solopaddler

My last GSP would open up presents bit by bit very gently with her teeth. Never seen anything like it before or since. I just wanted to see if she had some of the same in her. Not yet apparantly. Fear not we'll keep her away from the bags. Thanks again bud.

Actually pretty darned close to you Cliff. Still Point Farms about 10 mins north of Lindsay.

Brian you're truly a good man. The doorbell rang just a little while ago. Delivery man had a package addressed to Miss Zoey. Thank you my friend. <object width="480" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ojJGcE7UNWU?fs=1&hl=en_US"></param><param'>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ojJGcE7UNWU?fs=1&hl=en_US"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ojJGcE7UNWU?fs=1&hl=en_US" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object>

An impressive feat by those young men especially so being on foreign soil and in front of a hostile crowd. Kudos to them, let 'em have their fun they deserved it. Seems the lads were kicked off a plane as well. http://www.thestar.com/sports/hockey/international/article/917068--unruly-russian-junior-hockey-team-kicked-off-flight?bn=1

Interesting Regarding my woes with Bell.. We had a problem with one of our inside lines. As you guys know Bell doesn't fix inside stuff..unless you pay them through the nose. Nevertheless I called them and asked them to send a tech out to fix the problem. He came (3 days later) and determined there was a short in my line and couldn't fix it as it would take too long to trace. This after screwing around in my basement for an hour.. I asked him, why do you need to trace the short? Just run a new line! He shrugged his shoulders and left. 2 days later without service a different tech came. He agreed to run a new line and laughed at the audacity of his co-worker. The line was fished in behind the baseboards in the entire perimeter of my rec room. I was outside working and ventured downstairs to check when I heard a bit of commotion. Rather than simply fish a new line behind the baseboard this idiot decided the old line needed to be removed and RIPPED all of my nailed and glued baseboards off the wall LOL! It was a plaster wall and there were HUGE chunks plaster ripped off. I couldn't believe it. I asked him politely to GTH out of my house and immediately called Bell to complain. Told them I wanted my basement fixed. The entire thing escalated from there and resulted in me cancelling all services with them. They never did fix my basement. They never did credit my account. They DID attempt to charge me a riduculous amount because I broke the contract early LOL! I could go on and on and on (it gets waaay worse) They are scum.

Not true. My issues with Bell would take long time to outline. I don't merely dislike them I despise them. There were threats of lawsuits from my end. They tried to stick me with a $900 bill that ultimately went to a collections agency and would have affected my credit rating. Ultimately they backed down and my "debt" was erased. Never again, they're an absolute joke.

One of my best friends is a member. I can give you his phone number if you want.

Absolutely. However,my statements, strong as they may be, are based on thousands of hours on the water. I've never been one to follow fads or trends. Anyhow what I do know to be indisputably true, reading the water effectively and proper presentation are far more important factors to success than brand of line. Some of the best anglers I know have the crappiest tackle...but they've got the touch. I think most people give fish waaay too much credit anyway, they're generally pretty predictable as most creatures of instinct are.

That's nuts.

I addressed this issue many years ago but still, if you're moving shot around on your line you'll bruise it. The question is how much. The softest shot on the market is plain old Water Gremlin. Much softer than the round shot marketed to the steelheading fraternity. My only issue with the round gremlin shot is its brightness. Soak it in liquid drano for a bit and it turns jet black.

Pretty much. Just because everyone is on the bandwagon doesn't make it right. Apples and oranges for sure. No way no how the lighter pound test fluoro's are as abrasion resistant as the heavy stuff used for musky leaders.

The most pertinent info from that article discusses fluorocarbon's "invisibility" compared to mono. The supposed invisibility is what drives it's sales. This is copied and pasted from the article: "Conclusions from our visibility tests? We'd say largely inconclusive. For one, it's difficult to determine if what we see is the same as what a fish can see. From our photographs, it would certainly appear that some of the lines are difficult to find, but then again, so is the Berkley Trilene XL! What's more, how important is line visibility over, say, line diameter? The larger the diameter of your line, the greater disturbance it will create in the water and the easier it will be for a fish to sense this disturbance through its lateral line. In that case, visibility is really a moot point. Once again, too many variables to consider to truly develop a viable conclusion." So basically to the human eye clear Trilene XL is just as invisible. Hmmm..what a shock. In any case it's impossible to know exactly what a fish is seeing so how can any company possibly claim their line is nearly invisible to fish? LOL! For me results on the water are the only clear indicator. The thousands of steelhead landed on mono tippet in glass water clear water speak for themselves. Learning how to read water and presenting your offering properly are infinitely more important factors to success.

I know that's what you do Billy, but have you ever tried without fluoro? Next time we get out let's do a little test.

Exactly.

I remember those ABU rods Craig, I saved up for one of the avacado ones when I was a kid. Drove my bike from Carlisle to Waterdown (long way for a 10 year old) to pick the rod up at the hardware store where I ordered it.

Fluoro is absolutely not more abrasion resistant than mono especially in a steelhead tippet application. Fluoro by its very nature will become weak if nicked or bruised. Something that happens regularly as personally I usually always have at least some dust shot clamped onto my tippet. If you move them around, (which I do constantly do when steelheading) a fluoro tippet will become weakened. Mono, especially maxima ultragreen will not. I've fished with ultragreen tippet that felt like a cheese grater was run across it and it still maintains an amazing amount of strength. Fluoro similarily shredded will snap instantly. In any case fluoro does have certain properties that are different from mono, the main one being it sinks faster. Unfortunately this is not an advantage the way I fish it. I flat out do not believe it's more invisible to fish than a clear mono of similar diameter. For those of you who use it exclusively, more power to you. Personally I'd rather spend my money on something other than a 10-15 dollar 30m spool of line that imo is essentially nothing more than a crutch.

Very sorry to hear, it tears your heart out.

Great minds think alike.

My thoughts are more based on the use of fluoro tippet for steelhead, and as tippet in conjunction with braid for walleye and bass. I have found absolutely no difference in the amount of hookups using fluoro compared to a similar diameter (that's the key) clear mono. In some instances where the water has a green tinge a green coloured mono like maxima ultragreen seems to work much better than either fluoro or clear mono. As far as musky/pike leaders go I like using them only 'cause they're easier on the fish and give many lures better action easpecially when casting. IMO the hype over fluoro drives its sales and use, not what it can actually do.

Done bud.

So far you are the only person I know of who's even hinted at that. That's exactly how I feel about fluorocarbon and I've had many a heated discussion about it with friends.

Emil it's more than a little ironic. I couldn't really offer you any suggestions when you were looking for a place to go. Then you go to Kearns which is less than 10 mins from my cottage landing LOL! If you had a snowmachine and didn't mind no running water you could have stayed at my cabin. Lots of great back lakes up there. Happy New Year!

Mmmm...looks fantastic.

Wow.

Exactly.