Jacob's Dream

Port Maintland

2010-08-13T21:39:00.003-04:00

Went out Port Maintland last night with my brother, got 1 walleye, 9lbs. Fishmaster Purple/copper harness on big dipsey 150ft back over 75 fow sw of port.

Back from the Cottage

2010-08-08T15:03:00.002-04:00

We had a good 2 weeks. The fishing was tough this year - we really had to work for them. I was hoping for 100 walleye but I think we ended up with only 67. The water was warmer than usual (72-74deg) and the level was about a foot lower than usual. This is what the locals were blaming for the poor fishing. Here's David and I posing after a good evening of fishing. It was great having M/L and G/P and all the cousins for the 2nd week.

Canada Day

2010-07-02T14:58:00.003-04:00

Had a pretty good evening fishing. 5 for 6 with one decent sized King, some bows and a couple small chinooks. Topped the evening off watching fireworks from the boat. This was really cool.

Cousin Fish

2010-06-26T12:08:00.002-04:00

Fished 140 -180 and 100FOW around dusk. Steady action of bows and small chinnys but no big kings. I think we were something like 10 for 13, which was good for the kids but I would have liked a pig or two.

Here's David and Jonus with the biggest Rainbow.

Great Evening Fish

2010-06-21T22:46:00.003-04:00

Launched out of Fisherman's pier. Great evening on the water. Went 3 for 4 with two bows and two massive Kings. Both down 77' in 125FOW and 100FOW on meat.

Crosby Scores!

2010-02-28T21:16:00.002-05:00

Blue Mountain Jan 21

2010-01-23T21:01:00.002-05:00

Had a great day. Sunny, not too cold and no wind.

Skating Dec 23

2009-12-23T11:30:00.003-05:00

Not the earliest we've skated but anytime you get on the ice before Christmas is pretty good!

Sept 3 - Port Maintland

2009-09-05T20:22:00.002-04:00

I had the day off and Leigh went to the zoo with Mike & Karlene and kids, so David and I had a free day to go fishing before his hockey game at 6pm. I haven't posted the last few trips but the salmon fishing has been brutal, can't get any big ones - just bows/cohos/small chinnys out in the blue zone. So we decide to give Lake Erie Walleye a shot.

Launched at 8:30am. The chatter on the radio indicated that fishing was poor but we seemed to have a better day than most. Went 2 for 3 on walleye and also got a drum and a perch. All the walleye were around 72 FOW. The big one hit the dipsey with about 180' out and the other two came off the rigger down about 55'. We were off the water by 2pm. Fun day.

Bronte Aug 2 - PM

2009-08-03T21:41:00.002-04:00

We went out with Brian and Logan Rosa. We rocked around in the choppy water water out deep with no hits. Decided to move into around 100 FOW and started taking fish. Ended up 7 for 9. All hits on meat and plugs.

Here's David hugging one. It came in with a lamprey which we detached and killed. Note the large red spot.

Fishing on the 4th of July

2009-07-04T22:48:00.003-04:00

Beautiful evening on the water. We went 2/3. 180 FOW down about 76' spin doctor and meat. The one that got away took my favourite spin doctor and meat head. Ticks me off.

David still likes hugging those bad boys.

First Boat Ride of 2009

2009-05-18T17:08:00.004-04:00

We all went out this afternoon for a little ride and a little fish. Everything went well with the boat and we even got a Salmon - it was fun landing this guy as we didn't have the net with us but we got er done. She hit a purple thunder spoon 85 down in 135 FOW.
It was a little choppy out there but beauty sunshine, not much boat traffic and another Jays win (we were listening to the game on radio).

Skiing with Sarah

2009-03-14T00:09:00.003-04:00

Sarah and I played hookey last week and went skiing at Glen Eden.

Big Game

2009-01-26T22:31:00.003-05:00

David and Pake VS Duane and Julia

Picture from the Peterborough Tournament

2008-10-02T20:39:00.001-04:00

Only 1 for 1

2008-09-04T21:42:00.002-04:00

Ron and I had a nice evening on the water but only got one 7lber.

10 for 12!! Lake Erie Walleye

2008-09-01T20:42:00.005-04:00

Went out this morning with Dave and Lenny. Everything was working. We had 12 hookups and landed 10. Fish ranged from 3lbs to 8lbs. Here's some pics.

Great morning on the water!

Lake Erie

2008-08-27T23:00:00.003-04:00

I never got a chance to post it but Leigh, Julia went out of Hamilton Sunday and went 1 for 2 in a couple hours of fishing.

Tonight my brother Dave and I went out of Port Maintland for Walleye. We went 3 for 3. 74 fow, 50+ down. All 3 came on dipseys with worm harnesses. Here's me with 2 of the 3 fish.

Lake Temiscaming Cottage 2008

2008-08-03T21:24:00.010-04:00

Another great year at the cottage - this year we went for 2 weeks. Excellent time! We love this place more and more every year. Once again the fishing was outstanding. We lost count of the number of fish caught but it was over 75 walleye with some Pike and Perch as well. Hear's some pictures.

This year the hot pattern was trolling near the middle with the current, down 12-35 feet. Wiggle warts (not Mag warts so much), thundercranks on planers and hot & tots on the riggers.

Awesome time. Hopefully we can do 2 weeks again next year.

Rough Evening!

2008-07-15T21:41:00.004-04:00

The girls bailed out on David and I so we called up Logan and his Dad from David's hockey team and they were good to go. Was rough out there on the water! Meat was the ticket 90' down in 140-160 FOW. Went something like 4/7.

Here's Brian fighting one with Logan looking on.

Here's Brian posing with another one.

Charleston Lake Camping 2008

2008-07-07T12:27:00.007-04:00

Had a great weekend camping with the Heslinga's! Awesome weather and great boating, swimming, hiking and fishing. Here's David with uncle Glen's pike, David mosquito biten ear, Leigh with a nice Bass, Duane with a nice Bass, and David and Leigh with a double header.

David's first Race

2008-07-02T18:50:00.004-04:00

David has been training with Leigh for a 5k race. Yesterday (Canada Day) was the big race and he did AWESOME! He ran hard the whole race without stopping and showed an amazing sprint at the end. We're still waiting for the official results to be posted on the internet but his time was somewhere around 25min! I didn't see any other kids finish ahead of him.

Leigh won the 3rd place prize in her category!

2 pictures before the race and one after the race:

June 30. Uncle Dave, David and I

2008-06-30T22:41:00.004-04:00

Could have been better, could have been worse. 4/7 but nothing big.

Here's Uncle Dave with a Rainbow.

My little boy looks like a little boy again!

2008-06-26T21:19:00.001-04:00

He keeps saying, "it'll grow back..."

Sunday Evening Family Fish

2008-06-22T22:27:00.002-04:00

Had a good evening on the water with the family but only got one fish.

Salmon June 20!

2008-06-20T13:10:00.004-04:00

I'm almost embarrassed to say that this morning was my first time out for Salmon this season. Had a good time with Rob Kapteyn. We went 3/5 with really only one big guy. Best luck in 160-180 FOW about 70' down using spoons.

Beautiful morning on the water for sure.

AAA Tryouts for the 2008/2009 Season

2008-04-20T19:16:00.002-04:00

We've had a busy week with tryouts every day and I'm proud to say that David made the team again this year!!

WTG buddy!!

Love This Picture

2008-04-07T22:08:00.003-04:00

2008-04-07T22:08:00.001-04:00

Mt. St Louis Moonstone

2008-03-24T21:35:00.003-04:00

Skiing with David, Ron and Aaron today was a blast! Awesome weather, awesome conditions and tons of fun!

New Dog in the Family

2008-03-10T21:45:00.003-04:00

...uncle Dan and Amanda got a new puppy. Here is Sarah with Marley.

David's Pictures

2008-03-09T21:21:00.003-04:00

We got David's team pictures this week. Here's a sampling.
David Heslinga #4 Hamilton Reps AAA

Larry's Visit is Over

2008-02-29T14:19:00.004-05:00

Larry Norman died this week of heart failure, he was 61. One of his well known sayings was, "I'm only visiting this planet".
I came into his music when I was a young teenager - he was one of my favorites.

Our Baby is 6!

2008-02-02T19:22:00.000-05:00

Here's Julia with the cake Leigh made.

Ice Rink 2008

2008-02-02T19:20:00.000-05:00

We've had the rink for about 2 weeks. The forecase looks warm for next week. Hopefully we don't loose it.

New Wheels

2007-12-20T20:43:00.001-05:00

It is now in our driveway.

The Van is For Sale

2007-12-16T14:38:00.000-05:00

You can check out the ad here.

We should have its replacement in about a week.

----------UPDATE----------
The van sold in less than a day. Got what I wanted.

The Road to Recovery

2007-12-05T20:46:00.000-05:00

Leigh and I would like to thank everyone for all their prayers, concern, help, visits, and gifts during David's recent illness and the 7 days he spent in the hospital. He is on the mend and it's great to have our family back togeather. We're targeting next monday's practice to start light skating and a tournament over Christmas for his first game.

Here's a picture of David with his team when they visited him in the hospital.

Leigh's First Half Marathon

2007-11-04T22:10:00.000-05:00

Leigh ran her first half marathon today. She did well. The complete results can be found here.

Way to go Leigh!! Thanks to all her sponsors.

Tim Hortons AAA Invitational Tournament

2007-10-08T20:50:00.000-04:00

It was a busy Thanksgiving weekend for us. David's team played 6 hockey games and Dan & Amanda (my brother) got married on Saturday. It was a great wedding and a pretty good tournament.

Friday: 5-1 loss to Waterloo
Saturday game 1: 2-1 win vs Richmond Hill
Saturday game 2: 3-1 loss to Syracuse (David missed this game due to the wedding)
Sunday: 2-1 win vs Elgin
Monday Semi-Final: 2-1 win vs Syracuse
Monday Final: 7-2 loss to Waterloo

David had a good tournament. He keeps getting more and more comfortable playing defence. He assisted both goals in the semi final and scored a goal in the final. Waterloo has a very strong team - they're in our league, so we'll get a few more chances to get them.

A Couple of Tournament Pictures

2007-09-20T22:39:00.000-04:00

Here's a couple of pictures of David from last weekend's tournament in Peterborough. It was a fun weekend all round.

Last Salmon Trip

2007-09-08T23:16:00.000-04:00

Went out with the family for a couple of hours tonight and got a couple of big, black, staging Salmon. Used Lymans near the bottom in 55 FOV. They maybe ready to spawn but man do they pull! And when you think they're done they take off again! Lots of fun. Here's one in the net.

Here's me with a 23 lber.

One trip to Rice Lake and one to Bay of Quinte and the boat will go into storage for the winter.

Gould Lake 2007

2007-09-02T23:55:00.000-04:00

David and I went up to Gould Lake and hung out with Ron and his boys for a couple days. We had a blast! Did a ton of stuff - even tried double tubing.

We went fishing every evening and Ron was the super duper Bass Master cool dude! Here he is with a nice 3 lb'er.

Boys Weekend

2007-08-19T16:56:00.001-04:00

Leigh, Pam and the girls went camping while Glen and his boys came over to our place for the weekend. Friday we to the Jays game, Saturday we went go karting, visited uncle Dan's new place in Brantford and fishing in the evening - ended up with a bunch of small and medium sized salmon and rainbows. Sunday we went for a bike ride on the new expressway. Good fun.

More Charleston Pictures

2007-08-05T00:02:00.001-04:00

These came from my Dad's camera. Here he is with a nice Bass.

Here I am flying.

Pake with cutey Julia.

All of us swimming off the boat. I took this holding the camera out of the water using 2 lifejackets.

Family Salmon Fishing - Bronte

2007-08-04T23:24:00.000-04:00

Due to vacationing I haven't been out Salmon fishing for awhile. Went out tonight with the family and had a fun time. Went 2/4. The 3 fish were all near 20lbs. Meat 77' down out in the blue zone.

Awesome Weekend Camping

2007-07-30T21:06:00.000-04:00

We had a great time camping at Charleston Lake with my parents, Dan & Amanda, and Glen and kids. We did a lot all togeather which was a lot of fun. We swam off the rocks, cliff jumped, swam off the boat, went for boat rides, hiked, fished for bass and lake trout, ate togeather and had a camp fire every night.

Here's James and David flexing their bones....

A break during a hike...the angry pose!

We caught a lot of 4lb bass which was a blast.

We went downrigging for lakers one morning. We only got one but it was a nice one.

Dan cliff diving!! Check the video!

Everybody is dead tired today and in bed early.

Back from the Cottage

2007-07-22T21:07:00.001-04:00

Although the weather was kinda cool, cloudy and a little rainy we had a great family week at the cottage in Temiscaming. We love this cottage. One morning I snuck up on Leigh as she was having her morning quiet time on the dock.

The fishing was great. Even though we weren't able to fish as much as other years due to the weather; this year we hooked into over 50 Walleye and landed 47! Many were in the 4-5 lb range. Everybody reeled in fish.

Can't wait to go back!

Ouch!

2007-07-22T21:02:00.000-04:00

Thanks to a scrappy pike I got a fish hook right through my thumb. It's kinda blurry but here's a picture.

Thanks for the doctor and nurse at Temiscaming hospital for the quick and relatively painless removal.

Out of Bronte with Joel and Steven

2007-07-08T00:48:00.000-04:00

Finally we didn't get skunked with the Wiersma boys in the boat. We went out from 6:15 till about 8:30 tonight. 4/4 but just one decent sized one. Steven reeled it in and actually held it! This fish came on the NBK spoon 50 over 135.

Rockin & Rollin' Tonight

2007-06-30T23:33:00.000-04:00

The waves were rocking but Glen took some gravol and we fought the waves for a couple of hours tonight and were rewarded. We went 5 for 5 with two 20 lbers. All the fish came on the stackers which were about 37' down in 130 FOW. All fish came on spoons - 4 on the mixed veggies and the biggest one on the hawg wild. I got a good video of Glen fighting the big fish but the picture will have to do for this blog.

Very Fun Friday

2007-06-29T23:30:00.001-04:00

We had a great family day today!! Started things off with some sightseeing and walking at Niagara Falls.

Then we hiked some trails through a Niagara Forest.

Then back home for a quick supper and then out on the Lake for some Salmon fishing. We went 2-3 but unfortunately we lost the big one. Here's Sarah fighting it but shortly after this picture was taken the fish got mad, made a lengthy run, splashed out of the water and spit the lure...

A little later Sarah did manage to land a small one.

The summer is officially kicked-off!

Bronte June 23 - Evening

2007-06-24T18:13:00.000-04:00

Went out for a few hours with the Huinink boys. It turned out to be a beautiful evening to be on the water. We went 4 for 5 with nothing big. Got fish on spoons and meat in 120+ FOW. Aaron and Jamie each reeled in their first Salmon which was fun for them! Here they are posing with them.

Bronte June 16 - Evening

2007-06-16T22:39:00.000-04:00

Went out for a few hours with my brother Dan and my son David this evening. Went 4 for 4. Fished between 80 and 150 FOW, all fish came on spoons (Hawg wild, Mixed veggies, Blue dolphin) on the stackers - which meant all fish were caught in the top 30 FOW! Couldn't get the dipsey/fly or deep riggers/meat to fire. Marked a ton of bait clouds. Here's a few pics.

Fun evening...

Ancaster Old Mill Race

2007-06-07T21:16:00.000-04:00

Leigh ran the Old Mill 10k race on Tuesday. This is third time she's run it but the last 2 times were over 8 years ago. She's reallly been battling a sore foot lately but she battled through it and placed 7th out of 28 in her category. It wasn't her best time but a good run nevertheless. Between the 5K and 10K races, there were over 1400 runners!

Here she is before the race posing with some friends from church.

Just after she finished the kids mugged her.

The camera batteries died just as I was taking a picture of her crossing the finish line so I didn't get any action shots. Here she is posing at the finish line after the race.

Back from Moosejaw, Saskatchewan

2007-05-29T20:45:00.001-04:00

Leigh and I had a little mini vacation in the very exciting city of Moosejaw Saskatchewan. We surprised her brother Mike and showed up for his 30th birthday party (and then stayed for 3 more days). It was a good time. It was good to spend some time, just the two of us.

It was also great to re-connect with our nephews Carter and Cole and our niece Jenna - we hadn't seen them in over 2 years...they are such good kids and we did a lot with them and really bonded.

Carter loves sports and we played plenty of it during our visit.

Little Cole is so cute and Jenna is a mini Sarah. Leigh really connected with them both.

We also had a nice lunch in Calgary with Leigh's cousin Cam and Aufal. It was a trip that was defininately worth the time and money. Thanks Mike and Karlene. We're already planning the next one....

Firecracker Day

2007-05-20T23:03:00.000-04:00

Victoria day is always a favourite day for the kids. Tonight we went with Bruce and Tammy and their kids to Valley Park. As usual it was a good show and everyone had a great time.

I experimented taking pictures of the fireworks. Some of them turned out ok...

Salmon Fishing with the Kapteyns

2007-05-11T15:06:00.000-04:00

David and I went out of Port Dalhousie with Rob and Nathan Kapteyn. The boys played hookey from school and we had the day off. The lake was calm, the weather was beautiful and we found the salmon! Went 7 for 9 in about 5 hours of trolling.

The fish were in 230-280 FOW in the top 60 feet pretty much straight out of Port D. NBK, Clown and Green frog were the hottest spoons. Dipsey/Spin doctor/white fly took a nice one too.

Here's a couple pictures.

It was a fun morning.

2007 Salmon Slammin' Invitational

2007-05-05T20:58:00.000-04:00

I fished a Salmon tournament out of St. Catharines today with Dave and Lenny. It was fun but the Salmon fishing was REALLY tough! We got 9 fish but they were all Lake Trout. Here's some pics.

It was our first time on the water this year and the weather was great so it was a good day anyways.

Happy Birthday to ME

2007-04-25T21:33:00.000-04:00

We ordered chinese food and had a great evening with the family celebrating my big day.

David Made AAA !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2007-04-23T21:45:00.000-04:00

Tonight was a very exciting evening for us. Tonight was the final tryout and the final cuts were made.

David worked extremely hard over the last week. He really wanted it and he earned it! He made the Hamilton Reps AAA hockey team! This is Hamilton's top team - only the 15 best players in the city make this team!

We know it'll be a lot of travel, and a lot of $ but right now we're just happy for him and proud of him!

He was pretty nervous opening up tonight's letter...

WAY TO GO BUDDY!!!!

Provincial Championships

2007-04-03T21:35:00.000-04:00

David's team is in this tournament Easter weekend in Hamilton. Consider yourselves invited to check out a game. The sched is as follows:

Friday 7:45 AM at the Quad vs. Chedoke ..... WIN 4-3
Friday 2:00PM at Lawfield vs. North London ..... WIN 3-0
Saturday 7:15 at the Quad vs. Waterloo ..... LOSS 5-3
Saturday 12:00 at Lawfield Semi-Finals (vs. Chedoke) ....WIN 4-3
...this was a very exciting game. They were down 3-0 and cameback to win in OT. David had 2 goals.

Sunday 12:45 at the Quad Finals vs. Waterloo .... Great game but LOSS 3-2

I'll provide updates as the games happen.

Cool Pictures

2007-03-22T21:50:00.001-04:00

Another parent (thanks Julie and Roy!) gave us these pictures of David from the Ice Cats game last Sunday against Hagersville.

David receiving the pass...

David shotting the puck...

David scoring...

David celebrating...

Pretty cool eh? BTW, they won the game 6-3.

Skiing - Just my Boy and I

2007-03-13T19:36:00.000-04:00

We had a great day togeather. The conditions were awesome and the place was practically empty (suprising for March break). First time ever for David and he did great - he picked it up in no time. Here's a couple of pictures and a video.

Here's the video.

Awesome memories made today...

Bruise Brothers

2007-02-18T21:01:00.000-05:00

Here's a picture from the January Kitchener tournament of me with brothers Dan and Glen.

Champions!

2007-02-18T20:54:00.000-05:00

It was a great family weekend in Oshawa! The Ice Cats played their best hockey of the season and went undefeated the entire tournament. They beat Oshawa, London, and Kitchener twice to win it all! David had a great tournament. He got 5 goals including 2 in a low scoring and very close championship game.

More Fun on the Rink

2007-02-11T22:26:00.000-05:00

Had a good afternoon with Rob & Michelle (and their 2 girls). It was beautiful day to be outside and hang out on the rink.

It was expecially gratifying to see how strong and healthy their little girl, Marika, is.

More of the Ice Rink

2007-02-07T22:28:00.000-05:00

The last week has been a great one for the rink. David and I have been playing every night basically from the time I get home from work until he has to go to bed. We've even had some games against other Father and son combos which has been a blast. Tonight we challenged Glen and James - and won easily :) The girls have been enjoying it too. Sarah is a good skater and keeps getting stronger.

I've been spending time working with Julia and she's now able to skate around the rink pretty fast unassisted. She's even showing some interest in hockey! I hope it sticks because I'd really enjoy doing the hockey thing with her.

Backyard Rink

2007-01-29T20:37:00.000-05:00

Filled it up on Saturday and skating 2 days later!

Princess Julia

2007-01-27T20:22:00.000-05:00

Our little baby Princess turns 5 this week. Tomorrow we're having a few little girls over for a Princess party. It's hard to believe that our youngest is already 5! Leigh did a good job on the cake.

Disappointing Day.

2007-01-21T19:58:00.000-05:00

The Ice Cats were in a one day single elimination tournament in Durham today. Durham is about 15min north of Mount Forest just off hwy #6. The team chartered a bus which was kinda fun. The tournament started off well with a 6-0 win over Paris but the second game against Hanover was a real bummer - we were better than them but somehow they ended up winning 4-3 due to cheap goals and bad refereeing. David was pretty upset, he was even crying in dressing room after the game - which to be honest I was glad to see. Here's a picture of David lining up on the wing for one shift.

Awesome Game Tonight!

2007-01-02T20:04:00.000-05:00

I just wanna brag about my son for a minute.... :)

We just got back from an amazing game tonight. David's team played the 2nd place team in their league. They played great. David played even better. David broke a scoreless tie shorthanded near the end of the second period when he won a race for the puck, swooped in past 3 spitfire players, and created himself a partial breakaway - he deked the goalie and scored a beauty goal!

Early in the third period David's line had extended pressue on them. David won 3 or 4 puck battles himself. Finally he found himself in front of the net with the puck, showing uncanny patience, he held the puck till the goalie committed and fired it in. 2-0 Ice Cats!

Final score was 3-1. Great game!

Christmas Tournament

2006-12-22T21:28:00.000-05:00

David's team (the Hamilton Ice Cats) play in a tournament Dec 27-30. It's hosted by the Stoney Creek Minor Hockey Association. All games are at the Mohawk Quad Pad and the schedule can be found here.
The seating isn't the greatest at the Quad pad but if anyone wants to check out a game - consider yourself invited.

----- UPDATE Dec 29, 4pm -----------------------------
It's over. They lost in the semi-finals to a very strong team from Waterloo. It was a blast. David played well. He got 3 goals and many assists. Thanks to all who came out and watched him.

More pictures from Barrie

2006-12-17T14:39:00.000-05:00

They had a professional photographer at the tournament and yesterday we received a CD full of really high quality pictures. Here's a couple action shots of David that I liked.

Here he is on the back-check.

Here he is winding up behind his own net.

Weekend Getaway in Barrie

2006-12-03T18:12:00.000-05:00

We had a great mini vacation up North this weekend! David's team represented Hamilton in a hockey tournament in Barrie and won it all!! They played 5 games in 3 days and went undefeated! Here's the results:

Friday morning they tied Waterloo 3-3. (I was especially proud of David this game because he had been sick this week and even stayed home from school wed and thurs and really wasn't feeling well friday morning but he sucked it up and scored 2 nice goals!)

Friday evening they beat Georgina 6-0.
Saturday afteroon they beat Innisfil 5-2.
Sunday morning they beat London 3-0 in the semi-finals.
Sunday afteroon they beat Whitby 2-0 in the finals to win it!

David played really well the whole tournament and it was really nice to see all the kids bond together and really play as a team. It was also nice hanging out with the parents and getting to know them. We all stayed at Carriage Hills resort, just outside of Barrie. It was fun hanging around the pool and going out to eat with the other families.

Here's David taking the opening face-off of the opening game.

Here he is showing off the hardware.

Good times. Official results can be found here.

Baby Chinook Salmon

2006-11-30T20:52:00.000-05:00

Here's an incredible picture from the Ringwood Fish Hatchery. They are Chinook Salmon eggs hatching. They will be stocked into Lake Ontario's rivers and creeks over the next few weeks and in 4 years they will grow to be 30lbs!!

If you look closely, you can see the eyes inside of the eggs. Very cool!

Sarah's Birthday

2006-11-25T17:58:00.000-05:00

Sarah's birthday is coming up on Tuesday. Today we had a small party for her. Here's the cake Leigh made for her. It's the car from that Disney movie called Cars.

Hike along Bronte Creek

2006-11-12T21:05:00.000-05:00

Went for a family hike along Bronte creek a couple of weeks ago. There were a ton of dead Salmon - even saw a couple of live ones. I'll spare you all the pictures of those. Here's a nice picture of me and my kids.

Hamilton Ice Cats 6 Burlington 4

2006-09-30T20:57:00.000-04:00

Exciting game tonight! The lead went back and forth with David's team coming out on top. David was the star again, he got 3 goals and an assist! He's really coming into his own. David's always had the skills now he seems to be putting it all together!

A fun evening with the family in Burlington. Even his sisters were proud of him.

Rep Hockey

2006-09-22T13:16:00.000-04:00

This year David is playing in the Hamilton Hub league. It's a big step for him but he really wanted to go for it and Leigh and I decided to support it.

Yesterday he had his first game. He kinda surprised me by how good he did. It was a 4-4 tie but David looked great. He started on the third line but by the end of the game he got moved to the top line and was double shifted twice. He got a goal and 2 assists.

I'm proud of him.

----------UPDATE Sept 26---------------
David had his second game tonight. They lost 3-2 but David did well again. He got their 2 goals! Something is clicking for him so far this year. It's like his hockey sense has finally developed.

Skunked...again

2006-09-15T21:40:00.000-04:00

Went out with Joel Wiersma this morning. The bite was off again. Tried everything - even ran out to 250 FOW but nada. Talked with Big D, Riggermortis and Hoover on the radio and they didn't fare much better.

I think I'm done with the Salmon for this year. Gonna do one of two Bay of Quinte walleye trips in October and that'll be it.

Runner's Den 10k Race

2006-09-09T19:33:00.000-04:00

Leigh's gotten back into running this summer. Today she ran a 10k race for the first time in about 11 years. She did well. Her time was 50:20. She was 45th out of 200+ participants. Here she is about to cross the finish line.

Right behind Leigh in the picture there just happens to be someone we know from church. It was kinda fun to tease Dennis that he was beat by my wife. :)
-----------------------UPDATE----------------------
Official results can be found at:
Road Race Results
BTW, Leigh's friend Wynne-Ann was 26th!

Skunked...

2006-09-06T21:52:00.000-04:00

I felt bad that I couldn't get the kids into some fish last night. Apparently the fishing has been terrible since the hurricane came through last weekend. I used all my tricks but nada.

We had a good evening anyways. The lake was flat and we gave each kid a chance to bomb around - they enjoyed that, especially when I almost got thrown over the side :)

Gould Lake

2006-09-03T21:12:00.000-04:00

Was at a friends cottage on Gould lake, near Sauble beach, for a couple of days this weekend. Had a good time boating, tubing, skiing, swimming, campfiring and climbing some huge sand dunes. Did a little still fishing with worms with the kids and got tons of small perch, a few sunfish and two 1 pound smallmouth bass.

Great Evening

2006-08-19T11:01:00.000-04:00

Leigh and I went out of Bronte friday evening with our friends Ron and Wynne-Ann Huinink. Lots of action! I couldn't even get all the rods set up before the fish starting wacking our SD/cut bait rigs. Got this one about 5 minutes into our troll (the pressure was off me early!)

Here's Ron and Wynne-Ann working together to land a fiesty Bow.

The girls really got into it tonight. They fought fish, netted fish, held fish and one time almost kissed a fish...here's Leigh and Wynne-Ann about to land a nice Salmon.

All in all we were 6 for 6. Four 20+ Salmon and 2 Bows. Probably would have had more if we didn't drag around trangled spin doctors for a about a half hour...

Capped the night off with a nice dinner at East Side Marios. Good Times.

Good Ending!

2006-08-17T22:06:00.000-04:00

My cousin Paul, David and I went out after work this evening. Had 2 knockoffs and 1 lost fish but when it was nearing time to call it a day we hooked into a brute as we were trolling in.

Here's the fight.

...and here's the fish!

It took at Stinger Hawg Wild on the stacker about 40 down over 70 FOW. The whole way home Paul kept saying "my forearms are killing me" :)

Family Fishing

2006-08-12T22:32:00.000-04:00

Went out from Bronte this evening with the whole family. It was a good evening with plenty of action. No big ones but lots of fish to keep the kids interested. Leigh reeled in a couple tonight, including this one.

5 Salmon came off spin doctors and cut bait off the riggers, one bow came off the dipsey with an NK watermelon spoon.

Men and their Girls

2006-08-04T23:04:00.000-04:00

Went out tonight with my bud Rob DeWitte and our daughters. 4 girls and 2 Dad's in the boat for 2.5 hours... It actually went quite well. The girls got along great and more or less entertained each other up in the Bow while Rob and I hung out in the cockpit area.

We even got into a nice shark which was very exciting for the girls!

This night ended with one of the funniest situations I've ever been a part of. To make a long story short, the docking of the boat didn't go that well and Rob ended up going for an unexpected swim! Ask me to describe it in detail some time...

Maybe my biggest Salmon ever!!??

2006-07-28T22:27:00.000-04:00

Last minute decision to go out after work tonight. Didn't get down to the launch till 6:30. Fished till about 8:45. Got a Bow at about 7:30 then this bad boy at about 8:15 that instantly overloaded my 20lb scale (my guess is 27-30 lbs). She took 2 times refrozen cut bait in 92FOW down 65. Took about 20minutes to land. Lots of fun!

Bronte July 24 AM

2006-07-24T14:53:00.000-04:00

Went out with David 6:30 - 10:30. Worked the 80-120 FOW with no action - hardly marked anything either. Was worried about getting skunked so we changed things up and went out to 220 FOW and got a nice bow, that put on a great show, and a small chinook. Both on meat. Here's David with the bow.

Back from the cottage

2006-07-22T21:45:00.000-04:00

We love this cottage.

It has a great beach, dock and Lake. You can boat north for over 70 kms and not see another cottage.

This year the fishing was great at the begining of the week but tailed off after the wind storm which uprooted trees and knocked out our power for 2.5 days. Here's David with a nice walleye.

This one Sarah noticed the hit and reeled it in all by herself.

Here's one evenings catch.

There's nothing I like better than fishing with the whole family and we did plenty of it this week. One morning I came back after fishing with 2 walleye just as the family was getting up, so we and we fried them up and had them for breakfast.
Here's me with one.

The final tally was 16/17 on walleye, 3 pike, and one bass. The one we lost (butchered netting job) was the biggest - probably a good 5 lbs.

One of the other highlights was a waterfall that we boated to. It had a natural waterslide which would take us in the current and bring us to a safe spot downstream.

Good times.

Charleston Lake Bassmasters

2006-07-10T10:05:00.000-04:00

Had a great weekend camping with the extended Heslinga family. The laker fishing was slow (only got one) but the Bass fishing was something else. David was the star with both the most and biggest fish caught. Here's pictures of some of the fish.

Dunnville

2006-06-24T22:27:00.000-04:00

Lenny took me trolling in the Grand River near Dunnville. Landed 2 walleye and a drum. Lenny had the hot lure - a perch colored Storm Thundercrank. Here's Lenny with the walleye.

iPod

2006-06-19T20:47:00.000-04:00

Picked Leigh up an iPod nano today. She's gotten back into running 4 times a week and this thing is going to be perfect for that. It's so tiny.

Slow morning

2006-06-17T12:43:00.000-04:00

Went out with the two Dave's (brother and son) this morning. The fishing was consistent with the poor reports coming this week from not only Bronte but the whole lake. All we got was this little Salmon. We were off the water before 11.

More Lakers

2006-06-09T13:02:00.000-04:00

Went out this morning with Ron Huinink. Launched out of Bronte and trolled around there from about 6am to 8am. Didn't mark or catch anything. Decided to motor over to Fifty Point and try for some Lakers. Hooked into 4 and landed 2. Here's Ron with one of them.

Had a good 17-18 pounder that Ron fought for about 10min but it came off boatside. All fish came on green spin doctor/cut bait and NK mag Wahoo spoon trolled right along bottom in 70-85 FOW.

The ride back from Fifty was a painful one! The lake really kicked up in hurry. It was a good morning though - good company, good conversation and no skunkaroo. Back home by 11:30 as our wives were off to a retreat for the weekend.

50 Point

2006-06-08T17:25:00.002-04:00

Had the day off today, talked Leigh into going out with me for a couple of hours after we dropped David & Sarah off at School - fished 10am to noon. Worked the 80 FOW area, marked tons of fish right near the bottom. Got one lake trout in the boat and lost another, both on NK mag spoons. Leigh did a great netting job.

On the way back in we got flagged by this sailboat with a broken motor - he needed a tow ...

Sunday morning action

2006-06-04T13:10:00.000-04:00

I woke up this morning at 5am and noticed it wasn't raining so I decided to give Bronte a try by myself for a few hours. I fished from 6-9am.

It was pretty rolly out there which is always frustrating when you're alone. I set up in 140FOW, I literally had the first line in the water for less than a minute and it started bouncing - 7 pound chinook down 55 on a Stingray Killer Yellow. Continued to troll around the 150 mark for the next hour but nothing. Went in to about 90-100 FOW near the shell pier and spin doctor / NK fly fires. I grab the rod, while trying to steer the boat (I was going against the waves) and the other rod, 35' down (same stingray spoon) fires. It looks like a serious fish so I put the 1st rod back in the holder and work the other one - boat is now doing circles...after reeling that one for awhile decide I'm gonna alternate between both fish. I go back and forth and couple times and at some point the stingray line goes limp - fish off. ::) I was then able to concentrate on a single rod. Got the fish boatside but I butchered the netting job and she took off - it was about a 15 pounder.

Lots of fun but could have used a partner today.

I'm Gonna miss Her

2006-06-03T19:05:00.000-04:00

I got a chuckle out of this song.

Just the Wife and I

2006-05-26T20:08:00.000-04:00

Leigh and I went out in the rain, fog and cold today. Fished from about 10:30 - 12:45, which is about the worst time to fish. Predictably we didn't get anything but it was great just spending time together. We didn't see another boat and there wasn't any chatter on the radio. The fog was really thick! We were about 5 miles off shore (200+ FOW); we had to completely depend on the GPS for navigation.
Here's Leigh driving the boat (notice the fog).

Picture of the boat at the Bronte launch area.