bigugli

Sounds like a nice tasty treat.

We gotta practice what we preach. Far too many out there making noise and using up precious oxygen these days. Here's the fall "harvest" to date: Don't know what I'm doing with this collection, but the summer round up bought a number of kids rod & reel combos It's a pity I can't collect a bounty on all the plastic lying around. There are two poly bottles thrown around for every can I find.

What a waste of good perch bait.

Well done snag That is the most interesting way I have ever seen anyone preach the oudoor gospel. "Take out more than you took in". I pick up about $25 a month in beer empties a month to fuel my boat for most of the year. If you want to throw your money away, kindly deposit it in my driveway. I don't mind. In addition I retrieve 1000 lbs of pop cans a year from my neighbourhood and numerous fishing holes. Of course, I have a very specialized gaff for snagging my catches. http://www.foodservicedirect.com/largeView...c=AR363744L.jpg With this gaff I can snag hundreds of those beauties in an hour. Thank you for giving us a truly "Pythonesque" presentation.

Soon enough be time to hook up my reindeer and sleigh HoHo! HeHe! Bring on the white stuff.

In some states there are a lot of pay as you play fishing areas as opposed to free access.

Been there a few times GCD. Glad it punched through easy enough. It's a lot worse when someone else gets hooked and they ask you to get it out, Yeesh!! 2 best first aid tools in the boat, a good set of plier/cutters for hooks, and duct tape for even the worst pike gash. Last gash i got was 2 inches long, shoulda had stitches. Got back to civilization 4 days later and it was sealed up pretty good.

They nest regularly along the Niagara R. Would not be surprised, with changing weather patterns, if their migration range is slowly expanding.

It did rain in some places, and still is in Niagara. Forecast is a general prediction, not a site specific estimate of weather activity. Years back there was this invisible weather line through Hammy Harbour. Blue skies from burlington to Oshawa, and snow from Hamilton down. The weather man kept predicting blue skies. He wasn't wrong and he wasn't quite right.

Next time, I'm hoping the wife will drop me at LaSalle while she runs errands.

In a lot of schools, environmental action has gone the way of the Dodo. As for trash cleanups, that is now a punishment reserved for those on detention. It all depends upon whether the staff actually care any more or if they are just marking time until pension day. As for the average Canadian they don't really care, unless someone cleans up for them. The dogs and I just came in from the morning walk and, surprise surprise, we've picked up another full bag of pop cans in the neighbourhood. Just like we do every day, anywhere we go. And to answer a question I get all too often, I don't pick up all the trash in view for 3 reasons. The walk would be very short after filling the bag in the first 2 blocks. Secondly. I would have to pay a $1 a bag to dispose of all these bags of garbage, or excess bags of recycling. Third, the cans get recycled at the scrap yard and the funds have gone into several worthwhile youth projects over the past 8 years ( the beer empties fuel my boat ). Besides some people are getting paid to, supposedly, keep our streets and parks clean. As I've already said, We anglers are an easier target to find when we make a mess. Worm boxes, fishing line and lure pkging are dead give aways. So we become the scapegoat. We just have to police ourselves better, or face further loss.

That be the place alright. He was quite the little football. The darn gobies were real fat too!

Good'un

WTG on the ski. A very healthy looking fish.

Anything is better than sitting at home all day. I can only handle so many hours of the dysfunctional clan every day. I'm sure they feel the same about me too. I'm just not ready, yet, to be the hot item on the 6 o'clock news

No algae around today that I could see. As for the perch, like most other schooling fish in the harbour, they run in and out from L Ontario. As for any toxic crap, I've been eating fish loaded with crap from the mines and the mills up north since being a wee fart. Many a "pristine" lake up North have very high natural occuring levels of heavy metal contamination. It occurs in runoff and eventually ends up in fish, game, wild blueberries, and the meat at the grocery store.

Wanted to get out today, but the chauffeur was not going into Niagara today. So I got wifey to drop me off in Hammy harbour for a few hours while she ran errands. The gobies really like minnows and twister tails, but despite that nuisance I found fish. All I needed to do was cast out a distance and let my bait sink in 30 ft of water, then slowly drag it back. This fella caught me off guard Tonight we will dine on some fresh perch. Only kept them because their swim bladders were right out the mouth, or they were gut hooked. It was a great few hour outdoors.

If You own a piece of property, you have, within reason, the right to determine how, and by whom, the property is used. A municipality, as an owner of municipal park land has that same right whether we like it or not. It does not matter if the municipality enforces the by-laws or not, or even if it is impractical to enforce. I believe Niagara-On-The-Lake requires that you posess a permit to fish the town shoreline. Preference being for residents of the town. Numerous municipal parks now have rigid curfews enforced by police. IF your vehicle is in the park it gets locked in, or towed, after dark. If you are on the property after park closure you are charged with trespassing. Local residents have demanded action from their municipality and are quite happy with such restrictions. We may like to grumble but think about this. When the law is being broken, how many people look the other way and pretend they saw nothing, not their business, don't get involved? We who actively get involved are a minority. Civic pride and responsibility have been forgotten. The result is another layer of rules and restrictions. Considering the horrendous messes I've seen, I understand the harsh measures that are being imposed. One group of night anglers were caught having broken up and burnt 3 picnic tables in the bonfire and using 2 more as fishing platforms along the marsh bank in a local park. In Charles Daley Park I have seen people leave 20 odd carp dead on the grass tied on a rope for all to see. Shore lunch carcasses left where they were filleted instead of being disposed of. The mouths of most L. Ontario tribs are littered with trash during the spring and fall spawns. We are getting painted with a very broad brush, and that just means "we" have to be more diligent in policing ourselves, because all anglers will pay the consequence.

Timmies cups have got to be the biggest eyesore these days. I try to not buy my coffee in the paper cup and use a travel mug instead. When we were younger I remember only too well the smack across the head for dumping crap on the ground or in the water. I used to hate cleaning out the bottom of the boat after the weekend. Especially the soggy cig butts

I've had a big mess of braid caught on the trolling motor before. Thankfully I caught it before any damage was done.

I do a lot of shoreline and back pack fishing throughout the Niagara region, and the amount of filth there is disgusting along the trails and waterways. I pick up a few bags full every week, although I usually leave the paper stuff behind (it will eventually break down). Unlike the Niagara rednecks, I will not blame the so called "Toronto Trash" , although some garbage is tourist generated. The problem is that people don't think and don't care any more. Somebody else will clean up after them (Mommy?). Unfortunately, we will continue to lose more shoreline and public areas. For a politician it is far easier, and cheaper, to close an area and post a sign than it is to try and clean up the mess.

Finally got out for some fresh air today. Hopped in the van and checked out a few spots to see if anything was biting. The big boys didn't want to come out and play. Some small bass and lots of big gills and jack perch. Ran out of minnows and kept feeding them micro jigs til the sun went down. What a fun day. No better way than to end the day up with a little snack for me and the pups Every cast produced a fish, and few were dinks. It just don't get any better. I almost felt guilty catching so many fish while others looked on I said "almost"

Looks mighty tasty.

4-6lb ice line on the jigging rods and good old black cord on the tip-up.

Somedays you just need that quiet of being by yourself to collect your thoughts and consider the important things in your life.