schplurg

Haven't been there since I was a kid. Saw a Greg Blanchard vid recently where Clear Lake is "historically low". Funny because it looks full compared to most lakes. What is it 10 feet down? Some lakes will stay open probably. New Melones dug out a new ramp so boats can launch. That lake was down 80 feet 4 months ago when I was there. For me the Delta is going to be what keeps me in California, if anything can, at least until it's ruined too. If we have another dry year I will move away, possibly Oregon where my family is, and plenty of fishable water. Not my first choice but Cali is pushing me away.

Me too, thanks. I'm just about to get into jigs.

I have what I call my EFK / Emergency Fishing Kit in my vehicle (old thread somewhere). It is a simple book backpack from Walmart - $11. It has a telescopic BPS rod with a Pflueger Trion reel, one small terminal box, one 3600 with whatever I can stuff in it, 3 or 4 bags of plastics, and a thermos. Also a scale, multitool, rag, sunscreen, maybe a Clif bar sometimes. It's in my van ready to go at any time.

I will not trust my life to an autoinflate PFD. I've read a lot about them and I feel safer in my old-school style vest. Mine cannot be rendered useles with a simple puncture, it floats right out of the box and always will, keeps my head positioned properly, and the only way it won't work is if I do something stupid (not wear it or store it so poorly that it rots). Autoinflates have additional points of failure, including being punctured before or after inflation as well as failure to inflate at all. No matter how rare this may be, it cannot happen at all with mine. I'd love to wear one but like I said it's a matter of trust.

Lithium batteries are lightweight - 100ah is about 25 pounds. A lead acid with the same usable amount of hours is over 100 pounds. Check Amazon, the prices of lithiums are getting low. https://www.amazon.com/s?k=100+ah+lithium+deep+cycle+batteries&ref=nb_sb_noss_2 Check out this Youtube channel. The guy tests and tears apart lithium batteries and tells you what is good and what isn't. A lot of the bargain ones pass his inspection and testing.

Hmmm, strange orange coloration, big mouth, huge gut.....looks awful familiar.

I am going with Photoshopped. I have used Photoshop for decades and have done a lot of fake photos. I see clear indications - the sharp line at the top edge of the tail, the same near the missing dorsal, and I can see cutting was done near the bottom fins. Hard to say for certain with such a low quality copy though but I'd say it's 95% chance it's fake. However, I see a photo on Google of a carp with very similar fins, so it does happen. The carp:

Thought I'd mention that these batteries have gone down another $50 in the past week. Cheapest I see is around $360 - $400. If I knew I 'd need one I'd get one right now.

Hit the Delta today. Did 3.25 miles while fishing for 3 hours. Hidden feature (probably true with many PDL yaks): there is a urinal built into the yak! Pull up the pedal drive and...well ya. Worked great today in a pinch. Would be great to have a trailer someday. I had an empty launch ramp so had time to think about how to best launch this thing. I had too much gear! Had it all on the dock laid out, like "what the heck I'm I doing? Must be an easier way." But for now it's all good. Worth the effort for sure. Was able to roof load it on the ramp easily. Feared it might slide off due to the angle but nope. Used the fish finder. The yak has a ducer mount but I'm afraid I'll damage it dragging it, so I made a quick aluminum arm thingy and track mounted it. I'll post pics later. Works good for now.

The cable connectors at the rudder on my Sportsman PDL pivot so that the cable is never pulled to the side or twisted, bent. I think that is the key. Looks like it should be doable on the Seastream.

Launched at around 7 am at Mossdale. Couldn't sleep the night before so it was a fun drive at 5 am. My only fish - I casted a Dinger and let it sink when I noticed my line was wrapped around my spinning reel. Fun when that happens. As I tried to unwrap it a fish grabbed my bait. I couldn't reel it in and didn't want to hand-reel the braid. The fish jumped a few times near me as I frantically tried to fix the line. By the time I did the fish was free. And of course my camera was off so I can't share the chaos. Fun day though. Pedaled about 3.25 miles in three hours of fishing. threw a frog a lot. No other bites. Was great though.

Right on! Gonna launch at Mossdale Friday. Probably not at the best time (afternoon) according to the tide, but I'm going anyways. GOT to get OUTSIDE!!!!!!!!! Just using the kayak will be enough fun for me. Edit: Changing my launch time to 7 am so I can catch the tide coming it. The ramp better be open! I am NOT a morning person so this should be interesting.

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My old dog was "chasing" a squirrel that was in a tree in my front yard once. The squirrel ran along a few branches then made a leap for the neighbors roof. Landed on it with a slapping sound, right on it's stomach. It was a big jump and I'd never seen that before. The look on my dog Rhodi's face was priceless. What the....? We were both impressed I think.

LOL ya that would be nice huh? I forgot that I subbed to his channel: DIY Solar Power with Will Prowse - YouTube Some common brands on Amazon that he says are good are Chins and AmpereTime - both are identical and there are a few other identical brands as well. Overcharge protection BMS etc. There are 100ah lithium batteries for $400+ which is probably a better buy than a 200ah AGM (same run time). They also weigh a fraction of a lead acid, which is actually why I can't use lead (tendinitis). This guy is very thorough and makes excellent videos. It's funny watching him try to tear these apart too. He also has instructions on DIY lithium battery building. Very highly recommended channel if you're looking for lithium batteries, or DIY solar setups.

Never mind found a guy on Youtube who tears these batteries apart and examines them, tests them.

Good point. I can't read my phone with glasses on.

You owe me $5!!! Been looking everywhere for you!

I started a "Personal Worst" thread here once. Caught a 4 incher on a popper. Was so cute. I heard this tiny little "ploink" sound, was that a fish? Nah.... and reeled the little guy in.

Great vid, Glenn! I use snaps for cranks, jerks and topwater. Last weekend I had one T-rig rod and two snap rods

One of her smaller tortoises only had one back leg. She showed me a video a few years ago of them trying to mate and he'd get behind her and fall over every time. He was very frustrated and would scream "EEEEE!" Who wouldn't? Poor little dude. After a few YEARS he finally figured it out and now she has a baby! TMI?

Cool. Gal at work has tortoises. They're like dinosaurs! Very cool.

And "dogs can't look up"!!!!

Cows eat 9-14 meals a day and consume between 50-100+ pounds of food. Not all cows eat at the same time Fishing is ripe with superstition for sure! Mooo! Edit: One night my brother said "Every time I look at my phone it says 9:11, it's so weird!" Me: "What time is it now?" Looks at phone: "10:13"

I'm gonna go with "crazy"!