jimski2

http://www.goldeagle.com/brands/stabil/default.aspx

More info on e10 gasoline stuff.

Could it be possible that some good fish are over in the western Lake and someone does not want to share them.

This is the first year in 25 years that I did not buy a Canadian fishing license.

Get an 8 foot antenna with a laydown mount. You never know when you will need assistance and a good radio is better than a half a radio.

Everyone one your boat needs enhanced ID. You only need it to return to USA and if you do not have it, you will have to jump through a lot of hoops.

The best thing anyone can do is be a "Good Samaritan" and help the other person out. So what if it is a money contest, most of them are a crap shoot for the winner anyway. When I was in the Coast Guard we went out anytime, anywhere to help someone. Now they pick and choose and the people paying their wages are out of luck.They are getting paid and the boats you paid for are not available to help you. Maybe some changes in policy are needed. Do not give me the cost arguement because I see the "Make Work Patrols" and helicopters spending our money daily. Anyway, helping out your fellow boater is the "right thing" to do.

There are a lot of nuts out there. Some of them are worse than us.

Concerning the "right of way" you still must take an effort to avoid an incident even if you have the right of way. Probably the best thing to do was to pull your lines in when you saw the ragboaters coming.

From the Navigation Rules, USCG-page 85, [c] A vessel engaged in fishing,-, shall exhibit:--- a shape consisting of two cones with apexes together in a vertical line one above the other.

If you did not comply, then you will be found wrong.

Anyone out there has heard a report on Inboard/outboards not being sold in the future due to a requirement for catalytic converters on them, costing several thousand dollars?

I have seen twice in one day a plastic gas can pour gas into a car, and it blows up. The static electric charge does it since it is not grounded like a service station pump.

I took my 2 full six gallon plastic fuel tanks out of the boat last October and kept them in the garage till the other day. They have sealable vents and I closed them up. When I opened them up and looked in the bottom of the tanks, they are semi-translucent, I saw no water or anything. We will see how they go this week.

Today's satelite pictures show only a little ice remaining in the Buffalo shore line areas. It will not be long before the Bar starts up for the spring fishing. Be ready.

I picked up a used laptop at my computer repair shop. My daughter's Verizon account got me a USB plug in internet access thigamajig and my motorhome had a small inverter that I hooked up to charge the battery so I can keep the computer on. I think it will be useful to track the lakes surface temperatures, weather radar, weather buoy situations, GPS with another thigamajig, camera stuff and other tricks. I'll charge the internet access off to my wife's work necessities. Maybe I can post what lures, depths and where the action is not at while I am out on the pond. I do not know how the cell phone service is out there on the pond or if I will get stuck with a Rogers Roaming charge. At least I will not be more than a few years behind in the technology race.

Not hiring lifeguards and stopping the swimming at beaches would be more effective if they laid off everybody from the administrators to the grass cutters, after all why do you go to a beach. Who needs the guy to collect the launch ramp fees? Sometime the payroll and administrative costs are more than the fees collected. Before the state came along, we launched are boats ourselves and we got r done.

I have had 10 Lowrance units over the years, and YES, the service department is not available to you on a many times call basis. I was on hold for 1 hour and 45 minutes listening to the "Your call is important" foolishness and then a new message popped up and said it was snowing and everyone is going home. My average time for a call in problem was over 1 hour. Today is "their busy season", their usual first message.

I have 3 Fish on rod holders mounted on the gunwales of each side of the boat. Nothing on the stern. My 2 downriggers are mounted about 3 foot forward of the transom, this makes it easy to hook up my lines without having to reach way back and lean over the side. With the riggers facing forward, my boards are about 6 foot from the transom. They are easy to get to to hook on your releases. My stern is clear of all lines and downriggers so as it makes it easy to bring in a fish. The otter boats stay out as far as I want them and they do not close in when you have a stern quarter wind as some planer boards do. Having the power to bring the boards into the boat speeds things up when you need to move or make a quick turn around. Later in the season, we use in line planers with leadcore rigs and dipsey rigs a lot. This is to get the lines away from the boat. Actually we now use the downriggers very little. We have better success with the clearer waters getting the lines away from the track of the boat.

I now run my Otter Boards off my downriggers, I turn the boom facing to the bow, clip them on and send them out. It is very easy to clip on a line from the back of the boat and when they need to come in, say someone does not give you any room, I just flip the switch and they come in on their own. The cables slide the releases out very well. This will save you a couple hundred bucks for a planer board mast.

We used to launch out of Jordan Harbor in the early fishing, travel just barely under the QEW, and really nail the Kings there. J 13's in shallow water till about 8:00 AM when the sun came out. Then we moved out to 50 foot of water for the rest of the day. Blue and silver were the colors till the water got above 45 degrees, then green and silver turned on. Light standard spoons trolled about 2 MPH or less were the ticket in the cold water out deep. When the ice came off Lake Erie, we moved back to the Bar.

Being on hold with Lowrance Repair, I think I hold the record. Over 8 hours, and from July to March, to get my graph working.

Off Jordan Harbor, west of Port Dahlousie, that is where the warm waters start at the beginning of Spring.

http://www.coastwatch.msu.edu/ontario/o.html

Add to your favorites to keep up where the hot spots are this spring.

Jet divers are used in shallow waters as they float up when you stop or are an inside turn. They can be run off the boards with a proper rubber band release.

The Satelite and open lake waters west of a line from Sturgeon Point to Point Abino on Lake Erie show the ice field is clear of the Welland Canal entrance. Warmer waters should be found on the Bar West of the Niagara River flume. The upper Niagara River was full of ice yesterday, they may have started to open the boom.

Smelt have returned in good numbers to Lake Erie as we caught many while ice fishing. Smelt are the first foreign invader species that was stocked to provide forage for Michigan's Lake Trout commercial fishery in 1898. They turned out to devastate the cold water fisherys when they dominated the systems in the 1950's. The Lake Trout, Whitefish, Ciscoes, Tulibees, Blue Pike, etc. disappeared when the smelt devoured all the fry of the cold water fish in the Great Lakes. In the mid 1960's the Canadians started trawling them out and the 1970's brought on the salmon and trout stocking programs. They put the smelt biomass under control somewhat and other fishes thrived, such as the walleye and bass. Today we have to balance the trout and salmon stocking programs to meet the available forage masses to grow salmon to desired sizes.