Fishing Rhino

That brings up a memory. In my lobstering days, this time of year we were fishing on Cox Ledge, and the dropoff at its south edge. Party boats from Montauk and Point Judith would take their charters there to fish for cod. Some of these were big boats, 80 feet or more. Fishermen lined up side by side along both gunnels. We nicknamed them the Porcupine Boats because of all the rods dangling over the sides of them.

It's only nine in the canoe in my avatar. I have a similar bolt on rack for my wider, square stern canoe that holds eleven. The avatar canoe would have been better with a rod or two less. They are a bit jammed together. Eleven works fine in the larger, wider canoe. Those were designed when I had just gotten back into fishing. Now, four years later, I only take three or four rods with me, and that's all I carry on the deck of my Z-8, when I'm fishing my "home waters". When I go somewhere unfamiliar, I'll up that by one to three rods, with different baits. If I fished tournaments, where time is of the essence, and I knew what I was likely to be fishing, I'd have two or three rods at the ready, rigged alike to save the few minutes it would take should it be necessary to retie.

I've had three or four non-inflatable types, and find them more comfortable than my Mustang auto/manual inflatable pfd except for hot weather. The Mustang is less comfortable where it goes over the shoulders because all of its weight in concentrated in a smaller area. I also find the area with the CO2 cylinder to be a bit bulky. Most of the weight is on the right side where the gas cylinder and release mechanism are located so the right shoulder takes the brunt of the weight. Your best bet is to go to a BPS and/other stores that have a variety of devices and find which one feels more comfortable for you. The other thing you might want to consider is color. If you end up in the water, which is when you need it, what color is more likely to be visible to searchers. Black, greens, and blues will not be as easily spotted as yellows and reds. Also consider some reflective tape so you can be found more easily at night. The good tape looks like a camera flash going off when hit by a beam of light.

I'm pretty sure this canoe is the same as mine, that I got from Dick's. It says Old Town on each side at the stern, and the paperwork says Johnson's Canoe by Old Town. (Not the canoe in my avatar, which I also bought on sale at Dick's) I was just looking at the photo of your canoe again. You've got more stuff in there than I have in my Z-8. Do you need a giant shoehorn to wedge yourself in between all that gear?

The Wooly Bully Rats! I just did a search and it appears that name might already be in use. Maybe wooly booly instead?

Those who attended the Guntersville Road Trip recently received a package of Big O's newest bait, the Rage Tail Menace. I just ordered five more packs, three in the color I received, Green Pumpkin with Purple and Gold flakes. I even paid five dollars extra to get them second day air. Right now, I'd hate to be on the water without them. I also ordered a pack of black with red flakes and a pack of watermelon with red flakes. On six successive trips to a pond on Cape Cod, I have boated a smallmouth over three pounds, on a couple of those days two or three over three pounds. The Menace accounted for some of these fine fish. It also works well on largemouth. Some have been caught on this rig (the Menace being rigged the same way, except for the "paddles" being horizontal rather than vertical) and others on a wacky worm. Of the three baits, the menace caught the most fish, and I rotated between the three baits pretty much equally.

I got the seats and swivel mounts at BPS. The swivels are mounted on 1/2" plywood that is the width of the seats and long enough to nearly reach the sides of the canoe. They are secured to the existing seats with ratchet straps. You may need to shim up the front or back edge to suit your own comfort. I used 1 1/4" square stock the length of the plywood and fasted it with screws. If you look at the photo carefully, you can see the ratchet straps at the end of each plywood panel. I use the birch plywood that has thin layers. You can find it at Home Depot and probably Lowes. The Depot carries it in 2 foot by 4 foot pieces. It is more stable than the typical 1/2 inch plywood with fewer plies. It does not have voids in the inner layers, so it will hold screws well. Other types, except for marine plywood, is likely to have voids where knots fell out, and those areas with voids cannot dependably hold screws. It is called Baltic birch. The build quality is what you would expect in a cheap boat. The hull is formed from a single piece of plastic, and the boat is quite "flexible". The seats add some stiffness. But it's a case of you get what you pay for. My thought is that it's good value for the money. Mine is four years old, and still functioning. At the moment that means it cost me 125 dollars per year. At the end of five years, it will work out to 100 dollars per year. For the sake of discussion, let's say I sell it at the end of this year for 200 dollars, that will mean it cost me 60 dollars per year for fishing. How can you beat that?

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If I can make it, I'll have a seat available. I should know within a couple of weeks.

I'm glad to see you spelled "fridge" correctly, rather than the "frig" used by another of our esteemed moderators. Where's one of the other mods (Long Mike) when you need him to point out egregious spelling, or grammatical errors? Frig is a "minced oath" often used in place of an unacceptable four letter word. I haven't heard the expression minced oath in years, so for those who may be wondering.......................................... A minced oath is a euphemistic expression formed by altering a profane or taboo term to reduce the original term's objectionable characteristics. (from Wikipedia) Then again, RW is from Tennessee. I'm not sure if Tennessee is far enough south, but in the deep South, a tumbler is not necessarily a gymnast. Up here, dinner is usually called supper, while the term dinner is commonly substituted for lunch. How 'bout y'all and yawl. Y'all can go sailing on a yawl.

I was going to guess it was the framework for a geodesic dome to house a weather radar, provided the framework was plastic.

I'm going to need more tutelage as to the parallel and the series thingy. For the sake of discussion let's say we have a circuit to power the running lights, and that circuit is connected to the battery post with an alligator clip. The lights are turned on to complete the circuit. We disconnect the alligator clip, and then close the circuit using a multimeter. If it is set to voltage, will it not give us the voltage of the battery, or will that be affected by whatever components are on that circuit? If we then switch to amps, it should show us the amount of current being drawn by the lights. I'm viewing the circuit in question as a "jumper cable" of sorts. The only bugaboo I can see to that scenario is that the resistance in the components might cause a voltage drop, and therefore not get an accurate reading of the power source voltage. I understand the possibility of a parasitic drain, but that is usually minute and a battery in good condition should power those devices for several weeks if not months. That's why I told him he should see what the closed circuits are drawing for amps.

I read his first post like this. When he disconnects the cable from a battery, then connects a voltmeter to the post and the disconnected cable he is reading full voltage. Full voltage can be 12+ volts to 13+ volts, depending on the state of the battery/batteries. I'm not sure what you mean by parallel? Parallel as I understand it means batteries hooked up positive to positive, and negative to negative which means they will still produce the same voltage as a single battery but will have, an amp hour rating equal to the sum of the two batteries. Voltage is tested, at least as I understand it by contacting a live circuit to a ground. It may be across the two posts, negative and positive, or across any circuit to ground. With everything turned off, there should be no draw on a battery, since all circuits should be "broken". That he gets a reading shows something somewhere in the wiring on the boat there is a closed circuit. Maybe I misunderstood the first post, but in reading it over a few times, it seems to me that he is using the voltmeter to bridge the gap between the cable and the post from which he removed it.

Regarding number three. Your reasoning is correct. Regarding number two. It will only partially drain your live well (down to the waterline level of the tank), unless you are up on plane, or the boat is on the trailer out of the water. When you are not using the livewell, fully drain it, then shut off the ballcock. There is no need to tote around several pounds of water when the livewell is not in use.

That seems to be the depth I'm catching fish here in my section of Mass. Most of the aquatic plants I've been fishing are less than a foot tall, but quite thick on the bottom. You've got a pattern that is working well for you. For the most part, stick with it, but don't hesitate to do a little prospecting in the different types of vegetation. You won't learn anything new by fishing the same way, in the same places day after day. Allot a portion of your time to trying something different, and focus on that for your prospecting time. Spend an hour exploring, and three hours fishing what you have found to be productive. That's just an example. The point is to make a concerted effort at learning something new. Keep in mind, what you may learn is that your explorations just don't produce fish. That doesn't mean those areas will never produce fish. It means they aren't working for you today. A week from now, or a month ago it might have produced fish. The main thing is to have fun. Learning can be as much fun as catching. One final thought. Gut instinct. What we call gut instinct may not really be a gut instinct at all. Our brain is a computer, and it often does its work without us even thinking about or paying attention to it. So the next time you get a yen to fish a particular bait on a particular bottom, do it. That computer between your ears may be providing good information.

I'm going to make a suggestion. CRC 6-66. 1. GENERAL DESCRIPTION Multi-purpose marine lubricant and corrosion inhibitor. CRC 6-66 is based on a paraffinic oil and a multiple organic inhibitor system that prevents rust and corrosion by displacing and sealing out moisture and by forming a continuous protection barrier against water and oxygen. The oily, almost invisible film of CRC 6-66 lubricates and penetrates into the finest pores and cracks of the surface. CRC 6-66’s effectiveness for surface protection is derived from three of its principal properties: • affinity for metal • low surface tension • high capillary action. By its affinity for metal and low surface tension CRC 6-66 displaces moisture and separates it from contact with the metal surface. The high capillary action contributes to the great spreading power. 2. FEATURES • Displaces and seals out moisture, especially after washing or hosing off engines or equipment. • Penetrates through corrosion to loosen rusted parts. • Lubricates without leaving a sticky residue. • Protects against corrosion, even during storage. • Stops squeaks. • Starts wet engines. • Prevents electrical failures. • Cleans light soils and contaminants. • Prevents 'fingerprinting' by its protective film. • Protection of all metals and alloys. • Compatible with most painted surfaces, coatings, plastics and rubbers. • Equipped with the 360° (upside-down) spray valve for added convenience. • Pressurised with non-flammable CO2 propellant. • Active product content of 97%. • Specification: NSN 6850 - 13 - 115 – 1885. http://www.crcind.co...s/TCM3 6-66.PDF I bought a new, 3 cylinder loop charged 60 hp Evinrude in 1971. Brand new, it had an ignition problem. On foggy mornings or after damp nights, it would miss on one or two cylinders. I could hear the beep, beep, beep, of an electical charge arcing. I pulled off the cowl and started the engine. Sure enough, the spark plug wire towers came out horizontally just below the flywheel and when the ignition fired that wire, it jumped the 1/16th - 1/8th" gap to the underside of the flywheel. Once the engine warmed up, it ran fine. I sprayed the innards around the spark plug wires beneath the flywheel and the fly wheel itself as well as any and all electrical components. Never had another problem. I believe they eventually brought the towers out then down at about a 45 degree angle to increase the gap between the plug wires and the flywheel. I notified the dealer about it and he had no problem spraying the 6-66 on any of the components under the cowl. It was a standard procedure used by commercial fishermen who depended on their engines every day to make a living. Not only did it seal the electrical components from moisture problems, it also lubricated all the linkages such as those to the carburetors and the timing plate of the ignition. When I learned that trick, I also was able to help folks whose cars were hard starting on damp days or that would stall if they drove through a puddle. A good spray on the spark plug wires, on the outside and inside of the distributor cap and no more problems. My commercial lobsterboat had a six cylinder 292 Chevy engine. It developed a perplexing problem. Started fine at the dock. Head out of the river, and after running for fifteen or twenty minutes, it started dropping cylinders 'til it was only running on three or four cylinders. A half hour after is started dropping cylinders, it would pick them up again, one by one until it was running fine. Apparently moisture would get forced into the distributor cap from a faulty seal on the distributor shaft. As the engine heated up, it eventually dried out. I broke out the 6-66 and sprayed the sparkplug wires and the inside and outside of the distributor cap as well as the points and condenser. No more problem. No guarantee that this will solve or improve your problem, but it's an easy, economical thing to try. Some say WD 40 is the same thing, the WD standing for water displacement, but I'm not sure they are correct. I know the CRC 6-66 worked for me on more than a few occasions. If it does help, then chances are you have a power leak (s) somewhere in your electrical system. It may be a long shot, but it's better than blindly swapping out components.

The powers that be have provided plenty of time for planning to make it. I've fished the last three road trips to Pickwick, Kentucky/Barclay, and Guntersville. Pickwick was definitely my favorite, though anywhere the gang goes is fine by me. The opportunity to meet members and to establish bonds among them is far and away the most important part of the trip. Novice to seasoned pro, it's a great time for all, and a great learning experience. Nothing like comparing notes and sharing knowlege on the water. If you enjoy the forum, you'll love the road trip.

It's not Jersey. It's Joisey. Canadians don't say aye (eye), they say ehhhh as in long "A". Kinda like the Fonz yousta say it. The Canucks use it more as a question, at the end of a sentence. The Fonz used it more for emphasis. In Maine, they say ayuhh.

Shame on you for even pushing the "play button".

Hers is a Bass Hunter, made in GA. It's possible they came out of the same molds.

The boat in the pic is our daughter's. She uses it for training retrievers in the small pond in her back yard. I'd like to have one up here for some of the small ponds, but with two canoes and the Z-8 it would be hard to justify adding a vessel to my fleet of three. One of her dogs tried to help me land the fish, but I got it into the boat before the dog could retrieve it.

Pressing the foot pedal depends on if its a foot control or hand control model. Either way, it's pretty straightforward, and you should have no problem getting the hang of it with a little practice. By the way, don't sell a pontoon boat short. They are a nice stable platform and comfortable to fish from with the swivel seat(s), which can be positioned to make the boat ride level. Maybe this will change your outlook on your pontoon boat.

Caught a four pound smallmouth on one of my Big O gifts today. Four pound largemouth on Wednesday, four pound smallmouth today, along with a few others for good measure. I rigged it like this Rage Tail grub but with the flippers horizontal, and a drop of Loctite super glue to secure the nose to the weight. It works much better than the barbed type of jig heads since it doesn't tend to split the nose. The bait last until the tail finally gets torn off by a pickerel, or one too many fish tugging at it. I manage to catch several fish on one bait.

Is your prop aluminum or stainless? Aluminum will bend more easily than stainless, and is less likely to bend the shaft or cause internal damage when it strikes an object. A simple way to check the shaft is to take the prop off, put the motor in neutral and spin the shaft. It should turn smoothly. Then put something that will not move against the side of the end of the shaft, a pencil, screwdriver or whatever clamped to a stool or anything that is steady, and turn the prop. Rotate the shaft. If it shows a gap at one point in the rotation, and touches in another, the shaft is bent. A dial indicator would be best to check for runout of the shaft, but if you don't have one, the above is the next best technique that I know of. If you have a friend or acquaintance who is a machinist, they should have a dial indicator and be able to test the shaft accurately for any bends.

Couch fisherman pro? You must have to use some pretty stout gear to catch couches.