akaShag

PS) I still cannot do a quote here and cut/paste takes away all of the spaces in my reply. But anyways I agree 100% with what chris.brock wrote. I have been broken down on major highways several times with blown bearings, and I am here to tell you, NOTHING screws up a fishing trip like finding places to get a trailer fixed alongside the 400/401/etc.............. Doug

if I can avoid towing a trailer, I do, trailers have bearings, lights, tires, add weight and add complications in my opinion, I would put the canoe on top Lucas DITTO!

We can be of a lot more help if we know what you want to use the boat for, and where. A Great Lakes boat might be too big for small water. A boat that I can take comfortably on all of our back lakes might be NFG for Lake Ontario. I will NEVER go back to a console/steering wheel, but there are folks who will NEVER buy a tiller boat. And so on............. Doug

Justin, I did not think to mention this before............but if you are not a hunter, perhaps you don't know that your scent can stay on the trail camera and will spook animals. I learned this the hard way with a magnificent buck that investigated my trail camera the day I put it up in September or so, turned tail and I never saw him again all season......... So if you don't already do so, it is a good idea to spray your camera with a commercial scent killer each time you put it up/check the card/etc. It makes a big difference. But maybe you already knew that! Doug

back to Art..............yep, those would be the ones! Until they check the DNA............ Doug

back to Art............I would be pleased to do that but of course here in Ontario it is illegal to buy, sell, trade, barter, etc fish and game.............. Just sayin'......... Doug

back to davey buoy................that takes more brain power than I can muster most days so I have not even tried yet. But I DID can a bunch of goose breasts today, some with bacon and others with bacon and maple syrup. So I did actually spend some time doing productive things.............. Doug

back to jds63................ I think you are the first person ever that I have read who named Carl Wilson Lake as a destination. It was my absolute favourite lake in the park! Doug

I was going through the park many years ago and nearing the Eastern gate, when a large critter ran across the road in front of me. I got a very good look at its hind quarters and tail as it disappeared - and even though there was "no such thing" in Ontario at that time, I had absolutely seen a cougar. All kinds of interesting animals to see in the park! That wolf print could not have been much fresher unless he was standing in it! Doug

Thanks Justin. I was not looking to get into an argument..............and yes the photo (thumbnail) looks to my eyes like a coyote rather than a wolf. As I said earlier, the paw prints would be the dead give-away. Hope you get more photos - and maybe in daylight! (Of course, you know that I would be looking to set up a bait and a blind..............) Doug

Justin, cool video and thanks for showing it here. I would be interested to learn if a biologist agrees with your conclusion about the species. I have little experience with wolves, but quite a bit with coyotes, and that looks to me like a coyote. Not trying to rain on your parade...............and of course if you found tracks the next morning where the critter had been, and they were the size of your palm, then that was no coyote! Just curious................ Doug

aplumma also suggested Google Chrome. I tried it twice, hated it, had any number of problems with it and cannot see myself going back to it. But I am an old fart and not only technophobic but also a technonincompoop...................

Internet Explorer (I think) Not Firefox, for sure...........

Thanks Art. I am using Windows 7 Professional, and do not have these problems with quite a number of other Internet sites.... When I push the "Quote" button on a post that I would like to quote, essentially nothing happens, and it does not show up in my reply box, neither on the first page nor on a "more reply options" page. I can cut and paste by enabling html on the latter page, but then the text appears with no spaces. And on a hot button, usually I get a little yellow star with an "X" in it (which leads me to think it is a pop-up blocker problem). That one I think I can fix if I fart around with it long enough................ Ah, the heady challenges of an Internet Adventurer! Doug

Welcome aboard, but............. Watch out for threads dealing with Conservation Officers and/or Lake Nipissing............. (spoken as a fellow newbie....) Doug

OK I have been here a few weeks now and have learned a few things: 1. Most of the folks here are polite and respectful of each other's opinions. 2. To see where number 1 is not necessarily true, follow threads about Conservation Officers and/or Lake Nipissing. 3. My machine will not let me use the QUOTE button, nor can I make any "hot link" button work. (yet...) 4. When I enable html for a response, the spaces that I carefully insert for reading clarity disappear. So far, so good, but I really do need to figure out some of these computer glitches. Doug

Back to Fisherman, same story here. Well, if Nipissing has huge flocks of cormorants, I reckon they are as bad or worse of a threat to the walleye as the commercial harvest. Until we get rid of this McWynnety LIEberal government, we will not have science-based cormorant control. Maybe if the Nipissing First Nations decided they wanted to harvest the cormorants................ Doug

http://blogs.canoe.ca/outdoorsguy/fishing/cormorant-coming-soon-to-a-waterway-near-you/

Back to BillM..............those sound like bodies of water I would avoid............. Here in Eastern Ontario (Land O' Lakes), on the lakes I fish, the anglers far out-number the pleasure boaters and Jet-Ski types. Only one that I can think of off the top of my head where there are quite a few more pleasure craft is Desert Lake near Sydenham. But there the water-skiers, tubers, Jet-skis etc typically frolic out in the wide open deep parts of the lake, leaving most of the good fishing water alone. And most of them, in my experience, are on the water around mid-day when I am back on land. I imagine there are lakes around here that have more of the pleasure craft on them than anglers, but I don't know those lakes personally. Doug

Interesting photo on that MB pike. Not sure I am buying the 60" measurement. But back to the OP, please don't rain on my parade wen I say my crappie weighed two pounds, OK? (If you're going to prevaricate, pick numbers that mess with people's heads...............) Doug

If my machine would allow me to do a "QUOTE"...............I would....................... But I can't.............. Thanks Headhunter. I would be VERY interested to hear the perspective from the Nipissing First Nations. From my own experience, there are at LEAST two sides to every argument, and generally more............ I'm still sorry about poking a hornet's nest.............. Doug

Well, that is unfortunate............

It was certainly NOT my wish to turn this thread into something whereby people point fingers at other groups. As I said, if the parties negotiate IN GOOD FAITH to see what people NEED from the lake, then maybe a common ground could be found. As I suggested, if First Nations employment is an issue (and it probably is), then what good jobs can the community find, and what opportunities can stakeholders (including three levels of government) provide for education or whatever, so the young folks working the commercial fishery can find better employment? Same for the tug owners etc, what economic drivers could be attractive enough to convince the commercial operators to hang up their nets? Very little in my experience is ever gained by playing "he said, she said," and pointing fingers. But honest people, negotiating in good faith, can accomplish results that people can agree with and sign on to. Just sayin'..................... Doug

Well, if there is money in the pot to buy out the operations that would enable the Fist Nation(s) to turn to a different profitable enterprise (s), which does provide work for their youth, they there might well be a path to a greatly reduced commercial harvest. Anyways, in my view that would be the most likely option to succeed in restoring Nipissing's walleye stocks..............not knowing what OTHER significant factors might well be in play such as invasive species. But if there is a large commercial catch of walleye, then it is feasible to turn some or part or possibly even all of that into fish that are available for sports anglers. Doug

Back to Garfisher....... OK so it sounds like the commercial fishery is run by one or more First Nations. If it is in their economic best interest to surrender the commercial fishery for some valuable consideration (defined however), then perhaps a good faith negotiation could find some common ground to "buy out" the commercial "licence" and allow the tourist potential of the area to rebound. I think that personal consumption/ceremonial/etc use by the First Nation(s) involved would not be a significant factor, and should continue. So maybe the outfitters and other tourist-dependent businesses, in conjunction with the government of Ontario, could find an agreement that would see the commercial fishery cease or decrease significantly. Everybody wins, if the First Nation(s) involved are willing to accept (for example) job training for young folks and compensation for lost fishing income in return for hanging up their nets. Just a thought, and no, I do not wear rose-coloured glasses. There is ALWAYS a solution to a disagreement if both/all sides are willing to bargain in good faith. This sure looks like a place where a good faith discussion might be useful. Doug