JohnF

I think that all the guys who voted for the portage should show up to carry the canoe fer ya. JF

Bass! Reservoir! Canoe! I won't be like Misfish and whine about getting picked up cuz I know that 3 in a canoe sux. I'm heading out to a spot I know where I can wade, hopefully alone, and commune with the fishies. Hopefully I can get out early enough to beat the madding throng. Generally speaking the first guy to the spot gets the spot around here. I'm gonna be first. Spent all day doing chores here at home so I can escape tomorrow at first lite. Good luck and good fishing wherever the vote takes you. JF

I'll just steal that Calcutta you don't know you have in the back bedroom. JF

I tried the local CTC. Some nice guy behind the parts counter gave me (yup, gave) all he had (6) in the approximate sizes I needed. He suggested the plumbing dept but there was nothing there. The rings have to be a fairly tight fit or the fish will pull the worm out. I'm gonna try a supply shop that has all kinds of pneumatic and hydraulic fittings. They might have a better selection. Or if you know a place that stocks small engine carb parts they might have some. Look for something under a 1/4", 3/16" something like that with some stretch to it. Some don't have enough give and will just break if you try to stretch them. JF

Dayum!!!! JF

What's a good all metal reel for under $200? I'm in the market for another baitcaster but I can't justify paying a huge price for something I'll only use a few days each year. JF

Pelicans are quite popular with divers for their stuff that must be kept dry (batteries, cameras, O2 analyzers, etc). I just checked the little box I use for my outdoor card and my car keys. It's an Otter. I've taken it down to over 100fsw with no problems. I've certainly had no problems with it while fishing. JF

Lotsa steam and butter. Then you strip off the shells. Add garlic and even more butter to the white parts. Then put the white parts in the garbage. Then you go to Harvey's for a burger. JF

Now ya tell me. I was just fishin' fer lakers on manitoulin on Tuesday. We had just about reached the point where we'd jig with Tinkerbells if we'd had any, and all of a sudden we got a doubleheader of little bitty lakers, but lakers nonetheless. We ate 'em both. Of course I'm not sure my BIL woulda stopped the big boat fer any pansy jiggin". JF

So that's a gay-ron-tee that I'll only get PB largemouths with the 8" bait? I'm takin' a whole herd of them the next time I go to Garry2r's. Yee-haw! No more dinks. JF

Can't help you much with the decision on what to do with the old pool - but do it the right way, whatever you do. As for the new one, think seriously about salt. It's a little more money but loads better. Also, plan the layout so the filter lines (both ways) are easily accessible for replacement should they start to leak air (or water). IOW, keep the filter setup as close to the pool as you can. Also plan where the backwash is gonna go. Some municipalities frown on dumping it in the storm drains but it can be a nuisance with the hose etc out on yer lawn. The backwash water (at least with chlorine) is fine on grass, contrary to what a lot of folks will say. I'm not sure about salt backwash. I say this about the lines because I'm dealing with a small amount of bubbling in mine right now. The pool guys have done sonic pressure testing and can't find the problem, but if it turns out to be the lines I'll have to bust up a lot of concrete decking to deal with the lines. Think about putting interlocking brick or something similar in the area of the lines and keep the lines as short as possible from the pool to the filter and back. I also would hold off on a pool heater for now. Try a solar blanket first. They keep the temps right up there with a minimum of bother if you plan things properly and have a roller mounted under the diving board, away from the stairs. These are things I'd do differently if I was putting in another pool. Have fun. JF

So I went into a Dollarama store in some little bitty burg on Georgian Bay and there were all these green lizards - so I bought some. Frankly, I think they'll scare the crap outa my resident SMB but he says they work, so I'm loading up, next time out, with 8" Smoke/Chartreuse Rattle Lizards. We'll see how they work. I also grabbed some 8" Rattle Ribbon Tail Worms in motor oil and purple colours plus a few packs of Storm Hair Jigs. The hair jigs look big enuf fer a smallish musky to feed on - I've caught smaller wgsf, but it'll be fun scaring the snot outa the local fish population. They aren't biting anyway. If I start catching living fish on these peculiar pieces of rigging, then Dawg is my new hero, along with the guy who invented Dollarama stores. It just occurred to me that a snake smaller than these plastic lizards scared my wife this weekend on Manitoulin Island. Hopefully the fish have bigger cojones than my wife - hmm - I'd better work on that statement. Ignore it fer now. JF

Is the girlfriend the float or the pin? JF

There's a reason we used to call 'em crabs when I was a kid. JF

Sounds like a date. JF

Weekdays I can drive to Pearson and back to Stratford in 2.5 hours round trip if I get on the road by 4am latest. If I have a meeting at 401/Leslie it takes between 2.5-3 hours one way if I leave home at 6am and the same for the return trip which usually begins at about 3:30pm. In the afternoon the 401 is a pita all the way to Kitchener some days. I'm beginning to think that the 400 is just always squirrely now after spending a few days up at Collingwood and listening to the complaints of folks who had to drive it. JF

Most good outdoor stores will have a selection of watertite boxes of different sizes from a few inches to big enough for a pro vid-cam. I use a small pocket-sized one to carry my fishing lic., my carkey (those microchips don't like water), and a lighter just in case I find a cigar in my bag. If you have a scuba shop nearby they'll probably have them as well. But they're expensive because they're built to take deep water pressure and have o-ring seals. I've tried the cheap ones and they start to leak at very shallow depths. I realize you won't be diving deep but still if whatever you have to keep dry is expensive then it might be worth it. You can also but different sizes of watertite bags made of rubberized cordura with a roll top. We used those for our dry land stuff (wallets, cameras, clothing, towels, etc) when we were out on dive boats. They're available at good outdoor stores. There are cheaper plastic ones available that may serve you just as well as the expensive fabric units. JF

Been away so I'm just catching up. Caught two Lake Trout btw. I have pics but they look exactly like the Lake Trout everyone else catches only smaller, and they tasted great. I also have cleaning pics, cooking pics, and eating pics. I can post if anyone is desperate to see 'em. As for posting, getting online for many of the regulars is not unlike heading down to the local pub for the evening. You sit around with a drink near at hand and shoot the breeze with your friends. When you've had enough you head for home and bed. For some it's like a coffee break mid day at work. While you're hanging out you do what friends do, share issues and conundrums, good news and bad, tips and tricks, brag about your accomplishments and cry about your problems. I'm sure someone one day soon will publish a book, if they already haven't, about this dynamic, the psychology behind this 'net sharing that goes on. Things that folks used to keep internalized, private, are now brought out in the open, problems big and small, and I suspect it helps a lot of folks to resolve their own issues when they might otherwise have simply stewed about them. This impersonal intimacy (an oxymoron of sorts) is a new phenomenon to our world, not always handled well by all, but a huge bonus to many I'm sure. It's a great medium for those who aren't as naturally outgoing but have some knowledge or expertise to share. It's equally good for those who are outgoing and only need an audience to perform to. Try standing back and viewing the whole thing objectively, not just from your own perspective. It's pretty fascinating stuff. JF

I know what you mean. I'd had no experience with them at all before this week and reading about it on the 'net is just so much mumbo-jumbo when you have trouble correlating what's written to the real thing. I got to spend a few hours out on Lake Manitou with my BIL hunting some Lake Trout. It's surprising how quickly it all makes sense when you can actually handle the gear. He has big Cannons on his boat but I noticed other boats in the camp's little harbour had a much smaller model Cannon. It's not exactly rocket science, but there's definitely a learning curve to getting the ball dropped to the right depth and how you hook the line into the ball. Now the concept of trolling speed and depth etc all make plenty of sense. A little experience with regular baitcasters is a plus. As I just said to Garry2rs in an email, it seems more like meatfishing, not sport fishing. I still like the casting and reeling of bass fishing, even jigging if you must, but if you want meat for the freezer, trolling's the way to go. I've got one question though. I asked Doug (BIL) why he was using mono on both his reels. He looked puzzled that I was asking. Perhaps someone here can explain it. He trolls mainly for Lake Trout on Manitoulin (Lake Manitou) and uses a tinny when he is looking for bass etc. I thought trolling at depth was all about using other kinds of line (multi-coloured stuff, wire, lead core, etc). We were running the balls down 80-100' and just barely moving (no gps for him) with the spoons out only 10 or 15' (my estimate from watching him) below where the line is clipped to the ball-line. BTW. Monkey Puke works. JF

Back in the mid to late 60's there were some pretty wicked Mustang road racers at Mosport. Comstock comes to mind. Then the Z28'scame along. JF

Ya gotta remember these were speedo numbers in most cases. We had no gps in those days. And it helped if you had friends who ran the police radar. It's like the guys who swear they topped 200 mph on their Hayabusas when the factory says it won't go over 185 or something like that, and that's probably with a nitrous booster. JF

Good point, but I'll bet that a lot of the parents here would be relieved if they were certain that driving too fast and/or drinking a few beers was the worst thing the kids were doing. JF

A 750 iL Bimmer that wouldn't get over 225 kph by the speedo, but the guy in the Mercedes beside me couldn't pull away. Not sure about some of the others. Probably the Ninja was the fastest bike I had, although there was one slightly modified Triumph 650 that turned 140 mph on police radar. That was scary. Have to do some thinking about the rest of 'em. The hairiest ride was probably on my modified sleds, particularly the older Blizzards. They had no business going as fast as we made 'em go. JF

Sweet! The fish is kinda scrawny though. JF

No kidding. Man, I miss that stuff. JF