BSmaster

25 months left to go on my self inflicted ban. No incidents, No doctor recommendations, No blood check gone bad. I just didn't feel good and before you say hangover - nope, I have had those. It was something different. MY body was welling up from water weight and I remember the symptoms that my Dad had before he died and knew my liver was taxing. He died at 64 from liver cancer. I decided that I had already drank enough for two full lifetimes and quit just a couple days before my 42nd. It is more important to be there for my kids than to have that sweet taste enter my gullet. Call it will power, call it stubborn but I always have had it. I dropped 10lbs in the first week of my wagon ride - all water weight. 6 months later everyone was commenting at work at how good I looked. It wasn't just my weight, apparently I was having some skin and eye discoloration too. So I was just going to ride it from here on out and then I overheard a conversation about liver rejuvination. I thought about it and did my research. I asked my Dr about it but he wasn't much help seeing how he thought I didn't need to quit anyways. My wife has noticed that I am not very social anymore. I feel great physically but my soul is hurting - I can be a real miserable bastard. Fishing makes me happy and I love being around my family but when we need to go somewhere, I am not into it at all. I am not excited except if there is a fishing related event in the near future. So I talk about balance a lot on this forum and how things can really get out of whack when the whole thing is shifted one way or another. We all have honest and sincere opinions and most of us express them in a respectable and polite manner. MHO is that a little bit of drinking may be alright for me - A lot of booze not so much. I will wait it out because that is who I am and 5yrs seemed like a good time frame. I will only drink beer and no binge drinking. Healthy mind and healthy body - That is my goal. If it doesn't work out - I will be alright. I have kind of gotten use to this sobriety thing and the money it saves me. I share this with you because some of you maybe are contemplating a life style change. I can tell you that at one point I was drinking a whole growler to wash down a bag of kettle chips. As Bill Dance would say - "Don't Do That." My Dr actually said to stop that right away. I guess there is a rating scale for carbs and I was ingesting a whole bunch of lower rated ones. I referenced my Dr several times. You guys should have your body checked at least as much as you get your boat serviced. Remember, beer is proof that God loves us. Don't gluttonous about it. Joe

snitchols, you made me look forward to getting of this wagon ride. Beautiful sights!

Hah!

It is difficult to say. It seems to be the trend for sure lately, however, I believe there is room for those who have a good plan. It takes more than good beer to thrive and even survive for that matter. Hopefully he has a business partner(s) who knows bottom line dollars but also allows the master brewer to do his end. My personal opinion is that the bean counters start looking to make more money by cutting corners and it ultimately ends up hurting the quality and eventually the business. They both have to work in unison. Know your customer base - what do they want? A 1st place finish in a belgian category will do little for college town yuppies who want fruit in their beer. Sometimes a simple working man's lager will be the best seller. Sometimes IPA is all that moves. A lager, Pale Ale, Stout, and IPA would be my 1st 4 for variety and then expand. There is a book called starting your own microbrewery but it is alil late if he has already opened. I wish him well. Beer is proof that God loves us.

Patriot, Is it carbonated with no head or no carbonation at all? If it is not carbonated - try getting the bottle temp up into the low to mid 70s for a few days. If you still do not have it - mix with your favorite pale ale and call it a black and tan. Many a night I fell asleep before I finished my beer and it was flat the next morning - I am not one to waste - so that beer went in the fridge and was mixed the folling day with a fresh one to bring it back to life. This also works if you forget the primer. If it is carbonated but looks flat... A little bit more complicated... Here is a good read. If you have questions about home brewing - just google it. There are a lot of resources now. When I started there were several books and a few older statesman that gave me some tips. http://drinks.seriouseats.com/2011/03/homebrewing-troubleshooting-head-retention-and-carbonation.html

Can the cables handle the radius?

The idea of the use of hybrids is to maintain the level of forage. The icing is the added sport fishing. I am not thinking about it as replacing but balancing. I never bothered to wet any of my boats in conesus this year. I am not happy with the way it has been fishing lately and I like the lake a lot. I don't know the answer with absolute certainty but I thought looking at the lake from a different angle would help the conversation. It use to be considered a very good panfish/perch lake but I doubt anyone is hanging onto that description anymore. Most of you know more about the history than do I so I appreciate your feedback. Thanks, Joe Man manipulates nature. He can't help himself.

Thinking about this from a different angle. If the lake is out of balance - which I think it is, then look for ways to manipulate it back to balance or quasi balance. Logic for me is that lakes with healthy musky populations also have a very healthy panfish and perch population - something Conesus does not. What would help with this? Since small lakes with stunted panfish populations get a stocking of tigers to alleviate the over crowding. If a lake has poor panfish numbers, then what would you enter into the system? Based on my 1st premise - Not more tigers, Not more Pike. Walleye is irrellevant but always with such high growth rates. A fish better designed to chase down the alewives in open water (alewives blamed for poor panfish/perch growth rates and numbers). I have always advocated for hybrid bass (but don't hold your breath) A hybrid trout perhaps. Throwing more tigers into the system is analogous to the government throwing more money into everything that they do that is wasteful - which is basically everything. I don't think this lake would have natural trout reproduction so utilizing a hybrid to get faster growth would be a better option. If doing the same thing repeatedly isn't working then trying something new should always be considered. My rambling is done.

Larry, You forgot to set your picture phone settings for southern Hemisphere. Good luck - Can hardly wait for the pics.

Fishing minnow rigs one night, I lost a rig on a fish, another on a snag and on the last fish of the night I got a short walleye and the lil sucker had all three of my hooks in it. The minnow must have come out of the snag and got eaten. Another time I caught a 8 inch largemouth with a smithwick and cordell? jerkbaits hooked lightly into its gill plate area. That's my minnow sticking out of its mouth. Several times I have been cut off only to catch the chain later in the day with my gear still in its mouth.

I went thru it 3 times. I like them. Its obvious that you want them to have life.

I am stubborn - got the golden sombrero - struck out 4 times this year. But I struck out swinging.