Fishing Rhino

I'm trying to figure out if you're bragging, or complaining.

Not yet, but I have snagged three from the briny (ooops not briny) depths. All were spinning rigs. Two were snagged by the rods, the third was snagged by a big black jitterbug, which was probably floating off the bottom. I noticed the line still had tension on it when I got the jitterbug on board. Thought maybe it was wrapped around a rock or timber, but when I hauled back on it, up came a rod. It was the only one of the three that was still usable. Under the "what are the odds?" category. I broke off a jig in about five feet of water. The next day, while fishing the area with a jig, I felt a weight on the line, so I set the hook, and brought up the jig I had lost the day before.

I'm not sure about running the engine out of fuel. When you run out of fuel, you run out of lubrication as well. Perhaps there is enough residual oil on the bearings, so it's not a problem, but it's not something I'd suggest. I know that running a diesel engine out of fuel can result in damage to components in the fuel supply mechanisms, be it injectors, fuel racks, etc, since the fuel supplies lubrication to pumps and injectors. Some diesels, such as the older GM diesels have injectors with the pump as a part of the injector. On others, the injector is basically a nozzle with no moving parts, and a "rack" which pumps and controls the timing and amount of fuel to the injectors.

I think 87 is the octane rating, not the ethanol content. That is regular grade gasoline. Super, or high test usually has a 93 rating. When you choose gasoline at a pump, you select the octane rating, not the ethanol content. The places I've seen gasoline without ethanol have separate pumps for the ethanol free fuel.

Some dinghies do have outboards. That would surely beat rowing one. All I'm saying is that dinghies are designed as short distance shuttles. That does not mean they cannot be used for other things. They are frequently towed behind the "mother ship" which enables the mother ship to be anchored or moored in a harbor while enabling the occupants to be shuttled to shore. They are also called prams (not to be confused with baby carriages), or tenders.

The dinghy was designed for transporting passengers from the shore or dock, or wharf to your larger vessel on a mooring in what is usually sheltered waters. While it's better than nothing, the wind will blow it around as badly or maybe even worse than a canoe. While it may seem they are easy to row, they are not. A canoe, or a kayak will glide between strokes. A dinghy, not so much. Having said all that, if it was all that I had, I would use it. Just be aware of its limitations.

I had a cell phone fall off my belt and into a foot of water, while launching my canoe. I didn't realize it until I was going to use it about six hours later. I found it when we returned to the ramp. I pulled out the battery, and when I got home, I put a hair dryer to it. I reinstalled the battery and it turned on, but when I tried to put some numbers in, it did all sorts of funky things. Out came the battery and let it sit for several days. Put the battery in, and half the numbers would work when I punched the key. Again, out came the battery. This time for about six months. Put the battery in, and hooked up the charger. When it was fully charged, I checked it out, and everything worked perfectly. I got another phone the day after I dunked this one. If anything happens to my current phone, I'll get the swimmer reactivated.

Rain suit? C'mon man, it's "foul weather gear". Rain suit sounds so...................so..............dainty.

Did you buy the boat from a dealer or a private party?

The off season is fast approaching up here. I'll need something to look forward to, even if it's only the countdown 'til I pull out of the driveway and head for the gathering.

All's well that ends well.

Put the boat on a level area like a concrete garage floor. Then use a carpenter's level to make sure the wheels are plumb. Do not put the level on the sidewalls of the tires. They will bulge out at the bottom making for a reading that is not accurate. Cut a piece of wood to a length that will span the diameter of the wheel. Hold the wood against the wheel (not the tire), then hold the level against the wood spacer. The bubble in the level should be in the center. Check the wheels on both sides of the trailer. The bubble should be in the center, or reasonably close to center on both sides. This will show if the wheel is plumb (vertical). Inner tire wear indicates a wheel that leans inward at the top, or is toed out. It could be a bent axle, or, it could be excessive play in the wheel bearings. A wheel that is toed out would also cause a tire to wear on the inside. When a wheel is toed out, it will scrub the leading edge of the tire, which would be the inside edge. If it were to be toed in, it would scrub the outer edge. Your best bet is to take it to a reliable shop that services axles. Usually, a shop that repairs truck springs also does alignment work on trailer axles.

You mistitled the thread, which caused the confusion. Keel rollers, and bunk rollers are two different things. Boats are usually supported on trailers at the keel, at stringers or frames, and at the chines, or any combination thereof. When you change the heights of any supporting members, it may require adjustments to the rest of the supporting components.

That was a drum? Seriously? That would barely be bait for the drum(s) I caught at Guntersville which were from 10 - 15 pounds. Mike/GMan wrested the Drum Major title from me at Pickwick.

On my bass boat, there are two rollers. The one at the rear of the trailer, and the other at the winch stand to support and lock the bow in place so that the boat cannot move from side to side. When the boat is fully loaded, that rear roller is not under the boat. It is behind the stern, like the one seen in the photo below. Does you trailer have bunks or only rollers? If it is like the trailer below, the center rollers should support the weight of the hull, while those on the sides are meant to keep the hull level. If the side rollers were to bear the weight of the boat, the result could be depressions at those rollers. Support for the hull is critical when it is on a trailer. It should be uniformly supported where there are stringers or "bulkheads", or at the keel. In the case of bass boats, they are generally sold as a package, including the trailer. The bunks or rollers are strategically placed where there are stringers or other structural members that can support the weight of the boat without causing the hull to deform. They are usually not adjustable.

Both. The roller at the rear of the trailer is usually a guide roller to help lift the boat onto the trailer. Once the boat is all the way onto the trailer, the only purpose that roller serves is for installing the transom saver.

You can see how much they have dropped the water level by the stain on the rocks. Typical shoreline. The pond is full of rocks, many just beneath the surface. It's fairly shallow with a maximum depth, now, of twelve feet. Used to be thirteen to fourteen feet deep. Many of the homes have docks and boats, some capable of speeds in excess of thirty mph. That may not sound like much, but in this pond, it's foolhardy to go zooming around unless you know the pond very well. Many have marked submerged rocks that pose a hazard with gallon jugs. Still, I doubt that half the hazardous rocks are marked. However the jugs are a great assistance to the fishermen. Casting around the submerged rocks can be very productive at times. Most of the bottom is covered with vegetation, some of which can reach the surface.

Ugh!

The "canal is full of small fish, and I have seen bass up to about ten inches, but nothing of any size. Those purple vines are purple loosestrife. Those plants were not around when I was a kid, but they are literally choking off the shore line of many ponds and lakes around here. The will grow from the shoreline out to a depth of 18 inches. The problem is, they get so thick that when the leaves fall from the trees, they get enmeshed in the vines and decay forming compost. In a few years, grasses begin to sprout in the compost, and it isn't long before trees begin to sprout. In thirty years, the shoreline has encroached fifty feet or more in shallow areas with a gradual sloping bottom. The vines become so thick that I doubt legal size fish could get into them. If they could, you'd never get them out unless you are fishing with steel cable and a winch. I don't know when or how the plants got introduced to this area, which includes much of southern New England, including Cape Cod. I've seen them in New Hampshire ponds, but don't know how far north it has spread. On the plus side, they can easily be uprooted by hand. Some folks on the Cape have done a good job of clearing most of the shoreline of the plants. But, like most other invasive species, it only takes a bit of a root for the plant to survive. To get every last bit of plant would be a monumental task. But, a committed group of people can keep the plants at bay.

Not as much as it used to get because the access channel has gotten smaller because of the vines. Lowering the water level made it a bit trickier. Plastic canoes, kayaks, or other small maneuverable boats can negotiate it without a problem. The fishing has improved as the access channel has degraded. There are a lot of homes around the shore, but you don't see as many fishing as there were a couple of years ago.

This is the route from the public access ramp to one of the ponds near my home. Photos taken on my return to the ramp, which can be seen in the last photo in the top left corner of the photo. You can also see the guard rail of the "highway" just above the ramp. Yes, those are rocks in the third photo. If I had a wide angle lens, you would have seen that it looked much the same on the opposite side of the "channel" A few years ago there were a couple of guys who took their Bass Trackers through this channel. And there was one hardy, though not too bright soul who traversed this route in a very nice Ranger. One on the trolling motor, the other on the stern with a push, or pull pole (boat hook) to keep the fiberglass hull off the rocks. The purple loosestrife vines had not intruded quite so much into the channel, and the water level was about a foot higher. For some reason, Fall River, which owns the water rights to the pond lowered the level to keep South Watuppa in balance, whatever that means. It's a five minute cruise, provided that you don't get hung up along the way.

I disagree with your only rule. You can become a better angler by learning from the experiences of others, be it through any form of communication, printed, spoken, or video. If all one did was to fish, everything they learned would be through trial and error. Why not learn from the experience of those who share their knowledge, and eliminate a lot of trial and error?

Coke on the rocks with a Dr. Pepper chaser? You really like living on the edge.

The next time you go fishing, take every bait, except for your "ol' trusty setups", out of your boat, and fish like you did before getting your new boat.