big guy

Launching boats with their waders on? Who the hell does that? Have you actually seen this in real life?

It really gets under my skin when people slag a guy like Don Cherry. Yes, the guy is old school, but you know what, old school is far better than the new school. The single biggest problem with society today is political correctness and the apologists who gave birth to it and continue to nurture it. Don Cherry doesn’t apologize for anything, he has principals, values and dare I say, COMMON SENSE. When he believes in something he lets you know about it, the man wears his emotions on his sleeve. Why is that a crime? We’re in the state we are today with our politics and justice system because somewhere along the line someone decided that the old way of doing things, the way we and our fathers and mothers were raised was wrong. Why? Cherry always comes across like he’s mad about something because he’s sick and tired of being the only one carrying the torch. Do you really think the CBC, the Liberal, politically correct bastion that our tax dollars props up, really wants him on their network, hell no? The only reason he’s there is for ratings, in other words money and because of the public outcry there would be if they fired him. If you ask me, we need more Don Cherry’s in the world.

I for one didn't think the "stomp" was near as bad as his stick to the head incident last year. Cripes, you hear the word "stomp" and it sounds like he jumped up in the air and came down with all his weight on the guys foot, nothing could be further from the truth. He half-assed stepped on the guy without any more force than you would use to clear the snow off your boot... big deal. The real problem with the NHL is that they let guys like Koivu, Pronger etc, off with nothing for doing exactly the same thing guys like Simon get 25 and 30 games for. Why cause his name is Saku Koivu, or because it's his first offence? What a load of crap... it shouldn't matter who does what, or how many times, suspend them all for the same amount of time. Where is the deterent for guys like Simon when we can all see there are clearly two sets of rules at play. And as for the league cleaning itself up, back in the day when you could punch a guy out for being a pest, or taking liberties, it was a lot cleaner than it is now. Is it cleaner now because there is less fighting... hardly, there is more stick work, more cheap shots and less respect than ever before, why the hell do you think so many players wear visors? How many NHLer's wore visors back in the 70's when the Flyers were pounding every thing in sight? And how many brawls did you see between 7 and 8 year olds? The reason why minor league kids are getting into fights is because everything around them is more violent than it was when I was growing up and the "adults" don't take responsibility for anything anymore, always pointing the finger at the other guy. When I was a kid, I played outside, now a days they sit in the front of the damn TV watching violent shows, or playing violent games. Guys like Don Cherry are few and far between, trying to teach kids to respect each other when on the ice, who do you think started the "THINK" patches that are on the backs of all the jerseys. It's time for many of us to grow up and start being accountable for our actions, in every facet of our lives. If a guy like Simon does something stupid, yes, he must take responsibility for it, but the NHL must also do their part in seeing that "every" player is held accountable.

I just finished watching the end of Simply Fishing on WFN. During the episode he caught a large 50" range muskie and his guest, Ted Takasaki I believe, got it into the net at boatside then proceeded to take at least 3 minutes getting the hooks out of it, then they lifted it out of the water for "all the world" to see. Seeing this got me thinking, if you're going to release the fish anyway, why not use barbless hooks. In this particular case it would have cut down the time the fish spent thrashing around in the net considerably. They fish seemed to swim away vigorously, but who knows whether it was actually alive 24 hours later. If you're out fishing and practising catch and release, doesn't it seems a little hypocritical to be using barbed hooks? If the fish gets off because the barbs have been pinched down, it shouldn't really matter... right? Maybe this is something all catch and release tourneys should be looking at as well. Just a thought.

Ya I was thinking about the whole technology issue last night. I wondered to myself, why does the average fisherman, someone going out to catch a couple for the dinner table, or to take his kids fishing need something like a GPS unit. Is it really necessary, will it mean that we aren't the "great white hunter" anymore if we come home empty handed once in a while. That GPS will take us back to the same place we caught the 5 lb. smallie the last time, then we'll try to catch it using the same presentation. Pretty soon all the fish in that area have seen everything you ever thrown at them, they're educated, they won't bite anymore, but we say they're all gone... well maybe they're not. When did it change from "fishing" to "catching". Are we so afraid of failure nowadays that he has to include everything in our lives. Being a good person, father/mother, sister/brother, son/daughter etc, are the things we should be afraid at failing at, coming home without dinner, or having the shiniest, newest car on the block or even the perfect lawn are things we shouldn't be afraid of, it's only aesthetics... who really cares. It's this whole competitive aspect that's bred into to us now from watching all these ridiculous fishing tournament shows on the boob tube, thinking that we're the next champion of the sport the next time we hit our favourite lake. Tournament angling has brought on significant change to the industry, some of it has been positive, but personally, I think most of it has been very harmful, to the environment , but mainly to our mentality. Personally speaking, I think I'll keep my Magna II to show me at what depth I'm over and I'll keep lining up those two trees, or that cottage and that flag pole, to identify my trolling route and try to teach my sons that fishing is about patience and being out there enjoying it more than anything else.

I have done a fair bit of reading on the stocking issue and I am not sure it's the way to go. In some situations, put-and-take trout fisheries for example, it's seems to fairly viable. Your putting fish in to be taken out, as simple as that. If the circumstance is to enhance as existing population, studies show that it really upsets the balance with no significant benefit to the fisherman. I think I would rather see a chunk of the stocking money go to increased enforcement, more CO's per area to catch the "real" problem within our sport... over harvesting. I think we all need to be more aware and diligent when it comes to people taking more than their share. The majority of us have digital cameras and/or phones with us when we go fishing, we have to use them more often in the reporting of issues, fishing violations, pollution issues etc. I know it's hard for some people to be confrontational, but these devices can be used very discretely and the information turned over to authorities without the offenders even knowing. Fines and suspensions must also increase to deter people. I am really hoping that the new regs that have been put in place for much of the southern Ontario will help the fishery over the long term. But it's only going to work if we "all" except and obey the rules.

here is the link for hydro and gas prices: Hydro/Gas Pricing and info Please people, inform yourselves. Contrary to what they tell you at the door, the end of the world is not near, hydro prices actually went down again for the winter. All the others are a complete scam.

I agree Moosebunk. The "scenery" looks pretty flat. I don't imagine there is too much of that in Finland.

And I predict will never hear about this in Canada. We are not having enough babies in this country, so it will never come to light.

http://news.sympatico.msn.ctv.ca/TopStorie...d_winter_071130

Abu-Garcia C-3 reels at Lebaron are $107 in the 2008 catalog, down from $127 last year. One of the reasons why Bas Pro stuff is so expensive is because they have to pay their rent at the Vaughan Mills Mall and I don't want to think about how much that must be. They should have built their own stand alone store. There is no reason why they shouldn't be able to out compete Lebaron with the volume they sell across their entire netwok of stores. Lebaron has only 4 stores and their mail order, how many does Bass Pro have?

Carp, try this site, www.insurancehotline.com, I saw it in the Star. You go in and fill out all your particulars and it sends you the 3 cheapest quotes, but it also sends a message to the cheapest one that you are looking for insurance. A woman in Ajax from the cheapest quote, contacted me and my wife and I are now paying $43/month less than we were from the company we've been with since forever. We really noticed the differnce on our home insurance especially. We switched everything over to the new broker and told the other one to p!ss up a rope.

I am pretty sure it was the third year we were up there, I'd say '85. We went up there to see a buddy who was working there, ended up meeting some girls from Sudbury and then returned 3 more years in a row to party with them... GT, good times. It's too bad that tornado went through it, it sure got rid of most of the mature trees.

Damn Junior Rangers. A bunch stole our cooler, just filled with 36 cans of beer up at Halfway Lake one year.

Damn... I'm going to miss her Dano. I say we all raise a beer tonight, to toast her memory. RIP, queen of the avatars.

I hope Chara gets ahold of that panzy Tucker. Ref blindly missed that charging penalty. Just how does someone 5'10" charge someone 6'9" anyway. He may have taken a few steps once he crossed the blueline, but he was gliding when he hit him. Clean hit. Charging calls should never be called on someone that big, a guy like Tucker is never going to hurt him, not in a hundred years. Take the hit and keep on going and that's exactly what he did. Good on Tucker for actually being able to knock him over.

I have read most, but not all the replies to this thread, but I am curious about one thing. Did anyone actually send the photo and boat numbers to the MNR to see what could actually be done about the situation, if anything?