reevesr1

To continue the hijack... I tend to be a value buyer--I look for high quality items without the name brand. I've gotten a lot of great deals on great gear. But they engender no feelings of pride or loyalty. But last year I was talked in to buying a Rushton net called "The Brown". Don't remember the cost, but well north of 100 bucks. I had almost instant buyers regret as I thought I had no need of such a net. I was wrong. I love my net, and have become quite attached to it. Don't know why, but I would HATE to loose it. Again, I don't know why some wood and mesh has become a necessary part of my fishing gear, but it has. If I ever loose it (perish the thought), I'd get another one the next day. Silly, but true.

Mitch, you stole my line! Brent, Great read kid. You got a talent for that. If you have anything else posted anywhere else, please let me know. You ever gonna finish my books, or can't kid's read these days?

A question with a million answers. Right now, I would venture to say that if you are using a wire worm, no additional weight is necessary as you will typically be fishing slower water. As the year goes on and you fish faster and faster water, you may need additional weight (though I know people who never let the nymphs hit the bottom-and they catch fish too!). However, s really smart kid (and some smart older people too) told me that if you aren't hanging the bottom every couple of casts, you are fishing too light. But you MUST set the hook whether you think it is bottom or not. You may feel foolish doing so at first, but after several times where the "bottom" becomes trout, you won't feel so foolish.

When walk and wading, you can also use swingning as a method to cover lots of water quickly. It can be particularly effective in water holding fish, but with no true visual clue as to feeding lanes, holding areas, etc.

Sounds incredible. Pictures? Did you fish for the sharks at all? They are a riot in shallow water.

One war (the one you guys are currently fighting, so I would hope your country thinks it is worthy) was brought to him. You have to put it in context of the time. The events of 9/11 demanded a response. I think it was the correct response, followed by a total loss of sight if the goal Iraq was a lie. I bought in at the time like everyone else. My personal belief is so did bush (though its a hard position to defend because some in his administration certainly knew there were no wmd's), but once the reality set in, policy should have changed. It didn't, and that's on his administration. I lived a big hunk of my life in New Orleans. While bushs response was weak almost beyond belief, it wouldn't have mattered. Once that hurricane hit the city, the die was cast. Few want to believe that, but 40 yrs of not preparing for the inevitable was not bush's fault. To know how Harper would respond, you would have to project him into the same circumstances. His personality type does not lead me to believe his actions would have been much better. But I wouldn't wish that set of circumstances on anyone. I've met great Canadians both in and out of uniform. Americans too. Jack does have one up on me, he served in both countries, myself only in one. Edit: actually, jack served in a combat it sounds like (Desert Storm?), so no comparison btwn his service and mine.

Hah, so you agree there is global warming. I knew it! Sorry for the thin skin. I get a bit tired of hearing how effed up my country is. Maybe the only thing I don't like about living here sometimes.

Ugly country, ugly fish.... ok, that one really is ugly.....

Just so you know, she doesn't say that in a nice way. Welcome aboard guys.

The power is running amok with all this post deleting, post modifying, and custom user title giving. About time we had some fun around here.

Hey, did the new moderator pull his pud? What's up with that? Not funny Chris?

He's backpedalling poorly because he is an idiot. It is great to see you guys galvanized, you could use more of it. You have a proud history of military service. But what do I know, I'm just another banjo picker (and there are lots of banjo pickers with kids in the military too). Hopefully my final comment on the subject is that Canadians direct their ire in the direction it needs to be directed in, ie the twits on Fox, and Fox in general for allowing it to air. There are some in Canada who use any insult from anyone in America as justification for slamming Americans in general. Don't believe me, read some of the blogs on this subject. Just because some asses disrespected your country doesn't give you moral justification to disrespect theirs.

Has she ever spoken the truth? And if my Prime Minister was Stephen Harper, don't know that I'd go casting stones......

Thanks Dave! Nice to see those moderator powers being used for good.

Rick, Forgive our friend Birchy. He has a hair trigger and seems incapable of just letting things go. I've tried to counsel (I was going to say council, but I didn't think anyone would get me) him to no avail.

You know what would be awesome? If Fox News and Sun Media could get in a war and mutually annihilate each other (metaphorically spoeaking, I'm not advocating actual war here). The level of discourse in both countries would then measurably improve.

Thanks for reminding me that kids are affected by war. I only spent 8 yrs in the military, so I forgot. Your connotation here is "Americans" are laughing at you. Not a stupid comedian on a BS 3 am show on a second (or maybe 3rd) rate news network. So as an American, I responded. Yeah, we only lost 416,000 lives in that one. Hardly worth mentioning. They were probably all brought in kicking and screaming. My point is, you want to be mad at the show, be my guest. What they said was reprehensible. But you then took several shots at American's in general. I think that was unnecessary. Edit: Here are a couple of quotes from your countrymen I found on a thread talking about this very subject: I suppose constitition is constitution, but I'm not sure. I think those were peasants that we lost to, but again, I'm not sure. Anyway, looks like you guys have your share of idiots as well.

Fox News Red Eye? Hardly a credible source of anything approaching real news or opinion. Come on Sun. It would be like us (Americans) sending off emails to "This Hour Has 22 Minutes" because Rick Mercer made fun of us being stupid. From what I saw, the show (Fox Red Eye) was basically a comedy show, albeit in really bad taste. No thinking person thinks Canada has no army or is shirking their efforts in Afghanistan. And I take MASSIVE exception to the thought that Americans are laughing in the face of Canadians. Some stupid people on Fox News Red Eye perhaps, but not Americans in general.

I had a friend who used to say "for all intensive purposes." I never corrected him, but giggled a little inside every time.

I'm not so sure about that. How do we know it wouldn't be worse? The worst economic crises were the Great Depression in the 30s and there was a crash in the 1880s or 90s that were both worse than this is projected to be. Much less media around then. There was mass panic then too. Probably worse than now. In some ways, the media striking fear in us is good. If it helps people get their debt under control, that is good. You can also use fear to your advantage as an investor. As Mr. Buffet says, when everyone else is selling, buy.

The others:

A little bigger buddy. Awswome by the way.

Brad, Extended warranties are a money maker for the company selling the warranty. That's all I really need to know. Of course things can fail that are covered by an extended. But you will come out ahaed in the end, overall, if you never buy one.

Steve, I did some work on reliability issues at one of our product centers, ie, how and why products fail and how to design/test to limit those failures. One thing I learned is extended warranties are a bad buy. Failure curves for electronics follow the "bathtub" curve. High failure rates initially, say in the first year (called infant mortality, which is typically covered by the initial warranty period), followed by a long period of essentially flat, and low, failure rate. Then failure rates go up significantly as the product reaches end of life (this curve was developed by studying human mortality. Works on most things!). Lots of people will tell you stories about how extended warranties saved them x amount of money. Undoubtedly true. People win the lottery too, both are bad gambles. You are better off to never buy an extended warranty on any electronic item. You will almost assuredly save money in the long run. Almost.

The one that got away is a BIG part of this game to me. And I love what Headscan said about rooting for the fish. I've never thought of it in that exact way, but I have said "come one buddy, do something" to big fish before. Quite often, when they do decide to "do something", they get the better of me. So be it. To me, one of the greatest thrills is when a big fish gets way out to the river, and I get him back. Mostly, when they get out there, I don't get them back. Again, so be it. I usually let out a groan of frustration, and that frustration may linger for a bit. But the thrill of landing a big fish that raises hell far, far outweighs that frustration. I was out with troutlover one evening and hooked a big, big fish. We never got a look at him (it was dark), but I didn't need to to know he was huge. He dogged it for several minutes before deciding it was time to leave. He took me all the way through my backing and broke me off at the end. Like BBT said, I'm haunted by that fish, but really in a good way. It is a very good memory for me. The awe I felt after the break off will stick with me longer than maybe any fish I've ever hooked, or caught. It is the thrill of the unknown I guess.