bigbuck

Good luck to you!!! You gotta do what you gotta do. Family is always first. My girls aged 6 and 5 love to come out on the boat with daddy to fish. I don't drop a line when they are fishing. I let them have fun and in turn, I have a blast. One day, you'll have the time to do what you want to.

That's very long winded, that's for sure, an interesting read. I just do what the owner's manual tells me too. The manufacturer knows their product better than anyone.

Thank you all for your condolences. For my grandfather, he finally was able to rest. Grandparents are special, I will never forget the words of my late grandmother who told me this when she was on her deathbed 'your parents love you, but a grandparent's love is much stronger'. I see that now with my kids and my parents. I was only 16 when she told me that and it took many years before I finally realized it. So, if you have grandparents that are still around, spend some time with them, listen to what they have to say and love them. I'm fortunate to have had a grandfather still around until I was 40.

NO NO NO!! That's for bass and crappie. Musky is a different animal altogether. You need specialized rods/reels, lures, release equipment, a net/cradle, etc.... DO NOT FISH FOR MUSKY WITHOUT THE PROPER EQUIPMENT!!!!

Port Perry (Scubog), Rice Lake, Pigeon Lake, Sturgeon, Chemong etc.. are all within an hour and a half. Don't forget your plug, everyone forgets it once. Don't forget to unplug your trailer lights before you splash the boat. And THE NIGHT BEFORE YOU GO, study the Nav Canada Charts for the body of water you are going to hit to find your spots and to identify the hazards. Hitting a shoal because you were unaware of it is a stupid expensive mistake. Spend a hundred bucks and buy all the proper charts for the lakes you are going to and save hundreds on new props and skeg repairs and possibly a few thousand for a lower end.

Doing homework before hitting the water, study the charts and put together a milk run. Boat is already in the water fuelled and ready to go (when I tow, it's checked, fuelled, hooked up and loaded the night before). Gear is cleaned, prepped and set up so all I have to do is hit the water, get to my spot and start washing lures. A cooler filled with a few bottles of water, a couple of sangweeches and snacks is prepped the night before.

Well, we just finished with the funeral for my grandfather a couple of days ago. He made it to a week past his 99th birthday. His health has been deteriorating for the past couple of years and really accelerated the past 2 months. Coupled with advanced Alzheimers, it was not fun watching him slowly go. He was the type that worked hard to relax. He'd dig a trench, not like it and then fill it and dig another on the other side of the garden and then go back and forth digging trenches every summer. His vegetable garden was a sight to behold, big ripe tomatoes, bushels and bushels of peppers, cucumbers, squash, onions, etc.... God didn't forget you, it just took him a while to find you the right spot in Heaven.

Sad to he him go out like that. He was a good solid player, and a good guy to boot. RIP.

Can't go wrong with a small hook, a split shot a foot or a foot and a half from the hook and a half worm (or a whole worm). Bigger shot for deeper depth.

He's got to do the drive up 17 around Superior, it is soooo gorgeous up there!!! There is no real time saving going through the U.S. My in-laws lived in Kenora for several years and Winterpeg before that and they never bothered to go through the States. They'd always do 17. My advice, leave at 4am, have brekkie around Sudbury, a quick bite/coffee in the Soo and lunch in Marathon. Get to Tuuuunder Bay and decide if he want's to continue or spend the night. The days are shorter but doing it this way and he'll get up to Thunder Bay around dinner time. From TBay to the 'Peg is a good 8 hour drive so I'd think about spending the night there or at least loading up on Coffee because the next Timmies is in Dryden and he'd be bypassing Kenora so it'll be a long night drive and it can be dangerous with the Moose crossing and the deer on the road. Don't discount that danger, truckers hit moose on a regular basis up there, that's why you see the big bumper bars around the front of trucks in the north, even then, they get damaged quite heavily. In a car, if you hit a moose, bend over and kiss your butt goodbye. Also, don't speed up there, the OPP has a very very low tolerance for that, it's not like doing a buck twenty on the 401 and not worrying. Up there, 10k over the limit is about it. Tell him to bring his long johns and an extension cord for his block heater if he has one (if he doesn't, he'll need one, most definitely).

Slowly but surely, the government is eroding our privilege to own firearms. It's not a right here in Canada like our neighbours to the South. I think everyone should have a working knowledge of how to operate a firearm and the government doesn't need to know just exactly what we own. Ownership of long guns is one of the checks and balances of government. That's why it's a right in the U.S. and a privilege here.

Sorry for your loss, it's tough losing your best buddy.

So much for shooting those pesky turkeys and deer that pop up in the back '40' from time to time.

And that is cottaging!!! Nice little spot!!! Quality family time is worth it's weight in gold.

There is no 'winterizing' for an outboard. If you had an I/O, then you would have to otherwise you'd crack the engine block and replace it yearly. As for backing off the drag, I have a couple of old spinning reels that have nice herky jerky drags cuz I never knew to back it off years ago. Do it and save a potential headache.

Nice roast!! A 9lb'er on the barbie is a great way to get a roast beef fix during the summer months. You got me thinking for the long weekend....

Buckeye Marine in Bobcaygeon rents Princecrafts with consoles. Not sure of details. Might be worth it to give them a call.

As for discounted passes, pop into a local hotel/motel/no tell and grab a few of the tourism rags and see in there. As for coolers, you are fine as long as it isn't full of beer. Pop, water, food and snacks are perfectly fine to bring in. Its a family oriented park. You may want to pick up a box of Corn Pops to feed the grizzlies. That's what they sell there. The kids will love it. My wife takes the girls 2-3 times a summer, she pays the extra 5 bucks for the season pass and gets her money's worth out of it.

Happy Birthday!! May you have a fun filled healthy year!

I think he caught them trolling with his perch gear! Yes I know I'm stirring the pot but what kind of question was that? The passionate muskie guys get bent out of shape because the fish we go for are few and far between and for such an ornery fish, they are quite fragile.

Good for him!! Further to what Lew said about JB's, Johnny Morris, the founder of BPS was amazed at Brian's store when he came up here prior to the Vaughan store opening. I think the smaller guys that have lots of stock on the shelf and provide good advice will still be around for many years to come.

That brandy sure looks dee-lish!!! Nothing like some good home brew to put hair on your tongue. I remember as a 3 year old when my granny was busted for making home brew (from the grape skins), the neighbour across the street came to warn us a half hour ahead of the bust (he was a po). The still was broken up and tossed in all the surrounding neighbours yards but they got 2 casks of baba's best. I'm sure it was disposed of one shot at a time. Those canned peaches look soooo good!!! I too am not a fan of pickles but canned peaches and pears during the winter months are great.

My thoughts and prayers are with you.

Ron, good for you!!!! I will try to be there on the 19th. I grew up going to Cobourg beach and know the area well. Keep on fighting!!

The Pete Maina reels (Muskie Angler) are decent for the price point. For someone just getting into muskie fishing, you already have a great rod, save a few bucks on the reel for now and focus on release tools. I helped some clowns out on Pigeon lake last year that had a small pair of rusty pliers and no net, the muskie was hooked and when it thrashed with buddie's hand near it's mouth, two trebles deep hooked his hand, they had no way of cutting the hook and his fingers were a couple of inches from the muskie's mouth. I helped them out and cut the hook off the lure so buddy could get his hand away from the fish and cut the one treble that went right through his hand, the other was his problem (I told him to head straight to the hospital), and cut the hook out of the poor muskie's mouth (by this time it was either dead or too late to do anything for it). For my troubles, the wind blew us up against the rocks on the western side of Big Island and my boat scraped up against them, $600 in damage to the gel coat. There won't be a next time for me to help out guys who aren't prepared. I'm still PO'd about it and will be for a long time.