Fishing Rhino

I think a city in Illinois may have swiped your Chi to use in its name.

Try the four inch Senkos. I used to use the five inch but decided to try the four inch, primarily because a few years ago you got more worms per package in the four inch length. I haven't bought a five inch since. I still have a lot of the five inch and try them from time to time but prefer the four inch. Your experience may be different, but it's worth a try.

That's what it looks like to me. I'd say it still is a bumper (latch).

When I have something I don't use, I don't throw it in the trash. I give it to someone who will use it. My first real spinning rod was a Shakespeare, two piece Wonder Rod. My mother got it for me with S&H green stamps. I caught largemouth, smallmouth, striped bass up to 15 pounds, and Bluefish for a while until I could buy a suitable rod for salt water. When the pieces got difficult to separate, I'd rub the male connection in the area of my nose where the nostril flares out. Just enough oil to make for easy assembly and disassembly, but not so much that I had to keep pushing the two pieces back together. I still have the rod today. The eyes are secured with electrical tape, but prior to that, I literally used bandaids to keep the eyes in place, as well as medical adhesive tape. Whatever I had at hand that would do the job. I tried fishing with it a couple of years ago, just for the fun of it. I don't know how I caught a thing with it. It is so limber, I couldn't feel a thing, not even the rat-a-tat strikes of yellow perch or sunfish. What a piece of junk, literally. But, when I first got it, it was the greatest rod in the world, and it served me well for several years. And it came with a Pflueger Freespeed spinning reel, which at that time were affectionately known as coffee grinders. If I hadn't gotten that rod, who knows if I'd be fishing today.

I've used the Palomar on six pound test fluorocarbon line with no problems. The tag end should be passed down through the eye so that it holds the hook in the proper attitude. Leave a long enough tail to allow for plenty of adjustment on the drop shot weight.

I cannot begin to tell you how many folks I have put on their personal best catch. The species include, but are not limited to, smallmouth bass, largemouth bass, striped bass, and bluefish. Not bragging, and it was actually quite easy to do. How so? you ask. Because those bests also happened to be their first catch of said species.

One man's "junk" is another man's treasure.

It's a shame to just toss it away. If you don't want to use it, put a tip on it and give it to a kid, or even an adult, who can use it for pan fish, or maybe even a bass or two. It's certainly a lot better than nothing for someone who cannot afford a "quality" rod. It's a lot better than the bamboo and kite string rig that I started fishing with, and that I had a lot of fun catching perch, sunfish, and the very occasional pickerel. Bass? I didn't even know what they were back then. They hadn't been created yet.

I use Seaguar InvisX. Okay, it is expensive at about twenty bucks for a 200 yard spool. Make that sixteen if you get it on sale at 20% off, which TW does three or four times per year Sure, I could put the whole two hundred yards of six pound test on a Shimano Saros 2500, but I don't. I put on some cheap backing, enough to leave room for a hundred yards of InvisX. A hundred yards is more than adequate. So, I get two reels spooled with InvisX for eight bucks per spool. In fact, it's even less than that because when I need line, I buy the thousand yard spool of InvisX when it goes on sale for about sixty bucks. That means I spend six bucks per reel for a quality line. That will last me until I refill the reel for the next season. Even if you had to load your reel twice during the season, it will cost you sixteen dollars. That's not a lot of money for a season's worth of fishing. You can get some econo fluorocarbon and save yourself maybe eight bucks over the season. But, you may have to put up with stiffness, more difficult knot tying, and casting noise as the straw goes through the guides, even with a generous dosing of line conditioner. Speaking of conditioner, I don't need it with the InvisX. How much is a bottle of line conditioner? How much will you use in the course of the season. I don't know, but it wouldn't surprise me if cheap line plus conditioner will cost more over for the season than a quality line which doesn't need it.

Time for a confession. When I saw the title of this thread I wasn't sure if it was about getting a few free puffs from cigarettes that hadn't been smoked down to the filter, or a magazine featuring the derrieres of attractive females. Wrong on both counts.

We have brown recluse spiders in this part of New England. The fellow that works with me got bit on the shin by one, and it is ugly. He's fortunate that he got it checked out right away. Even then, there was a lot of dead tissue around the spot where he got bit by the spider. Nasty, ugly, brown, black and blue area, about four or five inches in diameter with tissue sloughing off. Even worse than that, another fellow I know got bit by a tick, not sure which kind, and what happened to him is worse than Lyme Disease. In less than a week, he was light headed, had no energy, and would lose his balance and stumble. He was finally taken to the hospital by his neighbor who knew he was having problems. His heart valves are operating at less than fifty percent. He is on meds, which they are hoping will help with that, but if not, when he has recovered sufficiently, he is looking at valve replacements. It could have been avoided had he gone to the hospital when the symptoms first appeared. DO NOT BE A HERO, be seen by a doctor at the first sign of symptoms from any insect bite, be it redness or swelling in the vicinity of the bite. There is a lot of nasty stuff out there.

The question is not, "Will it float?" The question should be, "Is it safe?"

Some how I posted the reply twice. Used to be able to delete a post but I can't find the delete button. I edited the post by deleting everything but it would let me do that. So, that's why this post.

Just for the sake of nostalgia I took my canoe onto Lake Noquochoke in Dartmouth. I grew up less than a half mile from the lake and spent a lot of time on it when I was a kid, boating, water skiing, riding a water saucer, etc. I spent about three hours on the "lake". Shortly after getting there I caught my first bass, about a pound and a half. As things turned out it was also my last bass. I usually go once a year, just for old time's sake. Some days I've done okay, but most of the time it's casting practice. With that in the rear view mirror it's off to where I can reasonably expect to do much better. Meeting up with Grampa tomorrow for an excursion around Webster. Then later in the week I'm planning to spend a day fishing from my bass boat, which has sat idle for six or seven weeks.

When it does that, squeeze the primer bulb to see if it's hard. For seemingly no reason I have that problem from time to time when getting the boat up on plane. It will accelerate then die down. Could be some of the things Way2slow said, or an air leak in the fuel line which prevents the fuel pump from picking up fuel. It has done that since it was new. Brought it back to BPS and they hooked it up to the computer and did not find anything. So what I do is to squeeze the primer bulb before heading out onto the water. As Way2slow said, the intermittent problems are the most difficult to solve. I have a friend whose boat did the same thing. We were both out on the same lake so he called me in case he needed a tow back to the dock. When I got to him I checked his primer bulb, and sure enough, it was soft. About five or six squeezes and he was back in business. This is my fifth year with the boat. At the end of this year I'll replace all the components in the fuel line, and see what that does.

Here's a hint to dramatically reduce the drying time for a drenched carpet. A wet or dry shop vac is your best friend. A small cheap one will work just fine, and will leave the carpet nearly dry to the touch when done. This helps your carpet in two ways. It not only removes the water, but also removes most of the grit which is what damages all carpets including those in your home.

Regarding marine grade plywood, the only difference between marine grade plywood and the typical exterior grade plywoods is that marine plywood has no voids in the core. This is important in boats because voids in the wrong area can collapse and compromise the structure. However, there is a readily available product that can be found in Home Depot or Lowes, Baltic birch plywood. It is in fact more stable than the typical marine grade plywood because it has more layers per thickness and it also has no voids in the core layers. It comes in 5' X 5' panels, but Home Depot and Lowes sell it in smaller pieces. The rod holder in my paddling canoe is made with Baltic birch plywood. It's approximately 3/8" thick, and has many layers which prevent it from warping or cupping.

I have both, but prefer the good ol' standard type. The inflatables require maintenance. Though highly unlikely, the inflatable type can fail. This bulky looking thing does not restrict my fishing in any way, and it fits under my foul weather gear. Whatever you choose, get a color that will make you more visible on the surface of the water. I do have a couple of inflatable Mustangs for guests. They take up less storage space and one size fits all.

Sorry to hear that. I doubt your situation is limited to Haverhill. I think it would happen at most ramps or fishing areas. When I got my new truck last year it came with a chrome sleeve on the tip of the exhaust pipe. I launched my boat at the public ramp at the south end of Webster Lake and when I came back, someone had stolen it. They had to use a wrench to get it off so it required a bit of effort, but the truck was parked with the exhaust on the side near the woods so they could do it without being obvious. Some areas look better than others, but the "undesirables" frequent all of them at one time or another.

Sounds like you could do that. To support the piece you cut out and move to the back of the opening, secure a piece of 3/4" plywood to the underside of the deck. Make sure you have a minimum of two to three inches of overlap on the sides and back. Then screw the piece you cut out at the front to the piece you just fastened to the underside of the deck. When you cut out the piece in the front, do it carefully with a saber saw and a thin blade, taking care not to damage the carpet on top. When you move that piece to the back, it will have the carpet on it. There might be a small line visible at the outline of the carpet. Hopefully you can live with that. Or if the existing carpet is worn, now might be a good time to replace it and eliminate the gap on the sides and back of your filler piece.

Who's out of touch? The owners? The players? I'll vote for both.

Goodell was the commissioner. The judge made him the eunuch of the NFL.

A good list. But, I put Stabil in the gas jugs when I fill them up. Can never tell if I'll have enough fuel to last through the fall and winter. It all hinges on the weather. If we lose power, I'll need it for the generator. If it snows, I'll need it for the snow blower. If I don't need to run any of those over the winter, they'll be good to go in the spring for the lawn and garden equipment. The boat gets Marine Stabil at every fill up, so come fall and winter, it gets winterized and is good to go if I drag it down South, or go fishing in early spring around here.

Get an estimate from someone who does that type of work in your area. When shopping for someone to do the job, be sure to ask for references, and then ask to see the boat. Prices can vary considerably from one area to another.

Outstanding! Glad to hear it.