Billy Bob

CONGRATULATIONS ON A NEW GRAND DAUGHTER.... Bobbie is a very nice name for a girl....

Nice pics of your Canadian Air Force in training... It's because of these young men and women that both of our countries are celebrating a long weekend today...

Nice report...... LOVE to look at pictures and I LOVE THE RED LUNDS....don't know why they started to make them in different colors....always thought that was their trade mark. BTW you're MUCH better looking then I thought..... Bob

OK, here is my trip report at the "Beautiful Bignells Resort" (Big Cliff's Home) I can't really do justice here but I will try my best...... Arrived Friday morning with showers on and off for most of the drive.... We parked across the street from Cliff's house and was given a VERY WARM WELCOME from Cliff and his lovely wife Sue......Cliff quickly escorted us to our fully furnished BEAUTIFUL Bungalow overlooking Sturgeon Lake... Cliff immediately began helping us carry all our stuff so we could get settled in...and then it was off to the boat ramp with Cliff which was only 4 doors down to launch my faithful Old Grumman.... and yes the hubs never touched the water... THANKS AGAIN CLIFF....with rain in the forecast for the next few days we wondered how we were to going to cope....but have no fear we were greeted with a Canadian Survival Package.... At first I was guessing it was Christmas in Canada but on further examination it was a package from a friend from afar....Paul better known here as MercMan.....Paul had include many items like Canadian hat buttons, a small hand towel, screw drivers, a GREAT BBQ Sauce and some REAL CANADIAN MAPLE SYRUP....and also a spinner rig with a yellow sally that I didn't get to use because we were fishing so shallow all week long....and I can't forget the Canadian Flag sunglasses that I would put on every time it would rain....and they worked...the sun would come right out... It would be like the above picture and shortly after I put on my Canadian Sunglasses this would happen. THANK YOU PAUL for your thought fullness and generosity. If anyone remembers I ordered our fishing licenses by phone and the Canadian Fishing Ministry was very quick to get them to us....BUT....they never sent any regs with them so Cliff downloaded Area 17 for me....since we always have gotten the conservation license I was SHOCKED to see they reduce the limit to ONE WALLEYE per conservation license....so you will not see multiple fish pics because I would fish mostly alone while the bride slept in every morning...but I did catch some fish.. The first caught walleye on Saturday morning. A very nice 12" crappie that is still swimming in Sturgeon Lake. And to show not everyone was a keeper a 7.5" walleye And of course I had to take out the bride once she was well rested and I cooked her breakfast outside on the griddle. And she did get her share of fish.... My bride Cindy always insist we take boat rides and this trip wasn't any different...we cruised to Fenelon Falls and also Bobcaygeon and of course took some photo's for our scrap book. On Sunday we were invited to break bread with Cliff and his lovely wife Sue....Cliff made up his famous Caveman Ribs and they were spectacular...only problem I was so busy eating I didn't take any pics of that dinner....my bad... On Tuesday we also shared a meal and this time Sue and Cliff were the guest....but again no pictures.... but you might ask Cliff how his head was the next day from drinking my Lancaster Ice Tea drinks... However, Sue and Cliff insisted we return for another meal on Thursday as this would be our last full day to eat, drink and be merry with our new Canadian Friends.... ...we had to leave early the next morning to beat the holiday traffic. But this time I remembered to take some photo's and let me tell you, Cliff is one good CHEF...his Roasted Garlic Soup is to DIE FOR....AND HE BAKED HIS OWN BREAD...try to beat that boys... When we heard one of Cliff's offered dinners to us was his Famous Caveman Ribs we had to give him this T-Shirt....Actually I was taken a photo of Sue but he ran in at the last moment... We all spent a lot of time doing this when we weren't ishing and enjoyed every moment of it. And last but not least I got to hook up with the Kawartha Lake's legendary angler, Shane....better known here as Sinker....and let me tell you he lived up to that reputation....we had a huge cold front blow in on Tuesday with LOTS of rain and HEAVY winds that continued to blow when we met up mid morning on Wednesday.... So even with 20-30 mph winds we set out for some walleyes on Rice Lake...using just small bladed worm harnesses and ONE split shot we trolled and drifted over mid lake weed beds....Sinker kept catching catfish while I kept reeling in weeds....I finally got one small walleye but still spent more time taking off weeds until Shane gave me a mid size split shot to replace my very light bullet sinker I was using....I finally got a nice keeper walleye and so did Shane....we ended up with four walleyes caught, two which went home for dinner but we talked a LOT about hunting, mostly waterfowl hunting that the six hours FLEW BY before we knew it....I would really like to share my boat next time with Sinker, hopefully someday on Lake Erie for perch as I know that's his favorite fish to catch and eat. THANK YOU SHANE, I REALLY enjoyed my day with you....I have fished with MANY MANY anglers and your at the top of my long list of those I would drop anything to share another day in the boat with. Since we were so busy shooting the Bull I didn't shoot many pictures but here's the two I did take...the second is one of the catfish Shane caught. Cliff was trying to convince us to stay until today so we could meet several others on the board here but we have my sister in-laws coming over for a BBQ and I thought that would be cutting it too close with all the holiday traffic, especially on the bridges. So next time Cliff we will have to plan around that G2G BBQ get together at your place....HOPEFULLY next summer. THANK YOU AGAIN CLIFF & SUE.... you are both so VERY KIND people and Cindy and I are PROUD to have you has our new FRIENDS....and don't forget your always welcome in our Redneck Home. Bob & Cindy

VERY NICE CATCH.....if you want smallmouth head down here and we'll fish Erie....but I really don't eat them, but you can.

Cliff, I told you to enjoy your Holiday and sleep in..... We had a FANTASTIC time and my bride is already missing the lake view as she reads her book on the deck. But the most important thing I want to say is........ THANK YOU CLIFF & SUE........ We were treated like family from the time we parked and walked up to the house and was greeted by Cliff.... Will have a week long trip report as soon as I can put one together.... BTW Cliff....we SAILED through Toronto without even a slow up (never did this before).....made great time until we we got closer to the Rainbow Bridge in Niagara Falls....we seen the electronic signs warning of 1-2 hour bridge delays at all bridges....as the QEW narrowed down into a regular road about a mile from the bridge we could see standing traffic ahead....took a quick detour and made a right turn at Stanley Rd and then found Cliffton Hill Street (got some weird looks towing a boat on that road) and finally down to the entrance of the Rainbow Bridge but this way we had NO ONE in front of us as we entered the bridge entrance from the opposite way the QEW comes in from....20 minutes later we were through customs and home by 8:45am....if there was no hold up on the bridge we would of make it by 8:30am easily. THANKS AGAIN CLIFF & SUE Bob

If he falls you mean carcass retrieve....

It looks like this is going to happen....a tightrope walk directly over the falls.... http://www.buffalonews.com/city/communities/niagara-falls/article464285.ece

If your firearms have to be locked up in a safe or something similar how do you abide by this reg if your at a lodge hunting or in a tent hunting...

This is the reason we have the NRA and it's very well supported here. A law abiding citizen shouldn't be subjected to something like this..

GOOD IDEA....

There's a season on bass... why, never keep any and taste like Have fun you bass chasers....less anglers fishing walleyes...

I am really surprised Canada doesn't have a similar organization comparable to our NRA..... So when some crack head kicks down your door in the middle of the night, he knows your personal protection is safely locked up and is no threat to him...not good. If I remember correctly though, didn't you guys just have some recent good news when it came to your real firearms ...

My guess is it's the battery....storing a battery during winter is best if charged at least once a month but even better if hooked up to a battery charger "maintainer" or even better if you have a on-board charging system in your boat...leave it plugged in all winter long....my boat is stored in my garage that is not connected or heated at all and I just leave it plugged in over the winter. Time to go battery shopping.... Bob

The hardware is just what came with the transom mount transducer....if you look closely you will see where the hose clamp goes through the mount...that is where you would put your screw through to mount it on the back of the boat...but I just took pliers and bent it a little bit to shape it around the TM..

Here's how I used my Lowrance transom mount on my trolling motor...

I do a lot of fishing for walleye and perch on Lake Erie going out of the Buffalo area launches and have never had a problem "yet"....been doing it for over 30 years.....many years ago I use to trailer my old boat over and launch at Point Abino for those shallow bass but in 1985 I purchased a new boat with a 50 hp motor I found it easier to just motor over into the Crystal Beach area and fish under the sailboats for smallmouth...haven't done that in years but at times I was only 100 yards off the Canadian shores....I guess now that's a no no...my brother in-law still launches there as they own a cottage at Pleasant Beach...he tells me a couple of times he's been approached at the launch when he's retrieving his boat by custom officials.... Hope they stop the nonsense on both sides and just let us fish as long as we don't disembark onto shore. Bob

A friend forwarded this article....seems like the Canadian government is taking a different stance on US boaters venturing into Canadian waters to fish...If this holds true for the future it will effect many in my area that fish the Buffalo end of Lake Erie and the Niagara River.....it could also force the US to do the same.... http://watertowndailytimes.com/article/20110621/NEWS02/306219939/-1/NEWS http://www.watertowndailytimes.com/article/20110617/NEWS03/306179983 Edited to add the second article

Not complaining about the price of cigarettes as I don't smoke either...just using it as a comparison product...didn't have any idea what people pay in Canada to smoke...but at $16 per pack I would think a lot of them quit or don't take up the nasty habit, especially kids.

Terry, I really don't think so....as we have our share of beer distributors here also. Yesterday I purchased my beer from a chain of drug stores that always has beer on sale...even our big super markets have their beer delivered from distributors....I just think their is more mark up on many items in Ontario....like we have on a pack of cigarettes.... our NYS tax is $4.35 per PACK...so that drives the price way over $9 per pack...now you know why so many go to the Res here for cigarettes. I don't know for sure but I think your alcohol and cigarettes are also highly taxed for your health care system where NYS just blows it on nonsense.

:rolleyes: So, how much is a case of Labatts in Ontario....

:dunno: I thought this was a comparison of products.....

Billy Bob = REDNECK.......

That sounds right....so gas is about 80 cents per gallon more....another good comparison would be BEER....just got back from the store and it cost me $16.99 (plus 8.75% tax) for a 32 pack of Labatts.....

Nice way to spend Father's Day....good job....