rolmops

Ok, this may sound crazy,but I have been called that all my life so that does not bother me. Anybody who gardens or farms knows that when the rains do not come, the plants get pressured and will start setting flowers in order to produce their seeds and make sure that there will be a next generation. In times of plenty, water fleas are exclusively female and reproduce by cloning, but when their ponds dry up there will be male fleas and on top of cloning there is also sexual reproduction which causes more genetic variety which in turn increases survival chances for the species. Now for the last few years fish were smaller and there has been a lot of two year old salmon coming up the streams in order to reproduce. And as we all know, the three year olds and, very rarely , some 4 year olds are supposed to do that, not two year olds. We also know that a few years ago we had harsh winters and not so much bait, relative to the amount of fish that came out of the hatcheries and natural reproduction. The fish we caught was smaller. We started thinking that there was genetic change happening, favoring smaller fish. Now this year there were die offs of bait fish and the salmon was gorging on this plentiful source of food specially in June when many of us got skunked while the salmon lay on the bottom with their bellies full of easy pickings. It seems that the fish is plentiful and larger compared to the last few years. My theory is that there was no genetic change, but a survival mechanism that caused reproduction urge to start at an earlier age, much like happens with plants and water fleas when there is environmental pressure. Of course the process in fish would be slower due to their longer life cycle compared to water fleas. If what I think is correct, then this fall run should have fewer 2 year olds running relative to the overall amount and the size of fish will be larger, although the overall amount of running fish will be smaller because we lost a lot fish due to two year olds running last year instead of now. Unless there is an awful winter which would throw everything in disarray , next year should show larger fish continuing the trend we see this year. These are just my not completely uneducated thoughts. Please tune in and give me your opinion on these thoughts.

I netted a hooked seagull and when trying to remove the hook, I found out the hard way, that they can turn their heads 180 degrees. My wildest bird catch was a duck that stole a hooked worm from right behind me at the Russel power station. It flew away with a hook in its beak and I was fighting it while it was flying in circles and spooling my reel. If you think that a salmon is a big fighter, you should try a panicked flying duck.

ttt

I did not know that they made tracks. This is something that would fit the restoration of my Islander! I have sent you a private message.

ttt

You have a pm.

I am very interested. Are they the same width as traxs and berts?

That is nice to know and you made me quite curious as to how far north to go.

I'll take the Berts rodholders. Check your PMs

The minimum is different depending on how the steering is set up. But the principal idea is that the kicker should never be able to hit the main engine. If the kicker and the main engine move in perfect parallel movement movement they can be very close , but that is hardly ever the case. If the kicker is set back farther or closer to the transom , they will move differently. If the kicker steers independently from the main engine it needs a lot more space away from the main. If the kicker is set back father than the main engine you can be closer again. The idea would be to try and see what you can do.