Danubian

Rubbing Alcohol (aka Isopropyl Rubbing Alcohol) should dissolve sap and is not that aggressive on leather. This is what I always used to take the sap stains off my clothes.

You can fish in Port Credit from pier. Another popular destination is Erindale Park (Dundas & Mississauga Rd). Lake Aquitaine could also be another choice (Aquitaine & Glen Erin , 43.5858,-79.754595). Tight lines!

I honestly don't remember what brand of insect repellant I use - it may be Muskol very well as Deep Woods Off. But it's been a while since I stopped applying it directly on my skin. (That was because I once put spray on my hands and then smear it on my sweaty face and neck; 10 minutes later I could't feel my lips, like I've been to the dentist.) I do camp quite a lot and I prefer to wear a bug jacket and a pair of long pants -microfibre like texture. I still spray my clothes and my cap, but I try to minimize the skin contact. Other things I noticed: - smoke "baths" work well (even after showers, because it neuters the sweet scents of shampoo/soap) and smoke is a good antibacterial. - eat garlic at least 24 hrs in advance; your sweat becomes quite repellant for insects. (For avoiding the garlic breath, I use to just cut the garlic in pieces large enough just to not get choked with and swallow them with beer/wine/juice, just like when taking medicine. Actually I like the smell/taste of garlic, but I want to spare the people who don't.) Mosquitos don't bother me much, hate the blackflies, but the odd deerfly bite could get me a swollen foot -if the bite was in the foot/toes area. It lasts for a couple of hours and then is fine.

I just PM'd you.

Wouldn't then be safer to also not allow any alcohol for full G drivers if they drive? I mean, if someone knows he's allowed some drink and still can drive he'll probably take his chances more easier than when knowing that it's not legal to drink and drive. Afterall, the law states about alcohol concetration in blood, which is the result of a combination of factors from which the most important are probably one's body mass, qty of alcohol and qty of food ingested. Without lab tests, is hard to guess how much is one's "load". Let alone that different people have different levels of alcohol tolerance. This relative "freedom" is rather creating confusion and eventually leading to more trouble than just saying "alcohol and driving is against the law for everybody".

Very sad combination: alcohol and speeding... Now that the driver has been drinking and driving, will the insurance company decline his coverage or not? What if he was a full G in the same circumstances: alcohol in blood but under the legal limit, what would the insurnace company do? I always found this fact confusing: for full G, one is still allowed to drive after having a small amount of alcohol in his blood, but if he's involved in an accident, "impaired driving" charges are possible.

No, I didn't keep it. Too beautiful to kill. I have another picture from a year ago, different stream, though: It's an even smaller fish, but the colors on it are gorgeous...

Yesterday afternoon I went out for a walk in the woods. I also took my fishing rod with me and a handful of very small spinners. Swarming clouds of blackflies, but I also got this little brookie: I'm so happy now!

How's Tommy Thompson Park in Toronto/Lake Ontario? Looking at the satellite picture in Google Maps there are bays where the carp may very well be living. Anyone fished there? Danubian

I got stung so many times by bullheads - I think the worst wound was at Lake Aquitaine, in Mississauga - and never got an infection. Sometimes I put some anti-bacterial ointment on the wound, but only hours after. As a matter of fact, the slime actually protects the fish itself from fungal and bacterial infections, so it might have been worked against the infection. Or maybe I was just lucky... Channel cats I don't think they sting.

Did it ever occur to you that not all, but some of these aspects may also be a side-effect of multiculturalism? After all, Canada almost doubled it's population in the last 25 years and perhaps not everyone has been raised in the righteous English way. I don't quite agree that 222 million guns held in private hands qualifies any country as the least rude of all. It's just another reign of terror.

Most of us pay taxes through the nose, and still can see all these kids "greeting" you at the doors of many stores, or having the tellers at the grocery stores asking you to make a charity donation. Nothing wrong with being charitable, but what tickles me really bad is tax money spent away on poor deals. Remember that Chicoutimi submarine that burned and killed an officer on its "maiden voyage"? (Well, not quite maiden, since it was bought second hand from the British fleet...) I could come with some more examples, but you got my point. Those money could have funded a lot of kids' trips to Europe, sport clubs, poor kids' breakfasts and so on... Go rattle your pans to Ottawa!

1. If you didn't get pulled over, you are fine; this time only. "Speeding Trap" is not working the same way as a "red light camera". I guess it's part of police's procedure to pull you over, let you know about the offence and hand you the ticket. 2. When traffic is light, stay within the speed limits, otherwise "move with the traffic" and in general try as much as possible to not single out yourself. (I'd like to think of the lion chasing the buffalo herd: he'll never catch one that runs with the herd.) Offtopic: Does anyone know what was the legal outcome of the red-light cameras? At some point it's been challenged in the higher Courts for the photos being accepted as evidence in Court. It was dealing with the fact that there is only circumstantial evidence that a certain person actually drove the car, since there was presented only a snapshot of the car/license plate. The cameras are still around, though...

I was wondering if it's open water or it's thin ice. Please let me know. Thanks much!

$43 - the clerk must've made a mistake. I guess that's the Sports License for the Canadian Residents (but not Ontario Residents). I've renewed today my Conservation License at the local Canadian Tire and the sticker for 2008 costed me $13.75 tax included. I've seen a printout attached to the counter where licensese were sold and indeed, at a first glance the 1 Yr. Sports License was over $40, but that was for Canadian Residents (non-Otarians). Not sure if I'd call the MNR, I would rather go back to the operator that sold the license, explain them the confusion and obtain a refund. (If you purchased yours from Canadian Tire, no wonder... It took me half an hour of idling there, because most of the clerks were new and didn't know much about the outdoor licenses.)

If someone shows at my doorstep and asks out of the blue to see my gas bill, or whatever other bill, I would start by questioning his authority to do so. If he can provide proof that he has this right and me the obligation to do so, then I reluctantly would, but otherwise I'll just slam the door in his face so hard that he'll leave a couple of fingers inside. It's a matter of principle here: If I agree to show my bill "for comparison purposes", what in Luke's name we'll start comparing next? The lenght of our fishing rods? This kind of "agressive marketing" it's simply offending one's intellingence. Do they think we're so stupid that we can't compare 2 sets of figures, or do they actually think we're stupid enough to accept pears compared to apples and eventually buy their lemons. Let alone them little tricks of procedure with pushy phone calls during dinner. BTW: I love to speak gibberish or totally nosense to telemarketers, in the most polite and curteous way, and trying to hold them as long as I could on the phone. It's the only effective way to have these call centers removing your number from their databases. And it's a lot of fun, too!

Thanks!

Hello there! Anyone could PM me a [better than average] spot for perch in the Barrie-Innisfil (Simcoe) area? I will be fishing from shore. I heard that people go and fish in the Barrie Marina, but I'm not sure if that's the spot or rather just convenience. Many thanks! Danubian

I've got my fingers punctured so many times while handling small catfish and -thanks God!- I never got any infection. (I remember the deepest wound I got while fishing Lake Aquitaine, which is not the cleanest lake, either...) I do agree that the spines are very sharp and eager to sting your fingers/palms, and for sure one could get an infection if the bony thing breaks while inside the wound, leaving a fragment there. Not sure about the slime, though. That helps the fish itself to not get some infections, and we're not that different from a fish, on that matters... Always carry some very basic first aid kit with you, like antibiotic ointment, kleenexes and band aids. Wash the wound with clean water, press a folded kleenex on it until the bleeding stops, then add a thin film of ointment on the wound -or on the inner side of the band aid- and then apply the band aid. Preferably have someone else dressing your wound, and yes, that person must de-sanitize her hands.

Why would someone want to teach his child shoot a handgun? How much is a handgun having to do with hunting? Don't mention it's for self defense because handgun proliferation is going anywhere but a safe & peaceful environment. I served in the army for a while and I am gun trained -although never been a good shooter- but after that, I never wanted to touch a gun again. Please leave the handguns to professionals of sort, and let them kids be kids! There are so many other hobbies around... My 2c.

XRAP: why don't use mesh -like the one for roe- and tie some leader on the mesh bag. I used this method with corn kernels, with maize, with Power Bait and it always worked great.

Hello to all my friends from OFC! Sunday afternoon I decided to try my luck -and test the barbless trebles turned to singles- on the Upper Credit. Plenty of fish, most of them small, but very active. I got a hit pretty much on every cast. Landed about 6, lost almost 10. All of them released to fight another day. It is said that a picture is worth a thousand words. These pictures were worth a thousand mosquito bites and zero regrets.

No, it's not the Upper Credit, but I'll try to get rid of the treble hooks anyway. Most of the fish were just superficially stung, but a very few others got some bleeding, which concerned me a bit, so I'm trying to replace the treble hooks with singles. The only problem is that I'm not sure where I could find some very small rings to attach the hook to the spinner's shaft (Panther Martins). Any alternative ideas of how to attach the hook? I could tie it in with some stronger monofilament, but it's gonna be hard to do so. Thanks! Danubian

I must keep an eye to the evil, so it's better to keep it chained, in the basement, under the dripping pipe :-)

Way to go Matty! Congrats!