DanielG

Well thank you. I just post stuff because i'm weird that way I enjoy the tech, and it's something to do. I think I'll make a rod rack for the house tomorrow.

A lipless crankbait

My craftsman story: I had a makita grinder. I weld a lot and use one to cut all my metal. It lasted about four years then burned out. Not bad. I ordered another. Less than a year out of it. I ordered a milwaulkee, about 7 months and it was smoking. I ordered a harbor freight... 20 minutes to burnout, no kidding. I go to Sears. A craftsman one was on sale. I get it and for $7 a three year no questions asked replacement warranty. I figure, it will last a year and I'll return it. I'll keep doing that and never have to buy a grinder again. That was eight years ago. The switch has begun to act weirdly but it's still running if I turn it on just right. I can't even imagine the condition the brushes are in after all this time and having cut a lot of steel. Oh, then there is my Sears 10 gallon air compressor passed down in the family. We got it around 1965 or so. I was a kid. My shop doesn't have much other Craftsman stuff. Bosch, Dewalt, etc. But the stuff I've had has been good. Hand tools were always as good as anyone else's.

Fantastic. it's larger than a lot of people's house. What a fantastic shop space. I have a nice shop but there never seems to be enough room.

I started driving in '73 The older cars had issues. After about 100k miles you had to think about another one within 30-40k miles for reliability. They rusted out and you needed a new muffler every 3 yrs. Distributors and carbs would wear and things would run rough. You needed to stay on top of them. New cars have lots of electronics and metering of the engines. They are so, so much better. Where older cars had issues and at 100k miles things began to get shady, newer hit 100k miles and they go at least double that mileage. I've got an f150. no repairs. Same brakes and tires. 85k miles on it. My older cars were always a work in progress. TV's. My old Sony's would last awhile but begin to get fuzzy over time. Don't get me going about the real old tube sets. We owned a tube tester to keep them going. My 60" flat screen Sony is five years old now and doesn't seem like it can be killed. When it goes, 6 yrs, 10 yrs, whatever, I'll replace it. Yes throw it away, but it didn't give me headaches like older ones did. I'm typing this on a 2011 27" imac. Never a hiccup and unlike older computers that maxed out and seemed over the hill in two years, this one is still much faster than I'll ever need and I do video editing types of things too. The appliances are another story. To make them comply with energy efficiency they've had to compromise. i.e. refrigerators. They put in small compressors to take less electricity. Thing is they are underpowered and take a beating. The reason why when you first turn on a fridge you need to set the temperature incrementally so that you don't tax it. My snowblower is 19 yrs old. Oil changes that's it. Pretty much same with the mower, etc. I like the new stuff. The old days weren't as good as far as reliability and longevity was concerned. I wouldn't want to go back, it was a lot of work.

A few years back I decided to make my own boat. I live on a lake so it's parked there all summer. I repurposed an 18 ft sailing catamaran I found on Craigslist, disassembled it, refurbished the pontoons and put a deck and top on it. It's all electric and is a joy to fish from. In decent weather I'm out all the time. A video tour is below and The detailed build on instructables can be seen here.

Thanks, I've got some stuff like that. I'll rig one up and see what happens in one of the few areas like that on Mousam.

I live on and fish Mousam regularly and don't have that much luck. Particularly this time of year. What you using to have luck in this cold water?

This social distancing thing has kept me in the shop lately... hence the series of lures I am posting. Got to do something. I saw a video on making a popper. I've never made one and actually never used one. I've got one now... The video of it's making is below.

A crayfish bait with articulating tail. I (hopefully ) curls upon retrieval. I haven't tried it yet.

Today I made a diver that actually dives. And it seems to move nicely in the water too.

Latest Update: It didn't work. The picture is now replaced with a video below..... --------------------- For the fun of it today I decided to try some experimental stuff. A bait with 1. mid body diving planes (like on a submarine) Trying to get it to dive deeper. 2. Two line ties to be able to change the action a bit. 3. Purple... Never used it before. Purple and gold. Strange but true. The verdict is still out as to how it goes. I may still have to make some modifications before I eventually toss it out! ------------------------

I've been out a couple of times here in Southern Maine. It's early/mid April.The ice went out much earlier as it has been doing for a few years now. Water is 46 degrees this morning. No fish. Even rarely come across any on my Garmin. But, I still enjoy the cast.

If you want to watch football when in season it's all over the screen. If you want to watch baseball it's only for the people paying to watch it. Can't watch baseball and the home teams particularly are blacked out. So, to heck with them. I'm always missing BB games anyway. Too bad though.

AAAAAH!!! People have to put a disclaimer in the title when posting this tuff with graphic pictures. I've clicked on this thread twice, by mistake, to see a hook embedded in your cuticle. Why I expected to see someone having caught a 180 lb bass from the title is beyond me! Geesh.... cringeworthy for sure.

I make lures. Some look d**n realistic if I don't say so myself. But..... As a kid I had five lures. A Red devil spoon (red and white stripe), a jutterbug plug that was red on the front half and white on the back half, a black plug with yellow eyes, and a mooselook warbler. Just a long silver spoon. I've still got them 55 years later. I seemed to do alright with them. I think the realistic stuff is more for the fishermen than the fish. When we look at a lure we often think (admit it now), "If I were a fish I'd really like this one". But, we're not fish and if you pause and ponder what you just thought... It really makes you feel sort of dumb for a moment. I've had that moment many, many times. So, I'll have a dumb thought again right now. I think the fish might think... "If it's moving it must be alive so it must be food. And I eat living things. So, if I can fit it in my mouth, and I'm hungry, I'll strike." I don't think they're thinking "Oh, chartreuse.... That's my color. I think I'll eat it." Then again it could just be that I'm dumb, thinking that I know what a fish thinks right?

Been sober since 1955 (which is when I was born). Grew up with it in the house. I learned early on it wasn't for me. I've never had any. Glad for you.....

Stupidity... Works for me.

Hanging out at home. I finally got on the lake yesterday for a few hours. Nice day and smooth water. No fish, the water is 46 degrees, but that's okay. Catching them is great and the goal, but just trying is lotsafun. The boat is tied up in my front yard which opens to my lake. Yup, my lake. I've always called it that. Been here all my life. Other than that, what many of you are doing. Checking the news, cooking a bit, eating a big bit, other odds and ends. In Maine many live like this as a way of life so besides being careful it's not a whole lot different. Just like during big recessions. We see the painful talk from around the country and we wonder... what's different? Take a look at this....

The 2 month old, $500 pair of prescription glasses that popped off my head last year..... And the high school class ring that fell off my wife's finger when I was dating her here at my house in 1973.

So, going from a single divider box to a plano system. It's the Plano 1374. Three things prompted this purchase. 1. I've been adding more to what is still a modest bait collection. 2. The price was right. Amazon (walmart too) $33. Most places it's $49-$69. Some places it's up to $129, what's with that? 3. During the lockdown I gifted myself for staying incognito. Anyway, I must admit it seems like a good system and looks to be well made. The only complaint people have is that the handle can expand under weight and pop off. Solutions seem to be a string around it to hold it together. I'll have to wait and see what happens.

I took the baits I made this winter down to the dock for the first time and got them wet. These is a foray into making my first baits. Some successes and some failures. Video below.

This might be informative to anyone with an electric Kayak or anyone who uses electric motors to power your boat. It's been talked about here in other threads, usually in relation to Kayaks. Last fall I installed a Pulse Width modulator on my two motor, minn kota 35 lb/thrust, electric catamaran. Homemade of course. (see lower thumbnail) I originally had one motor connected directly to 12 volts. The second used the 5 speed controller that came on the motor that I relocated to a console. The controllers have limited lifespan located outside of the motor for some reason. I had gone through two of them. The Pule Width Modulator is an electronic device that is basically a motor variable speed control. As I understand it, it sends rapid pulses to control the speed that is very efficient. For the first time I've put about 6 hours on it this spring and I must say, that if it holds up I'm impressed. And the thing is available on amazon or ebay for about 17 bucks. Many of them have a reversing switch wired in. Wiring and incidentals add another $5. And it's simple. Two wires connect from the battery and two connect to the motor. Screw down connectors marked motor + and -, and battery + and -. The variable resistor is smooth and very linear. i.e. it goes from 0 to max with a smoothly variable speed increase. Comparing it with my other motor which is turned on full with a switch or off, no in between. I'd say the PWM produces about 90% of the thrust of the direct connection. I expected that. The nature of the unit and the way it works should give about 10% longer battery life though from what I've read. This is the one I got. They come in many varieties. Look up 'pulse width modulator' on amazon. I chose this one even though I had to add my own DPDT reverse switch because it was 60 amps. Many of the others are 30-50.

Go to walmart and get some packages of Berkley powerbait shads. They are $2.99 for a pack of 4 or 5 depending on the size you decide on. Hooked, and weighted right out of the package. I have great luck with them and losing one is about 40 cents. I found that less expensive is sometimes just as good.

Okay, let me throw something out here for anyone interested. The wife and I have a tracfone. I used to have an iphone and when I retired I decided to go back to some semblance of normalcy and get out of social media and phones. Anyway, the LG tracfone smartphone costs about $29. It has an 8mp camera and does decent pictures and video with a camera on both sides unlike a standard camera. You don't have to purchase the phone minutes. You can use it as a wireless device and a camera. Cheapest camera that's not a toy that I can think of. I've not used it on the boat but I have used it to record bait making vids for youtube. Sound is okay but not super. Chances you might not need good vocal sound on an boat anyway. Not waterproof but it's so inexpensive... Seach 'tracfone smartphone' on Amazon to see some of them.