Hot Dogs As Bait

The fish in the river are not as picky about the bait they hit on as salt water fish.  When a pair of good old boys passed our dock fishing I ask them if they had had any luck and what they were using for bait. One of the guys held up a nice large-mouth bass and said hot dogs. I smiled and gave him a thumb up.

When I told the story to a coworker and he said they would do a lot better with real bait.

The following weekend we did our regular sail on the river, trolling as we sailed along­­. We did get one hit and the fish took the lure. I had brought a hot dog along just as a joke. With nothing to lose we made two hot dog fish from the wiener.  A hook slid into it neatly and over the side it went.  We were passing the opening of an oxbow and a fish hit the wiener fish. It was a beautiful bass. I made the comment that one more like this and we would have a nice fish dinner. The second wiener fish was put on the line.  The same thing happened.  A second bass was caught.  When we got back to the dock, I had to have a photo taken to show my coworker

.

We have not had such great luck again, but hot dogs are good bait and they are cheap.

Mad Scientist Mode

My wife knows when I have a new project underway, she says I get into "Mad Scientist Mode". She knew I had a project going on when she pulled in after work.The work bench in the carport had tools and parts out, that was her first hint. The dog was happy and running back and forth from the house to the boat dock, on and off the boats, and dragging his outdoor toys about with great vigor. He gets that way when I go back and forth doing and getting stuff. Last, she says I look like the scientist in the move "Back to the Future" working on my project and blocking the rest of the world out.

 The office area has lights on almost all the time. It is on the North West side and gets the least window light of any room. It also has the most shade from trees and vines so what light that comes in the windows is soft and cool. We had talked about having all the lighting run from our 12 volt solar panel system, but I had just not gotten around to it. This morning she said the electric bill had increased and she hinted it must be the office lighting doing it. She reminded me if I was not in the office the lights need to be off.

After she left the Dog and I got inspired to take care of the problem. My first thought was to run a new line down from the attic from the main 12 volt line that runs the rest of our led lighting system I had put in a few years ago. The thought of running a new line was not a fun thing to do and the extra load on the system might be too much for it to handle. I had pulled the schooner out of the water to do a paint and varnish job, and it's solar panel system was just siting there unused. I made a frame for the panels to set in and put them outside the office in the sun. A line from the panels was run through the wall and in to  the office. The schooner's AGM battery set and the voltage regulator was neatly hidden under my desk and the panel leads attached. The office had its own solar 12 volt solar powered electric source.

The hard part of the project was the 12 volt lights. I had 12 volt compact florescent light bulbs from  my wife's boat that would replace the light bulbs in the desk lamps. ( Will replace them before we take her boat out again)  8-) Next, I made a 12 volt power strip to plug all the 12 volt lamps into. This was labeled 12 volt and each plug going into it was labeled 12 volt since they are regular 110 lamps with regular electric plugs on them. There are still a few 110 lights in the office as back-up for the 12 volt system.

When I took the wife around the side of the house to surprise her with the new solar panels,  she exclaimed, "look!"  I proudly beamed at my solar panel array, but she was turned the other direction, admiring a plant in bloom! When she turned to spot the panels, she said, "oh, that's new! You put 12 volt in the office for me!"  So all my work was not in vain and she was pleased.

The new 12 volt office lighting  looks like it will work out well. Time will tell. If it works, I will replace the schooner's system with new panels. If not, the ones I have go back to the schooner when she is launched. As it stands now, I am only out my time, and the dog and I had fun doing it.

Hard Times...Good for Sailboat Boating

I use our sailboat more than many of our friends use their motorboats. As the cost of gasoline and diesel has gone up the use of their boats has gone down. It costs too much in fuel to run their boat all day and get food, beverages, bait and ice.  They now go out every two or three weeks not every weekend.

Wind is free, sunshine is free, going out is cheap…just the cost of food, beverages, bait and ice. Those items have also gone up, but I would still use those if I did or did not go out.  It is also more pleasurable to sail with fewer motor boaters. 8-) That’s not really true, most motor boaters are respectful to sail boaters.

Most motor boaters quickly find there is just a little more to sailing than just getting on and putting up the sails. When I take a motor boater out I let him do some of the work. It gets them involved and lets them see and do some sailing, not just sit and watch. You do not ask them if they want to, you just hand them a sheet line and tell them what to do. My wife taught sailing to women and can make most women relax and not feel left out.

One thing that always is surprising to motor boaters is you can talk in a normal voice and have a conversation. On the way out I tell the women to watch what we guys are doing because they are going to sail back. They do not believe me.  When we are ready to head back Admiral Wendy takes command.  She gets the women involved and we guys get out of the way. Women for the most part are good sailors. 

A trip like this plants the sailboat seed in people’s heads. Sailing is fun, the wind is free, and a small sailboat is often more fun than a big one. Sailing can be addictive.       

Fishing from a Sailboat

 

Sail boats have been used in fishing for years, but today most use a motorboat. The motorboat has many advantages over the sailboat when fishing.  Myself, I like the advantages of the sailboat.

When fishing using a sailboat, it takes longer to get to your fishing spot, but you have a delightful sail getting there. You can troll as you go, so not all is lost in that respect. This time sailing also lets you get everything set up and ready to use when you get there, and you have time for pleasant conversation.

Sailing is ideal for trolling. The speed is slow, and the boat is quiet (not like the noise you put up with from a power boat). The ride is also (usually) much smoother than a bouncing powerboat. We run two lines out, one from each side of the stern. If we get something on the line we can heave-to (Heaving-to is holding your position in open water) until you land the fish and then continue on. Heaving-to lets you leave your sails up but not move all that much. When you reach your fishing spot you can drop the sails while you fish.

Line fishing is good. Casting is a bad idea. The standing rigging, your sails, all the lines like the halyards and sheet lines, all are hook magnets. Fishing lines love to spin around a shroud and lock in to a line. They almost always have to be cut off these so no damage is done.

When fishing from a sailboat you get plenty of time to relax. This time can be used  to come up with great stories about the one that got away and rid yourself of stress as you sail back to port.

Blinking Fish Lure

I saw an ad for fish lures that would blink to attract the fish. It was a very good ad, I bought a set.  I was asked by a friend how much fish could I buy at the food store for the same amount of money as the lures cost. I just smiled.

There were 3 lures in the set. I put one on and on the third cast a fish hit the lure and took off. I pulled back and the line snapped. I did get a thrill though. One down, two to go.

I put the second lure on. This lure was one that sank for bottom fish. On the forth cast with the second lure, the lure snagged on something on the bottom. I gently tried pulling it up. A large pine branch slowly surfaced and just before I could reach down and grab the branch the line snapped. It gently sank below the water.

With two lures down and with one  more to go I figured I would try the last one fishing off a nearby bridge. I took my gear, went to the middle of the bridge, got my last blinker out of the package and dropped it into the water before I got it attached to the line. I was blinking upset. My wife was trying not to smile and said sometimes things like that just happen.

That evening when I took the dog out and looked in the water just off the boat, I saw a blinking light.  My blinking lure was doing its thing. My wife thought I had gone crazy. I got a grappling hook anchor and hooked the branch with the anchor and retrieved my lure. As my wife said sometimes things just happen.

I lost the lure the next day in a tree. I think I will stick to some cheap bait for a while.

My First Sailboat.

My first sailboat was one my Dad bought from a cub scout troop that was selling it so they could get a new one. Dad gave them a big donation and I got this junk boat with the idea that it would keep me out of trouble while I fixed it up. It was in sad shape. Roofing tar was the bottom paint, the canvas that had been the deck cover was mostly gone and the inside paint had at least 4 colors with all layers peeling.

I thought it was great. I spent most of the summer working on the boat. I spent the summer cleaning, scraping, replacing parts, making things, painting, and dreaming of high seas sailing.These made the summer pass fast. The boat went into the water at the end of the summer. It was a much better junk boat by then and I needed to try it out. It was fun, and my Dad found it to be more fun than he thought it would be. He became interested in sailing and got into the "how to sail" part of it. Over the winter, his interest grew, and in the spring he bought the family ( him ) a real sailboat to use on the lake.

My boat just sat on shore. My Mom came up with a use for it. She made it to a planter box in front of the lake cottage. It made a better planter box then a good boat to sail. The boat did get me and my Dad into sailing. Getting a new nice sailboat and learning to sail  made my dreams of high seas sailing grow.

I knew I would have a yacht someday and have it take me to the horizon. Like Captain Jack Sparrow said ...A boat is freedom.

 "Bundin er batlaus madur" ... a viking proverb..."bound is a boatless man".

Parka weather in Florida

When the temperature drops to the 60's here in South Florida it is parka weather for anyone that has has been down here for over ten years. We had our first cold front of the season come through last night. Wife and I awoke to find the dog and cats on the bed with us. After getting up and getting the coffee going the good wife came back to find me and the dog still trying to stay warm...now with both of us under the covers. I told her it was a one dog night. Up in Alaska the Indians would say how cold it was by saying how many dogs were needed to sleep with them to stay warm.

Over coffee we both agreed that it was a good morning to wake up in the house and not on the boat. Then we started  talking about cold weather stories and that movie where the one kid Double Dog Dares another kid he would not touch his tongue to a metal post in the school yard. In real cold weather when you are one a boat the same thing can happen. Damp gloves will freeze to shrouds and so on.

I remembered a story about me and my brother up in Poland, Indiana on a hot July day. One of those days when smiling would make you sweat.To get cool, my brother came up with the idea of getting ice from the freezer and sitting on it. Sounded like a good idea. We got a couple of metal ice cube trays from the freezer and were headed outside to sit on them when I came up with the idea that we could lick them like a big popsicle. My brother tried it. His tongue stuck to the bottom of the tray...realty well stuck, then he got his lips stuck. Such screaming came from him, that both my parents came out to see what I had done to my brother. Dad could not help but to laugh and this made my brother scream louder. That caused the tray to fall off. My brother told me he would kill me if I told any of his friends what happened. I did not have to, my parents did that for me. *-)  For years after that " go lick an ice cube tray " was the come back line my sister and I would use with him.  That would make him steam and take our discussion up to the next confrontation level instantly.

The temperature is supposed to get up to the 80s today. I still got out my box of sweatshirts and sweaters so they will be acceptable for the rest of winter down here. I did use my parka for a few minutes but I found it a little over kill for 68 degrees. I will save it for when it drops below 64 degrees.