Old Ironmaker

To tell you the truth Snidley I don't think proving you are a resident is a bad idea. It is done down in the US where I fish. We have 1 good launch in Haldimand and it is free to the public. By 8 AM the small lot is packed solid with vehicles and trailers and folks that pay taxes here can't use. Down in Niagara County NY where I launch on the upper Niagara you need a pass that you put on the dash showing you are a resident, no pass you pay. I think that is fair. Beaches don't apply , that's going a bit far I agree.

Batteries today must weigh much more than they did 20 years ago. Because 20 years ago I could carry a battery in each hand with no problem whatsoever. Speaking of Grimsby 30 years ago I came in 2nd the Peach Festival Men's Bodybuilding Championship. I was the only contestant. OK enough hilarity for one evening. I never met a boater that didn't want another 5 miles an hour. Including an associate in Florida that has a Pete Fountain offshore racer that was complaining he has only hit 100 MPH a few times. I have politely declined his offer of a boat ride a few times now. I don't want to sleep with or feed the fishes.

I must have big batteries. It's nice to have speed. I always say when it comes to MPH, "Hurry up and stop." It isn't very often that water conditions are such that we can go WOT anyway, at least here on Lake Erie. Current will affect boat speed, drastically in some cases especially on The Great Lakes and all rivers. Have you thought about current? When I bought my boat used the original owner could not urge me enough to not go WOT often. He always ran at 3/4 throttle and saved on fuel as well as maintenance.

We always under estimate weight onboard. An average 12V battery is closer to 100 lbs than 60 lbs. Every ounce counts. One gent that went into our neighbourhood marine guy was complaining about the exact same thing, not enough speed. Little Buddy reached into a storage box and pulled out a full gallon of 2 stroke oil and asked the customer '" Did you count this at around 8 pounds?" Nope, forgot.

Pigs may wallow in their own crap but they don't crap in another pigs wallow.

Scary stuff there. I am always reading about young people in their 20's and 30's that have recovered from C-19 not coming close to what they could physically do prior to contracting the virus. I know at that age how important it was for me to be and stay in good physical condition which promotes good mental condition. I don't want to even think about experiencing what these kids are post Covid-19. I pray this will end soon as we go into the second year of Covid-19 but fear the worse, Covid-20 or 21.

I have always painted hardware my favorite colours. Some lure colours have been discontinued for some reason. Go to Michaels and get almost any colour paint in a small jar or spray can and all sorts of glitter spray on. I like Michael because I can get smaller cans and jars of paint. Then I will seal them in urethane spray on. A warning, I have taken the 2 plus hour return trip to our closest Michael and found the a can won't spray. I asked a store clerk if they had a piece of something I could try the spray on in the back room and I got a terse Hell No. I go out in the parking lot and try each can on a piece of paper I have in the truck. I brought the bad can in for exchange. Miraculously they have a large piece of cardboard in the warehouse to do exactly as I asked to do.

I haven't seen any for sale but I have the exact spoon in my weapons of mass distraction. It's an antique in my books. I have a few Cleo's that haven't gotten wet in over 35 years. I must use them again, they cast like rockets.

DanD, you have to be kidding me. Way to go my young man. I have had the immense pleasure of eating Porketta in a Roman market on a few occasions. It must be warm for me to eat it sacrilegious to some, whomever they are, it must be cold. What we do agree on it must be eaten as a sangwidge on a thick crust Italian bread with large air pockets within. We always prepared the pig at home and trudged it off to a cousins bakery in Hamilton at God awful hours of the night to bake in his wood oven. Your Porketta is a work of food art. Way to go mangi. Italian bread trivia. The thicker the crust the longer a loaf will last. They bake a bread in Puglia that will last 2 weeks before going stale.

You want to pick up the balls and cables. It is telling you that your electronics is certainly dialed in. That's a good thing. On the subject of elec. trolling motors I priced them for my boat this year. We paid 1/2 the $$$$ for a 16' tinny and 40 HP way back when. Then again I paid 25K for a 3 bedroom 2 bath townhouse in poor condition then too. I was flipping out because I had a $19000.00 mortgage and needed another 5K from the Credit Union for remodel/repairs. Sleepless nights. I have always said us Baby Boomers were lucky to be born when we were. I would love to be in my 20's and 30's of course but when I was in my 20's and 30's not today.

As far as I know it is. Even an overcast Pic sky, is that a thing today too?

Nice ride. I saw 1 in Pt. Dover last week, black as well. Many reasons a 3 wheeler vs. 2. In my case I wouldn't dump it every stop. When the Gov. pays me for being old time to get a 3rd wheel. Geoff you may still be a tad too young for a training wheel.

From my sinuses being so bad and constantly breathing through my mouth I have lost 90% of my sense of smell and worse taste. I can taste sweet and spicy but that's it and that sucks. I quit smoking 7 months ago and lost 5 pounds, no appetite at all. Food has always been a very large and important part of my life, now it just disappoints me because I know how good it tastes but can taste a thing. You don't know what you have until you lose it. Enjoy all.

Very large trees down along the lake here in Selkirk, branches and leaves all over the lawns. Anything not secured went for a ride. I slept through the entire storm yesterday afternoon as I didn't sleep a wink the night before and slept all day and most of last night.

And not a single member of OFC is guilty of the above, I hope. Statistics say yes but I really think not. I once confronted a guy that was tossing his stuff on the ground at the James Allen* bridge pier about 35 years ago. It ruined my day fishing. As I was driving away from the scene a ambulance passed me going in the other direction. If you confronted a goof like him today there is a good chance you will be stabbed or even shot. * Trivia, what we call The Burlington Skyway is actually The James N. Allen Skyway. The James N.Allen Provincial Park is on Lake Erie in Haldimand west of Port Maitland. If you ever want an entire large sandy beach to yourself go there, if you can find it. He was the Ont. Minister of Transportation back when they built the Queen E and the Skyway. 50's I think. I remember a a kid Dad handing a token to an attendant to go over that bridge, that was a big deal to a 5 year old.

Ahh thanks Shag. Another one I can't unsee. I can't imagine what a woman would think the 1st time the guy took his shirt off. Or it might be a she, or one of the letters of that long acronym.

I have thought about it. But why would anyone try and go beyond perfection? My ex wifes grand Dad who fought bravely I'm sure in WW1 was tattooed from neck to navel. And at 90 something was proud to show anyone. Some things you just can't unsee. I'm sure some ink that looks great at 21 not so great at 71. deleted

This reminds me of the time about 15 years back the Feds who are responsible for most piers in Ontario posted "NO FISHING" on the Port Dover pier. (If the city does not have ownership of this pier how can they have a by law? ) At the time I was on a very popular fishing forum in Canada and posted the news and stirred up the pot so to speak. We even had a protest one Saturday and had more than a handful of fisherpeople and even a few local politicians showed up. We just kept 0on fishing and eventually the signs disappeared. The federal government that is responsible for maintaining and basically have ownership of most public piers said that it was a liability issue and that is why it was posted No Fishing. Hundreds or more fish from that pier today and even in winter some years. If I'm not mistaken there are still a few "NO FISHING" signs on the Dover pier. I say fish away and let them fine or arrest you. Have the TV network news producers numbers on speed dial. They love stories like these. From the news report,,,,,,"Longtime Oakville fisher Andrew Howarth, 25, says this is the first he has heard about a bylaw prohibiting fishing from any pier in Oakville." When they refer to a 25 year old as a longtime anything what does that make most of us here? Pre historic?

Very nice mount Wayne. Looks alive let alone real.

We were C&R well before my American pals and relatives ever heard of it. early 80's. For the price of that Tiger mount I could have bought a winter beater car, or a few actually. It is the only mount I ever had done. It is almost 40 years old and looks new.

I know I paid $450.00 in 83'. It is 40", if my sciferin' is write that's $11.25 an inch. Sounds about write if a re creation is 25 bucks now. Hey Rizzo, if you want to start a heated discussion here or on any other fishing forum say that you caught a Tiger Musky* in Lake Scugog NE of Oshawa Ontario. Addin' and subtragshin' is good but my spelen not so gould. A tough language that English is, should and would is "ould" but good is "ood", why? I remember a Japanese gent telling me that Chinese was easier to learn than English. Japanese and Chinese have zip in common he told me. Digress much JD? * Auto correct for Musky was Muslim here at one time. Doesn't look good when you type "Ï once killed a Musky." and auto correct replaces Musky with Muslim. Not good to say the least.

Back in 1983 I had a Tiger Musky mounted. It looks new to this day. Maybe because it was always kept moist as I had it hanging in the kitchen for years. That and Mr. Martin of Hamilton did it. He was an award winning taxidermist. I hope he is alive and well, he would be in his 80's now. It was $450.00 to do it then, that's a good chunk of change even for today. I always felt terrible I mounted a Musky until a few years back when I found out that Tiger Musky can not procreate. All those years of guilt for nothing. What does a good recreation cost today? I have more than a few personal bests that I have pics of and remember the dimensions to a T. The dimensions grow every year adjusted for inflation.

Nice fish fr sure. I wonder if they are hitting out in the lake. Lake Ontario. Big Dave Drifter, there were some powerful drugs in the late 60's and early 70's when I was in High School and I see they are still available. I did not try any and I didn't smoke anything until grade 13 and I didn't inhale. And yes I walked 8 miles 1 way in 3 feet of snow to get to school. The bus was 10 cents but that dime bought me a burger or fries in the cafeteria at lunch. I always could sell my salami or prosciutto with roasted red pepper or eggplant for 2 burgers and fries. I hated those sangwidges my mangi buddies loved them.

I know this is from an old post but I often go back and read old posts to see where we are compared to where we were. We haven't been able to see Uncle Vince since February. Zero visitors and I wouldn't go in there if he were on his death bed. He is now 92, drank, gambled and smoked before he was a teen and was at the Casino everyday and or night 7 days a week until he got ill. He retired with 35 years service where he occasionally worked. If he worked 10 of those 35 years that's a lot. He was always off sick or injured. He always drove around with 5 grand under his spare tire in the trunk just in case, of what I never understood. He was a wise guy if anyone knows what that means. He's the guy they make movies about. If he has a peaceful passing I know that I would be relieved as he would no longer be just laying there breathing and eating through an IV. What he has is no life whatsoever. We have more compassion for our pets when their quality of life is poor. The front line workers in these nursing homes are over worked and underpaid, when that occurs people slack off their jobs, it's human nature, it must be terrible hating what one does for a living. We are or already have become a country of haves and have nots. The have nots for many reasons make up the majority of Covid-19 cases and deaths around the World. Our minority citizens make up something like 15% of Canadian society and are something like 35% of all Covid cases.

A spinning rod. I would be afraid to use it in case I scratch the thing. It was the wire that threw me too Smitty. Chris, I ran into Jim McK*&$ a few weeks back. He said to say Hi. He hasn't changed much. I think you may remember him from our office.