interesting thoughts on the thermometer. my fish locator/depth finder has a thermometer on it and i found it only slightly useful. its got a long enough cord on the transducer i can drop it down to the thermocline most of the time, but i think worrying about the exact depth/temp is getting a little too scientific for fishing. there is a time and place for science in terms of fishing but i think we have reached our peak in terms of that. knowing structure/time/temp/depth/feeding tendencies are all valuable bits of information but we are dealing with creatures with too many variables to be that precise. if it was up to me id spend that money on someone else, say a friends child/neice or nephew and get them hooked on fishing.

even just this last trip, my first with the fish locator, i found myself too entranced with the screen and not enjoying the outdoors enough. i got caught up in watching every bottom contour and fish i marked and i lost touch with what quetico is all about. the pristine beauty of nature and untouched wilderness. the vast endlessness of forest and water, only the sounds of the wind and water splashing on the rocks. i felt even the crackle of the fire was out of place up there. my next trip will probably be the most minimal ive done. just enough to survive