DanielG

I got up... I made coffee... I checked my mail... I watched CNN while on the treadmill... Yes the world will end soon.... I watched Cuomo..... Pretty cool guy. He should be in charge of this thing. Lunch... Supper.... Bed.... ----------------------------? Actually, I do a lot of that plus.... Put new pole holders on my boat that arrived from Amazon. The wife and I launched it the other day for the season. I would have waited but a stay at home order was taking effect the next day. Water was 39 degrees and it was windy. Slow 40 min ride back to the house on the water. We dressed like winter but it was still cold. Maine: No fishing license required this spring, No boat registration either. And no lakes closed. I painted a lure I had made last week. Trout pattern. I cast a few lures for the first time. They were made this winter and had never been wet. It might hit 56 degrees tomorrow. I might take the boat out and see what I can get. And so on and so on....

As I wrote before, not only has our Maine governor allowed fishing without licenses and without boat registration for at least the next 30 days, but as we increase in infections she has closed the state down to any but essential movement. But... I got another email letter today that basically says... If you're going fishing it's okay, just be good and don't infect anyone...... She's got my vote...for this and many other reasons of course. She's doing a great job all around. MDIFW NEWS: Fishing, Other Outdoor Activities, Are Permitted Activities Under Governor's Executive Order AUGUSTA, Maine -- Engaging in outdoor exercise, such as fishing, hunting, hiking, boating, walking, running, are permitted activities under the executive order issued by Governor Mills yesterday, as long as people continue to follow social distancing guidelines. "Getting outside to go fishing, hiking, canoeing, scouting for a hunt, or other outdoor activities are essential to not only your physical health, but your mental health as well, particularly during these difficult times," said Inland Fisheries and Wildlife Commissioner Judy Camuso. The governor and I continue to encourage people to get outdoors, but to do as close to home as possible and in strict adherence to physical distancing requirements. While it is important for your mental health to get outside, it is also important to do so safely. In Governor Mills' Executive order 28 FY19/20, it specifically states that Engaging in outdoor exercise activities, such as fishing, walking, hiking, running or biking, are permitted, but only in compliance with the gathering restriction in Executive Order FY19/20 and all applicable social distancing guidance published by the US and Maine Centers for Disease Control and Prevention:. Outdoor activities that are allowed include (but are not limited to) the following: Hunting, fishing, wildlife watching, boating, trapping, birding, canoeing, smelting, kayaking, fiddleheading, hiking, snowmobiling, and ATVing.

Last summer I had to rip a hook out of my belly. Long story.... this would have made it a bit easier I'd imagine.

Well, ya know... that's jus plain cool. Thanks for sharing it.

This is my storage system. I've been working on it awhile and settled on this. I made this corner myself. (I really did). It will hold several rods. You can just see a few of them here... ah... as they're the only ones I've got. Notice the hard bait storage system on the lower level (floor). It's an amazing container. Originally made for matchbox cars but it actually holds ALL my lures with room to spare; can you believe it? I don't know if I'll actually ever fill it up it's got so many compartments. When the bait monkey hits I put in an order for a new lure once or twice a year. Still, I find room for them. Yup.... it's a good system. Simple and uncluttered. On rainy days I take everything out and carefully reorganize it. Takes a while but hey, that's half the fun right? The blue ones on the left, the white-ish ones on the right... etc. I never really know where the red one fits in so I just put it in compartment number 14. I have them all numbered and cross referenced don't-cha-know. I really enjoyed showing this to you. Comments accepted. And if you would like a blueprint of the design I could do that too. Glad to help. You'd actually be surprised at how easy it is to build and set up.

Well, Maine has free fishing licenses and waived boat registration.... But on Thurs. Day after tomorrow we have a stay at home order. Since I don't think being pulled over with a boat trailer will cut it I'll launch the boat tomorrow and tie it up to the dock. A bit earlier than I wanted to but it's now or never. Weather report says 42 degrees and 10 mph wind tomorrow. Should be fun. The ice went out a couple of days ago. It's a long slow ride.

Trust me... you're gonna just love that glass rod. I've got one. I try to use it whenever I can.

Article released by MIT today saying their studies show that actually about 27 feet distance is needed. Also this morning, Fauci says that by Mid April we will be doing 2000 deaths/day in the US. Approx. 82,000 by August. Some governors aren't doing enough for mitigation. The Feds certainly have their heads up their A----. I think so far it's been a picnic compared to the next couple of months.

I've got an electric boat. I've also got 6 trolling motors, all 35 lb ones. I've never put all six on but I have run 4 at a time and usually have two of them with 1 or 2 running. I find that (with the motors I have) turning on more motors doesn't really increase speed much. If you get 2 mph with one motor, two motors might raise it to 2.25 or 2.5 but it doesn't double the speed. But if a wind comes up they do let you push through it better. If you've got more weight, they do let you keep your speed up better. I guess you could say that more motors give more power but not velocity. Electric motors aren't designed for speed of course, they hit a max according to the weight of your boat and resistant factors. They draw more current when that weight or resistance increases, and thus drain the batteries faster. Just my experiences and I've not used higher thrust motors or higher voltage ones either. I would assume the concepts would hold though.

Probably won't work out well.... unless of course you've got a big fish. Sorry, couldn't help it. Swing state fishing... sometime I fish BLUEgill, sometime I fish REDsnapper.

If you do a build up and embellish it a bit this is a great story to tell in a group of friends when the conversation needs a lift. The nonono thing is the best part. The visualization of that happening is funny.

Wow, I think I've heard of 'guidelines' and 'strongly recommended' but this one is worded like an order. I'm not sure anyone else has something like this. After listening to the projected outcome of this on the news (press conference) yesterday all of us might have this happen soon though.

I don't have a BBQ story.... but I do have this. Here for awhile, hunkering down, 65 so we're being very, very careful, lysol, sanitizer, nitrile gloves, etc. We never buy popcorn because we will just eat it a lot. And, I really don't need it... but I do need it if you know what I mean. I get this urge for some comfort food after all the inside routine. I feel like popcorn like a pregnant woman wanting pickles and ice cream. I don't want to go to the store until I really have to again and certainly not to just fulfill a popcorn passion. I get on Amazon and lots of little specialty jars of flavored popcorn for a pretty high price. I just want the cheap bagged stuff that you make in a fry pan. I find this 12.5 lb back for 80 cents a lb. Wow, what a buy! Two days later, Amazon Prime and here it is....

Last summer I got into my boat, cast off from the pier to start out. My electric motor was on and I leaned a bit too far out the front of the boat. The boat hit the neighbor's dock, gently, but enough to bump. I dove headfirst into the water. My glasses fell off and literally disappeared when they went under. Clear glass and wire doesn't show up too good in water particularly when you don't have them on. They were a month old; $530. I'm at the front of the boat and it's pushing me along, slowly but steadily. I can't stop it. I had to turn it so that it could push me toward the shore. I spent an hour going up and down in about 8 ft of water to find the glasses. I even raked the bottom when I went down. No luck. I gave up and called Vision Center and said "you know that pair of glasses you sold me? Do it again." When I told her my story she said, "What is it with you fishermen, we get this all the time." Since then I've had those glasses straps around the back of my head and an auto inflate vest on when I step on the boat.

Wow, what a day! Things will be better next time? Shallow words I know. My philosophy.... Is everyone I care about safe and well? Everything else is either an annoyance or an inconvenience beyond that. I keep that in the back of my head and it does make it better.

The ice went out early a couple of days ago. I'm prepping my boat to put in for the season. I live at a lake. I looked out yesterday in the ealy A.M. and saw four boats go by. Usually I have the lake to myself for a few weeks when the water is about 40 degrees after the last vestiges of ice leave. Now I really hate this virus! Just kidding. It's a big lake. Plenty of room. It's not the fishing boats, it's the jet skis but those will only be here much later.

Since humans run about 5-6 mph I'd imagine not many people can confirm this either!

Where the wind comes out of Ash cove it sometimes cuts a swath and flips blocks of ice up. Ice here goes out two ways. It's still solid and the wind breaks it up or it just melts to floating slush then disappears. The past several years it's been the melting to slush route. It's pretty cool though when it breaks up solid. Huge flat ice sheets come barreling down the lake with the current and crash into walls with inertial to drive them. Years ago, the last time that happened it sounded like explosions. Things seem to melt more gradually now. Lots of things about the season changes are different. This is a busy area but it's a pretty great place. The lakes, the people, the trading post, keepin' it local. Nice quiet place.

I'd never seen a river of water cut down the center of the lake like that.... That's pretty cool. Anyway, no ice this morning. I rolled the dock in today and I think I'll lauch the boat, earliest I've ever done it soon.

Sometimes I think it might be the lake I'm on maybe. Don't know why it would be so though. I live on a 4.5 mile lake that is about 1/2 mile wide. It's a flooded river that was made for the textile mills now long defunct. It's part of a string of 22 lakes and ponds made by the series of dams. The lake is fairly deep in most places with little cover. The bottom fluctuates with ridges and such but on my garmin, no structure. Just smooth bottom. A few coves have some weeds. Otherwise not much. So, a lot of the fishing is open water, often 20-60 ft deep. Crankbaits, swimbaits and such fished 3-15 ft in depth. The fish are deep and also traveling in packs near the surface too. I do a lot of trolling as a result. I would think that chatterbaits might be good in this environment but not so much.

And.... in another thread called "The favorite bait you never catch anything on". And for me it's a chatterbait. Love the idea and feel of it. I fish it once and awhile for that reason knowing it will not catch a fish.

I'm not big on eating bass, we're not supposed to have many lake fish anyway for health reasons. I'd keep a sizeable trout or salmon but in the end I look at it and put it back for someone else, or maybe even me to catch again. Even if it's a really big one. Actually the bigger ones I can't bring myself to have the heart to let it die and not be in the lake anymore. Besides, Haddock is in the store and there's no bones in it. The king of eating fish in my opinion.

In as previous thread I recently shared that our Governor from Maine, Janet mills an avid angler, waived the need for a fishing license... She said, "get out and fish". She is so, very cool. I just got this notice: Governor Janet Mills today directed Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife Commissioner Judy Camuso to allow boaters to operate without a current 2020 registration and milfoil sticker until April 30, 2020. Boat registrations normally expire at the end of each calendar year.

I've got two Dobyn's A fury for spinn casting and the Champion m/h Glass on a bait setup. The Fury is okay. But that Champion glass rod is wonderful. I use it whenever I can.

Any coffee... lots of creamer.... and Saccharin for that just right aftertaste.