craigdritchie

If I wanted to catch pike, I wouldn't waste a day on either one. LOTS of much better choices, starting with Simcoe and Georgian Bay. Why fish for little dinks when you can have a shot at plenty of legitimate big gators?

LOL ... nope. Problem with ice fishing is that it takes way too long to make a hole big enough to fit the boat in.

Topwater for me, and in particular, fishing with buzzbaits. You see the hits, you feel the hits, and a lot of the time you actually see the fish coming before they completely crush it. That's utopia.

That's some of the best advice you'll ever get. Close your eyes and get the one that fits the best and feels the most natural in your hands. Among pumps, I'm another of those 870 guys. With apologies to Browning and Mossberg fans, the Remington 870 is likely the most reliable pump ever made, which is why they're the best-selling shotgun in history and far and away the number one choice for law enforcement. That said, my all-time favourite shotgun was a Remington 11-87 autoloader I once owned. It was heavier than the 870, which would obviously make it less attractive for deer hunting, but for waterfowl or turkey where you're more or less stationary, it wasn't a factor at all. It just fit my shoulder like it was made for it, and always hit whatever I pointed it at. I've owned a lot of guns, but that is one I wish I still had.

I've run several full marathons (42 km), a whole bunch of half-marathons (21 km) and done the Around The Bay 30k race in Hamilton a few times. I'm no threat to ever win any of these things (I'll never catch those little African dudes up front), but running lets me drink beer guilt-free and will hopefully keep me out of the hospital as I age. Apart from that, it's a wonderful, selfish indulgence that lets me escape email, cell phones, instant messages and every other bane of modern living, and let me just focus on putting one foot in front of the other for an hour or so every other morning. In that way it's a lot like fishing, but much less fuss and a whole lot less expensive. Went to Germany a couple of years ago and ran the Berlin marathon, right after spending a week in Munich at Oktoberfest. Lets just say no world records were set that day. But it was a whole lot of fun!

Everything old is new again.

If money was no object I would be fishing in Manitoba or Saskatchewan. Both have pike and walleye fisheries that will beat anything in Ontario.

Sears (and The Bay) are well known for providing over-the-top customer service. That's why they're still around after all these years. Can't go wrong dealing with them.

You might want to consider one of Kesagami's outpost cabins. They have several small lakes with cabins on them. I've been to two of these, fishing was smaller walleyes and pike, but lots of them and the cabin, boats & outboards were all in good shape. It's a nice intro to fly-ins without having to really rough it. You'll most likely have an entire lake to yourself. If you're looking to get away from other people, I'd avoid their main camp, which tends to be a pretty busy place.

Agree with Floatman - Aluminum putty will fix your leak. You can buy this stuff as a two-part expoy ("Alum Bond" is one popular brand), pre-mixed in a toothpaste-like tube (sold as "Aluminox") or in the round tube Floatman shows in his link ("Quick Steel"). You can order online or find it at any automotive store .... Canadian Tire, Parts Source, etc. for about $10. Apply to both sides of the loose rivet and trust me, it will never leak again. I used to keep a crappy old tinny up north for duck hunting, and this stuff basically held it together! I beat the tar out of that boat and it remained watertight for years after. Works really, really well.

Talk about a topwater hit. That's awesome.

That's contingent on any adults actually showing up. Don't hold your breath.

Regardless of whether we call it NOTL, St. Kitts or whatever, it still seems an odd location for a store of that size. And why have a second location in southern Ontario that's only an hour from the existing store to begin with? Surely the two locations will compete for many of the same customers. If I were Johnny Morris and wanted to open another Canadian location, I'd put a store in the Montreal area first. Southern Quebec is a HUGE market for outdoor goods, and they wouldn't have to worry about cannibalizing an existing location by opening up there. While I will welcome the new store, I don't understand the business case for it. They must be getting one heck of a financial incentive from the developer and perhaps the city to make it worthwhile. Either that, or they will support it by making it a base for the Canadian catalogue operation ... which would make sense, being so close to the US. Who knows.

I agree, but rather than Siwash style hooks I use little weedless singles. The tiny wire guard on the hook keeps from hanging up on sumberged branches, and doesn't seem to affect the hooking effectiveness one bit.

I have an ancient Shimano Chronarch CH200 permanently mounted on an equally ancient Compre 7-foot one-piece that's rated for 8 to 15 pound line, and it's just about ideal for throwing light cranks (and more often, topwaters). I can fire a lightweight lure (often a small Pop-R or Tiny Torpedo) for miles with this rig, and with better accuracy than I get from a spinning outfit. The rod has a progressive action, which is key ... a lot of current baitcasting rods are just too stiff, and you can't get them to load up properly with a lightweight lure. It kills both accuracy and distance. The reel is also key to this setup, and it took me years to get this one worn in just right. But that's the thing, as long as you do the maintenance on them and give them an annual cleaning, really good quality casting reels usually get better as they wear in. That said, this is a special purpose outfit I have. A spinning rig is definitely more versatile.

Sadly, Ranger is no longer made. Too bad, it was an excellent truck.

Don't know about the hybrid, but I drive a 2008 Escape 4x4 with the 3.0L gas V6 and just love it. It costs about $65 - $70 to fill it from empty, and that will take me 450 to 475 km in the city. On the highway, I'll get another 80 to 100 km to the tank before I have to refuel. It's been dealer serviced since new, and I haven't spent a penny on it in 160,000 km, apart from tires, wiper blades and one set of brake pads. Everything else is original. I've never had any problems getting stuck in mud or snow. Mine's rated to tow 3,500 pounds. One of my friends is on his second Escape, and he loves it too. Wonderful vehicles - I would buy another one without a second thought.

The Dinsmore stuff works okay, but isn't worth the premium price. I buy round Gremlin shot in bulk. I sometimes do the Liquid Plumber thing, but more often than not am too lazy ... LOL.

Uh huh. A lot of the fluoro on the market is just plain fragile.

Buy the SmokerCraft, and max the power.

I wouldn't get too hung up on the 70 mph part, since the boat will spend a very tiny amount of its life actually running at that kind of speed. And you won't be doing 70 mph in big waves in any bass boat - sorry, but you just won't. Not unless you really like the idea of destroying the boat then getting a kidney transplant. If you want to go fast in big waves, believe me man, the last thing you want is a bass boat. For what it's worth, the vast majority of any bass boat's life is spent with the big motor shut off - not running at wide open throttle. Probably 90 percent of the hours you log in it will be spent fishing, not driving, so you'll enjoy the boat a lot more if you focus on things that matter when it's being used that way, as opposed to going top speed. Boats like Ranger, Triton and Stratos tend to be a bit wider than others for most of their length (I'm not talking max width, but width over the entire length of the hull. They all have a 96 inch beam. But how much of the boat is actually 96 inches wide? How wide is it at the console? Or on the front deck?). Wider boats provide greater stability when fishing, and perhaps an inch or two less draft so you can get into real skinny water. It also means more fiberglass is used in construction, which results in greater cost and greater weight. These boats also tend to have a broader pad that they run on while on plane, again providing increased stability. Being heavier, they blow about less in the wind, so you're on the electric less often to correct your drift. They're awesome to fish out of, but as Gerry notes, there is always a compromise, and it's usually in the form of top-end speed. Other bass boats like Allisons, Bass Cats, Panteras etc. are lighter, narrower overall, have more aggressive hull rakes, and use sharper, narrower pads to run on. This gives them greater top-end speed potential (100 mph+ for an Allison) but once again there's a trade-off, and that comes when you want to actually fish, not just burn gas. Step from an Allison into a Ranger and it's like night and day. One is really, really fast, and one is really, really comfortable and great to fish out of. How do you want to spend most of your time? By the way - have you ever taken a horsefly to the face at 70 mph? It's not a whole lot of fun. Buy a full coverage motorcycle helmet to go with your new boat. Nitro makes a very nice boat that's a happy compromise between fishability and flat-out speed. Ranger, Triton and Skeeter are more expensive because they have more glass in them, are built a little differently, and have different finishing details (stuff like upholstry, hinges, differences in wiring and plumbing, etc). Being a little heavier and more stable, they will generally provide a softer ride in chop (and waaaay better than a Pantera, for example). The big question of "is it worth it" comes down to how, where and when you'll use the boat. I do know a lot of guys who have replaced their bass boats with multi-species rigs.

You do realize that would represent pretty much every retailer on the planet?

A ticket in and of itself shouldn't affect you at all, providing (1) you pay it and (2) it's not something that would mean points had you been pulled over in Ontario.

For God's sake, do NOT even think about using marble in a kitchen. It's extremely soft stone, so it won't take long at all for the surface to be scuffed and scratched, and look absolutely awful. Beyond that, marble is extremely porous, so it absorbs liquids like crazy. Every drop of wine, spaghetti sauce, terriyake, soya sauce etc will leave a permanent stain - regardless of how careful you are to seal it first. Marble looks great when it's brand new, but put it in the kitchen and I promise you'll hate it within six months. For heavy-use areas like kitchen counters, you want something that wears, and granite is the standard. You'll still need to seal it, and give it an annual re-seal, but it lasts forever and looks absolutely great. Even better, consider going all-out for quartz countertops like Caesarstone or Cambria. Caesarstone has its own look (you either love it or hate it) while Cambria comes in a range of finishes and can be impossible to tell from granite. It's also resistant to heat, but unlike granite, Cambria doesn't need to be sealed. It's as low maintenance as you can get, and looks fantastic. Cost is not that much more than granite, and it adds to your home's resale value. When we renovated our home last year (stripped to the studs on all four walls) we put Cambria in the kitchen and I feel it was the best decision we could have made. Every morning you walk downstairs and see it and think holy crap, that looks amazing. We put marble in the bathrooms. It's now 8 months later and I regret that decision. Should have put Cambria there too. The marble counters in both the main bath and the ensuite were professionally sealed, and already there are tiny stains here and there, along with several small scuffs and scratches. That was an expensive mistake I will never repeat.

Nice romantic visions Captain Bruce, but let's face reality. 1. The majority of Atlantic salmon caught in Lake Ontario rivers show up in fall after there has finally been enough rain to raise their ditch-like water levels. By then, the fish are either approaching spawning condition, or in full spawning condition and loaded with eggs, just like the cohos and chinooks. By that point in time and in that cold water, they do not leap eight feet into the air, nor do they put on "tarpon-like" aerial displays (come on man, be honest. Have you ever hooked a tarpon? It's a whole other breed of cat). And yes, some Atlantics do get a bit of fungus on them just like the coho and chinnies. That's reality. 2. Atlantic salmon do not provide a spring fishery in the rivers - at all. It's strictly a September - November thing, then game over for the rest of the year. 3. Atlantic salmon don't provide a summer boat fishery - at all. I know in August and Spetember guys catch them from tinnies fishing the power outlet discharge in Sault Ste Marie, but that is not the same thing. I'm talking about supporting an offshore boat fishery, like coho, chinook and steelhead do. Now let's compare to steelhead: 1. Fall steelhead are generally bright as a dime, right into January. They don't leap like a tarpon or come flying eight feet out of the water either, but fresh from the lake they fight every bit as hard as an Atlantic. 2. Steelhead provide a pier/river fishery from late August till mid-May, sometimes late May. Atlantics don't. So you get nine months of shore fishing for steelhead each year, and maybe two months and a bit for Atlantics. Steelhead provide way more bang for the buck. 3. No doubt Captain Bruce has fished the Blue Zone on Lake Ontario or Erie ..... and can confirm that steelhead provide an awesome and dependable summer boat fishery. Not so for Atlantic salmon - anywhere in the world. So why keep beating a dead horse that hasn't produced any results since 1985? Scrap the Atlantic program altogether and put those precious MNR resources on steelhead. You'll have a MUCH better fishery in 18 months. After all, DOESN'T MNR HAVE A RESPONSIBILITY TO THE ANGLERS OF ONTARIO WHO FUND THEM THROUGH THEIR TAXES AND LICENSE FEES???? WHEN CAN WE FINALLY GET SOME CUSTOMER SERVICE AROUND HERE, AND START SEEING VALUE FOR OUR DOLLARS????? Our sport fishery on Lake Ontario has gone down the toilet and all we keep hearing are endless excuses. People who say "it takes time, we haven't waited long enough to see results yet" really make me laugh. We've stocked Atlantics for 25 years, and still .... nothing. We've stocked a couple million in the past four years alone. Nothing. When Ontario introduced coho to Lake Ontario in 1968, they stocked about 130,000 fish and had a wicked sport fishery in 18 months. Within four years, the number of boats on Lake Ontario skyrocketed. There were lineups at launch ramps, tackle stores did great business, hotels and restaurants were filled, and everyone was happy. Capt Bruce mentions the glory days of Lake Ontario coho fishing, and it's true - those were really good times for everyone. Now, we stock half a million Atlantics each year and think great, maybe in 30 years maybe there might be enough of them out there I can legally fish for them in the river and expect to catch something. Because let's remember, right now it is absolutely ILLEGAL to fish for Atlantic salmon in Lake Ontario rivers. That is, unless you are one of the special few who have one of those special permits that lets you fish in the sanctuaries and areas with closed seasons, but I digress. When Ontario began stocking browns in Lake Ontario tributaries in the early 80s, there were good runs and great fishing for them within four years. Remeber those days, Captain Bruce? Yet after 25 years of Altantic stocking ....... nothing. What does it take to get some people to face the facts and admit the Atlantic salmon program is a complete failure in every way? I know the truth hurts, but enough is enough.