craigdritchie

Basically every drop of water out that way has pike, walleye and whitefish. Hard to go wrong.

Those F650 pickups have been around for a while. They're popular with guys who pull really massive boats and RVs (go to a Poker Run, with all the big 40-foot cigarette boats, and you'll see dozens of these things). Ford doesn't sell the F650 with a pickup box - you buy it as a chassis cab and have an aftermarket guy install a box from an F350. There are several companies that do these conversions. Chev makes something similar called a Top Kick (or Kodiak) ... basically a small dump truck that guys will order as a chassis cab and put a pickup box on. Definitely makes a statement.

I travel to the States frequently on business, mostly by air, but also by car, and have never had an issue. Only thing I can suggest is that either your name or your vehicle match to another person or vehicle that the US Customs guys have on a watch list. It's the only way to explain it. One of my new co-workers had an issue at the Toronto airport last year when he arrived to travel on business and found himself on the no-fly list! It turns out some other guy with the same name, same age and same ethnic background is on Homeland Security's no-fly list, so my colleague had to spend two hours answering questions in a little room before they concluded he wasn't the dude they were looking for. Of course he missed his flight, which was a major pain, and he went through the exact same ordeal on the return trip. He has since got a NEXUS card and had no further problems.

Those really are beautiful shots, Mike. Thanks for sharing them. That last brookie is now my desktop wallpaper!

It's not terribly unusual for jets to get hit by lightning. But pilots generally avoid thunderstorms at all costs .... lots of wild turbulence, convective air and wind shear .... makes for a rough ride at best.

Adult pike regularly eat baitfish the size of a shoe. Any size will work.

With all the rain we've had this spring (and will continue to get over the weekend) it's going to be a really bad year for the little vampires.

Nice fish, Chris. Not just big, but nicely proportioned too. Congrats!

Pretty cutts.

I'm not clear on how MNR would view the spring-loaded hooks either. If it's just a matter of springing them out from their little pockets, that's one thing. But if the mechanism actively drives the hook point into the fish, that's quite another. I've never held one of these things in my hand, so I have no idea how it actually works. I think Roy hit it on the head - we'll see a lot more people (like me) with one of these things stuck in their hand!

An American company called Bites Back Lures says it will introduce a new line of weedless crankbaits at the ICAST show, held this July in Las Vegas. From what I can gather, these baits use stainless steel spring hooks that remain hidden in a cavity in the body until a fish hits. The hooks then “self deploy in a rearward direction into the mouth of the fish.” The line apparently attaches directly to the hook and not to the body of the lure, sort of like it does on a J-Plug. I have no idea if these things catch fish or not, but I'm willing to take a look. Click here for more info and pics.

Live in the GTA and looking for a job? Yamaha is hiring a Dealer Service Support Coordinator. Click here for the details.

Buddy of mine loves his Xterra. He tows a big boat with it and has no qualms about driving off-road. I'm not sure what year his is, bit it's about the right vintage. This guy isn't exactly gentle with his stuff, yet the truck's never let him down. I also have a co-worker who beats the tar out of his 4Runner at every opportunity. And, he just loves it. Interestingly, the 4Runner was the only Toyota model not involved in their recall troubles last year. Both the Xterra and 4Runner are known to be reliable, dependable trucks with decent towing capacities and good 4x4 capability. Not so sure about the Acura since I don't know anyone who has one.

This past weekend marked the 24th anniversary for the Dofasco Angling Club's annual fishing event in Hamilton. Each year these guys stock a swimming pool in Hamilton with trout and invite hundreds of challenged kids and people with special needs to come out and catch a fish. The Hamilton Rotary Sunshine Club funds the whole works. This is a really, really nice thing that these volunteers do every year, and they should be applauded for it. Next year is the 25th anniversary. Wouldn't it be nice if this kind of program could extend into other communities across Ontario? Perhaps its a project some OFC types might be interested in piking up ...... just thinking out loud. Click here to watch a video of this year's event.

That really is some awesome flying. Good show!

I like the tooth chips. To me, they're sort of like beauty marks.

Most effective bait? Re-read what Roy said. Most fun is another matter. For me, that's anything on the surface. For smallmouth, that would be a Heddon Tiny Torpedo. For buckets, probably a buzzbait.

It's best to get a wheel kit from whoever sold you the lift, but there are a few aftermarket ones out there. These guys are in Minnesota, but they make a good product. The dealer locator on their website shows a dealer in Belleville. I met these guys at the Winnipeg Boat Show back in March. They sell inflatable air bags that mount to the base of your existing lift, so you can roll it and float it into position, then deflate the bags and set it in place. Watch the video on the website to see what I mean. It's really slick, and lets you fine-tune the positioning really easily. Hope that helps.

I've heard of Bluefin - it is a discount brand of light to medium-duty salt-water tackle, made in China and/or Indonesia, mainly sold at discount places in the southern US (solo, you hit it right on the head). You sometimes see this stuff in bait shops along Florida's Gulf Coast, for example, and I recently saw a whole display of it in a grocery store in Texas (no joke!). The company in Asia that manufactures this stuff makes rods and reels for dozens of different brands that are sold all over the world. Some of it is reasonably decent quality, most of it is private label stuff no one has ever heard of. Frankly, I would not buy this. First off, the reel weighs over 14 ounces!! That's a BIG reel. By comparison, a standard 2500 series Shimano Stradic is only around 9 ounces, or 50 percent less. Second, when the reel breaks you will never get parts for it - it's a total throwaway. Finally, based on the ones I've seen, that rod is going to be serious overkill for bass and walleye. It will be stiff enough you'll never be able to cast lighter baits and lures, and the foam rubber grips will guarantee you won't feel a whole lot of bites. (I've always wondered why anyone would take a graphite blank and insulate all that sensitivity with a chunk of foam rubber. Why????) For the same scratch you can buy name brand gear locally, with warranty, so why take a risk buying something sight-unseen?? Pass, if I were you.

I just love the logic in this. Pike are sight feeders. In spite of that, we take something that basically stinks (i.e. a dead fish) and spray with with WD-40 so it smells. Mmmmmkay .....

Well said bigbuck, and I could not agree with you more. But buying the gear isn't the end of it - there also has to be money for ongoing training and maintaining personnel. Our men and women in the CF do such an amazing job with the equipment they have because of the training they receive. That funding needs to be protected, and following Monday's vote, I'm more confident it will be.

I will stick to the facts too: Nearly 60% of the voters did not vote for this "majority". 81.09 percent of Canadians did not vote for the Liberals. 69.38 percent of Canadians did not vote for the NDP. The Conservatives have more seats than all other parties combined. That is a majority, pure and simple. Nearly all of the that 60% is from the centre left. That's not really true. About half of the seats (43) picked up by the Conservatives and NDP came at the expense of the Bloc Quebecois, which is (was) a right-wing party. They split from from the Conservatives in 1991, and most of its senior leadership were MPs and cabinet ministers under Brian Mulroney (the Bloc had 47 seats prior to the election, they now have 4). The conservatives received almost the same percent of the popular vote as the last election. Yup, they got a two percent jump (39.6 percent in 2011 versus 37.6 percent in 2008). Their support did not evaporate like support for the Liberals and the Bloc did. Vote splitting and attack adds work. Agreed - just as they worked for Jean Chretien in the 1990s. Anybody who thinks things are going to be "magically" fixed is more delusional than can be explained. Also agreed - magic doesn't exist, which is why I had a hard time with both Ignatieff's and Layton's spending commitments when neither of them had hard budgets to back them up. I wasn't willing to believe things would magically sort themselves out either. Oy vey ... all this politics .... I'm losing my appetite!

A Canadian Forces Lt. Col. has started a very special fishing derby, which will take place on Lake Ontario on Canada Day. The basic idea is to take a veteran fishing as a simple and genuine way of thanking these fine folks for putting their lives on the line so that we can all live (and fish) in safety and peace. The first annual Host A Veteran Fishing Derby aims to raise money for injured soldiers and their families through Military Family Support Centres. You can read some details by clicking here, or click here to go to the event website and register. If you don't live near Lake Ontario, and it's too far to come, then no worries - you can still take a veteran fishing anywhere. There is more info on the website. I think this is a wonderful idea, and I hope people will support it and make it hugely successful. These folks are true heroes, and we can never thank them enough.

The main reason they pump lakers into Lake O has nothing to do with creating a fishery. By showing that they're trying to re-establish a native species, MNR is able to coerce Fisheries & Oceans into continuing to pay for lamprey treatments. Same deal with the Atlantic salmon, by the way.