JohnF

We have a shop here in Stratford run by one of Jocelyn's proteges. He treats me pretty well. I got my Quantum baitcaster there last year for $100 with the rebate. Can't come close to that this year. I'd buy from him anyway but like to have input from reel users before I go shopping. JF

Listen to his lyrics. He nails so many of the little things that usually escape us. I gues ya gotta be a little bit into the hippy poet schtick from the good old days. JF

Perhaps not everyone's taste in music but I always liked him. Gonna kick back now and watch the rest of the show. JF

I'll get to that. I have a nice selection of bass flies sent to me by SingingDog. But that's another style of fishing that I still need to master. So many rods, so little time. The flies are for my zennier days. Methinks I haven't quite reached the proper level of maturity for them yet but I'm trying. JF

I figured them for dragging over dense weeds. JF

If there's no hockey on I'd rather listen to music, but hey, to each his own. JF

So here's the short list of fake minnows and here's the other hard lures. Plastics and inline spinners I'm already pretty well settled with. I know I've left out some obvious ones but I'm trying to move on. Any thoughts on the above? Some have already been mentioned and I'm sure some will have been a total bust for a few of you. What say? My deal is that most of the water I fish is shallow - like 2 - 3' max. Lotsa bowling ball rocks on the bottom so bottom bouncing is problematic. A lipless bait will as likely get wedged between two rocks as catch a fish, and that gets costly. I can generally walk to the snag but then I spook the pool. There are a few pools that hold pike but generally it's just smb's and the carp or suckers. I can deal with the odd biteoff to avoid using leaders. I feel kinda bad for the hammerhandles who swim away with a faceful of hooks but I guess that's the price of greed these days. WGSF are a bonus and ubiquitous so I don't count them. I know if all else fails a gold grub will suck them in any time. JF

We all need to remember that we tend to become grumpier as we get older. That doesn't auger well for some of the young bucks today, does it? At least I've got an excuse. JF

Don't take bananas on the boat. JF

Ouch. JF

Just regrouping like Detroit fans did after Games 3 & 4. Hockey is great for taking the wind out of the sails. JF

Dunno why you say it's clearly not fishing related yet. It is most definitely fishing related, as well related to every non-work pleasure in which you indulge. At the risk of sounding condescending my son, control of your life has now been relegated to a higher power - yer wife, with a lot of influence from the little one. You will go fishing when they say you can. It's that simple. If you try to carpe diem (seize the day for those who didn't study latin) you'll find yerself in doodoo so deep you couldn't cast a 2 oz weight on 10# braid out of it if it were air. Purty good analogy for a fishing site huh? And the best part is that unless yer a total dipstick as a father you won't even mind. We all discovered when our kids came along that we no longer were rulers of our own domain - the kids were, hands down, and we loved it. But take comfort in the fact that before very long they'll be treating you like the hero of their world and dragging you out to fish with them, and asking you to teach them how to ride a bike, and one day, if you really do an exceptional job as a pop, he'll even ask you for advice on girls, but don't count on that one. I don't know anyone who ever made it to the top of that particular mountain. Settle for them occasionally treating you like yer a little bit cool, like when I told my youngest I knew the Wild Strawberries and was gonna introduce him to them. He was kinda like "Dad, how come you know them?" as if they had some kind of social disease if they were friends of mine. To this day he still acts like that was some kind of aberration on their part. We fathers do what we can to be the centre of our kids' lives, and settle for whatever bone they throw us, cuz that's what Dads do. Enjoy the trip for the next 20 years. It takes at least that long before they realize that parents are people too. I'm envious. I'd do it again in a heartbeat. JF

There's always the next game. JF

Unless you and others who think that way can convince the gov't to buy it and turn it into a conservation or whatever. But there's a limit to the governement's ability to fund conservation of natural areas. If there's money to be made to help the region survive (taxes and jobs) and there's no compelling reason to stop development (environmental and ecological) then it will probably happen once the demand exceeds the cost for a developer. If you were a grocery store owner in the nearest community would you be wanting to stop this? Or if you ran a marina, or a hardware store, or were a builder .... It's easy for us to watch at a distance and criticize but the real issue is what does it mean locally. We'd all love to see nature protected and preserved so we can enjoy it on our 2 week summer holidays but what about the folks who are toughing it out all year in that area you enjoy fleetingly? Don't you think they'd enjoy a bigger retail season to make the winter off-season easier to survive? As the years go by and development and greed consumes our natural areas we're all gonna have to learn to go farther afield to enjoy nature. Guys like Solo have got it figgered. They go far enuf that greed and avarice won't take away their playgrounds while they still can play. We all need to take a page from their books cuz greed and avarice wait for no man. Dayum! I'm in a negatively philosophical mood today. Must be cuz I spent too much time out in the sun cleaning the pool and gardening. Also cuz I had a rather large deal take a left turn on me this week. I can be philosophical about nature but when my bank account takes a hit I get really really pizzed. JF

When I was a kid my folks would take us to the nearest city (Stratford) to watch the local cops blast at the starlings hanging around the city hall. This was an annual event and was well-attended by watchers. Doesn't seem to have a durned thang for th starlings although I have to say they don't seem to be quite as numerous as they apparently were way back when. That's probably not a bad thang. I remember as a kid being encouraged to go to the local dump to shoot rats. We'd tape a flashlite to the gun barrel or just shine the car headlights into the garbage. We got lots and lots of huge rats but they don't seem to have gone away because of it. Man does what he's gotta do to control his environment. If we manage to remain the alpha critter we'll keep trying to have our way. The critters that are meant to survive, like man has so far, will. The others will fade away whatever we do. I believe that. JF

I've come to the conclusion that the tree hugger types don't get it. The natural evolution of our planet is dependent to a very large degree what we humans do to impact it. If we collectively choose to eradicate Cormorants then that's the way it was meant to be. We're the dominant species at the moment. It's ridiculous to say that we mustn't meddle in Mother Nature's grand plan cuz we're an inherent part of it, and so is whatever we do. I know that sounds callous, but the fact is that trying to second guess nature's reaction to our impact is stupid. It is what it is. That being said we all need to be prepared to accept the consequences of our impact, or be prepared to explain to our grandchildren why there are no more Cormorants (they crapped too many islands to death), Manatees (they were too stupid and slow to get out of the way of our props), etc. Take the island crap murder to it's limit and what do you have? The earth is dead, void of living vegetation. We're too good at protecting those things we deem to need protection. What we don't do so well is compensate for the harm those protected species do to our environment. We try, but we generally get it wrong. Perhaps the smartest move is to go with the flow. When the cormorants are all gone we'll have to deal with the proliferation of whatever little aquatic critters or green growing things (like Kudzu) that is no longer contained by their crapping presence. Mother Nature is way too sophisticated and convoluted for us to win in the guessing game so why not go with our instincts. Fight the Cormorants and the Gobies and the Zebra mussels to the best of our ability. We'll get the most years of comfort and enjoyment out of our planet before we turn it into a dead thing. Given the twists and turns of space planet death is probably inevitable anyway, whether we bring it on or nature does with a huge astroid or a drop in heat from the sun. We are what we are. If that means we're gonna do ourselves in, so be it. Let's enjoy whatever time we have here. That doesn't mean we have to be totally irresponsible in dumping huge amounts of toxic waste into our ground water, but worrying about the continued existence, even the proliferation, of individual species is most likely beyond our ability as only one more extant animal. How's that for a huge philosophical rush of blood to the head. Now I'm gonna go and bbq a huge bloody steak and kill off a few potatoes and carrots to boot. I might even open a bottle of wine. What the hey, we killed those grapes long ago. Enjoy yer dinners JF

Money rules. You can't stop progress, especially when it's backed by money. Rest assured that if the dollars make sense it will sell, and it will be developed. Perhaps the tax situation in the Kawarthas is better than in the Muskokas. That alone could draw crowds of end users. JF

I guess I kinda fell into the "Hate The Rich Kid Who's Sucky" deal along with most of the hard-nosed hockey fans in the world, but the more I watch him, the more I like him. The announcers keep talking about how he works on developing his leg strength and it shows when he goes behind the net one handing the puck while he fends off some horse who probably outweighs him by 50 # or more. He does a lot of things really really well, and he makes or takes passes as well as anyone I can remember being impressed by in the past. He's proving hisself to be the real deal despite what his detractors would love to have us believe. They'd all be getting misty over him if only he played for their team. Yeah, he might have been a bit of a diver, prone to embellishment and whining in the past, but he's evolved into a really great player to watch, except perhaps for last night, but every superstar has bad days. For me Crosby looks like a player at least a notch above Malkin, but for show Malkin and OV are the big dogs. I'll still take a few lines of Crosbys with just a smattering of Malkins and OVs to draw the crowds to pay for the entertainment. Malkin is great, no doubt about it, but to a different degree. He may mature into a smarter player one day but he's got a lot to learn to be Sid's equal as a contributor. He reminds me so much of OV. He's not quite the hotdog OV is, but he's every bit the MeMe player. Watch how he cruises looking for a break out pass, and then wastes an opportunity by dipseydoodling through the other team usually just getting pushed off the puck. He's not quite as overt as OV about it, simply standing up at the offensive blueline setting a tape target for whoever has the puck, but he's not as smart or as willing to muck for the puck as Sid. Crosby gives away opportunities when he sees guys in better places. Malkin just wants the puck - period. That being said I believe there was a very nice passing play recently when he fed Sid, but those are few and too far between for me. I wondered if Datsyuk would be in top form when he came back. I guess we got our answer. He kinda owned the play last night. How much of that is having the home ice advantage and very good line management on the bench will be answered in the next game. I'm knocked out by the depth of Detroit. They're having to sit guys who are playoff stars. Sucks to be Pittsburgh then huh? I guess the unanswered question is will these guys be stars in a few years when the old farts have migrated to the retired players lounge to watch the games. Detroit has pretty good chemistry right now. Can they sustain it without Lidstrom et al? The Pens looked kinda lost after that initial flurry, speaking of which, I wasn't impressed with Fleury last night, but then even star goalies can't be incredible every night. The next game will be interesting. Perhaps the Pens will show us that this is a homer series. Whatever they do next I have my doubts they can win the Cup this year, but heaven knows, they're getting closer all the time. If they can keep some of the rear guard guys for a year or two more they're gonna bring that cup home. I'm not sure if I'll be a fan ever. One never knows when the Leafs might pull out of the slump. But unless the Leafs start their inevitable comeback soon I guess Crosby and the Pens will be my default team. JF

$4,900,000 The property has received Draft Plan Approval for the development of 95 residential lots, all having waterfront access with an average lot size of 3.3 acres. Found this on the 'net. Here's a drawing of the planned lot divisions. http://www.loopnet.com/Attachments/9/7/D/9...0913590D431.pdf JF

Musta pulled some drag on the doc's reel, huh? JF

Oh, I'm pretty sure that IS his new PB. Congratulations Pops. JF

I picked up a Rebel bumblebee (not sure of the proper name) afew weeks ago. Does your craw have little bitty hooks? I saw some pro on WFN raving about the bee pattern but I didn't notice the hook size he was using. They seem pretty small for bass to me. I tried the lure in the pool and it dives very easily and has kind of nifty action underwater. Of course I've never seen a swimming bee before so I don't know what is a natural look for a bee swimming 1' inder the surface. JF

I have a couple of those Rainbow patterns but I didn'tbother trying them as we have no baby rainbows as forage around here. Guess I should give it a go. As I've said elsewhere my fishing buddy always uses a floating Rapala, a grey one. He's happy with the results. I have had some luck with size 3 and 4 Mepps. JF

The top two have a little more lip than I use and not colours I'd have thought to try. I've had some luck with blue or green A.C.Shiners. The bottom one I have in a different colour and it works well on occasion. JF

There have been occasions when for the sake of the fish I'd have liked to have had a good cutter handy. If and when I hook myself it will seem even more important. Now I carry those old Gray cutters that I found. I know they'll hack thru any of the hooks I use. When I start going out on a boat (or a kayak) I'll carry the mini bolt cutters I got at CTC. For now I'm doing pretty well getting the hooks outa the fishies without doing any harm. I've only had to go in through the gills a couple of times but I wuz gentle, I think. JF