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Very nice, skud, three fine fresh fish, but that last one was a beauty!

You have four kids? How do you find time to fish and hunt?

Thanks, Cliff, I am sure that Loonietoon and I can execute on the bbqs. Do we have bbqs?

Dawg the Grammarian is absolutely right on this one, I'm afraid.

Include me in for on shore BBQ duty, prolly along with Kelvin? This way at least, I can help and be useful rather than standing around like a doofus looking at Simcoe down through a hole with nothing to show for it.

Thanks, Emilio, that means a lot coming from the Gweech Master. Best to you.

Emil, nice shooting there. I find it hard to believe your report though. From what I know, if anyone gets into em, it's Emil. Thanks for the report, looking forward to many more whitie outings from you.

I got mine at Princess Auto, 7 Ah, $22. I charge em up at work, being a rocket scientist and all like that.

Fabulous lake trout there. Great pictures too.

Not much to add to previous replies, Anders, but that trip took more stuff than an interior Algonquin trip for sure. Congratulations to you and Pa.

Vanselena ( I love that handle) and Roy both make some great points. Vans sez mobilize, and Roy sez be the change you want to see.

Make no mistake, we all need both of these approaches, micro and macro. Jes' Give'r.

I got started with Peter Reinhart's Bread Baker's Apprentice. Just google reinhart ciabatta and you are well set forward on my journey.

If your crumb is too tight, let it rest (leave it the heck alone in a warm 22-23C place) and rise some more. Then shape it for the oven, and wait some more. Loaves are ready to be baked when you poke em, and the dough springs back a little, but not all the way.

As I said, I love bread and am getting good at it, I think, so just make a mess, fill yer boots, and figger it out.

Sent me a note if I can help.

I'm learning that the secret to a very open crumb is lots of water in the dough, and bake it in hot oven with lots of steam, on an oven stone, if you can. Beyond that, it's a dozen or fifty batches, learning to handle the wet dough, and knowing when to scrape the mess into the oven to bake.

JohnF, be very sure that this is a crackly crust with a huge, moist crumb, my best yet.

A coupla more,....

Ok, I just love to make bread. I like the handling of the dough, mixing, the smell of the yeast, and the gorgeous crispy crackly loaves that come out of the oven. I am trying to make the best rustic loaves I've ever tasted, and I think I am making some good progress.

Here are some photos.

I yesterday baked my best loaves shown in the last two pictures using a clay baking stone and 4 water to 5 flour by weight. This is a very sticky dough at 80 % hydration, and I also made a poolish, a wet starter that is shlopped into the fridge the day before, and added that to the wet bread dough. No knead, but stretch and fold instead.

We like the loaves. Hope you like the pictures. Let me know if you have some info to improve this bread for me, or vice versa.

Those are beautiful, Chris. Makes me want to reach for a can of RAID!

LaVielle is a tough slog, but generally the further you venture into the interior, the better the fishing. Hope you have a great trip. I'll be answering the call of Algonquin myself, first week of May. Once you experience that most beautiful park, it's really hard to stay away. Check out Algonquin Adventures Forum for a message board devoted to Algonquin Park.

That's funny, Art. For some strange reason, that actually popped into my head this morning. What makes it strange is that doesn't happen all the time.

З Різдвом Христовим, хлопець!

Καλά Χριστούγεννα, συμπατριώτης !

Срећан Божић, земљацима!

Sretan Božić, sunarodnjaci!

Vesel božič, rojaki!

The tap water here in Etobicoke is fabulous, tastes better (less) than any bottled water I've ever had. The only filter I've ever used on drinking water is when I am on a remote camping/fishing trip, and I use the Katadyn dual filter unit. There is a Brita unit in the fridge, but I can't tell the difference in taste at all.

If I need to have some portable water, it's tap water into a reusable bottle, like a Memart bottle or a Siggs.

Fabulous work, flush drawers are painstaking, and those look perfect. You are rightly proud of the hours of care that went into that.

That pike is a beauty - did she make a plop as she came thru that hole? Thanks for your report.

Very nice, Larry, those are some great shots. A Happy New Year to ya.