JohnF

The entire place is like that - manicured. And there's a huge reverse osmosis system so we drink tapwater on the resort. Perhaps I'll send some more pics to Photobucket and share 'em before we leave. I'd recommend this place to anyone, and often do. It's actually very reasonable, has excellent restaurants, and great accommodations. You can rent a 2 bed 2 bath villa for between $1,000 and $1,500/week and there are last minute airfares to Cancun in the $300-400 range, some even lower. Happy hour runs from 3 to 6 at all the pools and on the beach. I bought canned beer (Superior) at Walmart for 50 cents a can. Not my fave Mexican brew but for 50 cents it ain't bad. If you come to Mexico avoid the new outta luck lime flavoured beer. It's kinda nasty. With limes selling at pennies per pound it's much nicer to use fresh lime if that's yer druthers. It's always fun when the coconuts ripen in the pool area. Workmen come out and cut them down before they fall and crack a customer's skull. Then they use their machete to cut the end off and drink the milk. If you're close by they'll offer them around. JF

We saw a guy standing out in the surf this afternoon. It looked like he was handlining for something. I meant to catch him when he came back to the beach to ask what he was doing but he snuck past me. Too many damned distractions on the beach. JF

Good one. JF

I'm not sure it is. It was here when we started coming 14 years ago but a lot of things changed after the big hurricane a coupla years back. I'll watch for it on the next Walmart (beer) run. JF

Most of them are surrounded by large hairy guys with muscles and tattoos. No way I'm wagglin' a camera at 'em like PB smallmouths. I might lose a critical part of my anatomy. JF

Too Late. JF

I escaped. New Years Day we headed south and here's where we ended up. Now I'm stuck here for a few more weeks. Here's a shot of the view from our balcony. And here's a view up the beach from the top of our building. We're just a few miles from the Cancun airport at a resort called the Royal Mayan. Last week we were next door at the Royal Caribbean. I've been scouting for fishermen on the beach so I could make this fishing related, but so far I've been distracted by those beach bimbettes cavorting topless. There may well have been fishermen - but who cares. More manana, or perhaps a few days. JF

Watch the Junior game, then hit the pit to get rested up for the holiday in Mexico. We leave bright & early tomorrow. Happy New Year JF

But not as hairy. JF

You fergit that some of these good folks has got real jobs. They cain't all waste away the days lolligaggin' nekkid on the lake like y'all do. JF

A final post in defence of tiny snoblowers. We've had a lot of snow the last few days here and my little unit has been great with it. Granted I had more fun using my son's big 30" 10.5 hp after I fixed his ground drive but for the price and the space it takes up this 5.5 hp 22" cut is awesome. All the snow behind me (compliments of the city plow has been moved by the the little red blower in front of me. It takes a bit longer but it does the job, and as I said before, I can pick it up and put it in the back of the suv by myself to go to my Mom's place. That being said, if I had lotsa room in the garage, I'd still have the big blower.

Thanks. It always does. JF

I generally don't pay it much attention, but this year I have a brand new office just opened and I want to keep tabs on what's happening there. I won't be on the computer much unless we get a rainy day. JF

Cancun it is, south end of the Hotel Zone beach out towards the airport. When I feel the need of a little fishwatching I jump on a dive boat heading out near Isla Mujeres and commune with the pretty fishies for a few hours. When we wanna see bigger fishies we get on the bus to Coz. For the best diving though, the cenotes are pretty hard to beat. This is the windy season in Cancun so deep sea fishing is an exercise in nausea control. Besides, I have yet to get caught up in the joys of longlining. I like chucking bait. There's a few hardcore types casting on the beach but generally they don't catch anything. I think there's better fishing in the mangroves at the south end of the lagoon (by the road from the airport) but I've never checked it out, and not just because I've seen the crocs prowling the lagoon. I'm not really sure I wanna share a shoreline with 'em but I may work up my courage this year. JF

They definitely have fish. I've dived with 'em. And we make a pretty good dent in the Grouper and Shrimp population while we're there. They have lotsa great ways to prepare them. Merry Christmas JF

Merry Christmas y'all, and the very best to you in the coming year. I'm off to Mexico for a little beach therapy shortly, but I'll have my laptop at hand (with a Modelo Negra in the other hand). Thanks for a great 2008. JF

Last winter I posted a defence of small blowers (5.5 hp 22" cut two stage w/no cutter bars) like the one I bought at CTC for $500. I needed one that would fit in my garage when my wife's car was in. I gave my big 30" 12 hp w/drift cutters to my son for his long driveway. Now the little one is admittedly kind of a toy but if you treat it gently it's great for small spaces like my drive, until we get a blast like last night's. Then the lack of power becomes obvious for throwing snow any distance and chugging thru the mess left by the street plow. Buy the biggest you have space and budget for. If money or space are an issue then don't be afraid of the little units. Just remember that heavy jobs will always be problematic for it, but not impossible. The sheet metal body is kinda twisty so don't be reefing and twisting too much or you'll be stress cracking things. And if you're a helpful soul who does your neighbours' drives too then keep in mind that ground travel speeds are slow. The one forward speed thing is a bit of a nuisance when the snow gets heavy or when it's extremely light. It's nice to be able to match the ground speed to the second stage impeller speed for better clearing. One of the unexpected bonuses with the small unit is being able to lift it into the back of a van or suv by myself to transport it. I could never have done that with the big monster. Happy blowing. JF

We don't have much deep water in our area so we have to wade a bit to try a few different pools and most of those max out at 4'. Weeds are scarce so most of our fishing is fairly open water except for the green crap that we snag off the bottom, just enough to screw up the action. We try a bit of everything. As you can see that day I was using tubes but we'd actually been after pike (hence the leader) and switched to the tubes as we passed thru a pool where pike have never swum. The water was really running fast so I was chucking the tube across the stream and letting it swing out and back across in the current. If I get out early morning I try plastic worms first (caught my personal best smb on a pink worm letting it lie on the bottom), then go to topwater if the worms aren't working. Afternoons it's a crap shoot - I just run thru the entire repertoire of ammo. Evenings I usually end up with topwater. This year the water levels and rain have really been a pita in our area so we were either chocolate milk or crazy current or both. Last year we had such low water levels we had trouble finding pools to fish so bait choices were an unknown. When we know there are pike about live minnows are great if we can get 'em. My faves besides the plastic worms & tubes are Rapala floating minnows, Daiwa minnows, Baby Torpedoes, and occasionally Mepps style spinners. My regular fishing buddy Rob is a Rapala fan. He almost always uses an original floating grey Rap minnow (#7 I think) that he just twitches across the pool. He loses quite a few of them to pike attacks because he refuses to use a leader. I had intended to get into flyfishing for bass this year but the water conditions made experimentation difficult. Many days there were so few fish about that I wouldn't have known if it was me, the presentation or the fish that was skunking me. Hopefully next year will be better. I would really like to use the flyrod on some of those smallmouths and I've got all those beautiful flies that Singingdog so kindly sent me. I took them out a few times but got nothing. Of course Rob got nothing those evenings with his tried and true Rapala so I learned nada. JF

Yeah sure. But yer rich and you fish 13 hours per day. JF

I picked up a pair of Hodgman felt soled boots last spring for $40 or $50 (I believe they were on sale though) and they've stood up really well. I make a point of removing the insole and turning them upside down to dry at night. Admittedly they're only a season old but other than some scuffing and mudstains they're as good as new. The felt soles are great for the slippery rocks and flat bottom we wade on. They're a bit of a trial when climbing up or down grassy or muddy banks. I often end up on my butt or crawling on my knees getting in or out of the water but I wouldn't go back to rubber cleated soles for my kind of fishing, and my stained knees and butt actually gives my waders a camo look. I haven't tried studs but I doubt they'd be very good on flat rock riverbeds. JF

Well, there goes yer chance at ruling the world. Hopefully, fer your sake, you can't get at a computer at work. JF

I have my computer open on my desk and online all day long for work. But since I have the attention span of a 3 year old I keep getting distracted from my work. I suspect I may be pretty typical of OFNers in that regard. If we could stay focused on our work we'd probably rule the world. JF

Then that's a helluva cowlick there, Alfalfa JF

A great big beautiful smallmouth I caught on the Thames one morning with no witnesses, no camera and no way to properly measure it as I was standing in water up to my bellybutton. It's likely no one will ever believe me but I got the memory all the same. It was an exciting fish to catch. JF

Jeez. His head's nearly as hairy as his back. Or is that a hat? JF