raptorfan

Either Canada or Russia will be out of the medals, as they will meet each other in the quarters on wednesday afternoon. Hopefully one day soon, we will play a game where we don't run into a super hot goalie.

I agree with the sentiments of being in the trades, the career is fantastic....not monotonous for the most part, and it is fulfilling, not to mention pays well. The only thing I disagree with is that you have to go union. I am a licensed plumber and work for a non union shop. I have been doing it for just short of 10 years and still love it just as much as I did when I started. Both union and non-union have their ups and downs I am sure, but if you can find a good independant employer it provides great bonuses and incentives.

Congratulations. You have successfully signed the petition: Prevent Asian Carp from entering Lake Michigan by closing the Chicago Sanitary/Shipping Canal. You are signer #2637

I don't really know anyone on here, and have never fished hard water but I would be interested in going and learning a few things if I was welcome.

no, was just driving through for work. Was through there again tonight on my way home, and every pond is icing over now, with snow on the ice

lots of open water when I was there today

A guy I went to high school with and played hockey with is an assistant coach with them, so I always wish them the best of luck

All I want for christmas is to get into my first steelie.......maybe one of those nice plano tackle lockers too

LOL. Okuma it is. Thanks for the tip Bill, will do.

Well, he hooked me up with a good deal as expected.....and of course he had to let me know just how green and uninformed I was....lol. Am going out with them on sunday though, so should be a fantastic learning experience. Got myself an Okuma Aventa 4 1/2" reel, fully spooled with upgraded bearings and a cpl other goodies. Hopefully I get some action tomorrow Shawn

I am about to head out to see Joslyn. I called this morning and he said he has over 200 centerpins in stock, so I should be able to find something decent for entry level in my price range. Pretty excited, can't wait till tomorrow morning to go and try it out. Good thing I will be fishing alone, so no one can laugh at my efforts! Will post a pic of my new unit later on tonight or tomorrow.....if it is tomorrow, hopefully the first pic of my reel is with my first steelie as well! Shawn

awesome year man!!!! Great pics, and some beautifully patterned muskies too!

gorgeous fish, congrats!!!

So, silly me was out drinking last night till about 2:30, knowing that Ultyma and tribhunter would be coming to pick me up this morning for some steelheading. Suprise suprise though, I still woke up before my alarm, which was set for 5 am. We headed out to the hole we are learning, and no one was in our spot yet, which was suprising as there were 5 other cars already in the parking lot. I am very very new to steelheading, so my learning curve has been steep. I do find float fishing very interesting though, as it is a nice change from the norm. I think my technique is getting much better, although the difficulty I find drifting with a spinning reel is that sometimes I try to set the hook before my bail has completely closed, and end up missing out on what might be a fish. I have yet to have a fish on, but that has not deterred my stubborness to catch one of these beauties. We drifted our spot for about an hour, the sun had just come up, and in came the swarm. One group in particular waded in with purpose, and proceeded to park themselves within 10' of the hole we were drifting to. I have found many people to be ignorant to the efforts of others in the few times I have been out here during the day. I decided to change my location to floating down to a log that was just adjacent to where we were at the time, but to no avail. It was around this time I decided I finally had enough confidence to go searching for some new holes with less pressure. It was about 7:30 by this time, and my wife was coming to get me at about 10am to go christmas shopping, so time was of the essence. I began wading down river, trying to read where holes might be. I have been observing spots where others have been fishing in the times I have been out, so I tried them on my way downstream. I drifted each hole 3 or 4 times and moved on to the next, and before I knew it, I was about a mile and a half downstream, and couldn't even see Ultyma and tribhunter anymore. I found it very difficult to predict where the holes might be, not knowing at all what to look for. The only thing I knew was where the shallows were as the water seemed to be more turbulent around the rocks. If I saw a gap between two turbulent areas, I would try that and estimate the depth by how my set up was acting while it was drifting down. When I was finally about 4 miles downstream, almost out of town, I think I finally found a couple of holes that looked promising. I saws a few fish jump, so that must be a good thing. There were geese flying overhead at the same time, was beautiful. I got my second drift out and my phone rang, Heather was just coming in to town to pick me up . The one drift, I think I got a hit but didn't notice it. My bag was gone right off the hook, and I know it was hooked well as I had used it for about half a dozen drifts already. Ultyma and tribhunter are still there as far as I know, haven't got a text yet so dunno how they are doing. What I do know though is I cannot wait to get back out there tomorrow and try these 2 new holes I think I have found. No one was down there, as it is a bit of a hike off the road, so I expect it to be empty tomorrow as well. One of these days, I will finally get a fish on......maybe I will even catch one!!!! None the less, there is nothing better than the serenity of being out on the water at sunrise. Shawn

sweet fish man.......looks like a fantastic day to me. Good Job

WOW.............. I will get my first soon.....6 outings, no fish but posts like this are what keep my spirits up. Awesome Job man!!!

Awesome guys, gorgeous fish. Great to see devotion and hard work paying off for ya laz. Can't wait to see what ya get next time out

my patience is wearing thin man.......I wanna see some pics of today!

Done Also, no option for not owning a boat at all

I thought I told ya man......no catching a steelie till I was there again, jeesh...... Awesome fish man, happy as hell for ya. Can't wait till we hit it up again in the morning.

Very Nice!!!! Hopefully my first pic like that is just around the corner!!

Ultyma last night...

Heading out to pick up Ultyma now for some big river fishing. Will let ya know good or bad when we get back......maybe will let him tell the story, he is much better at that than I am.........although I catch more fish

thanks bill, will do