LongLine

I was all in favor of the CG having their target practice on the Gr Lakes, but after reading some of the subsequent press releases, I can see the other side’s point of view. (not that I necessarily agree with it though) The 9th dist said: 1 The public will be warned on channel 16. 2 Boaters must be aware of their Lat & Long 3 Boaters must listen to Channel 16 4 Boats will be boarded & cited if they violate the zones 5 34 zones & each will be 5 miles off shore 6 Exercises will be about 5 times a yr 7 Approx 3000 rounds will be fired each time 8 Required by Presidential order for Homeland security. The group threatening the lawsuit claims potential environmental problems, safety concerns and said the CG conducted 24 live-fire exercises in 2006 w/o any public notice. (I don’t know that they did, but it is alleged in the suit) It’s probably good to practice standing on a rolling boat, however I was reminded that the police don’t usually target practice on city streets & that surgeons generally practice on stiffs before hitting the real operating room. I’m not a charter but scanning the VHF I’d probably hear any announcement but guys that sit on 2, 8, or scramble & squawk on 68 all day wouldn’t hear it. Quite a few boats don’t have VHFs and do go deep. Yes, those guys may be morons but usually the morons are problems. Fishing recreational solo a lot and still trying to figure out my handheld GPS, I don’t know where I am most of the time. (FOW – always; E or W – most of the time; Long/Lat – rarely) Motor lifeboat pilots must be certified, but they earn that cert only on the west coast. The lakes are 50 miles wide and they wanted to only go 5 miles off shore. It would be easier to warn the freighters out in the middle of the lake that have to report their positions every couple hours. It’s not like the Niagara River is a two day drive to Oswego so one zone would have sufficed. A 7.62 slug weighs about 8 grams & equates to almost 9,000 lbs of unpainted/uncoated pure metal per year (2,080,000 grams). Quite a few cannonballs - and some places can’t use lead shot, lead paint on hulls, etc. Homeland security vs illegal aliens, drugs, invading armies from the north and bonifide US citizens without a scanable passport. Don’t even go there. Oh well, moot points - Come on Spring! Tom B. (LongLine)

Run your wires (fused) direct to the battery. I.E. not through a terminal that connects to other stuff in the boat. I use 2 separate on/off switches. 1 for light, 1 for unit. Be careful with the cable. Check pulleys etc for sources of nicks. Even plastic can nick the coating. If you use the thimble on the probe for permanent connection make sure it's Stainless steel. Pull the wire as tight as you can around the thimble then at least double crimp it. Be careful how you crimp it as you can cut/nick wire. (Probes are expensive.) I prop my downrigger on top of bench vice with probe hanging, then attach a cannonball and then wrap the upper connection with the rubberized tape. This keeps all connections nice & tight. (Tape is available at West Marine/Boats US or other electronics store much cheaper than from factory) Moor generally has internet sales on parts (cables, probes, etc) during Jan/Feb. What else is there? Tom B. (LongLine) I hope I didn't just jinx myself.

B.W. Fishstix won’t leave home without it; Billy V thinks it “bunk; and I’m theorizing that the mystery salmon that ran the wrong creek last month did so because of sub-terrainian magnetic pulses caused by stray electrostatic discharges probably generated in the SUNY Oswego Physics lab by a frustrated undergrad. Tom B. (LongLine) p.s just being a wise a$$. Everyone has his or her own theory. Many guides out on the West coast swear by it though. Merry Christmas

Erin, The one with the Ladderback. The FuzzyBear 50062 Coyote. Tom B. (LongLine)

Thanx NYF. Now I can sleep at night Tom B. (LongLine)

Here's an interesting site with some real nice photos from BC on salmon migration: http://www.oneworldjourneys.com/salmon/ ... aga_7.html The mention of magnetic fields makes me wonder if that area of magnetic disturbance around the mouth of the St lawrance is what keeps the salmon in Big-O - Today and the AS hundreds of years ago. It also makes me think about Fishtix's "Black Box" as all electric fields have an associated magnetic field about them. Tom B. (LongLine)

Thanx Hank Tom B. (LongLine)

Wanted: Pictured below are two release clips. I’m looking for about a doz of the upper (smaller ones) The lower clip is the small Scotty Trolling Snap and is too big for what I need. These metal clips are part of the original releases made by Yellow-Bird and haven’t been made for a while. This clip could go on a planner board tow line or downrigger cable as a stacker. Attached to it was a retainer pin into which a plastic “donutâ€Â

Interesting http://www.syracuse.com/news/poststanda ... xml&coll=1 Guess they wanted to go back to "school" :?: Tom B. (LongLine)

Here’s an updated post from the P.H. era - Black’s on a Sub-T: I’ve tried many releases but I always return to Black’s. Probably because I like to pop the line loose & let the lure flutter up while I’m cranking in the cable and then have no hassle resetting them exactly where they were. (or maybe it’s just that I’ve been running them for so many yrs that mastering the other brands is impossible with my motor skills) Anyways, the only problem with them on a coated cable is that they may spin and wear bare spots on the cable, hence may cause a loss of signal. Here’s my solution for the 150Lb-coated cable: It’s a short piece of spray tube from a can of WD-40. The diameter fits the cable perfectly. (Note: tubes from other spray cans are different sizes – usually too small) The release holes were enlarged ever so slightly. The tube is held in place by crimping the wire holding portion of a wire connector. The crimp also prevents the release from sliding up the cable. The release can spin all it wants and will not wear into the cable coating. The result is no loss of signal. This year, I upsized to the 210 Lb coated cable. Unfortunately the WD-40 tube has too small of a diameter and is virtually impossible to ream out. The solution is to use a piece of insulation from 12 AWG stranded copper electrical wire. I’ve had both down over 100 ft & have not lost signal. Tom B. (LongLine)

RiverEco - good explaination. They're generally recognized as good for your garden but a major problem in hardwood forests, especially those full of hard/sugar Maples. Not the trees but the ground cover can be greatly affected. Follow some of the links for UofMn explanations. Kind of neat that here's "another" that can be blammed on ship ballast. Apparently years & years ago, ships used dirt & rock as ballast so UofMn thought is that the soil may have contained worm eggs. All I really know is that (1) they're squirmy/slimmy (2) they're expensive (3) Fish love them (4) girls generally don't love them. Tom B. (LongLine)

Invasive worms :?: http://www.nrri.umn.edu/worms/forest/people.html Guess I don’t feel so bad about drowning so many of them when I was younger. :roll: Tom B. (LongLine)

Does it look like one of these FuzzyBear - Dreamweavers :?: :?: :?: :?: :?: The suspense is Freek-N killing me guys Tom B. (LongLine)

Luhr Jensen makes the Coyote spoon. Lord knows how they doctor it up at the Oak. Tom B. (LongLine)

Got’ta "love" the Feds for ignoring ballast water. :evil: Especially when you see articles like this where the ships coming into Lackawanna has gone up 4X this last year. http://www.buffalonews.com/editorial/20 ... 021937.asp Tom B. (LongLine)

For anybody that’s looking for Nautical Topo’ charts on-line and lost the site from the P.H. era (pre-hacker) here’s 3 neat sites that are all printable: NOAA Charts Online. 1st is the index so you can pull up any map that NOAA has around the Great Lakes, including Finger Lakes, canal etc. http://ocsdata.ncd.noaa.gov/OnLineViewe ... rTable.htm #14804 is a familiar stomping ground. You can move around, zoom-in etc. http://205.156.4.52/cgi-bin/EyeSpy.dll? ... =1&aligY=1 This one shows that there IS bottom structure in the Great lakes. Zoom in on Big-O by click/drag a rectangle then check the visible layers “Lk Ont Bathymetry,â€Â

WTG Jeremy. Great pic. Tom B. (LongLine)

Tom B. (LongLine)

Hey YT Isn't amazing what those guys up East can do with Photbucket. I mean to take a simple Blk/Slvr lure and cut/paste those Grn/Yellow ladders on it so delicately on a photo is amazing... Fishstix must be holding classes or something. :mrgreen: Tom B. (LongLine)

Toon – Wind is the easy answer. I offer this to “complicate matters.â€Â