hydropsyche

I'm not following, bloom.

I used to do this too. I showed this method to Hawgstopper years ago (and I bet he showed you?) after he tied his flies on and said "Cripes. I forgot to put my corkie on first". It works great. I think I stopped doing this because its takes just a little more finagling to move it up and down and one time (mind you, only one), my leader broke right at the bottom of the indicator while fighting a fish. Maybe that scared me off. I think I'll give that method another chance. Thanks for the reminder. Nick, I find that when it swells, it gets mushy.

Gang, here is an *excellent* site for side by side comparisions. It might not have the exact model you're interested in but you can chose models that are close enough. Side by Side Camera comparisions

If you use corkies and stick a tooth pick in to hold it, here's a tip. I like to use a non-tapered leader. Straight mono from top to bottom. I believe the thinner the mono, the quicker it will sink and the less drag the water will have on it. Thats why I would rather use 8lb tippet as opposed to 8lb "spin cast" mono. Its more expensive but I think it might give me a bit of an advantage. Whats 8lb tippet? A 3x, right? Anyway, the problem I found was my corkie would slip due to the smaller diameter, so what I used to do was use 8lb mono for the top 4-5 ft, for the larger diameter, and then use the 3x tippet.. Then I came up with an idea that overcame the slipping problem. To be used even if you don't use tippet. Dip your toothpick in Dave's Fleximent, tap the drips off and let it dry. I stick them in my tying light's spring. Sometime I double dip them. The result is a toothpick that has some gripping/give to it. Viola. Less slippage. I think a side bonus it it makes it more water resistant and less of a sponge. Anyway, I just thought I'd share this idea with you guys. I don't know if its original, but I've never heard of it before.

..but only if you are hiring a guide....

Grasshopper may have a vested interest but I'll give the usual disclaimer.... "I am in no way affiliated with......blah blah blah" but gang, this would make a great stocking stuffer for the angler that has everything (and even if they don't). For $13, you can't go wrong.

Everything it promised to be. Don't leave home without it.

Ah. The AMP raises its ugly head again. As some wise man said (I think it was Dr. Phil about spoiled brats): "They do it because it works". But it sounds like they are getting even better. Guided clients will get priority. Beautiful. The rest of you can fight over the crumbs. "Let them eat cake". The next thing you know, they will be claiming its all about the fish.

I'm like Max. I hate gloves. I rarely fish when its under -15C, so barehands are bearable if I have handwarmers. I use the kind you buy at crappy tire where you light up a charcoal stick and put it in your coat pocket. When my hand gets cold, I fish with one hand while I warm up the other (I caught about 3 fish doing that last time out). Its surprising how long your hand will stay warm after you warm it up this way. But, this is probably the best advise you're going to get on keeping your hands and toes and ears warm..... Keep your core warm. If you keep your core warm, it won't suck blood from your extremities. The secret is blood flow. Three sweaters and two coats if thats what it takes. Stick one of those hand warmers in your shirt pocket. Buy those lumbar back warmers and put that on before you start. Sometimes I feel stupid and look like the Michelan Man compared to everyone else on the stream but I don't feel so bad when they are heading home because they're cold and I'm still going strong.

I built a 3wt Dancraft FT because rodbuilding.org said it was comparable to a TCR and some tournament casters were switching to the FT. I don't know if that's true, but the 3 wt weight is the fastest rod I own and can handle 27in browns without a problem.

That happened to me once. Don't ever have leftover chili for breakfast.

Didn't TCR stand for Tournament Casting Rod? I wonder if there will be a lot of *issed off tournament casters out there.

Are you saying there is only metered parking? Location, location, location. You won't see me as often as I hate the hassle and expense of downtown but the world doesn't revolve around me. Really. It doesn't. You'll have thousands of new customers in pretty close proximity. Good luck, Guys. I wish you all the best.

Thats beautiful. Canadians say they don't want mud slinging politics like the US (and you have to admit, their comercials are nothing but), but when it came to the debates, I found Obama/McCain much more civil. Dion/Layton/Blochead were an embarrasment. Its a good thing the rest of the world doesn't watch our "debates". Ya, like the big brother/little brother anology. I'd be blazing too if it wasn't so true.

I'm a relocated easterner. I lie somewhere in the middle of the political spectrum (yes, some profits are grotesque). I helped push Mulroney into the dirt, first because I saw free trade as sacrificing our resources for access to the American market, and then because his party started stinkin of corruption. Then I watched 13 years of Liberal zombie-ism. I'm not even going to start to list all the corruption, arrogance and lying I witnessed. Harpers 3 short years pales, and I mean pales, in comparision. If he was in the back pockets of big business, then explain the income trust turn around. Maybe he just decided to exercise his masters in econmics and did what he thought was best for Canada, no matter the policital outcome. Yes, he probably knew that before making it a promise, but its us Canadians that force politicans to lie (ie: it works). Now I'm faced with voting for a carbon tax while I still can't shake the images of bags of cash being passed around the Liberal table. I'm amazed anyone can. Part of the power of demogracy is the ability to remove corrupt governments. I'm not convince the Liberals have changed much in 3 years and Ottawa is still packed full with their appointies. The PC's were just as corrupt, but they're history. Is there any chance we can finish the job and do the same to the Liberals? Is there any chance a grass roots party can replace them? Maybe the Greens? I doubt it but I wish they will be forced to walk the garden path and contemplate their arrogance and sense of entitlement a little bit longer. I really am more Liberal in my views then Conservative and I'd love to be able to return my vote to that ideology. I just can't vote for someone who was sitting around the cabinet table when those bags of cash were being passed around. Maybe I'm ignorant and don't know the "Neo-Con" agenda enough to fear/hate them as much as some screaming banshee's do but I am keeping my ears perked for someone to finally explain it to me. And I'm a political junkie, so its not like I'm not actively looking. Nothing so far. Maybe I'm looking in the wrong places.

In other words, "Pay Back"!

When its a Tiger, they call them "man eaters". Can bears turn into man eaters? Its a cruel world.

Well Con-Grand-u-la-tions, GrandPa! Tell me, is it even better then being a Pa (you know, the little one produced another little one)?

He probably has it as his wallpaper. Wicked fish. Kype!!!

Hilarious. You saved that picture for just such an occasion, eh? Hbd, Greg.

...so thats why I get dizzy...... Congrats, DD, but according to this guy, it wasn't your wife's fault. U.S. mess started with Carter By SALIM MANSUR Last Updated: 4th October 2008, 2:46am The story of man's fall is in part the history of unintended effects of his initial actions. Paris of Troy falls in love with Helen of Sparta that puts to sea a thousand Greek ships, and the Trojan War is unleashed. Gavrilo Princip, driven by his Serbian nationalist fervour, assassinates the Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria and it ignites the First World War. Neither Paris nor Princip calculated the unintended effects of his initial actions. As the United States is rocked by the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression, and a deep recession or worse looms on the horizon threatening the global economy, politicians -- Democrats and Republicans -- have scrambled to work out a rescue package for the collapsing capital market. But how could the U.S. government be unaware of the capital and liquidity crunch of such dimension building up over time so that a taxpayer bailout of Wall Street to the tune of a trillion dollars was urgently needed? How did this tsunami of bad loans come about in the first place? The story is one of unintended effects. And politicians who unleashed it have remained in full throttle of denying responsibility. The origin of the crisis goes back to 1977 when then president Jimmy Carter signed into law the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) passed by the Democratic-controlled Congress. MORTGAGES FOR ALL The CRA required, as the U.S. Federal Reserve Board notes, "depository institutions to help meet the credit needs of the communities in which they operate, including low and moderate income neighbourhoods, consistent with safe and sound operations." In other words, by law lending institutions were instructed to provide money as mortgages and commercial loans to underserved communities of mostly low income Afro-Americans and underprivileged minorities with poor credit history. The reasoning behind CRA was to make housing affordable for that segment of the American population that could not meet credit tests of the financial industry. The CRA was civil rights action with roots going back to the Great Society push of president Lyndon Johnson's administration a decade earlier. The CRA requirement brought loosening of underwriting standards by lending institutions, and the beginning of bad loans or the "sub-prime" mortgages. The two government-sponsored lending institutions -- Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac -- aggressively pushed sub-prime mortgages to high risk borrowers, and then covered the questionable mortgages by access to government-backed credit legislatively available from the U.S. Treasury. In 1995 during Bill Clinton's administration, amendments to the CRA increased lending for home purchases and the bad loans piled up while a frenzy of buying led to a real estate bubble. In 2003 President George W. Bush's administration sought a corrective overhaul of the lending practices and in 2005 Sen. John McCain pushed for reform oversight of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. BUSH FIX DERAILED On both occasions corrective measures were derailed in the Congress subcommittee hearings by the Democratic leadership led by Sen. Christopher Dodd in the Senate Committee on Banking and Congressman Barney Frank in the House Financial Services Committee. The politics of affirmative action for affordable housing twisted sound financial practices, and over time it created a heated housing market that could not be sustained indefinitely. A mountain of bad loans eventually crashed, and the U.S. capital market was frontally assaulted by the unintended effects of the CRA.

I think as you get older, image slowly gets replaced with substance. Man, you can't watch that and not appreciate the talent.

Nice shots. You're giving Clive a run for his money.

"Ain't singing for pepsi, ain't singing for coke. Ain't singing for nobody, make me look like a joke. Ain't singing for Miller, ain't singing for BUD. Won't sing for nobody, make me look like a dud.....this notes for you" Max. I've tried expanding (thats how I discovered Sach) but it just ain't going there. However, I'm sure if I listened to it long enough, you'll catch me tapping my foot.

I have never heard 4/5 of everything you guys are laying out here and somehow I don't think I'm missing much. Head bangers and power chord hacks, I'm sure. Seriously, I like almost all music (Its a good thing hip hop is not music). I'm not that old, but I really like the guys who got it all going: Louie Armstrong Ray Charles BB King Cab Calloway (if anyone knows of any other early soul stuff I'm missing out on (use the above as a guide), let me know (Guitar is not a requirement)) And of course, the usual commerical crap that for some reason I can never get enough of (because it reminds me of my wilder days) Pink Floyd Led Zep Alice Cooper Neil Young Janis Joplin etc.