Photoz

Check out the 'Buy & Sell' on this site . . . ya never know . . . . . ?

I heard that Canadian Tire has a special on .5" hose? Will fit any gas tank, eh?

I don't find it nearly as annoying as seeing that "What Song Are Ya Listening To Right Now" thread EVERY TIME I've GONE THROUGH THE POSTS for the last 6 months! Cut & paste my carpin' 'music' into that thread and you could have a #1 tune on your hands! Sheesh already!

Nice heap of mesh to tangle your hooks in, don't you think?

Geeze, that some wild-lookin' shoreline in behind you?

Any signs of carp cruising around your front door yet? I've found they start to stir around 50 - 55 degrees? Hows the newest member of the family doing . . . . gonna teach him to 'herd' carp when they come in?

Except for the slight speed bump, my favorite time of the year is fast approaching. In the shallow bays, creek & river mouths, THEY are starting to stir! Soon I will be hearing the 'music' all along the shallows, BEEP . . BEEP . . BEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP as the line whines off my reel! It's ALMOST carpin' time! I've seen a few posts already where some carpers have gotten an early start. Time to dust off those 'baitrunner' style reels . . . head for the corn stores in Blackstock, Queensville & Mississauga to pick up a 40 kilo bag, check out your local carpin' tackle stores, and when ya do find a good tackle store . . . . share the information with the rest of us! I have a good carp rod listed on our 'buy & sell,' it would make a fine addition to some ones carpin' gear. Anybody else either lookin' to buy or sell carp gear, NOW'S the time to do it. Good luck fellow carpers . . . . hope to see ya out there!

'Nudder birthday? You should be ALMOST old enough to get your pension now, eh? Are you, Meeley & Big Cliff gonna go after a few of those cute l'il fishies today? Do they still come into beautiful Lake 'X' around this time? Just curious . . . . any sign's of black flies yet? P. S. Lew . . . . are you going to stand by when Beansie fires up those candles?

White suckers, taken from the cold water, is almost as tasty as whities or pickerel. The down side is the 15 minutes it takes to spit out all the l'il hair-sized bones from each mouthful! The BIG suckers that come in from Lake Simcoe (average about 3 pounds) seem to be slighty less boney but still have more bones than your average fish for the table. When I was a kid (50 - 55 years ago) we used to catch a couple bushels of (red) suckers in a nearby creek every spring. My grandmother used to pickle them, using a big ol' pressure cooker . . . . this was our whole winter's fish . . . she used a few different herbs & spices . . . . DE E E E L I C I O U S! Who could afford a dime for a big tin of salmon?

I'm not sure what river you were at, but there's no yacht club to fish from at the mouth of the Beaver River? I went up today . . . . noon till 5:00 p. m., got ONE LOUSY 12" CATFISH . . . . no jumpers yet . . . . I only had to use 3 worms. The water is just thick with those little teeny emerald shiners! If the suckers are in there someplace, they're likely stuffed with the l'il shiners. P. S. Since when did sea gulls start leaving dead minnows layin' around?

If you went up to Beaverton and saw fish jumping . . . .. YOU SAW SUCKERS! Where were you . .. over at the boat launch or down by the restaraunt? Have they cleaned up all the construction yet? Which side of the river were you on?

Just checkin' out a few news stories and this headline kinda caught my eye:'Ontario Gas Stations Fined $2M For Price Fixing' (Sorry, I couldn't seem to link it?) It's in among the Sympatico headline news. Ya gotta see this to believe it. Gas companies fixing prices? Oh No!

I hit Beaverton this morning . . . . taught several worms how to swim . . . after a couple hours running my float up & down the river nary a nibble. But . . . . there is only a little shore ice in the lake, I'd say there will be some of those B I I I G suckers will be in there by next weekend. I also washed about a dozen good pike lures down at Bluffers Park . . . . had a real nice one follow my red & white 3/5 ounce Daredevyl right in to shore, where he just sat and gave me the ol' evil eye, before slowly swimming off.

If you are from Richmond Hill, go up to Beaverton, right down by the Lake where the river flows in, not crowded & H-U-G-E Lake Simcoe suckers . . . . my best one so far was 5.6 pounds . . . . 'Beans' got one 5.9 pounds once when I was there. A light 6' to 7' rod & 4 pound line will make a real contest outta this typa fishin.' With the warm weather upon us, my bet would be they'll be in there VERY shortly. The rainbows are almost finished their run in some of the eastern tribs! I've never seen anyone fly-fishin' 'em, but they hit ANYTHING . . . why not flies? Once they're in, (by the end of the month) I'll let you know. P. S. The day that Beansie nailed his 5.9 pounder, Big Cliff & Crappieperchhunter were there too. I'm just assuming these are whit suckers in Lake Simcoe?

Yeah h h h . . . . I DO check in and 'skim' most days. The knee is ALMOST as sore now as it was back in mid-November when it was done. I'm startin' to get just a wee bit worried . . . . the normal time for this is about 5 to 8 weeks?

As a 25 year letter carrier I could likely tell you (true) stories that would curl your hair about what is expected of us, when we deliver the mail. Right now I'm sitting at home except for 2 hours a day of physio for a knee replacement, caused by someone to dam cheap to fix their front stairs! We have lotsa stuff to walk around, climb over & under out there. First . . . . what would you consider an acceptible error rate (we ain't perfect) for delivering mail . . . 90%? Or maybe 95%? how about 99%? On and average day, I delivered roughly 1200 letters, 400 larger envelopes and maybe 10 small parcels about 1600 pieces of mail to 425 points of call . . . if I had a 1% error rate, that would be 16 wrongly delivered! I rarely had any . . . 2 . . maybe 3 per week. We are out there in -20 weather & +90 degree weather, raging blizzards . . . downpours where you couldn't see! People leave good ol' 'Rover' to run loose (I carried 'bribes' in my satchel) he wouldn't hurt a fly, yeah h h h. Oh yeah, I had 2.5 hours to sort, tie out, bag & get those 1600 pieces of mail on the delivery truck to take 'em out to my walk. As for wrong addresses, a lot of letters come from other countries . .. they either have a terrible time spelling street names, or even writing them in English! This is my favourite story though . . . . I once received a letter 'To My Nana, Mrs. Bernstein North York Canada and the CORRECT POSTAL CODE . . . . it automatically came to my walk, and Mrs. Bernstein always got me a lovely card at Christmas, I didn't matter there was no money in it, the card musta cost her $10.00 . . . . no problemo . ... SHE GOT HER BIRTHDAY CARD FROM HER L'IL GRANDAUGHTER in Latvia, and right on time! When I wrecked my knee I had to give up my letter-carrier's job & work inside, sorting mail on the midnight shift. Yes, there are a few REALLY bad apples out on the 'beat' but thousands who are good people, like yourselves, just trying to make a living! There must be THOUSANDS who read this board . . . . they have all had a chance to relate their postal horror stories in this thread . . . . how many did? I rest my case! And Big Cliff, your carrier represents far more people than some I'm hearing about!Lovely to hear about!

I went through almost the same thing in the last 2 years with my right knee. I originally banged up my heel in 2006 . . . . (while delivering mail) and limped around for several years until my knee collapsed. If you think it's hard to get a specialist to look at you under NORMAL circumstances, try to find one that will take a W. S. I. B. case. My faimly doctor tried NINE different specialists over a period of 1 year, before he got one to take me. It then took 5 months to see him, 4 months to get arthroscopic surgery (to clean the knee joint out) then 3 months after that, he agreed this hadn't worked. Next was a full knee replacement . . . . 15 months to reach the top of his surgery list to get THIS done. I understood I was going to be able to go back no work in 4 to 6 weeks? It's been 8 weeks now since the operation . . . . I STILL have to rely on my walker sometimes to get around (I just cannot get used to a cane) . . . . up to 2 more months before I get to see my job again!! My knee was VERY painful (and still is), but I can't even imagine the pain you must be in. Just a suggestion . . . . put this in writing and send it to your local M. P. P., and copy it to Christina Blizzard at the Toronto Sun, also to The Star & Post to whomever follows the Queens Park beat. Keep track of everything you do . .. . dates, times, whom you talked to etc. But . . . . don't give up . . . keep being noisy . . . . it can't make anything worse!

I deposited a small (rebate) cheque ($18.00 American) from St. Croix about 2 weeks ago. Yesterday I got a notice in the mail ($.57 stamp) that my cheque was worth $18.04,the extra has now been credited to my account! Just amazing . . . . I'm surprised they didn't charge ME postage! When I'm sorting mail at work I often get letters to 'ADDRESSEE UNKNOWN' & or 'ADDRESSEE DECEASED' with a postal code and street number!

I used a FL8 SE for several years . . . . loved it. Then came the FL-12 . . . . FL-18 . . . . when the FL-20 hit the stores, I couldn't resist the urge to 'keep up with the Jonses.' Well the FL20 is nice, but I'm afraid I liked the ol' FL-8 SE just as well. The only real complaint I have about the FL-20 . . . . . too many numbers jammed into that small screen, gotta put my reading glasses on to read 'em! If ya got good eyes, I think you'll be VERY happy with an FL-20. One other potentially troublesome thing with a Marcum . . . . . I set up about 50' away from one . . . . my Vex gave him a lotta interferance, I had to move a bit more to allow him to fish? Apparently the Vex will interfere with other flashers too? I'd check that out before plunkin' my money down.

If you know you are in water deeper than 60ft then the flasher will show 10ft meaning 70Ft etc. Art "NOW I see, said the blind man! Photoz

I have upgraded from an FL-8, to an FL-18 and now to an FL-22. now all I need is ice. Once I tried a Flasher there was no turning back. I also have my forward LCD fishfinder in my boat set to flasher mode. Just for curiosity . . . what improvements has the FL22 got that the FL20 didn't have? About all I could find . . . . the FL22 only takes ya to 60', what do you do when fishin' lakers or whities in over 60' of water??

I had an FL8 SE for 4 years, not used a lot . . . I sold it to Big Cliff about 3 years ago, not because there was anything wrong with it . . . . I just needed a new toy! Not long after I sold the FL8 and bought an FL20 I found it wasn't $250.00 better than the FL8. Yeah, for the DEEP water (100+') for whities & lakers, if definitely gives you an edge . . . . but I did fine with the FL8 too. If ya like fancy playthings and got a few extra bucks you don't mind parting with the FL22 is where it's at. My only minor complaint is the read-out is kinda small . . . gotta use the readin' glasses to see the numbers! The battery is good for at least 2 - 8 hour fishing expeditions, and keeps it's charge for a lo o o o n g time, nearly a year unattended (I forgot about it)and the battery was still at about 80%!

I bought the FL20 Ultra Pack 3 years ago, used it a total of 5 times the first year, then last year I didn't get out at all. I've generally put it on 'charge' every 4 - 5 months . . . and it was STILL about 80% charged. Last year I forgot all about it . . . . last charge was in January 2011. I plugged it in and . . . . PRESTO . . . . STILL 40% charged? it took about 6 hours for the green light showing 'full charge' to come on? Once there's ice, and I get out there, will this be accurate or can I expect only a few hours outta it before it goes flat? How dependible are these square 9 volt batteries if you let 'em go nearly flat. Does a year between charges sound possible? Just gettin' over a knee replacement . . . . hopefully it'l be 'all haired up and healed over' by late January . . . . when Simcoe is ready for us? (My money is on January 27.)

Within the FIRST month I had my new van I picked up a screw nail in the front right & a TEENY sliver of metal (??) right rear. . . . . my mechanic plugged 'em both, $15.00, no receipt, 80000 klicks later, still holding, no leaks . . . . I just put 4 new ones on last month . . . . O W W W W W W C H!