Sheldon Hatch

Well I have been testing the new StructureScan™ for the Lowrance HDS units and it seems to be great for figuring out structure and will be a great pre-fishing tool. I now have some big boulders marked with waypoints out on a local lake.

In the top image you can see the rock pile to the right of the boat and a couple of huge boulders that measured over 10 feet across. I have seen this area many times with an underwater camera but never new the boulders where that big.

In the bottom image you can see the 3 screen selection on the HDS.

The first screen is the StructureScan left and right with a pile of rocks to the left. The next screen on the top right is the DownScan which shows some weeds along bottom. And the bottom right screen is the standard sonar with the StructureScan overlay so you can easily determine structure and easy target separation.

The best part is there are almost no settings and it works right out of the box (plug-n-play), all I had to do was adjust the contrast to get a good image with nice target separation.

I will report more once I spend some more time with StructureScan on the water.

-sheldon

The last week of October was great as usual on the Bay of Quinte with a few days of outstanding fishing. Looking through my logs this is always the best week for numbers of fish, but moving into November the fish get bigger. The hot colour where Blue and Silver and most fish seem to be located between the Ferry and the Light House East of Pull Point. The jig fishing has also been good, but I have been working flats and structure areas out in Adolphus Reach to stay away from the crowds around Thompsons Point.

Next week I am jigging in lake up north so I will report on how the bite is on the inland lakes. Next week I return to Quinte and will report on more walleye fishing activity.

Til’ the next report… keep you line tight.

-sheldon

The fishing has been stable with large fish caught on the troll while running deep diving cranks 25 feet down just East of Keith’s Shoal. The popular baits like the Reef-Runner 800, Manns Stretch 20+, Rapala Tail Dancers and Worden’s Sea Tiger in white or white with blue have been producing the most fish. Trolling speeds have been in the 1.7 to 2 mph range and the real windy days have produced the best.

Lots of fish are out in front of the cement factory in Picton Bay and there is also a good number of fish off of Sherman’s and Thompson’s Points. The jiggers have been doing good in these areas with a few nice walleye coming off the jig. In the next few weeks as the temperature drops the jig bite should improve as the fish start to relate to bottom.

The surface temperatures out in the deep water East of the Glenora Ferry have been in the 56 to 52 F range , while the Picton Bay area has been in 52-45 F range.

The long range forecast for the next week looks like more South winds and above normal temperatures so the water temps should hold close to the same for the week, which mean most fish will be in that 25 to 30 foot range.

Until next week keep you lines tight and fish on…

Well the walleye have been on fire out in the big lake this summer. Many have gone into the double digits for size and we have had a few days where we limited out in only a few hours. It is nice to catch the big walleye in the mild summer weather. Most fish seem to be coming off the troll with 800 series reef runners in any combination of Purple. If you are looking to get out for some of these big summer time fish make sure you book early as most guiding dates are taken for the remainder of August.

In October I will be moving into the Bay of Quinte to start hunting down the walleye as they move into the bay area following all the gizzard shad.

Fish on…

-sheldon

Gord and I are up in Mattagami pre-fishing for a tournament on Lake Mattagami. We wake up the first morning to hit the water and our truck and boat is covered in snow – Yes I said snow. We headed out and tried to fish some locations but many times during the morning we had to stop the boat and wait out the flurries as we could

not see from the heavy snow fall.

Later in the afternoon the sun came out and the temperature climbed above freezing and we managed to get on to a few nice walleye before loading the boat back on the trailer. Bellow is some images from the day.

The NEW 2009 Suzuki EQUATOR

I would like to welcome my newest sponsor Rivington Suzuki - This season I will be towing with the new Suzuki EQUATOR 4×4 truck which has a 6300 pound towing capacity. I have been driving Suzuki vehicles for over 10 years and find the new Equator truck is a perfect design for outdoor enthusiasts that need a tow and play hard vehicle. The following article explains why the New 2009 Equator won the  4Wheel & Off road magazine 2009 4×4 Of The Year.

If you are interested in more information or would like to take a EQUATOR for a test drive please contact Rivington Suzuki.

And the winner is…

It happens almost every year. We finish our test, we tabulate the numbers, and we scratch our heads and wonder how much hate mail we’re about to receive. We have been surprised many years by what wins. The fact is that the truck that “should have won” doesn’t always cross the finish line first. When we received the Suzuki Equator for this test, most of the judges had no idea it was going to lay a flying-roundhouse, off-the-top-rope body slam, reverse-pile-driver smackdown on the rest of the trucks in this competition. The fact is it was just more fun to drive, especially off road, and that is one of the most important attributes of a 4×4.

The Suzuki Equator wasn’t the fastest truck in the test, but it was quick. Nor was it the best rockcrawler, but it rockcrawled very well. In the hillclimb it was nimble but not as stable as the biggest trucks, but it still made the climb with little fanfare. The high-speed dirt sections were much like the asphalt testing, where the words fun, peppy, and zippy were all used to describe this little truck. The only portion of the test that the Equator flat-out won was the sand dunes, but it was in the top three everywhere else, and those points quietly added up to a win in the Ride & Drive, in both the on- and off-road sections.

You may wonder how a nondescript midsize truck could outwheel an SUV with front and rear lockers, and we were wondering the same thing. The missing front locker was an issue in the rocks, but that is only one portion of the test. The rear locker, better visibility, and adequate ground clearance helped keep the Equator from placing extremely low in that portion. Plus, as much as we assumed that the Hummers would leave with the trophy, the other terrain tests just kept pushing the two Hs back behind the Equator. In fact, it was the new Dodge Ram that was in the most contention with the Equator for the crown. It must be true that in this test, horsepower is the wild card that can really elevate a midlevel truck to winner status.

Whether it’s for the interior with nothing extra but nothing missing, the youthful exuberance the truck instilled, or its great all-around, do-anything ability, we’re proud to call the Suzuki Equator our 4×4 of the Year. One judge said, “I could throw my cooler, duffle, and sleeping bag in the bed, my dog in the back seat, and my girl beside me up front, and go get lost in the back hills for a week.” If that doesn’t describe the perfect 4×4, we’re not sure what does.

Many have heard the cliché ‘Micro Management’ and how it can make difficult times for all parties involved. Now, here is a positive spin on that old cliché that will drive fish mad and make anglers happy. ‘Micro Management’ is now the way to make life easy thanks to Off Shore Tackle’s introduction of the OR34 Mini In-Line Planer Board.

So the next time you head out on a lake or river and you need to get a bait out to the side of the boat while using your light tackle rod and reel, just grab your OR34 Mini Planer to ‘Micro Manage’ the situation.

A GULP Alive tip for everyone.

I have spent lots of time in the boat with 10 to 15 jugs of all different GULP Alive baits – the best way I have found to prevent them from leaking all over the storage compartments is the following.

Take a pocket knife and cut a hole in the top seal so you do not remove it…this seems to keep a good seal and prevents the juice from leaking out around the edges. 

Have you ever wondered how a G-Loomis rod is made? Well now a great video is online that shows all the details involved in making one of the top rods available today. This mostly hand made process is used for all of the G-Loomis walleye series rods I use. You can see in this video a large percentage of hand-made craftsmanship and detailed design that make these rods truly outstanding.