desmobob

I can still enjoy the day if I get skunked and I certainly believe there is more to fishing than catching fish. But if I never caught fish, or got skunked on most trips, or never caught a big one occasionally... I might start spending the time on other hobbies. ?

I like the Zman Shroomz in 1/20 for most of my Ned rig fishing. My only complaint (besides the price) is that the very effective keeper occasionally cuts a fingertip when unhooking fish.

These pumps are small and were out in the middle of corn fields, so I didn't think they were oil wells. I just looked at a map of oil wells in the southern end of Indiana and the area I drove through is covered with them! They are indicated in green here: https://igws.indiana.edu/PDMS/Map/ Thanks, Bob

I recently flew out to Iowa to pick up my new Ford Maverick and drive it back to the Northeast. I took the "scenic route" home. When I was driving across the southern parts of Illinois and Indiana, I saw walking beam ("horse head") pumps in some of the fields like I remember seeing when I was visiting Kansas. The different, and interesting thing I noticed was that many of them had a vertical pipe with an open flame burning. Is this to burn off coal gas or natural gas that gets into the water well?

I never ran it for much more than probably four hours and I don't remember how long it would run on a tankful. I'm guessing more than eight hours...

A few years back, I bought one of the cheap Harbor Freight two-cycle 50cc generators with a coupon for $99! I used it all one summer for running battery chargers for R/C airplanes and it worked great. It wasn't as quiet as the other guys' Hondas, but it was quiet enough, and a LOT less expensive.

I chose the 2.0 EcoBoost gas engine. I was interested in the hybrid but it wasn't offered in AWD for 2022, and the 2K lb. towing capacity was borderline for my boat. If the hybrid was offered in AWD (I think it might be for 2023 or maybe next year) it would have been a tougher choice. I estimate my aluminum Tracker Pro170 with gear, trailer, etc. is right around 2K lbs. I live in an area with a lot of big hills, so I was happy to get the 4K lb. tow package on my Maverick. It was a inexpensive option ($745) and included a 3.81 rear end, 225/65R17 tires, transmission cooler, larger radiator, larger capacity cooling fan, 2" receiver hitch, a 4-pin and 7-pin wiring plug receptacles and even a factory-installed electric brake controller. Nice.

I just got home with my new Ford Maverick. I ordered it with a special $3K off MSRP deal from a dealership out in Iowa. I flew out to get it and had a fun, 1600-mile road trip home to the NY/VT border. (I added a hard folding tonneau cover (BAK BAKflip MX4) since the photo above was taken.)

Never during the soft-water season. But I, and a good friend I was introducing to ice fishing, each got ticketed many winters ago. Back then, NY's fishing license year ended on Oct.31. I didn't hunt in those days and was a young man, so I wasn't all that used to remembering to get my next year's license in the fall. I loved to ice fish and had a good friend who wanted to see what it was all about. He was a very straight arrow and was worried about going along without having a fishing license. I told him as long as he wasn't actually fishing, it would be fine. As the late December morning wore on, one of my tip-ups kept going off. Each time, there was no fish on the line and the bait was unharmed; it was likely a very small fish that couldn't swallow the minnow used as bait. On about the fifth time this happened, I was at the other end of the spread, checking another tip-up. Expecting it was the same false alarm, I asked my friend to re-set the tip-up for me. He and I were surprised when he pulled up a small yellow perch. A minute or two later, a game warden walked out to us and asked to see our licenses. I promptly produced mine and assured him my friend was only an observer and not fishing. The warden said he was watching us from the parking lot with binoculars and saw my friend land a fish. And then he looked at my license and told me it was last year's. We both got a $35 ticket and had to pick up the gear and go home. ?

Big burl...

Island on Lowes Lake in NY...

The sharp, short wire keepers definitely work the best on real TRDs. Give the bait a little stretch and push as previously mentioned to get the wire to penetrate. My only dislike with the wire keepers is that they sometimes poke a hole in my finger or thumb when I'm unhooking panfish that took it deeper in their mouth.

I only know two people who have experienced shingles and they both said the pain was terrible. As for the kidney stones thing, I once had to go to the emergency room in the middle of the night because I woke up to take a leak but was unable to pass any urine. It was the most horrible discomfort I had ever experienced. After the nurse catheterized me and the doc saw me, I told him I figured I must have a kidney stone blocking up the works. He smiled, shook his head, and said, "If that was the case, you'd probably be curled up on the floor in the corner of the room, writhing in pain." If there was a kidney stone vaccine, I would have got that one right after my second shingles shot! ? Oh... and I forgot to mention: my shingles shots were done at the local pharmacy, no charge (I guess my insurance covered it all), and I had absolutely no side effects other than a very slightly tender arm like one would get after any shot.

I told my doc that I had never had chicken pox, too. My sister had them, but I didn't get them. She suggested I get tested to see if that was true. It was not. I immediately got the shingles vaccine series. Talking to anyone who's had shingles will likely convince eligible folks to get the shots.

I did some searching once and found an outboard engine test website where you could choose your outboard and prop, then choose between several hull types and come up with rough fuel consumption figures. Some of the thriftier combos did actually show an estimated MPG rating. (My 2014 Mercury 40HP four-cycle on my Tracker Pro170 can --and does-- get over 10MPG!)

A characterization that only someone who really loved their pet would give... perfect.

My old buddy, Elmo, once swallowed a neighbor's bantam rooster. Well, all but the head and one foot. A buddy had called me to tell me my dog had apparently caught a bird. When I got to my house and went to the back yard, I quickly realized he had got a bird, alright... it looked like there had been an explosion at a chicken farm and Elmo looked like he had swallowed a bowling ball. Within minutes, the neighbor called me, telling me he'd deal with my dog by using his shotgun the next time he showed up in his coop. And much later that night, in the wee hours, I woke up for what initially seemed like no reason. Then, I realized the reason: a very strong smell. The big meal had made Elmo very sick, and there was a splatter of smelly, soupy brown liquid starting about a foot up one bedroom wall, across the room to the door, where there was an enormous pile of vomit to top it all off. Elmo: One other occasion, after an all-day display of butt-dragging across the living room rug, I noticed a short piece of rubber band hanging out of Elmo's butt. I could relate, as I had recently experienced a similar issue with a little piece of cellophane from a Little Debbie's Nutty Bar that I evidently ate too quickly and carelessly... ?

The majority of my rods are older Kistler KLX series. I bought a KLX UL spinning rod once and the very first time I took it out, I broke it at the ramp in the dark before even making a cast with it! It was laying along side a front cleat on the boat and I somehow looped a mooring line around it in the pre-dawn darkness. When I pulled the line tight on the cleat, I remember hearing a small "snick". That little noise was the sound of the top four inches of the rod breaking off. ?

I found a can of beef broth in the cupboard and used it to make my oatmeal this morning. I added some small pieces of bacon and put three over-easy eggs on top. It was good, but the saltiness soon overpowered the good taste for me. I did get to understand the positive possibilities of savory style oatmeal and am happy to have learned about another preparation option. ?

I'm trying mine tomorrow morning with a beef boullion cube dropped in with the water and a couple of over-easy eggs on top. I don't think I have any sausage on hand, but I'll be grocery shopping soon (if I hit the lottery!).

It seems breakfast oatmeal is a blank canvas, waiting for us to make it into a culinary masterpiece. ?‍? Picked up a few good ideas here... ?

I buy the big box of Quaker Oats from Amazon. I use a big microwave-safe bowl and put in a cup of oats, a spoonful of chia seeds and about two cups of water. When it comes out of the microwave in four minutes, I add a couple of spoonfuls of sunflower seeds, some raisins, some dried cranberries, a big spoonful of peanut butter, a pat of butter, and some maple syrup. This is the "healthy breakfast" I have if I don't make pancakes and eggs or egg-and-cheese sandwiches. I try to alternate. If you haven't tried adding peanut butter (and you like peanut butter), give it a try. A friend of mine who is a doctor just gave me that tip last spring and it tastes so good I wish I had thought of it years ago!

We always called this, "the Indian alarm clock." I guess today it would be referred to as "the native American alarm clock" or just be considered cultural appropriation. ?