kennyman

We're slowly turning into the US. Toronto is the only Canadian city I can think of with the nasty US style crime. It's scary and growing exponentially. . As Toronto spreads out so does the crime. Makes me want to get even further away. I saw an obviously drug addicted kid in Brooklyn on the entrance to a highway with a sign that said "Help I'm HIV positive". Should have said "Help me buy crack".

Looks like everyone had a great time. I'm trying to instill a love of the outdoors,water, camping,canoeing, fishing etc. in my children too. It's something we can all do as a family and I believe it'll make them grow into better, more responsible people. I hope they pass it onto their kids too.

I think the government is making a pile of cash from gas and won't change anything that is that big of a cash cow. Secondly it helps with the problem of "greenhouse gases" as well. People will drive less and buy smaller cars, hybrids etc. Kind of like killing two birds with one stone isn't it? What's the downfall for them, a budget surplus? Then at the end of the day they can take the credit and be heroes too. I think Ontario should take the extra cash and give resident 407 travellers their cash back at the end of the year. If you're commercial, an out of province or out of country traveller you still pay. Either that or just buy the thing back. It's not like we couldn't use an extra highway in the area. As far as a protest, I can't see anything actually affecting the oil companies. The logistics make it virtually impossible. Crap, we can only get half the people out to vote If all the members from this board stop going to a certain major gas company, they wouldn't even notice. Now if all the members used the exact same gas station (same privately owned location) you could probably make a point with that individual owner. Other than that I can't see much happening. Great intentions guys, but the only way we can do anything IMO is make it an election issue and use your vote as your leverage.

Xrap, I did go to Dunnville last weekend.Made a point to go to the tackle shop and asked for him (and actually meet my first OFC'er). We were late getting there, but we were just in a casual mood. We'd never fished in Dunnville and the weather was 'iffy' so we didn't even bring the tinny. So I'm guessing it was between 8:30 and 9:00 AM when we got to the tackle shop. Anway he was still sleeping . The landlord was there and sold us some minnows and floating harnesses and told us to go over to the BBQ park. I paid $7 for the car,driver and passenger. Not a bad gig,owning that piece of property . So we spent a couple hours there and all we saw anybody catching was carp,cats, etc. We caught zip,nada,nuttin. I guess we missed the boat on this one, literally. I won't go back there without the boat. We did however take his backup advice and head to Port Maitland which was pretty good. I want to go back there in a couple weeks when bass season opens.Looks like it could be fun.

That's a nice looking bass. I'll have to try Orangeville this year.Thanks for posting that.

What's your bait of choice when fishing for eyes in the Grand?

Had the day off yesterday so I went out to try my luck locally in the mighty Grand River in Brantford. My Uncle caught a nice walleye the other day pretty close to where I was fishing, so I got out my green floating harness, put a white grub on the one hook and a fresh minnow on the other. Do you think I could catch a walleye .... not in your life. Threw a daredevil, mepps etc. ...nothing. The current moves pretty quickly there and it's also easy to get hung up on the rocks so after some frustration I tried a bobber with a couple sinkers and minnow. Bang ...... rock bass. Not huge but not a bad size either. Kept throwing it and got a couple more. Then I got a little one pound OOS largie (hard to call that guy a largie LOL). At this point I'm just throwing it into the main current and letting it go where it may. One time it went so far it spooled me. Again not big but still fun After that I came into a bit of a lull, so I switched spots again. I'm learning ... so I found some "structure" and bang ...... I'm on them again. A few more rock bass and another small largie. This is really turning out to be a fun day. Even though these aren't monsters I'm having a blast. There are no phones, just me and the river and oh yeah, a redhead in a bikini smimming just a little ways up. Helps kill the time. Maybe that's when I got spooled LOL So I load up another minnow and throw him out there. As soon as it hits the water the bobber goes down. This isn't like the other ones. Quickly it starts pulling drag and I'm trying to keep the line tight and adjust the drag. My quantum MH Catalyst is bending over quite a bit and "thumping" as whatever it is on the end of my line wants off. I'm not worried about the line hanging up and breaking because I've got 30# Stren Super Braid on so I just take my time. Normally I just try and horse a fish in but this one takes me a minute. Anyway it was a nice clean red eyed beauty largemouth. I'd say about four pounds or so. Looked and felt HUGE to me . I grabbed my digital camera and tried to take a quick pic. Dead as a doorknob. AARGH!! I usually have a disposable film camera with me, but I took that in to get developed the day before. Lesson learned. So now what do I do?? Okay I find my tape real quick as I want to get this beauty back in the water a.s.ap. I'm trying to measure it as I'm holding it in one hand and trying to hit the button with my other and pull the tape out with my teeth . From it's mouth down to the meat of the tail is about 15 .... as I'm trying to measure the rest of the tail it flops out of my grip. The heck with it, I just put it back in. It was quite the slab though. I couldn't grab around it (like you would slide your hand from top to bottom over a smaller fish, so you wouldn't get spiked). I had to grab her around the back. Anyway it was alot of fun and it got my adrenaline going. I couldn't get the smile off my face for an hour.

Wow, now that's a pile! Here's wishing you a great successful weekend. If anybody deserves a 50 incher this weekend it's you bud. Have a good one.

That was a beautiful tribute. Very eloquently spoken. I'm really sorry to hear that he has passed and I feel for you Lew. It's not the same, but I lost my closest Aunt who I loved very dearly to cancer last year. She suffered too long. It was terrible to watch it happen, but I was glad to be by her side comforting her and my mother (her best friend) until the very end. It kind of puts things into perspective when things like that happen. It changes you. With me small things that would really annoy me seemed almost insignificant after. Over time things seem to return to normal and I'm not sure that's a good thing. Thanks for reminding Lew. I really do feel terrible for you. You had a relationship with your brother that I haven't had with mine since we were teenagers. You were a very lucky man to have shared all that you did. From the respect and admiration you recieve here I know he was very lucky to have you as a brother. Peace be with you and your family Lew.

WOW, great day and great info. Thanks for telling us in great detail what you caught them on and how. I love soaking all that info up. Great job and great looking gators.

Nice job. I think you better get her a Fishergirl shirt. That's a nice looking Wally there. Don't worry Dad, my boy outfished me last weekend too. I always hope my kids outfish me. At least my wife didn't. I'd never here the end of that.

Thanks for posting that. I had the wife and kids come watch it too. One of the most amazing things I've ever seen. Very cool how the lions worked together then the buffalo joined forces to rescue the babe .... and attack lions !! I had no idea they would do that. Quick recap.Lion sees steak, lion wants steak, lion chases steak, alligator want steak , big steaks save little steak. They live happily ever after.

Fishing at the dam? Thanks bud.

It would be kind of neat hooking into that bunch minutes later. Who would believe you. If you were on your own you'd get a fine from the MNR. Try explaining that one in court. "Uh huh, Uh huh ..... sure you did ...... Uh huh ....... we're you drinking at all sir?"

Now that was funny! Still has me rolling ROFLMAO!

Sounds like a good day. What body of water? You don't have to give away your honey hole but some general description would be good. Also, what did you catch them on? Jig and minnow? Husky Jerk? If so,what colour/pattern etc.? Just trying to learn here. Oh I bet the grandparents were pretty happy. That was a very thoughtful thing to do. Obviously your Grandpa was an avid fisherman? Wish I had grandparents still.

Well, this is interesting for sure. Personally and strictly from a consumers point of view I think it isn't all bad.That is if they really do go BIG. I won't have to attend both shows and if their seminars etc. are great and I have a good time then IMO it will be worth it. I liked the idea of the earlier show, because by the springtime you really can't wait for anything fishing related to happen. I guess as far as the smaller vendors you'll have to look at the booth as strictly a promotional tool to draw people to your store. Hand out sale flyers/catalogues etc. For lodges/charters etc. it should make their job easier. More volume in the same timeframe should mean filling the openings up quicker and an extra week to get back to business. The first year of the show may not meet attendance expectations, but if it's done right it could be a good thing for the industry. For each business/vendor you now have a bigger stage to try to compete with the big box stores. This is an opportunity that some will take advantage of (and not just the hotdog vendors). Make the best of it guys. Now,would I, if I could remove all of the Walmart type big box stores off the face of the planet and bring back all of the mom and pop type stores ..... absolutely ..... but .... since that's not likely to happen everyone needs to find their niche. Part of that may be locating FAR from a BPS or Cabelas etc. Here's rooting for the little guy and hoping the big show may level the playing ground a little.

He should have at least taken you out for a fish dinner. Boy, I'd hate to be his neighbor? On the other hand he has balls to act upon his beliefs like that. If they had been bronzebacks we'd all think he was a hero. I still think he owes you dinner though. Man Terry, you beat me to the dinner part. I guess I need to type faster LOL. They say great minds think alike .... guess you're in trouble. LOL. Did you take the short bus to school too??

Well, they say bad luck comes in threes. Seems like you and Leah should be done. I'm sure you'll get the boat figured out. Maybe you should switch careers and start building high end boats instead of planes? I'm sure there would be a market for a fine hand crafted piece of machinery/art for those folk "too thick in the wallet".

That was a great report Mike. Makes me wish I was there. 14 pike eh ....nice! Thanks for the post. It made me jealous.

Although I pretty much always wear mine, I still think it should be optional for adults and mandatory for kids. Fishing the perch derby, my whole family (wife, kids and myself) wore one from the moment we got on the water until after we got off the boat. My Dad however never put one on at all. Funny thing, he barely swims and we all swim great. Go figure.

Tony B .... thanks bud. Carp Starter, thanks for immediately climbing all over me for doing something I thought was correct.That post was written pretty aggressively for something basically incorrect,don't you think??? EVERYONE else was throwing them back in. Just trying to post here and keep people aware of the problem. It should be posted on a sign at every major pier. Mikey Mikey, here is a quote from the Great Lakes Institute "Along with the zebra mussel, the round-eyed goby, the Eurasian ruffle and the spiny and fishhook waterfleas are rewriting the book of life in the lakes. They are linked to the startling decline in walleye stocks, an expanding dead zone in the middle of Lake Erie, and the spread of disease that is killing tens of thousands of birds each year. For example, another native of the Black Sea, the round-eyed goby, is literally eating the future of bass stocks in the lakes. The goby will eat as many bass eggs as it can, says Rob McIntosh, president of the St. Catharines Game and Fish Association. One goby will attack the bass and drive it off, while four or five others move in and eat the eggs. In a few years, if this continues, you are going to see a real impact on the bass population. As it is now, we are finding it harder and harder to catch large fish"."For the last several years, merganser ducks, loons and some gulls have died by the thousands in Lake Erie after contracting a rare type of botulism. Not much else feeds on the zebra mussels other than gobies, which are now one of the most abundant fish in the lakes and available to be fed upon by other fish and birds, says Ricciardi, who believes the type-E botulism itself may not be indigenous to the basin. So the gobies act as a bio-accumulation link for the bacteria. So whether the botulism was introduced or was always in the lake sediment, the point is without either one of these species, you wouldn't have this happening. " Here'another site that's pretty informative http://www.sciencenews.org/pages/sn_arc99/7_31_99/fob1.htm . Here's a quote from that site "Government officials in Canada and the United States have launched campaigns to help boaters and anglers recognize the goby and prevent its transfer to new waters. In particular, Dermott emphasized, gobies should never be used as bait, transported live, or even returned to the waters from which they were caught. Anyway, everyone reading this,don't put them back in the water. Whether you use them as bird food or fertilizer for your garden, please don't let them back into the water. I have an idea. why don't we feed gobies to cormorants ? P.S. as far as whipping the gobies on the roof, it made sense at the time. I didn't want to keep them in my pocket , I'm out on the pier with my son and we keep catching the darn things. I'm not going to pack up all my stuff, walk all the way down the pier everytime we catch one then go back and set up again. Even if I thought ahead,dumped them in a bag and threw them in the garbage, ten to one says the gulls would get them at the dump. Anyway,enough said.

Holy crap!! I didn't even know that was possible. I guess we should never assume anything. I hope this isn't going to be the norm. Another budget cut? YIKES!!! You should definetely make a stink about it. I'd even call the paper(s) (a group at work collectively) to help make sure this doesn't happen again. This could be the cause of a tradgedy. Hope everything is alright.

Went fishing off the pier yesterday with my best bud (son Eric) and I'm telling you he is the "Gobymaster". He caught eight gobies yesterday. One was just huge for a goby, I bet eight or nine inches and lots of fin. Obviously none of them went back into the lake. We threw them on the roof of the small building located at the end of the pier (which got some strange looks LOL). I tried to explain to a couple others catching these rubbery little monsters,but nobody listened. I'm sure they thought I was evil and cruel. Oh well. I wonder how many bass etc. we just saved? Anyway,we were best friends to all the birds in the neighborhood. I swear that's all anyone was catching, except we saw one bluegill caught. Is this normal there now?

Nice gators! I should have went there yesterday, but instead I went to Port Dover (or should I call it Gobyville?). Oh well, the Arbor dog was good.