OhioFisherman

If I had a choice, it`s on the Georgian Bay.

LOL, as I recall a lot of rods had a True Temper label, the same as our shovels.

One of my buddies parents moved to South Carolina, and then back here again a few years later when it dawned on them he still had to work for a living and couldn`t just take off every time they called needing help. I considered moving for a short time, but my whole social and family network is here. To me it does`t seem reasonable to move to a distant location and expect people to travel to you?

Fireworks, gunshots, or thunder and I could count on my old lab either hiding in his bed in the laundry room or under the computer desk at my feet. The two Bostons didn`t seem to be phased at all by it. If we had the dogs outside? The lab would head for the garage, maybe he was the smart one? LOL

I also used a spinning rod, but it was because my casting rods generally weren`t spooled with line lighter than 14#, and I didn`t use braid. A drop shot sinker is tough to get on line heavier than 10# and may not release properly. You can accomplish the same thing using a slip sinker and rubber peg or tooth pick. The Stringease or VMC hooks Stoty mentioned seem like the way to go, if I was still fishing I would have them.

I can`t see them in the picture. Many years ago I caught some small eels in the early spring here while seining bait in a tributary of Lake Erie, about 15 - 20 miles inland. These were a medium brown color and about 6 inches long, their mouths weren`t shaped anything like a lamprey. There was a little dent about the size of a coffee cup in the stream bed, right in the current. At first I though they were eel grass. My dad called them sand eels, I have no real clue, I never saw another again. I was going to use them for bait, but they didn`t look well after a couple of minutes out of the current so I released them. A lamprey`s mouth is pretty hard to forget, and their color is different. I found this : http://www.dnr.state.oh.us/Home/species_a_to_z/SpeciesGuideIndex/americaneel/tabid/6535/Default.aspx It looks correct, just smaller sized, they were a long way from salt water to spawn!

http://www.ontarioparks.com/english/stur.html Here? head out of the Sturgeon there are pike all over but the bigger one seem to come from from a bit of distance from people.

Think seriously about what you intend to use it for the majority of the time, and the waters you intend to fish. Like Billy says. I had mine for 20+ years also, if I hadn`t become disabled a new aluminum boat was in the plans.

Chautauqua Lake, a great lake to fish!

If you`re not looking to sink a ton of money into a rod Ugly sticks are the way to go. I have a couple of 6 foot one piece ones I bought years ago for the wife and kids to use up north. Nice heavy action spinning rods, the wife landed a cat about 25 pounds on it. I am guessing they would be fine for about any big fresh water fish.

Dang! Muskie bait! They even have a Perch finish!

It was the warmest winter I can recall here, I will try to wait until we stick another few billion people on the planet to decide if people are the cause! LOL. On a similar note, they are er... harvesting the woods behind me to one side. Some can`t see the beauty of the trees and forests? all they see is cash?

I would tend to agree with Roy, years ago I spent many days trolling for them on Lake Erie. Back them we only needed to carry two different lures, a hot n tot or a wiggle wart, in chrome and black or gold and black. I used baitcasters with 10# test mono on Lake Erie at the time on a 6 1/2 or 7 foot medium action rod. You didn`t need heavy line on Lake Erie, the only structure you were likely to encounter were rocks on the bottom, those areas were well known and you could control your depth by the amount of line you had out, usually between 60 and 80 yards. Locating them wasn`t much of a problem, boats on Lake Erie trolling or casting for them looked like islands in the distance. There could be 100`s of boats working a small area. I have caught them trolling in Canada, water depth and structure may change the lure but the principal is the same. No electronics will make it more difficult, you will be guessing at water depth and bottom structure, even a cheap depth finder helps.

Yep! I have driven trailers up to 53 feet long, the short ones are more of an issue backing, they can get away faster. The hardest thing for me to back up was my lawn cart on my lawn tractor, way too short!

That was a long time ago at Rock Pine, mid summer. I never fished there before the Bass opener at the end of June. It`s been 25 years or so and I have no idea what the weed conditions are like in May. Buzzbaits will work for bass and pike, but the action can be spotty, you get days where the action can be almost non stop and other days where the hits on them can be few and far between. I used 7 inch floating Rapala`s a lot there, silver and black or perch finish, bass, pike, and walleye would take them. Johnson Silver minnow with a pork frog trailer worked thru the weeds and lilies, a jitterbug, plastic work Texas rigged for bass. Spinnerbaits, jig and pig. The stuff mentioned by other will work for walleye, the key is locating them.

Actually a lot of those ship will be cut up for scrap iron, LOL just as soon a China needs it! There are also a lot of old commercial ships sitting around, it is more cost effective to run the newer ones. They had a program on TV here about some of the expense involved with our Military gear. The US military spends more fighting corrosion on their gear than the entire military budget of Canada. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suisun_Bay_Reserve_Fleet http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Defense_Reserve_Fleet They have to remove hazardous materials from our ships before they are scrapped, I guess it is still ok to sink other peoples.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Navy_reserve_fleets https://www.google.com/search?q=us+ghost+fleet&hl=en&client=firefox-a&hs=kSY&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&channel=s&prmd=imvns&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=vo-BT-n8GYnh0QGAt72SCA&ved=0CD4QsAQ&biw=931&bih=512 It does seem a waste?

Yep, old school and quite common to see at flea markets.

I did mine last week, my dog is short and was getting lost. I have leaves on my willow and maple trees. All the shrubs in the back field have leaves on them.

We fought that battle here in Ohio, for years we heard from the commercial fishermen that they weren`t taking enough Walleye to hurt the population, but it became exceptionally rare for a sport fisherman to catch one outside the spawning areas during the early spring runs. Once the state bought up all the commercial fishing licenses for the Walleye netters Lake Erie was full of them again. Sport fishermen don`t have the ability to trap an entire school, whether they are hungry or not and deplete them? I grew up in the 1950`s and early 60`s fishing Lake Erie, it was a mess on this side that continued to get worse. Fishing areas like Sandusky Bay and East Harbor, 3-4 feet of water and no weeds? We fished the dock areas because it was the only available cover for the fish. With the Zebra mussels came an increase in water clarity, it is now common to see weed grow in those bays in 10 feet of water. Has it affected fishing? Yes, unless you adapted to the new conditions you might not catch fish where you used to. They don`t have to concentrate in the same areas because of lack of cover or lack of cover for their food supply. Massive weed areas can be a challenge for some to fish, but they provide protection for young fish and the food that lives in them gives them more of an opportunity to grow.

Actually Joey somewhat of a mix of the two, not as pointy as the Boston and not as batty as the French. His back legs are longer than his front legs, which gives him an angle. The first one we got after I retired and had time to spend with him, so he knows all the rules. My property is bordered in trees, he will chase a rabbit to them, but rarely goes a step or two beyond them. He will follow me halfway down the drive when I get the mail and stop and wait for me to return. If I am doing something outside, which isn`t much anymore he will park himself under a shade tree and wait to see if I am going to play with him. Bostons and French Bulldogs don`t handle heat real well. Never leave one chained up or confined outside with out shade or water.

Old ones have France or made in France marked on them. I am not positive on dating them, in the mid to late 70`s or perhaps the early 80`s they started making them in Japan. Try here. http://users.skynet.be/mitchell-collectors.org/articles_datingmitchell.html

Joey, I have a Boston, LOL I wonder how authentic the breeders are when it comes to their papers? He looks more like the French Bulldog in the picture, and tipping the scales at 30 pounds makes him very big for a Boston? Mine turns 6 this year, and has always had the massive chest. The 4th er... Boston with papers our family had owned, 2 the traditional black and white with brindle, an all brindled one, and Bandit is white and seal. Bandit and the all brindled one both had big chests, Bandit`s is far larger though, the all brindled one weighed in at 25 pounds, and the black and whites at right around 20 pounds. Great dogs, my kids and grandkids love them.

French Bulldog? It looks more like a Boston Terrier. Mine tried walking across the solar cover on the swimming pool once, needless to say that didn`t go well for him.

I rarely used a swivel snap, but used just snaps often. Swivels snaps are great for lures that may cause line twist, like in line spinner baits. I liked to use snaps that would test out at twice the weight of any fish I was likely to hook. I always used a snap with a crank bait.