lew

Rick, will we get presents along with the decorations too ??

.............. This is in NO way directed at Gerritt ................... ccmtcanada, I stated my feelings about reckless drivers earlier in this thread and had no intentions of saying anything else about it, but I honestly am very concerned about your last post. .........You said "He was concerned and probably freaking out and not thinking straight"......... Do you honestly want to share the hiway with somebody in this state of mind, as I know I certainly don't, and this is also the last person in the world I would want to see speeding. It's dangerous enough on the roads with people who are in a normal state of mind, but you seem to be condoning speeding by people who are freaking out and not thinking straight.......pretty darned scary if you ask me. ..........you also state that "A more sympathetic cop may have even given him an esccort".......... Police officers are well trained in hi-speed driving on city streets, plus they have the advantage of red lights and sirens to assist in getting motorists out of their way. Police officers DO NOT give escorts to other drivers, especially ones who are freaking out behind the wheel of their own vehicles and not thinking straight.........that stuff is strictly out of Hollywood movies. We have a VERY good system for emergencies in this country........911 Call that # in a residential area and you'll have police, fire and ambulances at your door within minutes and no need for freaking out drivers to be rushing to hospitals and possibly causing more carnage on our roadways. Fisherman is a 911 dispatcher and could probably tell you tales that would make your blood curdle, so I don't think you have any right to chastize him about either of his posts on this subject. On a final note, you also said to Fisherman........"You posted the same thought twice in this thread....once was probably enough"..........we have moderators on this board to make the decision as to when something has been said enough.........that's not up to you, or anyone else.

I've dealt with Rocky's before and they provide excellent service. Another good place for reel service, for those that don't already know about them in the GTA Aikmens in Mississauga 905-277-3595

Richard, there doesn't seem to be much interest in used tires for some reason. I've got a pair of 16" Michelin winter tires from my last truck that only have 5000 km on them and are still like brand new, and I tried all last winter to sell them, but no takers. Guess folks just have too much $$$$ these days

I'm putting my winter tires on this morning and the summer tires with the nice chrome wheels are heading to the basement to hibernate for a few months. Sposed to be some snow heading this way tomorrow, so it's time to git er done. Whatever winter tires you decide to go with, be sure to use them on all 4 wheels, rather than just the 2 rear wheels. Makes a world of difference in handling the vehicle in the snow & slush. C'MON SPRING !!!!!!

Something we've all been thru at one time or another Mo.........unfortunately Time to start booking some overtime shifts.

They haven't arrived here in Toronto yet Pete, but I'll let you know when they do.

Glen, really sorry to hear about both your dogs, and I'll keep my fingers crossed for the little guy. Let us know how he makes out please !!

My Merc came from the factory with the plastic washers (at least I think their plastic) and I change them every year when I do the lower unit. One of the least expensive parts on the engine, but good insurance against leaks I get them at the local marina when I buy my winterizing stuff.

Oh well, looks at it this way Mo, things can only get better after the week you've had. Sorry to hear about your cat, that's always one of the toughest things any of us critter lovers has to do.

Looks good Paul, that should do the trick, but if I could offer a suggestion........maybe cut a few air holes in the sides for ventilation to allow the baits to dry ?? .......just a thought

WTG Jigger, you definetaly get an "A" for effort and at least you gave it your best shot !! A day with a skunk is still better than a day at the office

Your absolutely right Ed, but back in those days our fish'n boat was 400' long

We'd have been out looking for muskies on St. Clair this weekend if it hadn't been for those darned winds turning the water to the clarity and consistency of mud. You can dress for the rain, snow and cold and have an excellent day on the water, but it's tough trolling in those winds and 6 foot waves this time of year We've still got 12 day till the season shuts down, so we'll see what happens.

Your right Chris, Jamies definetely the Dawg King when it comes to toothies, he even brought his talents with him when we fished the K-Lakes this summer

We've got this ugly white stuff spread all over the ground here this morning, it's about 1/4 inch deep, slippery, and really cold to the touch Not something we've been too used to so far this year down here in the Banana Belt and I don't think I like it. Looks like winter has caught up to us too.........dang

Here's my spin on this, and Gerritt, it's not directed at you specifically, but just to everyone in general who wants to break the rules, then complain when they get caught and whine cause the copper gave them a ticket. We all see it everyday, at least I do here in the Smoke, guys flying down the hiway doing 160 and forcing everybody else outta their way, roaring thru city streets at 90, running red lights and stop signs, illegal turns, cutting everybody off and just plain being a pain in the butt and a danger to me and my family. Personally, I luv nothing more than seeing the coppers pull these jerks over. I spent 30 odd years cutting dead and dying bodies from mangled cars and have seen waaaaaay too much crap to have any sympathy for those who figure the hiways and city streets are their own personal racetracks. If anybody wants to break the rules and endanger everyone else on the road, don't come crying when you get nailed and hafta dig deep into your pockets to pay for it. Everybody always slags the coppers and claim their being picked on, or the cop was a jerk for giving me a ticket. Maybe you should ask the copper for a few of his own horror stories caused by some of the jerks he wasn't able to stop before they killed the guy down the hiway a couple miles. I'm not talkin about the guy doing 10k over the limit, but the ones that act like morons. Funny thing too, it's usually the young punkers with the least amout of experience that always think their the best drivers and can do anything they want with no bad consequenses. We've got quite a few coppers, firemen and medics on this board, and I can guarantee, everyone of them will tell you the same thing. Next time anybody gets a speeding ticket, maybe think about it before you start complaining about it and wondering how you can get out from under it. If you want to break the rules, fine, just be prepared to pay the piper I had to cancel my weekend musky trip because of the high winds and I'm in a foul mood this morning, so there's my rant to blow off some steam........have a nice weekend everybody. BTW Gerritt, I hope the little guy is feeling better.

Glen, the exact same thing happened to a couple friends of mine quite a few years back on the French River, when they brought their own knucklehead along for a pickeral trip. They were gonna fish an eddy just off the fast water, but before they got in position, their knucklehead did the same thing and tossed out the stern anchor. Trouble was, they were still in fairly deep water when the anchor grabbed, and when the stern went down and filled the boat with water, it actually sank, tossing them all into the current, and one of the boys couldn't swim a stroke and was pulled under. Fortunately, the others were able to find him and get him to shore. He was unconscious, but finally came around and made a full recovery, but it shows how fast a tragedy could happen. Sadly, one of the fella's on that boat, a very good friend of mine for many years, and one of the best musky fishermen I ever knew, died 2 years ago, and unfortunately, his wife just died yesterday On a much lighter note, when myself & eddyk were were just little kids, we were going fishing with our grandfather one day while on a camping trip. We loaded the fish'n gear in the boat, untied the bow line and hopped in. Grampa was at the tiller and hit the gas, but nuthin was happening, other than the bow rising and the stern dropping. The more throttle he gave it, the lower the stern went until the water poured in and down we went......glug, glug, glug Yup, Gramps had neglected to untie the stern line We were Ok though, cause the water was only 4 feet deep, but it's something I'll never forget. I can still see the old wooden floor boards and half our tackle floating off into the sunset

Squid & I had planned another 2 day musky trip to St. Clair for this weekend but decided to cancel because of the high winds and heavy rainfall. It's a long drive from Toronto-Windsor & back, plus the $$$$ for gas, hotels & food, only to get there and find the waters have turned to mud and the fish have shut down. That happened to us a couple weeks back. It's too bad as the season is quickly winding down. I think this is my 1st weekend not fishing at least one day since last May

fishndevil, I use a trolling plate on my 90HP Merc in the spring when I want to go very slow and have never experienced any steering difficulties at all. It works exceptionally well for slowing the boat down, infact, I sometimes have to increase the throttle to speed up a bit. Over the years I've tried towing the driftsocks & buckets but always found them to be a pain, specially when trolling at night, but have never had any issues whatsoever with the plate. Once the musky season opens and slow trolling speeds are no longer required, it takes me 2 minutes to remove the plate and store it away till next year.

I'll add a few Lakair @ midnight Where I wish I was right now Where my boat spends the winter Across the road from my trailer Niagara River @ sunrise

I talk to Rob a fair bit, but haven't heard from him in a little while now, but I think he's just more concerned with his son right now, rather than posting here. He'll be back when he's ready.

I can't help you with the Optimax as I've never used one, but I have an '01 Merc 4 stroke 90 HP, that I bought new and have never had a single problem with, and it gets used ALOT. I think the 90's & 115's are basically the same motor ?? Very reliable engine, quiet, dependable, and extremely good on gas, especially when only running about 2/3 throttle. It's also nice to be able to troll all day and not worry about fouling the plugs. Maintanence and winter storage is very simple to do yourself. I traded in a 90 HP Johnson 2 stroke for this one, and even though the 4 stroke is 85 pounds heavier, I only lost about 1 mph top end. The 2 strokes are probably a faster hole shot, but that was never a big concern to me personally and I never really noticed that much difference.

dawg ??

You guys have all got it waaaaaaay too soft today with all your fancy suspension and hand/thumb warmers But I wish we had it back in the day I had to give up riding about 15 years ago because of a medical thingy, but before that, a bunch of us spent alot of incredible winters cruising all the trails between Peterboro-Bancroft-Haliburton and anywhere else we could find. We all started off with old junkers about 25 odd years ago, but eventually we were all riding beautiful machines, but I often think we had the most fun on the old clunkers. They weren't very fast and certainly weren't at all comfortable........practically no suspension under the hard seats and I don't think hand/thumb warmers had been invented yet, but when you don't know the difference, you don't miss it. Lotsa good memories with this thread !! This is me on my old Ski-Doo Silver Bullet about 25 years back My buddy Dave on his old Suzuki My other bud Ron on his Yamaha Group shot before a ride.......checkout the old Evinrude on the left Ahhhhhhh yes, the good ole days.......I often think things were more fun back in the day, before all the rules and regs came into effect and the trails weren't as crowded as the 401 at rush hour