Fishing Rhino

I think we'd all be surprised at what little we all see/experience of the wonders of nature. How many have seen the glow of a boats slipstream on inky black nights when salt water is full of phosphorus, or critters containing phosphorus that glow a brilliant green when disturbed. Or been on the bow of a boat and seen the comet like trails of schools of fish scattering from the boat's approach. One of the most splendid sights is seeing the sun rise out of the ocean in the morning and sinking back into it in the evening. The world is a marvelous place, full of breathtaking sights. Another interesting phenomena, visible on a color sounder on the ocean is the rise of photoplankton at first light. The bottom line remains, but a second begins to slowly rise from the bottom as the sky begins to glow in the east. It is photoplankton which is active only in the daytime. At the end of the day, they settle back to the bottom. The second line rises, then thins out as the photoplankton disperse themselves throughout the water column.

Regarding the preppers, to me it looks like they are only delaying the inevitable. OK, they've got supplies to last them a year. Then what? If things get that bad, those conditions will exist for years, maybe decades. I remember the days of bomb shelters that could protect from radiation. At some point their supplies would run out and they would have two options. Stay hunkered down and slowly starve to death, or come out and be exposed to radiation and die from a combination of starvation and radiation poisoning. Better to go out in a ball of flame. What will the preppers find when they finally have to crawl out of their bunkers? There is a vast difference between surviving, and living.

What is it with the clicking? If it startles the fish, why do so many baits have rattles and clickers built in, not to mention the Carolina or is it the Texas rig with the bead (glass, brass and whatever else) clackers. What about the electronic "fish callers"? Don't crawfish "click"? I've read that they do. My guess is that while it may initially startle them, if it does at all, they quickly get used to it. However, I will shut down the electronics from time to time to see if it makes a noticable difference.

Your perspective may change after a few years. Rather than discouraging suitors, if your daughter has been dating for several years, you might want to think about a dowry form. In effect, it's a bribe to marry your daughter to get her out of the house.

If you have your health, and have planned for retirement, you'll find it is when life begins. You will not have to order your life around job responsibilities. Get a chance to get away on a whim, do it. Want to sleep in, do it. The time you have remaining is yours, and yours alone. Enjoy it. Friends try to get me involved in local organizations or activities, and I turn them down. I do not want to commit to monthly, quarterly, or even annual obligations. I enjoy my freedom too much.

Dr Stefano Mariani of the University of Salford said: ‘This is further evidence that human over-exploitation of fish stocks has adverse and far-reaching effects. Areas with poor regulation have smaller, younger fish and, as we’ve now demonstrated, higher and more harmful parasite infestations.' That's quite a leap of logic. Could it be that fishermen are bringing in the parasites? Certainly, removing fish does not produce or increase parasites. It could be akin to the transfer of vegetation or critters from one body of water to another via boats and trailers. Maybe the stunted condition of the fish is due to a body of water having a denser population of parasites, rather than the vice versa the scientist postulates. We humans are not always the villains.

I have an image of a caveman telling his neighbor it's not sporting to use a pointed stick to harvest fish. A real man needs only his bare hands. Draw the line where ever you like. That's what is great about fishing. Fish from shore, or fish from a boat. Use a handline, or use a rod and reel. Use a sounding lead with wax or grease filling the bottom depression so it can pick up mud, sand, gravel etc. It will tell you the type of bottom and the depth. Some say using a net to land fish is not sporting. Others look down their nose at live bait. Where do you draw the line? We each decide for ourselves, not for others.

Try moving some weight forward, if possible. The boat will get on plane easier, and have less of a tendency to porpoise. That may slow down your top end some, but on smaller water, it may be the ticket. When you want to go at maximum speed, shift the weight back.

Unfortunately, there are a lot of low lifes around. Guess I'll have to carry extra bolts for my bunks just in case.

Falcon is 2300 miles one way for me. Nearly twice the distance that it is to KY Lake, Pickwick, or Guntersville. Lake Champlain would be nice. Largemouth, Smallmouth, Northern Pike, Salmon, and plenty of water (435 square miles). Not to mention that one of our members has seen what could have been "Champ", the Loch Ness Monster of Lake Champlain. It's only a five hour drive for me vs. an 18 hour drive to Pickwick, KY Lake, or Guntersville.

Eye never no if my spell checker is working because my spelling is superb. Spell checkers never pick up your, when it should be you're or know know from no. How 'bout to, too, or two?

Two years ago, on the way to Pickwick.

What I don't see in your original post is what they told you when you asked them the questions you posed to us. I mean, if you let it go when they said they would call you when it was repaired, then you should be somewhat upset with yourself for not seeking that information from them in the first place. Have you spoken with them since you dropped it off, or are you just stewing about their lack of performance when it comes to repairing your engine? Communication is a two way street.

If it's anything like radar, it will work while you are moving. The side or downlooking sonars have to be moving in order to work. I believe four to five mph goives the best image. I'm guessing the transducer is a side imaging unit of some type which rotates. Whether it rotates mechanically, like a radar, or electronically, I have no idea. It will give you a nice image of the bottom around the boat while standing still, or moving slowly. I'm just guessing that the current image is refreshed as the sweep passes over it. If it didn't, you'd have a jumbled mess on the display. I suspect it is a variation on the side imaging because it appears that it sends the signals in opposite directions.

I understand the flashing "bar" on the right side of the image is in real time. The rest of the screen is a history of what the flasher has "seen". It's a totally different image on the 360 degree sweep. If you change course, the next sweep will show you the position of the point of interest relative to the boat. Not so with the current sounders. What is on the screen remains on the screen until it exits to the left. Furthermore, unlike the sweep of a radar which is a radius of the circle, it appears that the transducer emits a signal in both directions, like a side scan. I'm basing that assumption on the bright line which goes from approximately ten o'clock to four o'clock on the display. I'm also assuming the sweep "erases" the prior display as it passes over the images, much like weather radar. My lobsterboat's old Furuno had a cathode ray tube. The images gradually faded, but were still noticable as the sweep reached them.

Boater. Open seat.

A simple, but often effective cure for tailgaters is to "trail brake" your car. For those who don't know, it's a racing term used to describe a driving technique used mostly at Daytona and Talladega. To slow the car for a turn without backing off the throttle, they will touch or lightly apply the brakes while keeping the pedal to the metal, because to lift off the throttle at the restrictor plate races can cause all manner of problems. So, the next time you have a tailgater, don't let off the throttle but depress the brake pedal enough to activate the brake lights while not actually braking the car. They usually back off after that.

What? You don't like a bunch of beautiful people telling each other how wonderful they are? I cannot imagine such cynicism.

Well said. Nuff said.

What really is significantly different from side or down imaging is that you have a nearly real time image of the bottom around you. It only produces a very brief history which would be the time it takes the sweep to make one rotation. The image is constantly being updated. Not so on the sounders that scroll across the screen. For instance, if you see a rock pile at 45 degrees off the starboard bow, you can steer toward that piece of bottom. Since the entire image is being constantly refreshed, it amounts to the same thing as going to a waypoint on your GPS. The object of interest will never go off the screen until it is out of range of your setting. With side and down imaging you have to factor how fast the image is scrolling across the screen and the speed of the boat. Yes, you can freeze the image on the screen of the si/di and move the cursor to get the lat/long bearings, and use that to get fairly close to the image of interest, but it's so much easier to just steer to a given patch of bottom with no other manipulations required. I can see where having to deploy and retract the transducer might be problematic. But, some type of warning light on the instrument panel showing the transducer is deployed would provide a heads up before you blast down the lake.

For those who are "signing on" for the get together, it's important to know if you are coming as a boater or non-boater. It looks like we will have more boaters this year, which is a good thing. One more thing. With the price of gasoline, it would be more practical than ever, to car pool as much as possible, and share the travel expenses.

I'm down here in rainy Daytona Beach, waiting to see if they can get the Daytona 500 started. Looking at the calendar, the 15th should work for me. I'll be heading south with my wife the Wednesday following for the BR Road Trip. Two different parts of the country, but it should provide a good shakedown prior to heading south. Remember the no lead regs that are now in effect in MA.

Wet sanding is the last thing I would do to a metalflake finish. That some of your flakes have already turned silver shows there is very little clear gel coat on the hull, covering the flakes. What grit wet paper would he use? Two hundred to wet sand and buff sounds very cheap. I'm not familiar with what a reputable person would charge for that service, but I'm sure it would be a lot more than two hundred dollars. Will he assume responsibility for getting into the colored flakes? At two hundred bucks for the entire job, I certainly wouldn't offer any guarantees. You tried hand buffing. Did you follow it up with a cleaner glaze, followed by a protective wax or similar that provides protection against the UV rays? Buffing is never the final step in restoring a gel coat finish. Buffing also produces scratches. The more aggresive the compound, the deeper the "scratches". It should always be finish buffed with a swirl remover followed by a cleaner glaze then a good coat of wax or finish protectant.

Is the gel coat a solid color, or metalflake? If it's metalflake, it's a job best left in the hands of a pro, and even then the results may be less than ideal. Before getting into the gel coat thing, try buffing the finish. Gel coat when exposed to the sun, can get cloudy, or dull due to the sun's ultraviolet rays. The cloudiness/dullness is caused by microscopic cracks. How severe they are, and the thickness of the gel coat determines whether or not buffing will remove the damaged outer layer of the gel coat. You have to be extremely careful with a metalflake finish. If you get into the flakes they will "turn" silver. The flakes are nothing more than a shiny particle of aluminum with a layer of color/tint over them. If you get into the tint, the silver color of the flake is exposed. You need to be very cautious when fooling around with a flake finish. There are several products to restore the finish. Buffing compounds are available in various grits, from aggressive often called "heavy cut" to the very mild called swirl removers. There are also products (glazes) which can do a pretty decent job of filling the microscopic cracks and thus producing a nice appearing finish. Follow this with a good coat of wax that blocks or reduces the suns harmful rays. Think of it as sunscreen for your boat. Begin with the least aggressive method first, and do it in areas that are less obvious. If you are satisfied with the results there, then work on the rest of the boat. Take your time, and get a feel for the process.

I'm going to chime in with my two cents worth. Maybe worth less (worthless). Our daughter has one in the tiny pond in her back yard, and I love fishing from it, but............. With two folks, a dog, and a tackle box, I'm not sure how it will handle a chop. It is definitely more stable than a canoe, but a canoe can comfortably and safely go into a chop. I suspect that a Raider, Hunter, Pelican, etc., will take a lot of slop over the bow should the wind kick up from the opposite shore.. While it should not sink, it could be quite disconcerting. Another thing to consider. There is nothing easier than landing/lipping a fish from a canoe (or possibly a kayak). While I have no problem landing fish in my daughter's Bass Hunter, it's definitely easier in my canoe. Different hull styles in boats are a series of compromises. Gain something here, give up something there. Each has its pros and cons. There is no "one size fits all".