TOXIC

You probably wouldn’t recognize the lake today. Development has really taken over. I was a guide for many years and it got to the point that it was very unpleasant to be out on the lake during the summer months. I now spend most of my time winter fishing on the private or “hot” side of Anna, then transition over to the Rappahonock or Potomac rivers for summer fishing. As a matter of fact heading to the Rappahonock Sunday for the first trip of the year over there.

I always thought it was strange that the majority fish a baitcaster with the left and reel with the right and then on spinning gear do the exact opposite. When choosing, most all spinning reels have the option to move the handle to the right side to match what I do with a baitcaster so that what I do. My fear being a guide and on the water a lot was that I would develop tendon problems due to matching the setup with both spinning and baitcasters but luckily that hasn’t happened.

Well, well, somebody who fishes the same style as me. I’m not against using braid and I do for some applications but for soft plastics, crankbaits, spinnerbaits, and all of my finesse applications, I use straight mono. I have good gear to make the fight in my favor and I have adjusted my casting, gear and hookset to match the qualities of mono. I have not found a reason to change. I too use EXCEL because it’s cheap and has, for the most part, performed well. I have had an occasional bad spool and you need to change it out a bit more regularly but at its price point (I got 300yard spools on sale for $4.50 a spool), it’s not bad.

@bishoptf your logic is solid. As for dual vs single trailer, it’s really a preference since you don’t require it for the weight. Things to consider that would influence my “preference”:are some things you already mentioned like maneuvering a dual vs single depending on your garage setup. While it is nice have 4:on the road there are some drawbacks. You have to replace 4 tires, you have to service 4 bearings and you have the possibility of problems with 2 axles rather than 1. Finally the small amount of additional weight will tax your tow vehicle more and will decrease mpg.

He brings up some good points but he glosses over the non tournament fisherman who is more than happy to catch that 2 pound male guarding the eggs or fry and which subsequently allows the predation of the bed and fry. If that is your issue then there is no denying that happens. I know that in the studies done by the DNR on Lake St Clair when deciding to open the season to immediate catch and release from a closed season, they found that despite the predation of the beds, the number of fish spawning and the number of beds that will not be found or fished, are so numerous that it does not impact the overall fish population. Still, I’m not making a judgement call on whether or not fishing during the spawn is ethical but rather relying on science and the experts to give the facts so that I can make an informed decision.

Actually parts wise it was only the reduction valve on the main incoming line and I had them replace the feeder line to our lower level toilet (was old style hard line) and upgrade the guts since it was the old flapper style. They did say it might flare up again but they were pretty sure they got most of it. I have to change my ice maker/water dispenser filter in the refrigerator but they told me to wait a month or so. 3 guys, one of which was the Master Plumber directing the other 2, from 11am until 2pm and my bill was $750. They did say my next item ought to be the 80 gallon water heater that is 13 years old. Not leaking but they couldn’t flush due to sediment. Always something. Next up is my oversized asphalt driveway with a spur to park the boat. It’s getting repaired/sealed in 2 weeks.

The only story I have committed to memory is after a bad experience with Yukon Jack. “Yukon Jack is a taste born of hoary nights when men struggled to keep their campfires lit and their cabins warm, such are the nights of Yukon Jack” that is from memory and I might be a little off but the memory of waking up in a hotel bathtub is still strong.😂

Problem is that the charcoal got past all of the main pipe and lodged in the screens in the fixtures. No way to back flush those. All of the toilets have the “new” style guts and the fill valve clogged above the toilet water line in the tank itself. The fill line comes out of the wall below the tank. All of the fill valves had to be pulled. They did let all of the house water drain back from the lines.

Well, well, here’s the answer. Plumber came out with a 3 man crew and in the first bathroom, pulled the top off the toilet filler mechanism and it was solid black rocks. He asked if I had a whole house filter and I answered yes, he said let’s go have a look at it. From the outside it looked good but when we took the filter out, the inside it had exploded and pumped charcoal throughout the whole house. The charcoal is clogging all of the filters on everything. They are now in the process of pulling every fixture and flushing them. Just for reference, he pulled the psi coming into the house and is at 130psi. He said that’s downright dangerous. We are on a community well that when the house was built in 1975 reducing valves weren’t required. As the neighborhood grew and more taps were made to the system, they had to up the pressure to get it to more houses. We just had a water main break and repair and he said that probably spiked the pressure due to the new pipe which may have been leaking for a while. Ugggg….at least we will be good after today.

When I lived in Iowa (between Ottumwa and Oskaloosa) on a 130 acre farm, the young farmers in the area would group up on snow machines and go hunting for wolves, coyotes and packs of feral dogs that attacked their livestock. They always got a few wolves.

Here’s a head scratcher. Got up this morning and the wife said the toilet in our master bath is running. I thought thats weird, I just replaced the guts last summer. Go in and sure enough it’s running fill cycle with a full tank so I flush it to see if it will shut off. It flushes fine but is refilling at a trickle….hmmmm……it fills and keeps running even when the tank is full and I lift up on the fill arm. So I go into the main bathroom and flush the toilet and just like the other, it is not filling normally. Very, very slow. I replaced the guts on that toilet less than a month ago. It also is running after the tank is full. Reach over and turn the sink faucet on and it’s normal. So I go downstairs and flush the toilet down there and just like the other 2, it’s not refilling normally and when it does fill, it’s not shutting off. We had called the water authority (we are on a community well) to see if they were flushing the lines. They sent a tech out and he had me turn on my outside spigot (was turned off for winter) and he measured plenty of pressure, borderline too much according to him. So, no problem with the incoming lines but all three toilets are not refilling and now the lower level one and the main bathroom one are also is overfilling once it does get to full tank. I’m dumbfounded. Went outside to do some yard work and noticed the spigot I turned on from its winter slumber for the water tech to test is trickling and I can’t shut it off completely. Back in the house to turn that line off. It’s on the same line as the kitchen faucet and it’s running slow as well. All of the other water outlets, sinks showers, etc., seem to be fine. Common response from my friend network (some of which are plumbers) seems to be sediment in the lines. I’m skeptical because I have a whole house filtration system and it’s not overly dirty. We are on a community well so I guess there could have been a pressure spike that dislodged sediment in the lines after the filter but that seems odd because most of the fixtures work fine. I had one of my buddies offer to walk me through flushing all the lines but I prefer to let a professional deal with this one. It sure has me baffled.

There is no denying that predation takes place when a fish is pulled off the bed. On St Clair it’s gills and gobies and rock bass and white perch and yellow perch and, and, and. I’m not passing judgement on anyone who bed fishes but all those pictures of big smallmouth posted proudly during the spawn are of fish that normally would be a lot harder to catch and were more than likely in some phase of the spawn. You have to trust the DNR of your particular state to determine if there needs to be a ban on catching spawning fish. All I know is that when it was studied on St Clair it was determined that the predation that took place was not harmful to the overall spawn. That’s good for the trophy hunters. If you have a moral problem with it or your particular state bans it, by all means don’t do it.

My weimaraner’s favorite treat was deer poop. He never passed up a chance to gobble it up like a fat kid eating birthday cake. He also enjoyed the scent because what he didn’t eat he rolled in.

Well, there ya go. Learned something new today. Thanks for the clarification. I am not a Shad fisherman by any means.

I thought so too until I saw the elongated fin. None of the other Shad species have that extended dorsal.

Since they are a sponsor, I have most every style and weight. The one I was using that day was a hologram.

Lots has been written lately on the good and bad for dogs. I have a friend in Michigan who’s wife runs a store called Pupper Budder and they have done massive research and started out making dog treats at home and got so overwhelmed, they had to go to a commercial kitchen and open up a storefront. They only sell healthy treats.https://www.pupperbuddertreats.com/ With our past 2 Weimaraners we gave them all the bad rated treats like Milk Bones and Rawhides and never experienced any ill effects. Our last weim found a deer shed and chewed on it for a number of years. I am a currently living vicariously through my daughters 3 dogs. The 2 GSD are Shutzhound trained and the third is a Malanois/cattle dog cross. She works all 3 from horseback so they are in peak shape all the time. There are only a few people these dogs will respond to and luckily I’m one. I’ve known them since they were pups.

Tenacity or insanity?🤔 The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over expecting a different result. 😂 The key is to not take it so seriously. We all ride the suck bus every now and then.

The shipping channels are clearly marked on every map software and to be brutally honest just look for mapped structure and take a cruise around and you’ll see boats congregated on a depth contour. Once you know that, you can replicate it. If you want the easy way out, just go to the mile roads and keep going towards the center of the lake until you see groups of boats. That will clue you in to depts.

Fishing beds will always be a touchy subject that there is no right or wrong answer. I know on St Clair the spawn used to be closed and it was shown in multiple scientific studies that fishing the spawn did not impact the fishery and so the law was changed. I can remember when a dropshot was not legal because you were not allowed to have a hook above the weight. That was considered snagging. We prefer to hit them pre-spawn but if you are looking for a trophy size smallmouth it’s going to be pre-spawn or off the bed. That’s when the biggest fish are catchable. As far as them getting smart from getting hooked that is totally false. They are protecting turf. They’ll return to it every time you catch and release them and they’ll bite again when you invade that turf again with a bait. Towards the end of the spawn when you go to some common bedding areas and catch one off the bed, they have what we call “hamburger mouth” from being caught so many times. We watched 4 guys in a boat drop a marker on a bed and make circles around it catching the same fish 5 times. That’s not cool but it is what it is.

Here’s one for reference, all those black spots are smallmouth beds on St Clair. 😂

St Clair is is very unique lake. Always has current from Huron coming through on its way to Erie and the water is cooler than you would expect, even in summer. The best time to go IMHO is when we go at the end of May. Depending on weather, you can get fish in pre-spawn, on the beds, and post-spawn. Sometimes in all three stages. Typically in the summer the smallmouth move out to deeper water around the shipping channels on submerged grass or rocks. They are a lot harder to catch. As has been said, it is a huge bowl and you can be 2 miles offshore and still be in 10-13 feet. I’ve only fished it a couple of times in the summer months and during our trip, Canadian waters aren’t even open to catch and release so we don’t venture over there even though our cottage is on Harsens Island and right on the Canadian border.

We go to St Clair during the spawn. In 21 years, we have experienced weather that has made the fishing prespawn, spawners on beds, post spawn and sometimes depending on weather, a combination of all 3. Inevitably we are catching some off the beds even if we aren’t targeting specific beds and are blind casting. Sometimes we actively target the beds because we can see them and we can see fish on them. In our group of 7 or 8 fishermen there are differing preferences to catching. Some like to see them and some don’t. It doesn’t change the fact that a certain number are coming off the beds no matter if you see them or not. Those that are pre and post spawn totally depend on the weather and progress of the spawn.

Made a trip over to the hotside of Lake Anna. Right now it’s in kind of a funk because they have shut down the reactors for maintenance and that means no flow and no flow means tough fishing over there. We found bass relating to rocks and a ways off the banks. Ned rigs did the damage on them. We decided to try blade baiting again after a -0- fish outing a couple of weeks ago. If we could find the schools, then they bit. Got some good bass, a few really good stripers, some white bass and I even got a big Threadfin Shad. All on SteelShad blade baits vertically jigged.

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