jbmaine

We are lucky. In Maine the definition includes natural or manmade. I grew up in New Hampshire and in that state the definition only applies to natural bodies of water ten acres or larger. Seems like a fine point but it matters. I got warned by N.H. fish and game once for following the fishing rules for public waters on a fifty acre pond that was the result of a dam down stream from that pond that was built in the 1930's. Turns out that pond was considered private.

I've seen it from all sides of the fence. Long and the short of it is there are all kinds of people in this world, and sooner or later if you're out and about enough, you will run into them. Life is too short to spend it in conflict. Had one old guy get grumpy for fishing too close to his dock. It turns out the day before he had to take his grand daughter to the ER to have a hook taken out of her foot that someone left stuck on his dock. I have grand kids. I saw his point.

Every time we fish our " home lake" the first place we go is a cove across from the launch. Once there I'll cast over and around a submerged rock. I rarely catch a fish around that rock, but I'll always fish there. Here's why. When I was a kid we had a camp on that lake. My folks sold it in 1968 but until the day I die this will be my " home lake" I have a yellow jointed jitterbug in a drawer in the desk I am typing this on. In another drawer in another desk in our house I have a stack of old photo albums. In one of them is a picture of me holding up a bass I caught using that yellow jitterbug for the very first time over that submerged rock. The date on the picture is 1960. I guess it takes a lot to " burn me out"

Just lazy on my part. Need reading glasses to see close up, don't usually have them with me outside, plus bad back, bending over not as much fun as it used to be. Always checked the tire pressure on the dash read out. Guess I added air as needed with out looking at the treads that closely. Guess I thought 18K miles was to soon to worry about tread that much. What's odd is every tire wore evenly across the tire, just each tire has different tread life left. Car is as needed AWD. Now I'm wondering if that somehow contributed to it. Car is still under the drivetrain warranty but the alternator is not part of it so not covered.

Thanks for the replies. We had planned on this vehicle being with us for the long haul, now I'm not so sure. As you can see we put only 18,000 miles on it in almost five years , so very low mileage per year. We are both retired and don't travel much. As an update-- We just heard back from the ford garage. The alternator they ordered got lost in the mail ( so they say) and is now in Tennessee. They say they ordered another one but now our car won't be done until late Mon. or Tues. Never thought an alternator was so rare of a part to get😒. At least we have a loaner car to use.

Hi all, We have a 2020 ford Edge that we bought new. This is our second edge and until recently we loved this car. We got it with the tow package and it tows our boat with out complaint. However, a couple of weeks ago I picked up a nail in one of the tires and brought it to the Ford garage to have it plugged. They plugged it but told me my tires are all wearing at different rates and at least one won't pass inspection. They suggested an alignment and all new tires. This seemed strange as the car just turned 18,000 miles, but I checked the tires and yep, there is not much tread left. So, new tires and an alignment are in our future for one thousand plus bucks. This week a " check charging system" warning came on, so back to the garage. Now we need a new alternator, with diagnosing and R&R the alternator going for eighteen hundred bucks. I looked it up and the average life of an alternator is supposed to be 6-8 years at 80,000-120,000 miles. As I said we are losing confidence in this car especially as I'm a nut for maintenance and always keep the fluids and tire pressure up. Is this the best we can expect from cars in this day and age? We are at the point we are thinking maybe we should trade it for a newer car? So if you would be so kind as to offer an opinion, what would you do? Put the money into this car and hope nothing else happens with it, or spend the $$$ for a newer car. We are not really well off, ( on fixed incomes) but this is our only car and we need to depend on it. Thanks

Our two rescue kitties chilling out with our adopted turkey Tom.

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I like the regional difference that most of the country says catfish, up here it's hornpout. No matter what you call it, it still taste's good.

Thanks for the replies everyone. Just so you know, we have seen this doctor for years and like her, and when both of us need to see her we make the appointments for both of us. We'll see where this goes. They already charged my insurance, right now it's just my copay that's in dispute.

We haven't found anything yet that makes you " tick proof". Best I've heard is keep the grass cut in your yard and check yourself at the end of the day.

Hi all, As part of the " can't tan until you burn" growing up generation my wife and I have yearly ( at least) appointments to get checked out by a dermatologist. We've had the same one for years and we really like her. During our last checkup ( some months ago) she recommended something to try for my allergies. Fast forward to last month. My wife ( a recent cancer survivor) had an appointment with the doc to have a spot checked out for skin cancer. Turned out to NOT be cancer thank god. As my wife is hearing impaired I always go into the exam room with her . While the doc was looking at my wife she asked me how I was doing. I said fine, the stuff you recommended works well. she said good glad to hear it. I thought we were just making conversation. Well last week we got a bill for my wife AND me for an office visit. I called and explained it was my wife who was the patient, but was told because I discussed medical issues with the doc I had an office visit as well. I replied the doc asked the question, I was just responding to her. I was told they would look into it. Still haven't heard back. So , did I over react? I kind of feel like they tried to pull a fast one over on us. I don't blame the doc. It seems like the office people are trying to squeeze us for more $$$$. If you don't mind me asking, what do you think? Thanks Jim

Very good point! Thanks for sharing.

At this point I am the " old guy" and I would love to find someone to pass local knowledge to. I have a really good friend (I Don't make friends that often) who expressed an interest in fly-fishing. ( I've fly fished off and on for fifty years) I made a start at it with him and he lost interest. Maybe he'll comeback to it at some point, hopefully before I'm too old.

Is just dirt ( like is found in the woods) considered a " firm base" or would gravel establish a " firm base?"

Hi all, I currently park my boat in my driveway in front of my house. Due to the shape of my driveway I end up with a backing/forward/backing movement to kind of get the boat out of our way and parked on our front lawn. This is less than ideal as I had a delivery van " tick" the boat trailer once and my front lawn ends up with a bare spot under the boat. Last year or so I have been working on clearing out an area for a semi circular driveway on another part of our property to keep the boat on. It's currently fairly smooth dirt and I want to put a layer of something on it to firm it up. Pavement is way too much$$$$ so I'm thinking of a thin layer of 3/4 gravel or 3/4 crushed stone, or something else. I have a small bucket on my JD tractor so spreading something out is not a problem. So I guess my question is what would you use? Have anyone of you done something like this? I'm open to suggestions. I'm just trying to keep the area firm enough to keep it from being mud or causing ruts' in the wetter seasons. Thanks, Jim

I have several lures ( spoons, hula popper, jitterbug, crazy crawler, etc.) that I had as a kid back in the 1950's, early 1960's that were retired way back then and just kept for sentimental reasons. I pull them out every so often for a trip down memory lane. What's even more ironic is I still fish the same lake I used them on back when I was a kid.

New life in our woods. We think she gave birth there overnight. Took this picture from our back door.

Thanks for the replies and kind thoughts everyone. We appreciate it.

We've had great success using WD-40 to get sticky residue off. Can't say we've tried it on painted surfaces though.

If we ever get up your way count on it, and thanks. Jim

My guess is most of the water you fish is tannic colored ( brown) at least it looks like that from your pics. If so you would be hard pressed to see any beds. There is a small pond ( York pond) minutes from my house that was full of bass. The missus and I fished it years ago out of our canoe. Max depth was seven ft. Water was so tannic stained we never saw a bed and yet they had to be there for the pond to be full of bass. Same with one of the larger lakes we fish. In your pond you hit a key, fish hang out under the bushes. Same with York pond. Get a Senko under the bushes or in a pocket of shade and your golden. If you are ever down this way let me know. Who knows, maybe we could meet up and talk fish.

It's so sad to see the rapid decline of the lakes the missus and I have fished for so many years. Today I'll talk about our favorite smallie lake. This lake was a real gem. About a thousand acres, clear water , full of life. The bottom was mostly rocky, from pebbles to bowling ball size rocks and they looked polished, the bottom was so clean. Water was so clean you could clearly see the bottom down to fifteen feet. Turtles, schools of fish were common. Schools of juvenile smallies thirty or more would swim past us. During the spawn there would be hundreds of smallie beds every where you looked. A couple of areas of the lake had good LM fishing as well. The missus picked up her PB LM there, just over seven pounds. Seasonal camps dotted the shoreline but much was undeveloped. Around Covid we started to see a change. More people, more building ( big mcmansions, as we call them) water quality took a nose dive. We just fished it this past week. This is what we saw. First thing we saw before we even hit the water was a sign at the launch for jet ski rentals. Not good. The water was very stained. We could just make out the bottom at seven feet. The bottom was covered in slime ( best way to describe it) The rocky bottom was no longer clean, it was all covered in the same black slime. We should be in the smallie spawn but we putted along about a mile of shore line and only saw a few fresh beds, maybe a dozen in all, and only two of them had fish on them. We never saw any turtles, only one loon and never saw a single fish swim by. The worst for me was how the shore line has been developed. Camps bought, torn down and replaced with big mcmansions, many with lawns right down to the water . Multiple Boats, jet skies at a lot of the docks. And as you might guess the fishing was a shadow of what it used to be. I'm not a biologist, but having fished the same waters for most of my life it's easy to see the effect overuse of a water body has on it's health. Here's a pic of one of what we call a mcmansion. this one is at least set back from the water a bit. In front of it you can see one of the older summer camps still left. There are probably 40-50 big houses built on this lake in the last five years. I mean really, who needs a house that big. Thanks for letting me vent.

This close to the coast " dressed like a fisherman" puts this in mind. gorton's fisherman

Amazing story and so well written . Thanks for sharing.