunfish (no teeth on tongue) Solely on the photo, I think that the specimen is a Green Sunfish. It would be helpful to check out the teeth Just my 2 cents.

Mistaredone...Thanks for posting. We won't be making any changes to our site, the free baits will automatically be sent with your order. For any one who hasn't heard of the Stub Grub yet, Bassmaster featured it here... http://www.bassmaster.com/gear/bondy-bait-co-stub-grub it's designed to be dragged like a tube bait. Thanks alot again for the post! Jon Bondy

Had our limit yesterday by lunch. Threw this one one back that was still full of eggs....

http://ca.news.yahoo.com/blogs/daily-buzz/bohemian-rhapsody-sung-canadian-robert-wilkinson-back-cop-174220655.html Worth it to hear the last line....

In Michigan to save money the Michigan gov't combined the Department of Environmental Quality with the Michigan Department of Natural Resources...that didn't last long. If the MOE and MNR were to be combined to save money (I don't know whether this is planned or not-but it could be done) then you would see code words like 'ecological preservation' used instead of the term they really mean which is translated to 'limited access to sportsmen'. I've seen enough of the agenda driven, money losing windmills and solar panels within 5 km's of my house to make me very worried about who has wormed their way into the MNR senior ranks.

I worry we will end up with environmental leftists running the MNR like they have in Germany and other socialist countries. Resource management should not be infiltrated by the liberal's left wing green agenda or we will see our access and historical rights to use our provincial resources slowly and incrementally dwindled in the name of 'science'.

Unless they improved it, the one next to the bridge sucks. There is a hole where my trailer got jammed in and I could not back the boat in any further. Haven't used it since. Lasalle is an awesome ramp and the islands will give protection from the wind. I would suggest getting at least a 1 day Michigan license just in case the Ontario side gets muddy, which it does often.

WARNING....musky fishing causes sleepless nights and an empty wallet.

Gulp was 15 years in development.

Where has BPS closed one? This isn't 'Halloween Headquarters' where they open a store front for 2 weeks. BPS is a strong company especially in that location. I am a vendor to them.

Cabela's is great....for clothes.

Thanks for the proper link!

The Michigan Musky Show is this coming weekend for anyone interested. Last year was the first year, and despite being held on Superbowl weekend, and a blizzard, it was still a good show. Might be worth the drive for the musky nuts on here as it is far closer than the shows in Milwaukee and Chicago (which are also awesome shows by the way). It's in Monroe, Michigan which is about 40 minutes from the Ambassador bridge southward. Directions are on their site www.michiganmuskyshow.com

Whatever the market will give up...If they can get it, more power to them. I have too much competition around here.

Yeah, it all depends on many factors. Some guides in Michigan have access to trout rivers that other guides do not have licenses for. I charge what I would consider to be the norm for a bass boat type of guide trip which is what you find alot of in the US. I've heard of some FLA guides charging 500 bucks or more, but you don't see that very often. I'm referring to charging $200-250. That is a losing deal. On the bigger boats, I've seen people charge over $1000. But on a instructional type of small boat trip with 1-3 clients, $375 is about the norm.

Plus, if you charge 100 bucks less than everyone else, you will attract people looking for a bargain. Once you start to grow a client base around people that are looking for a deal, and you decide to take it up a notch and go full time, you will then need to increase your rates $100 and you will lose most of those people anyways and be back at square one.

I would say that most people who hire a guide will have either researched it a bunch beforehand, or will have hired guides in the past so they will know what a good guide charges. If you charge less you will raise some eyebrows and probably never know the potential large number of clients who didn't call or email you. I'm giving you solid info, charging less will not build a good client base. It's never worked in my area, and many have come and gone when they see the huge costs of trying it out.

If you charge less, the potential clients will be suspect of you being insured etc, because that stuff and the other licensing is expensive. So is gas. So really, if you don't charge the proper amount and it turns out that you just come across like you're trying to cover your costs while still getting a day of fishing in for yourself, you really will only be hurting yourself in the long run.

And don't burn bridges with other guides operating in your area, as in don't undercut them on price....

And if you live on border waters, and want to fish the US side, there are even more regs...

How to destroy a perfectly good washing machine http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=fb4_1327632405

I've driven around it a few times, and visually it looks less than impressive!!!

There is a smaller place to stay called Jug Bay....