JohnF

How do ya know it's not some otherworldly thing that space guys have planted to tempt you? You could end up with a third leg or something. JF

Is it better than a 10# sucker or carp going into action at yer feet as you wade a treacherous bit of rapids? My aged heart struggles with those d----d things. Heaven only knows how much more ferocious they'd be if they had my hook stuck in 'em. JF

That's what I wuz thinking. He's got better camera presence than some of the pros who do shows. JF

I've been using the big worm hooks but just the other day I bought a pack of Gamakatsu 1/0 hooks to try. They call 'em finesse wide gap hooks. I want them for Crawfish plastic and leechs. The bigger hooks kinda overwhelm the bait I think. I'll get a bottle of the Gulp. What flavour do you recommend? JF

I know. I learned that one from Garry2rs. The first time I saw it my first thought was "not only pink but small and wimpy" and kept hurling my manly 6" worm into the water. Garry delicately flipped his dainty pink 'n white grub and hauled in some dandy little perch which outweighed my zero macho bass by at least 10 ozs. (altogether) but hey, fish are fish. I wuz sold. Bought 'em on my next Bass Pro forage and forgot 'em each time I have had a chance to use 'em. Gonna start carrying them on all my river excursions just for fun. If the real bass don't wanna play mebbe the WGSF's will. Heck. If it'll help I'll wear my pink sweatshirt and orange crocs. Catching nothing much with effeminate little girly baits is pretty much as good as catching nuthin' with manly big jerkbaits and 18" tubes, even if the tubes do cast a might farther and make a manly splash when they land. JF

I got out to the river between bolts of lightning and didn't catch any fish but discovered that the lizard has great looking topwater action and the split tail grub does a nifty walk the dog thang. I can't wait to get them out to the Thames to tempt some smallmouths up outa the depths, or mebbe some hungry pike. I wasn't surprised at the no catching part. A lot of other guys had the same idea as me about sneaking out in the lull between lightning bolts and they were using worms etc and getting bupkis too. I even got to do some real estate networking while prowling the river. Business is always good, especially when ya can do it in shorts and teeshirt with orange crocs on yer feet. JF

Most of 'em are out of a $10 box of 200 Mann plastics. No salt, no scent, no nuthin'. But the worms worked great for bass, and the little curly tailed grubs are excellent for rock bass jigging. I hadn't figgered out any use for the rest of 'em till today in the dungeon so I paired 'em up with the floating jigs for which I also had no use. I have some Berkley scent and some other kind of Mike's anise gel that I picked up at Basspro last spring. It seems to work fine for sunfish & rockbass so perhaps it'll help these plastics. I had it in mind to juice 'em up when I try 'em. For some reason I keep forgetting to take the scent with me when I'm going to the river. I got out to the pool again between downpours. Turns out the heavier ones float pretty well and have great swimming or twitching action. If the sun comes out at all again today I'm heading down to the river for a test run. I can't seem to catch anything in my pool at home. JF

I'm sitting down in my dungeon looking at this mess of stuff I've accumulated in trying to become a fisherperson and my mind started misfiring, coming up with these bits of oddness, and even took control of my hands to put things together that don't really belong together. I've been snipping the heads of little creature bait thingies (which in itself is weirdly satisfying) and sticking hooks in 'em to see what the effect might be. I used a few floating jig hooks that I've never really figured out another decent use for, cut the heads of some of the creatures and stuck the hooks in 'em. They're too light to cast more than 5' ------ unless I use a flyrod , which is probably gonna bring down the wrath of all purists, especially when I try the teeny Rapala minnow or the Cotton Cordell bumblebee on flyline (they're too lite to cast even downwind - well, mebbe a real gale). I only got to test the one in the pool just now before the rains came, again, the reddish critter with white head. He sets up beautifully on the surface like a dragonfly. The big lizard, the yellow forktail and the green wavetail worm are probably heavy enuf to cast with a spinning rig and I'm not certain if they're gonna float, sink or just wallow on the surface with their little butts dragging towards the bottom. The two on the left are just regular panfish tubes with little bitty weighted jig hooks in 'em but I thought they'd maybe be ok on the flyrod too. If the weather clears up a bit I'll take 'em down to the river to see what happens on the flyrod. What the hey. The bass are being finicky around here anyway, so I've got nothing to lose. Tossed everything I could think of Friday nite and attracted nothing but one scrawny little hammerhandle who spit the hook at me when he got close. Lots of surface boils and nudges but nothing taking a serious bite and no sign of smallmouths anywhere. I think the boils where all pike debating whether or not to try out their new teeth. Apparently the pike have started to feed at Wildwood though. JF

Prolly not my first thought for keeping my beer cold. JF

It's about flatulent muskies. JF

Did you chew 'em up? JF

Not fair. You've been researching the Dollarama lures and practicing with them. There should be a 10% penalty for "experts" or at least have a Pro's Division & one for us Rookies. JF

Not the kind you use. JF

There's some pretty good river bass & pike fishing just inland of that but I haven't tried close to the lake. JF

Now that's a disgusting image. JF

A quarry in Ohio where we dive has stocked a few kinds of fish including some big trout. They love dry dogfood. The shop sells little packets to divers to feed the fish. They go nuts on it. JF

Then check Dick's Sports. There's one in Buffalo I believe.

Beer is never bad ....... unless it's Black Label and you have to share a tent with me. JF

For OFNers only? That would be an interesting G2G. We'd be forced to drink a lot to overcome the embarrassment of using cheesy gear - and getting our butts kicked by newbies - - - Oh wait! Newby - that's me! Hey! This is a great idea. We all start off on an equal footing with no $300 rods that no one can remember the name of, or Kazillion dollar reels that have 47 bearings in the little finger spinner thingies alone, and who knows how many in the real important gutsy parts that most of us don't understand, and line that is priced by the inch and will horse a small whale, and plastic baits that cost more than it would to hand raise the little worms from babyhood, including worm diapers and teeny little soothers. Hmmmm! Does Dollarama sell Minnkotas, GPS's & hi-def fishfinders? And I suspect that's not a baitcaster or a pin for $1.00. That'll seriously cripple some of these guys if those aren't available. This is a great idea. But then I'm a kloset kommunist. JF

Is Pt. Albert any good? It's got a pretty little river and a fish lift thingy. JF

I was wrong about the local store having them. I've definitely seen 'em in some store recently so it has to be either Bass Pro in Vaughan or Dick's Sports or Gander Mtn in the States. Sorry I couldn't help JF

They've started txting cells with spam. JF

My nuisance calls at home dropped significantly. Now we only have to deal with the really hardcore telemarketing types, and them you just hang up on. I can only speak for those of us who respect the laws, confidentiality and personal privacy. No matter what you may think you know, our industry is really working on not just paying lip service, but honouring the spirit and intent of the consumer protection laws, like the Do-Not-Call legislation and the Privacy Act. If you think about it, those of us who actually make a decent living from our industry wouldn't want to soil our own nest, would we? With as many members as we have in Ontario alone it stands to reason that many of us can't hide behind the anonymity of a big urban population. How fast did the incident I believe you're referencing get dealt with internally? We work very hard to protect our data from those other industries that would love to get their hands on it to exploit it. In fact, I'm pretty sure that would be how you even knew about the situation - because of the industry's pre-emptive solution. Do you know, or care, or is it just more fun to drag everyone else down? I'll give you a rather benign example of how things have changed. A few weeks ago a national brand moving company rep showed up in my office "to touch base'. In the long ago past that meant asking for the names of any leads we'd give out who might need his services. He saved me the trouble of explaining the Privacy Act to him by starting off with "I know you won't give me any personal stuff, but could I leave some cards and brochures for your clients?". We don't even supply names to the Welcome Wagon types any more, and in all honesty I think a lot of home buyers actually appreciated the visit from the Welcome Wagon rep with the coupons and gifts, but since this isn't one of the reasons we disclosed for collecting and retaining personal info, it doesn't happen. Our industry is working very hard to follow the letter and spirit of these consumer protection laws particularly, and, though there will always be a few looking to make an easy buck by bending or breaking the laws, we're making significant headway within the industry. Sorry about the rant, but I teach the pre-licence courses for the industry and I help create the forms we use province-wide, so I know exactly how much effort has gone into, and continues to go into making our industry squeaky clean, into creating new legislation that goes well beyond the usual expectations of common law and contract law to guarantee ethical treatment, full disclosure and competent service. End rant JF

Seems to me I saw 'em here in Stratford. I'll check tomorrow. JF

Yup. No question, but it's a start. I had some clown with a rather pronounced Asian type accent call me today claiming to represent my bank with a great new offer for me. I asked him which bank that would be and he said they actually represent 40 banks and have been authorized to call by mine. I asked again which bank that was. He told me again his company represented 40 very reputable banks. I asked again. Same answer so then I told him to stop babbling and answer my question. Same answer. I asked him if he even understood english. Same answer. So then I said "Stay on the line while I get a pen. Now, what's your name." Then he started with the "Sir. Could you please speak louder. I can't hear you." and just kept repeating that over and over. I guess he'd exhausted his whole repertoire by that time. Very very loudly I told him he was a slimeball and hung up. JF