Fishing Rhino

Try both. See which you prefer. There's no need to lean over the side to land fish from a canoe. Your arms should be long enough to reach over the gunnel without leaning. Having said that, I have ended up in the drink twice, once in each of my two fishing canoes. The first time was from my paddlin' canoe in the middle of summer, because I foolishly leaned over the canoe. The second was in my trolling motor powered canoe. The first time I fought falling over the side and ended up in the drink regardless, swamping the canoe in the process. The second time was in early spring with hip boots and rain gear on. That time I made the snap decision to just fall. Good choice, I did not swamp the canoe. But, I couldn't kick my legs to propel me to shore wearing hip boots. What to do, what to do? Only a hundred feet from shore but in water over my head. Then it hit me. I reached the control handle of the trolling motor and powered my way to shore. Water temps were cold, but the air was warm. Got the hip boots off, dumped the water out of them. Took off the rain gear, (the sun had come out), and continued fishing. An hour later, I was dry.

My thoughts exactly. Pull the drain plug, crank up the tongue of the trailer as high as it will go. Do it on a dry, sunny breezy day and open all the hatches to all compartments and give it a good airing out. If the carpets are damp, use a good Shop Vac type wet or dry vacuum and go very slowly over all the carpeting. You'd be amazed at how much moisture the carpet will retain. If I fish or travel in the rain, when I get home, as soon as possible, I'll get the Shop Vac to work on the carpet. I've pulled as much as four gallons of water from the carpet on my Z-7. That leaves the carpet barely damp. You can kneel or sit on it and not get wet. But, there is still moisture there. You can feel it with your hand. A few hours on a sunny breezy day should get out what's left. Then put the cover on your boat. When you get your garage finished, and your boat is in the garage, leave the hatches open then. It doesn't take much moisture in a place with no air circulation for mildew and fungus to get started.

Simp's dad is really a character. If I had to liken him to someone, it would be this guy. Not so much in appearance, but in exuberance. He is always wound up, ready to go. If he's around, you know it by his laughter. I told Eric that he was just like this guy from the Axe Men show. We made a five mile run on Barkley at nearly top speed, into a breeze with a small chop. Eric was whooping and hollering almost all the way. The thing he said that I'll always remember was, "This is why I love riding in bass boats", followed by exuberant laughter.

Simp as usual, exaggerates greatly. Thanks to his dad for making this video on his cell phone, and to Simp. As for the Dos Equis guy, Simp and his dad put him to shame. As far as interesting goes, they've got him beat hands down. I mean, how can two guys who showed up at Pickwick with their glorified jon boat, sporting headlights not be interesting. Last year they disappointed me by showing up with a doggone fiberglass, full fledged bass boat. The hicks from the sticks meet civilization. Oh, and by the way, Simp's dad outfished me on the day he captured this video. If we hadn't caught a fish, it would still have been a great day. Had a blast meeting many of the members. Steezy, Roadwarrior, Glenn and Mrs. Glenn, Big O, Scrutch, Uncle Leo, Long Mike, Alpster, Ghoti, Mike the jig guy, Bassin Sargent and Bassin Soldier (anyone know where they are now?) Lund Explorer, Ken, and all the others. Looking forward to seeing all of you again, and meeting others for the first time. Don't miss it. You'll have memories to last you for the rest of your life. Maybe you're just starting out fishing, and think you won't fit in. You couldn't be more wrong. I don't think there was an ego in the bunch. Just because RW and Big O always look like they're ready for a photo shoot for GQ doesn't mean they are not as down to earth as everyone else. Hey, after all, someone has to add a bit of class to our motley crew, and it sure ain't gonna be me.

Either someone used a number on one of my wife's credit cards, or the number was entered wrong by the person taking payment, but her card was billed for the payment of either a cable or satellite television bill. I don't know the outcome, but the charge was taken off and a new account number was sent with a new card. It would take a fool to pay a bill using another's account that could easily be traced back to them, so I suspect it was some type of error. Then again, you never know.

Just clicked on the site in Glenn's first post. That site has been disabled. ????????? Been there before, but just checked because one of my buddies who might make go ran into the problem.

Not quite right, but close enough. It will be interesting to see what shakes out at Penn State at the end of the day. That suspicion, or info that child molesting was "ignored" so as not to upset the applecart in their football program is nothing short of disgusting. It serves to show what depths of depravity some will go to for the dollars a top athletic team, particularly in football can provide for an institution. It's no mystery, and certainly no surprise that recruiters will push the envelope to get a letter of intent from legitimate football and basketball stars. There are countless creative ways to skirt the rules, not only for recruiting, but also for rewarding certain student athletes. Situational ethics was the intellectual's way of saying the ends justify the means.

The nightmare at Penn State proved a college football winning program takes precedence over scholastic accomplishments or ethics and integrity. Colleges are, scratch that, colleges should be about providing an education to prepare students to better face the day to day grind or working, paying bills, and providing for their families. That coaches make many times what a dean makes is disgraceful. Football is just a game, an extra curricular activity. It's called extra curricular for a reason. Penn State is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to colleges having their priorities out of whack. You need look no futher than all the rules and regs that exist to keep collegiate football programs on the up and up. Yet it is common knowledge that the rules which apply to the rest of the student body are often "waived" for the better athletes. What does it matter in the overall scheme of things who's number one in football or basketball?

Do I detect a couple of Ebenzers?

The chip for about a hundred bucks can be downloaded and activated on two computers. Doesn't matter where or who, if they have the registration code for activation. That makes the price fifty bucks per install. I've not seen one on an I pod, but I doubt it's as nice as viewing it on a twenty three inch monitor. Can you interface it with the regional navionics chips to plot waypoints and courses? Is it the same program as Navplanner2, which I'm guessing is the one to which you are referring. In any case, the Navionics folks are good people. I had the program on two computers and was replacing the older one. All I had to do to get another activation for the new unit was to capture the screen image showing the program, then capture the same screen image after I uninstalled the program. They gave very clear and easy instructions on how to remove the program, and how to capture the screen image. Once I had done that and sent them the images, they gave me another activation for the new computer. The same goes for the customer service crew at Fugawi in Canada. Fugawi is the program developer. Navionics markets the product under their name. I had a couple of issues with my program. In fact, it was Fugawi who helped with the uninstall and capturing the image of the file they needed. Contacted Navionics and they referred me to Fugawi. They could not have been better in resolving my issues. They responded promptly, with clear and concise solutions. Two thumbs up for both parties.

LOL. Young Jedis in training?

Back in the good ol' Uncle Remus South, if you had running water it meant a brook ran by your home.

Pro is an ambiguous term. Take golf. There are touring pros, club pros, teaching pros, etc. In fishing you have touring pros, guides, show hosts, and probably a few other categories. Some but not all fishing shows are hosted by former, successful touring pros. Aptitude and application. It takes both to excel in any field. So I agree with those who said born and made.

That's weird. I've never seen "dents" in fiberglass. It either breaks, gets stress cracks, scuffed, or gouged. I make fiberglass race car bodies and I've never seen one get dented, and they get beat up pretty bad at the local, weekly stock car tracks. A lump or high spot in a mold will produce a hollow or dent in the finished product, but once cured, I don't see how it can happen. Even so, the low areas/dents will need to be fixed the same as if it were a gouge. They will need to be filled using the same process I described in my prior post.

DOS. LOL. I remember it well. I could actually type faster than the computer would enter the characters. Floppy discs for the program you wanted to run, and the cutting edge Lotus spread sheets. I'd have to say that the pagers/cell phones, while they do have their uses have been the scourge of our culture. There is no escape. One is continuously connected by an electronic umbilical cord to what they try to escape from on weekends, vacations, or other off hours. I know they serve many useful and vital purposes, and even save lives. But, more often than not, they are an annoyance, and even dangerous. See texting while driving.

Sounds more like gouges than dents. If you have three that are parallel, my guess would be that the boat rubbed against something like a piling with three nails, screws etc. that protruded from it. Could have been a metal bulkhead with three protruding objects that scraped against the boat. If the three are in line, then it would appear that the boat rubbed against something as it was moving, then moved away from what caused the damage, then back against it as the boat was moved back against the object by waves or wind while continuing its forward, or backward movement. I'd tend to guess it was moved against the object by wind or current. Were it caused by waves moving the boat, the scrapes, gouges, or dents would not be in a straight line. The result would be a zig zag line. If the boat has a metalflake finish, it will be nearly impossible to match the original finish. If it's a solid color, then you need to get a matching gel coat. How to proceed depends on the depth of the damage. In either case, it's not a job for the inexperienced or faint of heart. Once the repair is slightly higher than the surrounding area, it must be wet sanded down to a smooth even finish, then buffed in progressive stages to ever finer compound to swirl remover then finally to a cleaner glaze which will fill the microscopic pores. After that use a good wax or boat finish protectant to protect it from the sun's ultraviolet rays.

Poor Long Mike, crying poverty. He's got an alarm system on his boat that makes Fort Knox green with ***. Heck, it probably cost more than it would to replace his "tin can". Alas, love has no price tag. Nothing is too good for his "baby".

Mirror, mirror, on the wall, who's the oldest/ugliest/etc., drunk of all?

This should cover it nicely. CLEAN HANDS DOCTRINE Under the clean hands doctrine, a person who has acted wrongly, either morally or legally - that is, who has 'unclean hands' - will not be helped by a court when complaining about the actions of someone else.

What Long Mike said goes for me. I'll be there if at all possible. "bout time. I've been watching for this announcement for a couple of months.

Some time ago there was a thread about Mass fishing licenses. Many town/city halls had stopped issuing them. Supposedly, in 2012, they could only be had online. However, that is not the case. Most if not all Walmarts will sell them. The same for Dick's Sporting Goods. You can find all the vendors, as provided by the Mass Division of Fisheries and Wildlife. Here is the site. Just click on your area, or any area for that matter and you will find a list of vendors, and where they are located. http://www.mass.gov/dfwele/dfw/recreation/licensing/vendors/license_vendors.htm They can also be bought and printed out, online.

Surely, for fishing off high piers, there must be a rig like a lure retriever with a stout cord that you can slip over the line, let it slide down the line and snag the fish. Then lift it with the stout cord. Please, no jokes about "but don't call me Shirley".

Only the little guys, and if they wriggle off the hook, all the better. Fishing seated from my canoe, there is no need to lift even the tiny ones out of the water. Just reach over the side and grab 'em. From the platform of a bass boat, I'll lift the little ones. Anything over a pound to a pound and a half, I'll step down into the cockpit, sit in the port seat (which I refer to as my "landing chair") and land them just as I do in my canoe. I fish light line, and while the rods might withstand the strain, the line might not. Most of the time I'm using 4 or 6 pound test line. If it got knicked or scuffed during the fight, it would be considerably less. This past year, I had a nice bass alongside my canoe and it made a last ditch effort for freedom and it broke my rod. In spite of that, it did not get away, thanks in no small measure that I had a light setting on the drag. Even then, it snapped the rod like a twig.

The aluminum boat will tow easier, so you'll save bucks there. At 3.50 per gallon and headed higher, how much you save will depend on how far you tow to get to your fishing holes. You'll burn less gas on the water as well. Fiberglass boats require more upkeep if you want to keep them looking nice. Ultra violet rays from the sun will wreak havoc on the gel coat unless you use a "sunscreen" wax or other finish which offers a measure of protection from those damaging rays. You can beach an aluminum boat most anywhere. Sure you may get a few scratches on the bottom, but they won't do the damage that can result if you do the same with a fiberglass boat, particularly in the colder northern climates. A digger that goes through the gel coat will allow water to get into the composite. Most boats are laid up with a polyester resin which is not waterproof. It will absorb water, even after it's cured. If that moisture remains and the temps go below freezing that moisture will expand and damage the composite, which allows for more water intrusion. If the cycle continues, over a few years it can seriously compromise a good sized area of the hull. No such worries with aluminum. Aluminum boats tend to be more noisy, and more corky in any kind of weather. However, that tendency to bob around on the surface is a plus when the weather really turns nasty. Then, a chop may break over the sides of a fiberglass bass boat where an aluminum version will lift more quickly. So, if you plan to use and somewhat abuse your boat, aluminum is the clear winner. If you're the type who is wiping every speck of dust from your car or boat, and is very careful with your property, a fiberglass boat may be just the ticket. I'll second what has already been said about the wind.