Rizzo

if you're talking Head Lake near Norland you must mean 50 centimetres. great report Pete

haha...still running. A pole across the street from my house got hit last summer so I can relate to the racket. The neighbours were actually outside about 30 feet from the pole when it got hit...they ran too, straight to the bathroom!

sounds like a great opportunity! Good luck to all those who are able to go, unfortunately I don't see myself being able to attend...something about 4 kids under the age of 6 at home

took a 5 of diamonds off the forehead once, nothing below the belt

ya I was. I was real happy to get a good picture quickly. In the warm water conditions I wanted to get the fish back in the water asap! It was kind of funny, I had the fish back in the water and I'm trying to grab at the camera to see if I got a good shot! Nearl knocked it off the bow and into the drink.

zoinks...beauty fish. At least you have a few months left to try and beat it (good luck with that!)

The pike thing is not looking good. I watched a boat that I thought was figure 8'ing a musky, but when I saw them bring it in it was just a hammerhandle pike. I only get to Balsam once or twice a year, haven't caught a pike yet...but if I do its lights out mr. pike

haha too funny. If this works and they are winning, "ball" shouldn't be an issue. If it doesn't work....gonna have some expensive whiners. Sadly I think it will work, just look at Boston. When they signed their "big 3" everyone pointed to the lack of depth and how it won't work - seems to have worked pretty well to me.

First off let me say its been a while since I've posted a photo so I have no idea what the heck I'm doing! Can't seem to find the "old way of doing things" (upload a photo to my album etc etc...I can't even find my album!)So for the sake of us computer illiterate people stop changing the site!! Every time I figure something out everything changes! Anywho, got out to Balsam lake this morning for around 5 hours of fishing. Very much a last minute decision to go fishing (like its 4 am and I'm wide awake). Got on the water around 6:30 a.m. Air felt like 100, water was around 78. Got to my first spot and after a few casts noticed a fish cresting on the surface. These fish breaking the surface always end up being carp in my world (at least that's what I tell myself when I can't catch them!. Not this time. That cresting fish made a huge boil and smashed the white spinnerbait I had tossed 10 feet beyond it. After a brief tussle she was in the net. I don't know what it is with me and tiger muskies, but I seem to get a disproportionate number of them. This one measured in at just shy of 46 inches. A personal best tiger for me. Not a good sign...means there have been pike in Balsam a long time. Previous best had been a 42 incher from the upper niagara from around 5 years ago. Naturally we have to have the release shot. After a few minutes the fish swam off...but stayed on the surface. I've seen fish go 10 feet on the surface and then head down, but this one stayed on the surface for a good 5 minutes. Wasn't having any issues staying upright either...looked good, just swimming along on the surface. I stuck around and watched him until it finally took off. Ended up getting a smaller fish a few hours later, but didn't take any measurements (35 inches??)or photos of that one.

I am so out of the loop. What the heck is Mec??

good for you sticking with the fish for a successful release. Maybe I read something wrong but are you saying the next fish was 60 inches long (foot longer than the first one)???? Perhaps you were being sarcastic (which is so dang hard to figure out through computer!

happened to see that on the news. Another one of the guys who played hard and partied hard dying young (see Kordic: John). Sad to see, was one of the toughest guys to ever play and had some skill too

thanks for all the input...obviously this is a bigger task than I would have guessed!

starting to sound like this is a job for someone else to do. Its not like they are turning to mush yet so I'll probably just leave as is, and see what the future brings (when it becomes a necessary fix rather than a cosmetic fix)

nuts. I'm not the handiest guy but was hoping to take a stab at this! What kind of problems did you end up with? The plan for this canoe is to use it floating around in the ponds near my house (1-4 acres in size). It will have a easy life - no rocks, no rapids, no aggressive paddling!

Got my hands on an old fibreglass canoe. The wood gunnels are starting to rot a bit. Anyone ever replace these before?

...and I suppose the cars torched themselves and the windows broke because they were old and brittle

I submit this as the dumbest quote of the year...to make light of our troops dying is disgraceful. What these punks are doing has nothing to do with "freedom" of any sort.

wow what a beast!

I watched some of these losers on cp24 yesterday for a bit. I like the "Our Street" chant, how creative. Give me a break, not one of these clowns even pays property tax. Let's hope one day they grow up and are embarrassed, maybe even pay back the people whose property they damaged. Like someone else said...thrill seeking cowards. I would love to see one of the cops finally give one the "billy club to the bag" (another quote)but I don't think you would find anything there.

right on, thats a solid day of fishing plus you got to sleep in and have coffee!

good for you, sounds like a successful opener and congrats on the boat!

Good stuff! My parents lived at lowbanks for a few years and all I ever caught were pesky 5 lb smallmouth (and the king of freshwater fish the mighty sheephead)

Thanks for all the replies. After I posted that message last night I went out to have another look at it. Had considered "reversing" the ball but that would make the tongue too low (at least the skeg wouldn't bottom out!). Anywho, as I'm out there looking at it I see the other neighbour outside - turns out he has about 5 different hitches and was happy to lend me one. Good thing because I was a bit concerned. Went to Head lake early this morning(Norland) and got skunked. Thanks again for all the tips. Next stop will be princess auto before another "last minute trip" springs up!

In my continual efforts to shed my city roots I have sold my Pacifica and bought a pick-up. Being a low vehicle the ball from the pacifica had about a 6 inch rise. Just tried to hook this up on the new truck and of course the ball is quite high now. Last time I borrowed a neighbour's attachment but that isn't an option this time. Hoping to do a last minute fishing trip tomorrow so no time to buy a new attachment for the hitch. With the boat hooked up and the transom saver on, the skeg is about 10 inches above ground level and the rear lights about a foot above ground level. Is this going to be ok or do I cancel my last minute trip? Any other issues (other than bottoming out) to be concerned about?