Old Ironmaker

For some reason Ketchenany I can't edit the above post. As far as we can't compete with the prices coming out of China you already knew that. The 1st thing someone asks when looking at manufacturing almost anything here is "How much coming out of China?"

We buy from China rather than retool one of 100's of idle production facilities in the greater Toronto Hamilton Niagara (GTHN) area simply because we can not produce a thing and match prices from China and south east Asia. A piece of furniture we last bought was well over 2 grand and I had to assemble it. What do I find stamped on the bottom of the thing? Made in Viet Nam.

You have special skills there Spiel. I'm not sure what you are building but I know it will be great when you are finished. The most expensive rod I have was around 100 bucks and I won that in The Stelco Fishing Club draw many, many years ago so I'm not a customer but an admirer.

Thanks Doug, I did Google it and to my surprise there is such a thing as a Fallfish. An overgrown chub to me. And here I thought I knew everything there was to know when it came to stuff.

Crap, eeerrr Carp. Actually neither. I am proud to say I don't know what they are and never caught one before. Many similar are in the Ontario guide and are members of the sucker family. My 2 buddies were proud to bring back 2 /6 fish limits of them back in the early 80's when us citiots bought a hunt and fish camp on Crown Land in 1982. They thought they were Whitefish, at least I knew they weren't Whitefish, they were some type of suckers. How would they even know what a limit of Whitefish was? Never ever heard of a Fallfish.

I know a guy but he's retired. I can say with certainty if you can see 40 loose rivets there are another 40 you can't see. I don't know how old the boat is but like everything else boats have a best before date that after that date we start to throw good money at. It's odd to me that we are more than willing to lose money trading in or scraping cars and trucks and buying something newer or new but insist that 40 year old boats and motors run like they are new. I agree boats are toys and vehicles get us to work and back so we can buy more toys. edit: What's the 10 mile thing? You can swim 10 miles, man you should be in the Fisherman Olympics. They are cancelled this year.

There is a Musky guide out there that fishes The West Arm and could if he wished to limit out on Musky every and most any day he wished. His skills and about $100,000.00 of equipment will do it.

I understand what you are saying. I actually do prefer some fish over others. Walleye over Perch over Crappie for meat hunting. I prefer the challenge of Musky over Bass or Pike. I tend to be protective of our fragile Musky population because of what I am being told by biologists. Then I read an article where someone that sounds like they know what they are talking about says the Musky population is just fine.

Andrew, Not now due to Covid-19 but when things get back to normal, hopefully, local community colleges generally have introduction to photography courses. I took my courses at Sheridan in Oakville many years ago and those principles that were taught decades before cell phones that take photos were invented hold true today. There is more than enough on line information to use the cameras you have I am sure. I would say learn what happens when a photo is taken with a 35MM or digital camera. It's all about light and how much light to take a pic, pretty simple really. Principles used at the turn of the 20th century is the same as the turn of the 21st century in fact. I occasionally will use my wife's Grand Dads 100 year old Leica 35 MM camera today or my 60 year old Practica 35 MM I got by saving Pinky Stamps from Steinburg's grocery store when I was 6. I can sum up what I know about digital telephones that transform into magnificent camera's in 2 words. "Not much."

110% in agreement Andrew 110%. Like you tune up your jigs out of the package per your liking I also tweak tackle. The 1st thing I usually do with plugs is change the hooks and pass a file across jig hooks. The only hooks I leave on are Rappala, they are good quality hooks that hold their sharpness.

I have fished Balsam a handful of times since going to a co worker pals cottage starting in the early 90's. I have yet to catch a single solitary fish out of that water. I was always the brunt of bad jokes because of my bad luck or lack of skills. I've never understood why we cherish one gamefish above others i.e. Musky trumps all.

I wouldn't go that far, I would be blessed to have either. I learned about cleaning Pike from an old 1st Nations guide up in the Long Lac area back on a trip in 81'. The fish were big, average about 12 lbs. We tossed many back looking for 5 pounders. Nothing went to waste and no bones. "Y" bones went into a food processor, not a cheap blender from Walmart a quality food processor, that piece of meat with the "Y" bones were used to make fish cakes. My former Father in law wouldn't let you bring a Pike into his boat let alone eat one. My BIL Bobby and I under the cover of darkness stole the boat and went out and caught a nice size Northern. I think we made sure Bill's glass was always full of Rye the evening before. Cleaned the fish nice, nice and cooker her up for the weekly neighborhood fish fry. We all watched Bill inhale the Pike, and comment how good it was. We almost choked to death laffing when he said that. We never said a word as he wouldn't let us use the boat the rest of the week, maybe for the rest of our lives.

You can't say that trip was boring. Plus you got nice fish. Always a FLPGRWS line class World Record if the fish was never sighted, always. We fished and worked with a guy we called "Black Cloud". He wasn't very lucky and great at breaking stuff too. He once tripped while carrying his stuff on the dock on the way to the boat, dumped an entire cooler full of pops, loose snacks and sandwiches into the river and gave himself a 6", 12 stiches long slash on his shin. 2 hour return drive to the 1 nurse 1 Doc hospital/vets. But he didn't get a single fish the entire 5 day trip.

"A minute to learn." I don't think so. Whom here has learned all there is to fishing? Or is it who? I haven't even learned how to speak the language I have used for the last 63 years. Every year tackle manufacturers come out with a unique never seen before fishing product. Instead of the tried old Dare Devil being red and white the new wonder Dare Devil is white and red!!!!!!

I typed a mess of words, read them and reqalized I went way off the rails so deleted that. To stay on point I am amazed how many people still don't get it. 1/2 those or more today did not have face coverings on of any type when I was in the grocery store for 30 minutes this afternoon. They were of all ages not wearing them. Some young, some old, some middle age. It pisses me off. Don't wear them for me or you, wear them for those little tykes with Moms in tow, wear them for those old folks who's health isn't good, those little tykes grand parents. Don't be selfish, please. I know for a fact that 1/2 of the members here do not wear face coverings when in public. OK maybe not 50%, lets say 30%. I am asking you why not? If you won't admit you don't you know it should be done but won't do it, why???? You can't breath well? It makes you feel constricted? You might even feel claustrophobic. It makes me feel all the aforementioned, especially claustrophobic, I admit it. I do not like wearing a mask. We had to wear respirators and dust masks at the plant but not 24/7. Sometimes 12 hrs could go by and never had to put anything on my face. My wife has to wear one at work for 8 hours straight so I dare not complain wearing one for 20 minutes grocery shopping. Be tough wear a mask.

Or the "h", yes. I spelled it corectley the 1st time. Oh, I did get stung this morning by one of those bas%^&ds. It hurt and it hurt big time. It actually felt like someone hit me on the top of my hand with a ball peened hammer, then poured gasoline into an open wound. Yep it hurt big time. So much for they don't sting. I can tell you 1st hand yes they do indeed sting.

It's Wednesday and I'm still picking up branches that broke away from trees last Sunday. It didn't last long thank goodness. I don't know how much rain we got but it made up for 3 weeks no rain. One large 8" diameter 12' long branch missed my wife's newer Kia by a few inches. Nothing today but it sure looked bad around 11AM. Dan D. Normandale eh. It is the site of the very 1st Bessemer style blast furnace built in North America. The plaque at the creek says it's the 1st BF built in Canada, it was actually 1st in North America but the yanks will argue that. Only iron and steelmaking geeks care. Of the 15 Blast Furnaces that were on line in 1979 in Canada there are currently 4 running at any given time. More Ironmaking geek info. Back then the cars you worked on when you were apprenticing were made of steel. They chose Normandale as the sand there, as well as some here where we live, is that red stuff. The red stuff is iron ore. I'm guessing on when you were an apprentice Dan "The Man" D.

I can think of a few places worse than that environment to spend working. Great work, you should be proud. How many Pike do you need to do a 20 foot walkway?

Had Dave not engaged and continued to engage in a conversation concerning his experience with the pandemic and since it is a thread he started I most likely would not have continued discussing it. I hope I didn't frighten or depress you. I post here less and less as of late and need not wonder why.

Hopefully not the neighbour and now he's moved on to new meat. I would be doing anything to discourage them coming so close. I see those TV shows about people living in the Arctic always carrying a sidearm to take out the trash. Bears are not only fast but quick, and stealthy, they would be just finished chewing on my leg before I got the stinkin' gun out of my holster. Who left the trail of liquid the Bear or cisco?

Got rid of them all but the mess a 30 caliber makes is remarkable.

And back again to the topic a tad more important but I hear you Albert. I would like to post here how lucky our man up north is to get away from this pandemic alive. A vibrant and beyond physically fit young man just turned 40 lost his battle to Covid-19. Nick Cordiero, a Broadway Superstar born and raised in Hamilton Ontario. Something you don't hear everyday, Broadway Superstar from Hamilton Ontario. The battle he lost was an epic one. Heart wrenching is all I can say. Please read a quick report about Nick Cordiero below. Now lets get back to that insulation. https://www.chch.com/hamilton-born-actor-nick-cordero-has-died-due-to-covid19/

I once asked the owner of a course in southern Ontario that was hauling in 4 to 6 pound Largemouth one after the other what I needed to do to fish the ponds. He nonchalantly said all I needed was 10 million dollars to buy it and fish to my hearts content. In Florida owners encourage pond fishing to get rid of the fish that brings in big Gators to feed on.

Great haul. We fish locally the Nanticoke and Long Point areas on Erie for Jumbo's. The last few years have been stellar for very large Jumbo Perch, no let me rephrase that, not very large jumbo's but very, very ginormass Jumbo's. More 14" Perch have been caught and released in the last few years than all the 13" or longer Perch I have seen in the last 55 years fishing them. We are looking for that 15"er!!! The only thing that has changed is the size of the Emerald Shinner's we use to get them on our hooks. She's in here somewhere.

I'm with you centa percenta on this one Albert. Slice it paper thin so you can see through it. Then put it in a pot of beef stock on the stove. Pile it on a crusty bun soaked in the beef dip. Mashed on the side smothered in the dip. This 10PM grilled cheese just ain't gonna' do it now not withstanding the paper plate going onto the bon fire tomorrow night. OK, I still haven't gotten the sugar thing. A mistype I hope.