wvfisherman

I hope you don't mind me posting this on your fishing page. I really enjoy this site and reading about all the fishing and your replies. I just need to know if anybody else is as confused as I am about getting old and retiring. I am in my sixties and getting ready to retire, but it is not like I thought it would be. I have fished all of my life and cannot remember a time I did not enjoy fishing. Fishing has always been part of my life. I started out with a cane pole and hand me down rods. When I was in grade school when my mom and dad gave me a new spinning rod and reel for Christmas. With that rod and reel and a canvas bag of lures, I caught trout, bass, muskie, all kind of fish and fished all the time. Now, I have all types of rods and reels and so many lures I could not count them all, but don't have enough time to fish like I would like and don't know if I can afford to go fishing when I retire. Now that I am getting ready to retire gas prices are going out of sight, in addition to my medical insurances. taxes, food and my body falling apart. Everything is getting so high that I don't know if I will be able to afford to go fishing and enjoy life. My dad was a factory worker and when he retired in the 70's, he moved to a lake where he was able to live and hunt and fish, since his company gave him free medical insurance, a pension, along with social security. Now I have worked at the same job for 39 years but my company has been bought out four different times. The first time they said our retirement plan was over funded and paid us a lump amount which was a very small percentage of what was in the plan and put millions of our retirement in the company profit for that year. The second time, they cut our pay by one third and the third time, they discontinued our health and life insurance when we retire. Who can you trust? I am thankful that God has watched over me and my family and we have had a good life. I just wanted to know if any of you have retired or getting ready to retire and how are dealing with life and if this has happen to any of you and if so, how are you dealing with it? Give you younger guys something to think about also?

Lew. I agree with you about the loud music on fishing shows, but is TV in general. Even at "the Texas Roadhouse", which has good food, but the music and noise is so loud you cannot enjoy your meal. It must be the age that we are living in.

Laszlo. I live in West Virginia and have been going to Canada for over 30 years. Ontario is a great providence to visit with a lot of friendly people. To find a camp you should go to one of the Outdoor Sport Shows in January and February and talk to the people from the lodges and camps from Ontario. You can get a lot of information and see pictures of the camps. If I was going to Ontario for the first time with a new wife, I would plan on staying at Niagara-on- the Lake for two or three days and visit the Niagara area, plus the Niagara River has some great fishing. Then I would head North and go to Temagami and stay at the Temagami Shores Inn, which has a special for two people which includes your room, meals and a boat and going back South stop at Algonquin Park and spend a couple of days. This would not be to rustic and you may get your wife hooked on Ontario. Then you could stop and look at a few camps for your next trip.

Hello everybody In a couple of weeks we will be leaving "almost heaven" and heading up to Baker's Birch Island Lodge in the North Channel of the Georgian Bay. I have thought about this lodge for over twenty years and decided on taking a chance on it this year. It is hard to find out anything about the fishing information in this area. It is South of Whitefish. Has anybody been fishing in this area or know of any reports about the fishing? The Lodge says the rainbow trout fishing is good this time of the year, but we would like to know about the bass and muskie fishing in addition to the rainbow fishing, also. I alway enjoy this board and reading about everybody's fishing trips. It seems to me as I get older the time for fishing get less and less.

I live in Clarksburg, WV. How did you get from WV to Ontario. I have been coming to Ontario over 30 years fishing and always thought about moving to Ontario. Lot of nice people up there.

I have been reading this board for a few years and never readed where somebody from Canada is coming to West Virginia. Are you coming to West Virginia to fish or just visit? If you are on I-79 near Weston WV, you may want to stop at Stonewall Jackson State Park and Lake and look around. Are you looking for a new or used boat? You will want to make sure you get a Notary sign the Bill of Sale with a Notary Seal and be sure you get the boat and trailer title. You will probably have to pay Ontario Sales tax and Canadian Sales Tax on the amount paid so you can title the boat and trailer in Ontario.

The other day somebody had a post about a Abu Garcia D5 5600 Casting Reel. I had bought one last Fall on Sale and did not get to use it until today. I have bought Ambassadeur Reels since the 50's (the old red 5000) and have not been disappointed with them, but I was disappointed with this reel. I had a number of backlashes, since it did not have Mechanical brake to prevent overruns. It only has the magnetic brake or"Smart Mag", which has very little effect on the spool and adjusting for the weight of the lure. I could not recomend this reel, even on sale. Abu Garcia advertise this reel as "the World's Easiest Baitcast Reel", which is false advertising. I still have my old red 5000 and still works a good as it did 50+ years ago. That is a good solid reel.

I have been buying new line but I have questions about how long the sporting goods store has had the line in stock or even in the warehouse where the store buys the line. I have asked the clerks and they say it is new line or they do not know how long it has been in stock. Yes, it could be new line, never used, but what if it has been in stock for a year or two or back in the warehouse where the line could be subject to extreme heat, which would damage the line. When you have a number of reels to replace the line it get expensive at the prices they ask for new fishing line. So, what do you do buy new line or use the line that you had last year and did not use? It would be great if they would date on the line spool when the line was made.

Hello everybody. It is good to be back on the "Fishing Board". I use to be on this board but had computer problems and server problems and on top of that I forgot my username and password. That is what happens when you get old. I have been coming up to Ontario for over 30 years and have enjoyed every trip. I have fished from the Niagara River to the Albany River. I have meet a lot of nice people, especialy in the Fall at Owen Sound, but have not made it back there for the past couple of years. West Virginia is Wild and Wonderful but Ontario is Heaven. After 30 years of doing our own cooking and eveything, I am getting old or lazy. We are looking at Birch Island Lodge in the North Channel. The Lodge sounds very good from the fishing to the meals. Never had maid service when I have been fishing, but want to check it out. I would appreciate it if any of you have any information on the fishing or the quality service Birch Island Lodge has. Cannot believe they have bass, walleye, muskie, and trout in the same area. Bob