JohnF

Hockey is a victim of it's own popularity in Canada and a few parts of the States. Like so many good things it's been exploited to death for profit. Now the problem is that it has an expensive infrastructure and a luke warm market generally. The few market areas that can support teams can't carry the load for all the non-viable franchises too. They've got a load of debt, a bunch of high paid athletes and some very expensive facilities to justify and there's probably no way of ever going back. Hockey's just a business now, and a poorly structured one at that. Bettman and company have got an impossible job that they created for themselves. JF

I was moving around. But each new spot I came to was better than the last. The reason I finally quit was that I waded through some rapids upriver to another pool and before I even got to it I tried casting into the shallow fast water and was getting nailed as it hit the water. That was my signal to give it up. Now I'll resist the temptation for another week. But I gotta admit it was fun for a while. JF

I may never post again if she ever holds up a big ole slimey carp. My heart may give out from the shock. Given that she refuses to take little mouse floaters out of our pool skimmer I doubt she'll be much good with squirming fishies. Methinks she's gonna be a rock bass kinda gal at best, but who knows. JF

No fluoro leader. In fact I was tied direct to red 15# Power Pro and the water was nearly gin clear were it was running. The protected areas were less clear which may have just been carp mucking up the silty bottom. Here's the spinner I was using, a Worden Roostertail. It's small with a 3/4" blade. It was most tempting when I just did a steady fairly fast retrieve over a rocky bottom in about 1-2' of water. The lure ran just below the surface and I could see it the whole way in so I knew when it was being tapped. I'd been trying everything else at first, varying speeds, letting it flutter to the bottom every 10', etc, but then a really huge rock bass hit it almost at the surface and I went to the steady retrieve. I felt guilty about all the little smb's I was catching. I finally quit when they started hitting it in a fairly fast shallow riffle almost the instant it hit the water. It just wasn't fair. Now I want to figure out how to upsize without adding too much weight for the bigger boys. In any case for any of you who want to give your kids a fun time casting and retrieving, these might be the ticket. I remember now that I got a couple of these on sale at Dick's Sports in Cleveland. I think they were something like $1.50 or $1.99 at the time. The hooks are way small for the bigger fish and they'll get swallowed. I thought I was gonna have to go up the rock bass's anus to get the one he took. JF

She says Mint Smoothies are evil. I have to eat 'em all when they come into the house. JF

Her first thought in yer boat would be to find a slalom ski. JF

When yer wife starts talking about the boys she likes - you pack yer gear. The game's over. JF

I like to be alive after the fact. YMMV JF

I'll post a pic of the spinner that caught all the fishies today. I thought it was a cheapo piece of junk. Evidently the fish didn't agree. So much for relying on the high end gear. JF

Ahhh! I've been hoping the good fish fairy will leave me one of them in my stocking. There are days when you just can't buy a fish. Mebbe that wand thingy will make all my fishing dreams come true. JF JF

I'd git my ass bit by the brethren here if'n I took pctures of the poor li'l oos fishies. JF

Is electrofishing done with a spinning rig or a baitcaster? JF

Watch out fer killer beavers. JF

The greens are nothing. I'd just have to stay close to a washroom for a day. But I'm concerned about how big these oysters are if they'll all fit on one half shell. If I'm gonna fritter away my time I wanna do it with more than snack food to sustain me. And is there enuf hot sauce to curl 'em up properly? My biggest problem with raw oysters is stabbing myself with the knife. JF

They were little - who needs pics of baby bass? JF

Saw this in action today. While I was standing in the middle of the creek I heard some more atv's coming. They'd been rippin' 'n snortin' thru all afternoon. These two got up to the clearing and they stopped. The rest had just driven on through - some waving to us. I was a little concerned that these two had stopped behind my wife sitting on shore so I headed over that way. Turns out to be a couple on his'n hers quads and the guy explained that he'd been told it was okay to use this trail but when he saw us there he assumed it was our property and he just wanted to stop and ask if it was okay. He was very polite. Smart guy. JF

Think of the parasites as protein. Crunch 'em up and swallow. You'll be a better man for it. Same as worms in summer perch. Living off the land ain't fer the squeamish. So I'm told by some of my friends who profess to be hunter/gatherers. Of course, they've had an assortment of body parts fall off lately. If folks saw all the worms that come out of hogs at slaughter they'd give up pork too. I'll tell my slaughterhouse story if anyone wants to listen. It's all just protein - right? JF

Nice. I'm gonna figger this fly stuff out one day - right after I master the baitcaster and being married (happily). Have I got enuf years left??? JF

Yer a dairy farmer? JF

Nice report, beautiful fish, thanx for not sharing photos of the Parliament. The world doesn't need to see you red-faced in full morning-after grunt mode, even if yer mom thought you were a cute baby when you did it. No grown man is that cute. No woman for that matter. Nice enviable trip. I get smb's in the stinky Thames - you get this. The world's not a fair place. JF

I invited my wife to accompany me this afternoon when I went to a private little fishing hole for a few hours. An acquaintance owns the property and has cleared a party spot back in the bush along the river. It's a part of the river seldom fished as you'd have to get to it across his land or thru thick buggy bush. So anyway I thought she might like sitting and reading while I waded. Well, she really liked it. But most surprising, she got interested in my fishing. I was standing in the river right out in front of where she was sitting so she couldn't miss me hauling in fish after fish. I had been told there were specks in there but all I could raise were rock bass, big ones. But then the durned smallmouths started biting and I couldn't get away from them.It got to the point that my lure barely hit the water and I'd have a little bitty bass on. Young smallmouths have gorgeous colours btw. I finally figgered the bass weren't gonna leave me alone so I called it a day. I was worried that the small trout sized spinner was gonna get swallowed soon. One really big rockbass took it very deep. At that point I crushed all the barbs which made it a lot easier on the little smallies. Some of them were too small to swallow even these hooks but their little mouths are really soft at that age and I was afraid of damaging them. I hated to quit but a deal's a deal. Bass opens next week, not this one. Anyway, I got out of the water and my wife kinda casually asked "Do you need me there to get a licence?". Befuzzled I asked "Why do you want a licence?" "You looked like you were having fun." said she. "I was." So who knows where this is going, but first thing next week I'm getting her a card. Of course I may live to regret this too. But hey, it's a great excuse to buy more UL gear. JF

I'll have to check those out. A quick change system when yer standing up to yer keester in a running stream would be handy. JF

They look pretty serious to me, but the Pens are hustling. So much for the lack of depth some accused the Pens of. They're going pretty deep from where I'm watching. I'm not sure they even noticed Sid was off the bench for part of the second. But can they sustain this pace? Hopefully. JF

Some of our rapalas are so small I'd be afraid that even a small connector would throw off the weight. A small leader screws them up for sure if yer trying to twitch them. I'm surprised the split ring doesn't mess up the balance unless they've compensated for it in the manufacturing process. A floating minnow with it's arse in the air kinda loses some impact. With the bigger ones I wouldn't have a problem though. JF

This could be a really long 20 minutes. I don't wanna pop any corks just yet. JF