Seasons Changing and it's Striped Bass time?

Pete Derosario sent a great report about his James river fishing adventure.  Informed me that he might be on the water on Sept. 25 and do bait between Stubbs and Dillards about 9 AM.  Sounds good to me as I'm not an early riser.  Hopefully I can be in the area and Pete can share some of his baits and knowledge about boating stripers.  Of course, I won't run off and do my own thing if I can get on the water close to Pete.  Last trip, I went my own way and Pete got into stripers and I got the skunk!

Wanted to get on the water on Friday Sept 18, but it didn't happen.  Rather, went to Green Top and talked to Steve Lane about my chart chips.  The fishing hot spots is a relic of the mammoth age. The Lake Insight was just a bit less a relic.  So, the Navionics + was the cat's meow and it was updated to current for the East coast waters I usually fish.  Strange that I thought the Fish 'n Chips was a local eatery.  Now under stand it is related to the scope of the chart being displayed.  Comment was about 1.2 K is a limit.  If the screen goes white, toggle the fish' chips off.

Tried to put the leaning post on the bow of the Sea Pro, but I wasn't strong enough to get the existing seat lifted out.  Think need some lube!  Maybe I need more muscles.  Tried more WD-40, no luck. 

 

OK, got the swivel seat out and the new leaning post installed.  OK for just a hand hold to keep my balance on the deck, but too tall for a seat.

 

 

 

Got the two bank charger installed on Mel's deck boat.  Hasn't reached float after 24 hours.  Maybe the batteries are low electrolyte.  Might be a similar situation with the Sea Pro batteries.  So difficult to check the fluid level.  OK, now well past 24 hours and the unit says "ready to fish".

Got my Coast Guard stuff out of the electronics box.  Flares expired in June 2015.  Arial flares expire in 2018.  Got the boat registration and the salt water registration in a bag with extra remote auto pilot batteries.  Oh, maybe this stuff belongs in the joytbkiptopekecows.blogspot.com epic?

Also have to think about a spot light sonar for the Riptide trolling motor.  Bill says it's nonsense to have the sonar aft and toss from the bow.  A guess as to where the baits are?  Now that I have a leaning post that is practical up front, the SPS might be practical.  

Now have to think about the cast net interference caused by the rod holders.  It's typical for the net to drag on the rail as it opens and hits the water.  The lead line catches and ruins the toss.  I may take the rod holders off the rail.  This is only for guests that cast net for baits.

Lake Anna Water is going, going . . .

The Without rain, the Rockland Creek Ramp is?

Well, I was lucky enough to choose to take Mel's deck boat off the water on Monday, Sept 7.  It turns out that the Rockland Creek channel from the deeded dock to the ramp is barely passable.  If the water level drops much lower, the boats at the docks will be sitting on the mud. :(

I have several navigation chips and need to decide which to use.  Obviously, the micro chip can only be used in the Simrad.  It can be used in the Lowrance with the adapter.  Got Lowrance Insite and another fishing hot spots to investigate.  Nothing seems to be simple these days.  If ya want to update the chips after a year, it's another $C.  Yet, I like the shading that can indicate a chosen depth, like 20 or 30 feet.  a depth line where the stripers are holding.  Makes live baiting and other striper chasing techniques easier to control.  At Bass Pro, got info to talk to a rep at Green Top?

While considering the change from my cigarette lighter connectors for accessories, I realized that I had the power going through an accessory switch on the console.  Fer dumb!  The cigarette lighter connectors work when they are powered. 

The rope I connected to the head of the Riptide trolling motor certainly makes recovering it from the deployed position much easier.  I'll try to get an extended length for the chair/leaning post up front and use it to position to raise the TM.  OK, got the extended leaning post and will give it a try this weekend.  

Would like to try the dry mouth http://www.youtube.com/watch?V=CYPUZYgv3o from the bow deck.  But Bill Fowler would rather toss from the stern as he believes that's where the best screen pictures are where the baits are.  Well, we live on different lakes and I think I'm past the ability to cast net.

Tried a lot of tosses and various nets over the years, but age and physical ability demand having a younger and more able crew.  Yet, my wrist continues to improve and I may give it a try.  

Hemby hadn't posted for a while and mentioned getting on the water later than 10, getting baits, and boating a slew of stripers in a couple of hours.  Big girl was 34 inches.  

Bait or no bait, Friday is a time to fish.  Maybe check the Rockland Creek launch today 9/17 and see if the recent rains changed anything.  

A plan for Friday August 28, 2015

Got a note from Pete that he would be working his restored Neptune on Lake Anna early Friday morning.  I can meet him near Stubbs Bridge on the water or maybe another location.  I will be doing the boating alone, so I might have to launch on Thursday evening and take a chance with gear sitting in the boat on the dock.

Need to fill the bait tank on Thursday with well water and add 3 cups of rock salt (need to buy at Lowe's - the blue bag-done) and a tablespoon of Calcium Chloride.  Maybe a tablespoon of Shad Keeper too.  The 2 liter soda bottles need to come in from the boat for freezing-done.  I'll try to keep the baits a bit cooler than 85 degrees.  Can't plan on everything going right as shit happens!

Thinking to get a bilge pump with 800 gallons/hour and different hose to fill the tank and empty from the lake - done.  The back up Rule 500 gallon/hour that is in the Creek Bank tank is too slow.  Got all the stuff for the bait tank and the guide-on lights.

No crew is available as Marcus is swamped at work and Bill Fowler is too distant for a day on the water.  So, it's a solo event.  Learned that I have to park the boat so there's no backing in the dark at the house.  Can't do anything about the boat ramp, but I have the stern LED spot light that I didn't use earlier.  I'll be sure to tie a line on the boat this time!  Yep, it worked out OK, but still difficult orientation.

I may add a night vision back up camera to the T for night backing.  The unit I use now doesn't have the transmission range to use on the boat and view in the cab.  The night vision camera/transmitter and receiver has much greater range.  Another project to accommodate my aged body!

Ruminating about past Kiptopeke fishing adventures.  Here is Ramrod (now deceased), Joy (barely able to hold a tiny striper), and my brother, Raymond.  Think this is about 2011, but could have been earlier.

In the previous year, first time on the bay, my daughter Debbie caught her 39 pounder, just shy of a citation.  Joy T Brew had the skunk.

Guess it's time to plan for 2015 fishing at Kiptopeke.  Will be different as I don't intend to stay the entire month.  Yet, it's early .  .  . and fishing on Lake Anna is supposed to be at it's peak.

                                       2 AM and on my way

Yep, nearly got stuff  ready by parking the boat so I could pull out of the driveway without backing.  Couldn't sleep and decided to get up and go at 2 AM.  Think it was more like 3 AM.  Wasn't a difficult path to follow up lake to the Stubbs Bridge.  Full moon!  Several boats at Stubbs and one thinking fisherman put his lamp in the only path I'm sure my T will pass.  No problem, I just motored through his bait.  Didn't see Pete, so I went on up to Dillards bridge.  Pete and buddy Ryan had two lamps hung and were hauling in hundreds of shad with each cast.

I filled my sorting bucket and added some rock salt.  Pete dumped a net full into the sorting tank.  In this case, the sorting tank is just a means to harden the baits a bit and get a lot of scales to drop to safe the bait tank filter chore.

Then into the Creek Bank tank.

I think some got injured on the way to the bait tank and croaked.  Just too many baits in the net before going into the tank.  Pete knows his stuff.  My tank was definitely over loaded.

Pete mentioned pulling boards before dawn.  I wasn't prepared.  Put my 1 ounce egg sinker down lines on the planer and it sank like a rock.  OK, take the sinker off and retie the line.  Yeah, right, NOT.  But, I got one out and immediately the depth changed from 20 to 3 feet.  Lost effort.  Besides, I couldn't see the planers in the dark anyway.  Need some kind of LED on the board or a means for Sturcture Scan to show the location.

No luck with boards.  Pete and crew mentioned Rose Valley.  I went to Marshall creek first, but nothing interesting on the echo.  Then up to Rose Valley.  Lots of what looked like stripers, but inactive.  Even Hemby was in the area.  Pete was on his way in and I left to get fuel.  Fueling at Lake Anna Marinas is another story, but on the water E-0 is about $3.50 and at Duke Oil in Mineral, it's $2.50 a gallon. Have to keep hauling 5 gallon fuel tanks.

Since the fuel location is right on the 208 bridge, I decided to go to the power plant.  Nothing there, so I went to the Dam.  Couldn't read my phone and Pete's phone wouldn't take calls.  When I did read my text, Pete was on stripers back at the fueling station area, High Point.  Damn!

Pete has the Neptune runnin fine!

and boating stripers .  .  .

And another, and another .  .  .
 

By the time I got back, all the striper action was over and just catfish were taking the shad.

During the entire day, I was plagued by the structure displaying "stopped".  Have to keep touching the "stop sonar" toggle on the lower right of the screen.  A pain!

Now noon and I decided to call it a day.

Hopefully Pete will have photos of his adventure and crew to add to this post.

For the end of this story,the following

At the ramp and exhausted.  Tie the boat up to the leeward side of the small dock.  The water is very low in the lake and stepping up or down to the boat is difficult for me.  Up the ramp and do the combination (very tiny numbers for my tired eyes) and let the heavy beam swing to the stop.  Then, back the trailer down the ramp and try to get it near touching the dock.  Learned from past that the trailer cannot be with water at the top of the fenders.  The ramp is very steep and there isn't any guide from the rear bunks .  Best to keep the rear bunks about half in the water regardless of the fender depth.  Power as high as possible and then crank the boat the rest of the way.

OK, boats on the trailer and the gate is closed and locked.  Hauled the boat to the Rockland Creek Estate home driveway and .  .  . left it for later.

Couple hours later, backed the boat to the front drainage ditch and pumped the bait tank water out of the tank.  Bagged the 3 or 4 dozen live baits and the dead into a bag for the freezer.  Bill Fowler, a fishing buddy in NC barters the baits for favors.  Nearly filled a gallon zip lock freezer bag.  Tank empty and filter dumped.  Surprising how many scales the baits lose, like a layer of silver on the filter.

My filters are from Wal-mart and sold as cushions to make chairs.  Can be costly, but I get about 4 filters from each package.  Just cut to size and slide into the filter holder.  Might be a new bait tank in the future as there are improvements since I got mine.

Trailer now parked off the driveway, bilge plug out, all electronics off, but the charge cord is still somewhere and useless!

In the house, I got a note from Mike smedley, "Team Old School".  He just returned from South Carolina and Sea Pro is back in business.   Mike just makes Striper Boating videos and displays equipment.  Sea Pro wants him in a new 24' 8" Sea Pro (no pictures available as it's still under wraps).  Mike says every issue about the 2004 and there abouts models has been resolved.  Awesome, as I love my Sea Pro!  Also, Mike mentioned the new Simrad GO7?  Damn, it's all moving so fast.   Unfortunately, I'm too old to think about a younger float.  But, them electronics are begging me to update to something more useful.

Guess it's time to start a plan for the next adventure on Lake Anna or Buggs Island.  In the meantime, the lights for the guide-ons are waiting for connections.  The back up camera?

 

And the spool was empty

Ready to travel to  Scottsburg and went to get my casting rod.  Whoops, where'd the toothache go. Or, where'd all the braid go.  Sure hope it didn't wrap on the prop.  No time to re-spool or check the prop. Will route through Mineral, VA to see about E-free fuel.  Duke Oil is supposed to retail.  Yep, $2.50 a gallon for 87 octane E-free.  Have high test too for just under $3 a gallon.  A great find for me.  My usual source off the water is a PURE station in South Boston, but the price is $2.75 a gallon.  Think the price on the lake at High Point Marina is at least $3.50 a gallon.

OK, got the spool filled with 15# braid and hope I can cast with the setup.   

Here's the anchor light mounted on the T with the LED spot hanging below.  I use the DRIFTMASTER 1" rod holder base.  Might have to change the anchor lamp to an LED as they are so bright and use so little power as only the rear half is now illuminated.

The new wiring for the anchor light was a real pain in the ass to install.  Simple to run the wires by following the old, but had to use the VOM to verify + and -.  The real killer of time was trying to get the new connectors on the rocker switch in the console.  Think it took a half day over two days to get the new wires on the right switch lugs. I had to rest a lot!  I used trailer light hook up wire this time because I think it might be weather proof , unlike the wire I just removed that corroded inside the insulation.

I plan to substitute this type of trailer light connector for the common cigarette lighter type used for my Sea Pro.  Afterall, I'm creating a supply of these connectors by using trailer hook up wire kits.  But, I'll try some dielectric spray or paste inside the cigarette lighter receptacles as a first solution.

AUGUST 22 days later, I'm back in Bumpass and I resumed work on the guide on post lights.  Tried several means to snake the new wire through the entire square tube.  But wait a minute, there's no way to get the end of the wire out of the square frame tube.  The square guide on tube slides inside the trailer frame.  Fer dumb on my part!  Think I saw the arrangement I have taken in the instructions?  OK, resumed fishing for the new wires with little success until I saw some weed wacker line.  That was stiff enough to slide between the PVC upright and the square post.  Sort of the same feeling when boating a striper.

Next trip to the boat, I'll use wire ties to hold the wire to the outside of the square guide on.  Can't complete the installation until I get some heat shrink connectors.

The new wires waiting to be connected to the existing trailer clearance light wiring.

The clear plastic allows the red LED to show from the rear and the orange LED to show from the front.

Stand by for the next thrilling Sea Pro maintenance project that may lead to a day of fishing?

OH me oh my, WHAT. HOW TO . . .

Just when I thought things were going so well .  .

I left the minnows in the bait tank on Tuesday and didn't know if they could survive.  The ambient temp is 85 degrees.  So, I dallied until about noon before I got my act together and headed for the boat.  No sense looking at the bait, just got what I needed for eats and water I thought I might need on the boat and headed for the launch.  Noticed that the automatic bilge was pumping water out of the bilge after the horrible rain storm that lasted much of the night.  Thought to take the bilge plug out, but the pump already did it's job, so why bother.  Not like Mel's deck boat that sat bow down for months in the rain.  Got the gate opened and backed the boat into the water.  Stopped at the right depth where I usually have to motor the boat off the trailer.  The boat slipped back and I stopped.  The truck always moves back a few inches. This time, it was enough to launch the boat.  I couldn't move fast enough to try and catch up with the boat before it cleared the end of the dock.  Why didn't I tie a line .  .  .  hind sight is always 100%.

There was a light wind that kept the boat moving.  Moving?  Well, the wind was blowing a second in one direction, then another, etc.  So, the boat kept going around in circles.  Never close enough to a dock where I could grab it.  Went to the truck for the rope that I always have on hand .  .  . nope, no rope.  Thought maybe someone across the water would come down and help, but that didn't happen.  Finally a steady wind pushed the boat down the channel and just right, it passed the pontoon on the right and into a vacant dock.  Got there just in time to hop (if that's possible for me) on board.

Also, checked the baits and found only one of the gizzards was left alive.  All the herring croaked.  Still had about 2 dozen shiners quite frisky.  Emptied the large cooler of ice and two catfish that got left uncleaned by exhausted fishermen.  Also dumped all the deceased baits from the bait tank in the open lake.  Pumped old water out of the tank and added some fresh lake water.  Whew, that help reduce the dead bait fragrance.
  
Once on board, I realized that I didn't have but vapors of fuel.  Motored to the fueling station and then up river into the Pamunky, but much further than when I was with Bill.  Put the gizzard down in what looked like larger marks, but nothing happened.  Back to Marshall Creek cove and kept the gizzard and a shiner in what looked again to be productive marks.  Nope, nothing!

The channel to the ramp is very narrow with boat motors protruding on one side and there isn't supposed to be anything docked on the adjacent sea wall.  Yeah, sure .  .  .  doesn't look difficult, but this is a "no wake area" and that means minimal steerage control for a large boat.  Today, it was jet ski.  Yesterday, it was swimmers.  In the past it's been huge inflatables.

Made it to the dock and got the trailer close enough so I could step from the gunnel to the dock.  Just barely due to my lack of agility.  For the next 30 minutes or so, I pumped the bait tank into the lake, dumped the remaining baits.  Emptied a small cooler from the previous days that had water with ice. And emptied the big cooler dregs.  The garbage was bagged.  Kept the trailer higher on the ramp and it made loading the boat much easier.  It centered and I was able to power it all the way to the bow stop.  The trip to the house was uneventful, thank God.  Had to spray with insect repellent when I  got on the boat to toss the trash bag and copy the screen shot files.  

Not sure why just going fishing has to be so exhausting.  This is supposed to be relaxing, isn't it?

THIS TIME I WAS READY, BUT . . .

OK, got on the water before dawn, meaning                                     DARK
And dark it was at 5 AM.  The plan called for departure at 4 AM, but one thing lead to another.  Conventional thought is to arrive at the Lake Anna bait location by 2 AM.  Not in my itinerary.  This was a new adventure with my buddy Bill Fowler up from Norlina, NC.  He arrived at Bumpass Sunday afternoon early enough to make it to Anna Cabana for dinner.  But first, Mel, my wife, had a full week of tasks for him to complete.  First, she had bumpers to mount on the dock.  Then there were new larger cleats to tie down her deck boat.

Yep, the broken cleat is still there, but the new one is holding fast!

 Only had one small problem.  Had to hammer the lag screws into the dock to get them started.  The first cleat went great, but was too close to the edge. The second, well, Bill missed the lag screw and broke one part of an older cleat.  His story is that he broke it purposefully so it wouldn't interfere with the new cleat.  Then, while continuing to hammer, he broke the new cleat.  Not sure this was intentional?  Had 3, so all was not lost.  Needed to take the broken one off, but needed a philips screw driver and it was back at the house.   No it wasn't, it was in the socket box .  .  .  Back to the first cleat and moved it to be more secure.   Yes, Bill worked his ass off and got it all done and still left time for dinner.  OK, Mel was happy with the conclusion of the project, but left before the job was complete.  She didn't see the broken cleats.  And now she's unhappy with the location of the bumpers and cleats and wants them moved again? :(  But, the deck boat is moored.  Ha, ha, Mel says no  rain so she left the cover off.

Really pleasant weather for the Anna Cabana event as the humidity was low and I had enough mosquito repellent to reduce bites.  This restaurant can be reached by boat or auto.  Has a limited menu, but every dish I've tried has been GREAT.

I was up at 4 the next morning but it takes me a long time to do meds and insulin, etc.  Then get the gear to the truck/boat that didn't happen Sunday evening.  I have a serpentine driveway and I park the boat trailer with an L to the left off the driveway.  Never tried backing such a long and tortuous path in the dark.  With Bill's flashlight assist, I made it to the street.  Never gave a thought to using the LED spot on the boat T top.  Then to the dock, another backing adventure to do the ramp.  Boat in the water and it was trying to rain. On the water, it was dark, really dark.  The new LED spots I put on the T worked great to make the pass down the narrow dock entry.  It's amazing how much light these LEDs put out yet use so little power.

Got the Simrad and Lowrance brightness turned down so I could see the GPS trail without being blinded by the light.  The GPS navigation tracks made on several past trips kept us in the safe area.
The green trace is a previous trail.  The purple lines are the channel or deep water in the chart.  The boat shows the current position with the estimated distance pointer ahead (red).  The trail color can be changed for each trip and/or previous trails removed or not displayed.  Yes, I do trust it in the dark or a storm even though Lowrance says "do not".

Lake Anna has many shoals that are not marked with lights, just a post or a floating buoy and they don't show in the dark.  Ya need a great navigation/chart in yer electronics.  Might be 10 tortuous miles from Rockland Creek where we were to get bait at the 208 bridge.

Jim Hemby ( www.blog.jimhemby.com ) was finishing his bait catching at the 208 bridge with 3 of the arches already lighted.  It's more or less traditional to hang a gas lantern from the bridge.  Looking at bridges around Lake Anna, you'll notice ropes hanging from pipes or what ever.  These ropes are not just trash hanging.  Most are used every morning about 4 AM to draw herring and gizzards.  Jim bellowed a greeting and asked if we needed help.  Of course we did, we needed a bait tank full of herring.  Never mind, it wouldn't do to ask, but would have accepted if offered.  Jim was getting ready to leave the scene by collecting his gear.

(This screen shot is of interest as it shows bridge pilings on both sides of the boat and the shadow where no sonar is returned.  Before the bridge pilings, it looks like an underwater road bed and older pilings from a previous bridge?)  The navigation chart is on the left of the split screen.

We were late and sunk the LED green in a vacant arch to attract baits.  Pete DeRosario made this one, but, decided that green doesn't work on Lake Anna.  It's about 30 inches and uses LED lamps.  I'm using it in hopes that he might be wrong as the green works so well on Buggs Island Lake.

It puts out an incredible amount of light to attact baits.

Hemby must have had a great catch as we couldn't draw even one gizzard.  Fortunately, Fish Tales was close and we got a few dozen shiners. The objective of the day had two tails.  First was to learn to cast net bait at Lake Anna, a bust for now.  Second was to adjust my electronics for a decent display of fish (striper) arches.  Not a lot to see with the HST wide angle ducer used with the Lowrance, but got it somewhat adjusted.  The Simrad with the TM150 shows tons of arches and must be gain reduced to almost nothing to show the nothing that the Lowrance shows?  Bill says "No Way" can there be as many fish in the lake as Chirp shows.

The split screen image displayed on the Simrad nss7 evo 2 using the TM150 transducer with medium chirp displays and incredible amount of arches.

Using the Lowrance HST wide angle ducer doesn't show much and the 4X is required to make much of what might be down there.  Navico representatives say I had too much colorline in the following screen shot.

OK, raining off and on, we went up river past Stubbs bridge

          (This is the underwater bridge up river a few yards from the new Stubb's Bridge)
 

 to the Pamunky and no stripers.  My rain coat was back at the house and Bill left his in his car?  Up the North Anna past the S curve to the Xmas tree, no stripers.  Then down to the dam area to see if I could find arches as during a few previous trips. Nope, but boated one 10 inch catfish?  Back to the power plant and the sky to the West blackened and obviously a heavy storm was moving our way.  Best to caution and we went to the dock.   Yeah, the sun came out and it was a great afternoon.

Took Mel's deck boat to the launch so it could be moored at our dock.  The bilge plug was out and I knew it would have water inside due to the storage angle.  At the ramp angle, the water was like a fire hydrant.  Called Mel and told her that her deck boat slipped off the trailer and sunk right on the ramp. Bill and I guessed every 5 minutes how much water was in the boat.  100 gallons, no 500 gallons, oh my gosh 1000 gallons that made full flow for nearly 30 minutes?  Suddenly, I realized that we didn't have a key for the boat.  Back to the house to search for the key.  Took several calls to Mel to get her to answer as to where the key was.  Bill got the boat started with some difficulty as it sat for 5 months, since the motor work.  Down the creek and back to the dock.  A half hour screwing with the cover snaps that hold the cover on the boat and it was ready to abandon to Mother Nature.

(photo to be here shortly)

I made the mistake of trying to walk the distance down the dock to the boat and back using my cane.  First stop was at a concrete bench that was too low to the ground.  I couldn't get up. I was exhausted when I got back to the truck and could hardly walk.

Home again and the trailer parked on the hill above the  house.  Bill picked up a 12 pak of Coors Ultra Light and that occupied the rest of the afternoon.  I was exhausted, but I couldn't resist a trip to Tim's for crab legs.

And then, it was Tuesday to be ready for another fish day, OH?

Nope, I told Bill I was exhausted and it wouldn't be another early rise.  Six AM would be OK to rise. He was unhappy, but we had a relaxed departure about 7:30 and were headed up lake by 8 AM.  The shiners were still doing fine, so we just dinked along looking for fish or bait on the sonars.  A great cool, but cloudy morning.  Perfect!  Tried Marshall Creek, already taken.  On up to Stubbs, but only great structure screen shots on the monitor as shown earlier.  Did a circle on the flat and up river into the Pamunky and under the Dillard Bridge.  No stripers to be found.  Hey, wait a minute - there be baits in 15-20 FOW!  After several casts, Bill got 3 gizzards. :(  Another half dozen casts and he hit a dozen herring.  Tried for a few more, but never could get on 'em.  Went back down river to look for stripers again.  Nothing!  No matter where we looked, they just weren't being recognized by Joy and Bill.  Decided to run up North Anna through the S turns and past the Xmas tree island.  Did the channel toward the bridge, nothing.

During this period of the lake tour, Bill and I worked with the Lowrance echo using the HST wide angle ducer.  Finally decided that nothing was on the monitor and reduced the sensitivity to show "nothing".  Adjusted the Simrad that was running medium chirp so the displays were similar "nothing".  Gotta find some stripers to do a real sensitivity adjustment.

OK, maybe take a look into Contrary.  Nothing there either.  Frustrated for the entire day and the blistering sun was out to tell us it was time to get off the water.  Bill wanted to head for Richmond before the commute traffic was intolerable.  Maybe on the road by 2 PM.  So, we did lunch and Bill was on the road.

Good thing we didn't stay the afternoon as the storm that came in was terrible.  Day turned to night and the rain .  .  .

Still have the cooler to clean and stow, the bait tank to empty (thought I might try a few hours in the morning with real bait if it survived).  Got the charge cord to the boat and likely a dozen other must do things along with copying the few screen shots I took.  Then came the terrible darkness at 4 PM and the torrential rain.

Yet, this was a tremendous fishing adventure as Bill came to fish with me.  There isn't anything that can make a fishing adventure better than having a best friend join.

A Plan for Friday , August 7 not 13!

Not sure why I want to change ducers?

The TM150 chirped by the Simrad nss7 evo 2 is displaying the fish images so well, I'm reluctant to go back to chirping the HST-USB wide angle ducer.  But, I'm certainly not happy with what the HST is doing for echo on the Lowrance HDS9 touch gen 2.  The plan for the next launch will be to connect the HST in place of the TM150 and do screen shots along the Rockland Creek channel as I did earlier with the 150.  If I feed the HST to the Simrad, I'll be chirping.  So far, I'm near blown away with the CHIRP display.

I'll have to wait for help to use the ducer through the Lowrance as I can't seem to get the fish arches.

The following screen shot is from my archives on Chesapeake Bay to show how long I've been struggling with my sonar display.  Never decided if this was bait or poor display of a striper.  Of course it's bait!  Likely I didn't have the TM150 chirping for this shot.

OK, so I didn't make it to the lake on Friday!  Now Sunday morning and I just got new guide ons installed on the trailer.  Instruction says that they are to be one inch from the rail?  Doesn't work for me right now and I did 4 inches.  Need some leeway for the rod holders and trolling motor.  I did the lube on the motor pivot (steering) and need to tighten a screw on the structure ducer.  Maybe it was vibrating and causing the noise spikes?