Bernie

Hi Andy. Were you one of the guys fixing a starter that weekend? When I came off the ice a fellow was installing a starter on a Chev pickup.

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Awww you are just afraid all these comments are going to put the price up!

While I have never fly fished it's easy to see that is a piece of craftsmanship unmatched Chris. But coming from you I would expect nothing less than that. Having a rod that was put together from your fine hand is a treasure I will keep.

There is no coffee north of Orillia. Costs too much to ship it up here. Going to a Tim Hortons from up here is a weekend holiday. TV, sorry. We can get radio at night with a big antenna. Really I don't know what Marc has in his cabins. I should though, drive by them all the time, just never took the time to have a peek.

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Been to Bristol too Jason. Awesome place to watch a race. But it is a long way for us northern boys to travel and although the Michigan track isn't ideal it still is an awful lot of fun. When you think of it most of the time spent on the weekend is doing other things rather than watching the race. It's time spent with friends that you enjoy spending your time with. To me the race is somewhat secondary.

Four of went in a small motorhome couple years ago. Bought the tickets ahead of time and booked a spot in the campground. There were "trains" taking folks to the track running steady. We arrived late on the Friday 11PM and left early on Monday 4AM so traffic wasn't an issue at all. We had a great time. People in the campground were all friendly and no fighting. Try to get your tickets early in the main grandstand about 20 rows up is ideal, may be hard to get them there though. We had great tickets for the Nationwide but the ones for the Sprint were in turn 4 front row. We thought we would like to get close to the action. We did, and it was great, but it limited view to the rest of the track.

One of the best rods I have ever fished with was a Fenwick....until it broke. The next fave was a Shimano V-rod...until it got slammed in a door....dang! Now use a Shimano Crucial, it's OK but not quite there. Bought a GLoomis 7ft one piece but it isn't sensitive enough to suit me. Shopping for a new one soon. Not sure what I will end up with.

Thanks Brian and Lew. I have a Garmin Rino with full coverage but has a tiny screen. Didn't show markers, just the actual Nipissing chart. I'd be more than satisfied with that type of map. Used the Garmin for my trip to Lakair couple years ago and was right on the money as far as shoals but the small screen made it tricky.

Thanks fellas. Brian I do have the manual for it but I had to order the cables and transducer. Too bad about west of 64, just in case I get to Lakair this year. Wonder why they don't have the whole lake on it.

Thank you Will. Don't worry about bringing it up in the winter. Maybe in the spring. I need to get it installed first. I just would like to get the transducer on while in drydock, too cold to do the rest of it until spring.

I acquired a LMS-520c sounder/GPS. A fellow upgraded last year to a newer model and this one has been kicking around. As I have never had one like this before I would like some advise on what is the best option for a map of Nipissing? The whole lake, not one that stops at the mouth of the French River as some do. Nipissing will be the only map needed as my boat stays there all the time. Thanks OFC'ers.

Retarted... Definition.... is when you go into a bakery and you eat one and get another

A customer brought this in to show me today. Carved in one piece. He's quite an artist. Had I known of his talent I would have brought in the one I came across in the bush this fall for him. I asked him to send me these pictures.

Nicely done Will Great to see you get an outing with your Dad.

Wondered where it went. Was going to check in tonight and make sure Dawg was OK and that that guy from Thunder Bay wasn't verbally abusing him.

This is good advise from greenfshrmn. It may depend on how often you tow a boat. If it's only a few times each year it may not be financially wise to run a gas hog every other day just to allow you to tow your boat.

Good post splashhopper. Shows you have the ability to be humble and ask for advise. How else is a dude supposed to learn? And it paid off very well for you. Well done!

Jig and a minnow is tried and true on Nipissing. Just don't try to cut trees down from the islands up here after consuming. Some guys from down your way tried that this past weekend for a bonfire. The owner of the property caught them at it. Needless to say he wasn't too happy. Some charges were laid. These guys couldn't have known much about lighting a fire, green wood doesn't burn too well

It may be a good idea to see a new to you mechanics paperwork. Certified Technician? Schooling, experience? Lot of different things involved in marine applications vs. automotive.

Just a note to add. Many times I see someone yank the cord on a rewind and not take up the slack first. Gently pull the cord until the starter pawl engages the flywheel, then pull the cord to start. This prevents a lot of wear and tear on all the rewind parts.

Another advantage to tracks on an ATV is you only have one machine to maintain. They do slow you down but well made tracks can hit 70 mph on an 800cc. Be careful, there are a lot of crappy ones. But tracks do work incredibly well in deep snow. The downside is some models were not designed with tracks in mind So snow can swirl around you and cover you in it in no time. Have also seen a few different models plug the air filters with snow in powder conditions.

Mark, your question is somewhat vague. Hitting trails for what? Snowmobile trails do not allow ATV's to run on them. ATV's are not much good in deep snow unless you run tracks and they are still not allowed on snowmobile trails. If you don't have a need for an ATV other than ice fishing, get a snowmobile.