Question:

Boring?  Check out the lampoon’s sequel, Bored of the Rings, fun at first, but a bit overworked. That’s a book from the 60’s or 70’s, not a movie. But, no, I didn’t find the book boring.  Like any movie based on a great book, it never meats your expectations, but this one was so much better than Dune that I couldn’t muster a complaint, and I will see the next two. Chas Does anyone else think that the new Lord of the Rings movie is boring, in spite of the outstanding care and expertise that went into it ?    

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Boring?  Check out the lampoon’s sequel, Bored of the Rings, fun at first, but a bit overworked. That’s a book from the 60’s or 70’s, not a movie. But, no, I didn’t find the book boring.  Like any movie based on a great book, it never meats your expectations, but this one was so much better than Dune that I couldn’t muster a complaint, and I will see the next two.

Your use of Dune as an example of how a movie can disappoint the book reader is a good one. But there are two versions of Dune out there. The first one is about 2.5 hours with rumors of enough material on the cutting room floor to a) fill in the gaps for those who had not read the book and b) double its length. Then there’s the later version which IS about 5 hours in length and is much truer to the character types & plot development of the book. I somewhat enjoyed the first, but had to keep whispering to my wife about who that sudden new character was, why the seemingly arbitrary shifts in plot elelments, etc. The  second is far better both as cimematography and as book adaptation – but it’s not up there with Casablanca, Schindler’s List or The Wizard of Oz. Likewise the current 1/3 of LOTR; it’s fairly good entertainment but on the long haul only so-so. Yours in the north Maine woods, Pete Hilton aka The Ent — Second-ratedness, unfailing law of: Never be the first to try anything.    anon.

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It seemed to be more of a preteen movie. – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – Boring?  Check out the lampoon’s sequel, Bored of the Rings, fun at first, but a bit overworked. That’s a book from the 60’s or 70’s, not a movie. But, no, I didn’t find the book boring.  Like any movie based on a great book, it never meats your expectations, but this one was so much better than Dune that I couldn’t muster a complaint, and I will see the next two. Your use of Dune as an example of how a movie can disappoint the book reader is a good one. But there are two versions of Dune out there. The first one is about 2.5 hours with rumors of enough material on the cutting room floor to a) fill in the gaps for those who had not read the book and b) double its length. Then there’s the later version which IS about 5 hours in length and is much truer to the character types & plot development of the book. I somewhat enjoyed the first, but had to keep whispering to my wife about who that sudden new character was, why the seemingly arbitrary shifts in plot elelments, etc. The  second is far better both as cimematography and as book adaptation – but it’s not up there with Casablanca, Schindler’s List or The Wizard of Oz. Likewise the current 1/3 of LOTR; it’s fairly good entertainment but on the long haul only so-so. Yours in the north Maine woods, Pete Hilton aka The Ent — Second-ratedness, unfailing law of: Never be the first to try anything.    anon.

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Yup. Instead of parts of the book, it WAS one cliffhanger after another. After four or five they began to run out of dramatic soundtrack…..but I will give them credit for the old college try….better than seeing it butchered I guess.  They definitely put some thought into it. I’m out on the sequels…… john

– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text –  Does anyone else think that the new Lord of the Rings  movie is boring, in spite of the outstanding care and  expertise that went into it ? Are you old enough to remember that great satire, Bored of the Rings? The books were so boring I never got past page 3 of the first one. I’ve heard that the movie is just one cliff hanger followed by another. Take heart, Greg. You won’t have to waste your money on the next two movies, which are already in the can. — visit my web site: http://home.earthlink.net/~royalwulff/

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Boring?  Check out the lampoon’s sequel, Bored of the Rings, fun at first, but a bit overworked. That’s a book from the 60’s or 70’s, not a movie. But, no, I didn’t find the book boring.  Like any movie based on a great book, it never meats your expectations, but this one was so much better than Dune that I couldn’t muster a complaint, and I will see the next two. Chas

I loved the Lord of the Rings movie. I have read the books many times and the movie did a pretty good job. The problem is that with such an epic book any movie nearly always ends up as a  series of vignettes that communicates the plot in the shortest way possible. This is at the expense of the ambience and magnificence of the book. Dune, the TV Series on SciFi, is much better than the Dune movie. Definitely captures the middle-easterness of the book and the effects are excellent. Gary

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Don’t get me started about the visual effects . . . granted I still have the taste of sour grapes still in my mouth [I worked on Pearl Harbor, and it beat us out for the Visual Effects Oscar]. My best description of the movie . . . fight, fight, run, close-up of Frodo crying, fight , run, close-up of Frodo crying, fight, fight, fight, close-up of Frodo crying, run, fight, fight [you get the idea]. The movie moves at a snails pace in my opinion.  After the last scene in the movie (where they are looking towards their ultimate goal), I turn to my wife and said . . . "It’s going to take them 2 more movies to get over there?". But, on a side note . . . If I was young and single . . . I wouldn’t think twice about heading down th N.Z. and working on the other 2 movies . . . that way I could fish on my one day off.  snicker snicker -Marshall – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – Yup. Instead of parts of the book, it WAS one cliffhanger after another. After four or five they began to run out of dramatic soundtrack….  Agreed.   I was trying to figure out how much of what  I was seeing was actual NZ vs computer generation  vs good old fashioned special effects.  Some of it  was quite obvious but much of it was quite difficult.

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Don’t get me started about the visual effects . . . granted I still have the taste of sour grapes still in my mouth [I worked on Pearl Harbor, and it beat us out for the Visual Effects Oscar].

I obviously don’t pay enough attention to the Oscars, but having seen both movies Pearl Harbor beat Rings hands down in the visual effects category IMHO.  Every time there was a group of people walking in front of matted scenery I kept thinking that they were purposely trying to make it look like a bad B-movie from the 50’s.      - Ken

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Yes, they have been "shot".  But they are in what is called "Post Production" now – Meaning the visual effects are being created as we speak.  I know this because several of my co-workers have taken the option to go down and work on the second and third movies.  The visual effects will not be completed for the second movie until at least November. This is a very labor and computing intensive business. I just finished working on Star Wars – Eposide II – Saturday, [they actually called me out of a flyfishing seminar with Mel Krieger at the Golden Gate park casting pools, to tweak a final shot ]. And this Star Wars movie has been "shot" for a few months now.  The next project I start in May, will not be completed until next June. Cheers, Marshall – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text –  The other two have already been made (tho I  assume that they will be tocuhed up/recut a  bit in response to critiques of the first one). But, on a side note . . . If I was young and single . . . I wouldn’t think twice about heading down th N.Z. and working on the other 2 movies . . . that way I could fish on my one day off.  snicker snicker

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I somewhat enjoyed the first, but had to keep whispering to my wife about who that sudden new character was, why the seemingly arbitrary shifts in plot elelments, etc. The  second is far better both as cimematography and as book adaptation – but it’s not up there with Casablanca, Schindler’s List or The Wizard of Oz.

I didn’t like the first at all but your assessment of the second is on the money, IMO. Especially considering that it was a made for TV movie, I thought it was well made. After my disappointment with the first movie, I almost didn’t watch the second. Willi

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 Does anyone else think that the new Lord of the Rings  movie is boring, in spite of the outstanding care and  expertise that went into it ?

My wife found it rather boring.  She felt it did deserve an Oscar nomination  however because obviously it was an example of grand moviemaking.  I found it entertaining.  But I’m a geek. Mu

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Does anyone else think that the new Lord of the Rings movie is boring, in spite of the outstanding care and expertise that went into it ?    

I read the books passionately when a child, but haven’t for a long time. Went to the movie in dread, and utterly loved it. i thought it was terrific. LC — Lazarus Cooke

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OTOH, it was rather non-pc to exclude gay Tom Bombadil, don’t you think ?

I thought he was married?  But then …. Lc — Lazarus Cooke

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 Also, their problem domain scales nicely, so their test data can be much smaller inputs resulting in much smaller scenes, and if those go well the giga-pixel scenes probably will too, just with lot’s more computer time…

I’m copying this out, and learning it off by heart, so as to know what to say when people ask me what I thought of the movie. LC — Lazarus Cooke

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It may be that those who’ve written the engines have been careful about these issues, but even then my guess is that their "validation" consists of looking at the scene and deciding whether it looks good or not. (I suppose one might consider that to be the ultimate validation, anyways).

I also thought that the math libraries were a bit smarter in how they handled floating point calculations as well, such that a lot of the "fun" was buried to the point of not being considered by "modern" programmers…

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 I assumed that there would be a lot of iterative  floating point calculations and that there would  be some concern about values wandering out  of precision after a large number of iterations,  but that’s based on guessing at what actually  goes on with this stuff.

It’s basically a matter of projecting virtual light rays from pixels in the virtual film plane out through the virtual focal point and into the 3D model, determining what surface in the model the ray intersects, and then using a lighting model and the reflectance properties of the surfaces in the model to determine what the color and intensity of the pixel should be. There are lots of special hacks to make things realistic. For example, how do you render fog? It wouldn’t be feasible to model every little water droplet. It’s essentially a simulation of the physics of actual photography, with a few added hacks. This is a very parallel computation — every pixel value can, in principle, be computed independently. It’s pretty easy to put lots of processors to work on the problem with good efficiency.

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This is a very parallel computation — every pixel value can, in principle, be computed independently. It’s pretty easy to put lots of processors to work on the problem with good efficiency.

which is why a significant portion of Toy Story could be done using a bank of Quadras. Mu

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I loved the Lord of the Rings movie. I have read the books many times and the movie did a pretty good job. The problem is that with such an epic book any movie nearly always ends up as a  series of vignettes that communicates the plot in the shortest way possible. This is at the expense of the ambience and magnificence of the book.

Ditto on loving it! I resisted watching the movie for months because the books were so important to me as a kid. I lived in the woods of Maine, and one Christmas break, I read them a lot of times. A lot. Probably some sort of record. You gotta keep in mind, I was an insecure, alienated little kid, was snowed in miles away from neighbors, and I fell in love with the fantasy world of Middle Earth. Pretty much memorized the books. So when the movie came out, I refused to go because I didn’t want to superimpose the visual images over my rich imaginary images. But yesterday, feeling particularly middle-agish and lost in another land, I went for a walk and happened across a movie theater just as LoTR was starting. Bought the ticket and went in. The movie didn’t have to ‘fill in the blanks’ for me, or have a particularly integritous plot: I still have the books memorized, and I know the characters like I know my own relatives. Instead, the images were like a photo album from my childhood, with characters I’ve been missing, and places I wish I could see IRL. That old adventurous spirit. Anyway, I sat there for the whole freaking movie with tears creeping down, one at a time. I felt like a nostalgic old idiot until I noticed the guy next to me doing the same. I loved the movie. I won’t see it again, because I want to keep my old mental images intact, but it sure was nice to see those old friends again. Oh yeah, I also cried because I’ll NEVER get to lay Liv Tyler. riverman

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I found a couple of disturbing gaps, like the pc move of changing Glorfindel

<SNIP OTOH, it was rather non-pc to exclude gay Tom Bombadil, don’t you think ? — Gary M

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Does anyone else think that the new Lord of the Rings movie is boring, in spite of the outstanding care and expertise that went into it ?

No.  I loved every minute of it.  I’ve read the trilogy dozens of times, and found the movie to be strikingly true to the original text.  It was spellbinding to this old hippie.  

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says… Does anyone else think that the new Lord of the Rings movie is boring, in spite of the outstanding care and expertise that went into it ? No.  I loved every minute of it.  I’ve read the trilogy dozens of times, and found the movie to be strikingly true to the original text.  It was spellbinding to this old hippie.  

I found a couple of disturbing gaps, like the pc move of changing Glorfindel (I believe…as I DON’T have the books memorized ) into Arwen, making Arwen more of a warrior than depicted in the books. The battle with Gandalf and Saruman was botched as well. It’s more accurate, I believe, to say that the movie is in the same spirit as the book. Rob

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 I remember seeing a very short sequence from the  last Star Wars movie which apparently took several  months’ computer time to generate.  Validating the  software for something like this must take a lot of  time.

I may be a few years out of date, and maybe someone can correct me, but I believe one program is used for the overwhelming majority of 3D computer graphics in films: Pixar’s RenderMan. Rendering images (that’s what it’s called) with a computer is routine, but expensive. The hard part is building the models. The coolest special effect I’ve seen in a long time was in a recent Blockbuster commercial. Two animals in a pet store across the street from the Blockbuster were trying to get attention. The cool thing is that the filmmakers rendered fur convincingly. Fur is hard. — visit my web site: http://home.earthlink.net/~royalwulff/

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My wife found it rather boring.  She felt it did deserve an Oscar nomination  however because obviously it was an example of grand moviemaking.  I found it entertaining.  But I’m a geek. Mu

    you are also a wonderful creator of flies.  mine arrived this afternoon. i will probably keep a couple just to admire.     thanks, mu. yfitons wayno – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text –

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Good question. The parts with actual scenery are pretty obvious if you have been or lived here, if not I guess it would be hard to tell. Having said that my fianc

Question:

The first time I took my oldest son fishing it was off the San Clemente pier he was about four years old. I went to the bait shop and asked the clerk what I could use to make my boy’s fish experience one to remember. Mind you this was 25 years ago. The man said if you want to have a truly great time with your son and get him hooked on fishing use this, he handed me what was called a lucky Joe and he also handed me a chrome coated sinker with a treble hook attached. It was a series of  hooks (six or maybe eight in all) spaced about six to eight inches apart. The hooks were individually wrapped in bright colored yarn. Well I attached the sinker and treble hook to the bottom of this set of hooks and then to my sons fishing line. He lowered it down into the water bobbed it up and down about three times and whamo it looked like he had a hit from a monster lunker. I had to help him reel it in. He had 5 (for lack of a better name) sun fish on the line. I wished I had a camera. You should have seen the look on his face he was so excited. To this day he talks about that moment. He fishes everytime he can and everywhere he can. Even golf course water ways. Anything to be fishing. — SgtMike Free newsletter, Monthly drawing. http://www.thefishermans-tips.com A day spent teaching another to Fish, is a day spent learning to befriend another.

– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – Rule # 1.  Leave your fishing pole at home.  Especially if it is your child’s first time fishing.  Focus all your attention on them and share in their excitement in going fishing.  I’ve seen it happen too many times where the parent with the best of intentions loses focus on teaching their child to fish and soon fishing becomes a competition. Inevitably the adult catches the most fish while the child become more and more frustrated and soon loses interest.  Let your daughter be the "big fisherman" and brag about t he bigun she caught. It works and soon you will have a lifelong fishing buddy.

– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – I have a 6 year old daughter who wants me to teach her how to fish.  I was wondering if anyone had some good ideas on how to make this the most enjoyable for the both of us. Before you buy.

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looks like a good site – I need to get it indexed on my Beginners/Instruction page.  Thanks for posting it. Ronnie http://fishing.about.com

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I have a 6 year old daughter who wants me to teach her how to fish.  I was wondering if anyone had some good ideas on how to make this the most enjoyable for the both of us. Before you buy.

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First things first. Does she really want to learn?? If she does get her a small (not one of the MICKEY MOUSE ) outfits from Zebco. A four to five foot with a  push  button reel.  Start off small! A farm pond or a well stocked pond and a bucket of worms should do the  trick. Be sure to bring a snack or other type of diversion , do not over react when she wants to skip stones or pick flowers. And most of all CHERISH THE TIME YOU HAVE WITH HER.    they GROW UP TOO QUICKLY THESE DAYS. Hope you have fun. Mark – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – I have a 6 year old daughter who wants me to teach her how to fish.  I was wondering if anyone had some good ideas on how to make this the most enjoyable for the both of us. Before you buy.

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I have a 6 year old daughter who wants me to teach her how to fish.  I was wondering if anyone had some good ideas on how to make this the most enjoyable for the both of us.

The best all around page I’ve stumbled on for this is: http://thefishernet.com/kids.htm Hope this helps, Jeff The Fishing News  http://www.thefishingnews.com/

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I have a 6 year old daughter who wants me to teach her how to fish.  I was wondering if anyone had some good ideas on how to make this the most enjoyable for the both of us.

Two words: Cane Pole Why? Easier to manage than a spin-cast or fly-rod. Less likely to end up in the emergency room getting hooks cut out, catching trees, etc. Also means you won’t end up casting their line every five minutes. I started both of my daughters this way, and haven’t had a serious problem yet. My older girl is using a spin-cast rod now with few problems, and my 3 year old is almost ready for real hooks. I’d pick someplace where there is areas for the kid to play as well as fish. Patience isn’t a virtue at 6. The local state parks have been a blessing in that regard, every-one has a playground within sight of decent fishing areas. Summer is usually a lousy time to take a kid though, the fishing is sluggish and they just can’t handle all the sitting around. Anyways, good luck. Before you buy.

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Rule # 1.  Leave your fishing pole at home.  Especially if it is your child’s first time fishing.  Focus all your attention on them and share in their excitement in going fishing.  I’ve seen it happen too many times where the parent with the best of intentions loses focus on teaching their child to fish and soon fishing becomes a competition. Inevitably the adult catches the most fish while the child become more and more frustrated and soon loses interest.  Let your daughter be the "big fisherman" and brag about the bigun she caught. It works and soon you will have a lifelong fishing buddy. – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – I have a 6 year old daughter who wants me to teach her how to fish.  I was wondering if anyone had some good ideas on how to make this the most enjoyable for the both of us. Before you buy.

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Question:

I was in Orlando on business a couple of months ago. I looked in the Yellow Pages for fishing guides and was just overwhelmed. There were so many that I just couldn’t pick one. Orlando is such a tourist trap that I felt my chances of picking a loser at random were too great. My only other trip to Orlando was about 45 years ago when I was a child. I recall it as a sleepy little place, but it’s sure changed, and much for the worse. If there’s anything in Orlando that isn’t a Disney-like fake I never found it. Their convention center is so big you’d better take a bicycle or roller skates. What’s happened to much of Florida is sad. Do we really need umpteen billion people on the planet? All the good places are being trashed, one after the other. Pretty soon you’ll have to be a billionare to enjoy anything decent. Rant mode off. — something bogus to avoid spam)

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Florida has many sites on the net.  Check out Florida in the Unitred States section at http://www.davisbrown.com/ffgeo.htm – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – I am going to Orlando, Florida the 30 of January and I am going to stay there for 6 weeks. I am considering to bring my flyrod, if the flyfishing are good. I’m also looking for a good flyshop with a wide range. If you can help me, I would appreciate it. Tight lines. Jon Arne

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Stick with the Fly Fisherman.  That is unless your in the market for expensive clothing, then by all means Downeast. Regards, David – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – By all means bring the rods, there are some great places to FF within an hour or two of orlando.Both fresh and saltwater.Try these: The Fly Fisherman Inc. 1213 N. Orange Avenue Orlando, FL 32804 (407) 898 1989 and Downeast 538 Park Avenue South Orlando-Winter Park, FL 32789 (407) 645 5100 — Bragging may not bring happiness, but no man having caught a large fish, goes home through the alley. Anonymous http://fish-n-net.com/

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I am going to Orlando, Florida the 30 of January and I am going to stay there for 6 weeks. I am considering to bring my flyrod, if the flyfishing are good. I’m also looking for a good flyshop with a wide range. If you can help me, I would appreciate it. Tight lines. Jon Arne

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By all means bring the rods, there are some great places to FF within an hour or two of orlando.Both fresh and saltwater.Try these: The Fly Fisherman Inc. 1213 N. Orange Avenue Orlando, FL 32804 (407) 898 1989 and Downeast 538 Park Avenue South Orlando-Winter Park, FL 32789 (407) 645 5100 — Bragging may not bring happiness, but no man having caught a large fish, goes home through the alley. Anonymous http://fish-n-net.com/

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I am going to Orlando, Florida the 30 of January and I am going to stay there for 6 weeks. I am considering to bring my flyrod, if the flyfishing are good. I’m also looking for a good flyshop with a wide range. If you can help me, I would appreciate it. Tight lines. Jon Arne

   !’st off, the Orlando area is comprised of other towns nestled together. Being north of Orlando proper 2 shops come to mind, an Orvis (small shop) in Winter Park, there is a larger shop just north of the junction of 434 and 17/92 and I also believe there is a shop in one of the Disney villages. Have no idea from your post as to the type fishing you are interested in. From Orlando you have the choice of the space coast flats on the east coast to bass and panfish in the St.Johns to the north to the Gulf coast to the west. Orlando also has an extensive group of lakes in it’s area ranging from small 1 acre to 20 or more acres, lake info is available from the Fl. game and fish commision on thier site under the heading "fish orlando". Also lake Okachoby (headwaters of the glades(biiiig bass) isn’t all that far. That time span is rather early in the season for fresh but you never know. Good luck.                                                            John Popp                                                         in Sanford Fl.

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Question:

If GOD had an airplane, it would be a C180 or C185

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Any C-180 or Maule owners out there? I’d like to buy a taildragger to put on floats during the summer for hunting/fishing/camping, and fly to more sedate destinations in the winter, such as Baja California.  I’d like to carry another passenger, camping gear, plenty of fuel, and some big game such as a caribou. Tentatively, I suspect the C-180 is the way to go, but I could go with a newer Maule by sacrificing a little performance. Any thoughts?

I’d go for the Maule every time.  It’s a solid aircraft that will go a long way towards real STOL than any Cessna.  You’d be amazed what you can do with them.  Cessna was never designed as a bush plane. —                            Nunavut, Canada

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Cessna was never designed as a bush plane. —                            Nunavut, Canada

So, what do you think fellow NG’rs? Too much time in the Bush for Mr.(?) Durey, or not enough? Jack —         :    :<home.earthlink.net/~baron58:                             :

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This is an old argument and should bring out the ‘bush rats’! Just compare the sqft of the wings, that has the biggest effect on load and stall speed.  Here the Cessna wins, hands down.  The Cessna will lift more weight off in a shorter distance. Known ‘bugs’ in the Cessna:     loss of roll control in X wind with full flaps     lack of dampening in spring steel gear     weak gear boxes on really ruff strips     expensive     hard to find a really clean one, lots of really used ones out there The Maule’s STOL reputation is based on performance at less than gross weights and lots of power.  Remember it started out as an adaptation of a short wing Piper.  You can fly anything with lots of power but if at gross weight plane C flys at 45 mph and plane M flys at 50 which plane need more water/dirt?  Power just gets you to the end of the water/dirt quicker! Ross – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – Any C-180 or Maule owners out there? I’d like to buy a taildragger to put on floats during the summer for hunting/fishing/camping, and fly to more sedate destinations in the winter, such as Baja California.  I’d like to carry another passenger, camping gear, plenty of fuel, and some big game such as a caribou. Tentatively, I suspect the C-180 is the way to go, but I could go with a newer Maule by sacrificing a little performance. Any thoughts?

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What’s a NGer?  New Guy?  That’s what we used to call a "Nugga" or "Nug" for short, back in the bad ol’ days. I think you’re forgetting airfoil.  The short fat Maule wing will fly at an alarming angle of attack.  It’s a great STOL machine, if you know how to push the envelope.  Cessna’s are too fragile to accept much pushing–I’ve seen too many wrinkled empennages and cracked fin brackets.  You drag the Maule in with power, flare with power, and stomp on the binders.  400 feet is typical for me with no wind. There’s also lots of Maules out there that have never been beat to death commercially.  There’s lots with a thousand hours or less on them total time.  They’re also half the price of a Cessna 180. Sure, it’s got a big engine, but ya gotta give Maule credit. They’ve also developed the only readily-available off-the-floor factory single-engine turbine certified for the GA market.  My 0-540 has lots of jam, but the Allison 250 C20B is twice the horsepower with half the weight.  It’s a stunning ride. What’s the power-to-weight ratio for the 180? We looked at the Helio and Wilga for here, but opted for the Maule as a simple platform, easy to work on, and easy to find and buy. Never considered the Cessna. —                            Nunavut, Canada

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…400 feet is typical for me with no wind. Sure, it’s got a big engine, but ya gotta give Maule credit. They’ve also developed the only readily-available off-the-floor factory single-engine turbine certified for the GA market.  My 0-540 has lots of jam, but the Allison 250 C20B is twice the horsepower with half the weight.  It’s a stunning ride.

Here’s a question that hasn’t been introduced to this discussion yet.  What kind of insurance do you carry on your Maule, and what’s the cost.  I’ve heard that Maule insurance is quite expensive, but I have no hard data to support this claim.  I’d like to hear the story from Maule owners. I have a 1955 Cessna 180 which I have insured for $60,000 hull and a million smooth liability, and it costs me about $1400 a year.  How does that compare with a Maule? What’s the power-to-weight ratio for the 180?

Mine is 11.33 pounds per horsepower at legal gross.  However, this figure will vary a little depending on year of manufacture, as all 180s after ‘55 had 230 HP instead of 225 like mine, and the gross weight went up a couple of times as the years went on.  The last ones had a P/W ratio of 12.17 lb/hp. Joe Norris

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I’d like to hear the story from Maule owners. I have a 1955 Cessna 180 which I have insured for $60,000 hull and a million smooth liability, and it costs me about $1400 a year.  How does that compare with a Maule?

On my 1991 Maule M-6 I have $90,000 hull and $1M/$100k liability and this year’s bill was about $1600.  Surprisingly, the rate got much better this year after AOPA Insurance and Aon merged.  I was with Aon before.                                                                 Dave

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If wing area is the reason (as stated in prior post) the Maule is inferior to the Cessna pls note that Maule has used at least three different size wings. The old Maule M-5 did have a smallish wing area (160ish sq ft.) and the plane did depend on the engine for much of its STOL performance.  There are however, two other wings offered on the M-6 and M-7 airplanes that had more wing area. The latest version of Maule has an intermediate size wing with nearly 170sq ft. In any event, it you don’t think the Maule has a large enough wing try one of their other models.

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Before you buy a C-180, or a Maule, look closely at the Helio Super Courier.  It has several features that, I think, makes it a better bush plane.  The main gear is set farther forward making it almost impossible to nose over on landing.  It has a very strong steel tube cage for the cabin which helps to protect the pilot and passengers in a crash.  Some have four tanks carring 120 gallons of gas.  I think all Helios left the factory with float fittings installed.  Most importantly, the Helio was designed from the start to go very slow under full control.  Did you know that the Helio will not stall?  In my opinion, if you can afford to own and fly one, you will have the best horizontally opposed piston engined bush plane ever produced.  There is also a turbine powered version.               Larry

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We looked at a Helio H250 after a search of several months.  All of them had 7,000 to 8,000 hours on them and had seen commercial service (read: beat to death).  An H295 that Bathurst Arctic operated out of Yellowknife on floats turned out to be a real dog. The geared engine is only good for 1200 TBO.  There’s also a lot of maintenance involved in the stabilator.  Otherwise, they’re great. I’ve seen them in the fly-by at Oshkosh literally "walking" down the runway, unbelievably slow.  Up here, with the sand and wind, we couldn’t see the leading-edge slats and Fowler flaps holding up. We regularly get 50-knot winds across the parking ramp. My insurance on the Maule is CAN$1900 hull and liability for a ‘78 M-5 worth about CAN$70,000.  With today’s drop in the Canadian dollar, that’s about US$1197.  ’Course, we don’t litigate up here at the drop of a hat for a hangnail, either, which keeps the liability costs down. —                            Nunavut, Canada

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Any C-180 or Maule owners out there? I’d like to buy a taildragger to put on floats during the summer for hunting/fishing/camping, and fly to more sedate destinations in the winter, such as Baja California.  I’d like to carry another passenger, camping gear, plenty of fuel, and some big game such as a caribou. Tentatively, I suspect the C-180 is the way to go, but I could go with a newer Maule by sacrificing a little performance. Any thoughts?

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Question:

- Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – Anyone Know of an economical method of making chum? Want to make my own ,but don’t want to spend $600 to $700 for a used Hobart type meat grinder. Anyone out there making their own? Any ideas are helpful.Thanks…. and tight lines!    Email  or post Sam, I use an old hand powered meat grinder that I picked up at an antiques auction for 25 bucks. Attach it to a 2×4 and then attach that to a fish tote. Works great… — Tight lines and sharp hooks, Capt. Mark Poirier <OOOO))’

I have made chum in the past using a hand grinder hooked to a motor using the fly wheel out of an old dryer, its big enough to make the grinder run slow. I have also used the same hand grinder hooked to a 12 volt engine started on the boat, its noisy but it works well, you can find the atachments near comm fishing docks that use shum. mine only cost about $50 by using used started and grinder. —   Not all chemicals are bad. Without chemicals such as hydrogen and oxygen, for example, there would be no way to make water,  a vital ingredient in beer.                             … Dave Barry   John & Donna Koterba http://www.olg.com/jkoterba

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- Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – Anyone Know of an economical method of making chum? Want to make my own ,but don’t want to spend $600 to $700 for a used Hobart type meat grinder. Anyone out there making their own? Any ideas are helpful.Thanks…. and tight lines!    Email  or post Sam, I use an old hand powered meat grinder that I picked up at an antiques auction for 25 bucks. Attach it to a 2×4 and then attach that to a fish tote. Works great… — Tight lines and sharp hooks, Capt. Mark Poirier <OOOO))’ I have made chum in the past using a hand grinder hooked to a motor using the fly wheel out of an old dryer, its big enough to make the grinder run slow. I have also used the same hand grinder hooked to a 12 volt engine started on the boat, its noisy but it works well, you can find the atachments near comm fishing docks that use shum. mine only cost about $50 by using used started and grinder. —   Not all chemicals are bad. Without chemicals such as hydrogen and oxygen, for example, there would be no way to make water,  a vital ingredient in beer.                             … Dave Barry John & Donna Koterba http://www.olg.com/jkoterba

I once used a weed wacker to grind up some menhaden. We did have a sucessful trip but I would frown on the weed wacker idea from now on.

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Anyone Know of an economical method of making chum? Want to make my own ,but don’t want to spend $600 to $700 for a used Hobart type meat grinder. Anyone out there making their own? Any ideas are helpful.Thanks…. and tight lines!    Email  or post

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Anyone Know of an economical method of making chum? Want to make my own ,but don’t want to spend $600 to $700 for a used Hobart type meat grinder. Anyone out there making their own? Any ideas are helpful.Thanks…. and tight lines!    Email  or post

Sam, I use an old hand powered meat grinder that I picked up at an antiques auction for 25 bucks. Attach it to a 2×4 and then attach that to a fish tote. Works great… — Tight lines and sharp hooks, Capt. Mark Poirier – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text -<OOOO))’

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Anyone Know of an economical method of making chum? Want to make my own ,but don’t want to spend $600 to $700 for a used Hobart type meat grinder. Anyone out there making their own? Any ideas are helpful.Thanks…. and tight lines!    Email  or post

Here’s some ideas i’ve tried with success: 1. Cheapest fish favor cat food both dry or canned is ready made chum. Just dump into chum pot as is. 2. Use a blender with enough water to chop scraps, then pour into half gallon milk cartons and freeze.  To use, peal off carton and put in chum pot.  As it melts it releases. 3. Popular chum here in Hawaii is old white bread mixed with tomato sardines and water. Works for just about anything.  Mix sand into chum if you want it to sink faster. 4. Buy an inexpensive hand-crank meat grinder (plastic with stainless steel blades works best for saltwater applications).  Mount it on a plate with post (pipe) that fits a rodholder.  Attach a radiator hose to outlet of grinder (length of hose depends on the boat, diameter of hose depends on grinder).  Mount the grinder/plate in a rail rodholder and hang hose overboard.  As you grind fish scraps it will run down the hose overboard.  You can grind on demand.  Pour water into the grinder once in a while to clear grinder and hose. Chum pot easy to make.  Just get a plastic 5 gallon bucket with lid, drill ALOT of 1/4" wholes in the sides and bottom.  Tie a short length of rope to bucket handle.   Now just place some chum into bucket, put lid on and hang it over the side with rope tied to cleat of your boat. Chum leaches out of holes with the motion of the boat.                                                            Spy in Hawaii

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I’ve tried several different chum methods: 1.  Learned this from a professional yellowtail snapper fisherman in the Keys – Buy a block of frozen menhaden, mix it with horse oats, water and fine white beach sand, into a slurry.  Dump it over the side a little at a time.  It makes a "cloud" in clear water that both attracts yellow tail and hides your hook (bait up a chunk of mullet or a menhaden – whatever you have, then toss it into the cloud). 2.  Canned catfood, the cheapest, stinkiest stuff you can find works well. Punch a bunch of holes in the can and hang it over the side of your boat. Or you can open a can, dump it into a bucket mixed with water and ladle it over the side. 3.  Same as above with cheap sardines. 4.  For fresh water, try hog pellets.  Here in Florida, we use ‘em to bait shiner nets.  They work fine. 5.  If you’re near the ocaen, go to a fishhouse and ask to buy their dead crabs.  smash ‘em up and ladle ‘em.  They’re terrific for redfish.

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Anyone Know of an economical method of making chum? Want to make my own ,but don’t want to spend $600 to $700 for a used Hobart type meat grinder. Anyone out there making their own? Any ideas are helpful.Thanks…. and tight lines!    Email  or post

This may sound like BS but a guy told me to use an old lawn mower, you might piss off the neighbors but it might work He said he used it to for bluefish to make shark chum. You also might be able to use a leaf mulcher or wood chipper. Don’t laugh to hard at me I’m just passin it on

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So far, I think this is a great line of discussion.  Does anybody mind if I use some of this as material in my articles?  Actually, some of it might be good for a comedy special on HBO.  "Lawn Mulchers for grass, grits, or chum" or something along those lines. Capt. Charlie Capt. Charlie Walker           Southern Charm Charters 813-546-7257                  http://www.flfish.com/fl

Aloha Charlie,   I almost forgot, the best chum maker of all was my younger sister, her first trip out in the ocean.  Her stomach was churning.  And Her timing was perfect.  We would be drifting and everytime she chummed with her breakfast, the fish would show and the action would get wild.  Just when the fish start drifting away, she would get up and chum some more (ralph!) and action all over again.  She ran out (of internal chum) eventually, and the fish left.  She was a real sport though.  I’ll always remember her reeling in fish while lying down.  Try as we might, we could not get her to eat anymore.  We tried not to think of the chum as we ate the fish that night.  Same thing happened with one of my Buddies on his first time out, too.  Now when I see him I say "you’re not just a friend… you’re a real chum".  We can laugh about it now.                                                 A hui hou, Spy in Hawaii

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So far, I think this is a great line of discussion.  Does anybody mind if I use some of this as material in my articles?  Actually, some of it might be good for a comedy special on HBO.  "Lawn Mulchers for grass, grits, or chum" or something along those lines. Capt. Charlie Capt. Charlie Walker           Southern Charm Charters 813-546-7257                  http://www.flfish.com/fl

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So far, I think this is a great line of discussion.  Does anybody mind if I use some of this as material in my articles?  Actually, some of it might be good for a comedy special on HBO.  "Lawn Mulchers for grass, grits, or chum" or something along those lines. Capt. Charlie Capt. Charlie Walker           Southern Charm Charters 813-546-7257                  http://www.flfish.com/fl

See Dan Akroyd in skit called "Bass-O-Matic" on Best of Sat. Nite Live video.  It slices, dices, and turns live bass into a wholesome and refreshing beverage.<g Mark

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Anyone Know of an economical method of making chum?

Really the most economical system I ever heard of was a can of dog food. You buy a can. Use an Ice pick (everybody has one of these aboard) to punch holes in the can. Tie a line (string) around the can and through it in (tie the line to the boat stupid). I have used this for weakies and blues. Works well. Good luck. Michael W. Madden Technical Director, TekVantage The Chesapeake Bay Mariners’ Guide http://www.tekvantage.com/MarinersGuide/index.html The Far Horizons Sailing Search Engine http://www.tekvantage.com/FarHorizons/index.html Host to: The Havre de Grace Yacht Club http://www.tekvantage.com/hdgyc/index.html Host to: The Crazy Swede Restaurant and Bar http://www.tekvantage.com/crazyswede/index.html

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Question:

I am spending a week in the Jackson Tenn. area.  Anyone know of any good flyfishing to be had within an hours drive? Thanks for your reply.   Dee

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I don’t really know of anything near Jackson, however if you are willing to drive about 6 hours you can fish some of the finest fly fishing waters in the world in NorthEast Tennessee.   The tailwaters of the S. Holston has been rated in the top ten trout streams in the nation, and if you are looking for the mountain stream experience the Doe Creek which runs through Roan Mountain State Park is great.  Also Laurel Fork, etc.  There are also some great spots in the Smoky’s, but I have never fished them. If you want to come up here, I can guide you or I can recommend a guide. Joe Byrd – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – I am spending a week in the Jackson Tenn. area.  Anyone know of any good flyfishing to be had within an hours drive? Thanks for your reply.   Dee

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You are closer to the White River area of Arkansas than East Tenessee. Call Gaston’s near Mountain Home Ark. or Ozark Anglers in Heber Springs, Ark.If you want to fish for small mouth try Buffalo River near Flatwoods Tn. Its about 1 hour southeast of Jackson. Try and find a book, Home Waters, written by the Mid -South Flyfishers of Memphis, Tn. It gives you good advice about the Ark. area and also about Buffalo River in Tn. Best wishes. Jack.

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One hour east of Nashville is the Caney Fork River.  It has fished excellent this year.  The Caney is a tailwater.  One to two hours south of Nashville are the Elk and the Duck rivers.  They are both excellent tailwaters.  Closer to you is the Little Buffallo River.  It has a section of trout water, but I have not fished it.  Lots of smallmouth and largemouth water all over middle Tennessee.   Some of the colder smallmouth streams are stocked with trout in the spring.  Maybe some summer survivors. Maybe this will help. If you decide on a tailwater in Tennessee, please-please, call the TVA generation schedule for that particular dam.  1-800-238-2264 and follow their instructions.  The generation schedules have been pretty good for the three tailwaters I listed.  Sometimes. Michael

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Question:

This time last year I was on my second weekend on the Batten Kill with very healthy Hendrikson hatches. This year it is flowing in the fields. This group had frequent posts on the progress of the Connecticut shad. Nothing this year! There were regular posts on the hatches on Western Mass rivers. Nothing this year. I have had one good trip to a nameless Cape Cod pond which held native brookies and that is it! Is anyone else fishing? Gary McMeekin

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This time last year I was on my second weekend on the Batten Kill with very healthy Hendrikson hatches. This year it is flowing in the fields. This group had frequent posts on the progress of the Connecticut shad. Nothing this year! There were regular posts on the hatches on Western Mass rivers. Nothing this year. I have had one good trip to a nameless Cape Cod pond which held native brookies and that is it! Is anyone else fishing? Gary McMeekin

Hi Gary – Maybe just you and I are fishing.  I returned Friday night from the W. Branch of the Delaware, the Beaverkill an Willowemoc.  The Willow was finally clearing up on Friday morning , but the Friday rain should have taken care of that.  An all day float on the W BR produced nada!  Some nice browns were caught at the W. Br Anglers pool on alewives, very deep and slow.  We drifted from the WB angler to the Roscoe Bridge, and saw 6 fisherman!  All the water is too — too high too fast too discolored. The Gas Station Pool on the Beaverkill was clear also but the floods really made a mess of it. When I got home I did go to the Connetquot – which is always fine, but definitely not wild! I’d give the Catskills another week, we did see sporadic Blue Quill and black caddis hatches, but nothing was rising  it’s just  TOO. jg

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We drifted from the WB angler to the Roscoe Bridge, and saw 6 fisherman!  

Neat trick!  How did you float down the West Branch and the UP the East Branch to end up in Roscoe?

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Gary, Yes!  I run a guide service in VT and I have been fishing with my clients for a couple of weeks.  Strictly nymphs and streamers for brookies.  You are right the rivers are a mess. That’s ok the fish aren’t goin anywhere. Let me know if I can help. James

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I’m going out to the Lackawaxen in the Poconos later this week hoping for a hendrickson hatch, anybody got as good lead on shad in the big muddy if it settles down ? Anywhere within 50 miles of Port Jarvis ?

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I fished the Westfield last weekend.  Picked up a couple of browns under the Mass Pike overpass and by the Sheraton Inn along route 20.  the river is very high for this time of year.  Nothing hatching though.  If you go try fishing olive wooly buggers with a little sink tip on your leader.  The fish are there.  The guys at B&G’s told us they just did a private stock of a couple of thousand fish. Could you please tell me what a "B&G" is?  I’m curious.  I also hope to make it out to Western Mass soon to fish.

It is a fishing/hunting shop in Westfield on Route 20 about a mile or so past Tekoa CC.  Great wealth of knowledge about the river.   They

Question:

Anyone know of a mail-order source for 8 millimeter diameter pom-poms to use in making egg pattern flies?  (I believe 5 are smaller and 10 larger than the real thing – a king salmon egg.) Also – what are favorite colors for these things?   Thanks.

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I’ve bought white 8mm pom poms at a fabric store called Jo-Ann Fabrics. I’ve used RIT dyes to get colors such as chartreuse and Orgeon Cheese (be sure to use a vinegar bath after dying to make it colorfast).  These two colors have been the most effective for me on the Salmon River in NY.  I then insert the hook through the pom pom, making sure it enters perpendicular to the inner thread.  A small bit of thread wrap in front of and behind the pom pom holds it in place.  A hot glue gun will do the same, but it gets a bit messy.  Good luck.

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Anyone know of a mail-order source for 8 millimeter diameter pom-poms to use in making egg pattern flies?  (I believe 5 are smaller and 10 larger than the real thing – a king salmon egg.) Also – what are favorite colors for these things?  

Hi- Ben Franklin’s craft stores carry pom poms and will mail order. Get the white ones and dye them to your specs. Purple, lime, flame and peach will round out your selection. Don’t ask why steelhead and trout like these colors . . . just remember they do not percieve colors as humans do (they see UV and IR as well as the colors we see). 3mm is perfect trout and kokanee size roe. I’d guess 8mm is king salmon size but honestly don’t know and I doubt if the fish care.    Tight lines, Ralph —

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Just to let you know – those seemingly fancy eggs with protruding mylar tags are available in most of the craft stores way up here in Canada, but I have only seen them in 10mm. Being something of a beginner, I first purchased these lettle gems from a tackle shop, and could have bought an equivilant weight of gold for the same price. In the craft shop they are 5cents each and available in all sorts of colours – which means that if you are slow off the mark, purple will be the only colour remaining. Good Luck – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – Anyone know of a mail-order source for 8 millimeter diameter pom-poms to use in making egg pattern flies?  (I believe 5 are smaller and 10 larger than the real thing – a king salmon egg.) Also – what are favorite colors for these things?   Orange and peach.  Those hand-tied from glow-bug yarn have a nicer, translucent look than those made from pom-poms. — -Wayne Trzyna I’d be <amazed if chinooks were selective enough to hesitate to take a 10mm pompom because it was 2 mm larger than the real thing.  Go with the 10’s if that’s what you can find.  Be sure you check the local craft and fabric stores.  If they have them, you’ll save a bundle.  At least you would here in Oregon, where you’re fishing egg flies strictly along the bottom, and catching rocks a lot.  What I haven’t seen, other than in fly shops, though, are the pompoms with the tiny bits of protruding mylar. If that’s what you really want, I’m afraid I have nothing to offer. Tight lines, Greg Metcalfe

– << Allan Hyggen   << <<          <<

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Just to let you know – those seemingly fancy eggs with protruding mylar tags are available in most of the craft stores way up here in Canada, but

Note:  I conducted an off-the-cuff study one day, with some Alaskan Rainbows feeding behind spawning chum salmon.  The rainbows would approach the "fancy protruding mylar" egg patterns, scope ‘em out, then turn away. But they would readily take similar pom-poms without the protruding mylar. I think the protruding mylar catches more fishermen than fish. — -Wayne Trzyna

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Note:  I conducted an off-the-cuff study one day, with some Alaskan Rainbows feeding behind spawning chum salmon.  The rainbows would approach the "fancy protruding mylar" egg patterns, scope ‘em out, then turn away. But they would readily take similar pom-poms without the protruding mylar.

…and they would take eggs hand-tied from glow-bug yarn more readily than either type of pom-pom. — -Wayne Trzyna

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Question:

Has anyone had any experience with the Scientific Angelers fly fishing package that you see in the stores?

They are nice little outfits. I honestly don’t know how they can afford to sell the things so cheaply.  St. Croix makes the rod and it is similar to their Imperial XL series.  Good value for the money.  I think they are trying to get someone up to usable quality who might otherwise end up with the $75 KMart special.  Note:  New ones are the 9′ 6wts which features a redesigned rod, last years was an 8′ 6" 6 wt.  Since everyone knows us West Coast folk won’t fish anything that starts w/ 8′, you can tell my bias. . .  :-) –Jim in Northern CA

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Has anyone had any experience with the Scientific Angelers fly fishing package that you see in the stores? I have a friend who may be interested in buying one to see if he likes fly fishing. Richard Warren Raleigh, NC

i’ve tried the 8wt.. The reel is good.. but the rod is not.. in my opinion they could have chosen from a hundred other better rods for less money.. if you get a chance.. take the rod out of the package and put it together and take a couple false casts on it.. it’s a real power house near the butt section but the tip section is slow.. keg

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Has anyone had any experience with the Scientific Angelers fly fishing package that you see in the stores? I have a friend who may be interested in buying one to see if he likes fly fishing. Richard Warren Raleigh, NC

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