OK, OK, the Price of gas has skyrocketed and is now equal to a 500 ml, bottle of water at 7-11.
That's right..water!
So for all the doom and gloomers and anglers who can't afford to fill your tank or want to quit fishing cause gas is sooooo expensive...do a comparison to some of the things you waste your hard earned money on....
Which brings me to the real reason for writing this!
 
Ok here we go.....this is my personal opinion so don't get too offended if you fall into the following
"Waster of Gas" category.
At $1.14 a litre the price of fuel is threatening to keep all the Fishing Fanatics at home this summer...
Well guess what, the price is supposed to go up come June again...so fill your tanks now....THE END IS NEAR!!!
 
Hahahahaha!
If I had a nickle for every time I've listened to someone complain that gas is too expensive and they can't afford to fill their boat, I'd have enough money to fill my boat with gas twice a week.
 
NOW.........
If you got this far keep reading....I'll tell you how to save enough money to fill your boat with gas.
It's not a car pool or walk to work day or even using an electric lawn mower....
 
Every day I drive to the studio and I see the most incredible waste of resources in human history and shake my head at the Goons..."YES GOONS" who line up every morning and collectively waste more fuel and contribute to global warming more than any 3rd world country that is still Burning Coal!
I'd be willing to bet those same people who complain about the price of gas are the same Morons sitting in a 15 car line up at Tim Horton's every morning and have a boat at home with an empty gas tank!
 
That's right...all you Tim Horton's Drive through Junkies...get a grip....here are some interesting stats you should read...
If every driver of a light-duty vehicle in Canada avoided idling for just five minutes, we would save more than 2.5 million litres of fuel worth more than $2.85 million (assuming a fuel price of $1.14 per litre). Hmmm average time spent in a drive through.....5 minutes?
Check theese articles...
http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20070530/drive_thru_070530?s_name=&no_ads
http://thestrideprotocol.blogspot.com/2007/09/tim-hortons-101.html
 
So....get off your @$$ put your cell phone down and park your gas guzzling S.U.V walk in the door order a coffee and start counting the day's till you can launch your boat and fish for the day with a full tank of gas in your boat!
 
For those of you who do not fall into this category...keep pinching pennies and buy a MotorGuide electric trolling motor.....more fishing less driving!
Coffee anyone?

How was everybody's Easter?
Mine was filled with Chocolate and Wild Animals...
Saturday Morning during the Radio Show, Sean from Black Angus in Mississauga cooked us up some Wild Boar bacon and Sausage with baked beans and home made bread with Quail eggs...mmm mm oh and a side of hard boiled Ostrich egg...what a feast...
I'm a glutton!
 
Then Saturday Night all my Deer hunting group had a gathering to feast on this years Whitetail.
Meat Pies and Chilli made with venison.....along with some cured Musk Ox...man o man what a day....it was all about eating!
Did I mention I am a glutton?
 
So...this brings us to Sunday.....My gal has loaded the house with every Chocolate Easter treat known to man....needless to say I ate Chocolate for Breakfast and Lunch!
Now around 4 pm we head over to my Brothers house and sit down to a feast of Turkey and all the fixins.....
I truly am a Glutton when it comes to food.....
 
I should be more wise when it comes to eating, it can't be healthy to pig out for 3 days!
 
Anyway after Easter dinner is over we realize there is no dish detergent so My Dad and my Niece "Madison" take off to pick some up.....
30 minutes later Madison comes crashing in the front door crying..."we killed an Owl and now it's alive" ahhhhh help eek shriek!!
So we all go outside to see the commotion and here is My Dad with a beautiful Barred Owl in the back seat of his van.
The poor critter flew into his windshield and bounced into the ditch.
So Pops pulled over and picked it up to show everybody.
It was lifeless and not moving so he laid it behind his seat and carried on back to My Brothers.....
As he and Madison are driving along she looks back and the little critter is alive sitting up looking right at her!
She screams and yells to Grandpa to hurry home it's looking right at me!
 
I put a towel around the little raptor to keep it warm as it recovered and suddenly it flapped it's wings and flew between the houses and lighted on the patio umbrella where it recovered for about 15 minutes then flew off to parts unknown.....
 
Seems I'm not the only thing on the earth needing some wisdom when it comes to a good meal...
That Unwise Owl might think twice before swooping across a busy road looking for it's next meal!

click image to enlarge

click image to enlarge

The year was 1991 and I was fresh out of high school and working at Barklay's outdoors store.....
I was regularly exposed to "high calibre anglers" coming into the store to buy tackle, guys like Bob Izumi, Rocky Crawford, Pete Bowman....And the Viola Brothers
These guy's were "it" Tournament Anglers, T.V celebrities and just plain cool dudes...Posters with their faces, lure packages had their signatures and Yep...T.V had commercials with them endorsing product!
 
What a great industry....Tournaments where you could win boats, Trucks and Tens of Thousands of dollars. New lures and Tackle that promised to be the most revolutionary fish catching gadget ever! Yes sir it was awe inspiring and in turn spawned a whole new generation of "super Anglers".
 
I swore to myself that at the rate this business was booming that by the time I was These guy's age I'd be the KING of all fishermen...or I mean Anglers....
 
Well Back to the dark ages.....
 
Here I am in the year 2008....
It has been almost 15 years since I began my quest to become a professional "Angler".
Yes I accomplished my goal and am grateful for what I am doing for a living...BUT!
 
What is going on out there.....With the public, the corporations, the media....argh....
 
Tournaments are in a state of disarray and paying no more now than they did 20 years ago!
I still can only name a handful of guy's that can call themselves "professional anglers" and the tackle and lure companies that were so slick at marketing their wares have all but fallen off the radar.....
 
I am here to call out all Anglers, all the company's that cater to anglers, all the people who spend even a day of their lives fishing!
Are you satisfied knowing you are being looked at like a backwoods BUBBA that casts a bobber out with a worm and waits for a slimy green fish to come along and eat it?
 
Gone are the days of bamboo poles and buckets of bait and a leaky row boat in a swamp!
 
It is no longer a BUBBA sport, it has become a place where skill and savvy along with physical endurance and mental toughness are critical!
The technology is here and readily available to all those who wish to use it or learn from it....
It will make everyone of you no matter what your skill level is now, a much better angler!
I know I know... where can you get it?
 
Shame on the corporations for not marketing properly and shame on the media for not recognizing our great sport but most of all SHAME ON THE FISHERMAN who is content with staying in the dark ages and not developing with the rest of the world.
 
Charts, Maps, GPS, Super lines, High performance hooks, Biodegradable plastic lures, Sonar, Reels that practically cast themselves, Rocket fishing rods, Boats that look like something from a science fiction movie!  AAAARRRGGGGHHHHHH, The list is endless and so are the possibilities
 
Get out there and see what you have all been missing and write all those companies a letter..."on your computer"....not a stone tablet!
Tell them to get with the times and start marketing like it was 1999!....Hey wasn't that a PRINCE song?
The world has changed and so has fishing..........lets all do our part to expose fishing for what it really is and take a step forward out of the dark ages!
 
Yours Truly...Archie Bunker.

What can a Bass Goon like me do to make winter go by faster?
Sleep.....Eat.....Sleep more.....Eat More.....hey I'm getting Fat and Lazy!
I better be careful or I'll start looking like your "Typical fishing Show Guy"......
So other than trying to exercise everyday and avoiding too much junk food,
I like to go over my tackle and re-organize things....
This also brings back some great memories of fish I caught on certain lures.
Now, my fondest memories usually come from my Jig box...that beat up old black flipping jig with a worn out weed guard and a dried up chunk of pork!
But you know there is one lure I catch more Bass on every year than any other, Not a Jig Not a spinner bait and Not a tube jig.
No matter what province what lake or what time of year, a topwater bait will put Bass in the boat when all else fails.
When a tournament is on the line or I need one more fish or if I'm looking for active fish I pick up the top water box and pull out a "Storm Chug Bug" and cast
that little bad boy as far as can as many times as I can!
There are some tricks to use when working this bait ....but that's another story!!!!!!!!!
Do yourself a favour and pick a couple up you won't regret it and like me every winter when you reorganize your tackle......you'll smile every time you open the lid of your topwater box!

How many times have you been out hunting or hiking or just enjoying the outdoors and thought to yourself......
Are their Bears or wolves out there?
Is it safe....should we bring a gun?
Most of us laugh it off...hahahahaha bears here?....wolves? I've never seen one...alive anyway.
I have been across this country and back and can honestly say that any Bear, Wolf or any other critter I have seen has scurried off into the bush so fast I have to ask myself ...did I just see that?
Animal/Human encounters are few and far between....or are they?
Being from the Heavy Populated region of southern Ontario I can say they are extremely rare but for those Canucks that Call the Northern and Western Reaches of our great Country home............it's another story!
I read this article and was touched by the courage of the parents and the family pet.
Things could have really gone bad for these people and been very tragic.
I had a chance to speak first hand with these people and let me tell ya,
If you think a crazy cab driver or road rage commuter is the worst part of your day...think again.....
Life and Death circumstances don't fall upon us everyday ...but for the Families that dare to brave the wilderness for a better quality of life?
When things go bad there are no street cops or Neighbourhood watch....it's survival of the fittest!
Lucky for all those little girls and their families.......Man's best friend came up with a big save!
Check it out for yourselves......
http://www.huntingbc.ca/forum/showthread.php?t=17807
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VQgXT-KOJvY

Ok... so your husband, best friend, Dad...or whoever you have to buy a gift for is an avid fisherman "person".
Buying gifts can be a pain in the arse but for an angler it's easy right?
Head over to the tackle shop and grab a Daredevil and a frog pattern Beno... done Merry X-Mas... NOT!!!!!!!!!
In case you were not aware of this... FISHING has come out of the dark ages and so has the tackle we use to catch fish!
I am going to do you all a favour here and list the do's and don't of buying for the Angler on your shopping list.

For the Musky angler...
       Do: buy a cradle or Quality Musky net... makes life allot easier when landing the next world record "lunge".
       Don't: Buy a Gaff or chain mail glove... released fish usually don't survive with puncture wounds or ripped out gill rakers!
 
For the Walleye Angler...
       Do: Buy some quality planer boards or a selection of deep diving minnow baits or an electric fillet knife.
       Don't: Buy Top water lures, 50 lb Braided line or anything with "Pickerel" in the name!
 
For the Panfish Angler...
       Do: Buy an electric fillet knife a deep fryer or a lifetime supply of Choronzy fish batter!
       Don't: Buy a white pail or a fish descaling drum.
 
For The Pike Angler... See Musky Angler!
 
And Finally for the BASS Angler...
       Do: BUY them what they tell you to buy!
       Don't: Ask "do those really work?
 
Oh I forgot... for the stream fisherman...
       Do: Buy them a subscription to BassMaster Magazine
       Don't: Buy them Those polarized glasses with built in Magnifying lenses!
 
For Me!...
       Do: send me a lifetime supply of Bobby's Perfect Frog!!!!!!!!!!!!
       Don't: Ask "do those really work?

There is a date each year that comes and goes faster than Bass opener.
It's like Christmas, Easter and your birthday all wrapped up in one week!
Deer hunting season with a rifle is all those things and more for me....Yes a shotgun hunt is fun and archery is very intense and takes stealth and all that jazz.
But still hunting through an unmarked forest of northern Ontario with a high powered rifle and a scope is the ultimate for me.
Stalking the woods slowly, looking for a glimpse of a Whitetail bedded down or standing frozen like a statue as to not be detected, gives you a feeling of what it must be like to be a predator at the top of the food chain that must have success to make sure it survives another day.
I spend several minutes glassing ridge tops and hillsides that are hundreds of yards from where I stand.
When finally you make contact with a Deer it's all about strategy....move closer for a better shot? Sneak ahead of the animal to ambush as it passes or try to find a clear level opening in the brush to get a long shot with your scope set at 10 times magnification?
For most like me this all happens in 5 short days and the experience of being a true Deer Hunter warms the blood and puts the rest of your year in perspective and helps ease the mind so you can re-focus and survive the real wilderness which is everyday living.
Bye the way I had a great hunt this year, Shot a spike horn Buck on the first day then stalked several Doe's and Fawns for the rest of the week. I consider my hunt successful but not 100 percent satisfying as I have yet to Outsmart that 10 Pointer that so rarely shows himself so I can get a clean shot and hang on my wall a true Trophy.