kickingfrog

Never underestimate the power of the goldfish. That's the idea. I (actually we, my wife and I) had kicked around the idea of a new boat that was a level or two bigger. But the concern was that with two young kids that it wouldn't be used enough to justify the years of monthly payments. So my wife sugested I get Rizzo's. If it didn't get used much, we at least wouldn't be making payments. And if it did get used then we would have part of a downpayment on a bigger boat in a few years. She's a smart girl… not sure why she's with me, but some questions are better left unasked.

http://www.thebarrieexaminer.com/2013/07/12/hitch-house-rebuild-underway-2 Hitch House rebuild underway ORO-MEDONTE TWP. — The Hitch House’s founder, Dave McKee, is doing exactly what he said he would do just hours after a multimillion-dollar fire completely destroyed his main building Nov. 27, 2012. “We are going to come out of this bigger, better and stronger,” McKee said the day after the fire. “We have a great staff, we are going to get a first-class builder, a first-class architect to design this and I have 44 years in this business. When we come back, look out,” McKee said. No one was injured during the fire as the company followed a fire-safety plan where everyone exited and moved to a safe location early on. None of the 40 employees were laid off. In fact, The Hitch House now has 43 employees. “It never entered our mind that we would do anything but rebuild,” said co-owner Tom Stoate. “We reopened on the Saturday after the fire, working out of the separate service facility. “In the days following the fire, Dave didn’t waste any time getting started. He worked with an interior designer to put together a layout,” he said. Owners brought in six Atco trailers to be used for everything from sales to storage to bathrooms. During the winter, the owners built a two-bay garage building, knowing it would be quicker to build than the main building. It is being used by Travel-Rite Rentals. The private business ran out of The Hitch House building and will lease office space in the new building. In May, ground was broken for a new 33,000-square-foot building to replace the old 25,000-square-foot building. It is expected to be complete in late November, a year from the date of the fire. “It will be built better, stronger, safer and more energy efficient,” said Stoate. “The workflow will be more efficient for the people and the vehicles.” The investigation into the fire by the Ontario Fire Marshal’s office and insurance investigators showed there was not much that the business owners could have changed or done differently, Stoate said. The exact cause of the fire, which started in a used RV in the showroom, was not pinpointed, but an electrical malfunction is suspected. Foul play was ruled out early. A smoke alarm in the RV alerted staff to the crisis. “What we learned is we needed more bay doors to access the showroom,” Stoate said. The 1973 structure had only one door. The new building will have three doors. “If we had three bay doors, we would have been able to evacuate the rest of the units more quickly. We extracted one out of the showroom and seven were lost,” he said. At the time of the fire, staff were told to evacuate and a core group of five tried to contain the fire and minimize loss before the Oro-Medonte Fire Department ordered them out of the building when they arrived. Throughout the entire process, Stoate said customers stuck with them. “We’ve had tremendous support from our customers. There was a lot of compassion for what we were going through,” Stoate said. For the rebuilding, McKee said the Township of Oro-Medonte has been co-operative. Stoate agreed. “The Township of Oro-Medonte really worked hard for us. It was an efficient operation. It was very, very nice,” he said. The new building will offer many upgrades from the old building, but the overall layout will remain the same. The front section will be a larger showroom with three bay doors. The reception entrance as well as the sales office, parts and accessories and rental counter will be accessible from the side of the building. All the parts will be in one building that will save time for staff going to a second building looking for items. The back of the building will include six service bays. Each bay will be 50 feet long and will be structured back to back so “you can easily go in one bay and out the other,” Stoate said. As RVs are a lot larger today than they were 40 years ago, the new doors will be 14 by 14 and the aisles between the bays are a full 10 feet wide. “It’s a more efficient set up,” he said. Electrical panels, compressors and pressure washers will be contained, so the service area will be much quieter. McKee is heavily involved in the construction project. Don Eagle, of Eagles Construction in Barrie, is the project manager and Garritts Engineering of Barrie is the architectural firm hired. McKee started the business in 1969 when he purchased a Fina gas station on Highway 11. He expanded the property and built the first facility in 1973. He expanded property holdings and building additions in 1978, 1980 and 1997.

Photos included in link: http://www.tillsonburgnews.com/2013/07/08/early-worm-gets-the-fish The early ‘worm’ got the fish. “Fourth cast,” reported Shawn Beaumont, indicating a nifty 18.75-inch bass, weighing in (on his scale) at just under four pounds. “So it was like quarter after six.” Beaumont wasn’t actually using a worm, rather a flip-n-jig, applied judiciously to the waters at Lake Lisgar’s northern extremity. Beaumont inserted the feisty bass into his live well at the front end of the Tillsonburg Kiwanis Club Kids, Cops and Canadian Tire Fishing Derby, but it would stand up as the biggest bass – and fish caught and released – when closing time (12 noon) rolled around. It wasn’t without challengers though, a 17” bass courtesy of Jake V. and a third-place 16.75-inch entry caught by Gord Underhill. “There are some big bass in here,” said Frank Kempf, ‘cops’ representative and a member of the Lake Lisgar Revitalization Project (LLRP). “And bigger than that, there are bass over six pounds in here. “I’ve also heard of bass over eight, but unless you see it, you know how fish stories get bigger every year.” In conjunction with significant water improvement efforts, the LLRP has been responsible for stocking 700 rainbow trout in the lake, but Kempf wasn’t shocked more hadn’t been checked in as of 10 a.m. by fishers, the majority of whom were operating either from shore or one of the lake’s docks. “They’ll be hunkered down somewhere where it’s a little cooler.” Kiwanis President Mike Dean was hunkered down at the check-in table, thrilled with a total of 139 participants (84 kids, 55 adults) keeping he and his team of volunteers busy. The level of activity also impressed Joanne Vaughn, Co-ordinator of the Kids, Cops and Canadian Tire Fishing Days Program through the non-profit Bob Izumi Fishing Forever organization. Vaughn checked in herself, en route to derby stops in Norwich and Caledonia the same day, three of over 20 events scheduled throughout the province for free fishing weekends. “This is fabulous, a great location for the kids here,” she said. “Pleased the Kiwanis club has continued the tradition and thanks to Frank and the revitalization committee for all their efforts in the lake.” As mentioned, at the end of the day, Beaumont’s bass stood up in the adult division. For the kids, Kaleb Beaumont headed the trout division; Braden Clark was tops with a 9.5-inch perch and Gioranni Pedler caught the only turtle. Alex Pressey finished up with the most fish (106) followed by Corey Cornish (48), Caden Montgomery (46) and Aleks Hall (39). In closing, Dean thanked a list of sponsors, including Advanced Automotive, the Kiwanis Club, Free Time Sports, Cops, Kids and Canadian Tire, Canadian Tire Tillsonburg, M&J Tire, the Knights of Columbus, Cindy Franklin (Shimano); and Schooner’s Gallery in Port Burwell. “It was an awesome day, we had lots of kids that were happy and lots of parents there with their kids – which was all we wanted,” he concluded.

Well I wanted to get the whole family in the new boat. Today was the day. Fishing wasn't too high on the list, but rods were on board. The little one is not quite 16 months old and wasn't to keen on the pfd and that she was not able to go wherever she wanted. But she was very happy when the goldfish crackers came out.

I had read an article a month or so ago about whether it made good business sense to still have Japanese and a North American versions of products like reels. The times, they are a changin'

What? All I see is spiders. Kidding. Thanks for taking the time to post them.

Interesting, thanks for the follow-up.

Saw those. Interesting. I'm not sure I'll buy them, but I'd be more likely to try them over an alabama rig.

Great photos. I don't know what woodenboater is talkin' about.

Good news if you are looking for warranty work on your Lowrance. Part of release from Radio World: Navico Appoints Radioworld Inc. of Toronto Lowrance Authorized Warranty Service Centre Radioworld and Navico USA (Tulsa OK) is proud to announce that effective immediately, Radioworld Inc of Toronto is an Authorized Service Centre for Lowrance products.

It's also hard to anchor a boot in even 40 feet of water with only 5o feet of rope. I always figured it was so that as a unpowered boat got close to shore the anchor would finally "catch".

Mine was meant to add to Roy's post, not stand on its own.

I was wrong it's 49"3'.

...With at least 50 feet of rope/chain I believe.

I was there yesterday. Caught, kept and ate all the big ones from that stretch. jk Many men go fishing all of their lives without knowing that is is not fish they are after. Thoreau You know.

Iteresting read on a Sunday morning. Here's a snippet from the attached article: Jason Everman has the unique distinction of being the guy who was kicked out of Nirvana and Soundgarden, two rock bands that would sell roughly 100 million records combined. At 26, he wasn’t just Pete Best, the guy the Beatles left behind. He was Pete Best twice. Then again, he wasn’t remotely. What Everman did afterward put him far outside the category of rock’n’roll footnote. He became an elite member of the U.S. Army Special Forces, one of those bearded guys riding around on horseback in Afghanistan fighting the Taliban. http://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/02/magazine/evermans-war.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

I think its more to make Simcoe boaters aware that they could spread invasive species from Simcoe to other lakes.

http://www.thebarrieexaminer.com/2013/07/05/mnr-unveiling-new-boat-washing-station-at-barrie-marina-on-saturday MNR unveiling new boat washing station at Barrie Marina The Ministry of Natural Resources (MNR) and the City of Barrie have joined forces to help stop the spread in invasive species throughout provincial waterways. A new boat washing station will open for public viewing and use at the city’s marina on Saturday and boaters will get a chance to learn how to clean vessels properly and prevent transporting species to other waterways. “The purpose of it is to educate boaters about invasive species, so they can clean their boats entering Lake Simcoe and leaving Lake Simcoe,” MNR biologist Greg Lunn said. “Lake Simcoe actually does have a number of invasive species and we don’t want to see them transported to other lakes.” When foreign species are introduced to new waterways, many of them out number and compete with local inhabitants which can result in lower populations of regional species. “They compete and breed fast and generally displace our native species for habitat and food sources,” Lunn said. “The main concern is when they’re leaving because Lake Simcoe is predominantly acting as a source for invasive species.” Some species include: zebra mussels, Asian fish tapeworm, sea lamprey, European frog-bit Eurasian water milfoil and flowering rush. The station will draw water from the lake before going through a pressurized water system on land where boaters are encouraged to wash and thoroughly inspect their vessels. “It uses pressurized water to clean off any larval zebra mussels (and others species) that may be on the trailer, on the boat or anywhere they may cling to,” Lunn said. “A lot of the time it’s hard to see where they cling to so it’s important to wash the vessel.” Boats will have to be washed one at a time, but Lunn said the station doesn’t have size restrictions and can accommodate small to large boats. Boaters can visit between 1 p.m. and 3 p.m. to learn more about washing boats and how waterways are damaged by foreign species, but also how transmission can be prevented. “It’s to continue to increase the education among the anglers and boating community and stop transmission,” Lunn said. “There will be educational pamphlets, materials and decals for the people who utilize the boating station.” MNR staff will be on hand to answer questions and give out free fishing lures as tokens for those interested in learning more.

Says the guy with 24 hours of daylight.

Happier with Bozak term and dollars then Clarkson, but I like them both.

The league will need another lockout soon cause there are going to be lots of teams that'll need more compliance buyouts.

At least Detroit will be in the same division as the sens so he can visit lots.

Someone else wrote: One good year and Emery could get a 8 year 300million deal from Philly.

A 40 year old who produces 50 points maybe this year. Easy for the sens to replace. Difficult for fanboy to replace.

Someone should check on muskymatt.