bigbuck

Spend the extra 20-30 bucks more for the Premier, you won't regret it. That said, I'll second checking out JB's Fishing Depot. As for the poster who said that the Triumph is built with the Avid blank, you are dead wrong on that. The Triumph is St. Croix's entry level rod and is entirely built in China not the good 'ol U S of A. They are a decent rod for the money.

Great report!! Nice tosee that there are still a few fish left in Rice.....LOL

Nice fish and Good for You for getting those nasty slimy lampreys off the big girl. The fishing gods will smile on you for that. I see a 56" in your near future........

Good one!!!!

Thanks, that's what I thought.

You should be good with the 3M stuff. Make sure you wax it after using the rubbing compound. It's lots of elbow grease but the result will be worth it. If you have a polisher it will be much easier, Canadian Tire has one on special this week I believe.

Wayne, enjoy your summer!!! That's some nice work you did there. One day when I grow up I'd love to learn to fly.

Wow!! I was at Home Depot on Friday afternoon and was talking to the hot dog vendor, his gazebo disappeared but he was unhurt. Smith's trailer park took the brunt of it. Scary scary stuff. Saturday morning I was over at Atlas Block and they had a bit of damage but thankfully their building is made of stone and concrete. What's amazing is that a couple of the guys from our park were out fishing out by Picnic Island after the storm and it was calm.

Another point to remember, when you see the big tanker in front of a gas station, go fill up at the next station you see. Everything in the bottom of the tank gets stirred up including any condensation (ie water). The sample I saw was from the bottom of the boat's fuel tank that was stored over the winter without fuel stabilizer. The owner of the boat was too cheap to spring for a proper winterization and just had the water drained from his engine. I'm not fear mongering, just stating some facts and observations. If you spend $10k+ on a boat, I think $20 for some Marine Stabil is just good insurance against having an expensive problem to fix. For me, I burn at least a tank (27 gallons) at least once a month so my fuel is usually quite fresh in the tank and I still pour some in, it keeps the fuel system and carb clean and it makes me feel better.

Wayne, good to hear you are OK. I talked to the park owners (our place in HH) and the bulk of the damage was in Midland so I wasn't too worried about you. There is considerable damage in Midland but it can be fixed. Thankfully nobody was killed, that can't be fixed.

Go to your local UHaul and pick up a proper ball mount. Don't mess around for 40 bucks. A skeg costs a buck and a half or so to fix never mind any other damages. Canadian Tire sells them too so pop in and get the right one.

ST. CROIX Avid and up!! I have not had a problem with St.Croix on warranty and have sent 3 rods back to them (I have 7or8) that have seen heavy use and got them back no problem.

I don't think the big manufacturers really want their 4 stroke high tech big outboards (115+) manufactured in China, they are interference motors (which means they are built to very very close tolerances), there is no room for loosey goosey assembly and parts. You'd be fine with either a Merc, Yamaha, Suzuki or Honda kicker.

When you buy fuel from a marina, assume that there is ethanol in the fuel UNLESS there is a sticker on the pump indicating that it is ethanol free fuel from the fuel supplier.

I'd say no, in the U.S. the mortgages are NON-RCOURSE which means that you can leave the keys on the porch and call it a day and nobody comes after you after the fact, here in Canada we have RECOURSE mortgages, the debt follows the mortgagee and guarantor until it is paid off in full. I would say don't do it, it can end up being a major problem for you, if someone needs a guarantor, that means they are on shaky ground credit wise. If they have any sort of financial difficulty which unfortunately is probably quite likely, you will be on the hook. Remember, banks don't normally ask everyone for a guarantor, only those people whose income and credit are borderline.

I believe it!! You should see some of the jackasses up on GBay with their big cruisers. Some people just have no clue when it comes to the rules of the waterways. I know how the Ontario gov't can get out of the current fiscal mess we are in, put a whole bunch more OPP officers out on Seadoos and have them ticket jerks on the water, in no time they will get us out of the deficit. (Yes, I am being just a bit facetious)

Smith's Trailer Park in the south end of town was badly hit, most of the trailers were either destroyed or badly damaged. The Honda dealer had the windows blown out and about 30 odd cars were damaged. Trees were damaged and hydro got knocked out. I have a couple of calls into friends in town there and am waiting to hear back from them. I heard there were only 12 people injured and there were no deaths. Thank God for that. I will be up there tomorrow and will get a first hand look and will report back on Monday.

Lovely, from my understanding, Premium fuel contains NO Ethanol. I'm going to have to do some more homework on this. I think a little slug of Stabil Marine Formula will go along with my fuel from now on. I figure it'll be cheap insurance.

On the weekend I popped by to see a friend that runs one of the local marinas in Honey Harbour. He showed me a bottle of fuel that had separated in one of his customer's boats. It was pretty much 1/2 and 1/2 fuel and water/alcohol in the bottle. You could shake it up and after a minute or two, the fuel would float back up to the top and the water/alcohol would sink to the bottom. It was in a boat that doesn't get much use and was filled up with gas station gasoline with 10% ethanol. After draining the fuel tank, cleaning the fuel tank, replacing the fuel filter and fuel lines and rebuilding the carb the boat was good to go. Almost $1k later. That said, if your boat is going to sit for any length of time on the driveway or in the water, put some fuel stabilizer in it OR run non-ethanol gas (proper marine fuel - which is getting harder to find BTW) OR run it on Premium which has no ethanol in it. I know there has been much heated debate on this topic but having seen fuel that did separate with my own eyes only reaffirmed my belief that you should drop some STABIL or whatever other stabilizing agent you wish in your gasoline. Many marinas out there are starting to use ethanol blended gas but are not openly letting their customers know that. If in any doubt, ask, if you don't get a satisfactory answer, get your fuel somewhere else. I've been buying Premium fuel at the gas station and filling the boat that way, it's cheaper than marine regular and I know what is going in the boat.

Aaron, best of luck to you and Barry. You guys had a great show and I enjoyed it and now I'm going to miss it.

Good for you for helping out!! This is the sort of thing that gets kids outside and away from tv and video games. It's nice to see that guys like Bob take the time to do this.

A fast action MH rod in 6'6" would suit you fine. Just depends on whether you want a baitcaster or spinning rod. It is a good all around rod as well suited to multiple techniques.

In 20 years fishing LOTW, my father in law saw the MNR ONCE!!! That was 2 years ago and they were on the boat railway going into Longbow Lake. It is such a huge body of water but there is next to no MNR presence. It's unfortunate because it gets abused to no end. We've had 20 walleye in the well but there was also 6 licensed fishermen in the boat. This guy should have known better, he is supposed to be a guide?? Jeez, one of the guides I know up there, Phil Killeen, curses up and down when he sees guys loading their boats, going back to their cottage to do some butchering and then go out again and slay more walleye. Then you have the people who go out, catch 2 and go have a nice meal. Why do you need tons of fillets?? Have a couple of fish frys and that's that.

Don't run a stainless prop. Use an aluminum prop and have a spare if you do zing a rock. The water in GBay is a fair bit lower than last year. There's quite a few more shoals visible out there. Be smart, be careful, pay attention and don't go ripping around at top speed unless you know the area. You've got a chart, I was going to say go to your nearest West Marine, they have them in stock.

MikeP, nice to see your daughter fishes for some bait too....LOL My 2 daughters love to fish off the dock for sunfish and perch. They fill up a bucket with water and fill it with fish that they can spend hours amusing themselves. My oldest who is 5 was my little fishing partner up on LOTW 2years ago on some musky hunting expeditions. We'd go out for a couple of hours and wouldn't spend too much time fishing, she had eyes like a hawk and saw deer, bear, foxes, wolves, eagles...... Fishing with your kids is a great way to spend quality time, I'd argue the best way but that's just me. Don't be too serious and just enjoy the time on the water.