Wednesday, August 29, 2012

Fishing Report August 29th, 2012

Headed down to the Forks of the Thames for some lazy evening action.  I took my daughter and we were fishing with worms. We got there at about 7 and there were some girls who caught a couple of rock bass.  I caught a 2 lbs sucker quickly and followed it up with a 6 inch perch. My daughter was playing with her line in and around some rocks.  She kept say she saw fish there, I told her it was her imagination. Then in rapid secession she pulled up, but not all the way in a couple of rock bass and some perch.  Her hook was too big and they dangled on the worm until they hit about 4 feet out of the water.  I'm going to have to trust her eye sight (but not her judgement on what constitutes a reasonable fish) in the future. After that excitement I pulled in a 1 lbs sucker. After dark I got a couple of big bites, but the fish was gone and they didn't reoccur so we called it a night.

As a side note it has been nice to see a lot of fishermen using the Forks of the Thames this summer. Past years it seemed like it was just me most of the time.

The Storm Kickin' Saga... continues? I'm as surprised as you are.

So a friend of mine tells me he's going up to Thunder Bay for some pike fishing. I get excited and tell him to try to find--with emphasis on try, as I expect this to be scarce--a Storm Kickin' Stick. I further recite to him a story wherein I used said bait to outfish my co-anglers, of the brother-in-law nature. He says he's on his way, so he won't have time to track one down.

And then... he sends me a message from his BlackBerry that there's Kickin' Sticks as far as the eye can see! So I check Storm's website, and it looks like Rapala has not only revamped things with Storm's complete catalogue intact, they've even added a Swimmin' Stick, which is like the Kickin' Stick only with a lip. Lippy Buggers!

I'm glad Rapala didn't kill my lure!

BioLite CampStove™

Our Scout group received our BioLite CampStove™ yesterday. We have been waiting for months for it. It didn't take us long before we had the package ripped open and the stove fired up.

BioLite CampStove™
First impressions are the materials are of a good quality and the item is well made. The exception that the carry case is a thin nylon bag.  If it were by personal equipment I would look for a hard case to protect the screen or a least a heavier bag. The base seems very stable on flat ground.

With one sheet of paper and some twigs we got the fire going. As soon as the heat hit the copper probe the thermal-electric generator started up the fan which really got the fire going.  The stove gave off a lot of heat. After five minutes the LED turned to green which meant we could charge our device via the USB port on the stove.  We plugged in an iPhone in and it began charging.

One the fire was done, the device cooled down quickly.

I took this stove on a week long camping trip to Owen Sound in August.  There was a fire ban and the stove became our defacto campfire for the week. We used cut up drier cedar shingles as the fuel and man did they burn. Three shingles 12" x 18" would burn for the entire evening. With the fan going the fire burned hot and clean and there was very little ash left afterwards.

The price is $129 on their web site. I know our group paid more as shipping, taxes and handling pushed the price to over $200.  However $129 is a really good price for this device.

It weights just over 2lbs which makes it a little heavy for ultralight camping, but considering you don't need to pack fuel makes this an acceptable choice. (If small pieces of wood will be available)  With it's solid construction it also works well in the wind and the fire is mostly protected by the sides. The size of the stove is approximately 8 inches long by 5 inches in diameter, or the size of a 1 litre water bottle. It packs down nicely into a bag.

The charger kept our iPhones charged during the week and we could boil water on it. The iPad has higher power consumption and this device had trouble keeping it charged.  The propane stove and electrical outlet work better than the BioLite CampStove™ but if you wanted lightweight wilderness camping I would recommend this stove.

Here are a couple of videos of the stove in action.








Tuesday, August 28, 2012

PM and TO Mayor Go Fishing

Stephen Harper lures Rob Ford to Harrington Lake
By Don Peat, City Hall Bureau Chief

Prime Minister Stephen Harper had Toronto Mayor Rob Ford up to Harrington Lake Monday for a summer fishing trip, QMI Agency has learned.

Ford had a private meeting with Harper at the prime minister's official country retreat, according to a source.

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Monday, August 27, 2012

Salmon Fishing in the Yemen (2011)

This post is cross-published on Full Metal Tackle and I am... Jack's Film Club.

British Film makes me believe in arranged marriage. Weird way to start a movie review, sure, but let me explain.

I married a British girl. Our relationship was sparked by movies and dogs, and even today we quote some of our favourite flicks to each other--it's kind of obsessive, but we like it.

Then there's Hugh Grant. Michelle had me watching all sorts of British movies, often starring Hugh Grant, and I just didn't get it. It was clear the film was trying to be humourous, and Michelle would chuckle, whereas I'd be left scratching my head.

Until one day, (h)aha! I got it. The subtle, straight-laced, completely insulting statements piqued a funny bone in me. I watched a whole British film, and enjoyed it! Ever since, I've been craving that same style, and Salmon Fishing in the Yemen delivers it, albeit in a slightly different fashion.

As for the arranged marriage thing, I figure if I can spend inordinate amounts of time with British film and love it, any two people forced to marry could begin to love each other too, given time.

Now, back to the show...

Enter Ewan McGregor. Normally smiling ear-to-ear (see the scene in The Island where they break out and he proclaims "Route 66" while pointing at a pack of matches), but instead playing a scientist with asperger's. He's straight-faced and completely crass, and when approached by Emily Blunt's character to establish a salmon fishery in the Yemen, makes exasperated claims which Emily takes literally all the while Ewan rides the line between sarcasm and asperger's, far too often seeming to fall too close to the former. As a reference point, see Bob Melnikov's portrayal of someone with asperger's in the short-lived Regensis TV series, the banal literalism and expression-less responses are similar, but his monotone delivery maintains itself well within the realm of asperger's, and maybe that's just it--maybe Ewan is too expressionable to be believed as someone with asperger's!

The story throws itself forward in near sitcom-like fashion with many cut scenes that pull you out of the absurdity that is Ewan's and Emily's relationship--business or personal--and at times could be considered nearly a cartoon portrayal. The romantic buildup of the core characters barely comes to a boil, the killed-in-action boyfriend of Emily and dreary breakup of Ewan's marraige both seem superficial to any part of the story.

This brings us to the fishing, you know, from the title "Salmon Fishing in the Yemen." Well, there's very little of it, and it strikes me as contrived as the sheikh delivers proclamation of his vision, meanwhile Ewan looks on and notices the sheikh has caught a fish. The excitement takes hold and the scene feels good, but in retrospect I can't help but wonder if there's an angler out there that can't monitor his line and proclaim his beliefs at the same time.

All in all, I think Salmon Fishing in the Yemen provides an awkward romantic comedy that could appeal to an acquired taste, especially an acquired taste in british film.

Tuesday, August 14, 2012

Fishing Report August 12th, 2012

I decided to hit the Forks of the Thames on Sunday afternoon. It was the middle of a sunny day so I didn't expect to hit too much, but my Fantasy Football draft was in the evening, so daytime it was.

I was using worms on a perch rig. Instead of catching a lot of fish I talked to a lot of people and took a brief nap on the dock.  The water was up and flowing well from the rain on Saturday. I fished from 3:30 until 6.  My first bite and fish came at 5:55.  I caught a nice little (14") Redhorse sucker.  Not much of a fight, but I was grateful for not getting skunked.

I'm hoping to get down to Hamilton on the weekend to fish.

Extinction rate of North American freshwater fish could double by 2050

The extinction rate of freshwater fish in North America could double by 2050, the USGS has warned.

The findings are the result of a USGS study to be published in the September issue of Bioscience.

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