Goths, Witch, Scooby Doo and Pumpkins!!!

October 31, 2008
My M&M Kids and their friend Linda came home from school today dressed a little unusual. Miranda and Linda were dressed in Goth clothing and Maddisson was dressed as a Witch!





Miranda and Maddy have a new friend at their house called "Puke Pumpkin"





Talk about spitting Pumpkin seeds!!!



I also received some pics from Paul tonight and it looked like the action was hot in Brooklin!

Happy Halloween!

Time for an Oil Change

Thursday, October 30, 2008
Well, I've had the new van for a month now and have already put 5000 km on it, so it was time to return to Cambridge Chrysler for an Oil Change in preparation for our journey to Williamsburg, VA.
My fishing buddy Twang (John) did the work as always. If you ever need a reliable mechanic, John is your man. Some of my most vivid fishing memories are being out on the water with John under a FULL MOON!



John has also been busy in his other career as a country star! He opened for Rascal Flatts in front of 20,000 at Bayfest this year and also opened for the Goode Brothers last week with the Grant Daniels Band.
You can find more information here John's Website

His trusty partner Kim was also there. It was thanks to her efforts that scored us our new van!
Kim is very much like John, very quiet and unassuming.........until you pull the camera out!!



The best news of the day was hearing that our beloved Pooh-Mobile appears to have avoided the scrap dealer and has been rescued by the son of one of the salesmen!!
Evidently the stickers were removed before it left the lot.
Long Live Pooh!!

Peterborough Birthday Girl

Tuesday, October 28, 2008
We made our way up with Chris' Mom to Peterborough on Tuesday to visit with Cal & Marcelle and family. It was Sherri's birthday (can't say which one) and Cal & Marcelle will be leaving for Florida for the winter in the next few weeks.

Mark showed us his whipper snipper gas powered remote control boat that will do 40 mph.



Their Grandson Kyle dazzled us with mystifying card tricks!


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We were treated to an excellent dinner, had a great visit and made plans to rendezvous in Florida in January.



Happy Birthday Sherri!!

BPS Simcoe Open

Saturday, October 25, 2008
As many of you know, Paul & I had entered the Bass Pro Shops Simcoe Open, our first foray into a Professional Tournament. 1st Place paid $10,000 with a $10,000 bonus for a bag over 30 Lbs (5 fish). If you could break the current Canadian Small Mouth record (9.84 Lbs), you would win a Toyota Tundra and Nitro Bass Boat!
We were the long shots in the Tournament, not only being rookies and having one of the smallest boats, but Friday was our first time on the Lake! Canada's best and most famous anglers were in this tournament. Our goal was to finish in the top half of the standings (40th or better in an 80 boat field.
We met around noon on Friday and pre-fished for about 5 hours trying some of the spots we had been gathering from fishing buddies. It was windy and cool and the best we could do was catch a perch. It did however give us a chance to see the lake and relate it to the hydrographic maps we had been studying. We pulled the boat and had an excellent dinner at the Lake Simcoe Arms Restaurant and then went over to register for the tournament. We registered and picked up our gift bag and went back to Paul's to visit with Evan for a bit and retie a number of rods in preparation for morning.
We left Paul's at 5:30 am and got to the launch at Sibbald Provincial Park an hour and a half before the start, where it was already a gong show, but a well organized gong show. We got the boat in the water, passed inspection and did some preparation before our blast off. We were boat #48 and would take off in the second wave at 8:15 am. It was very well organized with a staggered launch based on a digital read out from a pontoon boat well offshore.







Fishing proved to be extremely tough with wind and steady rain. Many of the spots that we wanted to work already had a dozen boats on them. We tried the shoal off Fox island and the backside of Fox that had structure similar to what we caught our fish at Cooch last week....nothing. We worked the South West side of Snake Island where we were seeing lots of balls of baitfish and lots of "hooks" (larger fish) off an edge in about 25 feet of water. This tournament is all about electonics in trying to locate fish that may be suspended over 30 foot humps in 50 feet of water. Paul finally says "Get the net!" His rod is bent over and he's got a good one on. Turns out to be about a 10 pound Pike. You can see how excited Paul was to catch this.



The day ended on a bit of a sour note for us as my alarm started going off on my motor eveytime we got over 3000 rpm.........$$$$$$.

The weigh-in was very professionally done with boats (that had fish) trailered up to the stage and fish weighed while being interviewed by Dave Mercer.


It was kind of weird sitting out in the water listening to the weigh-ins. You realize that the last boats coming in don't really have much idea of how well they're doing and haven't seen a lot of the awesome fish that have already been weighed in.





Mike and Howard Gifford had the winning weight of 28.36 pounds!!





The good news is that we achieved our goal by finishing 40th! Unfortunately, we tied with 40 other boats (including many high profile fishermen that had pre-fished all week) that got the old "bagel" as well!
It was a great experience and our only regret is that we didn't have fish to weigh-in.
Wait till next year!

More pictures here John Bennett Photography

FishGuts Practix

Monday, October 20, 2008
Monday night was Practix night for the FishGuts.

Herman's Hermits

Friday, October 17, 2008
Chris and I saw Peter Noone and Herman's Hermits at Casino Niagara last year. It was an awesome show, so it was a no-brainer to go back again this year. They put on a thoroughly entertaining show and our bellies ached from all the laughter.

Here's the original band.


And Peter as he appears today.


The highlight of the night was meeting him after the show and getting my original sheet music of "I'm Henry VIII, I Am" from 1965 (one of the first songs I learned to play on guitar) signed by Peter some 43 years later!!



If you ever get a chance to see these guys, don't pass up the chance!

Timeshare Meeting

Sunday, October 19, 2008
Last Sunday Chris and I went up to Lagoon City to inspect our Timeshare units in preparation for a maintenance week in December. It was a beautiful sunny day and the colours were awesome.



Since we were relatively close to Paul & Andrea's we stopped in for a visit. Evan wanted to show off his pumpkins.

And Rachel wanted to show off her bottom teeth.


It was a long, but great day!

BPS Associate Classic

As previously reported, Paul and I qualified for the Bass Pro Associates Classic on Lake Couchiching on Wednesday, October 15. I had never fished "Couch" until last Wednesday and it turned out to be a miserable day fighting rain, winds and cold and I got the old "Skunko". Paul and I had the least experience on the lake of all the teams, but were determined to give it everything we had. The good news was that we wouldn't finish any lower than 10th!!

I arrived at Pogger's house in Brooklin early enough on Tuesday night to enjoy a bit of time with the kids. Rachel is trying very hard to walk.


And she is very proud of herself along with her brother Evan.


Once the kids were in bed it was time to get prepared:



Up at 4:30 am, a fill up at Hortons and we were on our way. We arrived at the Orillia Docks around 6:15 and launched and were on the water in anticipation of the start. The blast off was delayed until 7:15 to allow for enough light.


We had a game plan that was different from the others. As they shot off for the north end of the lake, we decided to hit a few humps in the South end, but all we picked up were perch. We headed up towards the limestones and picked up a 13 incher and a nice 3 LB. smallie to get things started. The winds picked up and it was becoming a bitter day. After several hours we headed back to the South end again and while we were working a drop off I heard Pogger say "Get the net!!". He had a HUGE smallie on (6-7 pounds), but once it got close to the boat it took on a life of its own and got off. I quickly threw a "Slammer" on (the bait that Paul was using) and on the second cast I nailed a 3 1/2 Lb. Smallie. By now our knees were shaking in anticipation. We felt we had hit the Motherlode, but it was to no avail. We drifted the edge several more times, but no action.
With 5 minutes left to fish, Paul yells again "Get the Net, I've got a good one!" It was, but unfortunatley the wrong species. He had a 10 pound pike.


At the weigh-in we weighed in 8.24 Lbs. and were pleasantly surprised to see that we had finished 5th overall.


Not a bad result for the lack of experience we had on this lake. We also got a chance to show off the new tournament shirts that we got for next week's Simcoe Open.
All in all it was a great day and highlighted by the beautiful colours along the shoreline.

Thanksgiving at Emily

We started a tradition last year with Paul & Andrea when we rendezvoused at Algonquin Park and enjoyed Pumpkin Pie in the whispering pines of Lake of Two Rivers.



This year Paul couldn't get a site in Algonquin with his new (to him) Prowler Trailer, so he booked into Emily Provincial Park near Pigeon Lake. Chris and I joined them and Evan & Rachel for an impromptu dinner and highlighted by Pumpkin Pie and Whipped Cream.


It was great to see the kids.
Evan is in his environment camping, he was having a great time with his new best friend Amanda.


Last year at this time, Rachel was in Andrea's tummy and now this year she is clapping, waving, and is a real sweetheart!


It was a great way to spend a beautiful fall day. The colours were spectacular and the weather was awesome.