Fishnwire

No offense you say? Gee...why would anyone be offended about being called an idiot? A comment like that is clearly not meant to offend anyone.

Money is just paper. The old man and his chums (all dead now) put so much sweat equity into that place that it would be hard to put a dollar value on it. They didn't have a generator back then so they had to built the place without the benefit of power tools...and had to cut over 3 km of trail before they could start. Not only is it on the water but is so secluded that it could almost be described as a private lake. I'd let him bust a hundred crappy rods and wouldn't complain.

He's probably only got a season or two left in him. As long as he's strong enough to break rods I'll keep supplying them. Also, He sold me the camp at about half of market value two years back so I figure a couple of rods are not a big deal.

Like I say...if you met the guy you'd have a hard time saying he "thinks his agenda comes before anyone else." If you have one person in your life who is as thoughtful, caring and downright capable as this guy, consider yourself very lucky. He's one of those guys that, if you didn't already love 'em, you'd be tempted to hate 'em out of jealousy. My point is that here is a guy you would never think would be a problem to others on the road, or anywhere else for that matter. If anything I think he doesn't get upset when others cut him off so he assumes others would extend him the same courtesy. Part of the reason I started the thread is because I have so much respect for his opinion that I began to think maybe my attitude was wrong. Thanks for backing me up OFNers...I'm going to tell him that you guys all think he's a goof with a bad attitude and that he doesn't know how to drive. I can't wait!

I can't buy a rod based on it's description. I need to pick it up and hold it in my hand to know if it's right for me. Years back I broke a Loomis rod (which I loved) and sent it back. That model was discontinued so they sent me what they felt was the closest thing. I have never been able to get into the feel of that rod. It's a good peice but it simply not what I would have choosen. Besides...for $100 I can buy two Abu Garcia combos from Crappy Tire. If your father-in-law broke as many rods as mine does (two this year and three last) you'd buy cheap rods too.

The funny thing is that he is anything but. This issue aside, the guy is one of the smartest, nicest and most "with it" people I know. I have worked on high voltage instalations with him and have literally trusted my life to this man. If he was an idiot in most situations I would have chalked it up to that but the fact is that if you met the guy for five minutes you'd never assume he'd be the type of guy with a stupid attitude.

I was in my buddy's car the other day and we're pulling out of a parking lot and I notice that he cut a guy off as we entered the street. I said, "Hey, you just cut that guy off behind us." He turns to me and says, "What are you talking about? He had lots of time to stop." Now as far as I'm concerned, if you pull out into traffic and the driver in the vehicle behind you has to take his foot of the gas, you cut him off. If he has to hit the brakes, you've definitely cut him off. His point seemed to be that as long as the guy doesn't slam into you or have to veer out of the way to avoid doing so, that doesn't count as being "cut off". I told him that if the guy behind us hadn't have been paying attention or didn't get on the brake fast enough, he'd have plowed into us. He seemed to feel if that would have happened, it would have been the other driver's fault. What do you guys think? I think that if someone pulls out ahead of you, and you need to take some form of corrective action (foot off gas pedal, application of brakes, or changing lanes) then you just got cut off. Also, regardless of the legalities...is it in any way wise to trust that some idiot is going to avoid hitting you? Why put your safety in the hands of someone else?

If he wanted to "help you out", why didn't he just write you up for 15 over on the spot, instead of making you take a day off of work and deal with the whole hassle of court? It seems like a waste of your's, his and the court's time to have you show up if you'll end up with 15 over anyway. If he'd have given you a ticket for 15 over, you'd probably just pay it and that would be that. Also, you were going with "the flow of traffic" and he admitted it. What can be gained by singling out a driver who is not doing anything out of the ordinary? Without a doubt, a greater safety hazzard was created by having you pull over to the side of the 407 with high-speed traffic whizzing by, than getting one guy to slow down more than those around him. If you really were going with the flow of traffic and the cop stated so, plead "not guilty", because you didn't do anything wrong. Any judge with half a brain will see this. Good luck.

I work with an electrician in the mines who told me that when he first hired on with INCO he debated becoming a fulltime trapper instead. He said that a decent trapper could make better money than a licenced tradesman at that time. He still traps as a hobby but says that he knows a couple guys who do it full time and he knows for a fact that he makes at least 10x what they make. It's a shame...what was once an important proffesion in this country is little more than a hobby with a ton of hard work involved. Does anyone know if there's anyway I can find out who has the right to trap in the vincinity of my camp? I wouldn't mind seeing a bunch of the beavers that flood the road get trapped out.

Darn...It had occurred to me that that might be the case, Roy. Hopefully I can still find something that will act as a general guide though.

I'm a little surprised that no one has suggested that the photo is not genuine. It looks very real, except for the fact that the moose itself seems impossibly large. I hope it's real, but I'm cynical about such pics I see on the net.

I couldn't agree more. Goggle a phrase like "Wal-mart is evil" and spend a couple of minutes learning about the utter disregard Wal-mart has for everyone that stands in its way of making greater and greater profits. They stick it to everyone they come in contact with from their employees to their suppliers. Those low prices come at a high cost...and don't forget that once they've successfully undermined enough of their competition those competitive prices will give way to monopoly imposed gouging. Make no mistake, that is their ultimate goal. Wal-mart is the perfect example of how corporations can generally not break any laws but still demonstrate how completely and utterly ammoral they truly are. Moral highground aside, I've seen the fishing section and the walmart in Sudbury and it's a freaking joke. Pretty much all kid's stuff.

I'm looking for a chart or something that gives info on the the physical size of hooks relative to their nominal size...meaning I want to know the dimensions of various styles of hooks for each commercially available size. Basically, I want to be able to measure the gap of a hook (I have a micrometer), refer to the chart and know what size that hook is. I found this, but it's not quite what I'm looking for. There are many sizes of various styles not included...for example, look at the octopus hooks...they only show three sizes, and where are the real big trebles? Also, this chart doesn't actually give dimensions, but just reproduces examples in actual size. http://www.jannsnetcraft.com/Content/Parts_Sizing.htm If anyone has a more inclusive chart, I'd appreciate it. Thanks.

Check out the '90 Indy Sport which I am rockin'.... That's how I roll. Jealous?

Awesome! Thanks Roy and everyone else. I'm going to give it a try for sure. Something fishing related to pass the time during those long, cold winter nights is just what I need. Hopefully I'l have some pics up in a couple of weeks with some early results.

I want to start tying my own trailers (I think that's what they're called...I'm referring to treble hooks dressed up simular to a fly) to use on my cranks and topwaters as the tail end hook or on spinners and spoons. What would be required to set myself up to be able to do so, and about how much would I need to spend to get started? I assume I would need a little bench vise and that tool fly tiers used to hold the spool of thread as it is wrapped around the fly. Is there anything else I'd need? And again, how much is this going to cost me? Thanks.

Done.

This past summer I did really well for smallmouth bass using plastic. Power lizards, worms, craws and tubes produced consistently throughout almost the entire season. I'm not sure why I want to mess with success, but I've had a few ideas for adding some flash and action to plastic to come up with some different presentations. Here are some of the results. I used 12 lb Seagur as leader material, where necessary. I haven't tested any to see how they run yet. I'll be interested to see if I manage to get some funky action into my plastic...I'm hoping for an undulating kind of thing. I probably won't get to really try them out until next summer. Any comments, questions tips or tricks would be appreciated. If you think they are the dumbest things you've ever seen, feel free to say so.

No no GCD, I'm not typing the URL...I've got the whole cut, copy and paste thing figured out. Thanks anyway. The fact of the matter is I used a computer for years before I learned that skill and its surprising how often you run into someone who is clueless about those functions.

Irishfield nailed it right on the head. That's my problem right there. Backslash in the wrong place. Thanks everybody.

Here's a close-up look at how the eyelet is attached on the original. As you can see, it doesn't extend straight out from the nose but points down a little. You seem to have things figured out pretty good...you obviously don't need my advice. Have fun and good luck.

I use Fireline Crystal all year round. It works fine in the cold. Ice builds up on all line when you're jigging if its cold enough. You have to free the ice from the foot or two of line that is nearest the hole every now and then. If it's REALLY cold, I usually stay home.

Trying to post pictures from Facebook and/or Photobucket. I tried using the "manage attachments" thing but I want to write a report with multiple pics. 250K is not a lot. Sorry to waste space and people's time...can anyone tell me what I'm doing wrong? I've seen reports by other members with dozens of full size pics...what gives?

That's really awesome. I'm going to try something like that for sure. There are a couple of things about your spook that differs from the original though. Trying to incorporate them might really improve performance. First of all, the eyelet on the original is not actually located at the tip of the nose. It is offset a few millimeters and actually points off at about a 45 degree angle. Secondly the original spook is weighted near the tail end, usually incorporating a rattle. Lastly, and this would be the hardest thing to accomplish, the original is actually tapered slightly from head to tail. The good folks at Heddon probably wouldn't have bothered with those details if they didn't make a difference. Nice work...let us know how you make out on the water.

I recently re-read the old classic The Old Man and the Sea by Hemmingway. I have always liked that story ever since I was first forced to read it for high school english class. To anyone who hasn't read it, you may want to consider doing so. Its only about 100 pages long and a real easy, enjoyable read. It's a fishing story, so most OFNers would enjoy it. If you do think you might pick it up one day, you may wish to skip the rest of this thread, because I want to discuss an element of the story with those that have already read the book...consider this a spoiler alert. ................................. Anyway, the one thing about that story that has always bothered my is this; why didn't Santiago (the old man) use the knife which he had to cut off sections of the fish which he could hoist into the boat and keep away from the sharks? He couldn't have saved it all, but he could have saved some. His time and energy would have been better spent butchering the fish into manageable chunks than fighting sharks with a broken oar...am I right?