charlesn

I think it's a Canadian company - if not at least the original inventor was Canadian. In fact, I think I remember reading about the baits first on here many many moons ago before it was a bigger thing. Love to see a Canadian tackle company grow and become successful. Like the Rod Glove the past few years which has had phenomenal success. I personally have never thrown one so I can't comment on its effectiveness, but just think it is great to seee a Canuck fishing company doing well and hope we continue to support the little guys - because if we don't the Pure Fishing Empire or one of the other giants will buy up everything and our only choices will be mass-produced stuff with different names on it. I'm maybe a freak but I don't consider those baits to be all that expensive. I use soft plastic senkos that cost like a buck a piece and I've lost them to rock bass on the first cast and on a good day have gone through 40. Would never even think to complain about it though - because if I'm catching fish on it - it's worth every penny. At least with a hardbait or a frog you can catch a bunch of fish on it. I mean rods and reels can go for $1000 a combo and a bass boat and truck are like $50-100,000. On a per fish basis - the lure/bait cost is pretty insubstantial and yet probably the single most important thing. I'm only sponsored by my personal VISA, AMEX and MC so of course everything I say is gospel! Charles

Just got WFN again after a long absense as it wasn't offered by my provider (Bell IP-TV). They still don't provide the HD feed which is kinda dumb since I think they offer it for their non IP-TV customers. I DVR the following: Big Bass Battle, Classic Patterns, Scott Martin Challenge, Hook n'Look, Getting School'd, Skeeter BassChamps, PTTS, Collegiate Bass Championships, FoF and Lost Lake. As you can tell, I prefer a certain species of fish. lol The DVR makes ALLLLL the difference in the world. No mighty bite commercials, or other incredibly cheesy commercials. For the shows themselves, I can skip the parts that I don't wanna watch. I can rewind the parts I find interesting. I'd take that barbed wire enema before I'd go ice fishing so I find this to be a very relaxing way to spend a couple hours a week when I have mastery of the remote. Saturday morning I don't have any tv control, so usually it's Caillou and Wonder Pets. I used to enjoy the occasional Lunkerville and Fishomania and of course FLW Outdoors for anything but king fish. But they don't seem to be on any more. I don't try to "learn" anything from any of these shows. I'm just turning the brain off and being entertained by people doing something I love since I'm at home on the couch. I find it amusing how some people are so critical about a fishing tv show. Have you seen what garbage and filth is on the toob these days. At least I can watch these shows and not have to be worried my kids are going to come by and see a dead body or young people sexing. I think the critics should relax a little or if they truly think they can do better - go do it. Nothing is stopping you from going for it other than excuses and fear of failure. Charles

Yes, that was incredible with the other boat literally trying to hit it with their outboard to keep it off the tarpon. I'm guessing the guys talking about the high gunwales and big stable platforms have never watched the show. No big deal, but you really need to watch the show to get an appreciation of what I am talking about. These are not big 30+'ers, these are relatively small bay boats and these guys are laid out on the deck with a minimum of 1/3rd of their body over the gunwale in order to try to gaff a fish that can be upwards of 200 lbs. And one of the teams had a fish right beside the boat that had a chunk taken out of it by a bull shark. Add to that the fact that they are oftentimes in very close proximity to other boats. Like close enough to have to hand rods off to each other to prevent tangling. All with outboard motors constantly running and thus churning up the water causing wakes from every which direction and often the need for quick maneuvres to prevent collisions and or chase off sharks. It's really a spectacle and probably my favorite show right now. Hey Brian, that was just for good luck and it worked! lol Charles

With the amount of boat chop and guys leaning way out over the boats to gaff a fish or even to leader release - I'm sure people have fallen overboard. Heck people fall overboard all the time in calm waters, never mind a crazy washing tub of 40-50 boats in a concentrated area. So I was thinking to myself, is the reason for no PFDs that it would act as like some sort of an attractant to the 18' hammerhead sharks that are around trying to eat those 100-200 lb tarpons? I was thinking maybe a good swimmer would be impeded by a PFD and thus act like a giant human sized spook topwater in the ocean for those big bull sharks and hammerheads. I've watched probably 15 episodes and I don't think I've ever seen one PFD worn (inflatable or otherwise). I can see how it would be an encumberance fighting those giant fish - but for the dudes leaning way over... Wow. And how about leaning way over while an 18' hammerhead decides to come up for a bite. I'd love to do this some day but I think I'd want a floating chainmail armor suit of some sort because I have geteatenbyasharkaphobia. Hope those enjoying the hardwater are doing well. Charles

Actually, the dock was still in as of yesterday there and the boat was gone so they must've been able to pull it out on Monday. I heard from some VERY experienced Erie boaters that were out there on Sunday that it got real ugly - real quick. Many in the Frosty tournament had to bail to Crystal and go get their trucks as they didn't want to pound their way back to Port. Charles

Daughters are so precious... All the best to you and her and the rest of the family who all share in this.

The Vaughan club would be closest to Woodbridge. That's the one Johnny Bass just joined. Incoming president is Chonger. You can PM him here - he's an OFNer.

Congrats Johnny, hope you enjoy your time in the CBAF. I think you will.

Is it just me or have you guys/gals not caught a bunch of fish with the hook almost being passed out of the anus? I don't think the hook dissolves these days, but I have seen MANY occasions where the fish passes the hook/jig through their system. Basically 50-90% of the hook and all of the line will be hanging out the butt when the fish is caught and the fish is otherwise very healthy. What I assume in those cases is that the fish was gut hooked the person cut the line and the fish survived long enough to pass the bait and line through their system. Have seen it with both smallies and largies. I don't target anything else, but I've seen it with pike too. The line and hook is usually coated by a mucous or algae, so it is obviously a time consuming process, but it does work and the fish appears no worse for wear. Sometime the tube is still in tact and I learn a new colour to try - lol. One thing for sure - when a big smallie is on the feed, you could have the world's fastest reflexes and most sensitive fingers, it doesn't matter, it can have a tube swallowed to the point where you see nothing but line heading down the fishes throat. It is a gut-churning feel, but you aren't retrieving that bait without killing the fish for sure and from what I've seen - those fish will pass the bait - at least some will, so I cut the line and hope for the best. I have tanked a few and had the occasional one regurgitate a tube jig that I otherwise could not retrieve without harming the fish, but that is a rarity. Usually it just gets swallowed deeper and deeper. Charles

Only invented 9 months ago? My 4 year old and 2 year old have been doing this for at least a year and use things like dolls and MegaBloks as weapons.

C'mon Phill, Facebook says we're already friends...

The neighbours complained about that activity Roy so I came back inside... lol I'm not mad at Lowrance (well, maybe a little) but more mad at myself. It's fool me once shame on you, fool me 7 times, shame on me.

Depending on how reliable you want your electronics to be - go with ANYTHING but Lowrance. I'm not sponsored by anybody or anything. I owned nothing but Lowrance/Eagle from my first boat to now 6 boats in. In the past 4 years Lowrance quality AND customer support has gone down the crapper. Here's a test - go google Lowrance Customer Support and Humminbird Customer Support. Tell me what you find. The biggest news out of the Lowrance camp over the past year was their unceremonious letting go of Linda Colt - the one person that had been saving their bacon reputation wise. Since Navico took over - it's garbage. Their Canadian support center is closing. Good luck getting things repaired once they die on you and they WILL die on you. I have personally had 2 332s, 1 330, 3 520s and an X26 fail on me and cost me a day, a tournament or a even a 4 day long weekend of fishing as without GPS I am very lost - I really rely on my electronics. I've had my 787 2 seasons now and the 997 this season and never once even questioned that it would turn on when it was cold or rainy. That relief and lack of stress is majorly worthwhile. Hoping to upgrade to an 1197 for an even bigger screen. The humminbirds are great for now - but if they start to suck - I will drop them like a bad habit and go quickly to Garmin, never again will I be foolishly loyal to a company putting out garbage. Lowrance has a long way to go before they win back the trust of 90% of the anglers I know. Buy what you want - but now you can't say you haven't been warned. Charles

I picked up some liquid that you dab behind the ear. It's supposed to be effective even after the seasickness begins. Dramamine/Gravol is okay at preventing the full-onset - but is pretty useless once the burps have begun. The sea bands and the ginger gravol are useless. I have heard that the behind the counter drug store patches that you put on your neck work the best. They are for 48-72 hours at a time I believe. Charles

If they would open up a catch and release season to lengthen the bass season in southern Ontario, then I can see the clubs at least adopting this system since most use a blind draw partnering system which can help keep people honest. The biggest problems would be in a "buddy" or team tournament which is the great majority of the events up here. It would be cost prohibitive to have an observer on board every boat and as much as I'd like to give everybody the benefit of the doubt - I think cheating (and simple user error) would be rampant. I've taken 2 pictures of the same fish for example and you would swear it was 2 different fish depending on if I let it "colour up" in the livewell. Another thing would be how to deal with an angler or team catching the same fish multiple times in a day. If it is a large fish, it could certainly skew the results. But maybe the biggest concern I'd have even in a little clubbie with no prize money - mechanical failure. I'd assume everyone would be supplied with some non tamperable camera - but what if it gets wet or just simply breaks or gets lost. Do you supply 2 per boat? 3? Suddenly the costs are driven up even more for the organizers or for the anglers if you push the cost down to them. But speaking as a tournament angler, the psychological barriers would be the hardest thing to overcome. Nobody that fishes high-level tournaments cares about the length - it's all about the weight. George Perry's record largie isn't XX inches long it was 22 lbs 4 oz. Over time maybe that could change, but there isn't a single true tourney nut I've ever talked to about it that wants it to go in that direction. Watching the fish come out of a competitor's livewell is part of the fascination and anticipation of the weigh-in. It wouldn't be the same handing in a digital camera or memory stick. The cheating aspect would be at the forefront of everyone's mind. The precision would be greatly diluted. I mean how accurate can a photo of a fish on a board be: to the tenth of an inch? Probably not even that precise. Tournaments have been decided by 0.01 lbs. A 1 hundredth of a lb. With precision as low as 1/4 inch at a time, I could see a lot of ties and a lot of arguments about "was the fish's nose touching the bump board" or not, was the tail pinched, was the jaw distended, etc. As OFC well knows, fishermen love only one thing more than fishing and that is arguing about fishing. I'm not trying to pooh-pooh the idea - even without the conservation side of the argument, it can be a boon to us tourney guys. Here are some benefits from a tourney angler perspective: -Fish are not relocated, therefore locking can be allowed. Currently you can not lock through to another lake and transport fish back to the origin lake. Locking would certainly add a new element to the strategy involved. -Could hold an event on a slot limit lake or catch and release only lake -Could even hold an event out of the Bass Pro Parking lot and say basically - be back here at 9 PM with your photos. So every lake within driving distance could be open. Talk about strategy then. So there are some possibilities than could be opened up. Over time maybe we'll have the means to overcome the major obstacles against this format and I can certainly see it working for AYA and at the club level on catch and release lakes or during proscribed catch and release periods. I just don't see it catching on at a higher level than that in the near future until the major flaws are addressed. I can also understand why people that haven't fished bass tournaments for 15 years might not see it as I do.

Great job Ryan, and the big dude resting the beer on the cute little's girl head. That picture made me laugh out loud... Thanks to all of you for making us as anglers look good!

lol How about they work on getting the next 12 hours correct first?

Pretty serious issue. They are vermin and known to carry disease. I'd try the kinds of poisons that will dry up their insides so they kind of shrivel up and die in their hole or wherever they live. Maybe even call a professional to deal with it before it gets worse. I live next to a big field and field mice used to be a big issue, then we called a professional company in (brain cramp - can't remember the name - maybe PCO) and since then we've been good. All rodents give me the heebie jeebies. Good luck with it! Charles

Awesome largie Lew. A serious trophy even though I know what you fish for woulda probably eaten it. I've only seen a very few 6s never mind 7s. Any 8+ bass up here is a true super giant and quite possibly the biggest bass in that body of water. Charles

Based on my recent outings: Winds from the east - fish bite least Winds from the west - my patience it will test Winds from the south - fish please open your mouth Winds from the north - why do I even go forth? So I don't think it is necessarily the wind although I do seem to do best when it is flat calm...

SRT8, The tournament has been full for a while from what I understand SRT8. But if you do find a partner, I'd get my application in ASAP to get on the waiting list as there are always boat casualties prior to the event and they go down the waiting list.

And let's hope none of us ever do as an asian carp at 60 mph is gonna leave a mark!

I guess some people are just that much smarter than everyone else that they can DEFINE "what fishing is about" for everyone and be sanctimonious towards anyone that falls outside of their definition. Charles

OK, thanks. Thought there was some special format or something they needed to be, but sounds straightforward, thanks!

OK, I am pretty much the least knowledgeable person on buying/downloading music around. I think the last time I bought music for myself, it was the cassette tape of LLCoolJ's Bigger and Deffer in 1986 or so. lol I want to put together a CD of music for my daughters. Specifically, I want songs from the disney movies so that they can listen to something during car rides or at least so I can drown out the sounds of them going to war in the backseat. I am too afraid/too unknowledgeable to want to try torrents or any of the grey market stuff. I have no problem paying for each song, I just want to be able to burn it to a CD once I've bought it. Any help?