RJR

Best time to go fishing is whenever you can.

The last few years has been difficult for me to get out like I normally do. That being said, I truly appreciate the times when I can get out on the bank. This year I had one short 3 hour session locally, and a trip to Rice Lake this past weekend. Friday night until Monday morning, 3 of us fished when we could. The wind made it impossible to fish for most of the day Saturday, and almost impossible to fish during the night. Everyone caught fish and we had a great time together. I wanted to share the absolute beautiful mirror carp I caught. For most Canadian carp anglers, catching a mirror is nothing short of extraordinary! These fish were the highlight of the trip for all 3 of us. 

This New Year has sucked locally.  Maybe some of you lightweights might get away with fishing on 3", but us larger types.....     If nature can't give us an ice season, maybe she could give us back the soft water.

I remember scailing many a perch in my younger days.  Then cutting of head and fins and gutting. We would fry the fish and then pull on the back bone and all the ribs would come out. Scales would fly all over the place until we learned a neat trick to hold the fish under water while you fillet it.

After all the chaos of this ever so busy season, time for Santa to go fishing.
 
Merry Christmas all.

Merry Christmas to everyone.

Or you can buy one of these for getting back or use for trolling .  All you need is the right wind......
 
 

A great Canadian icon just passed away tonight....Gordon Lightfoot , at 84 years old . 
What a great singer/songwriter  he was .....   We have lost many of the old greats lately as Willie Nelson just had his 90th birthday bash ,and is still putting out the tunes.
Gordon Lightfoot will be remembered for many years to come . RIP .

Happy New Year

Happy New Year

I did it for 35 1/2 years and am glad I'm done. I worry about my friends still doing the job.

Merry Christmas

Heard it through the grape vine ......  Santa went to a school to visit "George" and many  kiddies in other classrooms , putting big smiles on their faces .
He has been known to play Santa many times before ......
Kudos to this great Santa who has brought many smiles to our kids over the years. 
We may know him as "Ugli" Santa .....   

For the 71 years I have been on this earth I have been a proud Canadian. Guns and the Canadians who know how to use them were instrumental throughout our history. From the war of 1812 when we kicked American butts to World War I when Canadians went in after the French and the British got trounced and kicked German butts. World War II was another shining moment from the Devils Brigade to the Canadian liberation of Holland. Canadians are still honored in Holland when tourists visit. Canadians were in Korea, Vietnam, Serbia, Croatia and Afghanistan. Canadian snipers were among the best in the world in Afghanistan...even the American snipers acknowledged it. We fought for freedom and human rights all over the world and were effective because enough of us knew how to use guns effectively.
 
With the present government and their efforts to undermine this legacy with misleading statements and underhanded ways to achieve their goals demean law abiding gun owners, I am starting to lose that pride.
 
More people are killed by drunk drivers.....do they ban alcohol? More people are killed by distracted drivers...do they ban cell phones? More drivers are killed by cars.. do they ban them? I looked at a graph comparing deaths by guns in Canada compared to knives from 2006 to 2016? Death from knives at times exceeded death from guns...do they ban knives? Drug use and the crimes/deaths associated with it are far greater. Do they ban drugs?  Nope, they want to legalize drugs.
 
They don't face reality and legal gun owners are evil bloodthirsty demons who should be discriminated against.
 
The recent gun bust in the GTA ....62 weapons in all...showed that all but one gun was smuggled in from the U.S. and that one was a legal gun stolen from a law abiding citizen. I'm sure the criminals will obey the gun ban.
 
An interesting point gleaned from looking at history shows that most tin pot dictators and some not so minor like Stalin disarmed the citizenry to ensure no challenge to their authority. I am  in no way or form supporting armed rebellion but this is an interesting parallel.
 
It is not just the gun ban that has my goat. We are one of the premier producers of oil and gas in the world. Yet we have high prices for gasoline, diesel and heating oil. Our governments should be ashamed we cannot at least have sufficient domestic refining capacity to be able to supply reasonable prices to Canadians, especially lower income families. Instead we ship our natural resources outside the country and have to suffer when it is (or is not) shipped back to Canada at high prices. Shame on the people in charge...if they cared for the Canadian people they would have incentives and a mandate to make us self sufficient in those area.
 
The provincial government has seen fit to try and reduce the Green Belt and the farmland. In Niagara we have seen huge losses in productive farmland due to development. We could conceivably produce a lot more local produce to help food supply problems if we had this precious resource was still available instead of importing everything. The only people benefiting from the loss of farmland are the developers. You cannot blame the farmers if their property is rezoned for development and someone offers megabucks for it to develop it.
 
This loss of pride has worn me out. I apologize for anyone offended. I will have a beverage or two and lay down for a while.

Well , the score today .....Carp 1 . Smerch zero . I lost a good one after a 5 minute battle , then it headed into a spot where there is brush/tree branches under the water . I tried to hold it back , tightened up the drag but the line snapped about 4" from the hook . (17 lb. Spider Wire leader  on 20 lb. main line. )
That's the second carp I lost there ...wish I could pull those branches out !   
Great to be out there and taking in the nature sights , like one chipmunk , lots of red wing black birds that came within 6 ' to eat some spilled corn , lots of vultures , a sawbill duck catching lots of big minnows , cormorants , and one lonely goose that seems to be a resident there .
  No fish to post , but a nice shot of these male red wings .........
 
 

Thanks to mbocco for the tips and tricks my yak is all ready to hit the water. 
two more small things todo.
- relocate the flag behind me with a mount which I have. 
- find two track mount rod holders
thanks again mark for the wiring/battery help. 

I have tried for over 2 months to get a rat that has been leaving tracks in my back yard . It was ignoring the bacon I tied to the rat trap . I changed the menu to smoked kielbasa , and he /it could not resist the temptation .......   He/she is now 'Resting in Peace' . I thought it was  Wiarton Willie at first ....BIG brute of a rat !   
Fresh treats today boys & girls .....

Wow,  Excelent job Bruce.

That's no mistake.  That's about how cold it gets in the bedroom when the man screws up Valentines Day😝

My son and I tried Ramey's last evening from about 5:30-7:00 and were completely skunked. Some loose schools of baitfish came through but didn't stick around too much. On my camera I think I saw only shiners. 
 
Lots of twix and mountain dew consumed..... so still successful as far as my son is concerned. 

I need to get one of those 12 bangers for my square back canoe .  

Agree, unfortunately I'm finding that getting older and wiser isn't nearly as much fun as being young and stupid!

Merry Christmas everyone!!

They should have the same enforcement law type for stunt driving that the MNRF has for game/fish infractions!
For them, if you get charged, everything u used to commit the infraction is seized, and, if convicted, the equipment is sold at auction - you don’t get it back! And the MNRF has seized and sold everything up to ATVs, boats, and planes!
If a couple of these idiot drivers had their hot rods sold the rest of the idiots might get the message real quick!!

I gave the 12 Mile a shot for a few hrs. today. Water level was very high and fast with semi clear viz.  I took my old salmon rod to try a few worms first ...tossed a 3 way rig with worm harness , snagged up as soon as it hit bottom, broke off .I tried fishing closer with hook & worm , just goby bites .
  Rigged up the carp rod with maize on the hair + 1.5 oz egg sinker .....few bumps & nibbles . Lots of grass about 8 ft. out so had to fish over it on the steep slope ...very tricky fishing there.  So , I decided to take a few pictures and leave ...got the camera out,  backed up to get an area shot and saw my carp rod bouncing wildly and line peeling out ....grabbed the rod and 3 seconds later .....nothing !!  Line broke off at the hook ...must have been a weak spot from hitting rocks . INSPECT YOUR LINE MORE SMERCH !!!
   The salmon rod had a bolt rig with larger hook to hold the maize ......as I reel in the line I felt a few bumps ....never got skunked today .......
On the way out a beautiful fawn was standing on the trail  and didn't run until I was 20' away ...made my day !!  
...a few shots..... and a smart dog !!