hermit

SO... this topic is now over a year old but I can add to the story. Yesterday, I finally get a chance to get the boat wet this year. A good month after I wanted, but hey that's how it goes sometimes. Turned out to be a beautiful afternoon after the foggy damp morning. Anyway... I back the boat in, put it in park and step on the parking brake. Feel something pop and the pedal is stuck to the floor. Okay I blew my parking brake, could be worse. NOPE! All brakes are gone... again! Launch the boat and proceed to float around with a couple of friends for a few hours in the south end. (There was no fishing involved.) Get back and deal with the truck. So it's pretty much the same story as this original post... first trip of the year, blow out brakes at the ramp! I called U-Haul to rent a truck, got AAA to take mine to the shop. I had to use a box truck for pulling the boat out but I spent a few years driving one so that was fine. The ONLY two times I've ever blown my brakes, sheesh! Maybe next year I'll start by launching somewhere else, ha. Thought you guys might get a kick out of this story. Oh and I've never owned a vehicle where the parking brake is tied to the regular brakes... my last 5 trucks were all independent systems. This doesn't seem like the best way of doing it- lose one lose them all? What if you're at speed, there's not many options. Hey anyone want to buy a truck?

Follow the boats.... big derby this weekend, also probably why you won't get too much help right now. But there should be lakers right out front of Sampson and points north. Often good pike fishing right around there too. But i'd go out the chute and immediately start looking in 60-100' on the shelf, you can take an inner tube out from Sampson and catch lakers. If they aren't there look deeper just off the shelf or try a bit further north. Use white/chartreuse/glow for the lakers.

Well that sucks, last I heard they thought things were improving. It does mention that in the article but overall it can't be good. But then part of their plan to fix it was capping it with clay(?) so it's not too surprising the mercury is sneaking out. Hope the eagles make out okay.

I've only had one boat but it takes a regular drain plug like you mention, goes in from the outside. Never had an issue or even thought about it coming out, most of the time the water is trying to push the plug into the boat anyway. I do replace them regularly when they get harder to tighten but that's about it. I've taken it out on purpose while on the water but that's another topic!

Huh I'll take a look next time I'm at the Asian market. I don't think I'll be buying any though. Thought it was pretty cool this guy was fishing for them even before NY made the announcement they were here. He said they're native where he's from.

Hey all, been doing my usual May carp fishing a little. Started slow just as everything else did, several weeks ago it was 0 or 1 bites per 2-3 hr trip. Last week it picked up a bit and now things are starting to get going, at least until they start spawning. No monsters yet, I might need to mix things up a bit. Biggest was 25.5 lbs from last week. This has actually been pretty good shoulder rehab as long as I'm careful, the slow ramping up of the bite has been perfect. I'm just thankful I can do any kind of fishing, and it's fantastic to be outside after that long winter! Today was the best morning so far, landing 6 and losing one wrapped around a log. I had hooked up on one rod and was fighting that fish. Got it in close and it appeared to tangle with the other rod and start taking line. After a minute it became apparent the second rod had a fish on! Not tangled at all, but by the time someone grabbed that rod (I got help) it had wrapped up and I had to break it off. First double take of the year! Man it's great when that drag starts singing. Zzz zz zzzzzzzzzzzzzz! Loving a new rod, I put together a carp rod over the winter with a Shimano Baitrunner (the newer cheaper model) and a Daiwa Mission X carp rod I got at a great deal. I've been wanting a Baitrunner for a while for drifting sawbellies in the summer and having two uses for it was good enough to get one. I like the reel a lot but wish the main drag could be set a hair lighter. If a good carp has several hundred feet of line out it can really pull in the water and a few times I've wished I could dial it back just a little more. It's still well suited and has caught 80% of the fish so far. The rod is great too and can bomb several ounces out of sight (okay not quite). This combo will also allow me to cast over the weedbeds in the lake and hopefully I can figure out a good pattern for carping all summer. Maybe! Today I weighed one at 19.5 lbs, the next was in the low 20's (didn't weigh it) and the rest were in the mid teens. Good fish but not the bruisers I'm looking for! Lots of Rudd/Roach around, the differences between the two are slight and I'm not sure which I'm seeing, I'll have to learn and check the telltales. Could be both I guess. Dang bait thieves. Haven't gotten any goldfish yet. One fish I cast out and as soon as it hit the water it got picked up. I was trying to set it down and it was bucking in my hands! Great fun. Been using corn, works pretty good at first but they wise up to it after a while and with lots of people using it. Could be the reason I'm not getting big ones, I'll start bringing some other baits along now. Oh interesting side note, was talking to an Eastern European gentleman about carp fishing and the topic of Gobies came up… he said for the past few years he's gone to Taughannock and purposefully been fishing for the gobies, I guess he eats them like smelt, whole and fried. Anyone heard of that? Not that it'll keep them from spreading but go for it man! Edit: Ithaca area

Another station in the Ithaca area now has E-free, the Valero in Jacksonville on rt. 96 near Taughannock State Park. Great news though it's not a 24 hour place. The only other one in Ithaca I know of is downtown at rt. 13 and Buffalo St.

Sometimes it works in your favor. I have a Rebel stick that had two small trebles on it. I took the front one off and put a larger one on the rear. Now instead of just vibrating, it vibrates like normal but also slashes back and forth like it's behind a dodger. Catches a lot of fish and there have been several days it's the only lure to take fish. So now I'll often play with the hooks, sometimes they're okay to switch around sometimes not. I'll always take the front treble off of sticks with 3.

What slow rollin said, do it so you're not touching the lead all the time. If they're still shiny paint them right up it'll stick fine.