Jonny

A couple of guys I know hold their Okuma baitcasters in high regard. That's what got me interested in the brand.

Yep, two-seater F-18. In top view like in the photo in the lead post, the F-15 has air intakes the front edge of which stick out at right angles from the fuselage. That's probably the best distinguishing feature.

Tips are not necessarily secrets. Just what worked for somebody else and might work for you. Why the negative tone? Maybe he'll tell some things you wouldn't?

Looks very much like a pickerel with a weird tail. No way a 27-incher would weigh 17 lb. But it could still have a hell of a bite!

I just picked up one of their reels, NIB on ebay. Beautifully finished, left-hand crank for my wife. (She didn't know she needed it!) I've heard good stuff about Okuma, but we haven't tried it yet.

Wow, and I thought it was exciting getting a 12 lb pike into a canoe!

Oh, I didn't buy one --- I just thought it was cool. It's such a little work of art I'm not sure you'd want a fish to chomp down on it.

I like that Inez Brown!

Well that's a lot more than I expected to learn about the Veuve River from anyone. Not having heard anyone ever talk about the stretches I referred to, I thought info would be pretty hard to get. I'm glad I asked. Thanks, Patrick! I have a 16' Abitibi canoe and a 2 HP Johnson that are crying to be used on smaller water on days when Nipissing is just too rough for either of my boats. Sounds like the Veuve will be well worth a try.

Thanks for the information, Patrick! Let me quiz you just a little more. The parts of the Veuve that I'm interested in are the stretches east of Verner and near Warren and Hagar and Markstay. Have you heard anything about those, or maybe fished them? Not specific spots, just a ball-park overview.

You certainly have established a wide range of fishing for only 16 y.o. Patrick. But by the time I was 16 I had done a lot of fishing too, only not quite so widespread. My folks were crazy about fishing and camping, and took me everywhere they went. I liked the honesty in your lead-off post (the very first post you made on this board). I can see why it got locked but it certainly raised a concern that doesn't get talked about much. One place that intrigues me, because I drive by it often enough between North Bay and Sudbury is the Veuve River. It's a smallish river but looks like it should hold some decent pike and bass, maybe other things too. It looks to be accessible by canoe in many spots, but I never see any boats or canoes on it. Ever fished it or heard anything about it?

God bless him and keep him safe.

OK, thanks for the heads-up, Smallie. We'll see how it turns out. I'll post the results here. Over several years I've bought 100's of items on ebay, some of them worth up to $500, and only got ripped off once on a $20 Macfarlane NFL player figure (from Montreal). Had to get my money back from VISA on that one. The feedback system and ebay's own policing seem to work pretty well. On one of those too-good-to-be-true deals, official Reebok NFL jerseys from China ($30-$35), I decided to take a chance and ordered a Troy Polamalu. When it came it was perfect - all the official tags and logos, sewn on numbers and name, etc. My son (who is the real collector) and I each bought several more jerseys before the source dried up.

Gotta love ebay, W. I just bought one of those Lucky Craft lures - total cost $11.88 CAD. We'll see how it works out. This one --- 128 mm (5")...

Ebay is a good place to find some pretty neat stuff... like this custom-painted Mann bait. Beautiful job, eh? Here's the listing... http://cgi.ebay.com/New-Custom-Painted-Man...n%3D8%26ps%3D33

I'm seeing a lot of these lures "timing out" on ebay for $0.01. In other words if you bid 1 cent you'd get it... plus the $10 (U.S.) shipping. Not much more than a big Rapala... and about the same if you figure no tax. You have to have Paypal to buy, which costs you nothing - all you have to do is set up an account. This one is a 5" lure... just an example...

Heck it's only six miles --- go for it! I shouldn't drink on a Monday night.

... in my opinion anyway... after having read a bunch... and this is meant to be constructive, not critical... 1. Don't treat the "ad" as if you're paying per word in the local newspaper. A little extra description is free. 2. Include pictures if possible. 3. Mention the shipping costs - few of the people who read your ad will be locals. (Or mention that you will not ship and are only interested in selling to someone who can pick up the item.) 4. Make a fair asking price. It's easy for anyone reading the ad to check with an internet search and see what the going price is for your item (or similar). 5. As soon as your item is sold, immediately edit your original post to say so. --- Ebay is a good guide for putting elements of an ad together. A good ad with a reasonable price saves people from wasting their time (and yours).

What you did sounds like something I would have done (if I didn't take it back to the retail store first), and my reaction would have been a long the same lines. Thanks for posting your problem. I guess these lures aren't what they're cranked up to be (especially if sponsored fishermen use them in exactly the way you did). It'll make me think twice about Rapala's and seriously consider the alternatives. I wouldn't like to get that kind of response either, if I had taken the trouble to ship the lure back to them and write a letter to go with it. (I doubt many people would do that.) Take some comfort in the fact that you did them some damage here (those that disagree with you notwithstanding). A company that's big enough not to care about losing your business is also big enough to replace your lure at pennies of cost to them. All it takes is the right attitude.

Clarification --- that image was for all of Zone 11 but Nipissing has some exceptions...

Oh, OK. It was the "not in a million years" part that caught my attention. It sounded like an actual revulsion (like me with liver!) Since becoming active on this board, I guess I'm still surprised by the significant number of people who look down on eating bass. The bass I have caught over the years have been every bit as good to eat as pickerel, perch and pike --- though each has mild differences. But I have seldom fished Ontario south of the French.

Judging by the fairly heavy concentration of shads we had on the walls of our house on July 10-11, there was another wave of hatch on those days, but no big buildup on the shore. I'm thinking the hatch may be spread out because of the weather conditions.

Explain please. Maybe you're talking about the Western end of Nipissing (which I know little about recently, not having fished it in years)? Not really sweating it. However it doesn't make sense to plug only one hole in the boat when there's a bigger hole (and no guarantee it won't get bigger yet). Netting IS an issue on Nipissing, even if it's an intractable one. I do support a native fishery, but not one that is flimsily regulated, which I believe is pretty well what we have now.

The current regulation is in the image attached below... I would be happy with a limit of any two pickerel, yes, only one of which allowed to be over 60 cm. And a "conservation" limit of one pickerel, not over 60 cm. I would also be happy with some sort of a reduction of the native quota on Nipissing. The native fishery accounts for well over 2/3 of the allowable harvest of pickerel on this lake. I believe that is too high.

Having lost one of my sons (25), I can identify all too well. My condolences.