Bob

Just my 2 cents. I've never paid to access a website and very seldom register on any free ones. They have to look really interesting before I'll take the time to sign up. I love this site even if I don't contribute as often as some but would balk at a fee. Do the ads generate enough revenue to keep things going? I don't see them as intrusive enough to bother me. I even click on some of them to see what's offered. If the ads bring enough to cover, then fuggedaboudit.

Nice pics. I never get to go to those functions because my "work" is weekends only. I have my old age pension coming before the year is out but I don't think I'll retire yet. Too much fun. Hey TJ, I thought you were going to get into fly fishing. Thought that's why I sent you those instruction videos some years back. Did you watch them?

If your temps are anything like ours up here, that snow should be light and fluffy enough to handle with the big leaf-blower, Wayne. At least, I would think so.

I realise there are reformed smokers out there who are not rude or nasty to folks who smoke. I had an uncle who used to ask me to blow a little smoke his way when we had coffee together. That was 10 to 15 years after he quit. My mother quit for many years but she still put ashtrays out for visitors who smoked. I'll guarantee, though, that anytime a smoker runs into snide nasty comments or pushy proselytising, it WILL be coming from a reformed smoker. There's absolutely no doubt in my mind about that.

I've been smoking for fifty years or so and fishing longer than that. I've never found it to make a difference, I frequently catch more fish than my non-smoking buddies. I haven't seriously hunted in some years but the last two times I went to the deer camp, I won the pot for dragging the first deer in so it doesn't seem to bother them either. This is not an endorsement for smoking, if you haven't started, don't. I still enjoy my smokes but the alienation and discrimination is a pain. Funny part of that is that most of it doesn't come from real non-smokers but from reformed smokers, they want to lay their crap all over everyone. Don't know if they're still ugly from withdrawal or just have an overblown sense of pride or something. It's ok to crap all over me now.

For many years I've collected music and I have over 20,000 of my tracks converted to MP3. I put nearly 1,ooo at a time on an SD card and poke it into the stereo in my van and just go. I listen to everything from the 50s on and it's a long time before I hear a tune the second time. There's rock, pop and country and I pretty much love it all. NO RAP!!!! Don't know how they passed that crap off as music.

I have one that I picked up in the early 70s for twenty bucks, if you can believe that. Needed some refinishing on the stock and some touch-up blueing on the barrel but it's a great all around gun. Action is smooth and it patterns great as well. Works as well today as it did then. For a hundred and a half, I wouldn't waste any time hemming and hawing.

They're called steelhead because when they're fresh run fish, the top of the head is a steel-grey colour, a little lighter than what's on the back. None of them are native to eastern North America, they all were originally stocked. The Americans brought in a bunch of fish from a hatchery on the Skamania River in Washington state that were longer and slimmer than the regular steelhead and it could be those that show the difference. I've caught the odd one up here and the difference is quite noticeable. They seem to be far more agressive than the regular steelhead. They brought them in because they run in the rivers as early as mid summer and they spawn in the fall. The idea was to make for a longer river fishing season.

Ain't Photoshop a wonderful toy? I've seen that first one in about a dozen different emails from almost as many different locations (reportedly) from Port Loring to somewhere in Alaska.

Salmon and trout do go up the Spanish but it's a big river to find them in. You may have better luck in the tribs. I see guys fishing them in the Sable River at Massey and Birch Creek near Webbwood. When I go looking for salmon from shore, I usually hit the causeway at the mouth of Lauzon Creek at Algoma Mills and pitch spoons or body baits. You need a good wind though, anywhere from south to west. It's shallow there and if the water is flat, you won't catch any, if you have big waves coming, it seems they'll hit almost anything. I've not seen cohos in this area in years and chinook numbers and sizes have been down the last few years. There's also the possibility of running into a stray Atlantic that LSSU has been stocking at the Soo in fair numbers. The Mississauga gives up good numbers of pinks but not many chinooks. Lots of variety there, bass, walleye, pike, channel cats, sturgeon etc. Just a thought, it seems every once in a while, someone gets a salmon off the breakwall at the municipal marina at Spanish along with the usual North Channel variety. Good luck to you.

Forty years ago, downstream of the Mill Dam in Owen Sound, you could watch guys shoulder to shoulder, knee deep in the fast water, timing their drifts so they wouldn't get tangled. Everyone did the lift, swing drop and drift all in unison. Was almost like watching a chorus line. No internet then, not even any salmon yet. That was the spring steelhead run. There certainly were just as many then. Toronto Islands were infested with shore fishermen farther back than I can remember. Mouth of the Rouge River was another crowd magnet. There was a fair variety of fish to catch but the salmon weren't in the picture yet.

Magic Jack is a great thing except, last I heard, they didn't have any Canadian numbers so your friends would have to call long distance to the states to call you. We get voip service from Vianet here for $12.50 a month with call display, call waiting, call answer and call forwarding all thrown in. Long distance is nickel a minute.

If I remember correctly, the last time swine flu reared it's ugly head, (1976?) the vaccine killed way more people than the bug did. I've never had a flu shot and I haven't been laid low by a flu type virus in as long as I can remember. I'll take me chances... Seems the CMA is warning about side effects such as Guillain-Barre syndrome with this vaccine, same thing that caused the problems last time. Something to do with the adjuvants they use to boost the effectiveness. If this flu turns into something like what hit in 1918 that killed many millions and the vaccine saves a few more than it kills, then I guess I could be wrong.... I still think I'll take my chances. My mother had a flu shot once and she was sick as a dog all that winter, I'll pass thanks.

My canine pal Chinook. Don't know how many years he's been my avatar but he's a little older now and slowing down some. He still thinks he's a puppy anyway. I think he was about 2 when that pic was taken. He'll be 11 come spring.

In the time and place I grew up, lager was considered a woman's drink, real men drank ale. I drank Ex for years but I developed diabetes and it does funny stuff to my glucose levels now so I pretty much stick to straight up scotch.

I have an old Grew with a 140 HP I/O that was sluggish out of the hole when it was loaded. I put a foil on that and the difference was almost scary. Look silly out of the water? Not to me, I was looking for performance, not aesthetics. To each his own, I guess.... Hydraulic tabs make a big difference as well, I had them on my cruiser. They're also great for levelling the ride if you get too much weight on one side.

During Roman times, it was warmer than today and civilisation advanced remarkably. The Roman legions were using mountain passes that have since been glaciated for a thousand years or so. Seems that one of those recently retreating glaciers has uncovered the ruins of a Roman villa. The so-called dark ages were cold and folks didn't move around much to learn new stuff so civilisation declined. A thousand years ago, the Vikings settled and farmed on Greenland and for several hundred years, all was hunky-dory but then the little ice age hit and they died off or moved out. Around the mid 1800s, the world started climbing out of that cold spell and globally gained about one half a degree celsius per century on average. All these concensus scientists claim the 20th century increased .6 of a degree celsius so does that mean we contributed .1 of a degree celsius to what was already ongoing or did it accelerate that much on it's own? From 1880 to 1920, there was fear of an ice age that would render Canada uninhabitable in a few decades (according to newspapers of the time). From 1920 to 1940, the world was warming and the polar bears were doomed. From 1940 to nearly 1980, it was another ice age and from 1980 runaway warming and the polar bears are once again doomed. Doesn't matter that there are 5 times as many of them now as there were 50 years ago when they started controlling the hunts. Seems the polar bears survived warmer periods than today. As I understand it CO2 has been much higher in the past as well. Incidentally, according to info I've read on the subject, polar bears have existed as a separate species for over 100,000 years. Global warming? Longer growing seasons? Larger growing areas? Lusher plants? Sounds good to me. In light of the fact that temps have gone down in the last 10 years to almost equal what they gained in the last 100, I'd be more inclined to fear global cooling myself. Ho hum! I'm 64 and I don't give a ratz butt because I'm not going to live into the new ice age. Flame away!!!

I started hunting nearly 50 years ago and have never owned special clothing that I reserved for hunting only. Never used special soaps or scents either. Animals are curious and will approach you no matter what you do. The trick is in seeing them when they do come close. I've had deer, moose and bear come out to me even while I was having a smoke. If you stay still and quiet, you can watch them approach, sniffing like crazy trying to figure out where you are. I've had a grouse walk right over the toe of my boot and one day, a marten sat on a log in front of me and chattered at me for a full five minutes. I didn't understand the conversation but it was interesting, they're pretty good size for weasel family. One time, while fishing on the Little White River, I had a litter of young mink come out to play all around and over my boots. Critters are all around and if you watch real close, you'll see things that everyone else misses completely.

Some years back, there was talk about salmon in lake O being overstocked and running out of feed. The fish were fewer and smaller but it leveled out and the numbers and sizes are back. Same thing is happening in Lake Huron now. Give it a few years and they'll be back there too. It's a cyclical thing.

I likely haven't had more than 15 or 18 beers in the last 3 years, since I developed diabetes and any more than 1 skyrockets my glucose readings. I was always an ale drinker though, as in the time and place that I grew up, lager was considered a ladies' drink. Real men drank ale. Thankfully, scotch doesn't have the same effect on my glucose and if they mess with the price of Johnny Walker anymore, I can find something else. I'm not real picky.

Those trout all seem to have some tail wear. It's likely leftover damage from fanning gravel during the spawn. Rainbows don't normally have forked tails but they do some serious damage while making their redds and it takes a while for them to heal after. They appear to be mature enough to have spawned this past spring.

I like the Trading Post here in Elliot Lake. It's 5 minutes from my door and the folks are great. If they don't have something you want, they'll include it on their next order (providing their suppliers have it available). Of course they won't put in a special order, that would cost extra for shipping but they do regular orders once or twice a week so the wait usually isn't too long. Their selection of fishing gear is better than CTC and their prices are better on a lot of their stuff. Of course my only options aside from those stated are 100 miles to Sudbury or 130 miles to the Soo.

There's a commercial boat in Spanish, A couple in Blind River and several on the island, all properly licensed. Used to be one in Algoma Mills too but I'm not sure if he's still operating. There are also several fish farm operations on the island. I'd be surprised if Tarini is buying illegal fish, it's just not worth it. Why would anyone object to an operator selling incidentals if he can. Only other thing he could do is toss them and feed the gulls. Why not use them?

I ran a 5.5 Eska for years. Reliable but with a tendency to vibrate the screws loose. Always had to carry a screwdriver to tighten things up when they started to rattle. As already stated, they're noisy. I believe the power head was a Tecumseh from Wisconsin. Should be able to find parts still.

Sure let's legislate it. In the same bill we should outlaw sky-diving because no one with a lick of sense would jump out of a perfectly good airplane for sport. Let's also legislate the wearing of leathers for all motorcyclists regardless of temperature, to save them from roadrash if they're dumb enough to drop it. While we're at it let's restrict all boats to 30 mph, it's a fairly safe speed and you could still water ski. Hang-gliding? Mountain climbing? Sorry, I'm with TJ on this one. Too much legislation already.