Hi folks, I don't have anything important to say.  My friend just gave me a curved metal blade accompanied with about a four foot wooden handle.  It's pretty incredible. I haven't looked at it much yet.  Let's see....  I threw  a few fishing lures at a person outside of my car window......  not like me at all.... I don't like violence and I DON"T LIKE wasting a fishing lure.  All the same, it makes for a good story. 
         My brother and my dad are canoeing/ fishing up in the boundary waters of northern MN.  They are up there for a week. The first serious fish I remember catching was a Northern  Pike up there in MN.  I hope that they will have fun.  Dad was a little concerned about the allocation of food. ....  Stevie said if he did 3/4 of the work, he should get 3/4  of the food........   I told dad to take peanut butter crackers with him (my brother hates peanut butter).
         I don't know if MN is like it used to be.  But, as a kid, I could catch crappy, northern pike, any kind of bass, flounder, red eyed fish, walley, walled pike, ect.......   I had no idea how good I had it made at that point! Heck, I could have "landed" a piece of trash, and I would have assumed I caught a big fish.   
       At that time, it didn't occur to me that dad spent every second of my brother and I fishing resulting in him "retrieving"  each lure we managed to mary with the weeds.  I can remember the lure I used 32 years ago.....  it was a two pronged hook...  one side looked like a ladies hula hoop skirt, and the other side had a small colored ball on it.
       For a number of reasons that aren't important, I don't remember much of my life.  But, I remember that lure, and I remember that fish that was as big as a killer whale when I caught it.  I was terrified dad would be mad if I didn't hold onto the poll, and if I held onto the poll that fish would take me into the depths of the marshes.  (not the deep sea, just the marsh water surrounding me).
      "Don't let go of the poll!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
       He moved quickly in our john boat powered by a 5.5 horse power engine.  He managed to help me "land" my Northern Pike.  It's the biggest fish anyone has ever caught in the world!   At least, that's how I felt.... and still do.  I miss those days in MN.  My dads' mom died a decade or two ago. That was the only reason we had to go to MN.  When my dad's mom died, that was pretty much the end of my dad's "family."
           Fortunetly, I have another good 150-some persons on my mom's side of the family!  I could get into how good a fisherman my grandpa was.......  if you don't believe me, look up the "striper records" for Smith MT Lake.
       Well, I do miss my fishing.  I'm not a devoted fisherman/ woman.  With any luck, I'll catch something besides a carp!!!!!
cheers to you all.......  I haven't rambled in a while
bird.

Nothing bad about catching a carp.  Its eating when things go downhill.  They can be as much fun aany to catch when 60" girth .  Wheaties and grape juice packed in balls on the hook...that's what they love... 

Folks here catch and can their carp, never got in to it myself.

well, it's good to know a few persons have interest in fish as well as tools!
cheers,
bird,.