Bob

Used to catch a lot of steelies on flatfish way back, 60s and 70s. Best ones were black with silver speckles and skunk pattern. I imagine the similar action of the Benos would be as good

Some other things worth mention. Mars is also losing it's polar caps but I guess the sun couldn't have anything to do with that. Other planets are also warming somewhat but..? The global average temperature is up by 1 degree Fahrenheit over the last hundred years. Doesn't sound too catastrophic to me. I remember the headlines from the 60s and early 70s that predicted that the northern hemisphere was going to be locked up in another ice age and there would be global famine and millions would starve (get this) by the year 2000. The cause? Yup , CO2 and other pollutants. Meteorologists and climatologists have trouble predicting tomorrow within a couple of degrees. What gives them the arrogance to think they can do better over a hundred years? Must be a scientist thing I guess. These guys get locked into a status quo and anytime one of them comes up with something progressive that's outside mainstream thought, the rest are on him like a ton of bricks. Remember how Gallileo was some kind of heretic? It's still happening. Hey Rick, no offense but they predicted more and bigger hurricanes last summer than the one before and it kinda fizzled.

It's estimated that when Pinatubo blew it's top in '91, it tossed more CO2 into the atmosphere than all of mankind during the entire 20th century. One volcano. It cooled things down for a couple of years. CO2 is food for plant life so it should improve crop yields. The IPCC put together a whole bunch of scientists under a UN mandate to study the whole global warming thing. They came to the conclusion that man was causing global warming. There were however, a lot of these scientists that didn't agree but were ignored by IPCC. Their names were left on the list though, I guess to make it seem like more were in agreement. Some have sued the IPCC to get their names removed. In 1970 or thereabouts, the Russians developed a method of drilling ultra deep wells and pulling oil right out of the basement basalt suggesting that crude oil is manufactured right in the mantle of the earth. Not a fossile fuel? It's estimated that Alberta has as much oil or more than Saudi Arabia. It's estimated that the Green River oil shale formation in the north western states has more oil than the entire middle east. Some estimates put the oil supply under the Gulf of Mexico as more by 1/3 than man has used in his history. Peak oil? I believe that these scams combined are just to keep people quiet while the powers that be keep jacking up the prices. Oil does drive global economy. Just as a point of interest: The World Health Organisation states that smoking does NOT cause lung cancer.

You need to have the suction line full (the one that goes into the well) and you need some water in the impellor, otherwise, it's just trying to pump air and won't work.

In the 60s and early 70s, all the climatologists and doomsayers were crying that we'd be into another ice age by 2000 and there'd be global famine and millions would die. This was supposedly caused by pollution. It's estimated that when Pinatubo blew it's top in '91 that it tossed more CO2 into the atmosphere than all of mankind during all of the 20th century and it caused some cooling for a year or two. Some reputable scientists are claiming that we're still climbing out of the last ice age. Most of these guys can't predict the weather within a couple of degrees tomorrow. With current data, it's estimated that global average temperature has gone up one degree fahrenheit in the last hundred years. What to believe??????

I fought the lawn and the lawn won, I fought the lawn and the lawn won.

I have to agree with Outdoorguy. Sounds like hatchery fish. I've found that in the wild, especially in streams, trout will occupy prime feeding spots according to size. If you catch a nice trout in a good feeding spot, you can almost bet that, within a day or so, another one of similar size will be occupying the same spot. Bigger fish have the best spots because they can defend them and smaller fish trying to get those spots will shy away when challenged by the bigger ones. Better feeding spot = bigger fish.

We've been feeding birds for years, winter and summer. We have 2 seed feeders, a suet feeder, a hummingbird feeder and usually hang a seed cake. We get finches, (gold and purple), sparrows, chickadees and red wings at the seed feeders, the woodpeckers like the suet, and we nearly always get nuthatches pecking at the seed cakes. The woodpeckers we get are mostly hairies but we did get a bigass pileated woodpecker one day that flew right into the window. No damage to him or the window but it shook him up. I guess the reflection in the glass looked bigger than the feeder.

There's a double launch on Elliot Lake here, one steep and one with an easy slope so you can pick what you need for your particular boat. The one on Esten Lake is just a double concrete slab so you have to be careful where your wheels are or you'll drop down in between. Depot Lake has a decent ramp but steep. They're all free. I love it here.

Peggy fishes with me all the time. Fact of the matter is, she's often the one dragging or pushing me out the door to get going down to the boat. She just loves to be on the water but she doesn't much like the rough stuff. If the waves get to be six footers, she wants dry stuff under her and that's ok with me too. I like to be comfortable when I'm fishing, or even just out for a boat ride. Thirty years ago, rough water was a challenge that I laughed at but now I take it easy. We go out on the good days, cruise and drag a couple of lures behind and it's all good. Taking things a little easier than we used to and if we get a fish, it's a bonus and usually supper.

In the 28 years I've been in Elliot Lake, the earliest I've been able to put a boat in the lake was April 15th. A few years back, the lake wasn't open until end of the 3rd week of May. You can't count on Ma Nature but I'm keeping my fingers crossed. I love spring, bring it on!!!!

I looked through the website and the last line in the "Who's Behind It" section pretty much tells the tale.

We Might have had 30 cms total since winter started but none lately. Cold though, or maybe just feels that way because we've been so spoiled this winter.

Yeah, yeah and we should all go vegetarian because all the beef critters we're raising are cranking out "greenhouse gasses" in their farts. This old ball of mud has been going through warming and cooling periods since it formed. It has gone through times when a few volcanoes put more so-called greenhouse gasses into the atmosphere than man has in his entire history. There are a lot of scientists that believe man's impact on this warming trend is pretty minimal but they get ridiculed and played down because the "scientific trend" today is to believe it's all man's fault. I remember too, a few years back when they were all crying gloom and doom because another ice age was imminent. Didn't happen! I am concerned about the amount of pollution we chuck out into this world of ours but I'm not too concerned about a one point something degree average temperature shift over a hundred years or so.

Guys with lots of loot can afford high end stuff and stay ahead of the Joneses. Most reasonably priced CTC combos at $69.95 or so will do the same job and not break your heart if a rod tip gets slammed into a car door. I've used lots of different combo outfits and caught high end fish without any problems. Don't let elitist horsepucky bother you when it comes to fishing. I started with a cane pole and a piece of string. Yeah, I'm an old guy.

I think you'll find that stalking, lying in wait for and harrassing all fall under the definition of hunting in the regulations in Ontario so best check the hunting regs.

Pretty funny even if most of it is dead wrong. I won't bother with the chlorox thing because I can't imagine anything in brake fluid that would react to chlorox so that it would smoke but right off the top, a king size water bed might have enough water to fill a hundred square foot room to four inches. It would get pretty thin over 2000 sq. ft., do the math. It did make me chuckle though.

Had a friend many moons ago who used to go scuba diving through the ice frequently, brrr. What he told me is that when you're down there looking up, the amount of light coming through is amazing. You can see the shadows of all the people walking around on the ice but hardly notice the holes. When he told me this was in February with a fair amount of snow cover. I wasn't about to go down there to find out. The only thing that ever determined the size of hole I used was the prospective size of the fish I might catch from that particular lake. In most of the lakes around here, I wouldn't fish with less than an 8" hole.

Fishindevil, just to clarify that comment about shoulder to shoulder fishermen, I was in no way whining about it, just passing a comment on the situation 40 years ago. It's just the way it was. I was merely pointing out how word got around quickly long before the advent of the internet. I would also like to point out that the vast majority of those guys cooperated and got along well and if someone hollered "fish on" all other lines were pulled out of the way. It really was pretty civilised, all things considered.

At risk of sounding like an old dude, I'll tell you I fished the Ganny and Wilmot etc. 40 years ago and believe me when I tell you that when the fish were in and biting, word got around in a flash. Picture guys shoulder to shoulder and timing their drifts together so they didn't get tangled. The Sydenham at Owen Sound was an absolute madhouse when the trout came in back in the 60s. There were no salmon back then and internet wasn't even a dream yet. I have to agree with Rick, the lack of numbers is due to decrease in stocking numbers. MNR is getting out of stocking and leaving it to citizen groups who have fewer resources as far as money and manpower that the ministry used to have. I should add that there was no fish ladder on the Ganny then and the few fish that got upstream were netted below and lifted over the dam.

Milady says she wouldn't marry me if I was the last man on earth. She tried marriage once and it didn't work. I've tried it twice and it didn't work either time. Milady and I have been together now for nearly 16 years and we're still best friends. She backs me up in every endeavour and we seldom trade a cross word. Doesn't get any better than that. I should also mention that she loves fishing and often pushes me to go if I'm having a lazy day.

I use photoshop to enhance a pic that didn't turn out just right. Nothing wrong with that. I don't bother with changing or deleting backgrounds because we get so little pressure on the lakes here that it's not worth worrying about. Several thousand lakes in the area and little pressure makes it a great place to live and fish. Fun stuff with photoshop is ok with me too.

There have been times that I've ordered electronics from stateside for business and with big ticket items, they've asked for copies to be sent of my credit card and photo ID. I can't fathom why they'd need this when they've already cleared the transaction with the credit card company, but they babble on about new "homeland security" regulations. I ordered a set of cordless microphones out of California and got this runaround and I just told them I wouldn't send photocopies or scans of my ID and the bottom line was, "Do you want to make the sale or not?" They sent me my stuff but what a load of crap.

I Like Cash but I'm not real stuck on that song. I prefer fun songs rather than tear-jerkers. Being in the karaoke business, I often get songs stuck in my head, I make my living on songs dontcha know? Some of my regulars are that good that when I hear their songs by the original artists on the radio or tv, I say "Now that's just wrong". I love my "work".

Yep, lotsa ice in the Elliot Lake area. Just stay away from currents.