chowder

Big Easy, do you find that this style bracket puts the kicker in a place that makes netting more difficult? I have seen a few different pictures of some custom brackets like this and they do appear to stick out the back a bit. Do you strap the kicker down in transit or trailering? Thanx! -Andy

I'm leaning pretty hard towards putting a kicker on my I/O Starcraft Islander. Looks like the payback is 3-5 years on the gas (+better/easier speed control + backup security) depending on what I spend. I've talked w/ Hank and have been doing some internet prowling on numerous discussions about kicker installations and I still don't understand a couple things; 1. If I get a kicker w/ power trim can I go w/ some kind of really rugged one piece bracket w/ a "sink" in it to allow the motor to tip forward? It seems like this would be the sturdiest/ least problematic route to go but it's probably a bit tricky to determine the exact location for the plate on the transom (at this point I'm leaning towards the Merc 9.9 pro kicker w/ extra long shaft) 2. I haven't actually seen a bracket like this on the market, almost everything is adjustable and looks like junk except the OMC!- Does anybody have a setup like what I'm talking about or is there some hole in my concept that I can't see? 3. How much of a pain is it going to be to hook up the E-Zee steer rod ( I have an auto pilot) to the main drive? Thanx

Now I know I'm tired of deer hunting! Thanks for the video-nice job!

Sorry it took me so long to get the rib recipe up, it's there on recipes. Now I gotta find the time to post my smoked venison pot roast recipt- now that's the REAL DEAL!

RUB: 1/4 cup paprika 1/4 cup fresh ground black pepper 1/4 cup coarse sea salt 1/4 cup sugar 2 tblspns chili powder 2' ' garlic powder 2' ' onion powder 2 ' ' cayenne pepper (DO NOT GET THIS IN YOUR EYE) MOP: 1 Beer (I like to use Saranac Black & Tan) 1/4 cup cider vinegar 1/4 ' ' veg. oil 1/2 med onion (chunked) 2 cloves garlic 1 tbl spoon Worcestershire sauce 1 tbl spoon of the rub from above. Glaze: 11/2 cups ketchup 1 cup beer 1/4 cup cider vinegar 1/4 cup minced cilantro 3 tbl spoons packed brown sugar 2 ' ' Worcestershire sauce 2 gloves garlic, minced 2 teaspoons gound cumin 1 1/2 teaspoons salt 1 ' ' Tabasco Ok, night before smoking apply 1/2 the rub to the ribs, put ribs in plastic bag & in fridge Next day, get the smoker to temp ( I like 210) Get out the ribs, hit them lightly again w/ the rub & into the smoker mop the ribs every once/hour I fill the smoker w/ as many as I can get in there. IMPORTANT- if you are going to hunt while the ribs are smoking don't leave too much beer w/ the person who is supposed to mop them. ALSO- always hunt downwind of the smoker- I got a nice 6 pt two years ago on the last day of muzzle loader using the smell of the smoker to cover the rub scent that was on me! smoke ribs for 3 hours or so As the ribs approach 3 hours in the smoker (this when I dragged in the 6 pt and found the beer gone...) You need to heat the glaze in a saucepan carefully to reduce and thicken it. Brush the ribs w/ the glaze 1 or twice durint the last hour in the smoker (stop basting w/ the mop when you start using the glaze) Kids like to slobber even more glaze on the ribs so that's where any extra can go.

Good luck to all! Spent Mon,and Wens afternoon at the club's rifle range w/ 2 of my sons($$$$) and I think I might be ready to transition to the smoke pole but I want to see one son competing in a swim meet in Watertown on Saturday and another one has the leading role in a musical this weekend and family will be here for the performances too so, I guess I'll give the deer a break till Monday.

Back about 10 years ago I had one come steaming in at me after I had just gotten down from a stand after dark in a thickly wooded area. I was crunching around on very dry leaves and he must have been close and on the trail of a doe I never saw. Long and short of it was I wound up shooting him right in the center of his chest at about 10 yds w/ my old 870 Remington pump. I felt bad about it at first b/c it was definitely after sunset and he actually had just come to a sharp stop. I guess survival instincts are hard to overcome.

Jeepers, you guys are kind of freaking me out w/ these yote stories! I've been hiking out 2 or 3 miles in the dark for 20 years often enough after gutting deer and figuring it was all in my head to be a bit scared. A friend of mine(who unlike me can consistently make 250 yd shots) and I do some predator hunting using .222s and it always seems like they don't want to be any where around humans.

I arrowed one the other day, they are kind of tough to settle the pin on b/c they never really stop moving. Some times they do kind of get to me b/c I have some really long, dark, hikes back thru thick cover during bow season and when they get to howling and I'm only 1/2 way back you can't help but get the creeps!

I use 100s. What are these broadheads called b/c I don't like the "fake" rockets that have a kind of rounded tip. I like the bone chisel tip the original rockets have b/c it will break the opposite shoulder joint on a moderate to sharply quartered away shot.

Curious about people's experiences w/ this expandable? I've used the fixed Rockets w/ the bacon skinner blades for years and taken dozens of deer w/ them but Trophy Ridge bought them out and now they are $39 for 3 (used to be $25 for 5) so I figured well I got this new bow and arrows, let's try something different for a broadhead. I guess I can't say that I can see what the great advantage is, and I did have one that did not pass through (happened from time to time w/ the rockets too, but I've seen those little rockets break through the bone of the shoulder joint too) Although I take some nice bucks I do kill a lot of does on our crop land for meat so I want to find a broadhead w/ economical replacement blades that still flies like a field point- maybe somebody knows of a source for the old style Rocket replacement blades or has another alternative? I guess I tried the Hyper Shocks too back a bunch of years ago and killed some deer w/ them but must have had a so/so overall opinion. I do think the Grim Reaper is an improvement over the Hyper Shocks but all these expandables seem way too expensive!

What color flasher would I run w/ her?

Down your way their probably on their way to Morty's? No $ for gas but got $ for a mount!

We had something funny happen to us on Sunday that I'll share w/ you guys. Mike goes to net a decent Salmon at the back of the boat, it's in the net and he's lifting it and we both kind of back up and I turn to give him some space to deal with the fish and as I do so I realize 2 things; 1. There's no fish in the net and 2. There's something splashing like crazy right next to the outboard. I look hard and the line is going right thru the net and this is like a 5lb Salmon! Now I'm next to the fish so he hands me the net, I pass off the rod and use the net more like a plate and we get the the fish in the boat. Turns out the bottom of the net had a huge hole in it. Barn cats must have discovered the lingering scent of fish on the net and just chewed on that thing for all they were worth. Oh well, good thing I had another net with me! My wife can't understand why I hate cats.

AC, usually copper lines work best when the bite is "tough". The line itself is the delivery device. There is no rigger ball or dipsy creating that big sonic disturbance that often attracts fish. Long copper lines are considered stealth rigs because they are way back and there is no big "signature" from a delivery device. I usually deploy copper lines after I have given my dipsy and rigger lines a good opportunity to work. When I start to get the sense that the fish are not really interested in riggers or dipsies I start working copper into the program. Typically if I get a fish or 2 on the long coppers I can mimic the stealth effects of the copper by running long leads on the slide diver type dipsies and or running long rigger leads. Another trick that can some times work as well as the copper is to run a 2 or 3 color lead core line off the rigger. This puts the bait well below the ball, again reducing the effect of the balls "signature". Copper is generally not a slam dunk by any means. It's difficult to use and there are a number of other techniques that may work just as well.

Hooked up w/ Mike (Trolling Keuka) for an enjoyable morning on Seneca's south end. We couldn't seem to find very many active fish in the 100-150 range but after moving out to 180-250' we started to really clobber them. The action got frantic enough that we just lost count but we boxed out w/ a pile of real nice fish and tossed back quite a few as well. Hottest setup for the Salmon was 300' copper off the big boards w/ the Crazy Bit** flasher/fly, for a while this would have a Salmon on it as soon as we could get a fish off and the line back out. Best Laker setup was the 400' copper off the boards w/ a 10" NBK Dew/chrome w/ the BW vibrator proctologist fly. Got a few fish on the white&green dot spinny w/ the proctologist on the 90'rigger and few fish on the mag dipsy. We got probably 2 or 3 Salmon for every Laker. Thanks for everything Mike & good luck w/ the rest of Bow season. Rollie, we tried to get you on 68 but no go.

Rollie, Mike (Trolling Keuka) and I are launching there too, I'll have my 16' Alumacraft, it's grey w/ a planer mast. Hope to see you out there. I'll be on 68.

Happy Birthday Musky! (every once in a while I check on the Islander just to make sure my arch is still there!)

I rarely get Atlantics on my deep coppers on the FLX, usually they are feeding around 55-40', I did get a couple of 3-4lbers up high targeting Steelies out of Port Bay in early June out over 300'.

OK, I think I'm set on directions, but still need a partner.

Weather report looks way too warm & nice to waste on stand waiting for a slammer. Anybody else gonna fish? My 16" is ready but I might need a partner. Also, I've never launched out of Watkins Glen - mapquest has me going into a "lake side park" on 414, looks like that's where a public launch is ?

Nice report! I've had good results w/ BW proctologist regular & action version both.

Again, don't mistake the woods for the trees! Illegal immigrants pay in over 10 billion a year in taxes. They get them deducted from their pay just like you and me but they get no refund, and can't draw social security. I'm not saying the legislation is right or wrong but it's time to accept the fact that much of the really hard work at the bottom of the economic bracket is being done by by non citizens, 3/4 quarters of whom pay at least some taxes( on a % basis I'll bet that's more than most Globalized corporations pay!). These people are contributing a huge amount more to our economy (by actually showing up at work every day, working hard, and not being able to claim workers comp bull sh*t) than people like the 6 or 7 able bodied men that I know of around here who are on some kind of welfare/unemployment and who will probably spend 3 times more time deer hunting then me - Now that's something to get pissed about!

I'm afraid you guys are missing something here. The same basic group of people have benefited from every administration that's ever been in office, be they Republicans or Democrats. These individuals are affiliated w/ one another by broad powerful economic interests that have reached around the globe since the early 1900s. They are and always will be the winners in any change of status quo, and your bickering about social spending just makes it easier for "divide and conquer" to qwell any threat of serious change. Who am I talking about? #1. Big Energy, #2 Commodity brokerage and distribution corporations, #3, Globalized economic asset management corporations, and #4, the "military/industrial complex"- a term used by General Dwight Eisenhower following WW II, to describe what he saw as a growing threat to democracy. Check out the current circle of top economic advisers and you will see that it's the same people who were advising Bush. The American Dream at the top of the corporate ladder is about screwing every last once of profit from everything from movies to mortgage backed securities to logistical support for Marines in Afganistan. I write this as a small business man with a family to support and faith in God that somehow we can find a way out of this mess.

That's a dandy! What depth was the line running and what did it hit?