A couple of weeks before the 2016 March Break, my brother Marcel aka “Red’, his 21 year old son Josh, my son Tyler (30), my other son Izaak (28) and myself were sitting around at a family function discussing  how nice it would be to get down to Florida.  For the last several years we have spoken about a trip to Dunedin to watch some of the Blue Jay Spring Training games but with the Canadian dollar hovering near $1.35 US we didn’t think it was in the cards for this year. Until this: “What about if we drove down in our new car instead of flying?” Josh asked? “And we could camp instead of staying at a hotel!” he added. Then Izaak chipped in … “If we cooked our own meals instead of eating out – we’d save even more”.   “Hmm… and gas prices are even cheaper in the US than they are here … so that could reduce our costs even more,”  said Red - adding … “And Wil, you can make us a whole bunch of buns with cold meats and munchies for our drive, so we wouldn’t have to waste time or extra money stopping to eat either!”

Despite the poor start to the 2015/16 winter ice fishing season, HT Pro Staffers Big Jim McLaughlin, Dave Chong, Rob Jackson and Wil Wegman are ready to begin hosting their annual ice fishing seminars beginning January 6th at Keswick’s Canadian Tire Store. From there they will travel to Oshawa’s Gagnon’s Sports for Jan 7, then onto Ottawa’s Le Baron’s Outdoor Store for Jan 8, and then back down to Peterborough and the OFAH’s Mario Cortallucci Centre for Sat Jan 9.

Giving your favorite angler the perfect Christmas gifts can be a daunting task so we tried to make it a little easier on you.  In this Christmas gift suggestion piece, we divided various gift ideas into different categories based on Budget- less than $10, Mid Range - under $100 and High End where you're willing to spend a few hundred dollars (or more) to bring a smile to that angler's face.  We even have a special book review section ... highlighting three great books that came out this year. We begin by helping you try to fill an angler’s tackle box with some of the hottest lures for both open and hardwater tackle boxes. These lures are great stocking stuffers or gifts coming in at around $10 or less.