Dave Bailey

Welcome to the board! What you're asking is not as simple as it seems, this province is so full of the sort of places that you're looking for that you're probably better off doing some internet research yourself. Google for things like "muskoka tourism", "kawarthas tourism", "rainbow country tourism", etc, and you'll probably find something to suit your needs. You may have specific likes and dislikes, needs and wants, etc., and it would be difficult for any of us who don't know you well to help out. If you wander around the various sites you can get a feel for what's available. They're also good resources to have in your 'favourites' file anyway, for future trips. Having said that, someone will probably weigh in with advice anyway, so be ready for a barrage of info. Good luck!

She's waiting...

I used to think that ice fishing was nothing but beer, dirty jokes, and flatulence, but then it struck me - what's the downside of that? But seriously folks, although I often feel like going it's not something that I dare do. Ever since some bad water back in the early 70s gave me IBS the cold is one of the things that can set it off, and if the Imodium chooses not to work it puts me in a very painful and frightening condition. Bring on the heat!

My apologies to all mammals in the genus Sus, you shouldn't be lumped in with the sort of humans who do this.

Stopped at a place last night that most of us probably know, the small parking space at the north end of the Mitchell Lake causeway, just south of Highway 48. Holds three cars if people know how to park. The garbage there was unbelieveable! Do people walk there to drop off their household trash? Doubt it, I'm willing to bet that EVERYONE gets there by car. So, here's a radical idea for those who don't know what to do with potato chip bags, pop tins and bottles, bait packages, and everything else they drove there with - PUT IT BACK IN THE DAMNED CAR AND TAKE IT HOME WITH YOU!!! You don't want garbage in your car? Tough, sane people don't want it all over the ground at a lakeside! Sheesh, sometimes when I get done with one of my longer trips the plastic shopping bag hanging from the headrest behind my passenger seat is full, and there might be some stuff on the floor too, BUT I SURE AS HELL DON'T DUMP IT AT THE SIDE OF THE ROAD HALFWAY HOME! And to the person who put the garbage bag there attached to the tree; sorry, but you're just encouraging it. The township doesn't have a regular collection there as far as I know, so it just builds up until the crap is everywhere but in the bag, and the bag itself is torn and spilling its contents. The only thing that should be there is a camera to catch the filthy pigs who leave all their crap. :angry:

COOL!

Hope it's well lubed...

Goldfish are just carp with bling, so sooner or later they will revert to the ones we see all over the place. But it still shouldn't be allowed.

Maybe this is so obvious that it's been done already and I just haven't noticed it (not an unlikely scenario I can assure you ) but why don't rods have measurements marked on them? Last night I caught a nice largemouth, and didn't have a tape measure with me, so I laid the rod on the ground, laid the fish next to it, and noticed that when the tail was at the butt-end of the handle the mouth was exactly at the forward edge of the little 'Shimano' sticker on the rod shaft. Measured that when I got home to satisfy my curiosity. But it got me thinking; why not just make a rod with measurements on it? Not all of us take a tape with us when we're fishing, but experience tells me that most of us have a rod. (Or am I missing something there too? )

Thanks guys! If I've said it once I've said it a thousand times, there is nothing like a topwater strike. It might go back to my childhood days with Dad, sitting in a boat at night above Fenelon Falls. We used to rent the cabins along the river when Jim Curtis owned them, now they're called Summerland. Dad would row us out into the river at night and he showed me how to use a Jitterbug, and I can still remember the thrill of those bass whacking it. The Chug Bug is my favourite, but I still have a soft spot for Mr. Arbogast's product too, and my battle-scarred frog pattern one caught me a 42 1/2 inch muskie back in '96. Now THAT was a topwater strike to behold!

The boss sent me on a run to Barrie today, late afternoon so there's no time to get back and get more work. So, what to do, what to do... Oh, what the heck, instead of going back down the 400 and 401 to get home to Pickering I'll nip up to Orillia and come down Highway 12, might even do some fishing along the way. First up was the narrows at Dalrymple, chucked the bug for about 1/2 hour and got one largemouth to show for it, guesstimated at about 0.5lb. Head to Mitchell, the little parking lot on County Road 35 just south of Victoria Road. Looked a little shallow but there were some obvious burbles in the water as stuff moved around, so give it a try. After a few half-hearted swipes one finally latched on, looked about another 0.5 but it threw the hook as it was almost in my grasp. A few more casts, a few more swipes, and then BAM! Didn't get a weight, but measured it against my rod before the release, got the tape measure out at home, and now I can present to you 16.25 inches of largemouth: Almost embarrassed to mention it here among the experts, but for me this is a personal best. I only got back into fishing in a semi-serious way a few years ago and I don't get out much, so this one may stand as an LM PB for a while, but I'll keep trying to bust it!

Excellent production values, you should be doing a lot more of these! At the bottom right it says Foo Fighters, Stranger Things Have Happened.

Randy, you could do us all a service by being as little more precise about your address, I don't think that any of us want to get withing 10km of you.

I need a dog like this!

Then turn left at Sudbury on Highway 17 and keep following it to Wawa. But whatever you do, don't do

As someone who suffers from IBS, I would join them at the roadside!

Let me get this in before the thread is locked. I am pro-choice, but while I find their tactics to be harsh I'm not going to condemn them for their passionate action for something they feel strongly about. It's a free speech issue. My problem with these people is different. First, they seem to assume that those of us who are pro-choice are somehow perfectly okay with abortion, or that we even like it. We don't. It is something we see as a last choice, and many of us are just as disgusted by the reality of it. But reality is something we all should be willing to face, and the reality is that there are instances in which attempting to carry a baby to term would endanger the life of the mother, and we would lose two lives instead of one. That doesn't seem to bother a lot of the anti-abortion crowd, but it does bother us, as does their attitude toward it. My second gripe is that most of them are also against the very things that would lessen the incidence of abortion, things like condoms, birth control pills, and proper sex education in schools. Instead they promote abstinence programs. Abstinence obviously works; if you're not having sex then you won't get pregnant, but abstinence programs do not work. They fail to take human nature into account, and teenagers with raging hormones and no information about how to avoid the consequences will get themselves into situations that can mess up their lives for a very long time.

Looks like a bullfrog, they'll eat anything that they can get their mouth around.

Here's a Wikipedia link, apparently they're considered a delicacy in Thailand.

He could wear a rhinestone tiara for all I care, as long as he's a safe driver. But don't get me started on that issue...

Don't know if it's the lighting in the photo, but that fish looks as if it was raised in toxic waste, painted khaki, hung to dry for a month, rolled in dust, and then run over by a truck. Hope you didn't try eating it!

Darn right, there's NOTHING as cool as a topwater strike!

Yep, Red-necked grebe, Podiceps grisegena. There are some that breed in Bronte Harbour each year. They're not related to ducks, closer to loons. Nice fish too!

Suggestion: use a net next time, lifting that chub could have broken the line.

You certainly should have brought your gear, you're not far from some excellent bass and pike fishing. The water at the base of Spadina is actually being managed for pike spawning, and the islands are well known for being a great fishery.