jimski2

My EZ Steer system has broken twice in the past three years. I bought a rod connector from Cabela's this fall and will try it. You hook it up when you are trolling with the kicker motor. Disconnect it for main engine operation. You need the main engine down with the kicker operating to maintain good steerage. Without doing this you have a hard time steering. The rod connector is a lot cheaper to buy. You need to bend it to fit, not a problem with a good vise.

When the ESLO contest was on years ago, I would count 400 boats on the Niagara Bar. Lately there have been less than a quarter of those numbers. There are a lot of good 24' boats for sale at bargain prices. Half the guys I see fishing are geezers, like me, who get the $5 license deal. If salmon fishing is your agenda and you want to keep it, then you better get on board with the program. Our "house of cards" government has collapsed and there is no program that will not be shut down. The pheasant farms are done, next are the fish farms.

Checking out sites on the internet, it seems that they recommend with the new E 10 formulated gasoline we use now, we have to close the vents on our boat fuel tanks for long term storage. Is any one doing this and how are you doing it?

On my way to the airport in Houston yesterday, $1.399.

$1.47 today here in Houston, TX.

The more money for fishing gear means more money to be spent on fishery improvements from the Federal taxes. Let us go for more, it is a win/win for us. We are losing in the license sales numbers, we have to make it up somewhere.

Cabin fever is setting in. "Late winter perch" is a good show to get ready for when the cold sets in.

http://www.icefishingtoday.com

http://www.icefishingfirst.com

Native Pride, Cattaraugus Reservation, Rte 20, yesterday $1.749 with a card available from the cashier.

Over 80% of American homes have a gun. Most of them do not belong to th NRA. They will make it difficult for anyone taking their rights away.

Before you play around with the Teak oils, go to the Sikkens web site and read the MSDS before handling this stuff. We must be careful.

The rise in weight of returning salmon is good news. Something or somebody is doing right.

A good reason for the size of this fish is a lack of competition for the forage available. We demand the DEC stock more Kings along with the recent finds of natural reproduction. Our forage base is declining. If a King has to feed on emerald shiners, it would starve because the energy expended to catch the emeralds would exceed the nutrition available in the emerald shiner.

The US Fish and Wildlife survey says New York has 67,001 ice fishing guys over 16 and they fish 206,215 days a year through the ice. 2006 study.

Marcum has come up with LCD screens for their underwater cameras for ice fishing. They have a heating element for the screen to enhance their viewing.

After blowing a powerhead, due to overheating due to a clump of seaweed on the lower unit, make sure your engine temperature alarm is working.

Your manual, which we do not read till something goes wrong, will give you the operating temperatures for safe operation of your electronics. WNY is not good for LCD in our winters, take them inside. We do not use LCD's for icefishing for this reason. Light Emitting Diode displays are OK, flashers, like in the old days.

One of my graphs does the same thing on 68. I shut the radio off, it is nicer. One thing I found out was the sensitivity setting on your fishfinder will blow your transducer if it is too high. I lowered mine down, still get a good picture.

For your VHF Radio which consumes 25 Watts when it transmits, you should use at least 10 gauge wire. Attach it directly to the battery terminals with the fuse next to the battery on the positive terminal. The range your radio transmits is dependent on how many amps you can get through the wire and 10 gauge should do the job. By going direct to the battery you avoid power losses from the other accessories. Dual batterys could use a battery disconnect switch to choose which battery you are charging or both batterys in a parallel hookup. The switch you use should have a field disconnect switch to protect the diodes in the alternator if you switch batterys that you are using while the engine is running.

You will have to click on the "TWIC" thing on the right side of the page.

Get set to spend some time and money to get your ID Card that will be required to renew your Captains License from the USCG. A computer visit to set up an appointment, a visit during working hours to an office, your credit card, picture ID or passport etc. and about $132 out of your wallet. It all starts here:

http://homeport.uscg.mil

If only these guys would fly from Formosa to Anchorage and see the lights of the fishing boats off Asia that feed the billions of people there. It is like a city on the waters. When you fly over USA waters at night, you think you are over a desert. Fish to most of the world are a neccessity, not a recreational activity. USA only imports 3 trillion dollars of seafood annually. Soon we will not be able to import seafood, we may be under greater pressure to harvest our own seafood locally again, like we did when transportation costs were high.

I do not use my 32 gallon built in tank any more. It is out and I use two six gallon plastic portable tanks. The plastic tanks have a vent seal so there is no temperature expansion problem with moisture. The volatiles can not evaporate out. I save the unnecessary weight of 20 gallons of gasoline that I do not use on every trip.

Once I failed to open the vent and the tank collapsed but it sprang back into shape with no damage. I do not need to take my boat to the gas station anymore, just the tanks and I avoid marina prices. Last winter I used the extra left over fuel for my snowblower.I do not have to worry about how much gas I have left, just pick up the can and you know.

Another change I made was my downriggers are off the boat. One less battery saved another 50 plus pounds off the boat. I use 6 good rodholders and use leadcore, jet divers and snap weights and in line planers when the water temperatures call for them and switch to "Dipseys" in the late summer. I think this solves my "old gas" problems and results in better fuel mileage.

I pulled out a Ridgeline and a 21 I/O buried in the sand with my 2wd Silverado. It depends on the boat you are towing, but I used a 6 cylinder Chevy P/U for towing a 21' Aluminum Starcraft for 18 years and never had a problem. Mainly I rolled the boat off the roller trailer and used an electric winch to pull the boat up after setting the first roller in the water and kept my wheel bearings dry. If you have to float your boat on the trailer and have a heavy glass boat you may have troubles. The Honda has the power but you can't bury the boat and trailer as even 4WD won't help. Use a good concrete ramp.

The owner is anxious, will consider offers.

The Bassmaster organization has now questioned the rationale behind the " catch and release" practice since they believe that without proper taking of fish in a fishery, it will cause a decline in the quality of the fishery. Your thoughts please.