The Porta-Bote proved to be an excellent platform upon which to build the world’s first fishing boat for the blind. It’s light weight, stability and handling were crucial to the deployment and trialing of the various electronic systems. It’s only down side rests with the portability aspect of the boat in that each time the […]
Internet Web Site: George Ibbott, owner of One1Site.Com, proved to be of tremendous assistance to me in not only designing and building my website, but in helping me to think outside the box on a number of design / service offerings. It was with George’s encouragement and challenging yet respectful suggestions that I conceived the idea […]
Lines come in many different colours and shapes. For the purpose of threading, one need only know that the braded lines thread easier when they are dryer and stiff, and the monofilaments slide better when a little wet. This is important as threading lighter lines through the eyes of fish hooks and other fishing equipment […]
I participated in a 1-day fishing tournament held on the Ottawa River each year for the past 19 years. On average, over 70 legally blind fishers and 35 fishing pros with their boats participate each year. I was the first “blind” fisher ever to participate from his/her own boat. Prior to the tournament, I gave […]
There are Blind Sailing clubs in over eight different countries. I’ve incorporated many of their same safety regimes into my own field trial practices. The main issues are safety to those on the boat and others on the water. For this reason, having sighted spotters to serve as back-ups is crucial. Communications is the next […]
Source of description unknown. I discovered it while surfing the Internet. Paul Dubas, at that time a guide on the Bighorn, taught it to me, but he tied it with two hands. He called it a Swirl Knot. I’m going to try to describe the knot, but without photos, it’s really tough. Tied with two […]
Three days of GPS Trekker trials on Black Lake, next to Sharbot Lake Provincial Park, were carried out in Late August. The weather was warm and still, and the body of water chosen for the trials was small and calm. In other words, the conditions were excellent for determining the effectiveness of the GPS Trekker […]
The Paloma is a superior knot to the Improved Clinch in that it’s less likely to slip if not properly tightened. It’s draw back is that you need to be able to feed the entire lure back through a loop in the line prior to tightening, which can be tricky with longer lures or lures […]
Further trials were carried out over the July long weekend on Mississippi Lake. Several talking compasses have now been tested and have provided similar results. Both talking compasses trialed require that the user position the unit almost perfectly at the horizontal for them to work effectively. This meant when encountering waves or if the compasses […]
In June we camped for four days at Voyager Provincial park on the Ottawa River near Hoxburry. The field trials were intended to test the Porta-bote and Minn Kota in waters with extensive weed growth. I wanted to test the Boat’s handling in weedy water, and to determine if the motor had the capability of […]