A compound fracture of my left ankle 25 years ago led to an initial repair that left me with bone on bone as you Eelpoutguy now live with. 25 years ago the only choice to end the pain was to have the ankle fused. Since then I have lived a fairly normal life as I was able to walk without pain, even continued downhill skiing. When I asked my orthopedic doc about skiing he said it was risky business but if it were him he’d stick to the groomed runs. While the skiing led to a broken tibia and fibula of the same leg 20 years later after not following the groomer advice, the ankle is still 100% solid and pain free. However the skies are history after I turned 70. Only down side of the fused ankle was not being able to run. If I were in your shoes today, I’d go for a bionic ankle for sure. Best of luck!

2B or not 2B…. sorry, could not resist… I have one in my arsenal. 1st one broke up at the tip when I tangled some line around it and I was simply trying to get it untangled. Snapped like it was a match stick. After trading emails back and forth telling me I was most likely to blame, I took the rod directly to the factory (large garage) up in Walker and dropped it off. A week later a new one showed up in a large tube. Love the rods performance. The second stick is holding up nicely. I’ve had many brands, most fail eventually. I’m not perfect, more than half were my fault. It’s what the manufacturer does to make it right that counts, especially in the 1st year when the break if obviously a quality issue. The 2B blanks are sourced from China I believe. Set your expectations accordingly.

I’d recommend you look into discone antennas. They are very useful receive only antennas with very wide bandwidth in the vhf/uhf spectrum.
Some are fairly robust but may have some limitations if you wish to use them in mobile applications. Good luck, keep us posted on what works for you.

K0COM

I’ve had several side consoles, and 3 tillers. The tillers win in my book. Never had a full windshield but fished out of several. I’ll trade off the added comfort for the fish ability of a tiller. Currently in a 185 Competitor with a 90 Suzuki. I just looked again at a 205 this spring as prices appear to have fallen quite a bit. Nice but just too much for me size wise. I’m in my 70’s and fish alone sometimes. The 185 is perfect. Also fish LOTWs with 2 other old duffers in the boat… everyone’s very happy. If I replace it in a few years, I’d buy exactly the same.

Thomas Jefferson wrote that a well-informed electorate is a prerequisite to democracy. The video does help us understand elements of our government and police behavior that has not been exposed before.

The other side of the coin is the behavior of the citizen. I find seeing the behavior of Mr. Floyd, both in this case and in prior cases as instructive. He must not have watched Chris Rock’s routine on how to not get your ass kicked by the police… this whole mess started right there.

Crappie fishing up on LOTW today! Big schools in the deeper holes plus more than a few musky hanging around. We keep our big plastic musky jigs ready. We watch those with live view chase the musky around and they seem to have good luck jigging for them. Dress warm! No time for shorts and flip flops

To monitor cabin temps while I’m away I use “Temp Sticks”by Ideal Science. They connect via the internet to an app on your phone, computer, etc. The app allows alarms. No fees!

I have electric baseboard heat. Each unit has its own control. Love to be able to have the ability to zone control these and connect a remote thermostat. Anyone that has such a setup please reply to me.

Power outages do happen in winter, we had one after the big heavy and wet snowstorm last January. An automatic back up AC generator would add peace of mind.

I bought the V1 for Ontario however the Eagle lake map was only good for basic navigation. With that and watching for the prolific orange bouys we got around the lake all OK. I then used the auto mapping feature of the Helix 9 to graph structure we wanted to fish. A very productive method!

Lots of musky fishermen none caught out of our camp. Northers still on shallow rocks. Walleyes were deep. Lots caught, none over the slot.

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I have had the same experience with Fenwick and 2Brothers. I have a Genesis 7 ft med light from 2B’s that failed. Ran into the same rigmarole about most likely not defective, buy a rod tube and have it shipped to me. Tube never showed up so I drove up to their small facility in Bemidji and dropped off the broken rod. 2 weeks later I received a new rod, no explanation.
2Brothers is pretty small specialty operation. Fenwick is part of a much larger group of brands and much easier to work with. I got a new Fenwick under a lifetime warranty after a 20 year old Fenwick had a spiral fracture!

I love both rods. Bought the Genesis at $200 after having a good experience with an Elliot ice fishing rod. I compared it to the Elliot and for the hundred some dollar greater price tag on the Elliot I chose to try the Genesis instead. Excellent rod for the money.

Now based on my experiences, if I was going to spend over $200 on a rod again, I’d buy a Fenwick. They still offer a limited lifetime warranty on their upper models.

I didn’t think so then 3 weeks ago my Suzuki found a doozie up on LOTW.

Never got a look at the rock though!

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It was the summer of 1970. I was 19 and Diana was 17. We met at Thomas Beach on lake Calhoun where all the hippies hung out. Summer romance ended when my folks moved out of state and I went to college in Colorado. Got back the next summer… to late she picked up with a classmate and was,going to get married. Out paths crossed a couple times once in 1982 when she was getting a divorce and I was getting married. Fast forward to 1997. I’m newly divorced and was catching up with an old mutual friend who had a death in the family. After updating him on my singleness, he says well, you know who you should get ahold of….I end the call with Diana’s phone number. She’s single and living in Burnsville. Of course I overthink things and sit on her number. 2 days later my phone rings…. It’s a woman on the other end and asks me if this is Mike. Ya, then she says this is Diana, are you interested in meeting me? Well,yes I believe I am. We got reacquainted end of 1997 and were married in early 1999. Love of my life. Now we get to spend our golden years together enjoying our lake home together. She doesn’t fish but completely supports my time away on a lake enjoying the other love of my life… fishing.

1st time trying the Jerk Minnow. Worked as well as the Z Mann trick shots. Hard not to catch a few of Tom’s videos. He’s so prolific. 2 Brothers Rods, check. Googleeye jigs, check. 832 Braid, check. If it works, it’s hard to argue with it. I find it difficult to transition my buddies into using plastics. This year we dedicated one day to only plastics for 6 people. Most struggled but they were not using a longer rod and braid. I continued to hammer fish all day. I’ve been fine tuning the approach for several years. Worth the effort in my opinion.

Kalins Jerk minnow jr, Arkansas shad
Z man trick shot shad

Google eye jigs

Good as using real minnows last week up in the Canadian side around Splitrock Island area. I used these 90% of the week and did as well if not better than my minnow partner. Gotta have the confidence and the right short snap and drop on a tight line.

After 30 yrs I’ve had so many good cigars… many previously mentioned. As for fish boat cigars I purchase locally at Tobacco Grove on my way up north. They have a house brand 10 cigars for $50. I get the biggest ring gage, 5 Connecticut and 5 maduro. I save some money better spent on a good bottle of bourbon, non oxy gas for the motor and bait.
BTW LOTW out of Tamarack Island lodge was off the hook!

Buy one with. Honda engine! Other consideration is to have multiple nozzles, a soaping option, and having it on wheels. I did a google search for best power washer and bought the one with a Honda engine.

Haven’t spent the money for one… if you have a roller trailer, the boat will want to run down off the trailer very easily. Big problem if you are launching the boat by yourself like i do. I use a quick release snap shackle and a spring snap link together with a line ties to the snap link. At the landing I attach the snap link to the bow eye and hook the safety chain to the quick release snap shackle. I back in the boat and trailer, let the winch lower the boat…that wants to run on down the roller trailer till the boat Is held by the safety chain. Then take the winch strap off, grab my line and pull the release on the snap shackle. Boat rolls right on down the trailer when I want it to. Piece of cake. The benefit of having the Drotto latch for me would be when loading the boat back on the trailer, for sure. However I have a spare tire mounted on the trailer that lets me take out about 3 feet of winch strap and lay the hook on top of the tire. Then I pull up on the trailer to very near the top, leave the motor on in gear to hold the boat in place, then go up front, lean over and hook the strap to the bow eyelet. Climb out and with a few cranks I’m ready to go. If you go with the Grotto, might as well get the steps mounted on your trailer so you can get out easy.

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Update: late last season I ordered a Solex Rubex 3, same pitch as the OEM Suzuki prop. Better hole shots, 3-4 mph and now turns 6200 rpm no problem. Most likely why the additional few mph. These props require a hub kit that is a separate part. Install was easy. Very happy with this prop!

Nice rig for sure. I’ll be looking for you out on Rosie. I’ve got a 185 tiller with a 90 Suzy myself. So if you see me 1st please stop and introduce yourself. I’ll do the same.

Ok, im just not into the dark and cold so I’ll wait till sun up to hit a few lake near Outing. Rosie, Washburn, maybe Thunder. Good opportunity to find some kind of bite! I’ll be happy to take what the lake provides me. Hoping to find a partner.

EPG – ok so down south of the Cities then. I was thinking this was up by Outing. Thanks for reporting them. Others must have seen them as well. Hope they were identified. And held accountable. Do you ice fish up around Outing? I’m over on Leavitt.

Steve Hix wrote:

That is Helliars Resort. I will be there on the 29th.

I’ll be there on June 4-11 for my first visit to this area of LOTWs. Very interested in your experience. How did the high water levels affect the fishing, water temps, etc.

Ya hole shot could be better, I had a 4 blade stainless on a Warrior with a 120hp and it was excellent. I was looking at the top RPM for my Suzuki and it can go up to 6k. I don’t thing mine rig will hit over 5500 trimmed up and 30-32 mph.

Yes but didn’t find a test that matched. That was a year ago so I’ll check again.
Thanks

From what I’m finding on the internet Id think that the retailers don’t have time to get the product into their online systems. They sell everyone right out of the store. To have one for Xmas it seems having a friend that works at one of the larger retailers would be a great plan. I’m gonna try a local Scheels to see if one can “get on the inside track” if one exists. For the on line sellers, I wonder if getting on a back order list might be another approach?

I’d go with a bundle so I hope you are correct James.

True and it’s a hassle at times as my engine needs to be running to get power. I use my Hummingbird for GPS lake maps only and rarely need it powered up unless I’m moving.

My Ski Doo Expedition had an accessory 12v accessory socket option available so I ordered the kit. It plugged into the stock harness. I did not use the cigarette lighted connector and went with a polarized plug instead. The power is only on when the engine is running so no threat of a dead battery.

I’m an extra class amateur radio operator, and on old guy too. Love the tube equipment from the 40’s & 50’s. New technology is in the fish boat ha ha.

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I found when they shut off on minnows and plastics, I dropped a jigging rap on them and they went crazy for that. I went through all the jigging raps I had. The rocks kept pulling the plastic fins off the tail end of the lead.

We did Tamarack the second week of September. The bloom was way down. The Musky fishing was very slow. The fish seemed to have moved out of the shallow rocks. Caught a 48″ fish by accident while jigging for walleye. So next year same time period on LOTW I’ll have a bigger selection of very large jigs with me. The pike were still on the rocks and the walleye were snapping up plastics as fast as minnows.

I’m so very sorry your party didn’t successfully gain entrance into Canada. We have heard about both success and failure. So to assist others can we get details on what testing places worked and why as well as what didn’t work and why. All the best to all that go for it.