David Chong

Nautifish, No problem! BTW great voice! Cheers, Dave

Davis, You're absolutely right! Hope that all goes well for your son! The Hospital for Sick Kids has always been one of my favourite charities! Dave

WAY TO GO! I've always loved and admired raptors and birds of prey! I hope that he/she recovers! GOOD JOB! BE A HERO! Cheers, Dave

Sirfish, Depends on whether you need the additional things that the S9000 will provide for you! 1/ 9.0 Mega-pixel. Better if you're planning on poster size prints or you crop tightly often! 2/ 35mm equivalent 28mm-300mm 10.7X Optical zoom More wide angle less at top end better for landscapes/senics! 3/ Tilting 2" LCD display. Useful for shooting in unusual positions or over people! 4/ Use of xD or CF cards. Versitility, CF generally less expensive and available in larger capacities. These are the biggest differences! Fujis generally are great value for the money! Hope that this helps! Dave

Nautifish, Feel free to contact me with any questions you might have and whenever you decide on what's best for you we'll see if we can help you out! Lots of web sites with reviews out there! Cheers, Dave

Mistyriver1, You'll have a great time! Loads of information! Lots of prizes! Great Food! Superb host! Get your registration in and get your cooler & Berkley crankbait to start! We'll look forward to seeing you there! Cheers, Dave

Good choice on going with a spinning outfit for jerkbaiting! When fishing with jerkbaits a smooth drag is essential and the suggestion of a Daiwa Tierra by danbo is a great choice. Daiwa has the best drag bar none! A front drag is also smoother than a rear drag, rear drag is great for convenience! Good luck! Dave

The camera/photo industry has funded my fishing addiction for over 25 years! I own an independent camera store in North York and if any member of the OFC community is looking for a camera, I will get you the best price in town and if for what ever strange reason that I can't I will at least let you know that the deal you have is unbeatable and that you should grab it! Canons are the #1 digital camera company in Canada and for the fishing community Olympus Digital Stylus are all weather-proof or water-proof which can be useful! Feel free to contact me at [email protected]! Regards, Dave

In regards to the Ward Edmonds event I just had this note from Ward: Hey Dave, should we offer a pair of Delco Voyager Premium deep cycle batteries as a door prize? Should we give everyone that attends a free hat and how about the first 25 enrolments a GM cooler bag and a free Berkley Crankbait? Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmm just the fact it wont be a cheap lunch should should be enough but thought I would ask your opinion anyway. Let me know, Ward Ward, that would be awesome! There will be all kinds of door prizes on top of what Ward has generously donated! And knowing Ward, I believe that the lunch itself will be worth the $75.00 never mind all the knowledge that you can obtain at this great event! This is WIN, WIN, WIN! Get your registrations in, remember the first 25 are already winners! For all those who don't have chequing accounts we will accept credit card payments both through fax or at Ward Edmonds GM! Ward, thanks for all your support! Dave

Bob, Everyone who was there took something away from it! Rookies, pros, intermediates & kids all learned something! Like I had said previously unless your name is Kevin Van Dam or Rick Clunn then this is a great opportunity for anyone who is remotely interested in bass fishing to go and better themselves. As an added bonus with Ward Edmonds hosting the event the lunch alone might be worth the $75.00! Cheers, Dave

THE MOST INFORMATIVE BASS SEMINAR SERIES IS COMING TO THE NEAR NORTH! On Sat. March 31st another session of Bass Talk 2007 will take place at Ward Edmonds GM in Huntsville. The Early Bird Registration Deadline has been extended to Sat. March 3rd! For those early birds there is an Okuma medium action spinning combo valued at over $200.00 up for grabs! Get your entries in ASAP and we will use the dated postmark as verification. Visit www.basstalk.ca for full details! Dave

Well-deserved my friend! It won't be too long before we get to kick some Pike around! Congratulations! Dave

The next leg of the BASS TALK 2007 seminar sessions takes us to LAKE & TRAIL located in Perth on Sat. March 3rd! Doug Brownridge and myself will be spending this Sat. at the Ottawa Sportsman Show. We will be there to promo the event and will accept registrations on site! We'll be walking the floor and hanging out at the Minn Kota or Lake & Trail booths. Feel free to stop us and talk a little bass fishing! It's a can't miss event and if you're not sure talk to anyone who attended the first session in Vaughan! See photo of the Day 1 lecturers at the Vaughan event below! Dave Chong

I've been using a Universal Sonar unit for 3+ years now and it works great! No wires down the shaft, very convenient! The new Universal Sonar 2 does have temp. capabilites! Cheers, Dave

Definitely get a site on the river! The river is great for paddling as well! I can still smell those walleyes frying over our campfire even though it was a few years ago when I was last there! Very memorable! Have fun! Dave

Thanks to all! We can only try! Trout Slayer, Good to see that you're still hanging around! We should try to get together for dinner one night with your brother-in-law! Cheers, Dave

Thanks for the kind introduction to this site, but why would I expect it to be any different than any other site? There will always be the few who will tear down others and what they try to do. First of all, I did not join this site just to promo Bass Talk, if you take any notice I try to participant in other discussions and try to help out! Let me give you some background on Bass Talk before you pass judgement. Bass Talk is actually the brain child of Doug Brownridge and Bass Pro Shops is merely a sponsor of this particular portion of it. The idea behind Bass Talk is to give the bass angler a place up here to go and learn from some of the best bass anglers in Canada. It also helps promos the guys who put a lot of time and effort into the sport. It hopefully will promote and bring new people into the sport. Bassmaster University has been around for a long time and has made numerous appearances up here in Canada. Although it is great to hear from and talk to legends such as Denny Brauer, Larry Nixon, etc. a tremendous amount of their content is not applicable up here e.g. fishing for bedding fish. Anyone who attended last weekend's event will definitely tell you that it was worth their while and money. We also try to heavily promotethis sport to the younger generation and female anglers at these events and always recognize them at the events. For instance the 8 youths who attended this past weekend's event all went home with a brand new Daiwa spinning combo, BPS tackle box and some tackle. We recognized our 2 female attendees with a bottle of wine each. We also used the event to raise over $2600.00 for Dave Mercer's "Casting For A Cure" (Canadian Cancer Society). We will also throughout the remaining 3 events be raising money for the Big Brothers Big Sisters "Take A Kid Fishing" day to be held on Sat. June 23th in Orillia. But maybe we're not doing any good! Bass Pro Shops is not a personal sponsor of mine but if you have an issue with them you're missing the boat and not seeing the big picture. If you chose not to shop there that is your right but the fact that they are here in Canada is good for fishing. It now gives this sport that we love, a "WOW" factor and hopefully will bring new blood into it. The larger our numbers, are the more clout that we have to affect change especially when it comes to people trying to take away our god given rights to fish! As JP stated we did offered up a pair of passes for a contest to the OFC community and judging by the response, I would say that there are members who are interested in this kind of event and news. I know that Ann Rocchi and her husband Dave is very excited about attending the Humminbird Bass Talk 2007 being held at Fishing World in Hamilton. Whoops, did I just spam you again? If I have missed something here, please let me know. I thought that this site was to be used to share news, stories and information amongst fellow anglers. If you are not allowed to mention any companies that are not sponsors of the site, please let me know. Do we not title a topic so members can decide if it is of interest to them before they read it or reply? If it is of no interest to you, please don't read it, no one is forcing you to read it! Sorry for the long winded response! FISH HARD! DREAM BIG! Dave Chong

Beautiful dog! All of our 2 dogs and 3 cats were obtained from rescued! You've got a pal for life! Dave

Bon Echo is certainly beautiful but my vote would be for Bonnechere. Round Lake has some great fishing and many of the sites are right on the water(either lake or river). Can't go wrong with either one! Bon Echo is much larger and there is wilderness sites and walk-in lakes! Lake Mazinaw does have some superb Smallmouth fishing! Dave

This past weekend's Bass Talk 2007 received rave reviews from all who attended! Here are but a few of the comments: All I can say is...once you've heard about it, it's already happened and if you weren't there you missed it. Information overload...Awesome 2 days, Awesome Line-up. Todd Currie Great job guys. I will definitely mark it on my calendar for next year. Might even make it to the steel town this year. The only problem with having it this early is it gets you cranked to fish and the season is still months away. Mark Cressman A very informative weekend I'm sure everyone can learn from an event like this .Thanks to all involved for the hard work and commitment to setting this up, and helping out a couple of great charities to boot. Excellent job. Mike Graham The next event will be held in Perth at Lake & Trail on Sat. Mar. 3rd register now to make sure that you have a seat reserved! In case you don't have a stamps we will be accepting registrations at the Ottawa Sportsman Show! Check out our web-site at www.basstalk.ca for full details including the speaker line-up! Regards, Dave

Not to say that I don't have any faith in the postal system. Anyone who has not registered for this weekend's Bass Talk 2007 seminar sessions but wishes to attend do not mail your registration/payment. Your options are: 1/You can still drop off registrations at the reel counter located in Bass Pro Shops. 2/Fax your registration to us at 416-733-7827 and we'll collect from you at the door. 3/Call our info line (416)579-1062 or e-mail us ([email protected]) your name with contact info and again we'll collect from you at the door! This should be a great event! Looking forward to seeing everyone there! Reminder the event is being held at the Regency Banquet Centre which is located at 8400 Jane St. That is the SW corner of Jane & Langstaff. Doors open at 7AM! BASS TALK

All great suggestions! Battery issues with cameras have been around a lot longer than digital cameras! Lithium Ion batteries generally hold up the best in extreme cold and NiMH the worst as far as rechargeables go. Keeping a spare set of batteries close to your body is helpful! If your camera takes AA sized batteries buy a set of Lithium batteries, they're expensive but will get the job done for you under those conditions! If you are using NiMH rechargeables make sure that you charge them fully as close to the time that you're going out as possible. If you have had them sitting around for a bit they do drain pretty quickly just on the shelf. Hope that this helps! Cheers, Dave

Daiwa has really expanded into more economical combos and would be a great choice. Reel-wise a Daiwa Regal Xi is a phenomenal buy for $50 or less. Come with a spare spool, is available in sizes from a UL 1000 up to a monster 4000 and has a Daiwa drag! Bass Pro Shops during it's Spring Classic is also a great place to get equipment! They will have their annual reek trade in program with all the older reels being donated to kids' clubs! Cheers, Dave

Deadline Reminder! Don't forget tonight at the 10PM closing is the deadline for "WIN YOUR REGISTRATION BACK IN THE FORM OF A $120 BPS GIFT CARD!" draw! Drop your registration & payment off at the reel counter in BASS PRO SHOPS for your chance to win! Also remember that everyone who attends this weekend's seminar sessions will receive a 15% discount coupon valid at BASS PRO SHOPS until Sun. Feb. 18, 2007! The way that some of you folks spend money there, you could pay off your seminar costs right there! We'll look forward to seeing everyone on Saturday & Sunday! Regards, Dave

BASS PRO SHOPS BASS TALK 2007 BONUSES! SPECIAL NEWS FLASH! For anyone who has not yet registered for the BASS PRO SHOPS BASS TALK 2007 being held Feb. 10th & 11th at the Regency Banquet Hall in Vaughan don't delay, do so before Tues. Feb. 6th. Registrations along with payment may be dropped off at the reel counter at BASS PRO SHOPS! If you do so you'll be entered into a draw along with everyone else who has already registered for $120 BASS PRO SHOP Gift Card! Another added bonus, every attendee to this BASS TALK event will receive a 15% discount coupon valid at the Vaughan Mills BASS PRO SHOPS until Sun. Feb. 18th! Of course there are a few restrictions, sale items, boats & motors, etc. Yes, that's correct every attendee will receive this! Not only is this going to a great educational event but it's going to help you with those tackle purchases as well! Looking forward to seeing everyone there! Bass Talk 2007