Fishing Forum

............well, sort of. The weather was great, the water was almost empty, and I managed to boat a couple Cats and one 10 footer [laugh]

Was on the water just as sun peeked over the east mountains. Light breeze, a few wayward skeeters but a liberal application of Off! took care of that.

Wasn't in any particular hurry today. Slow trolled out to the west wall, along the wall to where it angles east. Cut straight across to a few spots off of Eagle Beach. Nice light ripple so just shut down the outboard and drifted. One line with a worm on the bottom and one about 3 feet under a bobber. Rods secured in holders, drag set loose, kicked back, feet up, and a fresh cup of of coffee. Had just gotten comfortable, and bobber disappeared. Slow lifted that rod, and it yielded a cookie cutter Cat. Good corner of the mouth hook, so turned it loose.

Drifted some more, trolled some more, ended up back at the west wall. Dropped anchor in about 7 fow, put the baited lines out again. One on the bottom, one under the bobber..........again. This time the Cat took it off the bottom and swallowed it deep. Was bleeding from one gill so cut the line and turned on the live well pump. Did a rough check on the bump board....21.5 inches. Respectable size, but not enough for a contest bump. Oh well, will make a nice dinner tonight.

Weather guessers this morning said winds 10 to 30 mph this afternoon. Don't know if it ever got that bad, but was getting a bit brisk about 1 P.M., I had my dinner guest waiting to be "undressed" so I headed in.

Boat out, all road ready, headed to the cleaning station.

Now I don't know if what I found was the same mess that TD found, but it was proof that there are at least a couple, maybe more anglers that don't give a damn about the facilities they use. Hope their home garbage disposals don't look like the fish grinder at the north cleaning station did. My best count was 2 Wiper (large) and 6 to 8 Cats (large and larger) jammed in the grinder.
It really isn't that difficult to TURN the GRINDER ON FIRST !! With big Cats, I've learned that if you put their carcasses in tail first, the grinder has something to grab on to. Head first and those big thick skull Cats just bounce off the grinding wheels at the bottom of the shaft. But, NO.........drop the fish in, and it doesn't go down..........oh hell, drop in a few more.[mad][mad]

Well I'm sorry, I couldn't leave it for the Park maintenance folks (if they are even still working) and I didn't want to go to south marina to clean one fish, and sure didn't want to take it home to clean. Now it will probably get clogged up again by some uncaring moron, but when I left it, it was clean and functional.

Oh.......... the 10 footer ? Well it felt like and acted like a fish...........turned out to be a Stick Fish [laugh][laugh]
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You did your good deed for the day Forest but you should have stayed on the East side of the lake, that were we fished today and did very good.
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Hay tin-can I have been thinking about getting me a boat awning. How do you like yours? Does it give you problems when you run those two 100 horse motors?
Are they more of a problem than any good, hastle to set up. Im most interested, does it get in the way when fishing?
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Good job. I've given up on the grinder at the north marina. Don't even look anymore. Just stop at the SM on the way home.
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Nice report Forest... Sounds like a nice day... Later J
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You're a good man, Forrest. Above and beyond with regards the cleaning station.
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Hey doitall, I aint never had a boat with 2 motors, at least not 2 100 HP. Just got a 15 HP 4 stroke Merc on my little 14 footer. The Bimini top works pretty good, as long as the sun is straight up over it or the rain is light and falling straight down.

It isn't any problem to put up, just lift the 2 front supports, secure them to the threaded mounts on the gunwale, take the boot off, and pull it open. Closes just as easy. It is tall enough for me (5'11") to stand under it and not hit my head.
It can get in the way of fishing sometimes when it's up. Have to reach a pole out and around the supports if I'm fighting a fish running from end to end, but I never lost a fish because of it.

I would say the biggest draw back is: if it is up and open when a big wind comes up, it acts like a sail. That's not good when you are fighting white caps.

I attached a photo of it down and stowed, and up but not open. Funny thing, can't find any photos with it up and open.

If you are looking for a good top that is well built and at a fair price, I can recommend Brian's Canvas in the Freeport Center Industrial area.
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