G.mech

Absolutely, very well said.

That is correct, there are 3. You can look them up on the map or search them by name at the link provided. The other two are much smaller than their aberfoyle well. The one you are speaking of is in Erin township and is permitted for 1.1 million LPD. .The other one is near Aberfoyle and permitted at 600,000 lpd.

Glad to know that some areas are getting a little more proactive...hopefully that trend continues.

I found the Ontario water taking permit map quite fascinating so I did a little more researching on it at work today (during my break of course...). Ironically, here are some of the tidbits that I found and it really is quite startling: there are 36 permits for taking ground water within a 5 km radius of the Nestle plant in Aberfoyle all permits on the list are issued to corporations, farms, or golf courses, none are municipal water supplies ( I presume they are all are using the water for profit). the Nestle plant holds the 8th largest permitted volume of the 36 at 3.6 million LPD not the biggest one as many of us thought. the 7 Larger permits total 105 million LPD which is 29 times the amount permitted to Nestle. This is why I suggested previously that the Wellington Water Watchers have some sort of vendetta against Nestle since they have been after them for 10 years or more with little mention of any other companies. If they were truly concerned about pillaging of the resource for profit, should they not be concerned about the other user as well? I hate to let facts get in the way of the current media hysteria but if we're going on a witch hunt for water pirates let's go after the biggest users too not just the ones you don't like. The other thing to consider is how many jobs are affected by closing down any of these operations if that's the chosen route. I would think that Nestle's 300 jobs for 3.6 million liters would trump the employment numbers of say a golf course using the same amount of water. Maybe all these corporations need to pay their share and everybody would win... https://www.ontario.ca/environment-and-energy/map-permits-take-water

To me, the bottles are a far bigger concern than the water in them (be it pure water or soda or whatever) and I think you're right that a deposit would help get them into the recycling stream.. I'm not really a fan of more rules or regulations but in this case, maybe it would be an idea. I don't think we should model our province after BC in most cases but they have a deposit on all containers that seems pretty effective. One of the challenges that comes with it however is people raiding blue boxes in search of bottles on garbage day. Apparently some of them get a little territorial and some dump the boxes on people's lawns and leave a mess to be cleaned up. The US does very, very little to attempt to recycle plastic containers which is a huge problem given the amount they consume, it would be nice to see them step up the efforts a bit too.

And more bottled water for the car....

I found this link which is quite interesting. It is a map showing all the Water Taking Permits in Ontario. If you click on the dots, it tells you the company and the permitted volume/day. Interestingly, Nestle is permitted at 3,600,000 liters/day and right next door the old Dufferin Aggregates (now called CRH Group) plant is permitted over 8,000,000 per day and St Mary's Cement is permitted for 23,000,000. The Victoria Park Golf Club has 3 permits totaling almost 3,000,000 lpd. These are just a couple of examples of the hundreds of permits on the map to look through, I'm sure you'll be surprised how many industries are pulling water from that watershed in huge quantities. This is why I don't understand WWW's focus on only one mid sized user/abuser. Edit: I just noticed that a large vegetable farm just down the road from me has 7 different permits each over 7,000,000 lpd (total 14 times that of Nestle's) and has been irrigating continuously all summer (for profit) which may have something to do with my well being dry.....hmmm. https://www.ontario.ca/environment-and-energy/map-permits-take-water

Neither am I, you'd have to ask Wellington Water Watchers why their prime target for over a decade has been Nestle Waters and not any of the dozens of other corporations who draw water under permit in far greater quantities to use for profit. To be clear, I'm not a proponent of Nestle Water or any other bottled water company I'm just pointing out that WWW's focus seems very narrow for some reason when there are plenty of other companies doing essentially the same thing.

The beer and soda industries take dozens of times more water than the bottled water industry does, I guess they need to stop too. Weather it comes from the ground or from the lake it's all the same watershed. I have no skin in the game but right now my well is dry and the farmers are still irrigating, the golf course is green, the beer is still flowing along with the Coke & Pepsi. The water industry is only a small piece of this puzzle but it seems to draw the attention of some of these so called 'Environmental Groups' like the Wellington Water Watchers who seem to have an agenda. I don't often drink bottled water myself and couldn't care if Nestle's closed or not but there are lots of industries that use way more water that don't seem to be vilified the way the water companies are.

Everything you ever wanted to know about safety chains and more: http://www.cerka.ca/catalog/76.asp

Up near my friend's camp at Ramsey Lake a few years ago, there was two elderly guys sleeping in a trailer like that, A year old black bear tore the door right out of the wall in the middle of the night and came in for a visit. They managed to shoot it but momma bear wasn't far away and wasn't too happy apparently. The guys were rattled to say the least and spent the rest of the night hiding in their old station wagon up the road. We found them still hiding when we went out for a quad ride the next morning. The trailer was toast but I don't think it matters, they won't be camping any more.

There is an anti-slip additive you can put in the sealer and it makes a huge difference. I did mine without the additive 2 years ago and it was so slippery I had to re-do again last year. Huge difference and wife is happy now.... I win! If you want to seal your concrete or pavers, CPD Products are some of the best on the market (not necessarily 'Green' however). I have used Cipadeck on a number of stamped and exposed aggregate driveways & sidewalks. You can get it at most of the concrete supply places and CRS rentals. CPD also has an anti-slip powder you just mix in before spraying and it's makes a huge difference. http://www.cpd.ca/products/division-7/dampproofing-and-waterproofing

Well thanks OI, I've been called a lot of things over the years but not often was it "gentleman"! I was going to post a pic but got busy at work...this is just as good.

I troll the 115 all day long without a single sputter or miss. In all honesty, it's quieter and smoother than my 6HP 4 stroke kicker...

We used to do a pike tourney up at the camp where each guy got a boat, a spinning reel spooled with 50 yds of 6 lb mono, 2 wire leaders, and 2 lures of their choice. Most lbs of pike caught before you lost your gear won. There were some monster pike there and you kind of had to avoid them. It was fun trying to drive the boat and fight a fish who was about to spool you but you'd be surprised how many decent fish were landed.

www.luremaking.com has everything you need and is a Canadian company, good prices, great service

I have had trouble with the ones using baitholder hooks on the top hook(s). The barbs on the shank of the hook rub & cut the line to the lower hooks. I tie my own and stopped using baitholders on the top and no more issues. It's hard to see in the picture on the link but the text says they are using baitholders...

I don't eat fish because they swim in their own poo....

No kidding? I stand corrected... sorry John. Despite all the Merc bashing, after 800+ hours my 2004 Optimax has never needed to see the dealer. Regular maintenance and it's run like a top. It wasn't my first choice when I was boat shopping either but I've been very satisfied with it.

You mean Proctor and Hyde's won't work on Merc??? They are both Merc dealers.... They may not want work on the Mariner but they service the current Merc's.

There is an entire model list on the link provided above but you have to click on the 'Models' tab half way down. The 55 is not available with AP, only the 80 & 112 models. The foot pedal is universal for all models so it has an AP button regardless of what motor you buy. I was just looking at the Cabela's Canada site and have to agree their chart and their model selections make very little sense...

Here's the website with all the available Terrova models: http://www.minnkotamotors.com/Trolling-Motors/Freshwater-Bow-Mount/Terrova/ (click the models tab part way down) Terrova does have 'Autopilot' but only on the 80 & 112 models (edited to correct this fact), The 55 either has nothing (and yes it does come in a plain version) or it has I-Pilot or I-Pilot Link. If the Cabelas ad just said Terrova, then it is the basic model and has no GPS automatic controls and the 1200 bucks would seem about the right price. The I-pilot models are a lot more than that....not sure if this helps but the info seems pretty clear on the Minn Kota site. The only other option is US2 which is a built in sonar transducer and it is available on all three models of the 55/54.

We didn't give the shallows enough of a chance before moving deeper I guess...oh well, we did our share to save the fishery this time I guess!

We heard good reports from there yesterday morning too so we headed to Leamington instead of Colchester. I think you morning guys must have caught them all because it was dead that direction after supper. We did find a few half way out the point though in 32-34 fow so it wasn't a total bust. Didn't appear to be much happening there this morning either but again, we managed a few more for supper.

We are heading to Colchester this weekend. There was some good reports from there before last week's wind and rain but not much since. I have been told that there's still not much happening in Leamington yet, it's still pretty early.