Canuck2fan

Personally, I find that on a day like today the drive alone is worth going and looking to find these things out for oneself.... Not only that but the second any info about such things gets posted here you WILL have to leave about 2 hours earlier than you would have just to get a decent spot because it will be too crowded otherwise.... that is if they aren't still frozen solid.

FG,

 

I get my stuff at Angling Outfitters in Woodstock. But I'd bet that Fishing World, JB's and Carras others that have good reputations on this site will also do whatever they can to match or beat the pricing. The thing is, you'll also likely get an in-depth tutorial on how to use the stuff you buy as well.

 

All I can say is it doesn't hurt to go to a local shop and give them a shot. The Lebarons, Canadian Tires and BPSes of the world will always be there for when you need something in a rush, but if you're planning ahead and want to make a bigger order, who do you think is going to be more willing to work with you on customizing an order and getting a better than advertised deal. A big box shop employee doesn't have that ability to negotiate, in fact his salary is not dependent on your purchase or satisfaction, he's just putting in the hours, where the owner is often present at the smaller shops and willing to work with you to KEEP you as a customer, not just get what he can get.

 

Just my personal experience.

 

Charles

 

P.S. I'm not trying to shoot down LeB's. I'm certainly not alone in my bad experiences at LeB's, before Bass Pro came along, if you mentioned LeB's it was usually to cuss them out for bad service. Obviously things have changed for the better. I'm glad they have improved, fishing is a great hobby and shopping for our stuff should be enjoyable. Peace.

I have to agree with a lot of what you said, especially with respect to how great a guy the owner of Angler's Outfitter's is. I have spoken with him on a few occasions when he is helping out the owner of the new store in Stratford. Very knowledgeable and helpful. So is the guy who owns the new store in Stratford for that matter. However, when it comes to having what I want it just doesn't seem to happen, they both talk a good game yet for 7 trips into the store here I was promised what I wanted would be there the next time.... Long story short, does it really make sense to pay a 40% premium over LeBaron's which got delivered to my door for that 40% less? Just so I can hear some good conversation NO it doesn't to me. As for the flexibility of pricing I have to say if there is flexibility I need to have that reflected in the everyday pricing, because if I nip in somewhere on my lunch hour I don't have time to have a price debate at ANY STORE for anything, so I want the "lower" price posted on the item... like it is at LeBaron's

Now as I am typing this I am just eyeing over the stuff I just picked at the Stratford store 20 minutes ago, which was open today which surprised me. However there were no boxing day deals that I could find or see, but I needed 5 dollars worth of spawn tying supplies when I went in. I managed somehow to wind up spending 27.00 LOL.... Which is ok and now that there is a local guy here. I tend to go there for the small supplies that get used up and I cheerfully pay what he needs/charges over LeBaron's which hopefully will allow him to stay in business so that I have the convenience of getting something in town. But for anything big or when I do my spring or fall 100.00+ stock up I order it or go to Lebaron's to save that 25 to 40%, because I work too hard for my money to do anything else... BTW, I have never had a bad experience at the LeBaron's in Mississauga from a servive stand point.

Supposedly the new lithium ion batteries are much better in cold weather.... to -4 F. Also they weigh a lot less. As in an 18 volt weighes about the same as a 14 volt. They are wickedly expensive though for a quality drill and a couple of batteries.

Anyone use a quality lithium ion drill in the cold who can comment?

Awesome....

Reminds me of that old joke. What is crunchy on the outside chewy on the inside.....

An igloo to a polar bear.

Here are two quick cold casseroles

Take a clear glass bowl to present this one it as you make it in layers.

Take enough frozen peas to fill said bowl about 2/3 and thaw them you don't have to cook them as they are already blanched. So all you do is alternate layers of the peas coated with a little miracle whip, parmesan cheese and chopped bacon. Over that you put chiffonaded iceberg lettuce. Repeat layers two or three times. Just make sure that you plan it out so you wind up with the lettuce on top as it keeps the peas from drying out. Simple fast and it is best made 24 to 36 hrs ahead.... Will keep about 4 days but it won't last that long once folks try it.

The second one is similar only you use broccoli florets, bacon or diced ham, shredded old cheddar cheese mixed together and you make a dressing using PC Salsa Ranch, a bit of parmesan, mayo to taste. Make enough dressing to coat everything well. On the top make a rose out of a tomato by paring off the whole skin in a thin strip and rolling it up..... Again best made the day before.

Should be able to make both in about 30 to 40 minutes. Real crowd pleasers and they don't take up precious oven space with the stuffing taters and turkey on Christmas day.

I have played Gone Fishing from the mid 90's that was a cool game for it's time, but seriously outdated now. It featured the BOQ

I have played a ton of the bass ones and the latest In Fisherman one, but they all seem so boring. It takes forever OK about 10 seconds in reality to find fish then if you leave them on the "difficult" setting it is difficult to land them. If you use the easy setting you are pulling in small pan fish non stop.... There doesn't seem to be a happy medium. Maybe if you have been to lake depicted it is better?

I certainly wouldn't pay more than 10 bucks for anything I have seen so far.

I still think the fishing games are better than the hunting games though.

Two things probably account for it.

One you already mentioned the lake.... all along any of the great lakes it is quite normal for the snow to start about 8 to 10 miles inland especially early in the winter before the lakes form ice a few miles deep along their coast.... Been a long time since one of the Great Lakes has formed ice completely across. I wonder what that does, when it happens.

Two the pollution and warmer air over the city might have some effect. It might raise the temp of the clouds enough so that snow can't fall until they get further inland.

I always thought it ment good fishing before and better fishing after.

I don't know if that was true I wouldn't have gotten skunked when I fished yesterday for 6 hrs until it started.... LOL But then I think the sudden drop in temperature from Friday night was too big a change for the steelies to keep the bite on.

OH OH I was out of money with 5 hands to go but I got 76% correct.... That is the kind of teaching I don't need, I can usually lose money real good by myself LOL.

Also consider darn near every new car out there has an LCD screen in them for navigation. Not eveyone is parking in a heated garage.

I have to agree with that. Also, I don't know what kind the outside LCD screens that are all the rage at Tim Hortons are, but they also seem to work just fine no matter what the weather is outside. If they have some sort of heater or what but the other day the wind was frigid blasting a mere 80kph and the screen was working flawlessly even though the snow was piled right up to about an inch over the start of the screen on the outside of the casing. So some screens seem to work in just about any condition.

We didn't need to be beat...we just needed the knowledge that the principal had the school board issued leather strap (or his private Beaver Tail) in his desk drawer and that our parents would do one better when we got home. That was enough to keep us in line and we all turned out fine. Unfortunately the countries gone to hell since...

 

Good luck getting a new browning !

Exactly the Principal didn't scare me with the strap but knowing that I would get it worse at home sure kept me from tempting fate too much LOL. As my dad used to say, whatever that guy does to you it won't be nothing compared to what will happen to you here.... it was one heck a good bluff because it worked.

To answer the question of whether it was legal or not is pretty simple..... Did he get a ticket for it? If no, then it was "legal" as in the category of he got away with it, just like many of us do on a daily basis when it comes to rules of the road so therefore it must have been "legal"..... It doesn't sound like it was very sensible though.

I went to school with a couple of guys who joined law enforcement and the one thing that amazes me is the stories they love to tell about how they have top ended cruisers, personal vehicles, even snowmobiles while having another officer check their speed with a radar gun on some pretty public roads..... Heard of as related by those same guys and have seen with my own eyes a lot things done by officers that make me wonder what laws apply to whom. However, as stated when any of us need a cop or a rescue vehicle for us or our loved ones we do want it arrive FAST... and I don't think too many of stop to ask did you happen to break any rules of the road to get here so quickly?

So Nautifish if it shook you up so much you really should call the local detachment and inform them of what you saw. If nothing else it might give the officer in question pause to do something like that again if he knows the citizens in the area are watching.

I don't see a problem with one statement on there..... Once you have caught your limit stop fishing. I have been saying that for years. C and R to me has never been a cure all for the fishery. I know a lot of the people on here disagree and that is their right. Personally I have just spent too many days on the river watching the C and R types hooking into 20 plus fish losing about half because the 2lb leader they are using break off. They are using tackle that light because they are going to release the fish anyhow, but now many of those hookups now have not just a hook in them but now they have a line as well that can get caught on something and hold the fish there while it starves or tires to the point of death. Yet the supposedly enlighted C and R crowd is quick to dismiss any potential problem like this. I hope that eventually we get some scientific data to discover what C and R does during the spawning runs to the percentage of reproduction from those fish that are caught versus those that aren't. I suspect that the trauma of being caught has an effect, but I don't know for sure. Maybe someday we will get a true answer until then what is wrong with being conservative and leaving after hooking and landing a couple of fish whether you keep them or not?

I ordered a bunch of stuff two weeks ago about 75 bucks worth of hooks, cliplights, floats and line and LeBarons with shipping/taxes in was 20% less that Cabelas it is simple for me I want to save and shop Canadian and LeBarons allowed me to do that. I just don't see the savings that everyone talks about from the U.S. I guess if you have already spent the gas and are there the deals can be had but when it comes to having most things shipped in from the U S of A the savings aren't there anymore in anything I have looked at lately. With one exception. I will say that I believe it is more the company Shimano shafting us than the retailers. Okuma, Pflueger, Shakespeare, Daiwa all seem to be within a couple bucks for price but Shimano reels and rods seem to differ by between 20 and 30 dollars on any item over 70 bucks. That they alone seem to be more tells me it has to be more than the retailer "ripping" us off. Shimano needs to sharpen their pencil a lot before I will buy any of there products regardless of who is at fault, because I don't like the gouging going on.

It is not a public parking lot, it is private! I have been charged before (not at vaughan mills) for something similiar. In the end I took the charge to court and beat it, either way it is only a ticket for like $125. Could still be worth the attention you will draw, I would do it!

Lostchild technically you right it is private property but I guess you missed the part about him going into BPS and purchasing a small item that act on his part gives him the right to park there..... as long as he had a valid receipt dated that day I don't see a cop charging him with "tresspassing" as he was shopping if people happen to see what happens with his boat that is another matter entirely.... You can't stop people from rubber necking at anything that looks interesting LOL. Ever drive on the 400?

I agree with him going to BPS on a Saturday and filling the boat with water.... It is a PUBLIC PARKING LOT I don't see how they would dare to charge him with tresspassing. All he would have to do is go into BPS first buy the cheapest item then sell have the receipt and then he is a shopper fully entitled to park there..... If it just so happens that he is right across from the doors 10 minutes after they open and finds out his boat is STILL LEAKING and not being fixed what can BPS say? How do they explain that one on the 6 o'clock news, we arrested a guy for checking to see if his boat leaked before he headed out to put it in the water.....

I too would never consider buying a tracker after hearing this. This kind of warranty flimflam might be acceptable in whatever state BPS calls home but in Ontario I thought we had laws to protect consumers from greedy companies like this...

I think if Ontario went with a lifetime fishing permit it would be great. The plus side to me is that if you bought one, you might be a lot more interested in the resourse. I love fishing and conservation but I have to admit I don't take the time to get involved as I could. Maybe if I had just spent 500 bucks for a lifetime licence instead of 77 for a 3yr it might get me more motivated to complain to the polictians who are screwing things up so badly. Also if they could fund fixing the drainage of water from Lake Huron into Lake St.Clair by selling a few hundred thousand licences that would a great accomplishment that would pay back the cost of the licences hundreds of times over.

As for the value of licences over the years and inflation and all those calculations on here they are meaningless. I look at this way if you the angler save a few dollars by having a lifetime licence so what? We all know we are just going to spend that money and probably a lot more inflation adjusted dollars on tackle, trips, fuel and other fishing related expenses and that the government at both levels gets their sales taxes on every one of those dollars so it would more than balance out in the long run.

I am looking for a float reel too. I talked with owner of the store in Woodstock and he had a very convincing argument for the Sheffield.... He obviously has a ton of reels he can use but he goes for the Sheffield now, because he said it has the same bearing as the last Islander he bought. (his words not mine so flame him if you feel the need) Anyhow the price difference is about 100 bucks less for the Sheffield of course.

If you want you can buy the aventa and upgrade it by getting better bearings for it once you learn to use it. A search on googles should give you some links for doing that too.

I don't have any use for carp but I still can't see being allowed to leave them on the bank. Maybe having to bury them as you catch them would OK with me..... Seriously though I tried watching the fishing mania thing and just had to laugh because in so many waterways around here those guys on there would lose to a lot of kids with barbie and spiderman rods.... The carp within 15 miles of here (in any direction unfortunately) make anything they catch look like minnows. I try carp fishing for about 30 seconds each year just to say I got one (which I do in that 30 seconds but it can take up to 5 minutes to land one) and I still don't see the thrill in catching one.... But I sure do miss the great fishing that used to be had around here before folks started stocking rivers and streams with them for the sport of catching them....

I bought a couple of rods that I really like

Bass Pro Wally Marshal Crappie pro 8ft really good deal when it was on special for 29.95 U.S. and would have spent double on it. Excellent for pan fish and on my last bass excursion this year I landed a 2.4lb smallie and one over 4lbs no problem.

11.5 ft Swan Noodle Rod Company Black haven't taken it out of the wrapper yet but used a friends and can't wait till I need to use this one.

Got a pair of Redhead Neoprene waders and so far have really enjoyed using them. Can't wait till it gets a little colder to see how warm they really are.

But the BEST fishing equipment I bought for sure enjoyment though was a shimano convergence 10fter and a Pflueger 6740 President for my dad to steelhead with. Seeing him nail his first rainbow in about 15yrs with that combo was priceless!!!!

As Part of my Seniors Leadership training I had to write with references, a paper on. How has the Canadian Military changed Canadian Society. We had to use 3 examples. The Professor gave examples like -Women in the forces - Francophone's in the forces- Canada and the UN- Human rights in the forces ETC. So I thought that I would write 3 Battles that helped Canada achieve Independance from Britian. So I figured

 

1. "The Boar War"

2. "Vimy Ridge" (WW1)

3. (WW 2) but what battle if any? Ah HA "The Battle of the Scheldt Estuary" never heard about it till I read

about it

 

So my question is. What is so Significant in these battles that helped us to break from Britain for our own Independence? Hint ensure you Google Canadian soldiers, General Crerer and look at more than one reference. You might find some very interesting articles that you probably never heard in your history classes. Its ashamed that they don't teach Canadian history anymore

You might want to write about the Boer war if spelling counts....

As some have done (see the man above)

Buy from the US.

 

Im sick of giving my business to Canadian retailers.

 

I dont really care if its the retailers or the brands that jack the prices up.......as a consumer,

Im gonna purchase most things where its cheapest to me.

I totally agree with buying where it is cheaper which is why I bought from CANADA this time because my order from Lebaron was CHEAPER. I did not order a reel yet but I would actually prefer to have another Pflueger over the Shimano, just based on how well my other Presidents have worked compared with a friends Symetre. Another reason for not going Shimano is why reward them if they are part of the price gap problem by buying in the U.S of A?

Lets see leave the bar head up steelheading after on Lake Huron..... that might work for me.

I use 8lb when the salmonoid are about and 6lb the rest of the time....

I was just placing some orders online one from Lebaron and was thinking about getting some stuff from Cabelas that Lebaron doesn't have.

I was kind of shocked to see that Lebaron was the better deal on a lot of items when you factor in shipping handling and taxes. The major advantage is the lower shipping handling and no PST from Lebaron on 4 items that were actually cheaper or the same price than from Cabelas. However one major exception was the price on Shimano reels. I was looking at the Pflueger President 6740 reel and the Shimano Symetre 4000. The Pfluegers were the same price from both places while the Shimano is $20.00 more.... I looked back to last year's prices before the whole dollar parity thing happend and the Pflueger's were still the same price. The Shimanos were like 40 dollars different.

I wonder if it is all Shimano or is it partially Lebaron who is giving us a raw deal? I have to say I was pleasantly surprised at how competitive LeBaron is right now.... and no I don't work there or own any shares.