There has been at least half a dozen new fishing games released for the Nintendo Wii this year. I’ve played almost all of them, and the all have one thing in common, they suck. I’ve been playing fishing games since the late 80’s back on the original Nintendo and there has been a lot of solid fishing experiences over the years but for some reason the Wii has failed to deliver.
I had high hopes for the Nintendo Wii and fishing games because of the whole motion control system. In theory its the perfect system to release a fishing game on. In reality, all of the fishing game that have been released so far have been very buggy and fail to truly capitalize on the unique controls.
Shimano’s first venture into the Wii gaming world does however stand out among the other releases this year. Graphically the game isn’t pretty, and its filled with glitches, but its the only new fishing game that has kept my attention for more then an hour. The game is incredibly easy, so rather then spending your time trying to catch a fish, you instead spend it trying to beat your own records. It’s possible to catch thousands of pounds of fish in ten minutes!
What makes Shimano Xtreme stand out is the fact that it offers three completely different fishing experiences – rod and reel fishing, spear fishing and bow fishing. The spear and bow fishing involve nothing more then looking around for splashing fish and then pointing your cross-hairs at them. It’s incredibly simple, and strangely rewarding. Of course, if you are looking for a regular rod and reel fishing experience there is nothing special here to keep you playing.
About a week ago I took a trip up to Springwood Cottages with a few friends. We planned this trip perfectly for the opening of bass season here in Ontario and wanted to visit a lake that wouldn’t see much boat traffic. Opening season on some lakes near Toronto can be brutal in terms of the number of anglers on the water. Since Springwood is about 4 hours from Toronto is was both close enough and far enough to provide good fishing and low angling pressure. On top of that Springwoods cottages and services were both top notch, I was so pleased that I decided to review them, which makes this the first cottage review we’ve ever posted.
Springwood Cottages is a beautiful cottage resort open all year, owned and maintained by Cezar Spirala, located on Kennebec Lake in the Land O’ Lakes region of Ontario (near Napanee about 4 hours from Toronto). There are several cottages spotted around this beautiful piece of Canadian Shield land and each is very well maintained and clean. Each cottage also has its own personality and extra amenities, some of which can get pretty luxurious including things like flat screen tv’s and jacuzzi. The decks surrounding the cottages were also in tip-top condition. The area is nicely landscaped and the staff are young, energetic and very friendly.
There are a ton of new bass lures out this year and I hope to be reviewing a number of them when I return from this weekends trip to Kennebec Lake. The baits I’m most excited about this year are the new Trigger-X softbaits not only are they biodegradable, which is a huge selling point around here at Fishing Fury, but their are also individually packaged in some sweet species targeted pheromone juices. These are the first baits that I’m aware of that advertises the use of pheromones.
I’m will be putting them to the test this weekend for sure and hope they “Flip on the Eat Switch” as the tag line goes. Right now if you buy four Trigger-X baits they will send you one free when you send in the coupon on their website.
Check out the Trigger-X website for a full catalog of the forms and colours available. I’ve also taken a high-res shot of the flip side of the packaging for more information.
We covered some of the most expensive and attractive reels available on the market today in our recent feature article Dream Reels, but what is the best cheap reel? I’ve used a handful of baitcasters over the years, all in the $140 – $250 price range. To the average fisherman, any reel (or combo for that matter) over $100 is too much. I work with a couple of guys who loved fishing when they were young, but haven’t fished in years. My constant bragging talk about fishing has got them both interested in fishing once again. My buddy Adrian, who has joined me fishing at Albro Lake a few times, didn’t waste anytime getting a new rod and reel. We took a trip over to Canadian Tire and managed to find one of their “expensive” spinning combos on sale at half off the normal price of $79.99.
My other friend Dominic already has a cheap spinning combo, but after I showed him a few of my reels he has decided to purchase a baitcaster. This is a problem here in Nova Scotia, there is very little selection because most fishermen here target trout, and trout fishermen don’t use baitcasters, which of course means most stored don’t carry any. I’ve been on a mission to find him a good deal on a solid baitcaster, but its hard to find a great reel for a good price. There are a few deals to be had on Ebay with used reels, but you never know how well they will really work. I have a trip to August, Georgia next month and will be pretty close to Bass Pro Shops so I told him I can pick him up a reel while I’m there.
After browsing their site I was amazed at the price of some of their reels, baitcasters for as cheap as $25.99! I’m a firm believer that you get what you pay for, so reel that cheap has got to be too good to be true. I did however find a bunch of reels between $59 and $89 that get great reviews. I may have to return with two reels and add one to my collection! Here are the four reels I’ve narrowed it down to:
I’m leaning toward the Daiwa (and pairing it with a Lightning Rod), but figured I’d ask you guys what you favorite baitcast reel under $100 is. Are there any cheap reliable reels out there I need to know about?
At Fishing Fury, we love shiny things as much as fish do – especially shiny reels. As odd as it may sound, it’s not only important that our reels function well, but that they look great too. Beauty is definitely in the eye of the beholder when it comes to reels though. Personally I prefer the appearance of a round baitcast reel, where as Jon prefers low profile. One thing with both agree on though, is that if we had the money, we would have a serious collection of pimped out reels. Here’s a list of the reels we wish we had, but probably never will.
Click the image below to read our latest feature article, Dream Reels!
We headed directly to the spot we planned to fish. Prior visits to this location had led us to believe muskie
could be located here. We cut the motor a hundred yards away. A cool breeze drifted us perfectly into position. I tied on a Mepps black fury (Musky Killer) with a black bucktail. Jon did the same. The smell of muskie was in the air
