muddler

What strengths/diameters of lines are you joining? When I joining similar light floro to mono (8lb or less) I found that nothing beats the strength and ease of the Orvis tippet knot. Don't be fooled by the simplicity of this knot, it is very very strong and reliable. I have used it for over 15 years and its is awesome. For larger diameters the stre3ngth of the knot is not that important so the surgeon's knot is fine. muddler

Yup, something like that. Scared the stuffings out of me. Pitch balck at night and the thing had legs. YUK! Muddler

I think the Magic Jack was discussed on a thresd here a couple of weeks ago. It's not that new either, it's been available for about 4=-5 years now. I have been using it for over 4 years now as my land line. I don't have the super high speed iNternet so when I am downloading a large file the Magic Jack qualitity has some small gaps. I jus put the download on hold then and the quality returns to normal. I resume the download after the call is completed. It doesn't happen often so that is a minor nusance. I have a local number so my friends here can call me toll free. It cost an extra $10 for the change plus a $5 CTRC fee. What they say is true. Toll free anywhere in USA or Canada. I bought a secong Magicjack with a USA number. My Nephew just went to the Dominican Republic. Phone charges to Canada were very expensive (he said) so I sent an ASUS notepad, a small phone (bought at a fleemarket years ago) and the Magicjack. He get free wireless internet where he is staying, so he calls his workpalce, his parents and the fiance's parents everyday......free. They talk as long as they want. I got a Magicjack in the first place because I could get my Interenet service in less than a week and I had to wait almost a month and a half for a bell land line. I never did get a Bell land line, I just use the magicjack. If the computer is off, all messages go to my voice mail which is my email. I also bought MRecrder. It records all Magicjack calls. That was a one time $10 cost. I love it. Cheap($20 a year), efficient and it has some nice features like call display on my computer screen. muddler

Fishing for walleye one night about 20 years ago something wacked my jig just as I was about to lift it out of the water. I thought it was a catfish about 2 feet long. I grabbed it near the head and I could feel legs on it. It was a a big salamander with legs and big gills on the side of the head. Freaked me out. muddler

When I pick up my kids from my Ex, I'm usually alone. I have a voice activated recorder that records everything and it sits in my front shirt pocket. I minimize saying anything to my Ex as she is very good at putting on a performance and fudging the truth when she wants to. On one occasion I was accused of bad mouthing her/verbal abuse and her lawyer sent me a very strong letter. I downloaded the brief conversation that we had that day(I'm always polite and tolerent) and burned it onto a Cd. Sent the CD as evidence to her lawyer. I got a wriitten apology from my Ex and the lawyer. She says nothing now when we exchange the kids. Case closed. The point is that you may have to go to these types of extremes to protect yourself. It is not against the law for you to record your own conversation. So instead of "he said.....I said...", you have hard evidence should you ever need it. Documentation is good too, but nothing beats pictures a, video and/or audio. This is harassment that you are getting. I live in a small town too and we have had a few Officers that have tried similar stuff to what you are describing. With a little effort and written complaints with some HARD evidence, these guys moved back to Toronto. As long as you are not breaking any law you are allowed to have the peace of mind that everyone has a right to expect. Check the Canadian Bill of rights. If driving by your house 6 times a day is bothering you, I'd take apicture with a time stamp on it. Colect as much evidence as you can then file a complaint. If it escalates and you go to court you have atone of evidence. Keep two copies of everything just incase. muddler

I must disagree. That would be a waste of a good chicken. The rest is ok. muddler

Should have used a shot gun. Harder to miss. muddler

I really don't like wasting line so here's what I've done for years. Wrap my mono backing 4 or 5 times around the spool and tie off to the mainline with a uni knot. Fill the spool about 40-50 % with the backing and then splice the running line (usually about 60-70 yds)on with two uni knots. The backing is any mono that is a bit heavier than my mainline or in the case of braid I use 12-15 lb mono as a backing. I have only had one fish take me to my backing ever when fishing walleye.bass, pike or musky. Steelhead and salmon in the rivers is a bit different in that I use dacron backing and about 150 yards of mainline. I get more fresh line changes that way when I buy a new line. For example my walleye rod has 10lb Stren(the old blue UV one) as a backing and then I splice on the 8lb line. When I need to change to fresh line I just strip of the 8lb to the uni knot and replace that portion. Always fill to 1/8 inch of the lip. muddler

I was a pack a day smoker for 20 years. I quit 13 years agoa when a pack cost just over $5. My fist child use due soon so it was time. I took a shoe box and I put $5 in it every day before I went to bed. After that first year I had over $1800. I wanted to get an Angling Specialties ofset float reel and a new custom float rod. Every day I put that $5 in the box I got a little closer to my goal. When I walked into the store a year later, I was Mr. Moneybags for about 20 minutes. I knew what I wanted and money was not an issue. Nice feeling. Geared up and went fishing the next day. Even now when I use that outfit I chuckle and think, "I used to smoke this away". My kids have NEVER seen dad with a smoke. Things that helped me a lot was to stay away from caffine loaded drinks. I switched to Diet Sprite and 7-Up. No chocalate and I ate a lot of salads with my meals. Weight went up anyways. I tried to stay busy all the time too. I was lucky that I had a lot of friends to support me too. I found if I didn't think about it it was easier. (I know....don't think about a pink elephant). The hardest for me was the inactive time. I used to fill that up with a smoke. So I took up fly tying. Got pretty good at it too.ake all my own flies now. Second hand smoke didn't bother me at first but now I cough constantly when I'm near any cigarette smoke. Hang in there. Never,never ever give up! muddler

I have refused to pay for meals that have not been prepared as I/we requested. I would have asked to speak to the manager/owner first. Then I would have issued my complaint and then I would never go back to that restaurant. You are paying for a service. If I did not get the service so I don't feel obligated to pay for something I did not want or expect. On the other hand if there was a real effort to quickly remedy the situation by the management I have no difficulty paying for this appropriately. I tip based on the quality of both the service and prepartion of the food. The atmosphere is much more than the ambionce of the restaurant and this includes how well I was treated too. I never blame the waiter/waitress for management arragance. In the case above, I would be very upset with the service and I would not pay for it. Just my 3 cents (inflation) .... muddler

Ok I'll chime in first. I tie a lot of jigs in the 1/2 down to 1/32 oz. I use a Cabelas knockoff of the spring loaded Regal vise. Works like a charm. For the size that you mentioned above the hook size would be way too big to fit even my saltwater vise. The biggest hook size that I've used is a 1/0 in a spinnerbait. What might work well is a pair of visegrips to hold the hook and then clamp the handle of the visegrip to your tying bench. muddler

That's why I buy a bunch at one time if the price is good. Lures do't go bad with time. One of my favourite lures is the Storm Chug-Bug. About 5 years ago Lebarons had a bunch on sale for 3.99 each when the were going for 6.99 elsewhere. I bought like 50 of them. Still have most of them now. My favourite surface plug. As for lure prices, I too am very disappointed with what is happening out there. One of my favourite platics is a 4 inch pink and white grub body made by YUM. Aboiut 3 years ago I picked up a dozen bags at 2.29 per bag of 25 grubs. That's 9.16 cents per grub. The same bag last spring was 4.99 here. Now the same grub sells for 4.99 for 15 grubs. Same price as the spring bag just 10 fewer grubs. That's 33.26 cents per grub or a 363% increase in price. I still have a couple of bags of the original left but eventually I'll have to pay up the new price. Lure prices are starting to go through the roof. This once was a nice relatively cheap hobby. Now just getting started can cost a lot. Don't get me wrong, I don't mind paying for quality. 90% of my rods are custom made to suit me. I have reels that cost $700+ but $20+ for a lure? I switched to plastics because it was cheaper in the long run. I fish almost every day from spring to fall and I loose my share of tackle, but being on a fixed income now makes it hard to justify a couple of $20+ lures lost each outing. Thank goodness that I can go through my stash that I've squirreled away for the last 50+ years. I've also started to make some of my tackle. Slip bobberes are $4 or more. For $8 I made 63 slip bobbers this winter. Enough to give some away to my neighbour's kids and have enough left over for the next 10 years. Maybe we should be looking at making our own stuff. Lots of guys/gals make thier own worm harnesses because they can customize it and generally it is cheaper (saw some nice ones on a post today). Just my 3 cents (price has gone up)....muddler

One of my neighbours has a weed eater that he has trouble turning off, so I guess he's on Viagra? The other neighbour has two weed eaters, I thinks he's having a relationship with the checkout girl in the grocery store but his wife doesn't know. Now I wonder what the difference is between gas, electric and battery weed eaters. I love this logic. muddler

Try some snowmobile type boots with a replaceable liner. All kinds of those available at marks workwear and CT, Zellers, Sears, etc. Good time to buy a pair as a lot of stores have sales on those items. Get an extra pair of liners and switch them when wet. Warm and light. muddler

To GRT1 question. Once you get your magicjack, just plug it into you computer USB port. Select a USA number (it's free) and register your magicjack. That's an email and a password of your choice. Go to magicjac.com and login. Select the "My Subscription" tab. In the new window you get and option to change your phone number. In there you'll find the Canadian Area codes and you can pick from that. Hope this helps. Once you've done it you'll be glad you did. muddler

Our boys didn't quit. They played well for 2 periods. The Russians just opened up in the third period as we ran out of gas. They have NOTHING to be ashamed of. They gave it all. muddler

Just ran out of gas.

Back in the 1990's when Sprint came in , I switched as soon as I could. Years of excessive increase in rates and service fees by Bell made me change. I've been with a few other phone companies, by far Rogers was the best when I lived in Scarborough. I've switched to magicjack since moving north. I'll never go back to Bell for any reason. I don't care if it's free. muddler

When I moved north I couldn't get phone service for 2 months so I got a magic jack. I talk to my friends in California every week and my kids everyday at 6:00 pm (thier choice). The clarity is excellent as long as I'm not downloading anything that interfers with my limited internet connection. I have a local (Sudbury) number so that my neighbours and I can talk whenever we want. Shut down the computer when I go to bed and all calls are redirected to my email. At $20 per year, it's a steal. I called Arlington Texas once and the guy put me on hold for 3 hours. No problem. Just put it on speaker phone and did stuff around the house. Love it, muddler

Well this may apply to you or it may not. I do equal amounts of shore/bank fishing and fishing from a boat. At NO TIME do I let my reel touch the ground for any reason. I have seem way too many reels dragged along the shore while terminal gear is worked on. Shortly (usually a couple of days) the problems start. Sand and dirt work thenselves inside the reel and mess up the works. Other than replacing about half a dozen broken bail springs in some older reels all my spinning reels (over 100) have never failed me. I might add that I usually buy higher end reels for myself, but even my kids' middle range reels work flawlessly. The only rule is never get them dirty. If by some chance the reel falls on the ground I replace it as soon as possible (usually have a spare) and then clean and lubricate it at the earliest. It has worked for me for over 50 years now. It is a fine presision instrument and should be treated that way. muddler

Probably one of the best things that could have happened to our team. A little wake up call was needed and we got it. All those 'easy' victories made me nervous. Team Canada will bounce back with a vengence. Look out! muddler

Back when I was single and just out of school, my best buddy and I would wait until the last shopping day before Christmas. We'd start at 7:00 am with a breakfast at som rsturaunt and then hit every mall we could that day. Oftem the fitst gify didn't get bought until about 4:00 pm. Then the panic would start. What a roit. We had a blast Christmas shopping. We did that for about 20 years until we both got married and had a family. Miss the old days. Now I start my Christmas shopping in July and look all year for those special gifts. It's just not the same. muddler

Uni Knot for braids. For lighter mono I only use two knots. Since I use almaost always 8lb or 6lb mono for all my light stuff, I use the Orvis tippet knot to join a floro leader to my mono of approximatelt the smae diameter. The Orvis knot is for floro or mono to hook, jig. Again all 4,6 or 8lb line. Last summer the kids and I went fishing every day. Landed a couple 30+ inch walleye and a 47 inck pike, not to mention a load of bass in the 4+lb range. Tons of other smaller fish too. Not one knot failure in over 60 cosequetive days. I also fish every evening at nitefall with these rigs in October and November. I'm convinced that these are the best knots out there period. They are quick and easy to tie. The two Orvis knots are my go to knots for river steelhead too. Althought they look weird there is no other knot that I have the confidence in as I have in these two. The other knot mentioned above are very good too, but after 50+ years of fishing I use Orvis knot only for light line fishing. Muddler

YUM makes a 4 inch twister tail that is sented. I use the pink and white a lot for walleye. I get them just about anywhere (CTC, Wallmart , Lebarons). muddler

Fly lines come in a lot of colours if they are floating lines. White, orange ,green, yellow and even pink are popular. As to the first question, I like the idea if a cast across the river to the yet unseen trout. muddler