Fishing Rhino

I use Power Pro Yellow for my 15 pound test braid. Red for ten, green for 20. Mostly have used the yellow for fishing with jigs. But have also used the red, with no noticable difference in catch rates. I may swap colors, yellow for 10, and red for 15. Most of my braid fishing is done with 10 pound test. I prefer the yellow. The red starts out a nice dark red, but quickly fades to a drab red. It's just an esthetic preference.

WD 40 for scent? I've heard all sorts of urban legends when I was lobstering. Some old timers claimed used oil filters were a great bait. Others claimed bricks soaked in kerosene worked very well. Some claimed that a red can, like an empty Coke can in the parlor would attract lobsters because they thought it was a lobster. This one should sound familiar to the bassin fraternity. Some claimed the red color of the can did not matter. They said the rattle of the can produced by currents is what attracted lobsters. Can you say Rattletraps, jigs with rattles, etc. Never tried the filter or brick things, but we did put empty tin cans in half the traps, kept notes and saw no significant difference one way or the other. What we did try as a joke with interesting results was a stinky cheese that was given to us. When the run was on, we put the cheese in a bait bag and set the trap. The next time we hauled it, it had eight counters, or keepers. What attracted them? At least two things. First the calcium, and second the fat/oils. When lobsters shed, the first thing they eat is their old shell to get the calcium needed to harden up the new shell. They'll also eat shells from shellfish that have died. Cheese is high in calcium. The second is the oils. It amounts to chumming. The lobster downcurrent from the trap will follow the oil slick to the trap. As for the rattling, I don't have a clue, not even a guess.

Yes, you can run multiple tvs off the single box. To do it, you'll need a splitter. They are available almost anywhere. Home Depot, Best Buy, Radio Shack, hardware stores. Use a short cable to connect the splitter to the box. You'll connect the box to the lone connector on one side. Then run two cables, one to each tv from the splitter, and you're good to go. This is a typical splitter. Can be had for a few bucks.

Can't advise you regarding tobacco, but you might think about changing your screen name to Popeye.

Here's what I want to know. Was Hoover one of Kevin Van's ancestors?

That particular whale is a three time loser.

Providence tv station. Flood warning. 1.8 inches of rain yesterday, 2 more inches forecast for today. If it were snow, close to 40 inches. Thank you Atlantic Ocean and southerly winds.

I'll add another. Not as funny as the chicken thing, but quite funny in its own right. I was with a friend at the fishing docks in Fairhaven, across the Acushnet River from New Bedford. We heard some angry hollering, and found its source. It was a father and son in a heated argument. I knew them both, and they were really nice guys, but put dad and son together, and the sparks would fly. The dad was known to everyone as "The Greek" because of his nationality. Both men approached Sumo wrestler proportions. Funny thing, the dad, for all his size had a squeaky high pitched voice. Well, they were working on lobster gear, and loading the boat. As the argument got more heated, the son slammed one of the lobster pots to the ground. The dad, who was working a short distance away, not to be outdone, slammed his to the ground even harder. One would shout at the other, and slam something to the ground. The other would get even fiercer and slam something he had to the ground. It brought to mind a couple of rams snorting, stamping and pawing at the ground. The challenge prior to the fight. The analogy is not far off the mark. At some point, they stepped away from their gear, and charged at each other. No punches were thrown. They were engaged in what must be a traditional Greek way of settling arguments. Belly bucking. Like a couple of rams, but using bellies rather than heads, they'd charge, thrust out their ample guts and crash into each other, then rebound backward. Neither fell to the ground. After a half dozen or so of these charges, without a word to each other they went back to working on their lobster gear.

Just rain here, in southeast MA. But in the snowbelt along the Mass pike they are getting hammered. Lived in Holliston, MA the first four years we were married. Worcester/Framingham area. We might get some snow mixing with the rain, but for now, it looks like the worst will pass to the north.

Same invite for you if you ever leave your haunts and head east for any reason. There are a couple of nice ponds in the Cape Cod area that allow me to do reasonably well, with both largemouth and smallmouth. My favorite I'd avoid in the summer. Too many boaters of all kinds. But the others would lead you to believe the Cape was deserted, even in high season, Fourth of July to Labor Day. Thanks, Tom. I do make it back East every now and then, but not usually quite that far east. My wife has been salivating over a beach vacation, so I'll let you know if our summer plans allow me to actually take you up on that offer. I'm less than an hour from Cape Cod. If she wants a beach vacation, the Cape is tough to beat after Labor Day. The weather is still splendid, and the crowds are gone. The rates for rooms also drop considerably. Horseneck Beach in Westport isn't too shabby either. It's at the entrance to Buzzards Bay which leads to the Cape Cod Canal. The beach in the photos above and below is two miles long.

Same invite for you if you ever leave your haunts and head east for any reason. There are a couple of nice ponds in the Cape Cod area that allow me to do reasonably well, with both largemouth and smallmouth. My favorite I'd avoid in the summer. Too many boaters of all kinds. But the others would lead you to believe the Cape was deserted, even in high season, Fourth of July to Labor Day.

Sometimes they just are not interested. I remember one instance when I was a kid, whose targets were bluegills, yellow perch, hornpout and other sunfish. I saw a bass sitting in very shallow water with its tail only inches from the shore. Looked like it weighed ten pounds to me back then. It was probably only a couple of pounds. I dangled my worm baited hook right in front of its nose. Nothing. I brought the worm into contact with its nose. Nothing. And this was a live wriggling worm. Too smart? Too fearful? I have no idea. It just sat there, gently maintaining position with slight movement of its pectoral fins. They, plus its gills working were the only indications that it was alive. I thought briefly about trying to bop it with a rock, but vetoed that thought. I watched it for a while and walked away. I could have sworn it winked at me as I walked away. True story, except for the winking part. It's just the way it is on some days.

I call it a pond simply because it is named Devol Pond. Whether it meets the actual definition of a pond I do not know. No stream in, but there is a swamp at the north end which drains into Sawdy pond. Not man made, though most of the rocks around the shore got there when farmers cleared rocks from the fields and dumped them into the pond. As you can see from the photos in a prior post, most of those fields have reverted to woodland. The only fields remaining are on the east side of the pond. It was once a smallmouth pond, until a tanker truck hauling largemouths to a nearby pond broke down on Sodom Road. A local farmer hooked his tractor to the rig, and towed it to the pond, where its contents were emptied. The pond has always been a place for catching much larger than average fish for this area. I've caught several from this pond that were over five pounds, according to my Langley Deliar 50 -55 years ago. Also caught a 36 inch pickerel, and a 16 1/2 inch crappie back in that era. My dad won a season long "derby" at his workplace with a 7-14 smallmouth. For whatever reason, surviving the winter does not seem to be a problem, since there are plenty of large (for this area) of bass that can be caught on a daily basis. There are very few days when I do not catch a three pound largemouth. Somedays, they seem common. My favorite photo on this pond. This one got away, but you can see its back in the photo, and the boil it produced which pushed some of the pads underwater. And one that didn't get away. My avatar was taken on this pond. If you ever get out this way, it would be a pleasure to take you fishing on this pond/lake.

Tom, If those perch are truly a pound, (~13"), or bigger than ~10" period, then I would say that they would have to be eating smaller fish. Where you found them makes perfect sense as they tend to be more pelagic-oriented. They are also voracious piscivorous, and very prolific reproducers. So...my guess from 2000 miles away is: they are sustained by YOY fishes -probably their own offspring. One other thing I'd ask is: Can those perch get in from the ocean or larger lake? That would be obvious to you, so I doubt it but have to ask. White perch are such effective open water piscivores that they can be fierce competitors with bass for food, and can crop down YOY of all species. YOY bass will move offshore to feed on plankton and midges, but a large popn of white perch would likely alter that scenario. Best survivorship in bass and other species is likely the shoreline vegetation. I bet your bass eat YOY white perch too. I would look into research on freshwater juv white perch behavior cases. What tendencies do they have? Find those young WP and you've got a bead on your bass too. Offshore xmas trees might be such a location. The insect hatch sounds like a midge hatch. From the sound of your description I suspect a tube-net variety. Most burrowing midges are larger and look like mosquito's. Look on the substrate and boulders and look for tiny (minute) vermiculated (wormy) markings that look like...dust or algae growth on the rock surfaces. These would be net spinning midges. They can cover entire pond substrates and produce billions of tiny adults. They feed very tiny fishes. The white perch are very large indeed. I have caught them in other ponds, and seen them seined in the Westport River, but very few of them match these for size. As for a path to the ocean. There is, but, there is a kicker. The outlet is at the north end of the pond as a small stream. Then it meanders a short distance into a swamp which flows into Sawdy Pond. Sawdy pond has an outlet at the north end which flows into South Watuppa Pond. The swamp would be one obstruction for fish to make their way into Devol. But the small dam, which is a couple of vertical pieces of channel iron with wood planks betwen them would block young fish returning from the sea. There does not appear to be any openings in this "dam" because there is not so much as a trickle that flows through it. The drop from the top plank to the water level below is four or five feet. South Watuppa's outlet is the Quequeshan river which flows beneath the city into the Taunton River, which is a tidal salt water river. The waters of the Taunton River flow to the ocean by way of Narragansett Bay, and the Sakonnet Passage. The other thing is, I have never caught, nor have I heard of anyone catching an eel in this pond. Looking north from where I put in, you can follow the brown stalks of the dormant purple loosestrife around the edge of the pond. The exit is in the greenery between the loosestrife to the left and right. Looking north from the dock. The shore at the top is nearly a half mile away. Taken in zoom mode which compressed the perspective.

I may have missed it since I quickly scanned this thread. But, no one mentioned Social Security. If you are enrolled (making contributions from your pay) in Social Security you already have disability insurance, of some sort. I'm not familiar with the particulars, but I do know a fellow who was injured at work, and qualified for it. It won't pay what you were making, like some policies will, but you should consider it when determining how much you need to survive comfortably in the event you become disabled. It will pay what you would have qualified for to get full benefits at 66 years of age. The age thing depends upon the individual, since the age for maximum benefits is incrementally rising. It doesn't matter your age at the time of your disability. You begin collecting max from the time you qualify as disabled.

Then you should have posted it in the same small font as your "hope". It would make it less likely that she will see it.

The truth is, climate change, once called global warming, has been taking place long before man walked the earth. There have been three, documented by core samples, occasions when the Great Barrier Reef was sixty feet above sea level. The Northeast, where I live was beneath a glacier. As for the rising sea levels, no one seems to mention this, but how much of that is due to coastal erosion? The truth is, that if the sun burns long enough, and all remains as it is today without a cataclismic incident, that sea water will eventually cover the entire face of the planet. Over eons, erosion from wind, rain, rivers, etc., will wash everything into the sea. Geologic activity is likely to push other areas above sea level. But that too has nothing to do with man.

When all else fails, read the directions, or, in this case, the dictionary. Fishing, and hunting for that matter, may not fit "your definition of sport". Yet, those who participate in both activities (notice, I studiously avoided using the word sports) are commonly known as "sportsmen". Hmmmmmm. See all definitions, but pay attention to number one. Now if you want to argue as to whether or not fishermen are athletes.................................. sport[ch8194] [ch8194]/sp[ch596]rt, spo[ch650]rt/ Show Spelled[spawrt, spohrt] Show IPA noun 1.an athletic activity requiring skill or physical prowess and often of a competitive nature, as racing, baseball, tennis, golf,bowling, wrestling, boxing, hunting, fishing, etc. 2.a particular form of this, esp. in the out of doors. 3.diversion; recreation; pleasant pastime. 4.jest; fun; mirth; pleasantry: What he said in sport was taken seriously. 5.mockery; ridicule; derision: They made sport of him. 6.an object of derision; laughingstock. 7.something treated lightly or tossed about like a plaything. 8.something or someone subject to the whims or vicissitudes of fate, circumstances, etc. 9.a sportsman. 10.Informal. a person who behaves in a sportsmanlike, fair, or admirable manner; an accommodating person: He was a sport and took his defeat well. 11.Informal. a person who is interested in sports as an occasion for gambling; gambler. 12.Informal. a flashy person; one who wears showy clothes, affects smart manners, pursues pleasurable pastimes, or the like; a bon vivant. 13.Biology. an organism or part that shows an unusual or singular deviation from the normal or parent type; mutation. 14.Obsolete. amorous dalliance. adjective 15.of, pertaining to, or used in sports or a particular sport. 16.suitable for outdoor or informal wear: sport clothes. verb (used without object) 17.to amuse oneself with some pleasant pastime or recreation. 18.to play, frolic, or gambol, as a child or an animal. 19.to engage in some open-air or athletic pastime or sport. 20.to trifle or treat lightly: to sport with another's emotions. 21.to mock, scoff, or tease: to sport at suburban life. 22.Botany. to mutate. verb (used with object) 23.to pass (time) in amusement or sport. 24.to spend or squander lightly or recklessly (often fol. by away). 25.Informal. to wear, display, carry, etc., esp. with ostentation; show off: to sport a new mink coat. 26.Archaic. to amuse (esp. oneself). Idiom 27.sport one's oak. oak (def. 5).

Milk chocolate. Dark sometimes makes me sneeze.

I have a question regarding the above. First, a description of my favorite pond. Half mile long, quarter mile wide. Mostly a very rocky shoreline with abundant vegetation along the shoreline. Purple loosestrife the predominant plant, but also reeds, arrowhead, and a few patches of very tall grasses tight to the shore. Lily pad beds in a few places. The pond is about six feet deep everywhere but the rocky shelf around the shoreline. There are three nine foot holes which are probably springs. Away from the shore, the bottom is predominantly, if not totally a soft mud, probably sediment washed into the pond from the surrounding land. The pond sits in a hollow. There is no vegetation to my knowlege in the six foot depths. When I have anchored in this area, the anchor comes up with nothing but mud. No mussels, no gravel, no plant life, just a soft sticky mud. That bottom is absolutely featureless save for the three small holes. The bottom echo never changes. The pond has a large biomass of white perch. I have seen the screen on my sounder turn black several times because the school is so dense. I have fished these schools with a small Mepps spinner and caught white perch after white perch that are over a pound. Occasionally, I'll pull in a crappie, and very rarely a yellow perch, but not a bluegill or any other of the sunfish family. Only once did I manage to catch largemouth bass away from the shore. And I did get into a school, catching a half dozen or so while anchored. I took some bearings from landmarks to be able to go back to that spot again, but never got a hit after that. It's possible that someone tossed a few Christmas trees at that place, and I stumbled onto it by pure luck. Not having a sounder at the time, to check out the bottom to which I was casting, leaves me clueless. The bass may have been hanging in that spot or merely moving through. Here's my question. What is your best conclusion regarding what is sustaining such a large population of white perch? Would it be the midge larvae? There have been a few times when all is quiet and calm that I have seen the surface thick with some type of hatch. So thick that at first glance it looks like a layer of dust or pollen on the surface. Close examination reveals it to be otherwise. There are a pair of Osprey which have a nest nearby, and are usually seen "fishing" everyday. There is also a pair of Grey Heron, but they wade in the shallows feeding on smaller than trophy fish. A snowy egret or two are also regularly seen. The worst are three or four cormorants which fish the "bassless waters" inhabited by the white perch.

I've heard about the guy who went to a fight, and a hockey game broke out. Now I've been to a thread about Quantum reels, and an English or grammar lesson broke out.

I should not tell such a story on myself. But I'm secure enough, or senile enough to do so. Goes back to the early 50s when I was ten or eleven years old. The gas station up the corner sold cigarettes, soda and other odds and ends in addition to gasoline and oil. They sold a couple of styles of balsa planes. One was a balsa stick about a half inch square and five or six inches long. The fuselage had a slot for the wing to slide through, and the tail had slots to receive the vertical and horizontal tail pieces. On the front of the fuselage was a metal band that wrapped around a bit to take the abuse of nosedives. The wing could be slid forward or back to make it fly reasonably straight or to do loops. With it in the looping position you'd toss it toward the ground, and if done right, the plane would make a couple of loop de loops before coming to rest on the ground. We had chickens that roamed around in the yard. On one of my particulary good tosses, the plane made the first loop, and lodged itself in the rectum of one of the chickens. The chicken lept into the air, then ran around wildly trying to get the foreign object out of its rear. Believe me, having a beverage come out of your nose is nothing compared to what happened to me, because I laughed so hard. My mom made me go into the creek that ran alongside our property to take off and rinse out my drawers. Then there was the time a mouse ran up my pants leg and I managed to pin him to my leg about four inches short of where it could have done some serious damage. I managed to undo my pants with the other hand, then get my jeans off while keeping my grip on the mouse beneath my jeans with the other. Both are memorable, but the chicken running around with the balsa plane sticking out of its rear end takes the cake. You've heard about chickens running around with their heads cut off. Trust me, that's a slow waltz compared to the gyrations that chicken performed. By the way, the chicken survived, though its dignity was in tatters.

Wish I had an answer, but I don't. Having no problem sending or receiving messages. Weird that you got one from Jan 26th. Must have gotten lost in the mail.

Best wishes in your endeavor. I have a good friend who farms in nearby Portsmouth, RI, has a fruit and vegetable stand, and several green houses. He does not approach an acre and a half's worth or green houses, but he does very well. But, like anything else, you get out of it what you put into it. He does sell some of his greenhouse product at market, but most of it at retail through the stand. It's like having a baby. You have to practice constant vigilance. Alarms if the greenhouse gets too cool or too hot, or if some system fails. Like all other farming, there is always something to do. Depending on the type of operation, there is usually a break in the action where you can take some time for yourself. The potential is there. Here's hoping it all works well for you.

I'm going to throw one monkeywrench into the oxygen saturation equation. I understand that dying/decaying vegetation consumes oxygen, lowering the oxygen levels somewhat in their vicinity. But, take this into consideration. Vegetation such as lily pads are usually dying off in cooler water than was present when they were at their peak. Probably several degrees cooler. Since this cooler water can hold more oxygen, it occurs to me there is somewhat of an offset. Is it possible that oxygen levels in the water around the dying vegetation is actually higher than it is in the midst of summer? On the seesaw of oxygen levels when you calculate how much oxygen is taken for the decomposition of vegetation on one side with increase capacity of cooler water to hold oxygen, which side wins? Or is it like many other things in nature a delicate balancing act where one thing takes away, but something else provides an offset to keep things in balance in order to sustain life. Right now, around here, there are no leaves, and the grass is brown, yet I know of no one suffering from oxygen depletion. Winds sweeping the face of the earth keep the distribution of atmospheric gas levels in balance. I'm wondering if this is a case of overthinking. Do fish seek higher oxygen levels, or warmer temps. Everything else being equal, the two are not compatible, since higher oxygen levels occur in cooler water. I'm not disagreeing with any of the previous assertions. These are questions buzzing through my mind as I try to sort out the overall equation.