bigbuck

Nice shiny new ride. I hope you make it nice and dirty with tons of musky slime. Use it in good health.

nofrills, you work at Dickie's no frills store @ Golden Mile?? The Walmart superstore will probably hurt the local businesses for the first month or so until people have been there and go back to their normal place to shop.

Jeez, in the summer they stick it to ya in Dryden. When passing through last summer it was about 10 cents more than Toronto. In the winter, it's about the same. Go figure.

No ice fishing for this kid, too cold for my liking, besides, standing on a frozen lake is kind of an unnatural act to me. I figure up to about $300.

Well, I'm going to try to do more fishing this year and plan on hitting Rice Lake since I'm familiar with the area and have relatives who have a couple of cottages on the lake near Bewdley. To be a bit more serious, I figure since I'll be renting boats, I need to get myself a portable fish finder. Every well equipped fisherman needs one. So, the question is, which one?? What are the advantages/disadvantages. I have a pretty good idea of how they work but need some more expert/experienced advice. Thanks in advance. B

I'm green with envy. It doesn't look like we'll be making the annual pilgrammage to LOTW this summer. I've got too much on the go at work and a 20+hour drive with 2 rug rats would be a bit much.

I agree, take the GO train down there, it's worth the $6-7/person once you figure in gas/parking, etc.... Too many people at the shows are trying to take money out of your pocket. It's ridiculous to see how many booths there are at various shows that have nothing to do with the show, it's just people trying to hock their overpriced and useless goods. If I wanted a new boat, I'd just search them on the web, once I had a short list, I'd physically hit a few dealers to see them.

That baby would 'blow up real good' like my old friend John Candy would have said if someone lit a match. One of my colleagues lives in Barrie, I gave him a heads up call, I wonder how he made it home. (mind you, the guy knows every sideroad in Southern Ontario)

Good luck and a speedy recovery. If your doc is not sure about exactly how to go about doing the procedure, you may want to see another Orthopaedic Surgeon. Don't screw around with your hand, you need it to cast and pull in those big HAWGS!!

An hour and 10 minutes from North Oakville to Yorkdale Mall. Not too bad but it's slippery out there. I'll second the motion on tossing out a lot of salt on the roads and sidewalks/driveways. I'm gonna stop to pick some up on the way home today, the snowblower is ready to go but I'm not sure if I'll be needing it.

Well, we'd definitely like winter access. As for types of fishing, pretty much anything goes. Muskies, wallys, big fat basss-turds, panfish, I like catching'em all. We live in Oakville and I figure the max travelling time has to be inside of 3 hours (we're about that far to Haliburton village). Thanks for the replies, BigCliff and Pigeontroller, I'll probably be taking you fellas up on your offers in the next few months. Cheers, B

We're kinda thinking about buying a cottage in the next 2-3 years and I'd like to make an educated decision as opposed to a knee jerk one. I like the Muskokas but the prices up there are just insane. Haliburton is gorgeous but so are the Kawarthas (having a bit of an advantage with Peterborough being within 1/2 hour or so). So here's my conumdrum, where is the fishing better?? I'm sorta familiar with the Kawartha lakes but have no clue as to what's up in the Haliburton area. I'd like a bigger lake to be able to waterski, explore, and let's face it, to fish my brains out. Being able to get onto other lakes in a chain would be a huge bonus. So, what's everyone think????

If you send the reel to me, I'll gladly dispose of it for you........LOL Like Lew and Blake said, first make sure you have some backing on (mono) then look at replacing the drag washers.

I was bored last night after putting the kiddies to bed so I went downstairs and started to clean and oil my favourite reels (my Quantum 760PT baitcaster, and my Abu 6500 C4 that got a lot of use last year, relatively speaking). Once I did that, I went into the gym bag that serves as my tackle bag and started organizing my tackle trays and finally my tackle box. 3 hours later it was bedtime, and what I dreamed about was.........you guessed it........fishing. With all the new stuff I've bought over the past year, I figure I'm good for another 10 years (yeah right!!). I'll be mothballing my old rods and spinning reels to make room for the new stuff this spring. They'll be relegated to a place of honour in my garage while the rest winters in the basement. Anyone else out there getting ready??? The next step for me is to start sharpening my hooks - next week's job.

I'm a lion tamer............... Seriously, I'm a Financial Advisor (for the past 9 1/2 years) and Life Insurance Agent. Hey Rich, I used to cut meat and did just about everything in a grocery store when I was in school many years ago.

Go with the C5, it'll hold up fine for you unless you are fishing for musky every day of the season. Oil it once in a while and it'll be well worth the money. Otherwise, spend 2-3 times as much on a Calcutta.

ST, I'll definitely take you up on your advice, my two little girls are gonna get huge hugs and kisses from daddy tonight. Our thoughts and prayers are with you and your family.

I'm gonna be here for a while, here goes: Quantum Energy 760PT baitcaster Quantum Tour Energy Baitcaster Abu 6500 C4 baitcaster (2) Shimano Sahara Spinning Reels (2, 1 1500, 1 2500) St Croix Premier MH 7ft Muskie rod Pete Maina H 7ft 6in Muskie rod St Croix 7ft H baitcaster rod St Croix 6ft 6in M Baitcaster rod BPS Walleye Angler spinning rods (2, 1 6ft medium light, 1 6ft6in medium) Tackle galore: 2 Suicks 2 Ernies Big Bucktails Plastics Hooks Assorted Rappalas And other odds and ends............. All told, I spent a LOT!!

I've broken 6 rods in 30 years of fishing (2 tips on the Muskoka river on snags, 1 Berkley had the handle crack, and 3 this year (I should change my handle to Snagglepuss), my St Croix Muskie rod on a snag up on LOTW this past summer, my St Croix bass rod on the Muskoka river by the falls in Bracebridge (a snag) and my replacement St Croix Muskie rod on Lake Muskoka on a snag going for big pike. All were bought at JB's and all were replaced no questions asked. Those guys are great for service. Hopefully, next year I'll be a teeny weeny bit more careful and won't break anything (just cut the line and move on).

JEEZ!!! I'm green with envy. Those Peacock Bass need an X-tra heavy duty Muskie rod to get them in along with a big dang' winch of a reel. I've heard some stories about them. I look forward to reading your blog to hear the stories.

Ehg, try to exercise as hard as you possibly can, lots of jogging (treadmill or outside), and light weights as often as you can. A friend of mine started a heavy exercise program after living with MS for over 10 years and being laid up many times after it acted up. He dropped from 260lbs to 175lbs and has not had his MS act up for over 5 years. His doctors are stupified but say that all the exercising definitely did him a heck of a lot of good. He even wrote a book last year about his trials and tribulations.

Coffee's a tough one to quit. You'll be over the headaches in a couple of more days, just keep taking the Advil. If you like the taste of coffee, drink decaf, there is only about 10-25% of the caffeine of normal coffee. We mix half decaf and half high test for our morning brew. (Try the president's choice decaf in the green tin, it's pretty good and doesn't taste watered down.)

I've been an Investment Planning Consultant and Life Insurance Agent for 9 years now and have helped hundreds of families manage their finances. Please PM me if you have ANY questions. I don't believe in high pressure sales tactics and enjoy meeting people and helping them achieve their goals.

It's always darkest before dawn. Congrats on getting accepted. Now for the back, go see a Chiropractor. Depending on where your pain is and what is causing it, a good chiropractor might get you fixed up with 1 or 2 visits.

I would think that a State funeral for the last survivor would include a tribute to all those who gave their lives for King and Country (I'm talking about back then, not now). It's a great idea, especially for the young kids out there now who have never spoken to a WWI vet to hear some stories about life in the trenches.