A Fine Fellow Flickrist...

Emerald Shiners Sculptures
Originally uploaded by Happy_Sleepy

My fellow Flickr Photog Happy_Sleepy, shares these unique pieces of real Fish Art, over on her PhotoStream @ Happy_Sleepy and I was Lucky enough to find them last night. It was only fair. I couldn't help it. :-) I just Had to turn You , my readers, On to this splendid Fish Art and to introduce you as well, to a Very well rounded Photojournalist and multitalented woman, from my own home Province of Ontario. ;-)

There's an absolutely beautiful Brook Trout rendition too and a marvelous likeness of some Sticklebacks as well. Go have a look-see and let me know what You think of this Cool stuff. :-) I just Love getting comments on my little blogs! :-)

later,

Three Powerful URL's...

Hot URL's...

So here's a few great URL's to check out that I've recently discovered. Pretty informative and well written, all! Yup, there are a lot of people out there who are of similar mindset to this ol' Canucky dude. Nice to see it and to be able to spread the word, through so many channels...

First up...

Bikes Rock!

Boss Biking Blurb...

Then for You Fishermen, there's this cool dude's site...

Rich Rules...

and finally, another Fine Fishin' spot while all of You Fishin' boys are still warmed up there... :-)

The Fin - with Jason a fellow Tweeter too! :-)

Go Jase!

There, that should keep y'all entertained and enlightened for a bit, eh? :-)

Oh ya, and another little gear shot...


Artsy pic...


later,

Wild Leek time is here...

The Ramps are up...

Wild Leeks '09

Out in one of my favorite local Hardwood bushes, the old forest floor covers the Leek beds I've harvested from in the past. A walk through there, along side of the nicely flowing creek, last Sunday, produced the first specimens of 2009. The Ramps are Up! :-)

Many localities celebrate with Ramp Festivals this time of year. Is there one in your locality? None here in Ottawa, that I know of anyway, but that doesn't stop me from partaking in my ritual Spring Tonic, of Leek harvesting and fresh live food consumption. :-)

I also find them, from a photographic point of view, quite lovely in their own right. Do You agree?

Ramp Up!

More Wild Food reporting soon...

More Customizationals...

Big-O Doctoring...



A little bit of doctoring on three Cordel Big-O's. Two suspenders and a double hooker. I Love customizing my lures, can you tell? :-)

Here's a link to a real good article on lure tweakin' that You might want to check out if You like to modify lures...BassKicker... Enjoy! lb

Spring food...

First Fresh Food...



What actually are they, I hear you ask? Why, Day Lilies of course! :-) These guys are one of my favorite wild foods and one which you can nourish yourself with any time of the year. I steamed these for about two minutes, then added a little fresh ground black pepper and a dab of butter to 'em for a Very tasty entree... :-) I'll be fetchin' more of these home this week-end to be sure.

later,

Stone Soup Station

Thought I'd shed a little more light on what's happening to an awful pile of people throughout the U.S. and Canada, these days. It's a pretty sad state of affairs for such RICH countries. WHEN is the madness going to end? When all of the poor people, the unemployed people, the weak ones and the uneducated are dead? What we need here, is More Help, and less ridicule and finger pointing and no care attitudes, that's what. More compassion for our neighbor and his well being. More REAL work for folks who want and need it. Real wages for labor expended. More Millionaires helping the poor in this country before sending everything to third or forth world countries...

Anyway, I could go on and on but that won't fix any of it. So, instead, I'll share this hyper-link with You so you can see for yourself what is happening out there at a very alarming rate. The more who know about something that can be fixed, the better, in my books.

Ready for your daily dose of reality 101? :-)

Stone Soup Station

Please pass this link on, if You feel moved by what is happening to all of these Americans and Canadians and maybe even someone You know, or someone in Your family even. Something must be done about this atrocity and done Now...

lb

Tackle ready...

Finesse Fishin'...

So here's a little group of hot cranks that consistently spank the fish around the areas that I fish in and near Ottawa. The top two are customized Big-O's with a single, double hook on the belly hanger, which enables these deadly little crankers to bounce over snags, without hanging up. :-)

Little Killer Cranks...

To give you an idea of size here, the Bill Lewis Rattle Trap, in the bottom corner of the picture is his 1/4 oz model, in my favorite Firetiger color. These ARE all small lures and that is why they are SO successful on the water. Smaller lures DO catch More fish, albeit they may not be as big as most people would like to catch.

Try these mini killers this year. You will NOT be disappointed. ;-)

Cheers,

Springing forward...

My Spring Sunday...

To-day was sort of a three part day for me. I started off watchin' two Outdoor shows on TV. One featured hunting dogs performing their art in front of the camera. Pointing and retrieving like masters. What a thrill for me, to see these dogs working at what they LOVE. Any hunting breed owner would have swooned over how beautifully Man's Best Friend excelled at their art on this TV program!

The other program featured my Lady Fishing show Hero, Kathryn, partnered up with two other beautiful women, stalking Rainbow Trout in a clear stream in Africa. Can you believe it? I know, eh? :-) It's SO refreshing these days to get a "Woman's eye view" of Man's Favorite Sport, and Katheryn delivers right on the mark. Here's a pic I took off the TV. What a sweet scene, for this ol' fishin' puppy! Hat's off to this fine lady and sister of the fly...

Three Fishing Gals...

Then, after my second cup of coffee, I headed out to Food Basics for a little stocking up. Bus service is a trifle slow around here on Sundays, so that took a little longer than I had hoped. However, I got out of there for less than twenty bills and could hardly lug it all home. :-)

Two wheelin' it again...

With that chore taken care of, it was time to ride. I pumped a few pounds of air into the tires, bungied on my field kit, slipped my North 49 mini-packer, over my shoulders and headed out towards the river...

In less than an hour of leisurely toolin' along in the warm sunshine, there she was, the Mighty Ottawa River, still partially cloaked in ice.



After soakin' in the warm sun for a few minutes, I pulled out my cool little image recorder and set up a few gear shots, as you can see here...










and then, a pair of Nature pics...

A little more R&R in the sun, then I packed 'er in and headed home. Uphill! :-)

A great day all around! :-)

Chow 4 now, lb

Want more traffic?

TrafficDigger Rocks!

Try out this link to get more traffic to your blog or webpage or whatever. I just started with them and will report in here in the future on progress.

Free Viral Advertising!

Cheers,

lb

Pimping Picasa!

Photography still RoX!

Picasaweb is yet another one of "Google's Goodies" where anyone can store a lot of photos and then show them to friends on the internet. It's like always, FREE, or I don't bother getting involved. :-)

I've been with them for awhile now and pretty pleased with my association with them. As mentioned earlier, Picasa is a part of Google, and you KNOW how much I Love Google. :-)

Here's a link to my public gallery over there. LarryB @ Picasa

Now, this Special little link Let's Blog... is something Very New and it will slip you over to all the pictures from this blog you are visiting right now, all in one easy to view location, right there on Picasa. Enjoy. :-)

Dug from a trunk...

Here's a few old salvaged shots that haven't seen the light of day in a dog's age. :-) They aren't the best quality pictures of course, but they still show that I was pretty well into Fishin' and the Great Outdoors, way back then anyway eh. I find that it's really neat, how pictures will bring back many fond memories, that were so long ago, forgotten. This then is my own history, written in photos and I like it! :-) Wish there were a lot more, but I never did somehow fancy getting into my own pics that much. So, That I guess, explains that. :-)

About 16 to 20 in this first pic...

In my 20's for the second...

and mid 30's for the last shot with a fine Smallie...


Ba de, ba de, ba da, but that's all folks...

LB :-)

P.S. Get Picasa-ed!

Rattle Baits...

Making noise...

Rattling lures...

This is sort of an "intro piece" here to-day, into hollow plastic lures that "call" to the fish. :-) That's right, these lures call out to the fish from a long ways off and have proven themselves in many, many, varying conditions all over the U.S. and Canada too. Many manufacturers nowadays sell lip-less rattling crankbaits and most of them work because of that hollow body that resonates with sound because of the little metal balls inside. Fish ARE attracted to smallish underwater sounds like buzzing and rattling. I believe that the sound is what makes Bass SMASH these things most times! They hit it like they mean to kill it with one big CHOMP! :-)

Over the years I've caught a passel of Bass, both large and small mouthed varieties, on these rattlin' cranks in a lot of different lakes and so I Know they work. If You still think that noisy lures Don't work, then You should read this article by Russ Bassdozer over @ Gary Yamamoto's Cool website, about the King of the Rattle BaitsRat-L-Traps Rock!to get more convincing data from a well known Pro.

Rat-L-Traps...

I fish that FLOATING model at the top of the picture a lot, when the water the bass are in, is real shallow, like a foot or two. I reel it towards me fairly slowly to keep it in the top three or four inches of the water column. It still rattles well at this slower speed and I find it spooks less fish than when it's buzz-ripped in the short water...It's a presentation that NOT a lot of bass have seen, or should I say heard?
:-)

Check out BassKicker's neat blurb on his blog on these fine lures while you're here and see if You can add some tips to Your Noisy lure arsenal. :-)

Rattlin' those Bass...

Later,

Friends...

Time proves friendship...

We met many years ago on O'Connor Street, with the first common denominator of Hot Cars as an ice breaker and to help to introduce us to each other. We were sharing the same apartment building at the time and he had a sweet 1965, 289 Mustang and I was runnin' a cool 1967 Cougar XR7 GT.

Man those were the days. :-) His was the only light blue 'Stang in Ottawa with a big breather bubble pouring outta the hood. This baby could scream, I know of that factoid first hand. I will Never forget in particular, a spectacle of a smoke show, that spawned itself right there in the parking lot of the Westgate shopping centre, as my best bud dropped me off at work early one day a few decades ago. :-) :-)

My Best Buddy Bruce

Big Bruce, as everyone who knows him calls him, has been my best friend for a very long time. We have made it through a number of very rough storms together. We shared untold good numbers of good times, as well. I've always been there for him and he in kind has ALWAYS been there for me! This has not changed and has brought us many enjoyable times together, exploring the world through our varied interests. We have shared Many most pleasurable hours, out on the water on some lake, hunting fish with our knowledge and cool gear, together, as a well functional team of two. There was never any shortage of laughter between us and an expression of thankfullness for even just being alive, out there. We weren't afraid to express our love for what we were doing and how neat it was that we were sharing it all together, like Al Lindner and his brother Ronny, my Fishing hero's. Our Outdoorsy times together have always enriched the other side of our lives, as a side benefit, if you will. Makes it easier to get through the work week if you've charged up your batteries out there on the lake with yer best bud, on the week end! :-)

Man, I've come to know that a real friend is one very precious thing these days, if you didn't already realize that. ;-) There are a pile of acquaintances out there, but real friends are worth their weight in Gold! There's a certain and special, kind of love mixed in there too. Not the love you might feel for your wife or girlfriend or your child perhaps, but in addition to, say a love for another man (or woman) that you respect and want to please, like maybe your dad or a favorite uncle or your grandfather. Smell me? ;-) Never be so silly or even too shy or think that you'll sound too dorky, to let yourself feel this type of love based on respect, stop you, from finding a real friend. Sharing things, turns out to be a Very powerful way of maintaining your health and state of mind, for many. Especially when you want to say share Love and or Friendship. Think of folks like Paul Newman who LOVE (loved) to give to others. He enjoyed seeing You happy!

I am also Very fortunate to have his beautiful wife Elaine as a best friend too. She's awesome! We also have been VERY close in our past and plan on riding this thing out till the end together too. To-day, thanks to Elaine, I have this rare picture of yours truly sitting with my main Man Bruce, sharing a laugh or three and some good times on his back sundeck in the summer. Thanx Sis! We'll have to get an updated one this coming spring or summer, eh? :-)

Work on your friendships to-day too dear reader. Those real folks are hard to come by. Let 'em know that you are still there for them and always will be. It'll help make their day, I'll guarantee that right here! :-)

Chillin' in Ottawa,

Lar

New Cancer Killer Information saves lives...

A Cancer Cure?Oh Ya! To start the new year off right, I'd like to share a hyper-link to a VERY Powerful blast of life saving information, from a man who KNOWS that, Indeed, Cancer can be beaten! His name is Kelly Eidem and he's written a remarkable book, documenting how Anyone can rid Themselves of Cancer. YES, you read that correctly! Saying Good-bye to Cancer is Now, VERY, VERY possible. I Believe in what I put on all of my Hubs, my Web-pages, Lenses and Blogs and what I say in Forums and Guestbooks. So, I'm saying to YOU to-day, I Believe that this works...

I found out about Dr. Kelly through my connection with Hubpages the great way to get on the web and I have added a note to his Hub's comments section with true sincerity. Now, this day, I follow through with a little Pass It On message, from lil'ol' me to my dear readers...

Go to this website right now and learn about how You or someone You know and Love, who has cancer, Can be Cured! Remember too, that ANYTHING is possible. Believe...

A Cure For Cancer!

Just in case you are a doubting Thomas, I want you to know that this is not even close to being a joke friends. It's just as Real as this gently aging outdoorsy bloggin' dude is, that's typin' this right here for YOU to-day! :-) :-)

All the BEST in Health and Life, to every single one of You, my readers, this brand new year of 2009!

Sincerely,

LarryB

Shots from 2008...

Well it's finally the eve of Christmas Eve!

So my friends, with the end of the year quickly drawing near, I thought I'd start a little Photo Recap thingy in here to-day, of some of the subject matter I've focused on during 2008. I try to add variety to all my photo shoots so that I may cover many interests.

You may have seen a few of these pictures before on some of my blogs and some shots you will Not have ever seen until to-day. :-) Lots of these pictures are over on my Flickr PhotoStream and there are even more on Google's Picasaweb too. Those are both excellent, FREE places to host Your photographs online, by the by. I like sharing all this stuff with as many folks as I can, especially if it's free. ;-) I know for a fact that my buddy Google, is doing his part to get my photo's out there too because of these cool hosting places. My name and pictures are starting to get a little more familiar with Google-ites now, and that's a Good thing. :-)

Alright then, let's get started on our little Picture Roundup...

A foggy morning in Ottawa

Old Brass Button

My uncle Dennis,30 years ago

Parliament Hill Ottawa

Oldies but Goodies

Talk about old. These old fossils are getting right up there, eh?

Really Old Life

Moving on to a little Fishin' stuff now...

Three old Pflueger bait-casting reels...

Nice old wood...

Black Crappie

Cool Collectibles

I'm sure any Bagley fan will recognize these ol' Fav's...

Bag's Baits

and here's a few live summer colors...

Pretty Purple...

Yellow Jacket

Froggy Do...

Goldenrod

Japanese Beetle

and some Outdoorsy gear...

Gear Testin...

Some Outdoor glass...

a Hot Handful...

Modern Gear

...and then, to stay cool on the ol' bike trail, a few little...

Bike Tools...

and now lastly, some super slick wheels, shot @ Monkey Joe's on Carling Avenue at Merivale Road this past fall...

Chevy

Belair

Classic

Massive Metal

and a powerful 383 Road Runner. RRRrrr...

Road Runner...

Well, that's it for to-day friends. Hope you've enjoyed my little round up of 2008 here.:-) Have a Very HappyHoliday!

All the best in the New Year...

LarryB

What do You like?

Open minded shooting...

Since I started blogging, I've tried to blog about what I find to be, interesting stuff. A lot of that is somehow probably related to Outdoorsy stuff in some flavor. Pictures are worth a thousand words, so I've been using more of my photos in these blogs to help define my interests to You, my readers and now, viewers, because of this technology. My little Pentax Optio goes everywhere with me now and my slick Sony goes on the week-ender trips I take once in awhile.

As I sit here tapping away at these keys, I notice that I'm totally surrounded by stuff I love. Every corner of this place is filled with things I'm into. It's hard to describe what kind of comfort, that sort of thing can generate. I'm as snug as a bug in a rug! :-)

News Flash...

Woman breaks B.A.S.S. barrier...

Right from the cover of Bass Times, here's The Woman who is going to the BassMaster's Classic, Kim Bain Moore! Kim is the First Woman Ever, to be allowed that privilege after earning her way there all through the 2008 season. Big Congrats to this talented gal for what she's done so far! Go Kim Go!

THE Lady Basser of 2008

What with all the Cool fan-fair the ladies seem to be getting lately in the Outdoors world, here's a peek at a new concept for you. Women who are into fishing should dig this line-crossing marketing shot I put together this afternoon. :-) I think it's super!

Cool Women Gear...

What do You think?

Cheers!

lb

Slides to pics...

Back from the past...

Fishin' Girl

What follows here to-day is another series of experiments with a point and shoot camera and a pile of old slides from my past. The quality is definitely not anywhere near good, but you can still make out the image, which IS the first job of a picture anyway. :-)

I have SO many neat old slides from my Semi-pro 35mm Photog days, that can be brought back to life in here, because of this sweet compact digicam I'm runnin' these days. I'm still working on getting sharper images so hopefully the next installment of my "Past Blasters" will be better. :-)

Anyone out there ever seen this awesome dude in the flesh? Impressive!

Roland Martin

Bassin' Boy

Ottawa River Fishin'

Fishin' Lady

Everybody LOVES to fish!

lb