Old Ironmaker

I'll take my chances in a 14' boat over a 12' boat. The Titanic sunk too, granted, but temping fate iin a big cold lake in a 12' boats either brave or stupid. I vote for just plain stupid in this case. And I agree with BillM here, again!!!! Wow wa weewa!

^ well said Sir, very well said. All volunteers are an amazing group of unselfish people.

Our thoughts and prayers are with the Trask family. Since reading about this story a few years ago here on OFC I have tried to follow it throughout these past years. The strength and determination showed by Mr. and Mrs. Trask is the kind of story that make the NY Times best sellers list and a Hollywood movie. I would be amazed if this tragedy and inspirational story of the Trask family and all the determined volunteers doesn't make it to the big screen some day.

It doesn't make me mad it just makes me shake my head, again. The Black Tick aka Deer ticks seem to be everywhere here this year. We have never seen one now all the neighbours are saying they are finding them on the pets. My wife found one on her belly and had to get tweezers to get it off. She saved it and called the Dr's. We were told they inject a antithetic when they latch on usually the belly and you will never feel a thing. Then they burrow below the skin, they won't do any harm until 24 to 48 hrs. on the body. If there is a red " Bulls eye" pattern on the skin get to the emergency dept. Kinda scary knowing they are here now, we would hear they were along the beaches in tall grass at Long Point but they were rare here where we are in Haldimand County. Not rare now. We got some vial of liquid from the vet that you break and rub onto the back of the Cats neck once a month. I can find out from Tia what it exactly is if anyone wants to know.

Are they called White Perch too in some places?

I said I wasn't going to post anymore tonight butI can 't help post on this thread. Those Largies are bigger than she is. Man she nabbed those on an Ultra Light, she is one great angler in the making. That is a great feat for the most seasoned angler. Give those 2 a hug from us all. Are you anywhere near Ardmore PA? My sis and brother in law just moved to S.E. Pa. and I have folks in Ardmore. Nice area south eastern Pennsylvania. Philly fans are nuts though.

I had a employee not show up for an entire weekend, no call, no show. He said he got kidnapped and when they let him out of the trunk he was at Rice Lake at a camp with no phone. He was forced to go fishing too. Sometimes you don't have control and just have to do things like it or not. But don't try the " I got kidnapped " reason to justify the absence. If he called me and said Johnny D I can't take it anymore I need a few days fishing with the boys away from the family I probably would have wished him luck. Have a great time guy and report back with some good tales, fish or no fish.

Not every boater has the same skill set. Try backing up a trailer and you are dyslexic. Talk about a panic attack in the making. On the other hand there are ignorant asses out there like the guy on the Grand on Sunday, 45 minutes just to back down the ramp after he butted in front of me and refused help from others waiting. I practiced in the shopping mall parking lot with a seasoned trailer hauler for hours one night. Like Golf and Fishing the more you practice the luckier you get. I can not back up a trailer without turning around. I have tried for hours at a time. A long haul trucker told me you go ahead and do it however works best for you. I even tried taping cardboard over the rear window, no way no how am I able to do it as well as turning around. I am like a Pit Bull with a bone. I practiced on night shift for many hours and eventually was able to back up a welding machine, but, I had to turn around and see what I was doing. The trick I was shown or I read it here maybe is to put the right hand on 3 and the left at 9 on the wheel. Think of "up" as the action or positive. If you go up with the right, the trailer goes right, up with the left the trailer goes left. If you can't see the trailer in the mirrors you are going straight. And saying it out loud really helps me. Easy peasy nice and easy. Every year for it's entertainment value we go to Hoovers Marina in Nanticoke on the Saturday morning of the Pottahawk bash at Long Point Bay for breakfast. I could submit videos of the carrying on to America's Funniest Videos and win for sure. Then we go for supper there on Sunday to watch them try and get their Dad's 35 foot Cigarette boat back on the trailer hung over like a bunch of grapes. It is an absolute blast and now an annual event, it's the only 2 days you need a reservation for the place. Many of the young women forget to put their clothes on by accident or maybe not. More than one person falls into the water hammered trying to get out of these boats. It can be scary when they do that between the boat and the dock for sure. I could write a book. This year I need to video tape some of these guys, then someone here can post it for me.

You are slacking M2B2. No points for presentation on ^ dish. We had a corn farmer from York on our crew that brought in sacks of corn every summer so I have had it everyway imaginable. Dampen a cob of corn in the husk. Wrap a paper towel around it and Microwave for 5 minutes. Peel back the husk but don't break it off, use it as a handle. Fill a tin coffee can or a new Ironworkers bolt bucket , new not used, 3/4 full of water, melt 2 pounds of butter pour it on top of the water in the can. Using the husk dip the corn in the can thus coating it 100% in butter. Get the millwrights to cut off the bottom of a 40 gallon drum, a clean drum without a skull and crossbone WHIMIS label on it. Layer the bottom of the drum with Metalurgical Coke. Put a Coke Oven Gas flare to the coke for 3 minutes or until white hot. Place a few pieces of grip strut expanded metal across the top of the Blast Furnace BBQ. Place the ears of corn on the metal and using 3 foot long tongs hi jacked from the Rod Mill, turn the corn until golden brown all around. Re dip the corn in the butter bucket. Sprinkle crushed salt tablets on the corn to taste. Enjoy. Now go drill the Iron Notch open before I get fired, you can't I can, I don't pay union dues. Please make sure the 200 ton Iron Torpedo cars are lined up first, please. If anyone wants my recipe for 10 Chickens or a 15 pound roast cooked in 10 minutes buried in a sand slag runner let me know. My very first shift training on a furnace I saw an oldtimer running past the Pyrometer Room window. When I went out to find out why he was running he told me the Rabbit got away that was supposed to be for supper. OK then, carry on. If you think I'm kidding I am not. You tell them Fish Farmer or Spiel. The good old days when Steel men were men and Rabbits were nervous.

I bought a few line counter reels over the winter and want suggestions as what to re spool them with. They will be used for the downriggers or small planner boards. I already have a few loaded with leadcore so I don't need leadcore on them. I will be fishing for Erie eyes and of course may get a few stray Rainbows and Coho. The average fish is 8 pounds. If I get a 30 plus King on I will deal with too light a line and have some real fun watching my reel catch fire. All will have a fluorocarbon leader. I might as well ask what rating the flouro should be. I am currently using 20 pound flouro on my leadcore. I think there is mono on there now and it's all coming off. Money is really not an issue as I have all these thousands of dollars invested already in everything else from the boat to the truck to get the boat there and everything in between so no way will cheap out on line. That drives me insane when I see guys do that. $30,000.00 boat, $50,000.00 truck and won't spend $30.00 on line. Thanks Johnny D

We call them Silver Bass here on Erie. They were in by the thousands at the Hydro plant at Nanticoke in April until they shut it down. They would hit a bare jig when they were in, nothing but the jig was needed. They were getting bigger every year. Lately they will hit when fishing for suspended Walleye here. Fresh they are as good as Smallies, they will start to turn after 24 hours, day 3 they are crap. Frozen they are crap. Eat as soon as caught.

Don't they still trade in Beaver pelts at you CTC store Rick?

I have always found some lakes in May are live bait only, no way they will take anything else. then latter as bait grows hardware works.

Nothing like the Milk snakes we used to see in the Red Hill Valleye in Hamilton as kids. They were huge and probably not even Milk Snakes. They were very light white grey with circles of darker grey. That was 50 years ago.

Half the fun of a fishing trip is the good food at the end of the day. Eating beaks and asses is not my idea of good food. You may not have control of what you catch but you are in control of what you eat. Remind me not to take you up on a dinner invite. What were you after as far as fish? What was your game plan for catching them?

I would venture a guess this discussion could go on for many pages. I was just told Sunday by a former commercial fisherman that is MANDATORY for all boaters to have navigational maps on board your vessel for all waters in Canada that are charted which includes Ontario and so far Quebec. That is unless you can show that you are able to locate where you are visually. Don't quote me but a boat past a certain size must have maps on board unless more than 100 meters from shore. I have no idea how someone can identify visually where they are in a fog or where land can't be seen. It really makes me shake my head when I see guys going out 10 miles from shore here without a compass, or have a compass but didn't take a heading going out of port. Where we fish the Hydro stacks at Nanticoke can be seen from miles away. I've seen them from the I-90 on the US side. But in a fog you can't see the front of your own boat some days. What was this thread about again???? Let me ask a question. If you are in the OPP and you are chosen to work spring to the end of fall patrolling the pristine waters of Ontario that happens to be laden with Bikini clad women sunning on the decks of boats would you try your best to do a great job and have to get help to carry all the summons' into the Commanders office would you do a stellar job or not? I guess you could be sent to North western Ont. and deal with ManitouBass2 all summer or sit on the 401 in Blast Furnace like heat sucking in C0 all day. Your choice.

Mr. G. you have to chill man. You really can't hate them that much can you? All the real serious Cop haters I know are criminals, thou protesteth too much Mr. G. Don't confuse bad legislation from bad law enforcement. We aren't talking about Cops in Ferguson Missouri or NYPD for goodness sakes.

Lew I also turn them around and buckle them at rthe bak of the seat for 3 reasons, you won't have the buckles jabbing into your back when sitting and running second thing is my seats are white leather and look brand new, the buckles won't make a mark in the seat if buckled behind the seat and last is I don't want them to go flying when I'm running. I even have left them buckled to the seat when I'm going down the highway at 110 KPH when I forgot to store them away. I won't loose 1 going along full out on the lake because someone is sitting in the seat if I'm booting along on the water. I can't see how they could fly off buckled from behind, they are nice and tight when buckled from behind. As far as other safety devises being "readily accessible" or whatever the verbiage is I don't read that they have to be other than a PDF.

I find it ironic that some complain about the nit picking cop checking safety equipment on the water are sometimes the same that complain about all the boaters out there that have no clue about water safety or responsible boating. No one likes a nit picking Cop, I have never met one though. The last check one cop carefully removed a treble hook stuck in the mesh of my inflatable while the other did the safety check and said nothing about the Beer can in my passengers cup holder! The only fail I had was that because the inflatable doesn't count unless I'm wearing it I didn't have another PDF within easy reach, it was buried in a hold below the fenders. No more Beer in my boat rule kicked in after that and all PDF's on the back of each seat. Also Brian that is a fantastic idea and service those boaters did for everyone. I don't know how well it would be received by that guy waiting in line while a safety check is going on at the ramp. I don't think however any Cop want's to be treated like a friend by Joe Public. They want to be treated with respect which is mutual. If I treated a cop like I treat my friends I might end up in jail as I can be a ball buster with friends but I wouldn't try that with a law enforcement agent, no way.

Some of my fishing outings are NF. And there are no stupid questions.

Here we go again. This is a discussion that never ends well. I guarantee you those who are anti Police are the first ones to call for help when they need them. I don't care if there is or isn't a quota system for generating revenue for fines. The income from fines do not go into the budget for Policing anyway so why do all that paper work? I wouldn't. If I speed and get a speeding ticket how exactly is that the Cops fault? I don't speed therefor I don't get tickets. oops had 1 speeding ticket 3 years ago, my first in 35 years. Even then he knocked down a 95 in a 50 to 65 in a 50, he could have really hammered me but didn't because it was actually a fair person I dealt with and he was met with respect when he came to my window. I have to add, as soon as I saw him come over the hill towards me and hammer on the brakes I pulled over without him even turning on his lights before he did a U turn.

Rod Caster, Yea I can get the blood boiling when I see something that I don't think is right. This guy didn't have any reason to take the Badger away. He is someone trying to garner a You Tube following. He travels around and catches by hand the most dangerous animals and reptiles for the sake of making a video. Such as Rattle Snakes. I have learned a few things about him by following links associated with his You Tube videos. I will not relay some or actually any of the info I read because it is just rumour and I won't spread rumors but will give my opinion of someone that takes wildlife from their habitat

I had a feeling this thread might take an abrupt turn. Compliance with the Marine legislation is one thing being safe is completely different. What in the Lords name is that little orange ball on the end of that thin nylon rope going to do for a 300 pound drowning man? I actually found my flashlight in the glove box and turned it on last week and it works. Infinicell AA rechargeable batteries, there's a shameless plug for you whoever you are..The Black and Decker I don't know how many million candle power however does not work anymore, it's 4 months old, bought for the boat because it's waterproof and is a real light but it does not freakin work. Now I have to fight with Home Hardware because their return policy is 30 days. I knew this thread would take a turn once I read the first anti OPP comment. Not fair at all as I know 90% or more of our Cops do the best job they can with the tools and protocol they are given to work with. Sometimes I think people should get out of Canada for a while, not 2 weeks in Florida or Mexico and I guarantee you if you have had to deal with cops from a second and third world company you will hug and kiss the first cop you see here.

We had a 12' Sears car topper . No problem with a 9.9, if alone we had to put a few blocks in the bow depending on the weight of the driver.

How can you tell the true value of anything sight unseen Albert? That is unless it is ridiculously priced. People put a value on sentiment but it doesn't count. I have the tie my Grandfather wore on his wedding day in 1925, it's priceless to me and worth 10 bucks because it's silk, maybe.