Fishing With Face

I am not familiar with Stink Bugs. Are they hard to get rid of? Can you use them for bait?

Quote: petroglyph

Can you have a couple chickens or ducks as pets hanging around the place? Or possibly a goose. They also double as guard animals.

Geese are like a tick above monkeys in my book. Where I to win Powerball, I'd be buying politicians too. Only I'd buy the DEC, drop migratory restrictions, and OG would never see another Canada Goose again. One of the few creatures I could bash against a wall and feel nothing. God, I f#$%ing hate geese. Just talking about them makes me want to take the dog for a walk =p

It's a good idea and chickens are sort of on the list, but I think my dog will kill them. Still figuring out his triggers =/

Quote: DRich

I am not familiar with Stink Bugs. Are they hard to get rid of? Can you use them for bait?

Unsure lol. While everpresent, I've never seen them en masse like this. It reminds me of my construction days, early aughts. Everyone knows and has seen a ladybug, but something about that one year was just nonsense. Window wells were piled full, literal thousands of them, and in every house I worked on that year. Every time you'd pop a board they would just pour out like liquid by the thousands. Couple years later and you'd just see a random one land on your arm twice a year like normal.

They're not a huge problem, just a curiosity. They do eat my plants but at a rate I don't even bother with it because they're not destroying anything. And yeah, they do work great for fish, but I hate using "weak bait". Soft stuff like shrimp or processed meat, or hard stuff like the carapaces of insects, they don't close on the hook. One nibble and it's destroyed and gone. And while it's no ethyl mercaptan, they don't smell good. Just picking them up to toss em in the tank makes my hands stink, and if I pop 20 in there, the whole tank gasses off for like 10min. You can even see a shiny, technocolor skrim on the surface of the water, like oil. It's not terrible, just mildly caustic. Like cutting a pungent vegetable. I'd be hard pressed to carry a bag of those things around. Bleh.

But no idea how to get rid of them. I'm more a "learn to live with it" guy anyway, and the fish tank disposes of them as fast as I can find them =)

We're back!



Bent a rod and cracked a piston at the wrist pin. Whoops. Replaced those, polished and lapped the water rusted valves, replaced bellows and baffles and we're back in business. Had two different wrenches sign off, I suspect and deeply hope we are good to go.

So go we did.

With no time and being all out of sorts, it wasn't the best laid maiden voyage. I charged one battery and bought another (just in case), charged my jump box and ran 'er for a solid 10 min in the drive. Belts and fluids were 5-by, the shift link adjustment, while not perfect, was positively revolutionary. It's as sloppy as you'd expect a 35yr old piece to be, but ALL of the jamming is completely gone. No more launch panic! There IS a bit of a pixie in the valve train somewhere. Sounds like an old steam tractor in one cylinder; click-a-TACK click-a-TACK. As I was going to Chautauqua and could swim to shore no matter where I was, I left it to faith. No time for much else; I couldn't get all the batteries in, had no electronics except vital gauges, no time for biminy, no time for livewell, I didn't even have time to look for the lost bilge plug. Snag a new one and we were out.

Someday I hope to attain the level of inner peace that allows me to be calm at the boat dock. Maybe when I'm too old to go and just sit on a bench with a joint and observe. But damn, that place always gets my anxiety up. It's not that I mind being launched on top of; I actually prefer it. I'd rather be squeezed for space instead of squeezed for time, ya know? BUT gd, man... it's a 20' dock. Yeah I can pull my 19' back and leave you almost all of it, but not when you're drawing lightning bolts down the ramps with your front tires trying to dump your 32' pontoon. C'mon, man! Gimme 30 sec so I don't eat a dock line and I'll f#$% off. But nope, gotta get wet now! Ugh.

In a hurry I popped out early, and due to this had a cold motor stall. No bigs. Then I hit the key and nothing. And now we're back in the s@#$.

In a hurry I never cleared the launch, and now I'm dead in the water right at it. Fine cuz I was plenty far enough to allow further launches, but a gd disaster as it was blowing 13kt steady gusting to 17. I had about 40 seconds before being blown into the break wall.

The boy pleased me greatly. He's leveled up; no longer reliant on commands for every single thing but aware and engaged when dad starts to flip his s#$%. Instead of constant commands to move here, do this, go there and reminding to pay attention, it's just move and do this and he'll KEEP moving and doing until I tell him otherwise. Much better, and possibly saved the boat.

I knew to instantly throw hook, but gd, this thing is something I would buy for my canoe. Settin' the boy to paddlin' would've been about as effective. Boy in place, he wound up on port aft holding the boat off the wall in 15kt rippers.

If you've fished with me more than twice, you already know the problem. I, as is required by my brain, failed to return to neutral. You'd think a mf'er would figure it out after the 2nd time let alone the thirty fifth, but like math, that particular nugget never succeeds in sticking. Gave the throttle a bit of a wiggle and she fired up just as some DPW fellas setting docks made it to us. After thankfully denying their assist, we gurgled away to start the day.

Big no-wake area to start, for which I was grateful as it was like a test grounds. Gauges were coming up, everything sounded and felt fine. Wrench's adjustment cured the killing of the cylinders that was causing the vibration we mistakenly diagnosed as a bad U joint. But the ticking...

Under load it was a bit more concerning. Not "striking the piston" concerning, but it just seemed a bit TOO hard. Being unfamiliar with pushrod engines, I couldn't really think it out, either. But hell, I'm here to test it, right? And it's not like I'd have to pay for it... let's see what happens.

Out of the no-wake, the steam engine really began to churn. But before I could ever begin to think about it, much more pressing problems came up.

While planing instantly as it always had, it just seemed slow. Gauge check shows everything came up and we're 5-by. I open 'er a little and yeah, we are definitely down a noticeable amount of power. Pin it...and nothing happens. I mean literally nothing. It didn't spit or sputter, didn't cough or chug, it didn't even change the tone of the song coming out of the carb. I mean literally nothing. It feels as though it's just adjusted wrong, as if all the throttle is doing is taking up cable slack. But how would the slack be at WOT and not be taken up as soon as you started accelerating? S#$%, I dunno, but come down in revs so you don't f#$% it before you can fix it. Holy s#$%, you come down too far or is this thing dying? O....oh yeah. S#$%. We're dying.

Dead in the water.

It's nice, looking back. 2yrs ago I'd've raged a day. This time... no stress. A worried boy's queries were answered with "just need five minutes", and 5min later my newly purchased battery was in. Flip the switch, turn the key, good to go.

We motored out with all power back and all problems solved save the click-a-TACK, which was now a din of castanets. I rounded the two points blind to where my old spots were, pointed in a general direction, and just zoned in. The clackin' was regular. Pattern never changed, intensity never changed. It just THAgadaTHAgadaTHAgada all the way across the lake. Queer. While zoning into that I found the motor. As much as I hate em, the V6 in a boat's kind of a treat. That smooth, balanced hum was under the din, no wavering or even so much as a single spit the whole 12min ride. Though the clackin' is a concern, that made me feel real good. Guess we can forget it and get to business, ay?

I eventually found my old flat, once close enough to see the few remaining landmarks I had. And it...was just gone. Chaut has for now given up on mechanical means and went back to spraying the lake to combat invasive plants. And my flat, which by Memorial day is nearly impassible let alone fishable due to weed growth, was a barren mudflat with wisps of brown bunches well under the surface. Jesus wept. It was completely decimated.

We set up danger close, what with having no weed line to target. And immediately I knew we were in for it as at no point all day was my anchor going to hold us. Hook's too small and the wind too strong. After a 5min sesh where we immediately got critical close, I decided to start over.

The day was spent draggin' the whole bed. Chug with the prop barely under water up to the reeds. Dig, skip and drag our way through the bed for 500', chug back up to the top. It was a little unnerving, what with never being in more than 3' of water and mostly staying in the 18"-24" mark, but thankfully the damnable wind pushed us dead parallel to shore. Other than a few touches into the soft pudding bottom, the entire day went without further incident.

Kid caught tons, pulling up perch and plate sized bluegill hand over fist. I stuck with jerk baits, targeting size over number. By day's end, I pulled up an Erie sized, 14" yellow perch and a tank of a young largemouth. Must've pulled it right off her bed, looked to be ready to pop any day now...



We broke for the day around 1500 as this was our first outing, we went at 1100, and dad was getting toasted. Took a quick burger lunch on the patio at Village Casino on Bemus Point. And though the boy had school the next day, we SPF'd up and f#$%ed back off to the flat for a couple more hours, neither willing to hang it up. I didn't have much luck the second go around, only adding species as opposed to size (rock bass), which I managed to preserve in a cooler and is now in my pond. The boy dicked around with me lure fishing for a bit before finishing off with more jigging, which he, of course, just slayed.

Looks like we're back in business =)

I got a bit combative in surgery and so am well behind all my peers' rehab progress. While I hoped and sorta suspected I'd be fishing by now, today's the first day I've been able to properly get out of this chair, and even then 5min is about my max. But, with being off for at least 2 more months, plus having my vacay time renew just in time for me to never go back to work, I hope to get some serious trips in this year. With a "new" boat and no ability to do much else, I'm hopin' for a banger year =)

If fighting doctors results in more surgery, then I'll have to get the boy in here. He called about an hour after I woke up. Aww, he remembered!

Nope. Just wanted to brag.





I suppose that's OK, too =)

Quote: Face

Geese are like a tick above monkeys in my book.

This like a cowbird in Florida, only gators.



Just kidding, sort of.

Stinkbugs and hands: ain't you got -- don't you have a portable vacuum cleaner?

Quote: Face

We're back!

but a gd disaster as it was blowing 13kt steady gusting to 17. I had about 40 seconds before being blown into the break wall.

The boy pleased me greatly. He's leveled up; no longer reliant on commands for every single thing but aware and engaged when dad starts to flip his s#$%. Instead of constant commands to move here, do this, go there and reminding to pay attention, it's just move and do this and he'll KEEP moving and doing until I tell him otherwise. Much better, and possibly saved the boat.

I knew to instantly throw hook, but gd, this thing is something I would buy for my canoe. Settin' the boy to paddlin' would've been about as effective. Boy in place, he wound up on port aft holding the boat off the wall in 15kt rippers.

Hate to be a nag on safety, but. Never put your body between a boat and a solid object, the body will lose. Great time to learn about having a few boat bumpers on your vessel and how handy they are in that instance to just hold a bumper, [buoy] with a short sling between the rock, dock, trailer, other boats, jetty's etc., and let it do it's work. Keep hands and other body parts out of the crush zone.



Or even use a boat hook, https://www.westmarine.com/boat-hooks any damage you can't prevent with a buoy and a boat hook, let the insurance company fix it, quote hot Nancy, boat broker from Seal beach : ]

"getting hit by one ship will change your mind forever about boat safety" petro

Junior was wearing a life jacket,,,,right ?

Quote: petroglyph

Junior was wearing a life jacket,,,,right ?

I would bet against it.

good reading, Fish.

Was I supposed to think your son stuck his body between the boat and the wall? Where's that coming from?

Quote: odiousgambit

good reading, Fish.

Was I supposed to think your son stuck his body between the boat and the wall? Where's that coming from?

Realize the potential of a skiff bouncing up and down in choppy water, hands placed on fixed object [wall] boat rises and is shoved toward wall.

" experience gained is directly proportional to the amount of equipment ruined"

Quote: DRich

I would bet against it.

Quote: Face

...what with never being in more than 3' of water and mostly staying in the 18"-24" mark...

My lack of mechanical confidence + haphazard planning is why we went to Chautauqua. I still only have Type II's. I've a number of things to get, from hook to proper stranding kit, and a full boat of new Type III's are coming with it. I'm heading to the pusher man's (Cabela's) the minute I can stand more than 10min at a time, maybe tomorrow.

Thanks (petro) for continuing to nag. Sincerely.


And apologies to all for my lack of clarity. No I didn't use the boy as a bumper lol. I'm quite familiar with inertia. It was a flat concrete wall (not rip rap) and though wind was ripping, lake is only a mile wide at max and not even a half mile where we were at. The only waves are from traffic, so no worries getting him ground up. He was in the aft seat, inside the boat, giving it a stiff arm.