bigfish1965

Careful when selectively using stats like that. We have much less handguns than our Amercan neighbours and much less gun crime and accidental deaths. The stats are more likely a reflection of culture than availability.

There is a finite (more or less) amount of food energy in a lake. As plants are consumed by some critters and those critters by other critters, the energy passes up the chain. Naturally all the critters die and sink or float along redistributing that energy back into the lake from whence it came. Think of it as a farmers field...you can only pull nutrients out of the soil and not return them so many times. The law does not permit the introduction of deleterious components to the water. Considering the natural cycle of life, fish guts cannot be considered deleterious. The guts will be eaten by minnows and crayfish and those in turn by larger predators. I believe i read somewhere the ideal depth for dumping of guts was 14 ft (maximum oxygen concentration). Some consider it unsightly, so it is best done away from docks and beaches if possible.

I've not experienced any issues with my VOIP on Cogeco. No echo, no lost connections.

Happy Birthday Buddy!

We had power allthrough the great black out, so it wasn't an issue.

No power equalled no phones for me with Bell, too. All my phones were cordless anyway. Power failure is time for cell phone. I save about $70 a month on VOIP through Cogeco. Free long distance to North America!

I'm not coming back. Man you are like an old girlfriend I once had. There's a reason I left...and you calling me 20 times a day affirms I made the right decision. Go away!!! I have a new girl now....her name is VOIP. She's lovely. She's everything you were and more. She's way less maintenance and more reliable than you. She also takes alot less out of my pocket. Sure we had some good times, me and you. Remember that month you insisted the noise in my line was from one of my phones? Remember how it turned out your wires went through a rabbit den and the bunnies had made a mess? Those were good times. How I laughed when you asked if the rabbits were mine...I mean I suppose since they were burrowing in my yard, maybe somehow you thought they belonged to me. Remember when I asked for a partial refund for that month because my phone was unusable? That sure made you chuckle. VOIP may not be as experienced as you, sure. But she makes up for it in her enthusiasm and her completeness. Remember all those extra 'packages' you wanted me to buy you? Call waiting, call display and all that...VOIP comes with her own! Sure she isn't pretty and her modem is clunky, but she's been here each time I've needed her and she doesn't make me feel like a cash cow. It sure feels good.

I think what alot of the failing clubs did not do was change with the times. I've seen a few around this area that are stuck in their old ways and are afraid to move into the 21st century. This has resulted in a huge drop in membership. If you can achieve your goals via the internet, there's no reason these clubs don't go to a more virtual existance. They all need younger faces in the crowd, but have yett to figure out how to draw them in. It isn't too hard to figure.

We can't do it on the 28th Weekend dawg cause it is also the long weekend (Canada Day, Independence Day). Sometimes it falls on the bass opener, sometimes not. We've never had a whole lot of bass success that weekend anyway. The pike tourney will be a bit different. You'll have to be in conformity with the law (but if you have a livewell you can cull now). Pray for some 23.5" pike! It will actually make it interesting to see how it affects people, especially if we get into some bruisers. There are only a few occasions where someone has brought in any big fish. The reason for the GTG has nothing to do with bass.

Gerritt; Obviously I am biased so I won't get into the entire debate, but if your complaint is that the store wasn't competitive because of one item, then maybe you need to look at the bigger picture. It is likely that radioworld sells more electronics than fishing world and gets a better rate from their supplier. Competitive does not mean guaranteed lowest prices on everything. I only looked at a few of their lowrance products before I bought my GPS and their price was +/- 10% of everyone else. I never go off on a 7-11 store because their prices are higher than everyone else's. If I don't like the price I can go somewhere else. In a store like Fishing World or Radio World or a computer store, it is the after-purchase service that is far more important than the price. JMHO

We'll get something together very soon. No worries. Hoping someone can put together a swill for the last one yet!

Glad everyone came out with their lives. Hoping for a speedy recovery here!

Hey Rich; Glad you could get the TPLO surgery. It does appear to be the best option around. Unfortunately my pup had torn 3 of the four ligaments and couldn't have that done. The TPLO has an amazing success rate. Hope she's home quick. Jack's been home two weeks and I'm starting to have a hard time slowing him down.

we had a power outage the other day and I hooked up my UPS to the sump pump and just plugged the PC into the wall (dummy) and the power came on and off 4 times within a few seconds sending enough spikes to corrupt my entire systems32 folder. Told that a reformat should get me back. Hope so cause repair failed.

Most of my frinds and clients come here from time to time, so just letting y'all know I fried my main computer today. I knew it was coming cause the HD kept acting up, so most stuff was backed up. Will be a few days before I have everything up and running again. working from the laptop now so i can work on existing sites, but all my goodies for making new sites is toasted for now. Computer is going in for recovery and HD replacement tonite. At least i got three years out of this one

This board and it's previous incarnations have never had a member die fishing. Please, keep that streak alive. Be careful. Glad you guys had a good outing, but the ice is not safe this week in many places. Leave it alone for a few weeks and it will all be good again.

We're expecting 72 straight hours of above 0 temps here with daytime highs around 12.

Excellent point Bernie..the water from the runoff in the shallow tribs will be much warmer that the lake water and will rise and erode the ice from underneath near creekmouths. Shallow water bays will also warm quick from runoff.

With much above temps coming and some rain and strong winds, be safe and be smart. The ice may become dangerous quickly. Most lakes only have 6 or less inches of ice and this will melt quickly once the rain knocks the snow insulation down. Don't be another statistic!

He's likely still catching crap from last time we were up there.

My merc is only 2 years old so they should still sell the short shaft. Just look for the model code to not have the 'L' in it. ELPTO means electric start, long shaft, power tilt/trim, oil injected.. EPTO means the same without long shaft.

Merc has 25HP short shafts..have one on my boat.

To a point you are quite correct, Riparian. But there is always the unknown that people get into even when they are using common sense. Even if I practice perfect boat safety, does it mean it is impossible for me to capsize? Anything is possible. Hope for the best, but prepare for the worst.It doesn't matter the cost of your sled or your boat...the cost of your safety equipment is irrelevant. If you want to see your insurance prices come down, get more guys driving safely and wearing safety gear. Few guys with floater suits die and and few wearing life jackets drown and few wearing seatbelts get ejected from their car and die. If you have kids and are not adequately protected from death, what excuse do you give them? Floater suits can be had for $200 to $300. Not cheap, but certainly not out of the range of affordability for those involved in the activity.

You actually have quite a bit of time to get out of the water. If you watch the video pinned up top about getting out of the water after falling in, the demonstration shows that hypothermia is not the killer in these events, but the natural hyperventilation causing people to inhale water. Having your head above the water in those moments until you can control your breathing gives you more than enough time to get out.

It isn't unreasonable to expect boaters to have floatation devices, so why not have one on a sled that is on (frozen) water?