verado

I would bet the Grandpa was most excited with the dog appearing to be tied for second

I still have some of his articles on Perch fishing stapled on my garage wall. He was a regular sight on Erie, always anchored in the same place off the lighthouse. He had a rather distinctive boat with twin 65's or 70's that he kept at Bertie Boat Club. Waltonian Inn brings back many memories too. Spent many a weekend there for ice fishing. Frank the owner had 2 little kids, Sacha and Nadia, who I understand took over the operation after he retired. I was a teenager when I first went, saw his ad in the TV guide. You arrived Fri night and after a big breakfast on Sat, were taken by enclosed Bombardier to rather large huts with wood burning stoves. The bait was supplied as was lunch and in the evening a huge steak dinner with Frank's homemade wine. Same thing on Sunday but after lunch he started to bring people in for the return home. The fishing for Walleye, Pike, Perch and Ling was excellent. That first year this entire pkg was $48 per person.

I always looked forward to Joe's fishing articles in the newspaper and when he published his book "Fishing In Niagara" I was quick to get a copy. Imagine my surprise when I opened it to page 24 and there was my '79 Blazer and 24' Crestliner on the launch ramp in Port Dalhousie. I was totally unaware the picture had been taken

P.S. I forgot to mention snow blowers(2), power washers (2), lawnmower, wheelbarrow, ladders, shop vac, chainsaws, weedeater, leaf blower. I think I have a serious problem. Is there a crap collectors anonymous?

I store the tires in my pool shed because with a 17' ATV trailer, 19' boat, ATV, table saw, mitre saw and stand, kayak, air compressor, trikes, bikes, carriages and wagons for the grandchildren, I have run out of corners. That's not to mention all the crap I've got hanging from the ceiling, walls and attic shelves. Most of it I will never use again and if I do need it, I either forgot I have it or can't find it. I understand some people actually park their cars in the garage. And yes, they did replace my rims.

I don't use snow tires on my 4 x 4 truck but I do have them on my wife's Fusion. I change them myself and I also use a large trolley jack. The problem is the car sits so low to the ground that I cannot slide the jack under it. I use my ramps to drive up a foot and then I can do it. The hardest part for me is lugging the 8 tires back and forth to my backyard shed. I use an electric impact gun but I also use a torque wrench for the final tightening. I have occasionally had it done at garages but twice (at 2 different places), they forgot to tighten one of the wheels and by the time I drove the vehicle the mile or 2 home, the rims were ruined.

I use a product from "Shooter's Choice" . It is an all weather high tech grease with an advertised temperature range of -65 to 350 F. It comes in a push button syringe that is very easy to apply exactly where you want it with no excess. It also has a sturdy cap to prevent leakage when not in use. I started using it on my break open style of shotguns to grease the pivot points and it works great. You can find it for under $10 at any store selling gun cleaning products.

Many years ago the early spring perch fishing was very good off BBC and the yacht club. You were usually fishing in 15 feet or less of water. Once the gobys got established the perch moved out to much deeper water 50-70 feet, some say they did this to better protect their eggs during spawning. Now, any time I've tried off BBC, you're mainly fighting with gobys and the perch you catch are mostly dinks.

I have started to accept that we are always going to be screwed on gas prices but it really hit home last week when I filled a 2 gallon can of premium for my snowblower and it came to almost $18

Last year my daughter was stopped by the O.P.P. 100 yards off the beach on Lake Muskoka using her stand up paddle board. She had her life jacket but was not wearing it. The marine enforcement officer told her she needed a Boating Operators Card (which she had) to operate anything that floats on the water. I don't think this is correct and maybe he only stopped her because she was an attractive girl in a bikini. No ticket was issued. On hot summer days people like to float on their tubes down chippawa creek. I have heard of guys getting stopped for not having their safe boating card because they were using the new tubes from CTC with a tiny little cheap electric motor for positioning. As to boat license or registration, not to be confused with the safe boating card, any boat with a motor of 10hp or greater has to be registered with the license numbers visible on both sides of the hull. When outboards first came on the scene in the early 1900's, people immediately began to race them. Classes were formed such as under 5 hp, under 10 hp etc. That was the reason for marketing motors at 9.8 or 9.9. An interesting side note was that Mercury was always cheating, their 9.8 was actually putting out closer to 15hp. They always won and this is what started the rumour that still persists to this day, that Mercury's of equal hp are faster than the other brands. It wasn't until many years later that some lakes in North America started the under 10hp restrictions. That was just a convenient cut off point as all the manufactures were producing 9.8 or 9.9's. Another thing that I was only recently made aware of..... when you registered your boat of over 10 hp and put your license numbers on the hull, it was good for life or until the boat changed ownership, it was also a free service. I bought my last boat in 2014 and was stopped by the police one day last summer while fishing Erie. On checking my registration he told me I still had a few years left before I had to renew it. This was news to me and sure enough on checking, it does have an expiry date.

I agree with Smerch. The salmon, when first introduced in the late 60's early 70's have made a definite impact on the smelt. When I first started fishing tournaments back then, Molson's offered a $50,000 prize to anyone landing a 50 lb or larger salmon on rod and reel during the Toronto Star Salmon Derby. I don't recall the prize ever being awarded although several anglers came extremely close and specimens way exceeding that weight were caught in nets or found dead. After those initial years, the salmon no longer approached the 50 lb mark and now a big one is closer to 40. I think a great part of this decline can be attributed to the declining numbers of baitfish, both smelt and alewives

I know the feeling. I look at my boat wrapped up in the garage and I am itching to go. Might have to buy a new one this year (in my dreams) as I see Mercury has introduced a new 12 cylinder 600 hp verado. A unique feature is that for steering, only the lower gearcase turns while the engine itself remains stationary. Makes sense, why turn that whole 800lb engine.

We also enjoyed another successful hunt at our Haliburton Forest camp last week. A cow on opening morning and this fine bull 2 days later.er

It took a while but goby's have become one of the favorite meals of bass and walleye, hence the abundance of jigs, tubes and lures with a goby finish. Years ago when gobies were first starting to show up in large numbers, I was out fishing in Mohawk Bay on a sunny afternoon. We started to notice a huge amount of large dead fish floating on the surface. On getting close to one we saw it was a smallmouth and not dead but floating there with a huge extended stomach. Later the marina operator told us it was a common occurrence. He said the bass stuff themselves with the gobies and he believed there was something a little toxic in them that the bass were not used to yet. He said they lie there for a while on the surface while digesting and then slowly swim away with no apparent side effects. These days, a goby coloured soft tube jig is the go to lure for most knowledgeable bass anglers.

Fishing and relaxing with the family. That's what summers are for. Great pictures.

I have been fishing this area and all over the north country for over 50 years. I have never targeted musky but I also, in all that time, have never caught one by accident either. I have had bass and walleye stolen from my stringer many times by what I assumed were muskies.

My personal best was 6lb 1 oz. It's the only fish I ever had mounted. I'm starting to forget what a sunny morning looks like.

For years I drifted the upper Niagara in the Black creek area. The only presentation I ever used was a 3 way swivel with a bell sinker on the bottom and about 3 feet of line attached to a silver flatfish or quickfish. It was dynamite on smallmouth. The only problem arose during the late summer when seaweed was very heavy.

Beautiful, exactly what a hunting camp should be.

You're absolutely right Smerch. The guy on the left in the Quebec Tuxedo is my Dad and the guy on the right is indeed Jack Hills. He was one of my buddy's father-in-law and a great guy. Spent a long, cold night in the bush with him one year when we got lost. Sadly to say, everyone in those photos is gone now. My one buddy worked as a Geo-phycisist for mining and exploration companies all through Canada's north. He would pick the campsite from aerial photos or first hand experience on the ground. He would supply two big prospector tents and the air tight stoves to heat them. On arrival, first thing in the morning, we would cut the pine logs to use as support poles and set the tents facing each other about 25 feet apart. A carpenter buddy brought a lot of 2" strapping that we would use to build a dining fly in the gap between covered in heavy duty plastic. We also used the strapping to build shelves along one side to hold our camp stoves and other camp equipment. Old carpet was brought up for floors in the tents . There was usually 6 of us so 3 cots were placed in each tent. We had tons of room and I don't think I have ever been as cozy in a cabin as we were in those tent camps. We did that for probably 20 years in a row. Now I stay in a 1930's era hunt camp in the Haliburton Forest but I still miss those old days.

Several years ago I received a flyer from Bass Pro for the great Canadian fishing week. Every ad had a maple leaf on it and they also said shipping would be free. I ordered a one piece ultra light rod that was $150 on sale from $300 figuring it was coming from Canada. After I placed my order, they informed me that due to the size of the box the rod would have to be shipped in, there would be a slight extra charge. The rod arrived the following week along with the bill for $150 plus the shipping and duty charges of $185 US. I immediately called them and was speaking to a lady with a strong southern accent. She informed me that absolutely everything that is ordered online from BP is shipped from their main facility in Missouri, regardless of what the ads say. I asked her if she really thought I would order a $150 rod if I knew I had to pay $185 in shipping, so I said I was going to return it. She agreed and said this one time she would waive the shipping. I learned my lesson and have never ordered anything online from them again. I don't know if it is still the same since BPS and Cabella's have merged. Anything ordered from Cabella's (guns included) is shipped from Winnipeg with no extra charges, duty or US funds.

Quite a while ago we were featuring strange boat names that some of us had. Came across this photo of my 1979 24 foot crestliner and thought I would share.

A few pictures of some early bush camps for moose. Can you guess what the one with the birch logs is? That was roughing it.

Great story Surf and Turf. Reminds me so much of my first moose hunting trips as a teenager. One thing we did do right was leave home around midnight so we would arrive in our hunting area (usually Gogama or the Sault) around first light and have all day to set up camp. We always used prospector tents with air tight stoves. I've got several photos of some of our camps and I will try to post them. Looking back on it now Surf, I think you'll agree with me, we really didn't know what the hell we were doing way back then but it was fun and quite the learning experience.

I'm planning on making my first walleye outing of the year on Friday if the forecast holds.