Bernie

Did that trip 2 years ago.Great time. Go swim with the stingrays in Grand Cayman and scuba or snorkel on the reef. Dont do the Falls thing in Jamaica. Get drunk on the beach at Cozumel.

Right on Ben! This is very true on Nipissing. Its just sometimes difficult to get to those spots if the wind is blowing hard. Westerly winds are most common and most of us get to know where to fish at that time. When the wind changes the fish tend to migrate to another area.

Welcome on board Castmaster

No one has mentioned the Can-Am/Bombardier yet. The Outlander is an amazing machine. They have the best ride and power in the industry.Very reliable and have excellent power to weight ratios. They are definitely worth a test drive before you buy anything else.

Cant say as I have ever tried them in winter. They are a little hard to come by here. But thats all I use in summer so why not winter ?

For walleye fishing on my spincast nothing but fireline for me. Great casting distance,little or no memory and tough. Haven't come across anything better for the type of fishing i do yet. Tried spiderwire but no good for spincaster.

Hi there Art...Bring it on..I can take it......Hey why wait for spring? Come on up this weekend

Which guy is you Gerritt?

Welcome aboard Bassman27

Welcome on BB Some guys are doing ok on Nipissing others are not.Depends where you are and how you are trying to catch them. Thats fishing though

Right on Ben. ..Good for you. Nice fish. Jigging always seems to work best here. Im at the cottage right now but will be too busy keeping my road clear of snow to fish today. Maybe on Sunday if i get all my work done. Hopefully get my boathouse moved next couple days

I would read Spiels advise closely. The guy knows his stuff.

All I can add is be prepared for lots of dedication to your new endeavor. When I started out there were lots of 12 to 16 hr days. Startup costs can be very expensive. Lots of worry days too. Like Irishfield my time with my kids was limited but the spare time I had was spent with them. It all worked out and now 13 years later I can relax a little bit. There are still days I wish I worked for someone else and was able to head home when the 5 o'clock whistle goes. But I am not the type to be told what do do and would never go back. I planned for 2 years before I did it and saved a few bucks by working a second job to get startup costs. Good luck and go for it PS...My last boss told me when I left "the best advise i can give you is dont accept credit. It will kill your business" He was right. I see lots of businesses go down because of that.

Tough break Bigcliff!..I know it isnt much consolation now but years ago the company I worked 10 years for closed local operations. They offered me transfers but i would end up too far away from good old Nipissing. Went back to school and got my mechanics ticket. Was the oldest in my class but it was a lot of fun. Now own my own thriving business. Was the best thing that happened to me. Only didnt know it at the time. It will work out for you. Take care and keep your chin up.......Bernie

Just to expand a bit on what DanC mentioned on NASCAR. The only car in the Nextel series built in USA will be the Toyota. Ironic. Ford Fusion built in Mexico, Chev & Dodge built in Canada. Nascar is primarily USA based racing. Lots of fans are upset about Toyota entering this year in the Nextel race series.

Way to go Rick Letters are still one of the best ways to get a response. More of us should write letters when we feel things are not right.

Attaboy Cliff!. Congrats. Way to go CC!

After all these years I should learn to keep my mouth shut.........

Sheesh....Leave it to the women to find a list of things to do!

Thank you every one for your wonderful insight and suggestions . This will be a great headstart!

Thanks Solopaddler. I can see that working well. Tung oil has also been a favorite of mine. I would never put a hard finish on something like that. Easier to fix up marks on an oil finish too.

Yes Solopaddler Now thats what I was looking for Cool..It can be done. I wanna start right now. Thank you!

Used Norton in the past. I found it slowed my puter down too much. I found it was always popping something up or a reminder as well. And it was tough to get rid of if you ever wanted to drop it. Avg has defended me well for the last 3 years-no virus. And free.

Thanks for the advise solopaddler. I think part of it is just the fact that it's something that I have partially made for myself. I could go out and buy a table too but handcrafted there is a certain satisfaction. Has anyone ever seen or heard of a rod with a cedar rather than cork handle? I was thinking of laminating some different shades cedar perhaps with an inlay of mahogany in it.

Havent seen anything on the antivirus going to fee but the antispyware is only a limited time trial. I have used avast antivirus with good success in the past as well.