canadianguy33

What do you mean "it's removing from Lew's original point of the thread?" If I had posted 20 posts in this thread about how other boaters had cut me off and agreed with Lew would that be acceptable? I'd like to continue the conversation as is, with all my words and everyone else's laid out in black and white. This thread began with a question "Have all boaters gone insane?" Just because you don't agree with what some people are saying is no reason to close this thread and end the conversation. P.S. Gerritt, you've offered no facts to your argument other than your wife has a master's in history and she says we're full of poop. I have diploma's too. It's easy to say someone is full of it, but it takes facts to back it up. Please prove I'm full of it.

There's no need to copy and paste your own definition. Here's a url for the definition of the word from the official site. Anyways, does it really matter if my definition fits your definition. I think the fact that you pointed to the Charter of Rights proves that you understood what I was implying. You're grasping at straws trying to prove a point that can't be proven. I'm challenging any and all of you to rebuke my opinion with some solid evidence or facts. Thus far, all I've seen is emotional pleas. P.S. I don't really care if you wife is a rocket scientist or a plumber as her status is irrelevant to the conversation. Jesus was a carpenter and he had more knowledge than all of us.

O please. Have any of you guys ever run over a swimmer? Have any of you guys ever caused an accident that maimed or killed someone? The FACTS and PROBABILITY say that you haven't. Also, out of those 200 people that die every year in boating accidents, how many of those guys are to blame for their own deaths? I'd bet my left nut that at least 50% of them caused their own deaths. 38% of those deaths involved alcohol which I assume isn't forced down their throats, so I think it's pretty safe to say that 1 in 10 die because of their own stupidity.

Well, who are you to define what's responsible and what's not? Just because you have kids doesn't mean that your rights are greater than people that don't have kids. That's a fact by the way. Not an opinion. Well, you do know that there's a risk when you're walking the streets right? I hope you haven't went your entire life thinking that it's not possible. I mean, I had 200 neighbors last year that were mowed down on the sidewalk. So, if you don't want to risk being mowed down then you shouldn't leave your house and whatever you do, DON'T WALK ON THE SIDEWALK! Being "irresponsible" and impeding on another person's freedoms are two very different and distinct things. Being "irresponsible" is subjective, impeding on another person's freedoms is CRIMINAL.

lol. Garritt....buddy...you're really reaching if the best you can come back with is that Canada doesn't have a constitution. I mean, are you serious, because your remarks seem kind of thrown together in a half witted manner. Do you really want me to give you the Webster's definition of the word? Okay, prove it. You've made the claim so the onus is on you. Just because emotions often do override the law doesn't make it right. I mean, have you ever heard of conflict of interest? There's a reason such precedent has been set. I'm pretty sure it dates back to Hammurabi's code even. lol Where do you come up with this stuff? Out of thin air I presume? The fact is that the Canadian government is under no obligation to provide compensation to unlawfully persecuted persons. Nor do people that receive non-guilty verdicts receive any monetary compensation regardless of whether or not they were imprisoned. Also, I do see mandatory insurance as a sentence. If, by your logic we can appeal and win the lotto then I assume I'll be able to ask the insurance companies for my money back after twenty years without making a claim and swearing I'll never drive a boat again. lol

Hey Cookslav, The reason you haven't seen a problem is because it doesn't really exist. Think about it buddy, 7 million boaters in Canada, nearly a million boats in Ontario alone, and only 200 people die per year. Of course my heart goes out to the families of those guys but c'mon. This whole thing is blown way out of proportion. If mandatory insurance kicks in then we might as well put mandatory insurance on cheeseburgers, because the reality is that cheeseburgers kill way more people then boating accidents.

Good report. I'm always a little bit jealous of you carpers. I mean, carp are all around me and I see them all the time but whenever I go out fishing they all hide. I've been living in the kawarthas for over 20 years and I still haven't caught a carp. lol

LOL Roy. I didn't really dig the song, but at the very end of the clip he says "there's darn people fighting overseas for your freedom and you can't even whip out a twit."

Firstly, it's not your god given right to receive a million bucks if god forbid someone did maim you in a boating accident. Do you not have to accept the risk of going out on the water? Whatever happened to personal responsibility? There are inherent risks in nearly everything we do. The fact remains that the risk of being killed in a boating accident is the same as being stuck by lightning. I believe that every single person, rich or poor, has a natural right to use the water. Also, "Marlboro" man already pays taxes that take care of the disabled. It's not like he isn't contributing to society. Secondly, by no means do I condone people being reckless on the water. I'm simply defending what I believe is their natural right, which is to be out on the water. Ultimately, it's YOUR responsibility to insure the safety of YOU and YOUR FAMILY. Nowhere in the constitution upon which this country was founded does it say that I am obligated to ensure your safety. Until someone crashes into your boat they're not impeding on your freedoms, and making laws that attempt to preempt such impediments are frivolous. What ever happened to the notion of innocent until proven guilty, or that it is better to have 10 criminals roam free, than it is to have a single innocent man persecuted? These are the very fundamentals of which our judicial system and society is based. Ignoring these principles is a slap in the face to the people that came here to escape persecution. Until I impede on your personal freedoms it is unconstitutional to persecute me by way of money. It's my right to be on the water. It's your choice to have kids; it's your choice to take the kids out boating. Rights win over choices every time...or at least they should.

Since no one has posted another story I'll post another. When I was about 8 or 9 years old my dad decided to take me and my two older brothers fishing up in Bobcaygeon. My father was pretty much a workaholic, didn't own a boat or cottage; worked his ass off to make a good life for us, so getting out fishing with him was a huge deal to us. A couple of weeks before we went fishing he bought his very first, brand-new, straight off the lot, car. It was a Nissan 200sx. It had the works; leather seats, digital dash and even showed the speedometer in the windshield (which was really high-tech back then). Both my parents were really poor growing up, and even though my dad was in his late 30's, getting his first brand new car was a huge deal to him. This particular Nissan 200sx kind of resembled KnighterRiders car. It was black, with the pop up headlights, and it even talked when you left the door open. I can still picture the smile on my dad's face every time the car would chirp "the door is ajar, the door is ajar". lol Anyways, as I was saying, he took my brothers and I out fishing for the day. He didn't own a boat so we rented a little 9.9 from a marina. We went out fishing for the day and had a great time. Even on the boat ride back in we were all giddy from having so much fun. When we were coming back in to dock just before dark we couldn't help but notice a flashing yellow light right about where we parked. As we got closer we noticed my dads car was missing. Apparently, my dad's brand new knightrider car was parked on an unstable cliff of soil which collapsed when we were out fishing and his car ended up in the bottom of the lake. My poor dad just laughed his ass off with tears in his eyes. I could tell he was really upset but he didn't want to ruin what was such a perfect day up until then.

lol fisherman I guess I'll eat some crow over saying country music sucks. I mean, who can resist 'Friends in Low Places'?

That is definitely a nice camera. I've owned three Cybershots and I've been a big fan of the series since the beginning. My how the prices go down so fast. Just a couple of years ago I spent double that for a 3mp, 5x digital zoom cybershot. 12x optical zoom with a Carl Zeiss lens is pretty impressive for that price.

I only joined this forum a couple of days ago and already I've read about some nasty (but kind of funny) flipped my boat, broke my rod threads so I thought it would be fun to hear some more stories about losing, breaking or general gear mishaps. I'll start us off. Last year I was on a week long fishing trip and I took my brand new $1,500 camera with me thinking I'd do some great photography. All was great up until the last day. I left my camera in the bottom of the boat, out of it's case and it just happened to pour down rain that night. I remember waking up at 3 or 4 in the morning because the rain was so loud on the tin cabin roof, and thinking OMG! I left my camera in the boat!. But, it was raining so hard I figured my camera was screwed so I went back to bed. The next morning when I went down to the boat my camera was fully immersed in about 8 inches of water. I plucked it out, removed the battery and memory card, dumped the water that was inside of it, and then waited a week to turn it on an by golly it worked. Anyways, I'm sure you guys have some better stories so let's hear them.

haha thanks gerritt, misfish and rick. I hate country music too. I was starting to feel like the most hated guy on the forums (maybe I am?), so it's nice to hear that my opinions (even though they're unpopular) are welcome. Btw, I'm really not as rigid as I appear to be in this thread. It just so happens that I think I have the most sensible argument on this subject. I've ate a lot of crow over the years and I'm sure I'll eat more.

Rick, it wasn't that long ago that I felt the same way as you. I can almost pinpoint the time when I had a change of heart a couple of years back. I'm from Peterborough, so I guess you could say I'm half 'hick' to Torontonians, but considered a 'city slicker' by country standards. lol Anyways, I went up to a small town about 100km outside of Timmins to visit my cousin. I spent the week up there and we did a lot of ATVing and fishing and it was great. One day, on the way to the lake one of my cousin's neighbors, an older guy that kind of looked like the Marlboro man, stopped us on the road and invited us to his place for a beer. We were both 22 or 23 years old at the time and our parents raised us both to be respectful of our elders so we obliged. I mean, we were in the middle of nowhere with no excuses. When we pulled up the driveway, I was shocked when I saw two girls that weren't more than 15 years old gutting a deer. I was even more shocked when I learned that the 15 year old girl was the one who had shot the deer. At this time in my life I was vehemently against guns and hunting. I was concerned and pretty appalled that the Marlboro man would let his daughters hunt or even handle a gun. I remember telling my cousin that I thought the Marlboro man was a little nuts. Over the course of the week we stopped by the Marlboro man's house nearly everyday on our way back from the lake. In that course of time I got to know his daughters, his wife and a few of his friends and I came to the conclusion that the way he lived wasn't really any better or worse then the life I lived. It was just different. I kind of envied the simplicity of his life. Him and his buddies talked a lot about fishing and hunting a lot and so did his daughters. Anyways, I still hate guns; I have no use for them, I really don't like being around them and I'll probably never go hunting. When the whole gun registry thing was a hot topic, I was talking to my brother (who is a hunter and gun owner) about it, I finally clued in to how poor the Marlboro man actually was, and how the costs of registering his guns would affect him. I mean, his house looked like hunting cabin. His family and him literally lived off the land. Even though I doubt the marlboro man registered his guns, I find it unsettling that he would even be required.

Okay guys, obviously my opinion isn't shared by most of the OFC community. If some of you think that I get a rise out of playing with hornet's nests that's not the case. It's uncomfortable being the voice of dissent. I joined this forum to get some fishing tips, swap stories and possibly find a fishing buddy. If I feel strongly about something I'll voice my opinion, just like I would out on the lake if someone was being an asshat. Misfish, you asked: "Really,if you look at it,whats a few hundred bucks to be safe and have a peace of mind." My whole beef with mandatory boat insurance really comes down to legislation taking away peoples right to decide for themselves what gives them piece of mind. I know I probably sound like a certifiable wing-nut to some of you, but seriously, where does it end? Our government keeps making laws "for the greater good" yet they never take any laws away. I'm sure insurance companies would love (and are pushing for) mandatory insurance. They're certainly not doing business for the sake of our well being. They're running a business to make money. Personally, it frightens me that so many Canadians are so quick to sacrifice their personal freedoms as well as the freedoms of others for the sake of "the greater good". On the other hand, I'm proud that Canadians are so selfless and conscience of their neighbors. However, "liberty lost is rarely found". I mean, look back in history; income tax was supposed to be a temporary thing and now you go to jail if you don't pay it.

Thanks for the help fellas. I'm really diggin' Cabela's, and Rollie & Helen's Musky Shop, although the really big lures there are about as expensive (maybe even more so) as the local tackle shops up north.

O please. Like I said before, I take a calculated risk not wearing a PFD when it's nice, there's no waves and I don't have kids in the boat. Just like I take a calculated risk when I go snowmobiling, boating, dirt biking or walk down a dark street. Do you guys realize that the odds of dying in a boat accident are approximately the same as being struck by lightening? Should we all have lightening insurance too?

Boat insurance, car insurance and home insurance have absolutely nothing to do with EI, disability or welfare. Only 200 people of over 7 MILLION boaters in Canada die every year in boating accidents. I don't believe the risk is justification for mandatory insurance. Canadians already pay nearly half of what we earn in taxes. The idea that we should be forced to hand over more money to private insurance companies (that make huge profits!) because we have a 1/50,000 chance of getting killed is Bull.

Hey people, I buy a ton of stuff online but I've never once bought a lure online. I've been browsing Ebay today and I'm quite impressed with the prices but the selections and pictures make it kind of a pain in the arse. I'm wondering what sites you guys use to buy your fishing gear?

lol I said I was done with this thread a couple of days ago, but I can't help ask, how is that rational? Maybe you don't mind throwing your money away, but I do.

Hmmm....the plot thickens. I'd like to see some more pictures before I pass judgment. This place sounds a lot crappier then what you initially described.

It looks like sunfish is a no as well. Unless sunfish are part of the minnow family?

Thanks for the input Roy. Out of curiosity I did a little searching to find some more information about boat licensing. From the globe and mail I found: Here's the full article Call me crazy, but doesn't $350 million sound like an awful lot of money to spend considering the relatively small number of people of that die each year in boating accidents?

Well, that kind of sucks. How unfinished was the cottage? If I were you I'd call the guy up and tell him straight out that you feel as though you were kind of ripped off, and that you think a partial cash refund would show good faith on his part. I think something around $200-300 would be reasonable. I mean, you can't expect him to give you a full, or even half refund when you said yourself you had a great time.