JohnF

There are no bass in this part of the Thames. Wait. We saw one out at Wildwood, didn't we, or was that a figment of my imagination? JF

No kidding. Where have they all gone? If it wasn't for this forum I'd forget what a smallmouth looks like. We live in a world of hammerhandles and carp. JF

Welcome. We need more Stratfordites. Soon we'll rule the cyber fishing world. Let's get out as soon as the flood waters subside. JF

Good save. When our boys were little they both showed some interest in golf. I of course became Earl Woods. The result proves how unpredictable kids are, and how dangerous parental pressure can be. One swore he'd never play golf again, and didn't. The other became a CPGA Pro. Same thing with hockey but the opposite result, except no pro career for either. In sports where we left them to their own devices they were guided mainly by their own competitive natures. One ended up choosing volleyball mainly because his brother wasn't as good as him at it, and the other chose basketball because he could always beat his bro at that, and they both were recruited for their respective university teams in those sports. And so on. We can study all the child psychology we want but the unpredictability factor is always there. The most important thing for us as parents is to at least be consistent in what we do with kids, whether it's discipline or encouragement. Kids quickly and keenly sense waffling and are either confused by it, or take advantage of it. Whatever you do, be consistent, all the way down the line. JF

Hah. Nose in a book. I can relate. JF

I have that problem too. Did you by any chance drink a lot of beer as a young kid? JF

Or that too many bored people will read anything. Look at the very bottom of the General Discussion page for a legend that explains all the little symbols. JF

I've got 35# SuperBraid on my baitcaster and it's more pliable than the 14# Fireline. The Stren gets my vote too. JF

Hah! You haven't seen my game. No course ever looks the same to me. JF

Dunno if anyone else is as uncoordinated as me, but when I'm standing hip deep in a creek and want to change lures I never seem to have enuf hands. I cut some short chunks of the hard foam laminate that comes in computer equipment boxes, punched a hole in each and ran a ziptie thru it to make a loop with a stainless steel smallish carabiner on. I hang these on my vest or the strap of my bag up high and stick a hook of the lure I'm removing in it, or the one I'm gonna put on, whatever. I started doing this after the second time I dropped a tackle tray open in the creek. It also helps avoid those unintentional piercings that happen when you just get too many things going too many ways all at once. The laminate feature is important because they tend to be more tear resistant. They're also handy as a bait needle keeper. Just slip it in lengthwise from the end. I discovered that when I was wading for carp and trying to load corn on a hair-rig in the water. Oh, and speaking of carp. I discovered that one of those belt-mounted worm trays works for corn too, but you guys have probably already figgered that one out if you wade. JF

Yup. There's quite a rush when you feel a big one take the hook. I'm not sure if that's due to our competitive nature or some atavistic gene that responds to scoring on the hunt. Whatever, it's a grand feeling, isn't it? JF

Good ones that I forgot. Knowing you at least have a chance of surviving if you ever find yerself with no one but you to depend on. I often say that my two summers spent slaughtering and butchering hogs wasn't a complete waste of time. Now I know I can kill pigs and fish if need be. I also learned to castrate pigs once upon a time but I'm not sure that's a survival skill. Teaching. Near and dear to my heart. That's my semi-retirement gig, teaching aspiring real estate salespeople. Perhaps one day I'll know enough about fishing to pass some of that along too. JF

That's about as close to my answer as anyone so far. It's at best a nebulous thing to describe, at least for me. I hadn't thought of the dad connection but there's definitely some of that for me. Fishing was one of the few times we shared a common interest when I was a kid. I still have great, if hazy, memories of a camp we went to somewhere around Minden/Dorset on a little lake. I'm sure dad called it Devil's Lake but I can't find it on any maps. When we were home Dad was always working trying to keep his farm equipment business afloat in a time when farmers were struggling to pay bills so our fishing trips are the best memories I have today, fifty years later. Toys have always played an important part in my life. I love tinkering. I kind of chuckle when some here talk about the high cost of fishing gear. Try racing motorcycles or sleds. Try serious scuba diving. Take up golf with a passion. Fishing is a bargain when you figure out the fun/dollar ratio. And look at the almost endless variety of inexpensive toys we can play with. I realize that goes out the window when a boat drifts into the picture but there's a lot of fishing to be done without having your own boat. Hey! That's what friends are for. Another one for me is just the sheer joy of being outside away from roads and buildings. I guess that's why I enjoy wading like I do. Sometimes it's just me and the creek with no manmade objects in sight except my fishing gear. Sometimes I even resent the bridges I have to go beneath for their intrusion. A car whistling over the bridge can shatter the illusion. There are moments when I'm happy to just stand still in the river and watch whatever fishies are swimming by. There are even times when , as silly as it may sound, I actually apologize to a fish for screwing up his day as I slide him back in the water. Snagging a fish, or having him really inhale a hook can really ruin my pleasure but it doesn't stop me from going back, so there must be something less obvious that attracts me to it. That's the part I'm trying to get a handle on here. Other things enter into my answer - the challenge of outsmarting the fish, reading about & trying to master new fish species & fishing methodology, escape from life's pressures, and just having fun feeling like a kid again, if only for a few hours. But there's still some undefined element in all this passion that fishing arouses in us. What is it? JF

I thought of a couple more: You're a gearpig and just like to gather more and more gear to fondle There's some primeval/atavistic streak in you that compels you to hunt The sheer joy of succeeding against nature A reason to get out and experience the wilds Some of you must have better reasons, or can at least do a better job of explaining some of the reasons I've suggested. JF

A couple of recent threads got me thinking about this. I know that too much introspection is not always good for the soul, but I'm frankly curious about what it is that gets us so caught up in this hunt for the elusive prey. The way I see it we fish for a variety of reasons: Meat - the old hunter/gatherer instinct driving us to provide for the family. I met one crazy dude working in a Dick's Sports Fishing dept who quite frankly admitted he was pure and simply a meat fisherman. With 2 1/2 ex-wives he had to watch the budget. Recreation - a change from the everyday routines of work and home. "A change is as good as a rest." Relaxation - giving the body & brain a break from the stress of today, or, as some might put it, changing your karma. We blow our brains out either with the challenge of our jobs or the mind-numbing experience of the same thing day after day and we sometimes really need to have a change of scenery. Competition - cuz deep down we all wanna outdo the other guy. Even the best of friends need to one-up their buddies from time to time. Focus - similar to relaxation. We need a break from the same old same old. Is fishing just a way out of the rut you're in? A new subject to focus on often helps to clear the clogged brain cells to make us better with the regular day to day stuff. Perhaps none of you really want to analyze why you like fishing, but I think that it's interesting as an objective exercise, and it may even help a few of us to feel better about the money and time we put into this game. It's like "All work and no play makes Jack a dull PITA" or something like that. For those of you who dare to question your own motives, you might like the findings. Try it. If it feels good, then share it with the rest of us. I for one am really interested in reading what motivates each of you to follow the fish. I won't bore you with my reasons, not yet anyway. JF

Jeez, you and Drew. I don't need to bother going out fishing. Reading the reports the two of you put up is as close to really fishing as damn is to swearing, and you actually catch the durned things. JF

I had the same problem. That's why that fuzzy faced old fart keeps showing up instead of the only fish I've ever caught. JF

Sorry. I thought they were rock bass, but I was at least 10' away when you held 'em up. Your thumb might have had them pretty well covered too. JF

That's how I rig 'em, but I'll keep at it. Who knows? By the time we meet up I may have some tips for you. JF

I watched them for quite a while and it was obvious the bigger ones (8" max) were actually riding herd on the babies. At one point there were at least 5 of the bigger ones with a school, but generally there were only two. And yes, otherwise it was a pretty stinky day. Other than meeting another OFNer , of course. JF

Jim, I don't know you because I haven't been around fishing too long, but judging by the reaction from these guys to the news of your personal setback I'd say you must be a helluva guy. In fact, I mentioned the reaction in my local fishing store and the immediate response from the owner was "What's the website? I want to buy some tickets." He said you're a great guy too. In my sixty some odd years whenever I've had that kind of consistent feedback on someone it's always meant they really were a good person, so I want to offer you my best wishes and hopes for a "great" outcome for a "great" guy. Sounds like you deserve at least that much. As for the attitude stuff - my wife was given a rather nasty diagnosis, and a scary prognosis. She kept a great attitude throughout all the treatments, even the setbacks (chemo didn't work first try), but in the end she's riding high. We knew it was all good the day her oncologist walked into the room with the greeting "I'm thrilled.". She (the oncologist) said all along that a positive attitude was so important, not only for making it through the down times, but also for coming out on top of this damned disease. Keep smiling, Jim. In these early days it'll be hard sometimes, but if you smile enough you're bound to be smiling for a long long time. Keep the faith dude, All the best from me and my wife JF

If'n our paths ever cross remind me to give you a handful of those chartreuse lizardy things. I bought a box of assorted plastics in Ohio last year and it had a bunch of those in it along with a few other flavour/colours. They don't seem to do much in our northern waters. JF

I haven’t had any luck at all around here since bass season opened. In fact I’ve been skunked four times straight unless you count a no-account hammerhandle and a carp that died at my feet. My morning tea leaves foretold a wonderful day, with more fish than I’ve ever had the fortune to find before. I’m a big believer in tea leaf prognostication so I was rarin’ to go. Now, Marko & I have been trying to arrange a G2G for a while now so I PMed him around 9:45 to say I was leaving shortly for Shakespeare Pond to try for some pike, and off I went. I had only made two or three casts into the weeds when his car pulled in and we finally met. He had brought a Sherpa name of Trevor along to tote, carry and change baits. We decided to head right back to the pike place, so, after juicing up with deet flavoured cologne, we hiked for the trees, and hopefully the pike. The water was a little silty looking but we ignored that. I started with a spoon that I’d seen other guys haul in nice pike with a week before, but it brought nothing. Changed up to yellow spinner, then a black spinner, then a few different surface minnows, tubes, and just about anything else I'd carried back there but all for naught. It was a sign of things to come. Marko threw a little surface minnow first, and cleaned up on WGSF. I offered to take pics but he was concerned about accusations of photoshopping to make them look the size they were. He sent the Sherpa for their minnows and they fed them to the pike for a while, but no hook-ups – yet. The pike left toothmarks but that was all. This wasn’t working so we packed up and headed over to the bottom end of Wildwood Lake for some of the pike we know are there. First thing we see when we get there, besides a lot of fishermen, are cute little carpy couples spooning around in the water. Marko started to salivate and obviously wiped all thoughts of pike from his carp infested little brain. While I started chucking what was to be a distressing variety of well-washed lures in the lake Marko hiked off across the bridge. We heard scuffling noises and some thumping, and then Marko came back furtively clutching half a corn cob. He mumbled “bait” as he passed me and immediately hunkered down behind a tree to rig his rod for carping. Thumping the little old Italian gentleman turned out to be for naught as the stolen corn garnered nothing in the way of fish, so next he sent the Sherpa off to forage for bait. Trevor, the sherpa, came back shortly with a container of worms that he’d bummed off some gullible soul who actually believed his tale of a poverty stricken upbringing and needing to catch some carp to feed his 16 brothers and sisters. So as not to belabour the story the closest any of us came to catching anything was seeing huge schools of little bitty baby catfish being herded by grownups. Amazing how something so cute can grow into such a homely critter. But the carp lust was fully upon Marko now and equipped with stolen corn and cadged worms, he remembered that there were carp below the dam in St.Marys. I knew the water would be up but we went so he could see for hisself. He looked so despondent at the sight of the flooded swim I suggested we try the bridge at the end of the St.Marys Golf Course. It’s usually good for bass, pike, catfish or carp, sometimes all of ‘em. Sure enough there were carp plowing around in the water and Marko nearly blew a kidney getting his corn into the water in some kind of record time. The closest he came to catching a carp though when he was finally learned to bonk them on the head with a lead weight. Even then he got nothing. Nothing – that’s the word for the day. Marko's two rock bass were the sum total of our haul. But at least the tea leaves were right. They hadn’t said what the fish were that I’d find, just that there would be lots of ‘em. Well, there had to be a few thousand of those little catfish babies right there at our feet. All we needed to catch ‘em was a dip net. The day wasn't a complete waste though. I finally got to meet Marko and found him to be a very nice guy. Same goes for his buddy (sherpa) Trevor, but I don't think he's a member here. Hopefully the next time we fish together will be more productive. Thanks for the company guys. JF

I've heard that story about Tiger a few times, but the newsguys seem to forget that only a couple of years ago he was being criticized for having rabbit ears. JF

Here in Ont it seems that one must serve a year or so as a temp before the contracts get passed out. My niece just got hers after 6 months, but she'd been a TA with the board for a dozen years already. JF