dave524

Not so much about time for me, I found with rollers I could launch as long as I could get the trailer wheels to the edge of the water with rollers. I took her ( 18 foot aluminum/V4 outboard ) off and on a few times dry getting into some Haliburton Lakes without a improved launch ramp, 2 speed winch helped too.

Yes back rollers touching the water, no deeper and be sure the axle is level, had issues with rollers and the trailer being uneven side to side.

RIP Johnny Winter

probably a mink

I spent a few weeks at the old Forest Ranger School south of Dorset for a spring camp while I was in school. It was still the Dept. of Lands and Forest back in the early 70's. Did the tower a few times that stood on the hill overlooking Lake St. Nora. I don't do heights well, surprising what a few drinks and peer pressure will get you to do

FWIW about 40 years ago I did a lot of channel cat fishing when I lived in the Long Point /Port Rowan area. We would surf cast on the lake side of the point down off Hastings Ave. You could catch them during the day but evening was better. Good sized fish too, average was 8-10 pounds and larger ones near 20 on occasion. Salt water spinning gear , rod stands, clip on bells for bite indicators and pyramid sinkers in the sand were the ticket. I don't know if they are still there??? 2 things to consider are the water is a lot clearer now than in the early 70's and it may be more of a night bite on the other hand Erie is in a lot better shape now as far as water quality and numbers of fish are vastly improved. One of the guys I used to fish with was " Buck Vance" out of Tilsonburg, he was pretty well known as an outdoorsman in the area and had lots of good stories to tell, his brother had a mostly fly fishing shop in Tilsonburg, most of the inventory came from the old Herter's Mail Order in the States, that got swallowed up by Cabelas. The spot was productive all summer right up till hunting season , when I switched to waterfowl hunting.

My panfishing uses some pretty wind resistant flies like deer hair and foam poppers, I'd hate to try and cast some of that stuff with a 2 wt. line. To a certain point you need to match the rod to the flies beiing throw and not the size of the quarry.

Whereabouts in the states? Centre consoles are pretty popular in the salt, not so much in fresh water. I'd probably stay clear of a used salt water motor , especially if the deal seeems too good to be true. I ran a 18 foot aluminum centre console for a lot of years with a 85 V4 OMC and a kicker on the back, great boat for Lake Ontario and Erie Trolling.

Had a 79 GMC done up, spent many nights in the 80's at Denny's Dam or Beautiful Joe Park. Great steelheading vehicle

Whenever I want to scale fish, Just nail a few bottle caps to a short piece of 1X2. Makes the best fish scaler ever. Lots of good eats there

Sorry, my mistake. I have only fished the eastern end, Port Maitland and east to the Niagara. The area were the spoon bite is hot is Port Burwell , Port Bruce and Port Stanley and Bows are a big part of the catch there. While west to me I guess it is more correctly refered to as the central basin. It has always seemed strange to me and my experience that guys from those ports seem to do well with tactics that I would more likely use in the blue zone of Lake Ontario , just going by the reports on an Erie Board I read.

Don't know why but the Yellow Pickerel in the eastern end ( Port Colborne to Fort Erie) seem to prefer worm harnesses and fatter body baits like HotnTots and such while the western fish will prefer spoons and longer stick type baits trolled a little faster. Works out well considering the Bow action in the central and western basin

Heard some good things about this stuff on iboats, it appears to be available at most majour outlets. http://www.ducan.com/vinyl-decking/default.php look at the photo gallery for some marine installs

They do have a new law in New York, PFD's must be worn on a boat under 21 feet in length during the cold water season, Nov 1st to May 1st.

Lots of stuff will kill weeds , the trick is to kill them and have the soil suitable for planting something else in a few weeks, not a barren sterile spot for a few years.

Naw, you can get more than that. The first song raises you a few and the second is all in.

My fave cover of Hallelujah

Rather than sending them in , make copies and post in conspicuous spots around the lake. Probably stand a better chance shaming them into compliance.

RDR has probably watched this umpteen times but for the rest of you a very fine acoustic concert.

Your old boat has a full width, gunwale height splashwell I assume. Its not so much the transon height but the easy access via the rear casting platform layout that is the problem. Not a big fan of eavestrough sized spashwells they put on boats today, especially if you are going on big water.

I think that is where it was on my old 68 Beetle, of course the engine was in the back too.

A plug for the hometown guys and gals http://www.gamru.com/

4 or 5 years ago I bookmarked this site, glad to see it is still up, I've browsed it several times over the years, best site I've come across on old Ontario Lure Companies. http://ontariolures.com//index.html

One of the only times it was cost effective to harvest my own fish or meat over just plain buying was as a teen snaring a few rabbits with two bit coil of brass snare wire and potting a few more with a single shot .22 when long rifles were 49 cents a box in the bush behind my parent's house. Since I've owned a drivers licence rarely has anything been cost effective, and that is even more true today with gas over 5 a gal rather than putting 2 bucks in that old 68 beetle for the weekend. Really is anyone really financially ahead in the long run unless maybe you have a woodlot or a body of water in your backyard and use really basic gear?

This has been a problem for 50 plus years with small aluminum cartoppers. At one time they made tiller extensions so you could sit further forward.