Is This As Good As It Gets?

That's the question I was left to ponder after having a second team of Sears delivery men/installers at my house last week. They were sent out to check some vibration in our new washer and to adjust the hookup on our new dryer so we perhaps would have room to again be able to close the doors on the laundry area.

In all fairness here, I have to say that the initial delivery/hookup twosome were as cordial as you ever could want. This second duo, however, were at the opposite end of the spectrum. I guess I was a bit dumbfounded why a company that has been in business more than 100 years (Sears first was founded as a mail-order catalog business in 1893) would allow characters like these two in their customer-service ranks.

If my encounter last week is typical, though, then it's evident that some re-training needs to occur, starting with how you're supposed to treat customers. Learning how to do the job right also is necessary. This photo at right shows the incredulous way the second set of Sears delivery men/installers left the vent hookup on our new dryer. And this was after I had handed them a vent periscope, which they promptly said wouldn't work... before they even bothered to take it out of the box and examine it. At our insistence, they eventually removed the periscope from the box but still declared it could not be used for our hookup.

Then we had to listen to them bemoaning the fact that the newfangled washer and dryer we had purchased weren't designed to be installed in a laundry area like the one we have. They also didn't want to hear what we were telling them the saleslady had said about the fact the washer wasn't supposed to vibrate. Their retort went something like this: "Those sales people will tell you anything just to make a sale."

Both my wife and I grew so weary of listening to their "crap," we decided just to let them finish, so they'd be out of our hair. Once they were out the door, I grabbed my camera and took a series of photos of their shoddy workmanship, one of which is the photo above. We then called our son, Jeff, in North Carolina, and asked, when he had some spare time, if he'd mind coming by to see what he could do about hooking up the dryer so we didn't feel like we were taking a chance on burning down the house if we used it.



As a result of that phone call, Jeff came up to our place on Saturday and, using that same periscope the Sears people told us wouldn't work, assembled the tidy package you see in this photo. Now I ask you: If you had a choice of the two installations, which one would you prefer?

Later, we took copies of the two photos used with this story to the appliance manager at the Sears store where we made our purchase and explained the whole episode to her. She and an assistant wasted no time in apologizing for the debacle we had experienced and was more than willing to meet our request for scheduling a trained and fully qualified service tech to come to our house to check a couple remaining concerns we have with the new washer. That visit is supposed to take place this week, and I dare say I'll get satisfaction--one way or the other.

Finding New Life for Pill Bottles

Anyone who spends any amount of time around me knows that I routinely cut off one barb on the treble hooks of every crankbait that I own. As a result, I usually can run my crankbaits over, under and through most stuff in the water without hanging them up very often.

Until recently, though, I never really had a good, safe way for disposing of all those little barbs I snip off. The solution hit me here a few weeks ago when I was dealing with another of my many cluster headaches. I just had emptied a pill bottle and was about to toss it in the trash when this thought hit me: Why not save that bottle and use it to hold all of those little barbs?

I soon came to realize that the bottle I had saved would hold many barbs, and that was after already having used it a number of times. Then, just the other day, I came across the even bigger pill container pictured here and decided to use it instead. With any luck, I figure this new container easily should last a couple years or maybe longer, given my current crankbait-buying trend.

The only caution I would offer anyone who chooses to duplicate this idea is to make sure the bottle full of hook barbs remains well out of reach of any inquisitive little children or pets that may inhabit the household.

This isn't one of my concoctions, but it's the same idea.

As I was putting this item together, I remembered another somewhat unusual use I had for plastic pill bottles many years ago during my tour of Navy duty in Adak, Alaska. My favorite hobby at the time, other than bowling, was hooking up component-stereo systems. And given the standard lack of supplies you had to deal with in that remote location, you quickly learned to improvise.

In my capacity as the administrative assistant for the local AFRTS station in Adak, I worked very closely with the engineers who kept the station on the air. Accordingly, I never had a problem finding Heathkit-style stereo jacks, but they never had any housing for the connection points. One of the engineers, a Navy TD, that I worked with, however, showed me that, by using the heated point of nothing more sophisticated than a screwdriver, you could create a nice hole in a plastic pill-bottle's bottom and its lid to house the jack and its attached wires.

With the help of a Navy corpsman buddy who lived across the street from me in the Navy housing area, I had a steady supply of pill bottles, so life indeed was good--as good, that is, as you could expect for a remote place like Adak. The only times I ever questioned just how good the life really was there was when we experienced another of the tremors that shook the island from time to time. Only people who have felt the ground move under their feet and/or watched pictures sway on the wall can appreciate what I'm talking about here.

But getting back to the subject at hand, the next time you start to toss an empty pill bottle, why not stop and consider whether you might have a good second use for it?

Revelations of a Man and His First-Ever Bass Tourney



Donald and his best friend.

"I was a tad nervous arriving, because I didn't know what to expect, where to go, or what to do." That's how Donald Greer described his jitters in the wee hours this past Saturday morning, when he arrived at West Neck Marina to fish his very first-ever bass tournament. As he quickly noted, however, "A nice gentleman met me as I pulled into the parking lot, and while checking my livewell, he directed me to where I had to check in. Before I knew it, I was waiting patiently in the boat basin, ready to get to fishing.

Once the waiting was over and the "go" signal was given, Donald headed straight to Godfrey Creek and had his first bass in the boat after only 20 minutes--a 2-pounder that he caught on a Gary Yamamoto Chikara crankbait. About an hour later, he caught his second bass off a stump in the back of the creek with a Yamamoto Senko. "Then I made a run back up West Neck to just north of the bridge, where I had a hookup with something nice, but it made a run and tangled in something on the bottom," he said. "By the time I got over to it and worked the lure loose, the fish was gone."



The Alumacraft V16 from which Donald fishes.

Donald later made a run farther up West Neck to where it narrows and fished for a couple hours but only managed one strike that quickly spit the hook. Eventually, the bite slowed, the wind picked up, and as he explained, "I didn't have even a tap the last few hours."

In the weeks leading up to the March 22, 2014, Dewey Mullins Memorial Bass Tourney, Donald and I swapped a couple of emails, as he worked to ensure he had a functional livewell in his Alumacraft V16. When asked how it had worked this past Saturday, his response was, "It performed flawlessly."

Here's what the livewell setup looks like.

His setup includes a 27-gallon storage bin with a tight-fitting lid, which as Donald noted, "allows me to fill it with about 20 gallons of water without it sloshing out when I'm using the gas motor. I also purchased a livewell-recirculation kit that includes a pump and power head to circulate and aerate the water. I modified it a bit by adding a tee, a ball valve, and a short length of tubing, so that I can open the valve and pump the water back into the river. Some marine sealant and clamps keep everything leak-free.

"To get water into the livewell, I purchased a bilge pump and some tubing. The bilge pump just hangs over the side of the boat (as shown in the previous photo) in the water, which allows me to fill the livewell when I start fishing. I wired up both pumps with toggle switches in an old drill-bit case, with enough wiring to reach the battery, where I wired in a couple battery clamps. To keep the water fresh and cool during the day, I occasionally open the ball valve and pump about a third of the water back into the river. Then I power up the bilge pump and refill the livewell with fresh water." He did this about once every hour on Saturday.

A look inside the livewell.

Donald admits his contraption isn't as efficient as a fully-automated livewell, "but it gets the job done," he asserted. "I'm sure the livewell's black exterior will become a problem in the warmer summer months, so I plan on painting the outside white to keep it from heating up the water as fast."

What was the price tag on his improvised livewell? "Total cost was about $100," said Donald. And given the fact his fish "were kickin' strong at weigh-in time," as he phrased it, I'd say it was money well spent.

Weigh-in was an exciting part of the day for Donald. "I just kind of followed the lead of the other guys, and everything went well," he said. "It was really cool to see that 7-pounder.

"Got to say I also had a little boat envy going on," he added. "Some really nice-looking rigs there. A bigger boat is a goal someday, but my tin boat is what fits the budget right now. It gets me to where I need to go and is very fishable."

In his final reflections on his first-ever bass tourney, Donald said, "I had a great time and definitely will be back again. Now that I have the newby experience out of the way, I can settle in and try to get competitive."

I, for one, look forward to getting to know Donald better this season. In the meantime, I wish him "Tight Lines!" It's nice having you with us this year, my friend.

Background: Donald works for Virginia Beach City Public Schools in the Office of Demographics and Planning as a demographer. As he explains it, "I'm the guy who keeps track of school-attendance zones and 69,000 students."

The 2014 Season Is Off to a Windy Start

If there's one thing those 18 anglers in 12 boats who showed up for today's season-opener probably still are saying, it's that they hope the next event is a tad less windy than the 15-25-mph blast that we had to deal with all day. If we can believe that old saying about "when March comes in like a lion, it usually goes out like a lamb," we should be able to rest easy, knowing that our April 5 contest will be a piece of cake when it comes to the wind.

Despite all the errant casts everyone had to contend with today, some of our group met the conditions head-on and, in the final analysis, claimed success.

The victory party started with this duo, Dennis Cohen (left) and Ronnie McLaughlin (right), who brought 13.17 lbs. of largemouth to the scales for weigh-in at 3 o'clock. Anchoring their sack of five 1st-place fish was a 7.15-lb. behemoth that Ronnie bagged, which also earned him "big fish" honors for the day.

I overheard some of the other anglers saying that they might just throw in the towel now for the seasonal-lunker award that will be

Ronnie's 7.15-lb. lunker

passed out at our season-ending two-day Classic in October. However, I would caution everyone to delay that decision a spell until we find out if Ronnie plans to enter the competition for seasonal lunker, which requires participation in at least nine tourneys.

For reference purposes, Ronnie, nor his partner, contributed to that pot today. My advice would be to keep playing along until we see what Ronnie's intentions are in this regard. One thing is certain: If he decides to join the race for seasonal lunker, all the rest of us have our work cut out for us.

Meanwhile, running close behind in 2nd place was the team of Red Bruun (left) and Al Napier (not pictured). Their five-fish bag totaled 12.57 lbs. Their big fish tipped the scales at 3.46 lbs.

A little farther back, in 3rd place, was Mark London (right), who also weighed a five-fish limit for 8.87 lbs. His big fish weighed 3.25 lbs.

Rounding out our gallery of winners in today's season-opener was Gary Coderre, who claimed our first-ever "mystery weight award," which will be a regular part of all our tourneys this year. After today's weigh-in had concluded, I asked Yankee, an innocent bystander, to draw a weight tag from a jar. The weight he drew was 6.25 lbs. As it worked out, Gary weighed three fish for a  total weight of 3.74 lbs., and that was the closest number to the drawn weight tag.




Here is how everyone else finished the day:
     * Donald Greer, a newcomer we welcomed to our group today, weighed two fish, for a total weight of 3.51 lbs., including a big fish at 2.12 lbs.
     * Steve Bailey weighed two fish, for a total weight of 3.37 lbs.
     * The team of Jesse Munden and Jon Guzman weighed one fish, for a total weight of 1.35 lbs.
     * The team of Rob Chatham and Ken Testorff weighed one fish, for a total weigh of 1.07 lbs.

Jim Bauer, Skip Schaible, and the two teams of Randy Conkle and Bob Glass, and John Matyiko and Mark Cable didn't weigh any fish.

For planning purposes, our April 5 event is scheduled to launch at 0630, with weigh-in at 1430. I would like to offer my heartiest congratulations to all the winners today and to thank everyone who helped get our new season off the ground. Hope to see you and others again in two weeks. In the meantime, "Tight Lines!" to one and all.

In a phone conversation today with yesterday's big-bass winner, I have learned that Ronnie plans to fish nine more tourneys this year and pay the $2 entry fee in the seasonal-lunker pot each time, which by our rules & regs, as currently written, will make him eligible to win the seasonal-lunker pot at year's end for the 7.15-lb. bass he weighed in yesterday. Bottom line: That makes him da man to beat for da money.

Saw a Lot of Dead Bluegill Today...

And heard a couple of splashes, too, but that was the extent of my interaction with any fish today.

My day began with a bit of a surprise, in that the water didn't come back as much last night as I had thought it would. It was coming in at a rate of about a tenth of a foot every hour when I left the marina yesterday about 2:30 but had to have slowed dramatically overnight because the level stood at slightly less than 2.3 feet when I launched this morning. As a result, I had to bump my brakes two or three times to get the boat off the trailer. I wasn't worried, 'cause I knew the level would be rising all day. Nevertheless, I kept a close eye--I didn't want any more surprises.

I watched the water temperature move as high as 58 degrees from a low of 43 this morning when I started. I stayed in West Neck until about 11 o'clock, then ran to the grain canal. From there, I moved to the Pungo Ferry Bridge and ended my day fishing stretches of Albright's all the way from the mouth on the oxbow back through the cut-through. In all that time, I went through a series of crankbaits, jerkbaits, chatterbaits and Senkos without ever feeling anything that even resembled a strike.

A kayaker (not Charlie) launched right behind me this morning, but that was it for anglers today. In talking to Jane in the marina store this afternoon when I came in, I learned that all the bank fishermen using live bait also had drawn blanks for their efforts, except for one gentleman who landed a small pickerel. So once again, I felt like I had been in good--albeit disappointed--company today.

I didn't see any fish belly up in my travels today, other than the bluegill, and don't really have a clue what that might be all about. As for the water quality, it overall was better than I expected. I did run across a few really muddy areas, but by and large, I thought the clarity was fairly decent. As I told my buddy, Rob, in an earlier phone conversation, I think, on a scale of 1 to 10, I'd have to put the overall conditions at a 6 or 7.

With any luck, there'll be no degradation in conditions between now and Saturday morning, when we launch the new season of the Dewey Mullins Memorial Bass Tourney Series. I'm certainly keeping my fingers crossed.

There It Goes--Make That "Went"-- Again

Yup, I'm talking about none other than the water that used to fill our little playground--in this particular case, West Neck Creek, as viewed today by my friend, Skip. He was on his way home from a doctor's appointment when he stopped to shoot this and the other accompanying photo from the comfort of his car. "It was too cold to get out," he said.

Once again, for the second time in as many weeks, strong, persistent, and cold northeast winds have delivered a devastating blow to the area that, in a manner of speaking, often serves as a "second home" to some of us die-hard bass anglers.

Oh sure, it's not the first time we've had to face this dire situation. A quick search of the Internet turned up this item ("Recent northeast winds leave bass anglers looking for water") from a May 2006 issue of The Virginian-Pilot: http://hamptonroads.com/node/97381. Read it and find out the nasty trick that northeast winds played on participants in a Bass'n Gals tournament that had launched out of Waterlily, which is located near Coinjock, NC.

And there have been a number of times over the years when I launched during a low-water-and-getting-lower period and subsequently cut my fishin' day short because I wanted to make sure I could get my boat back on the trailer. I once waited nearly too long to leave the back end of Albright's and was  sweatin' bullets just to find enough water to get on step, much less find enough at the ramp to recover my boat. Did I mention that I discovered some new stumps that day while I was trying to get on step?

With our first tourney in the 2014 Dewey Mullins Memorial Series set to kick off this coming Saturday, I want to believe that AccuWeather's predicted southerly breezes will arrive and bring back the water to our playground in sufficient quantity to launch boats. I know it'll be muddy, but hey, who gets their way about everything? I usually have a choice: ice cream or cake, but not both. How about you?

Catch of the Day

For the benefit of those who might be having serious doubts, based on their dismal fishing results for the past few days, Max is here to tell and show you that the bass in West Neck Creek really aren't dead after all. This is the 3-2 that he landed earlier today on a BX Rapala Minnow. (As I've said before, Charlie, your students learn their lessons very well. You're definitely da master.)

"The conditions were a little windy, and the water was a little murky," said Max. Overall, though, he still termed everything "OK," as would most anglers who had a fish like this to show for their efforts.

With a high of 68 predicted by AccuWeather for tomorrow, I have every reason to believe there will be a host of anglers trying to duplicate and/or improve upon what you achieved today, Max. Here's wishing all of you a day full of Tight Lines!

Safe Light--What Does It Really Mean?

That's the gist of a question that came to me this morning in an email from my friend, Jerry. And it's a topic that I feel well deserves some airing in this forum.

Jerry pointed out that, over the years, as he has been en route to different fishing holes, he passes boat ramps, especially the 258 ramp south of Franklin and the 45 bridge ramp in Plymouth, NC, "very early in the a.m., and a tourney already has launched. I know I have been by the 45 ramp as daylight just is starting to show," he said, "and 20 to 25 boats already have left the area." Thus, he only can conclude that "the term 'safe light' must mean different things to different groups."

And after spending some time today researching the Internet, I'm in total agreement with Jerry's conclusion. I found instances where some folks consider "safe light" to be as much as, and in a few cases, more than an hour before sunrise. The vast majority of people, however, seemed to consider safe light to exist 20 to 30 minutes before sunrise. This latter choice certainly gets my vote, with the addition of this one caveat: as long as there are no significant weather factors, such as heavy cloud cover or fog, involved.

There is a precedent for adopting the 30-minute head start. During my Internet research today, I discovered that Virginia Department of Fish and Game sets safe hunting hours for all waterfowl in all seasons starting a half-hour before sunrise. If that's good enough for the hunting crowd, it ought to be good enough for the fishing crowd, too.

In most instances, I give the green light for launching our Dewey Mullins Memorial Bass Tourneys about a half-hour ahead of sunrise. Those few times I have held anglers longer usually were due to passing thunderstorms or heavy fog. I don't ever want to be responsible for letting everyone go and then find out that someone has had an accident because of low light or unsafe weather conditions.

I realize many boats today are rigged with GPS units that allow anglers to run in all kinds of weather, but to the best of my knowledge, none of those units warn you about objects that may be in the water between you and your destination. What happens if the GPS is the only eyes you have and you encounter one of those big barges that often frequent the North Landing River?

I vividly recall one occasion last year when Rob and I were just leaving West Neck Creek on tourney morning, headed south, when some bright white lights from a tug pushing a barge quickly came into view. We ducked back into West Neck and waited for it to pass, only to be confronted by another tug and barge when we tried to go again. The same thing happened a third time before we finally were able to resume our trip south.

On another occasion last season, Rob and I had navigated our way through considerable fog when we suddenly heard a noise that sounded like it was coming at us. We immediately slowed to a crawl and moved right--good thing we did, too, because the noise again was a tug pushing a heavy load. I only can speak for myself, but low-visibility situations like that create some scary moments for me.

I'm all for letting anglers get to their honey holes early, but when I'm the guy giving the "go" signal, I want to be left with a reasonable feeling of assurance that everyone is going to get there and return safely. I don't ever want to be responsible for someone getting injured.

As a result of researching information for this article, I have added a chart to the right-hand side of my blog's homepage showing Virginia Beach sunrise and sunset times. I will post new charts each month.

After Jerry re-read this post, he remembered an incident he and his son had with fog about four years ago. They had launched at the Tunis ramp near Winton, NC early in the morning and planned to run to a destination located diagonally across the Chowan from the ramp canal.

"With the thick fog, visibility was maybe just a few feet," said Jerry. "As we were about midway across, we heard a bass boat coming in our direction at a speed far beyond the limits of safety under the conditions. All I could do was just turn to what I thought was a straight line to the shore, instead of our original 45-degree angle.

"Fortunately, we were heading in the right direction, and as we got close enough to see the shore, the boat passed mid-river behind us. The fog was so thick, though, we never saw it, and we never heard a crash, so I guess the idiot made it OK."

Didn't Hear a Single Soul Braggin' Today

I talked to anglers from five different boats today, and not one of them was braggin' about having a good day. Made me feel right at home. The best part of the day for everyone was the weather--it couldn't have been any better, as far as I'm concerned.

From a low of 53 when I launched about 9 o'clock this morning, I saw water temperatures reach 58 by the time I quit about 3 o'clock this afternoon. I stayed in West Neck until 11 o'clock but couldn't stand looking at that "coffee with cream" any longer. I figured I would be able to find better looking water in Albright's, and I wasn't wrong. The closer I got to the mouth, though, the worse the water got, so I decided to run to the back. The water there was fairly nice, and the temp showed three degrees higher than the stretch I had fished toward the front or any part of West Neck.

Unfortunately, those improved conditions didn't translate into any better fishing. Finally, though, about 1:30, I saw a pickerel chasing down my red-crawfish crankbait, and as soon as I felt him take it, I drove the barbs home to ensure I didn't suffer a skunk for the day. That was my lump-sum total, however.

As I was leaving Albright's for the trip back to West Neck this afternoon, I ran across the first of the other fishermen I mentioned earlier. He told me he had boated just one crappie. Later, a couple other fellas in another boat told me they had boated one small bass and lost a nice one alongside the boat--reportedly on swimbaits. Yet another one told me he had picked up one bass. Finally, two anglers fishing from separate boats reported they were skunked today.

I truthfully can't say the day was a disappointment. It was a joy just being on the water for a change, without fighting 20-30 mph winds. It also pleased me that I didn't encounter the first "big boy," jet skier, or water skier on the river today--that doesn't happen very often.

All Dressed Up With Nowhere to Go...

That's the way I feel about these newly painted baits I picked up Friday from my friend, Charlie. After all, when the water level is parked at the level we've seen in recent days, there aren't many places to wet the bottom of a boat.

I haven't talked to anyone who knows, but I feel fairly certain boats haven't even been able to get out at Munden Point Park. Oh, they've probably been able to launch, but I'd almost bet that none of them have been able to get out the mouth of that canal. I know a couple of guys who reportedly got caught just that way once last year when the water wasn't as low as it has been the past few days.

And keeping the newly painted lures in the other photo company is this assortment of repainted baits that arrived in the mail Friday from Tim Hughes Custom Baits in Reeds Spring, MO. Don't you know I'm chafing at the bit to give all these new "toys" the acid test.

Of course, I'm not counting on catching anything for a while--through no fault of these baits, though. My friend Charlie told me that he blanked yesterday in West Neck, and let's face it--that simply doesn't happen very often. The only movement he saw all day was some baitfish--in his words, they were thumping the bottom of his kayak off and on throughout the day.

Then there's the matter of the Stateline Bass Anglers tournament-season opener yesterday on the Chowan River. Sixteen anglers in 11 boats fished the event, but only one team weighed a fish. It tipped the scales at 2-5.

The water level may be coming back now, but the muddy water likely will remain a significant factor in the number of fish anyone catches for several days. That's OK with me, though, 'cause I live by the old saying: "That's why it's called fishing and not catching." Good luck to one and all as we try to  reestablish some sort of normalcy to our fishing habits.

How Low Can She (The River, Not a Limbo Dancer) Go?

That's the question I have, as I look at this photo from Skip that I received a bit earlier today.

Here's another view. I think this is the shoreline around to the left of the launch ramp as you face it.

And finally, there's this shot, looking out across the flat toward the main part of the creek.









As bad as this is, I have to wonder how much worse it will look if those forecasted northeast and north winds of 20 to 30, with higher gusts, continue as long as the weatherman last night said they will.

Incidentally, for the benefit of those who haven't already noticed, the promised new water-level gauge up by the marina store is now in place. The first photo of it (that I took yesterday) is along the right-hand side of my blog's homepage now. The credit for installation belongs to Steve, so you might say "thanks" the next time you see him.

"Oh Crap" Moments--We All Have 'Em

I don't know anyone who ever goes looking for 'em. They more or less just have a way of finding you and, usually, when you least expect it. They may range anywhere from an excuse-me-while-I-catch-my-breath variety, to a nail-biting variety, to a sweating-profusely variety, to an I-need-a-change-of-skivvies variety, depending on the severity of the event involved.

I'd like to talk a bit about one of those I-need-a-change-of-skivvies variety. It happened during the 2013 B.A.S.S. Nation Florida state championship on Lake Okeechobee. Four anglers in two boats were involved, and I'm fairly certain that all of them probably needed a change of underwear once the water had settled.

The bass boat in this photo and another one were running a very narrow channel--called Cochran's Pass, so I understand--toward an area known as the Monkey Box, located in the southwest corner of the lake. Reportedly, a small-craft advisory had been issued this particular day, or these anglers likely would have been fishing the main lake.

The boat you see here was running an estimated 45 mph when the other boat came into sight--oh, incidentally, it was coming from the opposite direction and just had rounded a blind corner in this narrow channel. Bet I have your attention now, huh?

Oh, what the heck--watch the video for yourself, and then I'll continue. Just click on the link below. Let me warn you now, though, that there's some graphic language at the end.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zq-ChYy-0vM

 

It's just fortunate that, except for some soreness, no injuries were reported from this collision. Said the one passenger afterward, "I never would take somebody else down that trail. It's my life, and I can do what I want with it, but I would only go through there by myself. I wouldn't put someone else at risk. I was pretty upset about that."

 

Now here are the links to a couple more "oh crap" moments (of other than the I-need-a-change-of-skivvies variety) that I came across en route to finding the crash video you just watched:

 

Stuffing a bass boat during a tournament on Ottawa River, Canada

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yu0De8n7Tog

 

Champion bass boat loses big motor on Truman Lake, Missouri, because of loose bolts on the jackplate

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H5kEVIb9H8o

 

Hope you enjoyed. I'm just trying to keep everyone entertained until this nasty weather leaves town for good, and we all can get back on the water. Let me add this one note, though: Let's do it safely.

How to Tell If People Ever Have Owned a Boat

It's not a theory I can prove, but I believe you can tell by watching how closely they follow vehicles towing a trailer. And I'm not the only person who thinks that way. I was talking to a friend just the  other day who echoed my sentiments.

As luck would have it, I had some fresh encounters that only served to bolster my theory just yesterday.

Anyone who knows me very well knows that I seldom take my boat off the West Neck Marina property. About the only time it happens any more is when I have to carry it to my mechanic so he can repair something, as was the case yesterday. The automatic float on my bilge pump had come loose from its mounting. And after the incident I had a few years ago that ended up as fodder for a story by Lee Tolliver in The Virginian-Pilot Sports pages, I wasn't about to take any chances on a repeat performance.

So about 1:15 yesterday, I headed out of West Neck Marina, en route to my mechanic's house, and in no time, I was encountering the usual crop of drivers who insisted on riding the boat's transom. It truly baffles me why people are so hell-bent on jeopardizing their own safety and that of everyone else around them while behind the wheel of a car. Surely they realize you simply can't stop on a dime, whether you're towing a trailer or not. The chart that follows should help put things in perspective.

Of course, anyone who lives around here knows that tailgating is a common practice. It's almost as though some drivers figure if they ride your bumper long enough, you'll eventually pull over and give them an open road.

As far as I'm concerned, though, my philosophy is that, as long as I'm traveling the posted speed limit, you can ride my bumper from now 'til doomsday, and I won't budge, especially when I'm already in the slow lane.

A statistic provided by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration demonstrates that nearly one-third of all rear-end collisions in the United States is caused by tailgating. In Virginia, a tailgating violation results in the additional charge of reckless driving, which is a Class 1 misdemeanor. Penalties for a conviction can include up to 12 months in jail, heavy financial fines, a six-month license suspension, and a permanent black mark on your criminal record.

Seems like a good reason to me to check your bad driving habits at the door, but what do I know? I once had a young fella look me in the eye during an interview and tell me that he was certain he could handle a car better at 80 mph than most people can at 40. I chalk up those differences of opinion to a saying I first heard many years ago: It takes all kinds to make a world.

A Gorgeous Day With a Great Turnout

It may have been breezy today, but with the warm temperatures, the anglers showed up in numbers to put a nice finishing touch on the 13th and final Goody's Big Bass Tournament of the 2013-2014 season. "We had 14 boats and 17 fishermen in attendance at Bob's Fishing Hole today," said tournament director, John Goodman.

This father-son duo of Al and Chris Napier are no strangers to the winners' circles in local bass tournaments, and their successful ways continued today. Chris (at right in the accompanying photo) laid claim to not only today's big bass but the seasonal big bass, as well, with a 4.71-lb. fish. Meanwhile, Al (at left in this photo) took 2nd place today with a 2.47-lb. bass.

They weren't the only winners, though. John added two more categories for this season finale. Greg Dick subsequently walked away with a money envelope for his 8.90-lb. grindle, and John pocketed an envelope for his 3.92-lb. pickerel.

John extends his sincere thanks to the staffs of Bob's Fishing Hole and West Neck Marina for hosting the tournaments this season. In similar fashion, I offer my congratulations to all the winners, and I thank John for keeping me abreast of all the results so I, in turn, could share them with the readers.

I would encourage everyone to mark your calendars now for the 2014-2015 Goody's Big Bass Tournament series. Said John, "I can't wait until next November when a new season starts."

Strange Things Are Happening

That's the title to a tune that was a standard with the 1950s comedian Red Buttons. It also describes the way things have been going for me the past few days.

Earlier this week, I blogged about what had happened during my latest trip to the NAS Oceana barber shop. I also have been scratching my head since Wednesday, when I went out to West Neck Marina to install a quick-fill kit on my boat's new starting battery.

That day, like many others we've had this winter, was cold enough to have me wearing a sweat shirt and two jackets without any fear of breaking a sweat. I specifically remember looking at the thermometer in my storage building and noticing that it read only 40 degrees. And my teeth nearly got to chattering after standing outside my storage building for about an hour or so talking to a friend who happened by that day.

I also remember glancing down at my Timex watch--yep, one of those timepieces billed "to take a lickin' and to keep on tickin'," according to an old TV commercial. As I glanced at the watch, I quickly realized it had stopped running. My first and only thought was that the battery had died. I then pulled out my cellphone, checked the time there, and went on about my business, figuring I'd take the watch in and have a new battery installed in the next day or two.

Later that same evening, however, I happened to glance at my watch again and noticed that it now was running. I reset the time but figured the watch likely would stop again after only a few minutes. I've had the same experience dozens of times before when a battery is starting to go bad. To my surprise, though, the watch ran throughout the night Wednesday and still is maintaining perfect time this evening--more than 72 hours later.

For just a few moments, I would have sworn that I could hear the theme music from TV's old Rod Serling series, "The Twilight Zone," playing in my head. But then I snapped back to reality and decided to check another angle.

I went online to see if there are any recorded instances where cold temperatures have affected timepieces. I indeed found some evidence of extremely cold temperatures causing watches to stop working, but I'm talking about temperatures much colder than anything we've been having around here this winter. In some cases, the cold simply had zapped batteries sufficiently to stop the watches. In other cases, the extreme temperatures had an adverse effect on the oil in watches, and they stopped running.

Based on those Internet findings, and considering the fact my Timex still is once more keeping perfect time, I really don't have a clue what's going on. I only hope that any strange happenings this fishing season translate into some big fish coming over the gunwale for a change--and, no, I'm not talking about those "toothy critters," either.