slowworm

I share your sentiments wholeheartedly. I cannot fathom this post would be disallowed. There's no politics, no agenda, just compassion. If we cannot share that honestly, then we cease to be a community tied together our shared love of angling.

Fixed it for you...

You and me both.

KVD has an interesting take I intend to try in 2024 when the hard water goes away:

According to my handy logbook, slowly rising over those 2 weeks from 45 f to 55 f, or thereabouts.

With this insanely warm December weather I'm thinking of pulling the boat out of the garage and heading out to Squam. I don't believe there is any ice on the lake, but I'm not sure about the channel between Squam and Little Squam where the boat launch is. I'd be surprised if there is, but with my luck... @NHBull I know this is your home lake. Any scuttlebutt before I haul the boat up there? Thanks J.

On the kayak I wear my NRS Chinook 100% of the time. I like having the pockets when using the kayak. On the bass boat I wear my Mustang Elite self-inflating PFD 100% of the time. I also have a Garmin In-reach on me with 15 min track update so if anything happens, they know where I am (Not just falling in, but I'm at that age where other debilitating things can just happen). And it has the SOS function. I owe it to the ones that love & rely on me to look after my well-being.

What is the airspeed velocity of an unladen sparrow?

You sure they are Philips? Could they be JIS, which looks a lot like a Philips but isnt? A Philips will chew a JIS head out. Ask me how I know. Being Japanese, I would not be surprised at all if they are JIS screws. I have a set of JIS screwdrivers for servicing my camera gear. Edited to add, I appear to be late to the JIS screw party. In future I should read to the end before replying.

I have the same rules, though I don't fish competitively, and no-one I fish with minds the rules. I fish a lot on my own and always have my mustang auto inflate PDF on. I'm a decent swimmer, but you can clonk your head going in, and the wind can push the boat pretty fast. I refuse to drown. Yup. Don't like the way I run my boat, go get your own....

The new punk rocker!

I don't believe that applies to boats on plane. My understanding is that draft applies to boats running displacement. So a sailboat with a deep keel under power is constrained by the draft of the keel. Jetboat on plane doesn't count. I would like to know the magic that tells me, when I have the right of way, that a jet boat of similar size is draft constrained and is not going to yield.

The TSA is not the people you want to be talking to. You need to contact the airline. What the TSA allows and what the airline allows onboard can and often are, different. The airline is often stricter than the TSA guidelines when it comes to "dangerous" items. This is particularly true if you are travelling overseas.

Last year I gave a lift to a guy who launched his boat and drift away. I was next in line to launch, and I had to laugh as he asked me for a ride. The water was cold too. I was happy to oblige, one day it might be me that needs a helping hand.

But you must also bring a towel.

I'm with Sphynx. I put my own together, and also include a tourniquet. Prop strikes on limbs will bleed a lot. I keep mine in a 1200 size pelican case. I also keep a change of clothes with me.

If that was at Squam - I saw that too. As I was coming in at about 11:00 am. I rounded that off by completely hosing my approach to the dock!

So where are the current copper ore resources in the US that are being investigated for exploitation? We are not self sufficient in copper production. I did a quick search and couldn't turn anything up, but your comment implies you are much better informed than I. Please share and inform. The bottom line here is that I see trend in this nation that people who like cheap gas oppose oil pipelines, people who like reliable electricity oppose power transmission upgrades and people who like natural gas in their homes oppose new natural gas pipelines. Every single infrastructure improvement is challenged, protested, litigated and driven into the ground. In every case, someone is going to lose something they hold dear, be it a view spoiled by transmission towers, or the loss of a headwater. Bottom line, everything is a trade off. Someone will pay the price whichever way it goes. All I ask is for people to make that choice with eyes wide open, and not believe that you can have your cake and eat it too.

Everything electrical or electronic we use today has copper in it. So I have to ask everyone, what are you prepared to give up for lack of copper? Your outboards? Your trolling motor? Your bow and console electronics? Your phone that gives you your fishing weather forecasts? If this mine is not acceptable than what mine is? Is it acceptable that we in the clean and prosperous west live our comforts at the expense of the poor in third world countries, living and working in horribly polluted areas due to toxic mining with few if any environmental controls? Is it not the height of hypocrisy to want to keep everything we have clean and pristine as we fish the headwaters with trolling motors made from that third world copper that is bought at the cost of poisoning the soil and water somewhere else? Everything has a price, and everything is a trade-off. Copper from this mine in this country will come at a far lower human cost than elsewhere. Of course, on reading the article, nothing has yet been approved, merely the beginning of the preparation of the environmental impact statement. The headline is nothing more than clickbait. It'll be a decade of litigation and argument before even the smallest stone is turned.

Wow. Just wow! ?

Ditto on the Escape tow package here. Are there brakes on the trailer? There are brakes on mine and that makes a huge difference. Some idiot pulled out in front of me as they rolled a stop sign as I was towing the boat home a couple of weeks ago and I stood on the brakes. I was both shocked and impressed at how quickly I stopped. The huge clunk as the drawbar rode into the hitch pin got the adrenaline running though... New Hampshire trailer brake laws are a bit whacked out. "No motor vehicle trailer or semi-trailer shall be driven on the ways of this state unless equipped with adequate brakes in good working order and sufficient to control the said vehicle at all times. Does not apply to a motor vehicle trailer or semi-trailer with a gross weight of less than 3,000 pounds if the axle weight of the towed vehicle does not exceed 40 percent of the sum of the rated axle weights of the towing vehicle. Every combination of motor vehicle with a trailer or semitrailer when driven upon the roadways of the state shall at a speed of 20 mph be capable, at all times and under all conditions, of stopping on a dry, smooth, approximately level pavement free from loose material, upon application of the foot or service brake, within a distance of 30 feet." Parse that lot out and I end up with a max package weight of 1742 lbs before I legally require brakes. That's even ignoring that Ford only rates the Escape at 1500 lbs for a trailer with no brakes. The bottom line is that there are a bunch of factors that go way beyond the marketing brochure tow 3500 lbs wording. J.

The Garmin Force isn't going to integrate with any of the electronics he has either, they are too old. It takes an Echomap plus or above to link to the force.

Read the fine print in your manual. I tow a tracker that’s about 2500 lbs with a Ford Escape. It is also rated for 3500 lbs tow weight. But buried in the fine print in the manual it also says that the tow weight limit is 1500 lbs if the trailer has no brakes. J.

I want to see how you make the molds!