Fishing Rhino

Dogbone and I are headed to Sawdy this morning. Not expecting much, but hoping to be surprised. We'll see. Going to use my baitcasters more this season. If I use them once, it will be more than they got used last year. I've got three real stout combos. The sturdiest will handle baits up to six ounces, and line up to forty pounds. I'm going to use that where I may have to horse a fish out of the weeds. I have five others that can be considered normal.

I have Keitech and Lunker City swim baits. My favorite is the Lunker City 2 3/4 inch, clearwater, swim bait. There are times they will outfish the Keitechs. I carry both, just in case. Now, I'll have to get these, and see how they'll do. The Rage Craw, Menace, Grub are on my list of must have baits. Glad to see Big O has entered the swimbait market.

Glad you mentioned tires. I hadn't thought of that. Low tire pressure will cause a tire to run warmer/hotter than one properly inflated. Get one tire reading hot, and then use the pressure gauge.

Thank you.

I'm getting lazy in my old age. When trailering long distances, every time I stop at a rest area or gas station, etc., I get out and feel the hubs on the trailer's wheels. With that in mind I found that the temperature guns are quite cheap, from 13 to 16 dollars. That would enable me to walk around the trailer, and "shoot" each hub. Simple, clean and should detect slight temperature differences better than the hand thermometer. On my first long tow, to Pickwick, in 2010, on one of my stops in VA, the left side wheels were significantly warmer than the rights. They were not uncomfortable to the touch, but were distinctly warmer. Hmmmm, I pondered this for a while then it hit me. I was travelling south and the morning sun was hitting the left side trailer wheels while the rights were running in the shade of the hull. My only familiarity with an infrared thermometer was when I was involved with a local race team. We used one for taking tire temps. It gave an instantaneous reading of temps across the surface of the tire. Does anyone have one of these cheap versions? And does it work well?

The fixing part is easy. Matching the existing gel coat is very difficult, nearly impossible. Every time it is cut or ground, the flakes that remain around the removed section will have silver surfaces. Metalflake color is just a coating on silver flakes. Not only that, you'll need a gel coat that matches the original base coat. Then the density of the flakes needs to match. Flakes come in several different sizes, and they are often mixed in a blend to provide a "deeper" finish. Contact your insurance company. They should cover the cost of repairs less any deductible.

fissure_man, you crack me up.

Grampa will not make it. He is having surgery to remove a couple of tumors from his skin. Dinky will be there. We will fish the Santee Cooper area with Grampa for two or three days. But it's close to his home. Dinky and I will arrive at Pickwick sometime on Wednesday. We've got a ten hour drive from Santee to the Pickwick State Park. We'll probably check in get our luggage into the cabin, then grab dinner and turn in. We'll be easy to find. Just look for a cabin with a Silver/Blue Ranger and a Red/Black Nitro.

Try this for an answer. We've been talking about the water, but there is another factor in play, the bait. What happens to the bait when it cools? It contracts, making its volume smaller. The mass stays the same. The weight stays the same, but the volume decreases which means that it is no longer neutrally buoyant. It displaces less water, so it slowly sinks to the bottom.

Did you drain out all the old fuel and install a new fuel filter? Seems quite likely to me that the old fuel is/was the problem.

Bring a large quilt or comforter to wrap around you when you get out of the water, or a zippered sleeping bag. Personally, I don't think it's worth it. You get in trouble and your buddy might not be able to haul you back onto the boat, and end up in the drink trying. Chalk it up to a life lesson, and move on. None of us wants to read about a fisherman who died trying to retrieve a seven hundred dollar cell phone. You hit that cold water and it could literally paralyze you in seconds.

Water is interesting. Like most other materials, it expands when heated and contracts when chilled. But, and this is what makes it interesting. At some point in the chilling process it begins to expand before it freezes, or the cold water would constantly be settling to the bottom. According to the following, cooling water begins to expand at about four degrees centigrade which is when water reaches its maximum density. Four degrees centigrade is roughly equal to 39 degrees Fahrenheit. Below that point the density of water decreases. " The fact that water expands upon freezing causes icebergs to float. The fact that water reaches a maximum density at about 4°C causes bodies of water to freeze on the top first. Then the further expansion as a part of the phase change keeps the ice floating with some 8% of its mass above the surface. The expansion during the phase change may be shown on a PvT surface, and contrasts with the contraction upon freezing of most substances. " http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/Chemical/waterdens.html

Sometimes, it costs more to keep on patching and putting bandaids on a motor that is constantly giving you trouble. A boat on the other hand can get shop worn, but they have no moving parts to wear out. A boat is dependable, while an old worn out motor is not. There is nothing wrong with putting a new motor on a used boat.

First, don't try to parallel park the boat until you've learned to drive down the road. Practice your maneuvering where you cannot get into trouble. Do it away from the shore. Look at the direction indicator on the top of the trolling motor. Set it to the direction you want to move before stepping on the "go button". Keep in mind, the boat will not necessarily move in that direction. It will when operated in a straight line forward. If you set the direction to "three o'clock, or nine o'clock, the bow will move in that direction and tend to pivot around the stern. If you set the indicator to four or five o'clock, the bow will move to the starboard/right while the stern moves to the port/left and the boat will tend to move backward. When you need to move away from the shore, face the indicator directly away from the shore. As the boat moves, keep the indicator pointing directly away from the beach. Practice in calm water without a current. One more thing. Set the speed control to a slow speed. If set on a high speed, when you back up, the motor will tend to pull off line, jerking to the left or right.

Change speed (rpms) frequently. Didn't you get an owner's manual with the motor? http://onlineoutboards.com/outboard_break_in_chart

Don't call me. I'll call you.

Nope. Never had a single person bug me to take them out. My wife has only been on the boat twice, and our daughter once. Not many are enthused about getting up a couple of hours before sunrise, or told no alcohol allowed on the boat. Very few asked to go out on the ocean when I was lobstering. But, they were forewarned that if they got seasick they'd have to endure it until the gear was hauled.

Hmmmmm, has anyone ever seen Tipptruck and Raider at the same time?

It's called the early bird gets the worm. There are a few places I fish that has very limited parking at the ramps. One is only good for five or six tow vehicles. The others up to ten. There is a simple solution. Get up and on the road so I am at the ramp just before there is a glow in the easter sky. Get the boat on the water and park the truck in the most convenient spot, where it cannot be blocked by another rig. I'm on the boat with less light than than a full moon would provide.

Nah, I think he meant fraternizing.

It is you! It is you!!!!!!!

First things first. Take a safe boat handling course. It can save you a lot of grief.

Get some small pieces of fiberglass mat. If there is a boat yard nearby, you might be able to scrounge some scraps from them. Get some two part epoxy resin and mix it according to instructions. Get a cheap throw away brush from the hardware store. Sand the area thoroughly and wipe it down using acetone or lacquer thinner. Brush the resin on the scuffed area. Tear a piece of mat about twice the diameter of the hole and center it over the hole. Work the resin up through the mat using the brush. Add more resin to the area and tear a slightly larger piece than the first. center it over the first patch and work the resin up through that layer of mat. Depending on the thickness of the mat, you may need three to five pieces to build it up til it's even with the area around it. When you are done, let it sit until it is cured. Once cured, you can sand it with a small disc sander until it's reasonably smooth. Then put a skim coat of bondo on the patched area and when it kicks, sand it smooth, and brush some white gel coat, or paint over the patch and you're done. The instructions on the epoxy should tell you the work time you have before it starts to kick, so get everything organized before hand. Shouldn't take more than a few minutes to lay it up. Tearing the patches up before you start will make the job go faster.

I was thinking the canoe on South Watuppa. If I still had this, we could handle it.

Tuesday's weather should have the fish stirring.