desmobob

I have a small, aluminum boat (Tracker 170 Pro) with a 40HP Mercury four-stroke. I switched my stock three-blade aluminum prop for one of the newer Mercury four-blade aluminum performance props (which I think come standard on the Mercs now). Actually, I have two of them, as one is pitched so its works well when I'm fishing alone and the other is pitched right for when I have another person or two on board. I've always wondered if it would be worth the expense to try a stainless steel prop. Since I now have three aluminum ones, I hate the thought of buying another prop! Log Chaser, Do you think your aluminum prop was worth the expense? (How much did it cost?)

The waters I fish are covered with ice now. I caught two nice bass this morning, but also some yellow perch, lake trout, and a very orange pumpkinseed... Edit to add: caught on Lake George, NY on a tiny 3" version of the Reins Bubbling Shaker in chartreuse glow.

The more fold out trays, the better! That was the box of my dreams as a teenager in the '70s. I had to settle on a plastic Woodstream or Plano... can't remember the brand. Three trays on one side and two on the other, IIRC.

We stood around in my buddy's outdoor covered kitchen and dry-breaded and deep fried trout chunks and kept a steamer pot going with all the oysters we could eat. Many beers were needed to wash down the feast. My host made a desert pizza to finish the meal... a traditional pizza dough that was spread with Nutella, covered with strawberries and then topped with whipped cream. ?️

Three new species firsts for me in December.... Earlier this month, I caught my first Spotted Seatrout and my first flounder on bass casting gear while on a fishing trip to Beaufort, NC (both species took a DOA Shrimp on a light jighead). I also caught my first red drum, but that was on surf spinning tackle. I don't have a photo of my trout, but here's one of my buddy's son with his first one. I'm behind him. I got a couple of keepers, and they were delicious! My first red drum... I only caught two, but they were both in the slot limit so they went to the fillet table. I didn't get to try them before I headed home but I ate a LOT of oysters and some spotted trout while I was there. (In the background, you can see that the owner of a 29' Pearson sailboat had a very bad day on Core Banks....)

I did do that, thank you. It didn't help (but it often does, as you mentioned). It seems that my latest Avast Security didn't play well with the last update of Safari, or vice-versa. Uninstalling Avast has solved the problem. Things are faster than they have been in a long time! I guess Avast was not working well on my Mac.

Congratulations! An excellent (and funny -- I mean sense of humor, not looks) addition to the staff, no doubt! The top-notch moderation here keeps this forum enjoyable.

Speedtest.net results tell the story: avg. 2.83mbs download speed and .51mbs upload. ☹️ ...and it's currently running much faster than it was this morning.

I just fired up my notebook running Windows. Same problem, so I guess it is my ISP rather than the Safari browser on my MacBook. Thanks very much for the help and recommendations, Bob

A common recommendation is to clear the cache/cookies. For a person who subscribes to numerous forums and has accounts with untold numbers of on-line retailers, does clearing one's cache create any kind of a headache?

The old timers or low budget guys do it with layers of warm clothes, a home-made spud (ice chisel) for chopping holes through the ice, a jigging stick (cut from plywood or made from a dowel with ears or pegs to wind the line on) and a 5-gal bucket or two for carrying gear and fish and sitting on. Maybe five bucks in line, hooks and sinkers total expenditure. Other than semi-permanent home made ice shanties, the portable shelters are a fairly new thing around my area and certainly not required. Of course, like any other hobby, you can take it as far as your desires/budget allows.

I love the old Beetlespin (regular and large) but they seemed to be the perfect pickerel and small pike magnet. It seems like every time I tied one on, it got bitten off. I was literally buying them by the box-full at one time.

Nice... you and Standard probably ruined it for everyone. And I finally have a snowmobile to get around on this year! Oh well... ?

Great story! He was my childhood football hero.

I think I've received at least three of the Zippo refillable hand warmers for Christmas over the years, as well as buying a couple of the other brands. I just cannot get them to stay lit and have finally given up on them. I used to be a smoker for many years and always preferred a Zippo lighter but just couldn't get the hang of the hand warmers. I followed the directions exactly to no avail, whether I put the lit warmer in my pocket or tried leaving it where it could "breathe" better. I buy a case of HotHands chemical hand and toe warmer packs at the beginning of each winter. I hate using disposable stuff, but they work very well. I'm looking into rechargeable electric heated insoles...

Two must-reads, in my opinion: Darwin's Ghost by Steve Jones is a layman's explanation of Charles Darwin's incredible landmark work with modern updates, showing how it holds up to modern research in genetics, microbiology, etc. and is still completely relevant to nearly all aspects of life... even business and art. Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed by Pulitzer winner Jared Diamond. Really good reading. I gave it to my 90-year-old mother when I finished it and wondered if she would like it. Her opinion was that it should be required reading for every high school student in the country! Alternate: Guns, Germs and Steel also by Jared Diamond.

I went on the quick and easy route and merely nailed two lines of cotton clothesline across the bottom of my exposed joists, about four feet apart. This suspends the rods between the joists. It's not the most convenient for getting them in and out, but installing the systems takes about five minutes...

Owner makes an Ultrahead finesse football head. I have some... https://www.ownerhooks.com/product/football_finesse/

I've had no luck with D-Con. They simply carry it away and store it, and even chew up the little pie-wedge boxes it comes in. I'm sure it must kill them eventually, but it just has not been effective for me. The beauty of the TomCat or other brand bait blocks is the size. The blocks are too large for the mice to carry away, so they gnaw at it and eat it. And they don't have to eat much of it at all. The blocks will last at least a couple of seasons.

I watched a documentary not too long ago that showed how "freight brokers" (or something like that) had managed to shoehorn themselves into the trucking industry between the drivers and the suppliers and were tapped into the money flow and making the business very stressful and unprofitable for drivers and unappealing for potential new drivers. I don't know if this is really the case, but it was my take-away from the show. Maybe the shortage and the shipping situation will make things better for the drivers and things will improve for them. I hope so.

Similar but simpler... with an old metal milk can, they can't climb out so you don't need the elaborate rotating bait wheel to get them to fall into water. They jump down into the seeds in the bottom of the can and eat a very filling last meal if you plan on doing them in, or a hearty farewell meal if you decide to relocate them. ?

J.T. Buel supposedly made the first fishing lure to hold a U.S. Patent, 1852. His products were sold in Whitehall NY for decades by Northern Specialty Fishing Tackle Company. Both Buel's company and Northern Specialty were eventually purchased by Eppinger Manufacturing of Michigan (makers of the famous Daredevle spoons. Eppinger continued to sell the Buel Spinner for some time). Display at the local museum: I had probably a dozen or more of the Buel spoons and spinners when I was a kid. They came from old hand-me-down tackle, childhood tackle trading session (we used to do that a lot), etc. I used them and, of course, eventually lost most of them. ? I still have a few and they do have some collector value.

Nothing beats the good ol' Victor snap trap, except maybe the old timers' gravity trap (old time milk can or similar with some birdseed at the bottom and a yardstick ramp leading to the top from the outside. Mice fall in and can't get out.) My boat is stored in my yard, next to acres and acres of woods. I'd be uncovering it to reset traps every couple of days! A half-dozen bait blocks wrapped up inside the boat's cocoon are effective for the winter.

In my experience, it's more about the individual delivery employee than which carrier it is. For years, I had excellent USPS, FedEx and UPS delivery folks. All of them. The last couple of years, not so much. I had a new four-piece rod arriving Wednesday and I was going to be away. The new UPS guy leaves my parcels on the ground at the end of my driveway where it's only a matter of time before something gets stolen. So, I contacted UPS and paid an additional $5.99 to have the package re-routed to the local UPS Access/Hold point. The morning of the scheduled delivery, I got the usual "your package is arriving today" e-mail from UPS that also showed confirmation of the Access/Hold re-route order. I got home that evening and went to the Access/Hold location and the package wasn't there and they hadn't seen it. UPS tracking showed it was delivered there. It wasn't.