Fishing Rhino

I think it is a matter of semantics, and just what constitutes "relaxing". For me, fishing is relaxing, though not in the same sense as lolling in a hammock with a lemonade. Though it's physical, particularly when you paddle or row, it's challenging, mentally, in the end, the only pressure on you to perform is that which you put on yourself. You can do it your way, at your pace, with no one to answer to. Your job, bonus, or raise is not at stake by how you do fishing. You don't have a superior evaluating your performance. Fishing is a voluntary activity. Some play golf, some are gym rats, others go hiking, mountain climbing, etc. Strenuous activity can be relaxing. It's not a contradiction. It's a paradox. It's relaxing in the sense that I can be physically exhausted, but I am mentally, emotionally, and spiritually refreshed.

I'm more of a plastic or paper man, myself. Though a WalMart greeter is also a viable option.

I'd say if your fishing pays for itself you've done a great job.

Highly increase? Tough to say. Increase? It should. How often, when fishing from shore, have you looked longingly at areas you cannot reach with a cast, or cannot get to or cast from because of trees, bushes, etc. The simple fact that the boat will make new areas accessible should increase your catch. Not only that, but you will be able to cast toward the shore and retrieve to deeper water. In the end, it falls on you making the best use of the boat.

BTW, I believe in dressing appropriately for the weather. Fishing is no longer fun when you're wringing wet and chilled to the bone, or burned to a crisp. Dry is good. Good quality raingear, windbreakers, dressed in layers, just like for golfing. My comments relate strictly to the styling and profiling aspect of dressing for fishing. Hey, if it's what you want to do, great. But please don't look down on those who choose not to.

A quick story about appearance. My uncle who was retired from the Navy would regularly go lobstering with us when he and his wife visited my parents every summer. He was the stereotype Navy guy. A bit rough around the edges, usually had a scrabble of beard, and wore threadworn clothes when he went on the boat. The guy that fished with me was a schoolteacher. One day the fellow who headed up the ROTC at the school came with us. He was a retired Army Colonel, and he fit the stereotype. Not a trace of five o'clock shadow. Pants pressed with pleat, and ditto for his tee shirt. A military man from head to toe. He and my uncle hit it off, and as we headed down the river, they were engaged in animated conversation. Got to the ocean and it all changed. The colonel gradually wilted as mal de mer set in. My uncle gave us knowing smiles as the colonel, in spite of his best efforts, could not maintain his military demeanor and appearance. The moral to this story. You either have it or you don't. The colonel and the sea were just not compatible. Contrary to the Madison Avenue promotion, clothes do not make the man.

Making a living solely from tournament purses? Impossible, I'd say. Kevin Van Dam wouldn't be able to make a living from purses without sponsorships. Without sponsorships there would not be enough participants to have tournaments, hence KVD and others who have won "millions" over their careers would not have won those millions. Only a handful of the pros make enough to cover their expenses from purse money, let alone make a living from it. Just like auto racing, it is sponsor money that makes it all possible.

I suspect it would mess up the pump. There is a reason it comes in glass bottles. But, even if it is compatible with a spray bottle, it's not practical. Any excess is lost. With the bottle, dip it, let the excess drip back into the bottle. I'm hazarding a guess that one half to two thirds will be wasted if you sprayed, rather than dipped.

Chances are the reason you catch more small bass is simply that there are more of them. Due to predation, and other natural causes, some never make it to lunker size. Think about it this way. Of the eggs that hatch after spawning, what percent of those survive the first year? Of the yearlings, how many survive to make it to two years? As you can see, without any scientific study, the census of any year class of fish declines with the passage of time. If the large fish outnumber the small fish, a pond is in trouble.

I see Muddy hasn't replied yet. Here's what he'd say. If you don't know how to spend that ten bucks, he'll be glad to ease your burden. Just send it to him.

When it rains, it pours. Been through those times when the world seems it is out to get you. Just make sure no job interview is scheduled for a Tuesday.

4.25 *** Beaver Craw, watermelon/red flake, with the "claws" dipped in JJ's Magic methylate.

The commodities is like the stock exchange. They are based on speculation. Speculation which often has nothing to do with the profitability of the company whose stock is being traded. The problem with the commodities exchange is that the goods are basically sold at auction, which impacts market prices, while the value of a companies stock does not impact the market price of its goods. Actually, I should correct myself. The way the commodities market acts has little basis in reality of the supply and demand marketplace. Just a year ago, when prices were going through the roof, the explanation was the Chinese were needing all this oil to feed an increased consumption via all these new vehicles they were driving. So what happened? First, am I supposed to believe in the span of just a few months, the chinese were suddenly buying Dodge Hemi's and Escalades in record numbers? When consumption dropped to near record low levels in this country after prices pushed past $4 a gallon last summer, why didn't the prices drop as well? Did the chinese suddenly stop driving vehicles this past winter when prices dropped to $1.50 a gallon across the country? Why should prices start spiking in March and April based on sooth-sayer weather forecasts of hurricanes that MIGHT happen in 4 months? It's a system of middlemen getting to gamble and skews the typical supply and demand system this country was based on. In stock market speculation, when speculation turns to sanity they call it a "correction". Good word. A correction is something one does with mistakes or errors, even if those "errors" are errors in judgement. I have a friend who was in the home heating oil business as well as farming. He'd buy and pay for his heating oil in the summer when it was traditionally at its lowest price for delivery in the cold months. It's how some dealers could guarantee price to customers who "contracted" with them at the lower price. Last winter, he would have taken a bath. Fortunately he sold the business a couple of years ago.

Yes, I do worry about what I look like, but only when it's important to the fish.

I'm a bit embarrassed, but glad for it. As an excuse, I didn't resume fishing until July last year, so I hadn't fished the year's cycle on this pond. The fish were back in the shallows. There does not appear to be further damage to the hyacinth. Perhaps, and I'm hoping this is the case, the trashing of the hyacinth is normal, and they will grow back to full thickness in the next few weeks. The fishing was excellent today. Caught em on the rocky bottom away from the shore on a jig, in the shallows on the RageTail Lobster, and in all depths on a wacky rigged 4" *** watermelon chartreuse laminate worm. Using a circle hook for the worm, it goes through the hyacinth pretty well since the point doesn't penetrate the stems. Things are looking up, and I'm feeling much better. Just on the news. Tom Brady and his fiancee had to be rescued when they tipped their kayak over in the Charles River.

Without traffic it's what, and hour and a half's drive between Richmond and D.C.? That and Atlanta are two places I hate to drive during rush hour. But, for that kind of fishing I'd endure it too. I'll bet you enjoyed the drive home, unless you spent the day on the pond and had to contend with the southbound traffic in the afternoon.

The commodities is like the stock exchange. They are based on speculation. Speculation which often has nothing to do with the profitability of the company whose stock is being traded. The problem with the commodities exchange is that the goods are basically sold at auction, which impacts market prices, while the value of a companies stock does not impact the market price of its goods.

Before September would be my prediction. Sometime early in July.

Some would argue that's anecdotal, not scientific. ;D

It works just that easily. Had occasion to use that technique many years ago. I was fortunate enough to have read about it just a few days before a guy fishing with me buried a hook in the base of his thumb just like that. We didn't have a bottle of booze on hand. ;D The illustration below is a bit different from how I read and did it. The tug on the line was not parallel to the shank. The pulling hand would have been a bit lower than that in the illustration. Reduced the chance that the barb could get a purchase on flesh.

Several years ago, a cosmetics shop had a sign out front that read, "Custom Blended Pure Fumes".

My first question would be, what happened to the grass and weeds? Why did they disappear? Was it the result of a control program where the pond was dragged to get rid of that vegetation? It seems something removed it from the pond. How big a pond? Public or private? A reclaimation project? Find out what happened to the vegetation, and you might find out what happened to the bass. Could they have been netted for transplant, and in the process the vegetation got swept up as well? Is the stuff on the shore, or has it vanished completely? Any tracks from equipment or machinery around the pond that might give you a clue?

Welcome. San Diego. Went there once. Saw the Embarcadero, Point Loma, the San Diego Zoo and its annex out in the boonies. Nice, nice area. Boring weather though. Rarely any extremes except for the mud slides when there is a lot of rain. There were some serious slides and road blockages when we were there around 1980. I believe it was February. If I'm not mistaken, it has the most consistent weather in the U.S. temperature wise.

I've thought about it, briefly. The problem is, this is Mass, not Texas. I don't hunt, don't own a gun, have no license to possess a gun of any type. Mass laws would have me doing jail time, if caught.