Todd in NY

Very true, your marina entry/exit can't take much more drought. And it's already August, so many of us are wondering how the lack of rain will affect when and where the salmon will stage. The rain we got today was nice but it did little to improve our water levels.

Make sure it doesn't have any pressure treated lumber in the boat

Also ask the seller to take you for a test drive so that he can show you how everything works. Make sure the engine shifts properly into forward and reverse, make sure it gets up on plane, all electrical stuff works such as lights and bilge, gauges on the helm, steering is good, etc. I just sold a boat, and I wouldn't let the buyer pay me until I took him for a test drive. During the test drive the boat wouldn't go faster than 7 MPH, but just 3 days before this I was cruising at 35 MPH with my son on a bass fishing trip. Somehow after that bass fishing trip, some gremlins showed up in the 1986 Evinrude 90HP outboard and the left side power pack stopped working. I replaced the power pack and offered the buyer a 2nd test drive, and the boat ran great with a top speed of 37 MPH. He bought the boat because I showed him that everything worked as it was supposed to, and the test drive did my talking for me. I won't buy or sell a boat without a test drive. That's just my opinion though.

Ttt = to the top, of the forum

It was rough but fishable.

Now that you mention it, our creek died up about 4 years ago, but that was due to a late summer drought, like August and September. I wasn't fishing Lake O back then so I can't compare then to now. I was still in the Army then (in Georgia), so I wasn't home enough to do any serious fishing.

Les, I think superstition and fishing go hand in hand.

I hope it doesn't get that bad. I'm seeing rocks all along the Black River that I've never seen before, because they've always been under water. I've lived here since 1997 and never seen the lakes and rivers this low, especially not Lake Ontario and it's tributaries.

I use marine grade grease, the thick blue stuff. The brand of "bearing buddy" that fell off was the Atwood brand. So I tried the Reese brand, also at wally world, and the Reese went on much tighter. The Reese also has the small relief hole in the side of it... the Atwood does not. I just towed my boat for a 3 hour round trip yesterday and the Reese never even started to loosen up. The strange part is that I still have the Atwoods on the other 3 hubs and they've never loosened up once after I put them on. So my guess is the hub that the Atwood fell off of must have been damaged just enough in the past that it needed the tighter fitting Reese. So far, the problem has been solved, so thanks for all the tips and information! Les, how long do you suggest to let the bearings cool off? We usually take nearly 30 minutes setting the boat up before we launch.

I've been to a quite a few boat launches this year on Lake Ontario and northern NY (to include Cranberry Lake in the Adirondacks) and some of the boat launches are becoming very difficult to launch a boat from. We launched at Chaumont Bay NY a few weeks ago and couldn't even tie our stern line up to the last cleat on the dock because it would have put my bow on the concrete launch ramp. Much of the "floating" dock was sitting on the dry launch ramp. Henderson Harbor isn't nearly as bad, but you can see that the lake level is more than a foot lower than the water line on the retaining wall at the boat launch. Is anyone else noticing this problem across the rest of NY in other lakes? We need rain real bad, and I think it is affecting the water temps as well.

I currently own and use four different Humminbird units on my 2 boats and I have NO issues with them at all. When I have called customer service with "newbie" questions they were very professional every time I called them.

I keep a tow strap on my boat at all times, just in case I need to be towed or in, or in case I need to tow someone else. I know there are still plenty of good fishermen on the lakes, but there are some boneheads too. I usually fish during the week because I am retired and because I hate crowded boat launches.