Fishnwire

How subtle an attack on my signature. You're not correct though. The company began an extended maintenance shut-down in May which was scheduled to last until near September. Most of us were to be laid off for that period and the strike didn't start until near the end of July. I often don't agree with the tactics my union leadership employs, believe me...that said, if it wasn't for the right to collective bargaining, I wouldn't have compensation and benefits even worth fighting for. As a tradesman I know that my non-union counterparts make, on average, 30% less than I do. Those numbers don't lie. In our case, the company (which is highly profitable) is demanding large concessions from its employees. If your boss was making money hand over fist and one day he told you he wanted to pay you significantly less, how would you feel? The simple fact is that unless you have the training, experience, and qualifications necessary, and actually hold a particular job, it's really hard for you to say what someone who does should be comfortable earning. I don't know what you do, but I'll bet you think you should earn more, and chances are you deserve to. I almost certainly can't do your job and/or don't want it...besides, I don't have that job, so my opinion on appropriate compensation would be completely meaningless. When I was an uneducated, unskilled young man I worked at a non-union hotel as a maintenance guy for close to minimum wage. I had few if any other options. The company (at the time INCO) I now work for was on strike then as it is now. I remember having absolutely no sympathy for those striking workers. I thought that they already made many times what I made, and that they should be happy with that. I even took some amount of selfish, spite-filled joy from knowing that these guys were stressed out and suffering from the kind of financial hardships that I did all the time. the thought of them already being so much better off than me, but wanting even more made my blood boil. The internet didn't exist back then, but if it did I would have even been so smug and bitter about the whole situation that I might have written "lol" at the end of a post I had written mocking their struggle. I wouldn't have admitted to it then but I was jealous and bitter that I hadn't made other choices that would allow me to be a candidate for better job and a better life. I know a lot of people dislike unions for a variety of reasons (or at least they tell themselves that they do) and a lot of those reasons are quite valid. But I also know from experience that for at least some people, their feelings surrounding the whole issue stem from little more than a basic character flaw common to human nature called envy. You told us what you thought about the stricking workers at Vale, so I thought I'd take a second and let you know what this stricking member thinks. I did my best to remain respectful, and I think I did so. You're entitled to your opinion, and I'm entitled to mine. The big difference is that my opinion gets counted in the form of a vote on the contract and yours does not.

I thought it was obvious I meant all Walmarts...I don't even live in the town where this took place.

I wasn't refering to the employees (sorry, I thought I'd made that clear) although they're probably better off working for who ever opens up to fill Walmart's void in that particular market. I was refering to the town itself that no longer has a Walmart draining dollars away from its local economy.

This is the important part. If you have an opportunity to fish and the charts tell you its the worst time, you're still going to fish. Conversely, if you are stuck at work and the chart says its the peak time, you're boss/customers probably won't let you take off to wet a line. The other thing is that while the cycle of the moon may have some effect on fish and game activity, other factors like weather, presence or lack of on-coming fronts, relative water level, etc probably have a much bigger influence. For example, if the chart says tomorrow is the peak time but a wicked cold front just moved in, you're probably going to have a slow day.

At the mine I worked with a guy that had previously owned his own electrical contracting company. His employees voted to go union and he did just what you are suggesting, he shut the business down immediately. He absolutely refused to run a union shop, which he was totally within his right to do. The funny thing is that after he did so, and needed a job himself, the first job he applied for was a job at INCO, which is unionized. I couldn't help but wonder why he thought his employees didn't have the right belong to a union, but that it was OK for him.

I thought this was a new store closure. It's just a decision handed down regarding a store closure in 2005. I might be partially wrong then because the company is claiming that location was not profitable. That claim seems somewhat dubious to me...I'm sure Walmart has creative accountants and lawyers on their payrole. Who knows?

It's not like I've shopped there very much in the past, but I sure as heck WON'T be shopping there in the future. If they had attempted to keep the location open but were not profitable because of the union, that would be one thing, but they didn't. The thing is they knew that the location in question WOULD have remained profitable, so they shut it down to avoid setting that precedent. The clear winner in this story is the Quebec town that has managed to rid itself of it's local Walmart. I'd love to see the same exact thing happen here in Sudbury. Even with their low prices on crappy merchandise, Walmart is not a net benefit to the communities it does business in. Goggle the words "Walmart" + "evil" and learn a little about how they treat everyone they do business with. Any person, organization or entity that gets in the way of Walmart's increased profitability is thoroughly destroyed. They use their awesome power to leverage every possible cent they can from their employees, suppliers, and the very communities they operate in. The way Walmart is run is a testament to human greed, and reminds us that for some people, enough is never enough.

Those are really cool. I saw a thing on TV about a simular club...the really funny part was that most of the guys also had vintage snowmobile suits. The old vinyl one-peice ones with the big red stripes all over them.

I could be wrong, but I have heard that if you are charged with a violation by the MNR and have property seized, if you go to court and pay whatever fines are imposed you sometimes will have your seized property returned to you. I guess it depends on the value of the property and the severity of the conviction. Anyone know if there's any truth to that?

I've been fooling around painting old lures and jigs. I'm aware lure paint is commercially available, but I just used some of those little "Testors" enamel paint that is made for models. After I let them dry for a day or two I use a product (stolen from the wife) which is a colourless nail polish called "tough as nails" which acts as a chip-resistant clear coat and gives a nice shine when dry. I've tested some them underwater for a couple hours in a bowl and everything seem to hold up just fine. The thing is, I keep worrying about that model paint. Does anyone know with any certainty whether or not using that product for this application is a good idea? I know it has lead in it, but lots of fishing tackle does. Probably some of the factory painted baits in our boxes are covered in lead paint. It seems to be water resistant, but maybe it won't survive extended real-world use. ???

Usually I just bring these, an auger and some bait.

Actually, what he did was say to my less imposing buddy that was 10 or 15 yards behind me, when he (my buddy) apologized was something like "It doesn't matter now, your friend already spoiled the whole drift." Seeing him admit to being, and even bragging about being a "legally challenged" fish hog speaks volumes about the kind of person we're dealing with, so maybe I should have chalked up the whole experience to simple exposure to a random idiot.

I'd like to try the whole center pin thing some day, but I know nothing about it. I bought an 11.5' spinning rod a few years back and went to Manitoulin island for rainbow opener one year with a buddy who had done it only once himself. It was fun and I got a couple, but it was also a zoo and despite the crowds, some guys acted like they owned huge sections of the creek. I don't know trib etiquette too well, but if you position yourself between two steep banks so the only way to get up river is by wading through that section, can you really get upset when people, after waiting for a while, do just that? Like I say, this was opening weekend, and there were guys everywhere...we kept working our way upstream looking for a decent spot that wasn't already occupied. We had to get by and wearing waders and carrying 12 foot rods, bush-whacking didn't seem like an option. We waited a while for him to get a few good drifts in and then we asked him if we could get by. He acted like we were the biggest (insert censored word) that had ever picked up fishing rods. That experience alone made me not return to the creeks. I understand rainbow in the creeks spook a lot easier than the summer time SMB I'm used to, but what were we supposed to do? I will also mention that we stayed in the same motel as this guy, and he bragged to the whole parking lot on the last day about how they were taking home their party limit for the weekend (five license holders)...including those fish that his girlfriend, who was there but had never wet a line, would claim.

limeyangler and Raf...thanks for your feedback. I don't mean to hijack the thread...but the info you are giving is probably equally useful to the original poster. If not I apologize. I have a similar setup to the hockey stick, and I know how to align the transducer, but ensuring it is pointing straight down is tricky because it is made of wood and tends to float a bit. I'll try adding weights to get it straighter. Does the transducer have to be below the bottom of the ice, or can it be located part way down the hole? How much was the "iceducer"?

That kind of answers my question. Sorry...I didn't read that before my post.

I'm not a trout guy, but I've used slip floats for bass, walleye and crappie in 15+ FOW with a spinning outfit. I'm not trying to be a smartass but why couldn't you do the same with a float rod? I know nothing about that kind of fishing so I'm curious to learn a little about it.

To heck with felling like a bag lady...the shopping cart and comfy chair sound like they make things go smoother...that's what it's all about. Besides, don't you realize that when fishing is involved you're allowed to do things like that? I wouldn't be surprised if there are OFC members who have wore chest waders on the bus or subway. Did you have fun? That's all that matters.

I agree. If I caught an OOS fish that was gut-hooked I would cut the line as close to the hook as as could (without doing more damage) and release it to let nature take it's course. If the fish would make acceptable table fair, I generally attempt surgery and hope for the best. If its bleeding in any significant way when I'm done I harvest. As others posters have mentioned, I think the minute or so it takes to land and propery remove the hook (assuming that's an option) from anything you catch probably won't do any more damage than releasing it with gear in its mouth. Besides...you won't have time to re-tie your jig each time you get a fish...you'll miss out on too much action!!! Have fun and good luck.

The one problem I have with using my finder through the ice is that I my transducer is bullet shaped (made to troll) and getting it to point straight down is not as easy as transducers that are designed to point straight down. I'd be interested in hearing what you fellow ice-finder users do to combat this problem. Secondly, last week I was fishing for crappie off my the docks of a marina on the French. I was using my Humminbird 565 (it has a real-time sidebar) and was not picking up the fish these other guys with those "Showdown" LCD flashers were. Also, even with the sensitivity turned all the way up, I couldn't always see my little crappie jig. This might be because my transducer wasn't properly alinged...I just don't know

I hate you right now and it has nothing to do with simple jealousy. Seriously...nice fish dude.

I think the worst thing you can do for a fish is to leave a hook in its mouth. If I catch a fish that is deeply or badly hooked I will always attempt to remove the hook. If doing so kills the fish, (and assuming it is legal) then I keep it, because it probably would have died anyway, had I just cut the line and released it. I refuse to believe that modern corrosion-resistant hooks simply "rust-out" and fall from fish's mouths in fresh water within a couple of days, as we have often been told. I can't think of a worse death for a fish to face than slowly starving to death while they suffer from a staff infection. I guess their chances might be OK if it's just a single hook in the corner of the mouth, but a fish with a big treble, chunk of lead, a bunch of line or crank bait in its mouth is not in good shape.

Whatever they're paying COs, they could pay them about half and there would still be no shortage of men and women wanting to enter that profession. When I was in high school some friends and I looked into becoming COs and even with the right schooling you have about as good a chance of winning the lottery as you do of getting on as a full-time conservation officer in Ontario. Do you know how many people want those jobs? I'm not saying they don't work hard or have a tough job, but for those that pursue that carrer it is their ultimate dream vocation.

On the french river in the winter we usually find crappie in 30-40 FOW...if you can find a bit of a hump or area of sunken structure that stands out from its surroundings a bit I'd try there. We've often found them in an area one day and returned to the same spot later and found none. Be prepared to move around a little. If you don't have a flasher I'd fish about a foot off bottom but they will suspend sometimes. One time my screen was almost black with them on the bottom but they weren't biting at all. Every now and then I'd see a blip at about 16 feet and if I reeled up to there I'd get a hit almost every time. There were plenty of fish on the bottom but they weren't feeding, the ones at 16 were. If I didn't have the sonar I'd never have found the butter zone. They're fun to catch when the bite is on. The other peice of advice I'd offer is to go small. Small line, small hooks, small jigs, small bait. My brother uses the same ice rigs for crappie as he does for pike. 20 lb mono and number 2 hooks with a couple of big spit shots to get 'er down there...he refuses to attapt regardless of the fact that he gets outfished about 7 to 1 by guys with the right gear. Have fun and good luck.

I had a buddy who always wanted to guide on the French River. He knew the area really well, had a boat and equipment (which he knew how to use) and was a really good fisherman. He did it for a summer and told me he'd never do it again. He said it was basically just work, and not really like being out fishing. Also, he started to not want to fish during his days off. I decided then I never wanted to mix fishing and business.

Do you own or have access to a volt meter?