Jonny

You got any photos of this, Manitou?

Here are a couple more photos... I'm sure the MNR will continue to "study" the problem until our sport fish stocks are truly decimated.

We have to jump through so many government regulatory "hoops" that it raises my hackles to think we need to find another thing that we can be fined for not doing. Snowmobiles and ice huts have had to share space on the ice in Ontario for 40+ years now and we haven't needed the huts to be marked with anything but a free registration number. If snowmobilers are getting faster and more careless, maybe the thing should be turned around. Maybe we should impose a max speed on sleds and mandate brighter headlights for them. Or maybe we should just leave the whole thing alone and not get all lathered up over a random and atypical accident.

I think I'd have to agree with that. The onus is on the sledder. We've got rocky shoals, rockpiles, etc. around here, not to mention pressure cracks that can set up a solid wall of ice a few feet high. None of that is going to be marked with reflector tape. If it's not a moonlit night, or if there's blowing snow, you have to slow down.

Unfortunately, Mag-Lite's are made of aluminum, so that won't work.

One of the best sites for camera reviews... http://www.steves-digicams.com/camera-reviews/olympus/stylus-tough-6020/olympus-stylus-tough-6020-review.html Also check the "sample photos" link on that page. With 14 MP resolution, the camera can give you very useful additional digital zoom (above the 5x optical), either in the camera or with your favourite graphics program.

The hardest workout I gave my Garmin Nuvi (new to me last year) was finding my way around Pittsburgh, Baltimore and Washington DC, on a holiday. It was absolutely indispensable. Even when I occasionally screwed up the instructions it gave me (completely my fault) it would give me a re-calculated route that worked. They're an amazing machine. I was driving an Interstate and wanted to find a liquor store in upper NY State before crossing back into Canada. I typed in "liquor" and it gave me directions to four or five liquor stores within a 10 mi. radius. I wasn't chatting up pretty girls on street corners; my wife was with me.

Swag? There was swag? Left too soon I guess. Ah, well, maybe next time. On another note, the Steelers lost. Green Bay's got a great team though, and you gotta love Aaron Rodgers.

A few more pics...

Harv and I enjoyed the outing and meeting you folks, even though we could only stay till noon. Would be nice to join something like this again some time when other things don't conflict. Thanks for the effort in putting this all together, Blair.

Harv and I will be at the Callander dock at 9 AM in the morning. But like I PM'ed you Nip, I can only stay till about noon. Family plans came up that mean I can't stay the whole day as I would like. We'll have a chance to wet some lines for a couple of hours and meet some of the guys anyway.

Very creative thought process, KF. Astronomy -> habitable planets -> water -> fishing -> new tackle/techniques. You've got the bug bad!

Yes, good news for sure. It looks pretty "official".

Sorry for the "edge" to my reply, Fisherman. I'd been reading a lot about the issue and getting myself a little worked up. EDIT --- There's one thing that really shows the greed of the big carriers : It costs them about a penny to transmit a gig of data, yet they want to charge people over a dollar per gig when they go over the new "cap". That's not a justifiable profit, that's a "Pay through the nose, Sucka" obscene rip-off.

Thanks, Buster! I didn't know all that. I was on my own (and living far away) by the time my Dad got this machine so I never saw much of it. I remember being impressed by the looks and the handling though. I also remember thinking that my younger brother and sister were lucky, because my parents used to like to ice fish a lot, and when I was a kid and we couldn't go out by car, we would walk or ski, dragging a toboggan.

335,000 people have already signed the on-line petition. You can be guaranteed the gov't is watching this. This is the message I got when I signed... you can use the links too if you wish...

This explains some aspects of the issue very well... it's a comment on a National Post column... Use this link to read the full column and other comments... Read more: http://fullcomment.n.../#ixzz1CpGJJJT0

You're mistaken there. They opened up cell phone competition not long ago.

You're entitled to your opinion, and if your usage is low that's fine, but I wonder why you care so much about what other people use the internet for? The "problem" isn't one of capacity. The problem is the big telecoms finding another way to vacuum money out of people's pockets. Be aware that it may not be your problem but it is a problem for others. I've written to both my local MP and to the federal government to ask them to reverse the CRTC decision.

That's a huge rip-off! Let's start pestering our MP's, guys. They can reverse the CRTC decision.

A couple more - my father's machine in 1972 --- a Mercury...

So I guess the lesson from this thread is for Canadian Tire to stock stuff that Walmart doesn't stock. Then they can charge more than Walmart would on those items, but maybe a little less than small independents. Of course if you want personal service from someone who knows the stock they're selling, you generally won't get it from either of the big stores.

A few pictures... The Ski-Doo is an Olympique (I think it was 18 HP). Very "tippy" until I eventually put extension plates on the ski pivots. The lead machine in the multiple sled picture is an old single-ski Snow Bug (made in Sudbury).

The machine does look nice beside the portable hut. And your custom attachment for the box sure fixed you up to carry gear. The lake looks like any number of Northern Ontario lakes. Without prior knowledge it would be hard to tell the pics were taken in the NWT.

Hell if I did that, my back would not thank me! My track stays firmly planted on the ground (or the ice).