Yes, I’ve been MIA for a while but I have been getting out.  I blew a lower unit in Wisconsin and the weather here around home has been brutal and the fishing really off.  I’ve been learning new water since the Potomac has been really off.  Add to that my recent retirement and trying to make that transition and it’s been a tough year.  We’ve been hitting the rappahannock river since it has been more consistent and there’s a good variety of fish.  Pretty rare to catch a good smallie on that river but it’s always a possibility.  I got into a good one last weekend and of course it was a senko fish.  Also caught a good bunch of largemouth and even a couple of blue cats.  Week before, I got a really good snakehead as well.  

Good to hear from you.  Nice fish!

Glad your back and doing well Toxic.

I was wondering about you.  We've missed the wisdom and experience you bring to the site. 

Nicely Done.

Toasting a lower unit is rarely a good thing.

Hope you continue to enjoy retirement without blowing anything else up.

A-Jay 

 

Looks like you've still got it 

Glad you're back!

 

 

 

 

Mike

1 hour ago, A-Jay said:

Nicely Done.

Toasting a lower unit is rarely a good thing.

Hope you continue to enjoy retirement without blowing anything else up.

A-Jay 

 

Really odd situation with the lower.  I checked it a couple of weeks before I left and all was good.  Went to Green Lake and fished all day running all over the lake.  Stayed for 2 days in a little no name motel with a lot of other fishing boats there.  Went to Waupaca and as soon as I launched, the motor was making an odd sound.  Motored to the cottage and fished really close (idle out) from the cottage the next day.  Decided to video for my mechanic friend back home and on my first run videoing it blew.  Long story short, got it to a Yamaha dealer who said there was ZERO oil in the lower and there was ZERO WATER IN THE LOWER.  So, the seal didn’t fail.  His opinion was that someone drained it.  Said that it would only last an hour or so with no oil.  So, it had oil the day I was on big green lake and overnight before I left and went to Waupaca, it got drained. Very odd.  

1 minute ago, TOXIC said:

Really odd situation with the lower.  I checked it a couple of weeks before I left and all was good.  Went to Green Lake and fished all day running all over the lake.  Stayed for 2 days in a little no name motel with a lot of other fishing boats there.  Went to Waupaca and as soon as I launched, the motor was making an odd sound.  Motored to the cottage and fished really close (idle out) from the cottage the next day.  Decided to video for my mechanic friend back home and on my first run videoing it blew.  Long story short, got it to a Yamaha dealer who said there was ZERO oil in the lower and there was ZERO WATER IN THE LOWER.  So, the seal didn’t fail.  His opinion was that someone drained it.  Said that it would only last an hour or so with no oil.  So, it had oil the day I was on big green lake and overnight before I left and went to Waupaca, it got drained. Very odd.  

I have to wonder what type of human feels the need to do something like that.

What happens in a man's mind where that pop's into it and he thinks "That's a Great Idea". . . .

Just makes me shake my head.

Not nearly as costly - While out on the lake, I recently had the pleasure of having some fine local resident jump up & down on a trailer bunk board until it snapped in half. 

Seems the Crazy Chromosome is spread far & wide.

Wish my Humminbird could detect that !

A-Jay

 

6 minutes ago, A-Jay said:

I have to wonder what type of human feels the need to do something like that.

What happens in a man's mind where that pop's into it and he thinks "That's a Great Idea". . . .

Just makes me shake my head.

Not nearly as costly - While out on the lake, I recently had the pleasure of having some fine local resident jump up & down on a trailer bunk board until it snapped in half. 

Seems the Crazy Chromosome is spread far & wide.

Wish my Humminbird could detect that !

A-Jay

 

I’d like to think I have a good trust level for fellow fishermen.  I thought about turning it in to insurance as a vandalism claim but I just couldn’t believe someone would do that.  They would have had to remove the lower screen and then both plugs and then put it all back together.  They even would have had to catch the oil because at the request of my insurance agent, I called the motel and had them check for any oil on the ground where I parked the boat.  There was none.  

Back in the 90s, I had a trailer wrecked at the launch while I was fishing.  No note, nothing.  Just a totaled trailer.  Luckily, this was on the same lake my cottage was on, so I had to take the boat back to the dock, and walk a a couple miles to the truck and trailer.  Never found out who did it.

Maybe there was water in the lower that drained out on the way to the yamaha dealer? I busted a big hole in one once and somehow made it several miles back to the ramp and the mechanic said it still had half a cup of lube in it 

Last fall I was running down the lake and, I thought, the engine locked up.  It was an old boat, '74 Astrocraft, so I bought another inexpensive boat and continued fishing.  A couple of months later I pulled the lower unit to sell it and it was locked up solid and the engine started and ran fine.  Enjoy your retirement.