JohnF

Someone may have already mentioned this. Given a choice between small wheels and tires and large, I'll take the largest I can fit the load over every time. Most of those small trailers you see sitting at the roadside with tire and/or bearing problems are the result of heat and friction frying the small units in summer heat. I realize with a small boat wheel height becomes problematic, and you probably won't be doing long hispeed runs so perhaps it's not a vaild concern. Another thing to consider is ground clearance. My bro-in-law just finished building a new big wheel trailer for his small boat to get into the little back lakes on Manitoulin Island. Unless you're using a bent axle setup big wheels will be needed for a higher axle. The original little wheel & straight axle design got hung up too easily. This isn't usually an issue if you use regular launch ramps. I was going to suggest you talk to him about his old trailer but remembered it's still on Manitoulin, if he hasn't already sold it, and the ferry's not running now. JF

Don't you know? JF

Look both ways before you reel 'em in. JF

Pinch the top tight enough to hold a bit of air, just enough to puff 'em up. I'd use a nail compressor on low pressure here at home and duct tape to seal the top after rolling it over a few times. You could also just tape a small piece of soft hose into the top and blow into it but that makes me all red in the face and it's hard to do the other part of this operation when yer permanently attached to a hose. Then, with the waders doing a Michelin Man thing (i.e. pressurized), listen for the leak. If that doesn't work, or to be extra certain you got all the leaks, spritz with a soapy mixture and watch for bubbles to form. Dish detergent and water works great. I'd suggest the bathtub or your pool, but with winter nearly upon us most pools are closed, and my wife would have a conniption if I put those smelly dirty waders in one of our bathtubs. As I discovered with my drysuit this works great, almost too well. You discover holes you didn't expect to find along seams etc. JF

I kinda liked the iceberg effect. JF

Sounds like porn? JF

On Jarvis St? JF

Can you be any harder on the ears than my buddy in Louisville? And he's a Navy vet to boot. Or Tom from Yonkers. But now that I think about it they both sound like English gentry compared to our friend from Missouri. I just stand there shaking my head as he garbles words at me, and he laughs the whole time cuz he knows how much he's messin' with me. He says ever'bodah talks lahk him in Branston, ceptin' mebbe some a' them thar hill folk who talk real peculiar. Branston must be hillfolk talk for Hawg Holler. I just can't figger out how an EMT can deal with emergencies when every word he utters sounds like he's chewing raw catfish guts. He's a great guy, I think. One day when I learn to translate what he says I'll know for sure. My wife accidentally took a pic of him applying a catheter condom before one of our dives and to this day she has no idea if he was cussin' her or bragging. Speaking of my wife, she hates when we hook up with you funny sounding folk. She says I start sounding like you in no time and then she can't understand anyone in the conversation. That being said, our Missouri buddy is one of her favourites. Of course she did see him sans condom that day. JF

There's a rumour about that all the Lake O. inshore fishies are hightailin' it for where the water's blue, and the Kawarthas' fish are freaking, bubbling something that sounds like "Crap! Bly's afloat now?" Methinks they'd all be safer staying within casting distance of shore whilst you get this new mobility outa yer systems. You're lucky. I've floated the boat idea around here a few times lately. That's when a cold front sets in. I can't convince SWMBO I don't mean a big shiny candy apple bassboat with more horses than either of the cars, or perhaps both. JF

See what I mean? Sheesh! JF

Amazing what occurs to one in the middle of the night when sleep is elusive. I'm sure this has occurred to all of you before but as a relative newcomer to the fun I gotta say y'all sure talk funny. For example - I target lunkers, slabs, snotties, skis and eyes. I lip buckets. I covet toads. I cradle gators. I use plastic and braid on my meat stick, and I do it in a tinny. I float skein on a noodle for nooks. I horse hawgs. I dread birds nests. And so on. What must the uninitiated think when you let this babble slip into everyday discourse. JF

Any kind of goldfish are huge poopers. I'd probably want to have a bottom filter to get a little more action around the stones (the ones on the bottom), even if you do vacuum it regularly. 80 is pretty warm for any kind of goldfish. They don't even like it warm. There are Koi thriving in a flooded rock quarry in which we dive down in Ohio. These things are over 2' long now with huge girth. I'm not sure if they're breeding but they've been there for some years and I can tell you from personal experience the quarry gets durned cold in the winter months. I can't remember how cold the Plecko can tolerate. The problem is, as you probably know from fishing, that warmth stimulates algae bloom. BTW. It took me forever to find the Plecostamus hiding in the rocks. He's a little guy. I'm pretty sure he doesn't need it that warm either. I'm not even sure you need the heater period. JF

They're kinda cute. Are they as noisy as the big ones? JF

Art, I've had this kind of discussion often with a number of my American friends. The sensible ones reply in much the same fashion as you and I respect that. There are, on the other hand, within my circle of gun totin' friends a number of radical defenders of the gun faith who are determined to make it a "If'n you ain't with us, yer agin us" thing. Unfortunately, when I encounter bullheaded I become bullheaded and we have some dandy arguments in our newsgroup. I have one word for you to add to your answer to make it perfect - "you have expressed the same wish that all of the gun owners have -" I'd like to put "responsible" just ahead of "gun owners". JF

I was about to suggest getting him debarbed, but didn't wanna risk getting the thread pulled. JF

I honestly believe that the best way to keep guns available to law abiding owners is to cut back on the promotion of guns in our society as tools for self defence against guns. Pro-gun rhetoric pointing out the dangers from gun wielding criminals as justification for having more guns at hand is a double-edged sword that may well be lumping the law abiding gun owners in with the criminally minded in the eyes of the public as the heart of a problem. It promotes the idea that guns are in and of themselves that problem despite all the cutesy progun "Bullets don't kill people, people kill people". Kind of silly to spout that and then follow up with how they need guns for defence against armed villains. Easy to see why the solution that springs to some minds is to ban all guns. Many of us know that a wholesale gun ban is not just unreasonable but totally impractical, accomplishing nothing in terms of preventing the criminal use of guns. But then many of us don't care enough to stand up in defence of gun owners because we don't have guns. That leaves the two interest groups to duke it out. The uninformed who think wholesale banning is the solution and the avid progunners who use the fear rhetoric to prove the need for guns. It's all negative, pro and con, and not an easy sell either way. JF

As far as I know the answer is no. I used to do some varmint hunting when I was in high school but didn't continue when I moved away from home so the guns stayed there. I'm pretty sure they were disposed of when my folks moved years ago. At least I haven't come across any of them since I bought the house from Mom and I doubt she took 'em with her. They were nothing special anyway. Just cheap .22's and the bb and pellet guns I used to play with. When I shot competition in high school the rifles were supplied for us. Our school had Lee Enfields reworked for .22's. Heavy suckers. When I was in high school I worked two summers in a meat packing plant, often on the kill floor, and kinda lost my taste for killing critters. A few hundred pigs a day can do that. I gave up hunting and fishing then and only got back to fishing last year. Still not interested in killing warm blooded animals although I'm perfectly happy eating the meat so I have no objection to others hunting. I'm realist enough to accept that for me to eat properly something's gotta die cuz I'd never survive on seeds and veggies. Somehow the idea of personally field dressing a big animal just doesn't appeal to me. I did enough carcass handling when we killed cows and piggies way back when. Now I'm happy to have someone else do the wet work for me. I'm not uncomfortable around guns, just don't have any use for them right now. I've been kicking around the idea of joining a gun club lately. I wouldn't mind target shooting again - probably handguns, possibly shotguns. My cousin offered me a good .22 target pistol that my uncle used to use in Police competitions. I think I'd still get a kick out of that stuff. The problem is that I'd probably have to drive to Kitchener or London to find a club. As far as I know there's nothing close by. If the reason for your question is to point out that it's easy for me to be critical of gun practices I'd have to say you'd be correct. I am however not in favour of wholesale abolition of guns in the private sector. If there was only some way to assign them the same degree of importance and utility that we give our fishing rods. JF

If the driving across the States is related to employment in the US, be careful what you offer as your reason for entering the States. They're protective of their own when it comes to employment, as it should be, and I know of several folks who were refused entry because they didn't have the proper work docs (visas etc). JF

As with all credible points, there are credible counterpoints. There's no question as to what the words of your Second Amendment say. Well, almost no question - pesky durned comma - and is today's militia what it was then? But is it possible the rationale behind your Founding Fathers' words has lost some relevance over the last 250 years? The problem with taking a hardline interpretation of what's implied by archaic laws is that it only leads to a formal erosion of the personal rights meant to be protected as lawmakers are pressured by special interest groups like the Brady Bunch to split hairs because a popular interpretation is splitting hairs already. Extremes beget extremes. I agree that there are some places in the States (and they're showing up in Canada as well unfortunately) that it may seem warranted to go about armed but is the only or best possible solution in most confrontational situations to bring more and more guns to the table, or should we look for ways (admittedy difficult) to have fewer folks willing or feeling the need to use guns to impose their will on others? Your argument about the plastic knife works the other way as well. Once every law abiding citizen carries a gun for self defence, what do the bad guys have to carry to maintain their advantage - bigger guns, higher cycle rate automatic weapons with bigger magazines, or stuff we don't even know about yet unless we're in special ops? I can see armed citizens lobbying for a right to carry those same automatic weapons on their commute to work each morning, just in case. Imagine hearing the talking heads referencing collateral damage and friendly fire casualties when describing a road rage incident on I-75. Too ridiculous??? "Gee officer. I only depressed the trigger for a second. I sure didn't mean to spray those other cars. But at least I acted within my rights." I understand the frustration of law abiding gun owners in the States and Canada who feel their entitlement to keep and bear arms is being infringed. I also sympathize with those who see the proliferation of guns in the streets to be a downward spiral. Is it an all or nothing situation? BTW. Your wife must be a heckuva shot. JF

I forgot overfeeding. JF

Too much natural sunlight? Water too warm? The Koi are probably happy with cool water, dunno about a Plecko. JF

Blame it on the internet. I've got friends in California, Washington (state), Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Missouri, Alabama, Georgia, Arizona, Florida, Maryland, Texas, Connecticut, NYC, and so on. It all started years ago with a friendly group with a common interest in diving and ended up with us doing G2G's and visiting back and forth. A few are folks we holiday with in Mexico each year. I gotta 'fess up to friends in far worse places than Sevierville. JF

The two fellas I know closest to you would be in Louisville and Sevierville. The fella in Louisville is a hunter and pretty low key about his guns, although he does carry a handgun in his truck and has been something of an activist in the Second Amendment defence. The other guy doesn't hunt and has guns up the wazoo. He's the one who carries two at once. He makes it sound like Gatlinburg is crime central. Other than being something of a gun crazoid he's a great guy and would give you the shirt off his back - but not his gun. JF

I have a number of friends in the States who own a half dozen guns or more , each, and don't use 'em for hunting. Some are for recreational (target competition) use but most are purely self-defence. One guy used to say he often would carry two handguns on his person at any one time. He took so much teasing from the group about it that now he claims he doesn't carry at all. These guys got 'em squirreled away in different rooms in their homes and under their car seats. A few have quick draw modified fanny packs (no guff) with the side access pocket (for when the going gets tough at the corner store I suppose). The only reason they'd scoff at the mattress holder is that it's for long guns and no self-respecting home protector would think of using a long gun for home defence. They'd cite how many rounds they can squeeze off with their 9mm semi auto or their Colt 1911 (??) and how much more practical the handgun is in close quarters. They get downright indignant if I joke about their gun dependency and start into a rant about how I'm a fool and a coward for not carrying myself, that I have no idea how dangerous the world really is, and that I'm a liberal sheep relying on real men like them to protect me. Of course this only gets me laughing more and that gets them angrier, and so on, and so on. I have plenty of friends and relatives who keep guns - mostly for hunting although several of them are getting away from guns in favour of crossbows. My nephew just got back from a bowhunting trip up north. They got a 1200# moose. My uncle and my brother in law are retired cops. Neither owns a gun now. Based on my own acquaintances I'd say Americans are much more enamoured of guns than us Canucks. That's not a criticism, merely an observation. JF

Seems to me there's a few folks here who might be more likely to hang their favourite rod/reel combo there, just so they can cop the odd feel during the night. JF