TOXIC

Sore subject around here. I am a dog person, so is my wife. By no fault of our own, thanks to our daughter we have 3 indoor cats. Since we have been in our house here in Virginia for 30 years, we have had 2 dogs. Both Weimaraners and they were back to back. Each living 13-16 years. We put our last Weimaraner down about 6 months ago and when the wife started hinting at getting another dog, I put the brakes on it. 3 cats and a dog are just too many animals in the house for me. Our first Weimaraner, Nero, was my dog by his choice. He bonded with me and I have no doubt he would have given his life if I asked him to. He was a great dog, we connected on a cerebral level and he was a fearless protector of house and family. The second Weimaraner, Cobey, was bonded to my wife by design because we got him to watch over her and the house since I was on the road so much. He was 110lbs. Both were trained by the methods outlined in books by The Monks of New Skeet. My dogs were better behaved than most peoples kids. Cobey was a Blue Weimaraner, Nero was the standard color.

Not knowing the action of the rod, more importantly the tip, it is not out of the question for a weightless or nose weighted Senko. I use a MH spinning rod for that application.

When I lived in Massachusetts, we were close to the Cumberland reservoir and the only road treatment they allowed was “cinders”. Made your car black.

In reality…..when guiding and you have clients on the boat anything over 45mph usually gets them wide eyed and white knuckled. I don’t think I’ve ever gone over 55 with clients. I was guiding a wounded warriors tournament and my soldier was a mechanic on Bradley fighting vehicles and contracted brain tumors and was on crutches from the radioactive materials they carry. At the end of the day I asked him if there was anything else he wanted to do and he said, I’m a mechanic at heart and I want to see what this boat will do! I took him 70 and he was thrilled.

Haha, only when necessary. When guiding it is a safety feature to be able to get clients off the lake outrunning a storm. Since I run 21 foot boats, they need the extra hp to get the hull to perform properly. 75mph is about as fast as I ever want to run on the water. I’m not a speed freak.

Personally, I have owned a 2000, Mercury 225 efi, 2 stroke that was absolutely bullet proof. It was my guide boat for a number of years and I sold it in Florida. I currently run a Yamaha 250, HPDI Series 1, 2 stroke in a 2005 model. It has been trouble free as well. I have been close to a Yamaha 250, series 2, an evenrude H2, a new merc, 250 4 stroke and a Suzuki 250, 4 stroke. The only one I would be wary of is the evenrude. Not because they are out of production but because they have had more than their fair share of problems.

That is on Lake St Clair where the St Clair river enters the lake. It is split in half with the Canadian border. We fish the old lighthouses and a spot called Trashy Point.

If you fish tidal water then you learn just how quickly a bite can turn off and stay off. We plan our trip to St Clair for a “seasonal” bite and in 20 years of fishing it, we have had 80% great fishing, 15% hard fishing, 4.9% endurance fishing and .1% absolutely perfect and probably will never be duplicated epic fishing. Lasted an entire week.

I would have thought the amount of work you were putting in would be a fair split for free rent and usage. My fishing partner and I are still kicking ourselves in the butt for turning down a cottage on Lake St Clair (Harsens Island) for $150,000.

I literally have hundreds of pictures. My favorite is where ever I happen to be at the moment. But St Clair, the Rappahonock River, Okeechobee, Kissimmee, surf fishing Florida and the Potomac River have all been favorites.

Was going to go crappie fishing Sunday but wind was 15-25 although in the high 40’s. I just came off my roof for the second time in 2 weeks trying to keep the gutters clear for the rain we are supposedly guaranteed tomorrow. They are hinting it could be icy as well. Hopefully just one more time on the roof this season then I’m done.

All good points to know. I will add to carry a couple of bags of kitty litter or sand in case the ramp ices up after you pull your trailer out and it drains. Spray your rod guides down with line conditioner or WD40 to reduce ice build up. I’ll reiterate, wear your pfd. Also put your plug in BEFORE you head to the ramp. No matter how long your boat has been out of the water, there’s a good chance there’s some left in the bilge and it will freeze as it flows out and you will sacrifice a full thermos of coffee poured in the bilge to thaw it out so you can put your plug in. ??

You forgot Annie Green Springs.?

Exactly, management can be thankless torture if you are not trained for it and have a totally different set of skills to be able to manage it. It can also be very, very rewarding.

We are looking at a heavy rain event from the remnants of Nicole here late tonight and tomorrow. While I’ll gladly take that over snow/ice any day, it caused me to have to climb up on my roof earlier than planned to clear the leaves and fallen nuts from the roof and gutters. I usually like to wait until all the leaves are down but the heavy rains will cause the gutters to overflow because they are full of leaves, acorns, hickory nuts, beech nuts and Japanese Magnolia seeds. That overflow falls too close to the house foundation for my liking. And before anybody recommends 20 different brands of gutter guards, just know I’ve been there and done that and had to pull them off. I could write 3 pages on why they didn’t work. The joys of living in the forest. My wife is starting to get concerned since our house is built into the side of a cliff and a fall off the roof would be pretty serious.

As has been said, one of the biggest mistakes companies make is to take someone who does their job exceptionally well and promote them to be a manager/supervisor. Sometimes it works but for the most part it doesn’t. Having been a manager for most of my governmental career (yes, I realize government is a different beast) I was hired and trained to be a manager. I was taught the skills I needed to manage multiple positions and multiple people doing multiple jobs. Did I need to know how those jobs functioned….yes I did….but did I need to know how to perform those positions at a high level, absolutely not. My job was to manage not produce. I once was put in charge of a contracting division when I had -0- contracting experience. In my first all-hands meeting with supervisors and staff, I told them I didn’t know squat about contracting. My job was to manage them, do the things that enabled them to do their job more efficiently and not to do their job or contract. Sure, I picked up contracting knowledge along the way but my job as a leader was to do what it took to make my employees maximize production. I did performance appraisals, incentive programs, processed leave, worked implementing corporate directives, team building and most importantly I motivated my employees, which is probably the most important aspect of what I did and the hardest. Everyone is motivated by different things, some money, some recognition and many other factors. My job was not to design or build the corporate machine but it was to put drops of oil in the individual cogs to keep it running at maximum production without coming apart. Natural managers are a rare breed I was taught tips tricks and styles of management my entire career. I was trained to be a manager.

Thought I would just update this post rather than start a new one. Went out Saturday and had a little better luck but I think the wacky weather has them lockjawed. Believe me we fished everything structure wise and cover wise. Could have caught a lot of Ring Perch if we would have stayed on the spot for the entire tide but we were hunting green fish. Found a few but not like normal. Crappie came at the end of the day as an experiment since we normally don’t target them on this river. If fishing for them all day I think we could have put a couple limits in the boat.

I have used the standard paddle tail and it is a good swimbait option. 4.0 weighted Gamakatsu hook.

I have not tried it yet. Did you use the paddle tail or fish tail? I have probably 200 of the original larger fish tail since I was pre sale testing them so I have not had the need to order any. I did get some of the new large paddle tails since they double as a trailer and a stand alone swimbait.

I’m not a hunter. If I was I could probably harvest some freezer size deer. Nothing for the bone hunters but these 2 watched me pour my coffee.?

It was 80 crazy degrees here in Virginia today.?

I pretty much give the same advice to anyone looking at a used boat and even more so with an older used boat. The concerns are all the same and if you don’t feel confident in spotting potential problems, take someone with you who can. You need to be somewhat confident that the “bones” of the hull are good (transom and stringers), the big motor operates properly (compression and leakdown test) and the trailer is sound (tires, brakes, bearings, lights). The rest is small potatoes and repairable at a reasonable cost.

This is the hardest part of the season to dress for. 30 degrees in the morning and 60 degrees in the afternoon. If you dress for the morning temps, you are sweating by noon. If you dress for the afternoon you are freezing in the morning. I despise being uncomfortable while fishing. Neither one is ideal. The answer, dress in layers and shed them as the day goes on. We reserve a locker in the boat for clothing and this time of year it fills up. Here’s my normal winter gear. I can’t fish with gloves, never have. I use some fleece gloves running and between spots. I have a BPS Pro Qualifier suit, bibs and jacket. I also have a BPS 100mph bibs and jacket but I rarely wear it anymore. It has to be really cold, like single digits, for me to wear it. Headwear is a non mesh ball cap and a fleece whole head open face baclava made by shimano. Depending on temp base is Under Armor shirt and pants long Johns with sweat pants. If it’s warm enough I will skip that and go with sweat pants and a long sleeve T-shirt. Depending on temp, the long sleeve T-shirt will be covered with a hoodie, then a down vest and the Pro Qualifier jacket. If it’s warm enough, and it’s what I wear most of the time unless it looks like rain, is a hooded windbreaker lined with sweatshirt material. I’ve found it’s the most versatile piece of clothing I have. My only oddball clothing is that I wear Shimano Evair (like crocs) shoes with wool socks. I am amazed how my feet stay warm but they do.

Living in a bedroom community to Washington, DC and having worked for a Federal Agency for 34 years, I am literally swimming in politics and have been for the last 30 years we have lived in this area. What I have learned is that there are -0- news and media outlets that don’t have a political leaning and yes that very much includes NPR and any other taxpayer funded news outlet. Now that I’m retired, I have the time to watch hearings and press briefings live and can hear first hand what the news outlets will spin up later and it amazes me how the story/information is portrayed depending on the political perspective. If I had to guess 75% or more of the public rely on these news sources for their information and very, very few understand the spin factor. Most political social media is just depressing because it exposes the underbelly of and ignorance of a lot of people. I understand there’s a lot of bots and pot stirrers but I prefer to stay a long way away from political issues.

Trust no one.