DT10Sam

Hi Stoty, It is not safe at all on the Bay of Quinte at the present time. We are in for some cold weather for the next couple of nights and that should tighten up the ice out there. It might be okay this weekend and I would recommend going out form the Big Island where the current there is the least. Play it safe nad use a spud every couple of steps to make sure that you are going to be okay. I would expect that some locals will be out that way this weekend and you can follow them out. Regards, Sam

Thanks to everyone that gave me advise on this issue. I was able to purchase a copy of XP Pro and now I am up and running and will have the terrible task of copying everything over to my new hard drive as well as finding all of the drivers for everything that I am running. Guess I really didn't plan on having anything to do for New Years Day until now. Again thanks to everyone nad away I will be copying and transferring. Regards, Sam

Our condolences to you and your family. Regards, Sam

Hi Everyone, Thanks to all of you for the many responses and I am still up in the air about everything here. At work I am running XP Pro and it works fine. The computer that crashed at home was a clone that was built for us and it obviously had a pirated version on it which has me ticked and the company that built it is no longer in business. Our other computers are all Dell's and they seem to have no issues whatsoever. Microage Computers in Belleville is no longer doing any retail sales and it is difficult to get XP Pro or Home without having to buy a motherboard or hard drive as OEM products requires you to do that. Presently I am downloading Ubuntu on one of our work computers and I am still not certain of its capabilities if it will run Dreamweaver software etc. so that I am able to update our website and if it is compatible with some games so that my young ones can play them. Those of you that are running Ubuntu can you let me know how it is for some games that our kids can run on it. Vista in this area seems to be in short supply for a few days. Both Best Buy and Future Shop will not have any in until Jan. 7th and it is a super price for Vista Premium something like 70.00. As you can tell I am still kind of undecided and looking for some sort of resolution, all I do know is that I can not believe how dependent we have become to computers until one goes down. Never had these issues many years back, I guess age is starting to show up again.LOL. Thank you for your responses and assistance it is much appreciated. Best regards, Sam

Hi Computer Guru's I have had a major crash with my home computer a couple of weeks ago and now I need to back up all of my files and copy them to a DVD and reformat my computer etc. My problem is I can not for the life of me find my Windows XP Pro software. For the price of new software would I be better off to purchase Windows Vista Premium or stay clear of it. I have been hearing good and bad about Vista and do not know of anyone who actually has it or is using it. I do need to purchase new software and need the guidance of the experts and hopefully I can get back up and running in the next few days. Best regards, Sam

Brian, pm sent. Regards, Sam

Hi Everyone, I just pm'd some of you that have sent me emails. The ice conditions on the Bay of Quiinte are extremely tricky at this stage. There are areas that have good black ice and then there are areas that require a few more days in order for it to be any good. In some areas such as Big Island where some of hte guides operate (Hawg Hunter) there is a good 4-5" of black ice and it is ready to go. Yesterday one of the locals went out at Rushbar and it is not safe to go there at all at the present time. Some areas are extremely tricky with the water currents under the ice eroding the ice and the thickness there is less than 2". This is also the time of year that someone will fall through and those are reports that I hate to post or hear about. Be careful if you are coming up for the early walleye catch. Again this year a couple of local guides will be meeting at our store in the morning and taking their clients out form here over to private property to gain access on the Bay of Quinte. He also posts on this boards and he goes by the name of "Hawg Hunter" and he is extremely knowledgeable of the Bay of Quinte. I know that some of you have used him in the past and have had great experiences with him and his partner. That is it for now and I hope to post some results soon of any local fish being caught and of course whenever I sneak out there I will post some pics as well. Oooooopppps almost forgot, we do have minnows now they were delivered yesterday. Best regards, Sam

Touchy subject ...........seems that if it is a world record fish in other species it is okay to keep it and hang it on the wall. A musky of that size would become valuable to a taxidermist that makes reproduction molds. You see in order to have a reproduction mold made there must first be a specimen of the actual size. In most cases a fish would have to die to make the mold. Once the mold is made than there are many anglers that can claim that they have caught a fish of the same size which we know is not practical. As a result of this most anglers that catch record fish get them mounted so that reproductions of the same fish do not appear everywhere in the world. A taxidermist with the world record mold will benefit from the mold making many copies for those that wish to pay. The cost of a record fish mold is a free replica to the angler that caught the fish. The angler than gets to boast that he caught a world record fish while the taxidermist will financially gain form making many copies. This is hrte reason why I recommend skin mounts of the world record fish so that copies do not get made and that you as the angler get the publicity that you wish knowingly that you have the only world record fish. The same thing happens to world record whitetail deer only copies of the antlers are made and of course those having the mold will gain financially. Just my thoughts I would probably release the fish and work very hard on adding inches to the closest size form that is available on the market and work from that replica. I know that Advanced Taxidermy does it and I have also done that in the past, however it is a lot of work. I would not look down on someone who keeps the fish instead of releasing it after all it is a world record and most world records are kept in other species. Best regards, Sam

Well done Randy, Thanks. Regards, Sam

I think this would be a great idea and of course I am in and would like to see everyone once again. I wouldn't have to go too far either. Keep in mind not to conflict with Fishing for Tyler as that program would need everyone's support as well. Regards, Sam

Hi Everyone, Well the Bay of Quinte is frozen and it expected to stay in the freezing mark for the next couple of weeks. According to the weather reports we will be having double digit figures at night for the next couple of weeks and the ice conditions should be in good shape. We have a walleye guide that meets at our store and his name is "Hawg Hunter" and he is extremely knowledgeable of the Bay of Quinte and most likely will be one of the first guides to head out on the ice and check the thickness of the ice etc. in time for ice fishing season. I know that some members here on OFC has used Hawg Hunter in the past and have had excellent results with him. As soon as we get good ice conditions I will be posting here as well as updating my site on a regular basis and hopefully we will see a few OFNer's this year up here to fish and with any luck I will hopefully join you for a great time on the ice. Well all I can say now is bring on the "Hard Water Season" Best regards, Sam

Hi Brian, Yes I see we posted at the same time, my apology and hope I haven't offended you. Hope you were successful today we ended up doing extremely well again this year and now we are waiting for hard water season which should be real soon. This week we are heading for freezing weather at night. Regards, Sam

I wasn't being a smart ass just gave you info on what is working for us. The deer are acting like deer and whenever you are moving in the area they are aware of your presence. Anyways best of luck and I hope you are successful. Regards, Sam

Well we are finding the same scenarios with our hunt however we have 6 deer hanging and did not hunt today and will be at it again tomorrow to finish the controlled hunt. All other hunters in the area are also reporting the same. We are actually walking by the deer as they are watching us and we then found that by stopping in the areas where they would seem to be and the deer feel then that they have been spotted and start to run out. You are actually walking by them and not knowing that you are doing that. The deer have been hunted for a bit now and they are hard to move and most of their movement is at dark. They have gone nocturnal at least the bucks have and the does with fawns are easier to spook out of an area. The last buck we got yesterday was a 10 pointer that was laying in thorn bushes and would not move until we got within 20 feet of him and then he bolted. We are also finding their beds in the fields which explains the pressures of the coyotes moving them out of hte woods. Also the hillside allows them heat from the sun for warmth so check any hillsides and you will find them heading over the hill the minute they are threatened. Hope this is of some help to you. regards, Sam

Rick, Our family is praying for you and we are confident that you will come out of this with great results. Regards, Sam

I would like to wish all of our good friends south of the border a Happy Thanksgiving and for those of you that have family members fighting the war we pray that they return safe and give thanks for their fight to keep freedom alive. " Happy Thanksgiving" Best regards, Sam

Well Rick is one of ours here on the forum, count us in and I will find something to send to the auction. Kind Regards, Sam

Happy Birthday there Lew and hope you have many more..............that way you can keep making those musky guessing who is next. Regards, Sam

Hey Dawg, Where on earth do you come up with this stuff? Sam

These are all great points everyone is making and I certainly look forward to the many posts on this thread. Thanks guys. Regards, Sam

That is a pleasant surprise and a great way to display the ship. Thanks Lew. Regards, Sam

That's the truth Cookslav and I totally agree with you. Regards, Sam

Well I seem to agree that there should not be any further buy outs. The Big 3 have for years enjoyed living high off the hog with their sales through the roof. The auto workers enjoying high salaries as they have a strong union and now the union can not be of any help. Misfish I am with you on this one. Let the Big 3 take a tumble there will be others that will fill the void and work hard to become the big name in the auto industry. I could not afford a new truck and I happy driving my 1998 F150 4X4 with 340,000 kms and no rust as I have been taking care of it. This truck is paid for and now is worth nothing on the market and really I don not need a new truck now. Maybe a bigger boat for my truck to pull. Unfortunately there will be many without employment and that is terrible. Their unions have done that to them. I see the economy has needing a big correction just like in the stock markets where there has been many increases and then a huge correction was required to bring them back in line. I know that my business has suffered as a result of the high gas prices and parity with the US dollar all summer preventing anglers from coming into the Quinte area to fish. I wonder if the government will bail me out......NOT! There will be many tumbles from this economy slow down as our area also runs auto industry parts etc. and those plants are either closing down or close to it. We have tightened our belts and will see where the chips will fall. Regards, Sam

Four friends, who hadn't seen each other in 30 years, reunited at a party and after several drinks, one of the men had to use the rest room. Those who remained talked about their kids. The first guy said, 'My son is my pride and joy. He started working at a successful company at the bottom of the barrel. He studied Economics and Business administration and soon began to climb the corporate ladder and now he's the president of the company. He became so rich that he gave his best friend a top of the line Mercedes for his birthday.' The second guy said, 'Darn, that's terrific! My son is also my pride and joy. He started working for a big airline, then went to flight school to become a pilot Eventually he became a partner in the company, where he owns the majority of its assets. He's so rich that he gave his best friend a brand new jet for his birthday.' The third man said: 'Well, that's terrific! My son studied in the best universities and became an engineer. Then he started his own construction company and is now a multimillionaire. He also gave away something very nice and expensive to his best friend for his Birthday: A 30,000 square foot mansion.' The three friends congratulated each other just as the fourth returned from the restroom and asked: 'What are all the congratulations for?' One of the three said: 'We were talking about the pride we feel for the successes of our sons. .....What about your son?' The fourth man replied: 'My son is gay and makes a living dancing as a stripper at a nightclub.' The three friends said: 'What a shame. What a disappointment.' The fourth man replied: 'No, I'm not ashamed. He's my son and I love him. He hasn't done too bad either. His birthday was two weeks ago, and he received a beautiful 30,000 square foot mansion, a brand new jet and a top of the line Mercedes from his three boyfriends.

Easy on the walleye opener...... LOL .....we still have fall fishing on right now and the hard water season ahead of us. Regards, Sam