SylvanOwner

I've been working on my 14footer and bought marine ply and epoxy from Noah's Boat Building here in Toronto - great guys to deal with, very friendly and knowledgeable. Stainless steel hardware from Brafacso, by far the cheapest i found as long as you are buying in quantity 50+ pieces and from there Crappy Tire is next cheapest for hardware (cheaper than Home Depot or Rona). As the previous posters have said, it takes a lot of time, way more than I thought, and double the budget to allow for beer consumption........ Good luck. Dan

Very very cool......I'm totally jealous. Thanks a bunch for taking the time to share your experience!!!

Yeah, I saw it. Very interesting. The guy who "invented" Flipper has done a complete 180 on dolphin capture and shows some very very disturbing footage on the treatment of these creatures. Good watch. Dan

I do agree that the regs are at times ambiguous (and therefore frustrating) but I think that to expect perfect clarity is an impossible dream. At the end of the day the regs are a legal document and there's a reason why the legal profession uses the term "practicising" the law - it's because much verbage that goes into legal documents IS open for interpretation and circumstances influence that interpretation (just as several previous posters have indicated). It would be nice to always "know" what the legalities of your actions are but I don't expect that to happen anytime soon. Having said that I personally believe there are opportunities for the MNR to clean some things up that have been contentious for decades. Don't expect a definition of 'immediate' however simple that may seem to be.....lol. Just my .02 cents worth. Dan

well said Blaque!!

So the stories are true, and here I thought Telly was recounting some impossibly fantastic dreams.......lol Nice feeeesh Mike, hopefully we can get together on the ice, or perhaps a river. Dan

I fish a smallish reservoir in S. Ont. for crappie and they religiously suspend over the deepest spot in the lake. Absolutely guaranteed to be about 15' down over 27' of water, soft bottom. The marks I see on bottom almost never bite but when they do are usually rock bass, largemouth, pike or pumpkinseed, very occasionally crappie. The spot is along a major weedline that runs into a very shallow flat about 3' deep. Later in the day the fish move closer to the weedline/flat but never leave the deep. I'm not a big fan of the new ice season in zone 17. I believe it will do more harm than good but I'm going to give it a whirl nonetheless..... . Sure will be fun finding them. Good luck to all and be especially careful when exploring unknown territory. Dan

You might be surprised by what GAMEFISH you find in the lower reaches of the Don if you can stand the smell. Try from the first set of rapids downstream to and including the Keating Channel (the mouth). MJL, not much in the headwaters unfortunately anymore. A few of the roadside ditches still have brookies believe it or not (yes, I'm sober while I type this....lol), but you will have far better success in almost any other GTA watershed. Target areas from where the Oak Ridges Moraine starts and go upstream from there. Was talking to a guy in the office today who saw a 4-5lb resident Brown way up in the Humber a few weeks back on a spawning redd!!......still sober!! Dan

I sent this link to the ornithologist in the office for his opinion, he's very good at what he does; "1st year female Sharpie ..... but I wouldn't put more than just a few $$ on it. Head looks small, tail looks a little short and not particularly well-rounded. Hardly any white terminal band on the tail, and the legs (tarsi) look pretty skinny. Cooper's are now the commoner of the two as breeding species in Toronto, but Sharpie numbers are augmented in the winter. Jizz seems good for Sharp-shinned as opposed to Cooper's. (At this point I had to ask for clarification on the word jizz....lol)........It's a birder/field naturalist term for the "isness", the "essence" of the bird - that which makes it what it is. Much as you would be able to look at a fish swimming rapidly past you in a creek and simply "know" that it was a Brook Trout or whatever, without actually seeing any of the text-book features etc. Jizz is actually a combination of all the features into a general over all appearance but includes things such as behaviour and flight pattern, flight profile, etc etc." So ,well done to the birders who responded..... Dan

Check out the "Grizzly Man" movie or Google Timothy Treadwell if you're into real life stories of people playing animal. Dan

Ha, ya' beat me to it Jon!!......what he said. Dan

I know of a mid-30inch tiger musky that came from the old Lakeview (4 sisters) Generating Station within the last 10 years and as a previous poster said there are some in Hamilton Harbour as well, this coming from a very reliable source.

My understanding as far as the legality of shooting/harassing these birds goes is not so much that they are native but because they are protected under the Migratory Bird Act.

Hey Fellers, I may be going in to Lady Evelyn Lake for a few days after Labour Day and was looking for some pointers on fishing. I'm looking for walleye and a chance at a big pike although I'm happy to catch the bass that are in there as well. I'd be accessing at Mowat Landing and going into Lady Evelyn Lake and Sucker Gut Lake (love that name!!!!!). My buddy knows the area fairly well as his folks have a lodge in the area so I'll be putting a map in front of him this week to have him help suggest camping and fishing spots but anything more I can get from others would be great as well. I'm told a trip up Maple Mountain (2nd highest point in Ontario) is a good way to spend some time and that it is possible some years to get into Diamond Lake without portaging - anyone know if this is the case this year? thanks, Dan

Thanks guys, that'll definitely help get things started. Dan

I've got a family cottage rental next week on Bark Lake and was wondering if anyone has any info they'd like to pass along regarding fishing or any other experiences thay may have had in the area? Not looking for GPS points, just something to get me started. Thanks in advance for whatever you may be able to contribute. Dan

There is an actual ceremony you can perform to ward off all the bad karma.......http://boatsafe.com/nauticalknowhow/rename.htm. You'll be fine!!!

I'll echo the behind-the-head grab for smaller, under 30"ers, jaw spreaders, and pliers routine. Needle-nose are good but there is a trade-off here as well, long pliers = further from bait but less control than shorter pliers. The only other point I'd add is that if you pinch the barbs down then it makes it that much easier on both you and the "she-devils" you'll undoubtetly run in to....lol....this holds especially true if you do happen to end up with a hookpoint or 2 in your flesh Nancy!! Keep the stories coming, always good for a giggle.

I think Pikehunter is on the right track - I've used the dricore panels with success and I've also used 4x8 sheets of tongue and groove plywood with the plastic dimpled barrier, from a roll, underneath the sheets and it works very very well and is cheaper than the panels. Dan

Gibson Lake is very shallow and is more of a wetland than a lake. Pretty sure it freezes to bottom i.e. no fish.

Ha, that may have been me with the pike through the ice and for that lake it was a real good one. I've caught crappie as well but they are stunted.....tough to get over 8 inches or so. Halton Region stopped drawing water from there as a water source a few years back and there's been some concerns over water quality as a result. Don't know if there's anything to it but I don't eat much from there anymore. Congrats on your success.

lovin' the "reel cam" just like everyone else.....

guy at work was telling me today he caught a sheepy out of Hamilton yesterday and it's on the menu tonight......I'll see if I can bump into him later this week and see how it tasted........for what it's worth he's a new Canadian but wouldn't eat carp he said

Have had the same experience with the foot pedal for my 765mxt. I've had the motor about 10 yrs. and am currently on my 4th pedal - about $100 a pop - Aikman's ususally has 'em in stock.

Just like the others have already said; great excuse to get outside with something more than an idle stroll in mind - kids love it. There are tons of caches all over the place. Check out this website, http://www.geocaching.com/, it will tell you everything you need to know. As far a GPS units go, there is a gradient of course in accuracy as well as features. This one here in the classifieds, http://www.ofncommunity.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=30886, is about as basic and cheap as it gets and will do the job for you. GPS accuracy is influenced by the number of satelites that are being picked up and the quality of the signal. The number of satelites varies by how many are available to you, i.e. are above the horizon in any given direction, or how many your unit is able to pick up. There are simply days or times of days where there aren't a lot of satelites available, this can result in poor accuracy and people believing their GPS is crap when that in fact may not be the case. Newer units are 12 channel (or more) meaning that the unit can pick up as many as 12 satelites at a time which would be great for accuracy but there is almost never that many available. The quality of the signal is affected by environmental conditions; heavy tree canopy, tall buildings, chain link fences, electrical storms, etc. and will impact accuracy. Try borrowing someones unit, GPS that is.... , and giving it a try before you invest. Dan