bigfish1965

We need a few things from you guys for a few reasons. First, we are well past the half-way point on our disc allotment. well over 1 Gb of stuff on our server. I have noticed that some guys like to attach the same image over and over again. Please try and not do that. Use our gallery or photobucket. Please try and use smaller file sizes on your images. I regularly prune out older bigger attached images. Please don't attach here and then use the URL to post on other forums. Use photobucket for that. We are approaching the need to switch to a dedicated server. At this point the finances are not there for that for since that would more than double our monthly hosting. We currently pay over $1000 a year for hosting and software and switching toa dedicated server would double that. Our transfer (bandwidth) has been under control by using a few tweaks to keep usage down (hence why we no longer see 50,000 page view days) The last quarter (Jan to Mar) was our busiest ever and we got kicked off a few machines for our reource usage...which is fine..they need to balance the load. No we can't go to a cheaper server cause they always choke out on us. One of the best ways you can help us is to allow ads here to appear on your browser. I, like many of you, use Ad Block Plus. It's a great tool, but please disable it for us. Some of the ads we get paid for by impressions and each of the guys buying a top banner deserves to be seen by you since they are footing the bill. I don't think its alot to ask. We offer what i think is the best bang for the buck for advertising rates...$75.00 per year...most sites with our exposure charge more than triple that! We just want to break even. We are one of the few big fishing sites left still leaving everything free (read:classifieds)...most others charge for those ads now. I can't see us ever doing that. I have a major software upgrade to do next week and hopefully i don't mangle it, so if there is some down time, you'll know why.

If it becomes impossible for you guys to talk hockey without your brains becoming dislodged from your brain stem, please refrain from saying anything. This thread is done and so is any hockey thread that gets stupid...even remotely stupid. This is just immature and stupid. Grow up.

Oh great..now everyone will know about the Niagara River...that is my fishing hole!!!

My dogs are allowed to bark just as my neighbours kids are allowed to yell and play. If my dogs cross the line (which they do not) I deal with them. Dogs bark..fact of life. In my neighbourhood we all have dogs so it is not an issue. My dogs are trained quite properly. If someone comes near the house and you do not know them..bark. If you want to come in..bark. Simple really. I live in an area with large yards, lots of kids and open space. I know my dogs barks quite well. If my neighbour learns them too, it could alert them to possible trouble as well. I know my neighbours dogs barks. My dogs know them too. An intruder alert sets off a series of dogs alerting to the problem. It is the best neighbourhood watch program there is. Though I just moved here, I have been told there has not been a single break in or theft in many years. Thieves know not to bother with homes with dogs. If you have a neighbor who is not able or willing to control their dogs barking, then my advice is sound.

Even as a joke, suggesting poisoning a dog is not nice. I'd rather deal with a barking dog than bratty kids. Did you know that people who have dogs as neighbours are 50% less likely to be the victims of a home robbery? My old neighbour called the police once when my dogs were barking at some kids playing in a nearby parking lot. The police asked her if she had ever had anything stolen from her house. She said no. The cop said "thank your neighbours dogs'. The officer came by and chatted and played with the dogs...our local bylaw was such that only when a dog barked continually for 20 minutes would it be a nuisance. And since that was generally only going to happen when a dog was left tied outside it didn't happen too often. After that my neighbour was quite sweet to the puppies and asked what kind of treats she could give them (baby carrots is their favorite). A few months later, some kids tried to get into her shed and take her mower. Guess who alerted her to it and enabled her to call the police?? My neighbour took the time to understand the tone of each bark and what they meant. Each dog has a different bark for different situations....hunger, fear, danger, play time, 'let me in', intruder... Listen to the dog and you will learn the difference and know how to react. My dogs bark at things that are not normally part of the world they see each day. People walking by, dogs, etc. They are alerting me to an interloper. That is part of their duty as they see it. Dogs that bark a steady higher pitch over and over again are bored and lonely. Befriend the dog..make him like you and give him attention. Eventually you will be able to comfort him and he will listen to you. Dogs are not complicated creatures to figure out.

My employer places the utmost importance on customer service. We go to countless seminars, workshops etc and do follow ups with each staff to make sure everyone is on the same page. Even still, it is hard to get everyone performing at optimum level at all times. People have issues in their life, their home and whatever else that affects their day. And yes, in a perfect world you leave your home crap at home and your work crap at work. Seldom works out that way, though. I would imagine Tim Horton employees would not get anywhere near the level of training since their turnover would be quite high, so investing too much into staff training would be a diminishing return. However, young people have by and large, not yet quite grasped the concept of pride of work and that of customer retention equaling job security. The local McDonalds has about a 50% failure rate at the concept of a Quarter Pounder with NO cheese. I just stopped going. Everyone there is super nice, but criminy....how hard is it not NOT put something on something. Poor customer service is a sign of poor management, not poor staff. Either that or the economy is doing so well the employer is stuck with whoever walks in the door looking for work.

And where was the Mayor when all of this was happening?? Oh yeah..not in the country. Where I work we still make a profit, yet this year there will be no raises for anyone and they are offering buy out packages. For a group who works on a money loser, they sure have gall to ask for a raise.

A few more.. Boat trailer safety chains must be fastened in such a way as they do not become easily dislodged (thanks so much for such a vague and silly rule). This essentially means you need rubber stoppers or metal clasps on your trailer chain hooks. I was going to do a demonstration on making your own. If I get a chance this week I will do it and post it. I'm sure more than half the trailers out there don't have that and I still see places like CTC and others selling trailers without them...how on earth that is legal I have no idea. Something that should be illegal.. Dogs riding in the backs of pick up trucks!! How many times I see this! One quick move and your pup is airborne and likely to die and also likely to cause a crash. PLEASE FishNAutographs and other officers...start writing tickets for unsecure load for these fools. It is my number one pet peeve. If you must have your dog in the back, put in a crate and secure it with tie-downs..give your dog SOME safety.

I'm not a biologist, but I did stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night. There are two different factors when trying to manage stocks and genes. One is viability the other is genetic value. This is one of the reasons we see slot limits. It does both...protects the more prolific spawners in the mid-size range and protects the less prolific, but more valued trophy size fish genes. This assumes a certain life span. I was not aware of the 5 year lifespan of brook trout. This certainly complicates things as far as fitting into the common mold.

Sooo jealous!

Many have asked about my absense over the last while and I just wanted to give a quick explanation to what has been going on. My wife and I split and we sold the house. I managed to buy myself a nice little place with plenty of room for the pups. Moving was hell, my movers were idiots (never go with the lowest bidder!) my lawers officed lied to me..baldface lie..yeah, I know..insert joke here..and finally my mortgae company changed terms and conditions on me seven times over 3 days. I will say this..something truly great did happen and I really want to tell everyone cause these guys saved my ass huge!! I was to close the deal Tuesday...Friday late in the afternoon my then mortgage company (First National...worst run company I have ever seen) either bugger up paperwork or changed the terms on me to the point where I could not afford the deal..I was homeless. My normal bank found out about this. At 7PM Friday night the district lending manager from RBC called my house and said to me...What do you need to save this?..I told him. He said Consider it done. The guy CAME TO MY HOUSE ON SUNDAY!!! He brought the paperwork over, went throughe everything with me and by Tuesday afternoon the money was in place. He called me numerous times, gave me his personal cell number and was just AMAZING!! So to Chris Lundy, Dawn Butler and all those at Royal Bank, I salute you. To those at First National...you are a disgrace to your profession and the most disorganized piece of crap I have ever seen. I will never use your services again nor will my family or friends. You lost two clients out of this and I was glad to pay your stupid penalty to never have to deal with you again. I wish somehow I could make you feel the way I did those last few days wondering if I had a home to live in after you made deals and broke them so many times. But I am in my new home, happy as can be with place and ready to move forward. Going to be doing alot more fishing very, very soon..at least as soon as I get all these boxes unpacked!!

I think it is time to put this baby to bed. Let's just finish by saying the internet has good and bad influences on fishing.It helps people understand and is easily the single biggest influence on the cach and release and selective harvest culture we have mostly adapted. It is the best and fastest source of information. But that instant information does have it drawbacks. I know we'd all like to think our spot is 'our spot'. But face it, the more anglers there are the more people are buying licenses and fishing equipment and voting in elections. And we need that more than anything else. If you are the only one fishing a body of water and something happens to it, do you think anyone will care? But if many of us do, and someone pollutes or backfills or does something else damaging, the chorus of voices will get things fixed...usually anyway.

Whew..I was afraid someone would mention the Niagara River...or maybe Port Dalhousie..got those spots all to myself! Of course I go WHEN NO ONE ELSE IS THERE!

I think I would expect a structure ti withstand winds like that. They are rare, but do occur often enough in Ontario to warrant that type of stability. Now I''m not talking about a garden shed, but a structure. I would likely either eat the bill or give back somehow...take the money and donate it to charity in his name.

Pretty sure a 9 mm at close range is more than enough.

I don't recall having to justify anything..to you or anyone else. The OFAH was quite glad to allow this.

I just finished my "expert' level training in Photoshop...the one thing I did learn is that there are people who are way better at it than me, so yeah..it is possible to get one by me, but anyone doing that would be both a knob and a geek-hero to me at the same time. It's just a fun tourney guys. Put a piece of tape with 2008 written on it...not a huge deal. I can make a 2008 OFC/OFC logo for everyone to download if ya like. And yes, Cory...we use the bonus inches for shameless self-promotion. We do have bills to pay here. We've had steady 35-40,000 page view days lately and that is likely to push us up in bandwidth bills.

If I ever caught anyone posting to a virus..which is debatable whether or not it can happen without the end users relative compliance...I would immediately ban them without hesitation...I don't care who it is. Quite often there are links posted on the internet that once they reach what is called 'viral state'( that is very, very popular)...an unscrupulous person will switch out the popular image for an infected file, or porn or an ad for something. Any up-to-date computer, however, will recognize the incoming threat.

I was out TV shopping the other day and was BLOWN AWAY by the Samsung LCD...no motion blur and an amazing picture. It had a much better pic than the others that cost way more. I beleive there is a law in the US that ALL TV stations must go digital/HD by the end of this year. And yes, Bell sucks monkey butts. Get Cogeco if you can.

Hug a mod day is way better than the old 'Kick a mod in the coins Day' we used to have.

Unsolicited messages are also spam and should be reported to us.

I've got as very close friend who is going through depression right now. It is challenging at times for me, so I can imagine what she is going through. It is difficult to not feel helpless because you just want to find the switch to make them better. She is in counselling and doing the things she should be. I am trying as best I can to be supportive. Often that means shutting my mouth. Things I've learned so far.. Don't tell them to 'just snap out of it'. Depression is a complicated medical condition that often involves seratonin issues and is beyond the control of the person. Post Partum Depression, PMS and Peri-menopausal Depression are rooted in hormone imbalances as well as emotional changes. If the person decides to use an SSRI or similar product, be aware of side effects and mood changes. Try really, really hard not to take it personally. Make sure you are taking a break from the support from time to time to step back and take care of yourself. You can get overwhelmed by their needs and care if you are not careful. Know that one day she will be better and you will have the one you love back.

It's hard to put exactly into words what is a spam report and what is not, but we pretty much know it when we see it. The guys who only come by for a report on an outing and don't post to anything else are spammers, by and large. IF they cut and paste their report from another board, they are definitely spamming (at least give us the courtesy of not violating another boards copyright!!! Yes your words are copyrighted once you put them on a board.)

I don't know that fish'n'canada is a sponsor here....

You shouldn't have to worry about the motor shifting when travelig..the natural friction in the steering should keep it in one place or another. If there is sufficient ground clearance, travel with the motor down. Having the motor up with make it bounce and put alot of strain on the transom.