akaShag

A bit of grief, or nostalgia, is not a bad thing. But think of the adventures and stories you will have with your NEW boat! You don't get very far ahead if you are looking in the rear-view mirror............. Doug

Gouin Reservoir is a VERY long trip, and the last bit is all gravel. There is a lot of water there too, if the lads are going to be out on their own at all. (Think, lost on Gilligan's Island....) I never fished Kipawa but a buddy fished it for years and loved it. Just looked up Caesar's North Camps and I see they are a fly-in. But you still have to drive to Clova, which is a VERY long ride.

Looks like a nice bit of paradise right there! Doug

Thanks for the report - it brought back a lot of great memories.......... Doug

Thanks Brian. My memory being what it is, I can't recall if I tried this with warm potatoes or not. Once for sure it was cold mashed potatoes that I used, with canned steelhead, blah. Anyways, if Spiel is willing to share HIS recipe, I will try this one last time. There are some things that I have learned I can't make right.......... Doug

and people are locked up by covid and not spending money on other stuff like vacations out of country................same as the home renovation boom and the sky-rocketing cost of building materials. Supply and demand.

Yes, that was what I was using.............

and back to Spiel............ ...........My last two attempts at fish cakes were highly unsatisfactory. HIGHLY unsatisfactory. 😐 Are you able to share your recipe and EXACTLY how you made them? Doug

Tens of thousands of people use water bath canning and don't die. BUT personally, yes I do use a pressure canner. I most highly recommend the All American pressure canners with the metal to metal seal, no gaskets to fail. I have been using mine for over forty years. Doug

I suggest you contact moosebunk for first-hand experience with the Lund. I have had many boats, and looked at a LOT of them before I settled on a Sylvan. It had the best layout for what I wanted to do. I have a 40 hp Honda on my 16 footer and do not feel under-powered. As others have said, both your "finalists" are great boats. Doug

I have had boats get away from me on rollers and on bunks, in boat launches. EVERY time, it was somebody "HELPING ME" without getting the briefing. DON'T unhook the strap or chain until the hull is in the water!!!!! Now if I see anybody close to my boat when I am launching I tell them to keep out of the way, thanks very much! OIM I never thought of lubing up the bunks for recovery, but I put the trailer in the water until the centre keel roller is under water, and the boat comes in on the winch without making my cranky old back any angrier. Works for me. Doug

It's a great park, but the wardens are <<<ahem>>> enthusiastic about enforcing the rules. Like, singing around the camp-fire with grandkids to grand-parents, nothing rowdy, and well before 11 pm, cut it out or you will be evicted. SEVERAL different years. What can I say? we are a singing family, and campfires are the perfect venue for this. I never fished the lake when we camped, but have been there for day trips - it is a lovely, multi-species lake. Doug

PILLOW!!! Buy wine in a box. Drink wine, save the bag, instant pillow. Your pillow slip is your spare t-shirt. You want a BIG pillow? Buy the Magnotta 16 litre bag in box. At six bucks a litre for wine, what's not to love? You may want to drink the 16 litres before your fly-in so you can actually USE the bag as a pillow. But if you are on a week long trip and take a 16 litre box of wine with you, the 2 litres a day will probably make you forget what a pillow is, or why on earth you wanted one. After all, the floor is VERY comfortable! 😁 Doug

Yep, right up until you are stopped. As Cliff found in a ditch where the hull bow and stern were on land, and all the wheels in the air. Same when you are in a bog and high-centred, or in snow without tracks. When you are stuck in an Argo, you are REALLY stuck!!!!! But Cliff and his son going out in pairs is going to get around pretty much every "stop" that Mother Nature is going to throw at them. Doug

Looks like a LOT of meat is lost.............. I bought a Rapala electric filleting knife, not enough power to clean even a small fish. Then I tried an electric carving knife, but kept cutting through the backbone and screwing up the fillets. So............. I have filleted many thousands of fish in my life, with good sharp filleting knives, and I am not going to change. And YES I am a cantankerous old fart. 😉 Doug

I bet that if you walked along a mile of the 401 you would FIND a trailer plate! 😁

And Tooner Martin roaring around pulling donuts in his half-track on the roads. Whose truck was parked on the middle of the road and then slowly slid into the ditch, with nobody inside it? We all watched it go. Pretty much every winter trip in to Mountain Lake turned into an adventure...........

and it's Drew from Owen Sound who was with Marcel and I for that adventure. It scarred Drew for life. 😁

If the tires would spin because you are high-centred, so probably would tracks. And yes, Argos most assuredly do get high-centred in bogs. A buddy of mine took his wife out for a "romantic" tour in his 6 wheel Argo and got it hopelessly stuck on a hump in a large marsh. They both had to get out of the Argo into the stinking muck to push it off the hump. I don't believe his wife ever set foot in the Argo again.............😁 The worst I ever was bogged in my first Argo was an 8 wheeler with "super tracks" which were the extra wide version Argo had at the time. I was going across a snow-covered lake in late winter, hit a patch of slush, and sunk the hull up about half-way. Tracks were on the ice, Argo was surrounded by slush. Tracks would run but had no purchase. I BENT my heavy spud pole, using it as an anchor point for the wich..........and then three of us shovelled slush for a while. HINT: slush does not shovel all that well. Anyways, with some fervent prayers we got it up on top of the snow and I pinned it all the way to shore. That was where I found that some of the slush had found its way into the bottom of the hull and froze up the brakes on that side, so the Argo pulled to that side. I would go about 25 yards, do a hard correct on the steering, another 25 yards, and repeat for about 10 kilometres. One of the guys with me that evening never set foot in an Argo again either............ Doug

Glad you are enjoying the new ride, Cliff. Tracks are really for snow, as I may have said before. In snow deeper than maybe eight inches, you bottom out and don't go anywhere with tires. Doug

It says their fishing equipment was seized. The fishing boat and trailer were seized at the scene, but it doesn't sound like they were forfeited? And their vehicle???

I wish I had bought the combo pack, 6 each of 8" x 50' and 11" x 50'...................I did not think I would use the 8" stuff at all, but it turns out that would have been a better choice than a full case of the 11" rolls, which was what I bought. GREAT material! And bomb-proof: so far, I have been amazed at the durability of these bags. So anyways I just ordered a case of the 8" rolls. Now this should keep me for YEARS.............and for hugely less money than buying the rolls at Canadian Tire, or wherever. Thanks again to smitty55 for showing the way!😉 Doug

Beautiful hulls on those older Starcraft. I had an 18 foot '66 Holiday, GREAT salmon boat, but too much boat for the back lakes here............

back to smitty55............I have a couple GREAT rib recipes, that turn out delicious. I am just thinking that a bacon cure would give them a completely different taste. Pork tenderloins don't taste anything like tenderloin bacon, just like pork loin doesn't taste like back bacon. This would be an experiment, and I am curious to see if anybody else has tried it. Doug

Food Basics has pork back ribs on sale this week. They're still not a CHEAP cut of meat, but once in a while I like a feed of ribs. So I got to thinking, I wonder what they would be like if I did them with my bacon cure and then smoked them..............and then finish on the BBQ. I think they would be pretty darned good, but maybe salty. I always rinse the cure off the bacon and pat the pieces dry before I smoke them, I could also do that with the ribs. Anybody here ever try something like this? People said I could not make pork tenderloin into bacon, but it is awesome. I think ribs would be good too! Doug