Big Cliff

Have you ever heard the saying "work diligently, with integrity, and you will always get your reward"? Well, yetrerday I got my reward, I'm out of a job! As some of you may remember last Summer I advertised a sales position on here that was becoming available at a company I was working for. Well, we ended up hiring a person because of that posting (not an OFNr but an aquaintance of one) There are three things I expect from the people I work with; honesty, loyality, and accountability. I won't go into all the gory details but lets just say that this individual didn't waste any time demonstrating to me on more than one occasion that I couldn't expect any of the above from him. My biggest mistake was that I gave him a second and even a third chance. I couldn't believe that a man could look me in the eye, shake my hand, give me his word, and it didn't mean a thing to him except another opportunity! He does however have one thing going for him, he can crap better than anyone I have ever met. He managed to convince my boss that he is just a nice young man trying to build a future for himself and he can do no wrong. Yesterday it all came to a head and it was him or me, well, I guess crap does baffel brains and the Division that I worked so hard to build for the last fifteen months is pretty much in his control and I am out of a job. I don't know what I am going to do right now, I loved that job, I put my heart and sole into building that division, I was so proud of it! Sorry for the rant guys and gals, I'm having a bad day!

Nice report! I was thinking about you guys a lot yesterday everytime I heard a report about accidents on the 400 or 404, glad to hear that you made it safe and sound and that you got out to do some fishing.

When I worked for INCO in the late 60's guys use to brag about how many hours sleep they could get on night shift while working on the back track. Many of them wanted steady night shift because they also had day jobs. (we were getting paid well). Graft was rampant and the general attitude seemed to be "do as little as possible and get as much as you can". Those are the same people that cried like heck when INCO's costs were getting out of control and INCO went off shore and started closing down the Sudbury operations.... I wonder why INCO would do something like that? I drove nothing but Fords or GMs most of my life. Then I bought a Chev Cavalir, it was in the shop 9 times for major repairs in the first 75000 km. I contacted GM Customer Service and was told that the car had almost 80,000 km on it, I had to expect that a few little things would go wrong with it! Little things..... transmission twice, air conditioner twice, cylinder head....... fire under the dash..... I explained that in 80,000 they hadn't been able to get the thing to work right. After I threatened to paint lemons on the side of it and park it in front of the dealership (it now had 80,000) they finally agreed that they would have the dealership go over the car one more time and fix it but that was it! Cost them $1820.00 just in parts and I dumped the car the next day. In 1998 I bought a Mazda 626; still runs like new, has cost me a total of $412.00 in repairs (not including normal maintainance... tires, oil changes...) Paint is still in excellent condition, doors, windows and everything else on the car still fits and works like the day it did when I drove it off the lot. I also own a Nissan, I had some problems with my first one but they bent over backwards to take care of me, they even loaned me the managers new fully loaded truck to drive while they sorted out what was wrong with mine and when they finally got everything working perfectly, the credited me with seven weeks of lease payments to compensate me for my inconvenience. When my lease was up on that Nissan guess where I went to get my next one! Friends went to buy a car from this same Nissan dealership. They couldn't get the car in for three weeks so the dealership LOANED, not leased, LOANED them a car until their new one got there. When the big 3 learn to deliver that kind of quality and service I'll be happy to buy their products again but until then, I'll spend my money where I get the best value!

You are doing a fine job of getting old Jack. Keep up the good work!

Super report, glad to hear you had such a good time! Thanks for sharing.

Ahhhh I'm getting all excited, the thought of getting to see many old friends again and meeting up with some new ones.......the chance to contribute to such a worthwhile cause........

Is that likely to cause any problems with us having food available Moe? Just wondering is they will have venders there who might get upset that we are giving it away free (donations much appreciated). Also, does that mean that the washrooms will be open?

I feel your pain misfish Roy, last time I asked Sue if she thought I should go ice fishing or stay in bed and cuddle she just said "dress warm sweetie"..... Sue never was a morning person LOL.

I remember when Sue and I bought our first house, $40,000.00 mortage and we woried our selves sick over the "what ifs". LOL. Was the smartest thing we could have done! Don't worry, be happy! Good luck!

Thanks Tony! Let us know as soon as you can about the food, we ran out last year and don't want that to happen again. Just let us know what you can supply then we can work from there. Thanks Cliff

You have your name on one Beans

Well, I am going to be staying at my son's in Noelville that weekend but I will get out there to spend some time with the gang this year.

Anyone needing a ride from Lindsay let me know, I have room for 3 people. 328-0750 I too will have something for the prize table Moe. I'll send you a PM after I get back home.

Morning Moe! Actually as long as there is a street address, it will take you there! You can even ask it to take you by the shortest or fastest route, avoide gravel roads, toll roads, or highways..... you do have to be careful what you ask for though, at one point I asked it for the shortest route and it was going to take me there except a portion of the road was unmaintained (showed up on a map and everything). I just told it to avoide gravel roads and it recalculated for me.

I had been wanting to get something similar for a while now but right after Christmas CTC had a unit on sale (not the Garmin one)... so off I went gift cards in hand to get one of the CTC ones. Well, it seems a lot of other people had the same idea and by the time I got there they were all gone and wouldn't be available for a few weeks. I had a few other things to get and happened to stop in at Radio Shack (the source, or what ever they call it these days) and they had the Garmin Street Pilot on special for $429.00. (regular $600.00+) and the salesman was really on the ball and knew the product (that always impresses me) so I bought it. I have to tell you, I am VERY impressed with this thing. It is small but the screen has excellent clarity and the voice prompts are easy to hear and understand. I won't try to tell you all the features of it here but when we were in the middle of nowhere and I noticed we were getting low on gas, Sue just touched "where to?" then "fuel" (it's all touch screen) and within seconds it gave us a list of nearby gas stations, their names, addresses, direction, and distance. Sue selected one and it guided us right to the address. Sue wanted to go to a Red Lobster for dinner one night, she just followed the on screen prompts, typed in Red Lobster, and it listed several starting with the closest one then guided us right into the parking lot. I can't speak about any of the other units out there, I have heard some not so good reports and I have heard of a lot more expensive units but if you are going to do any traveling I'd recomend this one any time.

That's wonderful news! A lot more positive than the first posts we got after your accident! Don't know if I'll get a chance to get out fishing with you but looking forward to seeing you at the Tyler G2G. Thanks for the update.

Well the weather cooled off quite a bit, 36 F yesterday morning when I got up and winds between 10 and 20 mph. but the forecast was for clearing and warming up to the high 50s so I decided to have a good breakfast and then head out. I got Sue to drop me off at the pier about 9:30 and met up with 4 of the fellows that I have fished with a couple of times now, they had set up about 1/2 way out on the pier where there was a utility shead so they had some shelter from the wind. (this pier is 1206' long) The guys had been there a few hours and by now they were starting to feel the cold and the fishing hadn't been very good, they were just talking about packing it in so I decided to go right out to the end of the pier where I have fished the other times. The sun had just started to break through the clouds and the wind seemed to be dying down a little, it kind of reminded me of a spring ice fishing trip... you know, the ones where you are all bundled up to keep warm but you feel the warmth from the sun and it would be so easy to just lay back and have a nap LOL! Anyway, I was the only person out there so I got all set up and proceeded to fish. It was slower than it has been in the past, I guess the fish react to a cold front here the same as they do back home and the wind was making it hard to tell if I was getting a bite or not sometimes but within the first half hour I had a nice little black tip shark, and by 2:00 had managed to tie into a huge spiney dog fish (broke 40 lb test line trying to lift him up onto the pier) and 3 nice size clear nose skate (boy do they ever put up one heck of a fight for their size). Still haven't gotten out on a charter, my friend Gord is due to arrive on Sunday at some point so hopefully we'll be able to do something early next week. With only a week left to go on this holiday Time for a charter trip is running out but no matter, I have still gotten in some fantastic fishing. Thinking of you all! Cliff

I know you have a lot to contend with right now and really appreciate you taking the time to let us know what is going on. It really means a lot to so many of us who have been praying for you and Chris through all of this. I never go to Toronto unless I really have to but if you ever needed me there...... well, you already know the answer. We'll keep praying, keep us posted when you can.

Well, it is 36 F here right now with light rain but is going up to 50 and the forcast for the next 5 days puts it in the mid 50 range. Guess everyone North of here and inland is having a rough time. He have to head for home around the end of next week so I have been looking for a weather window but it looks like it's going to be a slow trip. Sounds like a perfect day to go over to BPS and drool.....Tomorrow it's going up to 58 and sunny, sounds like another good day for pier fishing.

I usually just take the GO train when I am going down there, it probably costs as much as the parking but I don't have to contend with the traffic. Don't like paying their prices for food down there either. I was planning on going to the boat show this year, thinking about a new boat but ended up here on holidays, from the sound of it it was the better choice!

Morning all! Crokers and grunts sure are two different fish, most of the guys here tell me that the crokers are excellent eating but very boney, they use them for cut bait a lot and prefer to keep sugar pearch for eating (they look almost the same, silver, but the croker has a mouth more lick a carp. GCD, the spiney dog fish actually looks like a shark, same shape, a lot of people seem to confuse the two (I sure did at first). The spiney dog fish however has white spots running the length of it side like a lateral line and has those barbs (much like a cat fish) at it's fins. Proboat, haven't been there yet but might get to try it next week, any place special you can recommend? Joey, Beans, from the sound of the weather reports up there (-23 C in Lindsay this morning)now might be a good time to head South......) I know I'm not heading North for as long as I can hold out LOL. pikehunter, john, whopper, I have only been pier fishing twice before but this is one of the most fun trips I have ever had, much like ice fishing up North, everyone helps each other, and about two minutes after getting there people are coming over and introducing themselves..... I have meet some really neat people since I arrived. This is somrthing I will do again every chance I get and I'd recommend it to anyone. By the way whopper, thanks again for the PM and your very generous offer, very kind of you and much appreciated! No charters yet Maureen but Gord doesn't get here until Sunday so we will probably book something for Tuesday or Wed. depending on the weather. Jf it looks like it will be too rough I just might introduce him to pier fishing too LOL. Keep warm, be safe!

Nice fish! You are not allowed to fish for sharks within 1/2 mile of shore in Myrtle Beach because they don't want to the tourists to know they are around. If you do catch one accedently while fishing for other species, you are not allowed to use a net or gaff to help you land it, mind you the ones we are catching here are considered big at 10 lbs.

Jan. 15... 74 Deg.F... wind light out of the East.... sunny with a bit of light cloud. Lunch packed, Sue drops me off at the pier about 9 am.....ahhhhh it's going to be a good day. Met up with a couple of people from my previous venture, and it didn't take long before I had a line in the water and the action started. First up a skate about 5-6 lbs. (sort of looks a bit like a sting ray), they tell me they are good eating but I was on a C&R mission. Next, a horse shoe crab (guessing about 5 lbs), ugly...A spiney dog fish 8 lbs, (looks like a shark but has white spots and barbs in the fins), a blue crab, about 1 lb, he had clamped on to my bait and didn't let go until I set him down on the pier.A black tip shark about 6 lbs, several small crokers, and a sugar perch. Oh, and a salt water eel, probably about 3-4 lbs. One of the fellows I was fishing with asked if he could have it, apparently they are excellent eating. (I have pictures of all of these that I'll post when I get home) Anyway, by the time Sue came back to get me about 2:30 I have to admit, I was ready to call it a day, it had been pretty much non stop action (and they called this a slow day LOL.), Final count for the day..... I have no idea. Several Skate, sharks, and spiney dog fish, a nice tan with a bit of wind burn, and a bunch of really nice fishing buddies. It doesn't get much better than that (except when I looked at the weather you guys had yesterday). Glad to be on a pier in Myrtle Beach!

Well Garrett, if you need a hand with anything (pun intended) while you are recovering, just let us know (and there are some things I won't do for even a fellow OFNr .)

Sorry I don't have any pics to show you right now, I'm working on a borrowed lap top with limited software and a VERY slow dial up connection. I'll have to wait untile I get back to post pictures. Got an old fishing buddy coming down next week, he and I are going to see about doing a charter trip, I'm really looking forward to that one. Haven't decided what we are going to go for yet, seems we have lots of choices. As long as it's fishing I'm happy! Talked to the friends that are taking care of our house last night, they tell me that Sturgeon Lake still has open water, Looks like we might not have much of a problem with winter kill this year and I bet the lack of ice is going to keep the pressure off Scugog and other lakes in the area.