bare foot wader

this should be a good thread, always enjoy hearing others stories, I've been fortunate enough to see some amazing things, living in ON and BC was relieving myself sitting over a log, looked over and there was a black wolf looking at me...finished up and paddled out from shore, he raced in an enjoyed a special "treat"...not so scary but damn funny this past fall my pup was right on my heels hiking and whining, figured coyote as they are around the house and knows they are trouble...kept back checking and eventually it was a wolf, he was keeping his distance so didn't fire immediatley but put my pup on the leash....a few km's later pup freaked and i looked as the wolf was coming in head to the ground, dropped the leash and soon as I raised my rifle he bolted, I hit him pretty far back, stumbled and kept going, put the dog in the truck and tried to find the wolf...followed the trail into some thick stuff and gave up on it at dark, the drive out they were howling like crazy...my 14 wk old lab was inseparable for weeks after that, always at my feet, shook him up for a while I started playing around with doe urine while hunting, on my boots, seems to work very well for predators LOL...many wolves but most notable was fresh cougar tracks on the way out, followed them less than 500 yds and saw her in a tree, quick pic and left her alone, didn't push my luck, she was clearly not so happy walking home along a dirt road 11 km, locked my keys in the truck in late april and bears were very active, 3 grizzlies crossed the road, 2 didn't care much/notice, the largest winded me and then ran in the woods...in my waders and vest, trout slime on me, it was a very uneasy walk up the road with my fillet knife in hand....30 mins later I see a tiny black sow, didn't think much except it was odd she wasn't leaving as I approached, I'm making noise trying to scare her off, about 50-60 yds away, hear a noise and look up, cubs in a tree, must have been her first litter as she was very small....looking at her cubs set her off, I watched her forearms bulge and toes dig in the dirt...i turned and ran regardless of her size, but she only bluffed, no way i was out running or climbing a tree in waders very fast mountain biking along trails you cover ground fast and move fairly silently, see a ton more game than on a quad or sled...even with bells on the bikes we have spooked many bears on the trail, grizz's and blackies...have seen some crazy territorial behaviours, huffing, lip curls and snorting, beating the crap out of the ground or a bush, up turning stumps, bluffed charged too many times to remember but only 1 that truly scared the crap out of us, a very large black boar charged and ran out a bluff closer than I've ever experienced and hope I never again a lot of people talk about grizzly attacks, but in my experience, I am far more scared of a black bear, they are documented to display predatory behaviour to humans, where as grizzly encounters are 99% defensive (usually with cubs) or territorial, not predatory (still the 1% like timothy treadwell)...working at a wilderness lodge we always explained to guests how to react in a bear encounter, nothing like seeing a tourists face go white as we go through a very detailed training session and play the "slide show" and then give them a waiver to sign in the canoe coming down around some small channels in a set of islands, small lake around ptbo, pop in a bay and find ourselves between a calf and a cow moose, about 10 yds split form each...we paddled fast and she was snorting and swimming after us!!! only lasted about 10 seconds and she turned back to her calf, pretty cool to see in the canoe on chemong lake, pan fishing around a set of islands, geese were nesting there and the male started dive bombing us, we couldn't paddle fast enough, he was honking and hovering around us, couldn't get away...a gander from the next nest down came to help out..."nudged" one with the paddle in mid air and they backed off but still escorted us away aside from a bear or cougar, i think an angry goose in your face is the last thing i'd wanna deal with

your posts are always epic, but this tops them all....those gar are unreal!...I fished the ottawa and rideau a lot when I was younger, never found them quite that big when I was a kid

those are great tents and good price on the classifieds I've seen some arcitc oven tents and they're great but HEAVY...would never put a 30 lb tent on my pack and snowshoe in anywhere, but for a sled trip or short hike they seem like they'd be worth the money FYI greyhound shipping is cheap and reliable, especially for heavy/bulky stuff...not sure how it would compare price wise to Canada Post for something as light as a tent...something to consider maybe

it's not unheard of for "victims" to receive bills for their rescue...marine, back country, sledders, skiiers, etc...from my experience it's the SAR team leader that assesses the situation after the rescue to determine due diligence. And then possible charges passed forward, it's not the SAR team to make that decision I don't think (pretty sure they are largely gov't funded), they just analyze the situation and then it's the private entities that assisted in the rescue that look to recover costs Are they properly prepared? Trained and experience for what they're doing to determine risk analysis? Have the tools and equipment to do what they're doing? etc, etc I think 90% of rescues are simply accidents and should not be billed, but then there is the other 10%...but who and how you draw the line there, that's tough I worked at a heli ski lodge and when we responded to mayday's to back country sledders, stopped our ski program and left clients on the mountain to respond, we sent an invoice every time for pilot and guides wages and fuel I've had the opportunity to work with and chat with many SAR volunteers, none of them ever say they are angry to come to the rescue, it's what they live for and are happy to help....but plenty frustrated over the many darwin idiots out there...and it's very sad when a rescue turns to a recovery all too often it cost this guy 10K but he stood up and handled it well, cudos to him http://vancouver.24hrs.ca/2012/12/19/snowboarder-sorry-for-endangering-others-faces-bill-from-ski-hill warm temperatures in march and high winds? regardless of an OPP advisory or not, those conditions should make you reconsider, especially on a large lake...and some guys got caught out there twice??!!! nothing to complain about for a $200 tab, especially if they can make it up with volunteer hours

these are my stompin grounds...I'll PM you my email practice your spey(skagit) casting all spring and summer if you can upgrade your rental to 4wd it will open up a lot of opportunity

where is the warehouse located? I did epoxy flooring for 3 years through college in Peterborough...my boss had only 1 main competitor, Stonhard based out of Whitby I think....we did a ton of small factories in the St. Catherines to GTA to Ottawa area...GM was the number 1 customer, ford and honda, a lot of food processors, high tech labs, etc assuming this is a straight rolled on epoxy, no mortar underneath...the blasting machine is connected to a huge vacuum, 1 man operates the blaster and 2 guys follow around with the vacuum...shoot the pellets at the floor, vacuum sucks up pellets and epoxy debris, magnet separates steel pellets from debris(to be reused), epoxy debris continues to vacuum....followed by a thorough sweeping I'll PM you contact details for my old boss 10k square feet isn't too big, if you're only removing the epoxy it shouldn't be too bad for pricing, but is expensive to install

those swivels are legit but seem to be geared more at saltwater anglers....I chartered a guide in florida uses them, he said they last longer and more durable as they don't corrode....he was using 50 lb swivels I think....also said that occasional fish will swipe at the flash of the stainless swivel and damage the mainline I use the Rio wire tippet for fly fishing and ice fishing but based on my impression of the swivels, I'd try the wire without hesitation

a large saltwater fly box sounds like it would work well, but they're pretty pricey for what you get a google search will find you lots: http://www.orvis.com/store/product.aspx?pf_id=7597 I made my own, I dremmel tooled the tray dividers out of a large plano box, bought some 1/2" thick sheet foam at a craft shore, used marine goop to hold it in...nice and big, I prefer the thicker foam for the larger hooks, lasts longer too...drilled holes all around the sides for ventilation keeps them securely separated so they don't bump and chip paint away...and wet bucktail/fur won't bleed colours to other jigs...I keep new jigs and at one end of the box and used wet jigs on the other side

as mentioned they are mostly popular with the pontoon crowd, there is a double prop model as well, not sure what the thrust is but I'd guess 175+ I've seen a few of them on large charter boats, I think they mainly use them as thruster when mooring

the OP should let his friend fish with his flasher for a day or two...and then see how fast buddy makes up his mind about buying one LOL fisherman....there's been a few trips where we've sat in the truck on the way home adding up numbers and calculating cost per fish...or when it's really bad cost per bite....sometimes it's better not to think about it and of course the pie chart of fish caught per angler...the joys of accountants fishing together ha

x2 minus 15 yrs lol double uni or surgeon's knot, trilene or palomar been playing around with braid mainlines past couple years, use an improved albright knot in that case

http://toronto.kijiji.ca/c-buy-and-sell-sporting-goods-exercise-fishing-camping-outdoors-Vexilar-FL8SE-value-pack-ice-fishing-flasher-W0QQAdIdZ434343591

at end of season you can check walmart and canadian tire for clearance items..my first flasher was a vex fl8 on clearance at cdn tire for 125.99, i bought 2 and sold one to a buddy check used classifieds, they always come up...you can probably get one for 200 or less

yep, abitibi has some good fishing Lunkerhunter - with a sled and portable hut, you'd open up a lot of possibilities

nipissing and temagami are the obvious choices, lots of info online but I've been itching to plan a trip to this place, now that there are no hut operators on big ab...do you have a portable to tow behind your sled? http://www.perrylakelodge.com/

sharp looking toothpaste welds there....thats how my shop teacher described a good weld, "looks like tuthpaste son" great looking setup...boat and shop

well that depends on the industry you work in and your position/relationship to the business processes counter offers when giving notice are pretty common I'm not missing the NHL this time around and personally support the players 100% the juniors are going to be even more special this year

that is awesome skipper, as a kid i was amazed at my grandfather's coffee can of cdn tire money

worth every penny and then some....learn to use it and you WILL hook more fish through the ice

Be careful what you wish for...ICBC (BC) isn't exactly appraised for it's good work the thing that I find interesting, there is no inter-provincal/national drivers registry....IE: if you have a bad licence for whatever reason (DUI, careless, etc) you can move to BC, lie and say you're a brand new driver and you enter their licencing system as a brand new driver without affecting your ICBC rate...if you give them your ON drivers licence then they will pull your record this was very popular during the "Olympics migration" and is the biggest reason a few of my friends stay in BC, because of their "do over" with their truck insurance...800 a month in ON was a DUI and 233 as a new driver in BC

he needs driving experience on his own insurance plan...TO doesn't help...the rumour/myth about dropping rates when you suddenly become more mature at the age of 25 isn't true either (at least not for me, with a squeaky clean record) the cheapest solution for your 19 yr old, assuming he lives at home, is dad is primary and son is secondary driver...cheapest rate that way, after 1-2 years switch over to his own plan...if you're willing to risk your rates assuming he won't cause a claim and I would've loved to find rent cheaper than 646 when i was in TO!!

LOL thanks for the advice

beauty brown! well done I picked up on using fly reels for some ice jigging a few years back, nearly eliminates line twist and plus it's just fun to fish with, pretty popular in the US if you're into it, check out the 13 fishing multiplier ice reel http://www.idofishing.com/forum/showflat.php/Number/1181592/fpart/1/13-fishing-6061-multiplier-reel-photos

I have issues with cabelas sizing...I'm an XL but with cabelas I'm 2XL in the bibs(for length) and L in the jacket...IMO the bib pants are way to short on the inseam...aside from that it's good stuff if you order online it's easy to ship back for return or exchange, it only costs you the shipping deducted from your return, that's it and you have 90 days I returned some cheapo snow camo because it was poor quality, after about a month and a half of use and just had enough of it one day, no questions asked...but be careful of return/exchange policy on clearance items you definitely want uninsulated if you want multi-season use, layer up if needed

LOl so why have 2 rooms filled with tens of thousands of dollars of gear? some people like using nice gear, doesn't make them any better or worse than anglers with basic gear