Cool post.

I grew up cutting wood every summer/fall. We cut enough to burn 24/7 during the winter months, which was usually 2-3 cords. When I was younger we split it all by hand (maul and splitting wedge). Then the neighbor needed his roof replaced. My father and I roofed it over a weekend (hammers). Our payment was use of his hydraulic wood splitter every fall. The splitter was built from scratch by our neighbor and it was a beast. His demo for us was splitting a 16”diameter oak chunk against the grain. It pushed right through the chuck and snapped it in half. The good old days were when a guy could build something bigger, better, and cheaper than you could buy it for in a store. That is if you wanted to put the time in and had the tools to complete the job. I’ve built a few things from the lessons that I learned from that neighbor.

I also change oil and own a chain saw and more importantly, know how to use it. I will admit that if the oil change falls in the middle of Jan/Feb I’ve been known to let the pro’s do it.

I will try to fix things at work to get a few more miles too. While most guys will pull a gear with a bad bearing and toss it in the garbage when the bearing fails, I reach over and pull it out. I then inspect the gear to make sure it doesn’t have a lot of wear and if good I press out the old bearing and press in a new one. Presto, a new gear with a perfect bearing to reuse. I guess it’s one of things you are wired for but I’d like to think that my father instilled a lot of these lessons.

It must be a Apple thing. My iPhone displays his picture upside down too.

It does display correctly on my PC desktop running a Chrome browser.

And Ryan (Ralph Wiggum) is the Fish Kisser.

Sorry for your loss Ryan and family. Like Dave said, it felt like we knew him. With his run in’s with wildlife in the yard, to you talking about his care giving. It’s never easy but rest at ease knowing that he’s running through that large field in the sky, chasing rabbits.

True, but I still would prefer to see the spread slowed down as much as possible. I’d prefer ecosystems to stay as they were for hundreds of years for as long as possible. And you never know how an invasive is going to affect a lake. Could be positive or negative.

I agree with that statement. I would also add it really depends where you fish too. If you fish AIS free lakes most of the time your perception of the problem may be different than the person that fishes AIS infested lakes.

A good example is Lake Calhoun in the Minneapolis chain. By mid August you will have to pull your electric motor out of the water several times trying to get through the Milfoil bed in front of the access. You are also limited to few fishing techniques in this slop. Drop-shoting and punching one ounce weights through the canopy. It may have it’s benefits but there are also many draw backs depending on your point of view.

biggill wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>fish4all wrote:</div>
What would you suggest?

Like I said above, there are going to be people that know the laws and just don’t care. The info is there for the taking.

I’m well aware that they are at the accesses too like you mentioned. Actually I forget to mention that in my educational resources above. So add that to billboards, TV commercials, reg books, thousands of signs at accesses throughout the state, ect…

I don’t know. Otger than spreading the word on social networks, I won’t be doing anything. This is the DNR’s job, not mine.

Like I said before, I’ve followed the laws without issue ever since I got my drivers license but I dread the day I get a ticket for carrying 10oz of rain water in my boat. I know it happens and it is simply wrong.

It leaves a bad taste in my mouth that mr. Salo wants to blame me for his failure.

Fair enough. I think I misunderstood you from the get go. I thought you were arguing that the DNR has not done enough to educate people about the AIS laws.

I believe you have a problems with the wording of the laws that may lead to a ticket that is not deserved, i.e. lake water v.s. rain water.

Well anyway, that’s enough AIS talk for me for awhile. Time to put on the rain gear and head out fishing. ….little yellow guy waving…..

What would you suggest?

Like I said above, there are going to be people that know the laws and just don’t care. The info is there for the taking.

I’m well aware that they are at the accesses too like you mentioned. Actually I forget to mention that in my educational resources above. So add that to billboards, TV commercials, reg books, thousands of signs at accesses throughout the state, ect…

biggill wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>mplspug wrote:</div>
“Far too many people are still not following the law,” said Greg Salo, DNR central region enforcement manager. “Some of these laws have been on the books for more than 15 years and yet we’re still seeing a 26 percent violation rate at enforcement check stations. That’s unacceptable. Violators should know better by now.”

Mr. Salo, you my friend need to go back to McDonalds for some more training. His complete ignorance to his own failures angers me more than anything. How come its everyone else’s fault but his? Isn’t that YOUR job to inform the public and get them to conform?

He is something else!

Really? You do realize that they have billboards on the side of the highways, television commercials, signs at all accesses with infestations, and half of the regulation booklet is pertaining to AIS and AIS infected lakes. What’s next? A CO standing at the access with a blow horn and yelling at people like a drill sergeant?

These people are either terribly lazy or they just don’t care. The laws have been on the books for a long time and the DNR has certainly spent a good amount of time trying to educate people through various channels.

I really never understood how people can go fishing without reading the regulation booklet. It’s your responsibility to learn and know the fish/game laws. When there are new laws they are announced on the news, in local papers, sporting magazines, brought up on fishing sites, and also available on the DNR site under press releases.

In the DNR Announcement, they talk of 26% Violation Rate but nothing about where these Violations are coming from. Are they from the Metro area, Brainerd Lakes region or in out of the way out-state areas such as far Northern or Southern MN?, Were majority of Violators on Fishing Boats or Pleasure Boats (Pontoon;s, Wake & Ski Boats, Jet Ski’s, Cruisers)? Just a broad statement seems to push blame on everyone, but more likely on Fishermen. [/quote]

What does it matter where they are from? The DNR is a statewide organization and I’m sure this is their statewide tally. And to blame all of this on another group of boaters is ridiculous. All types of boaters have lead to these issues. For example, I was fishing a south metro lake Wednesday evening and as I was leaving a guy (fisherman) was pulling out of the parking lot with about 10 pounds of weeds dragging from his trailer. This was not the one strand that he might have over looked, it was weeds almost completely covering his axel and hanging from the wheel covers. A guy actually yelled at him as he was leaving and tried to run along side of his truck to get his attention. Either he didn’t see him (don’t know how) or he just didn’t care. There is a AIS sign right as you walk onto the launching dock by the way.