Paul, that is one heckuva nice fish!
I use to go fishing in Canada (on the Ottawa Lake) every summer, when I was a kid. My brother caught a 42 inch Pike. He always got the Pike...Me, I got all the Catfish (although they were 20-25 pound Catfish :) ). An old fishing guide had told a story about the place I was catching all the Catfish. It was named Schoolhouse Bay, and so the story went that there was a little schoolhouse there that caught fire. All the children ran out into the water and were eaten by Catfish. Oh, that guy was full of gruesome stories...

Rick-lol, 'The Mad Shrimper' !

Barbara- I agree with you about killing just for sport. I've always eaten every fish I've kept.

Hey Snow- That had to be a funny sight! Did you happen to know what kind of fish that was that went whizzing by you? :)

It was a Rainbow Trout about 12 to 14 inches in length, not a trophy but wanted to catch him for dinner. I had this trouble all during this camping trip of hardly catching any fish. The last day the hatchery came and dumped several fish at the top of the river. I did catch my limit on our way out to drive back home.. by hand..Shhh!Lol!

Well, Rick, the sad thing is even if they don't actually kill the poor things just to display them, they give them the scare of their lives. I'm not pointing at you, it is our culture. We were raised that way. You actually tell stories about catching animals like they are fun (and I'm sure they were for you or the people that enjoy doing that), and never ever think about the horror that those creatures have to experience. I have to comment it because it REALLY breaks my heart, this is no moral bull***t or something. We could discuss forever if the animals have feelings and things like that. But if the animal fights to get out of the situation when they're trying to catch it, I think it's a pretty good indicator that it doesn't like it, to say the least. If they can't ellaborate about it, I don't care. If it is their instinct, I don't care. You can see with your eyes that it is suffering. There are actually animals that can die because of that scary moment. Their hearts can't cope with the stress. What I'm saying is, because it is common and everybody does it and nobody thinks about it doesn't make it right. There are people that say they love birds, for example, and they have them caged in their homes. Most of the times really small cages. They never think they are harming their loved pets, because everybody has their birds in a cage. Well, I would rather not be loved by someone like that, if that meant I had to live behind bars. Doesn't matter if I have a 2 kilograms brain or one the size of a bean. Just my feelings, no offense intended. Really.

Hi Barb, That could be a real hot topic for sure. I grew up on the ocean, so fishing was a big part of my life. Here's something interesting that I recently read. A study in a University somewhere up north( closer to Canada), I'm not real sure which one. I'd have to look the article back up. Showed that fish actually do not possess the proper nerve ending to be able to feel pain. They have autonomic responses, but no pain. Not trying to start anything, just thought it was an interesting fact. William

You can find a picture of me here: http://www.fractalus.com/kerry/articles/using-photos/using-photos.html Kerry

Hey William Great nugget of information. Here's another overlooked one. Bass have been known to live as long as 30 years. Catching and releasing them makes them a much tougher fish because they maintain their memories of being caught. That's why lunkers are such a tough catch. They don't fall for as much as they did when they were younger. By releasing them, it helps the gene pool become stronger. As far as catching and cooking them, well, that's good eats. Jeff PS. I'm not a fisherman because my brother inherited all those traits. Fishing to me is getting the best piece at the local market. :)

A pic of me at my door. The keyboard to my right suffered "sugar poisoning" when I knocked over a bottle of Gatorade. DON'T DO THAT. They misbehave afterwords....

Lemonade isn't all that good for keyboards either. After it begins to dry, all I could type was aaaaaaaa, 555555555 and 222222222222222222222222222222222. I found that black coffee does little damage in the long run,except for being a pain to clean between the keys, but large amounts of water tend to short out the cordless phone on the desktop. I suggest waiting until liquids dry before dropping the sesame seeds from your bagel all over the keyboard.

just take it apart, let it dry and clean it with 70% medical alcohol [don't drink it please], that works, and if you use a laptop, do the same to all the inside parts like the motherboard, 2.5 inch harddisk, floppy drive and dvd/cd player (which have very itty bitty tiny screws) and also all the connectors, just know absolutely very certain which screw gets in which hole, when ya assemble all together again ... so very easy to do, if your short of cash, just need lots of patience SMILE ... i have cleaned many laptops of the dutch army which were messed up with cola, mud and greasy stuff have a nice day Harmen

I'd never be so short of cash that I can't manage a new keyboard....my life depends on my computer. However, if there is anyone here who cares to spend 99 hours doing what undisclosed designer suggests, I have a multitude of keyboards in my attic with various dried liquids just waiting to be removed. Just give me a holler. :)

Oh! My two cents on this. Don't use canned air to blow crumbs out of the keyboard. They lodge under them and make certain letters impossible to type. Yeah, I live at my keyboard too. LOL

Hahaha...I've never used canned air but I have turned the keyboard upside down and shaken vigorously! ;o)

I take the keys off and give it a thorough cleaning every now and then.

I haven't fished for 30 years, but I'm thoroughly impressed by your collective catches, Rick & Paul. This was taken a few years ago- me and my baby. My hair has alot of gray in it now, and John doesn't have his beard anymore. I don't have a scanner that works or a digital camera yet, but I'll update when I get one or the other. Hey, nice to see everyone! Linda

Here is mine. Not really actual. Less but longer, and greyer hair meanwhile :-))

KPK

Thats me after "n" hours in front the computer. To my great surprise I succesfully focused both my eyes to the camera:)

I had the need to show off my babies, the two oldest and baby are my sons and the other two is his girlfriends which he a great dad to them too.They are the images behind me that keep me going!!*Leda