maybe

Jeff was just bouncing when he got back from the event. Sounds like everyone had a blast - sorry I missed it! In retrospect, I really wish we'd spent the time picking up a new net at the Sportsmen's show. Our trusty old one got demolished our last day on the water last year. Silly me, thinking we wouldn't need a new one until the marina reopens in May. I've learned my lesson. Thanks for loaning Jeff your camera, Carole!

Nice fish! I assume the pics with tourney signage are on their way, right?

Happy birthday, Carole!!

Can't stand the texture of fish. However, the batter from Jeff's fish & chips magically appears on my fork when he's not looking. I swear I have no idea how it gets there.

Yep, it's in the university's sturgeon tank for the winter - see the fish cam location page (which gives months for each species) and the non-video fish cam page (which lists the sturgeons' sizes). Tank or not, it's a neat cam. Thanks for posting it.

Learn from my stupidity.....go into any deal assuming you'll have to take it back 10x for warranty work. I've lost count how many times I've had to take our truck back to Boyer's down in Pickering (about an hour away). It's gotta be hitting for double digits. For months, every time they fixed something, their guys would break something else while it was on the hoist, and it'd have to go back after they ordered parts. When I tried to get the mess cleaned up by another dealership that I know can actually fix things, Boyers told GM that these were pre-sales defects (not), so GM would force me to go back to them. Nice little scheme they've figured out to bleed the warranty company. Anyway, point I'm trying to make - driving the truck 90 minutes home from the dealer is peanuts. Taking the truck back to correct 1 issue is 6 hours of driving (2 round trips - 1 for diagnosis, 1 for repair after parts arrive), which costs you gas and your hourly labour rate. When you're calculating whether a vehicle is a deal or not, factor in these hidden warranty costs - just in case. Not sure about Broadway. Was looking at a Suburban at auction last year, ownership said it'd been owned by them for the better part of a year and an awful lot of kms. I called to ask them what they knew about the truck, and they swore up and down they'd never heard of it. After I hung up, I checked out their website. There the truck was, still listed as for sale by them, at 50% more than it was worth - even though it'd been sitting offsite at the auction lot for weeks. Sorry to be such a doom & gloom, just trying to help you have a more fun time with your new toy. Good luck!!

This makes about as much sense as hosting a wheelchair basketball tourney on top of the Matterhorn. I had to go to the MCC for the first time this January, and drove our Yukon XL so that my staff could work together en route. It's not as though our truck is lifted or anything, just a stock GM 4x4...but the Centre's parking facilities don't have enough clearance. This meant I had to try finding room in one of the packed surface lots. Spots are sized for Civics, so our truck had to take up 2...which was $20 for an hour and a half. I was shocked to find out that smaller vehicles were expected to leave their keys for the lot jockeys to play with. Nooooo, thank you. Don't think we'll be wasting $100 to see what other "improvements" spring from this brilliance. The $$ will be much better spent attending extra master classes at the Spring Fishing & Boat Show.

I wound up with a BPS Bionic Plus reel. Seems nicely built for the price, the grips feel good, and I really like the rubberized texture on the housing. Spooled it up this afternoon and hit the back yard with a practice plug. Geez, you guys weren't kidding about the newbie bird's nest thing!

Happy to bow and worship at your feet, sir! I'm just here to provide the idiot baseline, same as last year. After every race, I swap out the existing picks and replace with the top points guys in each division. No more, no less, no clue. Was good for a solid middle-of-the-pack finish last year. Sucks so far this year...I just crawled UP to 18th!

Interesting you should mention lefty baitcasters. Just before show closing time last night, I decided it was time that I learn how to use a baitcast reel. Wandered into the nearest retailer booth, and told the staff I was looking for a decent beginner rig. Not super high end, but a good enough reel that any backlashes would be my fault, not a design defect. Something with a crank on the left, please. Not one but two of the staff from this store proceeded to tell me that cranks on the left hand side of a baitcast reel do not currently exist anywhere on the market. They expected them to become available for the first time in July, but until then, it was crank right or nothing, period. Odd. By the time they quit telling me how lefties don't exist, the show was closing - so we headed off for Bass Pro. Walking up to the reel counter, first thing I see is baitcast reels with their cranks on the left. Yay! 2 very helpful staffers gave me Baitcast Gear 101, and 10 minutes later I was on my way with an $80 starter reel and a $20 throwaway rod. Very happy. Jeff grumbled, though - as usual, the sale items he wanted were out of stock. Overall, we did surprisingly little buying at the show yesterday - 6 items, totalling ~$325 before taxes. Jeff finally picked up the super psychic inflatable Mustang PFD he'd been lusting after, saving $50 at LeBaron's booth. It was expensive enough that signing up for their discount card at that point paid for itself, and will save us 10% for the rest of the year...IF we ever get to the store. Their "closed on Sundays" policy makes an awful lot of $$ for Bass Pro. We got $5 worth of Insect Defend Patches at the manufacturer's booth. Hadn't been able to find them at Home Hardwares in our area, but the reps say they'll be in contact with the stores to fix that. Looking forward to avoiding bugs without stinking to high heaven. $10 went to a new product I hadn't heard of before - Booster Tails. Made of microfiber, which should hold onto scent a lot better than feathers or rubber skirting. The scent pen doesn't leak when inverted, and can be refilled with a different scent product. No more globs landing in my hair or on the carpet - very exciting. Can't wait to get out and try them! $20 went for a pair of steel fire starter gizmos. When I asked Jeff later what he planned to do with his new toys, he said "well, for on the boat!" Part of me wants to know where he's going to install a campfire pit on our 16' bowrider. The other part....really, really doesn't!

Can't speak for trout, but I did catch a nice muskie on a #3 last fall. You replace the treble with the siwash. There's a gap in the ring at the top of the siwash...you crimp it closed after you've swapped the hooks. I've never bothered changing any of mine out, but I do sometimes throw a small Gamakatsu G-Stinger on one arm of the treble.

Nice fish! ...any chance on seeing a tourney sign with the next batch?

Nice crappie, & really pretty colors on that first channel cat pic. You've really gotta start putting these boat launch festivities on YouTube. The i/o waddler would've been a classic.

40,000,008 Congrats on 40 million page views, OFC! Thanks again for all of the hard work by TJ & the crew, and the help from the contributors.

Glen, you wascally wabbit. Wish I could remember which comedian did the bit, but it was on a Just For Laughs show. Instead of Sex In The City, insert some Antonio Banderas movie. Comic was bent out of shape at having to go see chick flicks with his wife, til the day he finally figured it out. At the end of the movie, she's all wound up, and Antonio's nowhere to be found. Hmm. Guess who's right there handy? ...Exactly. Keep quiet, stay outta view til the final credits are winding up, and for god's sake don't fart or mention Bass Pro on your way back into the living room. You don't wanna shatter here.

I think #3's a great idea, especially for the guys who xpost the same brazen spam to every site they can think of, and never give anything back to the group for the advertising value they're getting. If it smells like a brochure, and google finds it on 3 message boards, I say they automatically owe you Showcase dues. You're absolutely right about the donation entitlement thing. There's just no way to get through that obstacle course without mud splattering all over the place. I found the easiest way to deal with it for my listserv is to just pay the expenses out of my own pocket (~$1k/yr) and consider it like any other charitable contribution (minus the tax perks, dangit). Am I the only one noticing that sig file pics in posts criticizing the site tend to break the 500 x 75 rule the mods keep pleading with us to follow? Pinch...that report made me laugh. Thanks!

Hadn't thought of that, hammercarp - thanks.

I can forgive one or two posts without a tourney sign. Ask Rowbotham - he took up a place on my team all last year, posted a ton of brag pics to the general forum....and didn't bother to put a team sign in a single one of em. CCMT had a neat solution last year - if you can't set the fish down, hold the sign in your teeth. Tadaa! I think that orange critter deserves bonus inches for cuteness. Do you happen to have a profile shot of it? It'd make a fun team banner.

That must be one special chunk of lake, if both Beans' crew and Jeff's work buddies use it. Glen, you're not going to see Jeff ice fishing with my Super Special Autographed Edition GCD Jigs. They're still in their way-too-cute shipping container, and aren't coming out til I hit the boat. Jeff tends to lose/break tackle - if I don't try something out before I let him at it, I might never get to try it!

It's not selfish to want a loved one's pain to end. I'd bet he was thinking the same thing, watching you suffer through the situation with him. You were there for him - that's what matters. Deepest condolences from Jeff & I.

"Sorry, ladies - happy Valentine's Day!" ROFL Now to go mop the Pepsi out of my keyboard.... Thanks, Nauti!!

I don't understand that. On one hand, Lebarons decide to stay closed for half the weekend, driving us to Bass Pro...and on the other they're trying to chase their suppliers out of town? Considering how utterly useless Lebaron's site is, you'd think they'd be thrilled to have the manufacturers educate potential customers on their behalf.

Just to make sure the newbies aren't confused, I've gotta hammer home bigugli and JohnBancon's point. This really is not the show scuro2 seems to think it is. The old one has been amalgamated into the Toronto Sportsmen's Show, March 18-22 2009 at the Direct Energy Centre. The currently ongoing Spring Fishing & Boat Show is only the 2nd ever by a new crew who are starting from scratch. From what I've seen they're really improving their game as they go along. It takes a while to get anything this big really up and established from square 1. You'll notice that big players tend to avoid start-ups until they've established themselves, and can demonstrate numbers to justify exhibitor costs. Smaller businesses will jump in for the the first few rounds because they have to do more outreach to become known. Nothing weird here. Oh, and to add to Buster's deals (good going, BTW!), for my $12 admission, I got: 1) 3.5 hours of Gord Pyzer, Big Jim, Mike Desforges, Doug Brownridge & Jarod Dean brain dump - including a long Q&A session - in an intimate group setting (under 25 people) 2) face time with TJ & Monique, Bly & CCMT, Buster, Fishindevil, Ecmilley, JohnF & his acronym artist friend, Nautifish, and I'm sure I'm forgetting someone here 3) hugs from TJ - I'm finally a real OFNer! <sniffle> 4) a Facts of Fishing-branded prepaid Subway card from Dave Mercer (thanks again, Dave!) So what if Yamamoto senkos weren't 10 packs for a twoonie - the show's about seeing people and learning stuff, and we got that in spades.

The Sportsmen's Show hasn't been on yet - it's March 18-22. No clue about the boat prices at the Toronto International Boat Show and the Spring Fishing & Boat Show, sorry.

Cliff, you're safe...but you may have a 2nd shadow at future G2Gs. Starting to get the impression that standing behind you is the only way to be to avoid getting jpegged! We really enjoyed meeting everyone who turned up for the Meet Greet & Bleep. Sorry we missed the poop dance lesson - looking forward to Nauti's video! We didn't buy much at the show...~$40 taxes in. Prices were significantly higher than at the Sportsmen's Show last spring, and the retailers didn't seem to have much stock on hand. A pair of 1oz jigs and a bottle of soft bait Mend-it came from Bass Magnet Lures, and Fishing World's 2/$10 bin yielded an odd-shaped Spro Minnow 45 and 3 colors of 7" Powerbait Manic Shads. The master bass seminar was excellent - more than worth the price of admission and the drive all by itself. Gord Pyzer (freshly inducted into the fishing hall of fame yesterday), Big Jim (fresh from his first haircut!), Mike Desforges, Doug Brownridge, and Jarod Dean...for 3.5 hours. Tons of notes to look over when it comes time to put the boat in the water - lots of new concepts to explore. Starting to wish I'd signed us up for other species' seminars as well. In his introduction, Andy Pallotta said that they want to make the show into "a major information centre." Looks like they're off to a great start.