Old Ironmaker

floatman55, Dry, dry and then egg wash? You will end up with fried egg on the fish, no?

I stand corrected Canuck2fan, only 1/2 as bad. It's like saying I only drank 1/2 of a 40 pounder.

Musky or Specks, Come on, now we have to know!!!!! And you are right, that boat has been parted out. The Aluminum will be cut up and because thieves are stupid and greedy in most cases as are some scrap dealers They will scrap the Aluminum too. If the police really want to solve auto and marine thefts they should put the pressure on the buyer of obvious hot items. No market for getting rid of questionable items, no more getting rid of hot scrap. We were picking up a set of tires for buddy's Jeep a few years back and I eaves dropped the conversation between thief and scrap dealer. The thief has a truckload of a parted out Hummer, only the engine was missing , zero sign of an accident or fire. If a seller can't prove where he got it, no cash.

Those are some scary stories boys and girls, very scary. No other body of water can blow up faster than Nipissing. The inlaws had a place between Callander and South Bay. Brother in law Bobby and my self headed out to Gull Rock on table flat water with Bluebird skies. It became jet black over Sturgeon Falls in a matter of minute. We knew enough to head in forthwith. By the time we got about a mile the storm was on us. We also knew well enough to find the closest shoreline as well. The mistake Bobby made, he was at the business end of the 18 foot Powassin with the 20 on back not me, was to turn 90 degrees to the shoreline. I perched myself at the bow to watch for rocks. I will never forget what I saw when we were at the crest of a 6 foot wave and never want to see again. When we hit the top of a wave I could look down and could see wet sand and wet rocks. Just as the nose if that boat was ready to hit bottom the water would fill that abyss. He quickly decided to start riding the waves at an angle and with about 8" of water by the time we beached the barge and kissed the ground. That storm lasted what seemed to be forever because all I could think was we were going to spend a cold wet night in cold wet clothes. No light, matched, dry clothes, the cell phone had not yet been invented and no food. There isn't a day I head out on any water without having the aforementioned items and much more including a VHF radio, never

There are so many batter and dry recipes I don't think I will live long enough to try them all. Culinary experts always use these 2 rules of thumb for the crispiest frying. Dry, wet, dry. You fill in the ingredients. The other is to have whatever you are frying at room temperature and pat as dry as possible before coating. I was turned on to Japanese Panko crumbs years ago but could never find then in grocery stores, I finally found them in an Asian grocery store in Hamilton. Most big box grocery stores regularly stock them now. Panko is double baked which results in a crispy result. Panko does well in a Microwave as someone already mentioned. Big Cliff your recipe calls for 1 cup of flour per pound of fish. My Diabetes specialist would ring my neck if I ate a cup of white flour for one meal. And my head would probably explode. I can still see my toes and almost other body parts and want to keep it that way as long as possible, chuckle, chuckle......

They are much more sensitive now M2B. I use one for perch in 30 foot plus deep water and yet it's stiff enough in the backbone for Smallmouth. Just don't bend it in half like the old TV commercial.

That make me sick to my stomach. Post the pic, we will keep our eyes peeled for it.

Hey now, a real fishing report complete with fish. Very nice.

Yes Lou. One gets to a fair financial position and bam, health care for out of province costs kick in. The one and only reason Mom and Dad sold in Port Charlotte a few years after Dad turned 80. His health insurance wasn't all that bad after he turned 80. At 88 he takes one Statin a day for BP, bless him. Mom turned 80 and no way anyone I know could afford the 6K a month for Blue Cross Blue Shield. She can not go to NY for 1 day, 1 hour or 1 minute as I could not find any insurance provider to cover her. She is American and has missed many relatives funerals as of late. Long story. The 100K lifetime plan they have from Dad's retirement does not go far at a few thousand a day USD plus procedures etc. Lucky they sold before the real estate crash down in the US. The guy that bought it from them in 06' lost it in 08' and my cousin bought for 20 cents on the $ and far less than he paid for his new Dodge Ram. I can't believe the number of retirees that DO NOT get a primary payer beyond their company coverage. Both young and old. My former business partner took 6 stitches to the noggin when we were down for a Conference and the bill came to $8000.00. I was told we should get additional coverage for out of province. I'm not so sure about that.

Fantastic work you are doing with our future stewards there Richard. Getting them involved in conservation at the grassroots level is paramount to our future fishery. I can't thank you enough. Been 23 years since we fished around Wingham. Is the Ice Cream stand still there? I did some damage to my body with that great Ice Cream. Did some brain damage at the Legion too. I think we camped behind the Legion back then. Thank you again.

The biggest mistake the scientists did was name this CO2 thing "Global Warming" rather than "Extreme Weather Phenomenon" The bones and former muscles can no longer participate in the Winter sports, heck walking from the truck to the store is a chore now. There was a time we had a Sunday Hockey game on the lake every week when we had ice, Nordic Skiing, Cross country Skiing, snowshoeing up north, ice fishing and we even would break through the skim of ice at the local Marina with the boat to hit the warm water outflow at Nanticoke and of course Ice Fishing. I envy all you folks that can still do all that, especially as Seniors, good for you, I'm jealous too. To keep busy we work on the boats in a nice heated Quanset hut. Almost have the 28 foot Grew ready to put outside in the next few weeks then my StarCraft goes in and I will be changing the steering cable and replace some carpeting. Then the 23 foot Grew Cuddy goes in to mount a buddy's Stainless Downrigger platform and rod holders across the back. I just make sure Featherstone Ted has the shop nice and warm before heading over. When I was at the plant I remember 92' and 93' we got a cold snap in November and it lasted until April. I called it the Winter Olympics. 52" Baywater lines frozen solid, then 3/8 inch armor plate would split open ans send that water 40 feet in the air @ 90PSI and 2200 gallons a MINUTE. It would be a giant snow making machine. Frozen Blast Furnace and Coke Oven gas lines, when they thaw and split CO blowing everywhere, instrument air lines frozen, and, and, and. We used to start the Winterizing program the second week of December. And to answer the question, yes this Winter will end just in time for next Winter is how I feel somedays. It's the first time we haven't gone south, with the additional health insurance and the exchange and service charges it's not in the budget. We are planning on taking that train excursion (CP Rail ) I think through the Rockies to BC this summer Our friends go down for 8 weeks and last week was the first time it hit 70F, poor Louis and Linda, I feel for them, not.

Mike R, I have to respectfully disagree with you. What about Cabellas.com vs Cabellas.ca. They are based out of the states as well. As Don Michael Corleone said " Once your in you can't get out."

My first impression was they sure look well made, the second was that sure looks to be many jigs. I was going to ask do you guys sell them or do you guys loose a lot? And my question was answered by gaspumper. Do you sell them Roy? No I don't work for the IRS. When we fished near north and the Ottawa we made our own and poured plastics as well. Other than a Tube I haven't used either plastic or Marabou since moving to Erie. That's a lie, I haven't used other jigs since I find certain tubes out fishes other jigs 10 to 1. Roy I bought the standard molds at a great price south of Niagara Falls NY. They were of better quality of those I bought up here. No imperfections and the molds seemed to last forever. It was an advantage to have a massive Tool and Die shop at the plant and an oldtimer there loved fishing and made me all the molds for my plastic Beetle Spinner Shads, twister tails and worms. I had him mold a spot in the grub heads and worms to take a small piece of Alka Seltzer. I wonder if anyone still uses Alka Setzer or Brioski (sic) in their Tubes or plastics?

Can anyone hazard a guess or know why BPS website is in USD? I got stuck last year. After reading the sale price on their website I drove to BPS off the 400 to find out the item was actually $40.00 more. At todays exchange rate it would be wise to crunch the numbers before putting in an order. As I mentioned in the Cabella's thread I'm sure BPS can have a Canadian website. Won't be buying anything from BPS in the future, for sure. Buy in Canada. I know many products are not produced here but a retailer on Canadian soil employs Canuck residents from the construction of the building to the person collecting shopping carts.

Good news to hear Bruce.

Oh man. I am actually afraid to open this thread as all I want to read here is she is doing just fine, This year has been a bad on as I have lost 3 close friends since the second week of January to that dreaded C word. I am a Bladder Cancer survivor as I have been clear for 4 years last December. I'm guilt actually dealing with something called survivor guilt lately as I had 1 surgery and that was it, no Chemo, no Radiation, nothing. I read your last post and started leaking. Look I'm not a religious person but do believe. Both my wife and I pray for your family and your beautiful young daughter. It seems are prayers are getting longer and longer unfortunately. I envy the strength both your family and you have Sir. I know how frustrating these trips to TO must be, especially for a 5 minute consult and have to bring Jen with you considering how taxing the trip and waits can be for Jen especially. I have no idea why they have you schlep all the way to get test results, especially for a "no change" update. Hell I am only an hour from Hamilton and unless there is something serious from my Specialists I have them call me for test results from Diabetes to other stuff I have going on. They call me at home, sometimes just leave a message, good news or bad. I have no idea why they can't call you at home. No way in Hell I would make my daughter make that trip. My father is 88 and Mom is 85, I have POA for their health matters and I have their Docs call me for test results, as it takes 15 minutes to get Mom in a car and it gives her considerable pain to do so, it was killing me to watch her crawl into the seat a few inches at a time,I was told that the CCAA will go to the retirement residence to facilitate bloodwork. I told her many Dr's last year she just can't do it unless there is a procedure. I would put my foot down and have them call. God bless you all up there Wayne and prayers are coming forthwith.

This winter is not as bad as last winter here on the Erie north shore. I can't shovel much any longer so I get the guy to use his little tractor and snow blower do it. By this time last year I had him out 12 times, twice this year. We haven't gotten as many lake effect storms or snow squalls as they are called in Canada. The wind turbines are almost always facing NW. There are still 15 plus foot drifts here and February is much colder than 2014. Last year the township had to truck away snow from Lakeshore Rd because the plows couldn't get the snow up high enough. They buried a few small 3 season cottages and they flooded after the thaw. Nice work eh? Heck they are calling for 2 days of 0C this weekend and 2 days nest week at plus 3 and plus 4. I will believe it when I see it so I'm not running out to buy Sunscreen just yet. By looking out the window this year there has to be 20 plus foot high mounds of ice and snow a few miles offshore now. I haven't seen 1 snow machine out on the lake this year. Last year it was like the 403 some weekends with machines buzzing by. With my luck an Iceberg is going to wash up on shore this June.

I just happened to stop off the 400 on my way to Newmarket last year on a Saturday when they had the big Spring saleon. The line ups at the check outs were 30 people deep and I didn't see any big sales. I finally found someone to help me because I found a good price on their website for a line counter, I was going to buy 2.. Then the kid tells me the prices on the website are in USD. What ? And why? He couldn't give me any answer to why in US pricing. That massive corporation can't justify a Canadian site? The why is get em in the door is what it's all about. What a waste of time. If I drove the 5 or 6 hour return trip just to go there I would have lost it. You saved yourself a trip in my humble opinion. I will never go to BPS again, unless something is free, that will not be in my lifetime. John D

We had a local Outdoors stores at the corner of Parkdale and Queenston Rd. in Hamilton. I got my frst rod and reel there and still have it. If they didn't have something it probably didn't exist. I walked out of there with a shotgun I bought my brother for Christmas around 73, didn't even ask my name. This topic has been discussed before but that's all good there are many new members here since then. BPS on line is all in US funds, I went all the way to the 400 to pick up 2 trolling rod combos and was told the price was in US funds, come on man. I was on the Sail site just yesterday, the worst search engine I have used. I'll stick to our local shops. The only big box store I do frequent is Canadian Tire in Dunnville. It always has a well stocked fishing section with tackle specific to the Grand River i.e. Hot N Tots and deep water minnow baits for Erie. They always have a bin of rod and reel combos on sale. Buddy scored a Rappala line counter combo spooled with braid for 75 bucks at CTC and I bought my wife a medium light Rappala combo that is perfect for perch here for $19.99. I told her it was hers.

HTHM, it was Bruce not Stanley and the water temp was only 58F. I remember asking you when you almost tore the side of my boat off hanging on. And it wasn't only your shirt you took off to dry out. That is a image I can not get out of my head. You did a complete backward 360, at least a 8.9 from the Italian judge. It is lucky as you could have hit your head on the bow of the boat, that would have been many bucks to get the dent repaired, on the boat not your noggin! Karma"s a bioch, eh Beans!

I know everything north was late i.e. weed growth. I can only talk about Erie. Even though the lake was 100% frozen for the first time in many, many years the Bass and Walleye were right on time. Bass were off the beds before opening. Some how the lake temps came up very fast in June. The perch however stayed deep and stayed there all season here. I can't see this fishing season as much different, perhaps a bit better because last winter was colder than this year. That cold snap in December lasted until April. Yesterday a farmer I know well told us this spring will bring winter temps, I wanted to bop him in the snazz.

M2B2, I used a Shimano Curado on my fall Musky trip. I'm not a level wind guy and I didn't get 1 backlash, not a one. If it's in your budget go for 1. Take a look at Mike P's website on the above post. He is getting a great reputation across North America. Thank goodeness there aren't any Musky waters nearby me otherwise I'd be living in a tent and have the house full of Musky stuff. Good luck. What's good luck in your language?

OK I give. Heat trace line for the cistern kicked the breaker the other day, no water. Took me 2 hours of digging ice and snow to get to the thermostat, then realized it must be the breaker. Kept kicking out. Ran an extension cord to a plug, A OK. Today the sink won't drain, grey water bed frozen to the sink, can't wait until something splits. Dirty pots, pans and dishes everywhere. We are getting hammered tonight from the south and the north west 70K winds blowing last weeks snow everywhere. My wife has to work until midnight and has a 35 minute drive in June. She has the 4X4 but I don't think that will help. I don't know how bad it really is because every window and door has 3" of snow on it and I can't see 10 feet out there. I'm thinking of driving to Caledonia and driving her home in the truck. If I get stuck in the front wheel drive Altima they will find me in April, I can see the headlines " Missing idiot found in middle of bean field 2 months latter" Looks like another 100 plus bucks for a motel room in Hamilton. No way she will ask friends to let her in at 1AM. Oh well 20 some odd days to spring.

Cliff we all have those burdens we carry daily. Especially when at that age we qualify for CPP. It's always darkest before the dawn. I cringe every time the phone rings, 3 funerals in 3 weeks all very close friends. Every time I think it can get any worse I always think about the kids and their Moms and Dads in all the Childrens Hospitals.

Come on Albert, tell em. Unless that was not your worse fishing story.