Johnbt

Old Plano 757 holds fishing tools, gun tools and bore cleaning/polishing stuff. Not my actual box. Mine is full.

Our county dump has a gas tank next to the dirty oil tank and next to the old paint tank, etc. $3 to dump trash, all recycling is free and that includes up to 4 tires on wheels.

I see them migrating along the Outer Banks of NC every year. Tens of thousands at a time. Don't see many at all in small ponds and lakes around Richmond. "Foraging flock of cormorants in near shore waters along the Outer Banks of North Carolina. Foraging flocks are highly concentrated and may exceed 10,000 individuals. Photo by Bryan Watts." "The increase in cormorant numbers over the past four decades has led to concerns about impacts to fish stocks throughout primary breeding and winter areas by the recreational and commercial fishing industries. Double-crested cormorants are efficient predators capable of exploiting a wide range of fish species. As breeding populations within the Northeast have reached record highs, coastal North Carolina has emerged as a significant wintering site. The population appears to be concentrated within the Albemarle and Pamlico Sounds and associated near-shore waters. " - https://ccbbirds.org/2020/01/23/counting-cormorants/ From the same article, Just yesterday I stuck my new 12-month Cape Hatteras National Seashore off road vehicle permit on the windshield. It's good for Hatteras Island and Ocracoke Island,

If you don't know what's there, go to the bait shop and walk by the minnows and buy one or two big expensive goldfish and a bobber. One could last all day and catch multiple fish, but buying two is safer.

The shadbush/serviceberry trees are starting to bloom in the wetland woods around here. They are often mistaken for wild dogwoods. I think I saw a Bradford pear starting to bloom in a front yard, but I was going 45 mph. I haven't seen a white dogwood yet. So the shadbush trees are blooming and it's time for the shad to run. Too bad there aren't enough American shad to legally catch them. And herring. "(It is now illegal for any person to have river herring in their possession, including blueback herring and alewife. For more information about this regulation, see the VMRC website.)"

"If you don't know the exact specs you have to go to someone else's website to see what the named rod's specs are and then go back to TW to select those specs. " That's the truth. I just looked at the Conquest casting rods and they wanted me to pick M, MH, H. I shook my head and went elsewhere so I could see all the specs of all the rods at once. I haven't decided if I want a duplicate of one of their MH rods - I have 3 - or another H or maybe even a M. I want to see the whole chart at a glance to compare and contrast where the similarities and differences are. I suppose it's fine if you know the length you want, the action your want or even the precise model number. Heck, I picked H and the list they showed made me scroll a bit to the right to see which handle each one had. I tried zooming in and out, but I still had to scroll for that tiny bit of info.

I just turned on a rerun of Bassmaster Fishing Elite Series #2: Lake Fork. It's a good thing we have a 65" tv because the angler was in about 20% of the picture and the other 80% was all fish finder screen. Then he caught a 3-pounder and grabbed it across the back while he sat down and took the trebles out with needlenose. At least he released it in the water and didn't toss it overboard like they were doing in the last tournament I tried to watch. It's 8 a.m. I turned it off and took the dog for a walk. I don't think watching a man watch a fishfinder is very entertaining when the fishfinder is getting all the attention.

I heard this the day after it happened a couple of years ago. Two close friends were fishing an electric only state park lake. A few hours into the morning they saw something in the distance and motored over to find some huge guy flopping and flapping around in the water trying turn his little kayak right side up. They finally got him into the 14' jon boat and flipped his kayak over with little or no help from the guy and then... ... the bungee cord holding the lid on his still floating big styrofoam cooler popped off and as it sank all 12 empty beer cans floated away. So they scrambled to grab as many as they could before they sank. The guy was asleep by then.

Fwiw, very little deadrise and skidding through turns is what I was told. My '14 Grizzly 1648 has a 3-degree deadrise and is rated for 25hp. Looking from the stern the bottom almost flat. The current Grizzly 1648 has a 7-degree deadrise and is rated for 40hp. https://forums.iboats.com/threads/jon-boat-flip.360759/ His boat: A 12' tracker boat with a 1998 Johnson 4stroke 8hp. But rated for 6. "I decided to take a spin solo for the first time with the motor trimmed all the way in. At full throttle I felt I was barely touching the water at all, and was screaming along. As I was trying to make a high speed left turn though, I felt that it was not turning/handling very well, felt like it was almost skidding instead. Then WHAM, I think the right edge caught, and I roll 45 degrees to starboard, take on 30-40 gallons of water over the side in an instant and almost fall out. I would have sunk if I hadn't given it full throttle and made my way to shore at 5mp with the bow 6 feet in the air and the back full of water to beach the boat. Am I just an idiot for thinking that a flat bottomed boat should be able to turn at high speed? Or do you guys think this is a symptom of a my trim setup/too much motor. Suffice it to say I will NOT be making any high speed turns in a flat-bottomed boat ever again."

"I believe if a boat has a head and a sink, the interest can also be deducted." A boat can qualify as a home, if it has a head and a bed and a kitchen. I'm 73 and never seen a bass boat like that. __________ "How do I get tax deductions on my boat? A boat can qualify as a first or second home as long as it has sleeping accommodations (berth), a bathroom (head) and a kitchen (galley). You can take a mortgage interest deduction if your boat is financed and a home office deduction if you work from your boat. You'll need to do itemized taxes and file IRS Form 1098.Feb 18, 2022"

Can Krispy Kreme top this? "Dunkin' suggests trying the syrup on oatmeal, biscuits or yogurt" I bet it would glue the bait monkey to the floor like flypaper.

"17lb 200yd spool of seaguar Tatsu" You know, I only have some half full 1000-yd spools of 12, 15 and 20. And I've never tried the 17. And the price is nice.

If you are referring to a home equity loan or line of credit, a bass boat doesn't qualify. Maybe in 2025 it will, unless they extend the current regs. www.irs.gov/faqs/itemized-deductions-standard-deduction/real-estate-taxes-mortgage-interest-points-other-property-expenses/real-estate-taxes-mortgage-interest-points-other-property-expenses-2 "For tax years 2018 through 2025, if home equity loans or lines of credit secured by your main home or second home are used to buy, build, or substantially improve the residence, interest you pay on the borrowed funds is classified as home acquisition debt and may be deductible, subject to certain dollar limitations. However, interest on the same debt used to pay personal living expenses, such as credit card debts, is not deductible." For tax years before 2018 and after 2025, for home equity loans or lines of credit secured by your main home or second home, interest you pay on the borrowed funds may be deductible, subject to certain dollar limitations, regardless of how you use the loan proceeds."

"If I could only fish ONE flat-sided crank, it would be the 6th Sense Crush Flat 75X Crankbait in Baby Bluegill." I have 5 or 6 in different colors and have had pretty good success with them, but I don't have that color. "On sale at TW right now $6.98" Sure enough. And then I did the mailing list members only sale thingy and got 20% more off. Had to get a couple for my friends at that price. 6th Sense Crush Flat 75X Baby Bluegill x 4 $22.32 $5.58 ea. (And some other stuff to get free shipping. Mostly Nichols and Terminator spinnerbaits.) _____________ Edited to add: The 6th Sense site does not show a 75x in Baby Bluegill. Must be discontinued. https://6thsensefishing.com/products/crush-series-baby-bluegill

"I'm curious why no one is using the Meiho tackle box in the US. " They appear to be very nice. This is the first I've heard of them.

"I believe that you are right about sales being flat due to the economy." The economy and much higher prices on many things I've looked for. No wonder so many of the vendors aren't restocking. I recently rearranged my tackle storage and needed a few more Plano (a Pure Fishing company) 3670 CUSTOM DIVIDER boxes. I thought they'd be more than $8.99 due to inflation, but everywhere I looked they were $14.99 (@TW and Tackle Direct), $16.99 (@Amazon), and $12.99 lots of places that were and still are OUT OF STOCK. It's sort of sad seeing some Wall Street types once again spending a lot of money, not making enough to stay afloat, and have to scramble to find a new leader to bail them out somehow while they refinance debt and try to stay out of bankruptcy. And we get higher prices. You would think they could make some big bucks from their high prices, but then again they have executive salaries and benefits to cover, and the interest payments on all those big loans. After 60 years of investing I have to admit that most of the bigwigs aren't as smart as I would like them to be or as smart as they think they are. It's hard to pick the winners from the losers. __________ Not fishing related, but a prime example of how being smart and well educated isn't always good enough. Good reading if you like the topic. Anyone familiar with the rise and fall of Long Term Capital Management? They were among the best and the brightest and they collapsed and nearly took the country down with them. www.businessinsider.com/the-fall-of-long-term-capital-management-2014-7 "Twenty years ago, one bond-trading hedge fund grew from launch to over $100 billion in assets in less than three years. It saw yearly returns of over 40 percent. It was run by finance veterans, PhDs, professors, and two Nobel Prize winners. Everyone on Wall Street wanted a piece of their profits." There is a wonderful book about them. www.amazon.com/When-Genius-Failed-Long-Term-Management/dp/0375758259 "Praise for When Genius Failed: <great title btw> “[Roger] Lowenstein has written a squalid and fascinating tale of world-class greed and, above all, hubris.”—BusinessWeek “Compelling . . . The fund was long cloaked in secrecy, making the story of its rise . . . and its ultimate destruction that much more fascinating.”—The Washington Post “Story-telling journalism at its best.”—The Economist" ________ Warren Buffett's involvement in the bail-out and his lessons learned. His offer was turned down. https://novelinvestor.com/buffetts-lessons-long-term-capital-management/ "The whole Long Term Capital Management – I hope most of you are familiar with it – the whole story is really fascinating because if you take John Meriwether, Eric Rosenfeld, Larry Hillenbrand, Greg Hawkins, Victor Haghani, the two Nobel prize winners Merton Scholes… If you take the 16 of them, they probably have as high an average IQ as any 16 people working together in one business in the country, including Microsoft or where ever you want to name. So an incredible amount of intellect in that room. Now you combine that with the fact that those 16 had had extensive experience in the field they were operating in. These were not a bunch of guys who had made their money, you know, selling men’s clothing and all of a sudden went into the securities business. They had in aggregate, the 16, probably had 350 or 400 years of experience doing exactly what they were doing. And then you throw in the third factor that most of them had virtually all their very substantial net worths in the business. So they had their own money up. Hundreds and hundreds of millions of dollars of their own money up, super high intellect, working in a field they knew, and essentially they went broke. That to me is absolutely fascinating."

Tupperware works, so do plastic Coke bottles, but now I use Arctic Ice packs in multiple sizes. They are expensive, but so buying ice every day.

I think they are already in charge. At least I didn't order one of every color, but I did double up on some of them.

I have a lifetime VA freshwater and saltwater license. The price decreases with age starting at $265 for 44 and under. At 65 or older it's $25 for fresh and $5 more for salt. https://dwr.virginia.gov/wp-content/uploads/media/lifetime-license-application-resident.pdf

https://frabill.com/products/telescoping-lure-retriever-9865?variant=40020426522833 "The heavy-duty Cam-Lok™ design allows you to extend the handle up to 15 feet, then locks in place for a sturdy hold. Leave no lure left behind." It doesn't take very many $6 spinnerbaits and $8 crankbaits to break even.

I have always loved spending money.

I still can't believe they stuffed this bag to bursting and nothing was crushed or even cracked.

We had snow on the ground and cars in Varina the other night along with 3.7" of rain in the gauge. This is a mile or so from the Henrico County boat landing on the James below Richmond. I've seen one truck recently pulling a boat down Osborne in the direction of the ramps. It was 25*F this morning when I walked the dog. The Parade of LIghts was Saturday night after the toy parade.

The package came !!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Our regular carrier drove down the driveway at 9:45 p.m. in her little Grumman LLV truck. I had the Christmas lights still on and three lights on the front of the garage. They had originally loaded it for her to the roof with packages ON TOP OF THE TRAYS OF LETTERS. She said she couldn't see to drive for the first hour. 10 p.m. and she was just getting down to the letter trays. No wonder everybody in the area had empty mailboxes today. But she was cheerful as usual. Maybe I'll get around to some lure pics later. 40 lures in a white ULINE bag - a Bubble Mailer #7.

Long casts? They're the ones up on the bank or above the bank in a tree. I set up and adjust my rod-reel combos in the back yard at 30 to 45 yards depending on the combo. On the water I let the trolling motor do the hard work, or let the wind blow me in closer.