Kayak Koz

Holiday Inn is THE worst major brand in the world. Terrible quality standards all the way from hotel build through service. Years ago the company I worked for took over a handful of Holiday Inn Convention Centers and I was tasked with transitioning one of the hotels to our company, then moved to one of the others to take over the GM job. Since the brand was new to me (a Marriott guy) one of the first things I did was familiarize myself with the HI Quality Assurance standards for their annual inspection. To my surprise, there were almost none. Hotels basically did their own thing. That accounts for why most are crappy. I'll never work for that brand again and I most definitely will not stay in any of their properties. No sport mode. But I have the option of bump shifting or using paddle shifters and the result is the same. I'll try the computer reset, but yes, it could be the PCM.

I just hit 100k miles on it last week. Last month I brought the car in for brakes, head gasket replacement, and a tune up and the dealer screwed it up somehow and now I don't trust them to fix anything. The car was pulling too many RPM's under acceleration and the red line was so bad I had to back off. Car was perfect before they serviced it. Dealer was stumped. I narrowed it down to it would happen in automatic transmission mode and not in manual transmission mode. That makes me think it's a problem with the computer. I probably need to disconnect the battery and reset it. I've reset the computer before when its automatic shift points were slightly off and that worked. Other than that, the car is great. But I still plan to sell it or trade it in this year. I plan to buy a Bronco Sport and get a trailer to pull around my kayak. Or I may buy a boat.

What made yesterday worse was that it was about 70 degrees out and my original plan was to head out on my kayak and fish for a few hours late in the day. So sadly, no fishing yesterday and today I'm off site for meetings in town. But I will sneak some time down on our docks on Thursday and Friday. At least, that's the plan.

If you don;t know, I'm the GM of a small boutique hotel. This has been an interesting week and it's only Tuesday. First, I get a call on Monday at 6:15 am from the woman who was supposed to work 7-3 and she had to call off. She's forgiven, though as she recently had surgery and was still recovering. So I pick up her shift. Then the woman who works 3-11 calls out sick and I pick up that shift as well. Meanwhile, I have a delivery of new guest room lighting that is supposed to come in that day, but I get a call that it is canceled and will be here on Wednesday instead. Unfortunately, my maintenance chief's father passed away over the weekend so he is out for as long as he needs. That means I'm also picking up some maintenance duties this week. Even though it's our off season, the hotel was busy and the phones were ringing off the hook. All of the work we have been putting into the hotel, the training, the goodwill tours, and the marketing is paying off. We've had 5 record revenue months in a row and even though it's only the 7th of the month I have more revenue on the books right now for this month than we did for the full month last year. Our booking pace is up 65%. So even though I was there 7am - 11 pm the hours flew by - but I didn't get any of my own work done. I get in at 7:45 am on Tuesday and the delivery truck is there with our lighting. It's supposed to be here on Wednesday. But there are even more problems. They are delivering 11 palettes with 3,660 pounds of lighting and the truck shows up without a lift gate or palette jack. And yes, we paid extra in our shipping for that. I'm cursing a blue streak (not normal for me) and call our designer who arranged the shipment. She tells me to refuse delivery and she will reschedule it. I do my morning rounds with my team and knock out a few minor maintenance items because my maintenance chief is still out. I get to my office, look out the window, and the delivery truck is still there. I then get a conference call from the designer and the courier and the courier is ticked at me because I refused delivery. He then tells me that it's standard for them NOT to have a lift gate when the delivery is 10 or more palettes. Really? So I then asked him why he did not call us and tell us. We're a small hotel without a loading dock and we need to bring this stuff through the front entrance. I ask him to send two trucks - but he has to eat any additional shipping costs. I go back to work and wrap up a nice $50k piece of business for us. Then I meet with a contractor to do some drywall repairs. We have cracked stucco around some of our windows and have had water intrusion. We can do drywall, but there's a lot to do as we opened up walls to trace leaks from that and some old plumbing issues from YEARS ago (old management) that were never fixed properly. I need to coordinate this contractor with the stucco guy. Then I get a call from our designer and she tells me they are going to transfer the lighting from one truck to another with a lift gate, then unload in our parking lot. They won't bring the palettes into the building. But there's a problem - we rented a palette jack for tomorrow and it's not available for today. I make more calls on that - no luck. Then I get a call from someone who wants to do a location shoot for a movie at our hotel - in 3 weeks. They want to shoot out at the lake and in our meeting room. But the meeting room is scheduled to remodeled (we're doing it ourselves) over that time period. So now I call another contractor to come out to see if he can get it done before then. Hours have passed and the transfer truck arrive. But all of my laborer staff is home or out for the day. I offer the driver cash to bring the palettes into the hotel. No dice - he doesn't want to risk losing his job. The only other people on the clock are two ladies who are not suited to do this kind of lifting. Plus, it's a liability risk and they are far too valuable in what they do for me to risk them getting injured. So I grab a bellman's cart and start hauling nearly two tons of boxes (3,660 pounds) into the hotel. Of course, because I have to load them up on a cart and unload them I'm moving nearly 4 tons of boxes by myself. I'm no spring chicken, either. So I'm pretty tired tonight and no doubt I will be sore in the morning. But you want to know something? None of this is out of the ordinary when you run a small hotel. You have to do a lot of everything. So if there's any moral to my story, if you want to run a hotel then run a big, full service hotel where you have 20 managers, 30 supervisors, and a few hundred employees so you don't have to move literal tons of boxes into the hotel. We take delivery on about 100 guest room chairs in two weeks. I can hardly wait. But thanks for letting me vent.

Speaking of Lanier, does anyone have some secret GPS coordinates that they want to share? ? I have a tournament there in two weeks. For this time of year I'm thinking the best spots (pun intended) or going to be rocky channels and deeper water. I'm thinking lots of drop shotting and shaky heads will be the ticket, which will test my patience level. I've also got a handful of blueback herring crankbaits and swimbaits to match the hatch.

I used to live in that area. I think that your best bet is going to be to rent a small self storage unit. You might even have other stuff to put in there to get the most bang for your buck.

Now I feel kind of bad for complaining that it was 29 degrees this morning.

Except for the fact that we had an opportunity to bring it down over the ocean before. It crossed the Aleutian Island and we had been tracking it for a while now. It wasn't until after it was public knowledge and there was public outcry that something was finally done about it.

I would bet that your car is not rated to support that kind of weight. You may get away with for a little while, but in the end I would bet that you end up with big problems.

I’ve spent a lot of money on bait and tackle this past year and so don’t even come close to what some people on BR are spending. I look at this way - if you could open a small bait and tackle shop with the stuff you have not even opened yet, you might have a problem ? That last line sounds like a new stand up routine for Jeff Foxworthy.

I picked up a Berkley Stunna Jerkbait 112 Northern Lights. Looks nice. Haven't fished it yet. Maybe I'll try it out tomorrow.

It's not fish eggs sticking to the legs and feathers of birds that allow egg transfer, it's the fecal matter: https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/fish-eggs-survive-journey-through-a-duck/

Update: His arm feels better but he has a hamstring issue. He's been lifting weights for 3 years but hasn't done any running in that time. Trainers are stretching him out every day. I'm really thankful that the coaches and trainers are taking care of him and not pushing him. Even with all of that, he was just named the opening day starter for the varsity team. But here's the kind of kid he is and it makes me even more proud. He feels bad about being named the starter because with his injuries he feels like he's letting the team and coaches down. And even though he's not cleared for practice this, he told the coaches that after his therapy each day that he'll be in the dugout watching the team practice. That's my boy!

I bought a Dobyn's Fury a few years ago and I like it. But the problem is that since then I've bought other rods that I like even more.

Lures catch more anglers than fish! But yes, it can be overwhelming, especially when you don't have confidence baits and techniques. If you fish only one lake or pond year round then you probably don't need a lot of baits. But of you're fishing a lot of lakes with different depths, cover, structure, and forage you will undoubtedly accumulate more baits and tackle.

In the past he's been very disciplined with his arm care regimen and I never let him max out on pitch counts or weekly use. But I think in this case he had been out of ball for so long he wanted to prove to himself and especially the coaches that he had a cannon during the infield tryouts. That being said, I am proud of hi that after the coach saw him pitch, he told the coach he wants to be a one inning bullpen guy until he builds up his arm strength and stamina again. I think he sees the bigger picture.

I coached him from youth through middle school and had him play every position. This way no matter where he ended up playing he could play wherever the coach needed him. True story - although he had worked out a few times at catcher, I never had him catch in games because I did not want him - or any of my players - doing double duty with all of those throws. But one day another 12U team was short players and they asked if he could join them that day. Then the coach asked him, "Can you play catcher?" My son looked at the coach, looked at me, then said, "Sure - I'll do it!" In his first game at catcher he threw out 3 runners trying to steal - in 12U. No one gets caught stealing in 12U. After that, he would be a fill in catcher on some of his travel ball teams on weeks that he wasn't pitching. He's just one of those kids that is a natural at baseball. But even at 6'4" he's terrible at basketball. He's uncoordinated and clunky. I doubt he could play football, either. But he is good at lacrosse with his height, strength, and speed.

In the lakes I fish I don't have much need for a heavy rod, but I'm still trying to get down to FL soon and hire a guide and figured I might need one for fishing heavy vegetation. I have a BP heavy rod, but it feels like I'm using a tree trunk. And because I won't use it that much (I think) I didn't want to spend a lot so I picked up a Shimano Intenza. I have to say I like the way it feels. I paired it with one of my Curado K's that was on an Expride MH, so of course that meant I needed a new reel to take its place. I decided to buy another Curado DC. First off, I like them a lot. But I also do a lot of night fishing in pitch black darkness and the DC is more forgiving if I miss thumbing it on time.

I was talking with an MLB pitcher today about my son and he raised a red flag. This pitcher had bicep issues that preceded him needing Tommy John surgery. In fact, bicep issues are a common thread among pitchers that eventually require TJ. Normally I would not worry, but my son did have bicep tendinitis issues in the past. If he still has issues then it's time for an MRI. If he needs TJ that may end his career. He's miss his junior and senior seasons. His only real path then would be to be a walk on for a JUCO team. Fingers crossed...

Without going into details, my son has had a rough time the past 4 years including the Covid situation, getting Covid three times, the loss of two grandparents, and dealing with his idiot mother - my ex wife. When he was only 13 he was 6'1" and one day after live streaming one of his workouts he was contacted by scouts for the Yankees and Padres, a bunch of college recruiters, and a bunch of college coaches. They were surprised when he told them he was only 13. But then lots of tragedy struck and he quit baseball. He had no desire to play other than an occasional game of catch. But that changed this winter. He's now a 17 year old junior, 6' 4" and 190 pounds of muscle. Out of the blue he tried out for the baseball team. When I coached him through the years he learned to play every position, but was primarily a pitcher / shortstop. Although he has great footwork, he tends to get flat footed so I had always told him he profiles as a first baseman or corner outfielder when he got older. Anyway, he goes to tryouts and on the first day the coach tells him he's on varsity just based on his infield work. The next day he parks two in BP. Yesterday it was time to pitch for the first time. But my chucklehead, um, competitive son doesn't tell anyone he has a sore arm. He hasn't played in 3 years so he's nowhere near in pitching shape. He had a 16 pitch bullpen session and was consistent 87-88 mph with his fastball. His two seamer was junk, but he threw 3 curveballs and 3 changeups that were killer. He went to the team trainer this morning and it's just bicep tendinitis. He'll rest for a few days and make sure he religiously follows his arm care program in the future. If you have a kid that pitches, download the Team Mustard app. It's the gold standard for pitching training. It was developed by Tom House and the National Pitching Association. The best part, he's excited about this. He has the desire back. That's great, but I'm also wondering how hard he's going to throw once he's healed and he firms up his mechanics. He should be 91-92 mph, and if he gets his mechanics dialed in I've got to think he'll be 94-95 this year. If he can hit those numbers as a junior his entire life is going to change. He has no idea what's in store for him. We're going to have to have a long talk about handling himself. I remember what it was like to be a small time, infrequent hockey recruit in HS. If he does what I think he can, it will be both exciting and challenging for him. Oh yeah - the coach told him he's playing first base. I had just bought him his customizer "forever glove" for pitching to go along with his infield mitt, and now shelled out for a first baseman's mitt. But it's worth it to see the joy in his face again.

I've heard that Vick's Vapor Rub cures cancer but Big Pharma doesn't want you to know that ? On a more serious note, my gag reflex is pretty string when it comes to certain smells. So, as you would imagine, when my son was an infant changing his diaper was quite a challenge for me. To combat that I would put some Vick's Vapor Rub under my nose then tie a t-shirt or bandana over that to reduce the powerful fumes emanating from his diaper.

Underspin, underspin, underspin!

In my opinion, one fish is not a pattern.

I like my Shimano gear. I have a Curado DC paired with and MH Expride A and today I just bought another Curado DC to pair with an MH Expride B. I like the DC's for night fishing when it's pitch black and I can't see anything out there because they are more forgiving if I miss the timing on thumbing the spool. I have a Curado K that I am pairing with a H Intenza that I also just purchased today. I also have a Curado MGL, but that's paired with a M St. Croix Mojo Yak. I also bought a Shimano World Pop topwater a few weeks ago but haven't tried it out yet. **EDIT** Oh yeah - I also have a Sahara spinning reel paired with a Falcon ML rod.

I think the size depends upon the bodies of water that you fish and the distance you travel on the water. If you're making long distance treks, the improved tracking of a larger kayak might be important to you. I fish on a big lake with a lot of traffic and with all of the wakes I encounter stability is important. My Seastream Angler 120 PD is 12'3" long and 35" wide and very stable - but it still feels tiny out there. That being said, the kayak and pedal drive alone weigh in at 119 pounds. Add my fishfinder, battery, accessories, crate, cooler, and gear and I'm at 150+ pounds. Oh - and I have a trolling motor and 100mAH batter I haven't even set up on it yet. Weight has become an issue for me, especially because I'm usually launching my kayak from my hotel and hauling it up and down a large hill. I've started leaving my crate behind and bringing just a few Plano boxes to save weight. So I would definitely be interested in shaving off 50 pounds if I found a stable replacement. I don't stand on my kayak because, as I said, I'm usually fighting wakes all day. But the other factor is that if I get into a fish while standing I'm worried I'll either end up in the water or bark my shin on the pedal drive. I saw the video of the Vibe and the guy standing on his seat and fishing. I also saw what looked like a near stumble. Knowing what I know now about how heavy my kayak is and hauling it around, I'd consider the Vibe if I was in the market for a new kayak.