solopaddler

Thanks buddy! Before your next fishing trip check this out, it'll help a lot! http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/fishing-for-dummies-cheat-sheet0.html

Well it sucked on Friday LOL! Glad to hear you guys did a little better.

Thanks guys you've all been very helpful! Fish? What fish? There were no fish caught! Thanks Mike, but I doubt I'll buy another Olympus product again. From what I've seen I tend to agree, but I have no yardstick to measure what I'm seeing against. I'm not a camera guy so have no clue how the Canons stack up against other makes.

What's weird is you're ice free and my camp on basically the same latitude in QC is still locked up tight. Very nice, and very envious.

A true giant, wow.

Well done bud, nice fishies!

Outstanding input guys, thanks!

X2

Congrat's and enjoy your day. You've got a beautiful family Mike.

Exactly, the so called "steelhead" shot is a waste of money. Not only is it more expensive, bit it's harder. If you find yourself sliding the shot around on your line to adjust your shot pattern as I do, that stuff will bruise your line. Round Gremlin shot is super soft, is easy on your line, and best of all it's cheap. It's all you need. The only downside if there is any is it's bright and shiny. To remedy that you can turn it jet black by bathing it in Liquid Drano for an hour or so. I always do it, although it's probably just a confidence thing with me. I know Drifter doesn't treat his and he catches fish. Still, it's quick and easy to do so why not?

Thanks guys. I'm not really interested in waterproof or shockproof this time. My main criteria is compactness and quality of picture and video. Dave I still have the Olympus, that's my daughters camera now. It was my new camera that went for a swim. Was never impressed with the Olympus beyond its ruggedness.

My good digital is now on the bottom of the Grand River in Dunnville (don't ask ) Been researching cameras today as I need another one asap. Can anyone recommend one in particular and if so why? After some brief research the Canon S100 looks pretty good, does anyone have this one?

This fills all your criteria to a T, plus the setting is spectacular: http://www.brennanharbour.com/resort.htm

I'm certainly no expert, but my guess would be the jackplate needs to go. In all probability it's impeding the motor which is why you can't fully trim at high speed as well. I had a plate on my boat initially and kept fooling with different motor heights, props, trim levels, etc, and it never really ran properly no matter what I did. Finally ditched it and installed trim tabs at the back. Honestly it was like night and day. I found a marked increase in performance when I installed them. Both in the handling and smoothness of the ride, and in how quickly the boat went up on plane. Even at low speed the boat goes on plane. Those tabs are amazing.

The words they don't make 'em like they used to are very true when it comes to washers and dryers.

I wouldn't put a dime into it unless it was an extremely minor repair. It's not worth it. These days the newer ones seem to have a shelf life of 8-10 years then that's it.

Guaranteed you'll get it cheaper in Canada than $250, Mercman is right. A 30 second google search turned up this: http://www.thefishinhole.com/index.cfm?action=products.search It wouldn't hurt to see if Phil Harrison on the board can help you either. His online shop is etackle.ca Also call Jos at Angling Outfitters in Woodstock. Pretty sure he'd cut you a good deal.

Nice! How many gallons of sunblock have you gone through?

Even better, call the Gander in Buffalo, buy the reel and have them set it aside for you. Give them my name and tell them I'll be picking it up for you. I'll be down that way at least a couple of times in the next week, I'd be happy to pick it up for you. I'll bring it over the border and mail it to you from ON.

Marvin that's awesome. I'd recommend a spinning reel for the first few years myself, but if you're serious I have a source for smaller reels. I had a 10' custom stick built for my 5 year old at Christmas. Paired up with a spinning reel it's a great combo for him which he has zero problems handling. Only problem is he refuses to use it and insists on using dads $1500 float rod and reel. Had him out last week. Obviously he can't cast far enough with the float rod, so I'd cast for him then hand him the rod. He'd set the hook all by himself and landed them with no help. That day he put over 20 on the bank, some quite large. Funny thing was he found it hard to hold my 13' rod straight up in the air so most of the time more or less had the rod pointed directly at the fish. And he landed most of them pretty fast LOL! Without much pressure on the fish he unwittingly was using a modified Michigan Dirty (a name some friends and I coined for a very effective landing technique where you jam your rod tip in the water pointing it at the fish). Here's a couple of short clips of the kid in action: <iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/N7gPhss8AmU" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> <iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/dbq1XgTH0N4" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> We really should try and get out together. If you're ever looking to bring your little girl and put her onto some fish drop me a line!

Well played sir.

Thanks lads, and yeah Shane she's definitely intense. Smart as whip though.

Teaching my 5 year old to fish I've realized just how complicated I've made the sport. As a young kid I fished with one rod. My tackle box was a cigar tin with a handful of hooks and some split shot. When I ran out of split shot I tied small rocks to my line. That along with a pickle jar filled with worms we'd caught at night with a flashlight and we were set. My friends and I travelled as far as our legs would take us on our bikes, and we caught fish. Lots of them. The creeks where I grew up held trout and we knew every hole. Some of the larger rivers had carp and bullhead in them, they were always the easiest to catch, and boy did we catch some big ones! The ponds and sloughs had bass, some surprisingly large. I remember one time spending 15 minutes trying to catch a leopard frog. Finally did and when I impaled it on my hook and lobbed it under a big overhanging tree I caught the biggest bass of my life. Easily 6lb's. Still havn't topped it to this day. When I look at the dozens of rods and reels I have today, the literal mountain of tackle in my basement, I can't help but think something's been lost in the translation. Use whatever tackle you have, experiment and have fun. That's what it's all about. This weekend I'm going to take my kid carp fishing to the river I fished as a kid. We'll use a hook a split shot and a nice big fat worm.

No problem Roy and take your time, no rush. Anytime you're down this way you've got an open invite.

My second laugh of the night!