charlesn

Largies - down and dirty in the shallow muck. Anything else is uncivilized...

They are not afraid of Santa per se. If you don't believe this I challenge anyone to sit in a big chair at a mall with hundreds of strangers staring at you and cameras pointed at you and have very young infants dropped in to your lap and see how happy they are. Unless you have a bowl cut haircut and ginormous oversized oval head like Dora the Explorer, you are gonna be scary to the kid that feels they are being left with a stranger. lol And it's funny for the parent too. I used to do that to people that visited. Hand them my baby and say, "She only cries with ugly people"... Man they would work hard to keep her from crying... hahaha

1 thing to consider about statistics. They can be misleading if not taken in context. Sure lots of people die from the regular flu every year. But how many otherwise healthy young strong people die from it. A large percentage or virtually none? That is what seems to be scary about this strain is that it can kill people that are otherwise young and strong and healthy. I guess I should be happy that I am becoming old and infirm. I'm going to get the shots for sure to try to protect my little kids, but on the fence as to whether they should or not. Will probably rely on the pediatrician's advice for that one. Scary that they had to "rush" the vaccine, but at the same time, what use will the vaccine be to us next fall... Complicated world we live in. As to the original question, my wife, 3 year old and 16 month old have all been sick for 2 weeks, I have been sick for 11 days with the worst of it appearing to be behind all of us. Went to see a doc and they said it was "viral" which is a good thing?

Charge your nephew a daily guide and shore lunch/dinner fee of, oh... maybe half the cabin cost?

From a married dude who just had his 10th anniversary (I think - lol)... Nooooooooooo! hahahahaha just kidding man. A pretty girl that loves to fish, you've definitely got a keeper. Best wishes.

NOOOOOOOOOOOO. lol I just went through an hour of pain at TD. I have had an account with them since I started my business. I had an ON gov't cheque in September, deposited it through the ATM, so 7 day hold, no biggie. All cleared eventually. Next time, same cheque one month later, go to the teller so they won't put a hold on it (as per what they told me over the phone) and they won't even accept the cheque (the exact same cheque that I've already deposited a month earlier) saying I need to provide proof the my business operates under both the Full name and the Initials. DUH! The initials are also on the cheque!!!! But because the full name was first instead of after the initials, no go. So I go get some legal documents, spend an hour there getting it cleared up, well, actually spent an hour playing Magmic Texas Hold Em King 2 on my crackberry while the lady runs around trying to find my file. And yes this all in my home branch. I'd like to drop em, but after doing business with BMO, Royal, CIBC I've found they are all the same and couldn't give a rat's patootie about you so the inertia of my laziness will probably just keep me at TD and they do have the best hours. I was actually thinking of giving Scotia a try, but thanks to your post will save myself the aggravation. They are all pretty much the same.

Sometimes despite all the best efforts, the fish will get buried in the thick stuff. With 30 lb, you have to hope the line slices through it, with 65+ you can yank on it and try to bring the fish AND the stuff to you. I'm sure you've seen uprooted lily pad stems. They have a pineapple skin like surface and go deep and are brutally tough. I've seen anchors that couldn't hold a candle to a pad root. The proliferation of zebes on the stems of all vegetation types also calls for a more resilient line. If you let the fish get buried, they can also sometimes get off as you are unable to keep pressure on the fish and they can back themselves off the hook. Finally, with the heavier line you can set the hook harder. With toads I use a 6/0 EWG heavy duty hook and so the hook set has to be pretty aggressive (aka psycho), and the lighter line does not stand up to repeated herculean hooksets as well as the heavier line. Nothing is more disappointing than finally dragging in a 30 lb wad of weeds/roots/slop, netting it on to the deck of your boat and sifting through it to find out she's not there anymore but you still have 30 lbs of junk to clear off your deck. lol

Had it happen to me a couple times. Those hunters are usually wearing camo and being super quiet. I'll be fishing along and next thing you know I hear gun shots real close by. I might see them then, or sometimes I still have no idea where they are as they are so well hidden. Hunters have to understand that fishermen that don't hunt don't know one good hunting spot from a bad one. We are mostly just looking at the water not the surroundings. At least speaking for myself, I am usually very unaware of my surroundings on everything above the waterline.

Stuffing a hollow frog with anything is risky as you affect the ability of the frog to compress and thus the amount of gap availability at the hook set. I find downsizing to a reel like the MG 50 and using "light" line such as 50 lb braid works good for smaller frogs. I use a 7'4" Quantum PT Tour and love it and frog fishing is what I enjoy the most. I used scum frogs, tourney pro, bobby's, spro and others and personally prefer the old style snag proof white with chartreuse and black dots frog with the green and chartreuse and yellow legs. They don't make that colour in the Bobby's, I just swap out the cheap hooks with the 4/0 Gamakatsu double hooks. I'd say 9 times out of 10 a toad bait (kicking legs) is better for the open water than the frog. It creates a bigger commotion and because of the straight movement, the bass never miss it. Pike seem to miss it by a mile tho.

sweetness!

The Riverdance. And don't pretend you didn't see this. lol

OK, it's pretty obvious: 1) Some people don't trust the gov't to handle the funds properly 2) People that don't care about salmon don't want to pay more for enforcement on what they perceive as a nuisance species 3) Closing the rivers would be the easiest option (any police officer, fisherman or not, can enforce a closed season - much harder for them to be able to enforce a no flossing law) but any reduction in fishing opportunities is a negative 4) Lot's of volunteers around So I have an idea that Dr. Sal can bring forward to Donna while she's getting her foot massage and pedicure. Privatize the MNR regulation enforcement. Basically, let my new company handle all the enforcement and we will do it just for the fine money, or even a portion of the fine money. I will hire all the volunteers on this board at triple the standard volunteer rate and double it for overtime and weekends - I will even provide pepper spray or mace if it is on sale at Dollarama (at $15 /). You want badges? We will have badges. We will lay charges like it is going out of style. We will send retired NFLers to collect the fines and/or just start by confiscating the vehicles, gear and their pants well, just because. And with all this fine money I will retire rich and happy. Oops, I mean, we will all be happy and the rivers will be a peaceful serene place to be again. I know it seems like I am doing all the work and you guys get all the glory and rewards, but I'm just selfless like that. I'm even thinking of waiving the registration and training fee for volunteers. So, who's in?

Ya, not sure when it will be available on a wider scale. entertainment.bell.ca is the place to go and check if it is offered. $350, ouch. PVR is pretty darn convenient though.

I love em. Rock Star, Monster, Red Bull, 5-hour, etc. Tried em all, but the Coffee flavoured ones are the best. I can drink them just like I'd drink a can of coke. Sleep? That's a myth I believed in before I had little kids. lol The 5-hour energy stuff saved my butt once when I found out I needed to do some server maintenance downtown while I was fishing in the Kawarthas. I had had 2 hours sleep the night before and fished hard all day, drove home and got the kids ready for bed, popped a 5-hour energy, headed downtown for midnight and felt great and alert down there. It's the only time I've tried it, but I am now a believer and carry one in the truck at all times. I think it is great for the mental alertness as much as the physical fatigue.

lol, so so true. I canceled my rogers home internet about 5-6 months ago and it was like wrestling an 800 lb oil covered gorilla - I'd finally think I'd have them where I needed them and they'd drop the call on a transfer!!! I'd still get calls 5 months later asking how satisfied I was with the service. I finally found a great replacement for rogers cable tv so I dropped them too. Bell's IP TV offering. It may not be available everywhere yet, but most of Mississauga has it and I'm in love. 17 Meg internet connection, hundreds of channels including all the HD stuff and movie channels for introductory rate of $85/mth. I was paying close to that for Basic cable and my internet each, now I get both for that and once the introductory offer ends, I can downscale the channel selection and I still get the HD PVR unit, with ability to pause live tv (plus an extra console for only $5/mth) plus I get to keep my 17 meg connection. It was actually only about 5.5 MB download and 7.5 upload when I tested at speedtest.net, but still blazing fast and unlike my rogers internet connection, it does not crash several times a day. It was actually probably their modem, but they would never believe me and wouldn't send me a replacement to test with - so frustrating having to explain the entire problem over and over again each time I called Rogers back. Then again, my experiences with Bell have not been any better but I guess you gotta pick your poison. haha The only downside is Bell's IP TV does not have WFN yet, but they will add it soon I was told. The console was connected by an HDMI cable to my tv and it is clearer and crisper (on the HD channels) than a DVD even. I'm no audio/videophile, and the show I watch more than all others combined is Wiggle and Learn or The Wiggles, but it felt great to watch football in HD for 15 seconds before I was told to turn it back to "her show". So far I'm loving it.

I'd agree with the above. I wish I could have back the many thousands of dollars I spent on rental boats, fly-ins, outfitters, guide trips before I had my own boat - nothing compares to that freedom. That money would have made a good sized dent in to the downpayment of a very nice boat. Also, if you have a fishin' buddy that you fish with all the time, you can even split it since it is more fun and easier to launch and stuff like that with a partner. Another idea is to join a bass fishing club in your area. You can learn things and fish events as a non-boater (so basically you get to fish out of a tournament rigged bass boat for less than what you'd spend on a rental and you can also win back that money and more - a huge bargain). As you meet and befriend the club members, you will find that if you are friendly and considerate as a non-boater, you will be asked out on fishing excursions outside of the regular events and be able to develop more and more contacts through word of mouth between the boaters as we all go out from time to time alone and would gladly take someone along for the conversation if nothing else - helps the day go by. There are lots of clubs in CBAF (cbaf.ca) and OBFN (ontariobass.com) and both are grass-roots bass fishing organizations that you can learn from and meet a bunch of bass fishing addict freaks. Feel free to PM me for more info. Charles

I do not know of a public free launch on Lower Buckhorn. The two I've always used a marina in Deer Bay and Sunrise Resort are fee-based and not a rip off as at least the ramps are somewhat maintained. Have used a few "free" ramps in my time and the damage to the trailer and inconvenience factor make the $10 well worth it. The guy at Sunrise is a great fellow. Very friendly and helpful. Would recommend that ramp to anyone.

John, Be careful, I tried this once and my computer caught something even pc-penicillin couldn't fix... I picked up a new prop (Fury 26) and it was like I'm driving a totally new boat. Airs out better and added 5 mph to my top end and hole shot is awesome too. Got 71.0 with two people, full tank of gas and full load of gear. Can still practically take my hands off the wheel wide open, no chine walk to speak of. Let's pick a calm day and hit Erie soon. Let me know. Charles

I wish my fellow competitors in a tournament would feel the same way and give me my entry fee back at the end of a day. hahaha Can't speak for all, but for most of us tourney nuts, every oz. makes a difference and there are some fish that look heavy but weigh hollow and vice versa, so without the scale, you'd be guessing and guessing wrong by an oz could mean the difference between winning and losing. Even when only pride is on the line, nobody wants to be a loser.

A lot of the tourney guys use Chatillion scales now. The precision and accuracy is amazing. The 6 lb scale goes to the oz and is bang on with the calibrated weigh-in scales. In fact, they are so bang on and accurate, that when they are off, it is the weigh-in scale that is usually assumed to be off. They are $66 US a pop, but most guys I know have at least 1 and some have a spare. I have had Berkley, Rapala and X-Tools scales, including the 50+ models and all of them were next to useless as you could weigh the same fish three different times and get three different weights. With the Chatillion it is always bang on. Charles

Geez, how does that make those of us that didn't get the message feel. Not even wanted by a fake russian bride spammer. Ouch.

Especially on the Lower Niagara in February...

Awesome to hear Curt!

Gas could weigh more than your estimate - how big is the tank? Batteries are also quite heavy - Size 24s might be as light as 30 but the big batteries are really heavy. Then there is gear, food, drinks, safety gear, paddles, anchor, pfds etc. It all adds up to more than you think. Wet carpets can also add a bunch of weight you're not expecting if the boat has carpeting. I'd personally advise to err on the side of caution.

I caught one about that size today and the boneless fillets alone weighed 10 lbs... :angel: