I’ve got a pretty good travel tool kit my wife gave me for Christmas several years ago. It’s got enough tools it might qualify as a starter mechanics set. It’s one of the more complete all in one mechanics sets I’ve seen for a travel set. It’s also pretty heavy as you might imagine. For…
I recently had to install new axles on a trailer in order to get working brakes on the trailer… Don’t lecture me about how you could have done this or that and not replaced them. They were oddballs and I wasted a couple weeks looking for other solutions. The u-bolts that came with the new…
An associate, dare I say friend, sent me this photo. Les Neidig is the now retired owner of Able Security. (I’m the partially retired owner of The Security Consultant). We still chat from time to time on one of the security groups. It came up that while I was neck deep in alligators he was…
I was thinking about trading in the tow vehicle, and scrapping the truck on the trailer, but I’ll probably keep driving the Chevy and fix up the Dodge to sell as a runner. Every vehicle I sell will be one they don’t. (RANT!) Does the local car dealership owner come to your church and put…
It looks like Salt River Project is in the process of planning a storage battery like in the Salt River / Roosevelt Lake area. The way it’s described in the article at the link below is they will pump water into the lake in the daytime when solar energy is abundant and release it back…
Well, I’m on the big bass board for YVRGC. Hopefully its good enough to stay on the board. I’ve hardly had any time to fish this year. Even had a blank day a few weeks ago with one of my fishing buddies. (Both of us). Oh, well. I guess just like, “fishing beats not fishing,”…
I had asked about the Weldmark 187 a while back. It says Weldmark on the front, Hobart Bros on the side, and Miller on the gun. Yesterday I needed to weld some spring centers on some new axles… long story. It would have been more work than it was worth to make space to drag…
Okay, posts about my attitude on forward facing sonar, and personal trials and tribulations working on trailers I am sure are not what you are here for. You visit this site for the fishing intel you can glean or scavenge. Here it is. My fishing report from the last weekend’s derby on Mittry Lake We…
Well… nothing much to get excited about. I got the old axles off. Okay they are heavy. Maybe solid. Never expected that. The old spring stacks are also much taller than the new spring stacks. I’m going to see if I can use the old springs and hardware, but the tires and wheels are slightly…
I fished yesterday. My partner and I caught ten keepers. I never even turned on the electronics. We were about 5 pounds behind first place… did it matter. No. They were just better than we were. Its a fact, that a paper graph is better than a flasher… except when it isn’t. For me its…
For the last tournament we fished I towed the ProCraft out to the lake with my Jeep. Its within the tow capacity (just barely), but I would rather use my truck. The AC wasn’t working in the truck, and its warming up here in Arizona. Anyway, the Jeep towed it just fine, except the hitch…
Most of us are probably familiar with the telescoping flipping stick. For the rest… no not like a multi section telescoping rod. Just one where main body of the rod can be pushed back into the butt section of the rod. This is fairly typical of 7’6″ to 8′ med-hvy to x-heavy fast to x-fast…
These are called a “Ten Weight” net weight because 10 of them will make up one pound (+/-). If you use pure lead and get perfect pours it will be a little over a pound, but pretty close. If you use unknown lead alloys or get less than perfect pours it a count of ten…
Many of us have a push pole for area where its more practical to pole than to motor. Flat’s anglers often use a push pole to avoid stirring up silt as they chase shallow water trophies. I use one quite often to help me get into and out of tight spots when fishing. You probably…
If you have followed me for very long you know I can do a lot of things and take on a lot of projects and repairs myself. Its not because I’m cheap or because I don’t have any money… Okay sometimes it is. Often however if I just worked at MY JOB I’d be money…
Five Minutes On The Water seems to be all I can take most times I get to go at all. I’m dealing with a lot, and any substantial time off usually has to be planned. If do have a whole afternoon to just go get the water and I invite you, then you better go. …
Master Mechanic used to be Made in USA and had a great warranty. I seem to recall it was supposedly lifetime. I know in our little country store we replaced Master Mechanic tools on the spot and Cotter & Co (True Value Hardware and V&S Variety) reimbursed us periodically. Then they changed to made in…
Here are four of our five fish limit. You aren’t missing anything. The fifth fish looked about like the other four. Click for full size image. I don’t know if we were actually 30th, but Dave Willhide and I made it out for the YVRGC derby yesterday (February 24th 2024). There were 35 boats in…
I may be pulling a 351W engine out of an 82 Bronco soon. It was parked back in the late 90s or early 2000s with low oil pressure. This will make the 4th or 5th time that engine was out. First time it jumped time at just over the 26K warranty. Dealer pulled it and…
Announcement! Public Meeting for new Solar Development!! On Thursday, February 15, your voice is needed at a Bureau of Land Management meeting at the Yuma Public Library where the BLM will discuss a proposal for utility-scale solar energy development on public lands in Arizona. February 15, 2024, 5:00- 7:00 pm – Mountain Time Yuma Public…
Flipping The River Just a few suggestions Some folks say that all the big fish are caught flipping the river when the weather is warm. Well, I have to disagree about the river current being the only place to get fish to win. What you do have to do is figure the best time and place…
Bait Casting Basics The following works for me. With experience you will probably find some difference or idiosyncracies that are different, but work better for you personally. Most modern bait casting reels have two different adjustments you can make. Basic Controls 1. Some form of braking system or anti backlash control. a. Shimano and Pfleuger…
More On Senko and Stick Worm Rigging Amazingly I didn’t start wacky rigging because I thought it got more bites. In some circumstances I believe it does, but that wasn’t the reason. I started wacky rigging because of the number either missed or gut hooked fish on texas rigged wide gap hooks. I watched senko…
Popper Fishing There is no correct or best reitrieve for a popper. Some days letting it sit until the impact splash is totally gone and then giving it the tiniest of taps to make a fresh distrurbance is what it takes. Other days a quick steady retrieve is the ticket. The noise a…
Some Tips For Fishing Braided Line You don’t need a lot of braid on a flipping stick. If saving money is an issue for you spool the reel about half full of mono first and then attach the braid to it with back to back uniknots. Braid will slip on the spool if tied directly…
The Stick Worm Phenomenon by Bob La Londe Gary Yamamoto probably wasn’t aware of the revolution he was going to start with the Senko. It’s a deceptively simple bait. Senko has become an almost generic term for describing this type of bait. With all respect for Mr Yamamoto since his version remains one of the…
Fishing Buddies Nothing in life is worth as much as a good partner. Whether its the significant other you spend the rest of your life with, the best friend who gets up in the middle of the night to help you when you did something stupid, or that fishing partner that is always…
THE PERFECT TOPWATER MOMENT By Robert J La Londe III October13th 2003 The fish were magnificent. I had one hit were a beautiful smallie launched himself completely out of the water to kill my plug. And they say jumping fish aren’t biting fish. I had one really fat 1.5 lber give me a dance too….
Bob’s Tips For Anglers #1 Go When You Can If you only go fishing when everything is perfect, the tide is right, people confirm its going to be good for you, and the stars align you won’t go very often. As a result you won’t have very many great days fishing. “Oh wah! Its hot!” …
I’ve been a little busy for the last few weeks. My dad passed away, and my mom isn’t quite up to living on her own so we moved her in with us. This comes with the usual expected emotional turmoil as well as quite a lot of additional responsibilities. This hasn’t left a lot of…
Regrets: Not many. I don’t regret calling an asshole an asshole even if the asshole was a better fighter than me and more prone to start one. LOL. Yeah, my leg got broke in a motorcycle accident, but my nose didn’t. LOL. I have one regret though that I think about from time to time….
There was a story floating around one of the neighborhood social media sights claiming Arizona had made right turn on red illegal. I even found several grey news sights that had picked up the story. LOOKS LIKE FAKE NEWS. It looks like the “no right on red” was a lie started by somebody in Indiana….
So far today I haven’t really done much. Some is fishing related, however. I spent some time with machines running in the background repairing a couple of my favorite rods. A flipping stick that needed a new tip top, and a multipurpose rod I really like needing a new tip top and a new double…
No affiliate links here. These companies barely answer “some” customer service emails. Neither has ever given me a free product much less any money.
Today was my day off this week. I try to take one day off every week, but it doesn’t always work that way. I’ve got one payment due on the 18th (today for the car I bought for my mom), so I figured I better get that taken care of. While I was sitting there…
A few days ago I shared my canal bank milk run with YumaBasser. He’d made noise a few times that he’d like to learn to fish the canals, so we went. Neither of us was up for a full day, so we headed out for a few hours in the afternoon/evening. The canal was moving…
HumminBird Helix 5 Chirp GPS G2 Questions: Continuous saved trace for backtrack. I’ve got a Garmin 178C in The Tin Can that does this. It continuously saves a trace I can use to back track, and it just deletes the oldest trace as a new trace is stored. I can run up and down the…
I haven’t been fishing in a while. Yesterday I decided to take the whole day off and go fishing. I was up early took care of a few things, took care of a chore or two, and get some gear ready separate from the gear I plan to keep in the boat(s). I was planning…
I have used a number of injectors over the years. I’ve made a fair number myself, although I do not sell injectors. Bass tackle, Del-Mart, Jacob’s Baits, etc etc etc… I even started out using a meat marinade injector back in the beginning. For the most part I have liked the ones from Bass Tackle…
When I first wrote this comparison I mistakenly had it in my mind that the name of the braid was Beyond8. It’s Beyond Braid, and the exact line name is 8x. First off the Beyond8 is significantly less expensive than the MaxCuatro. I bought some a while back and hung it on the wall, but…
I have a job running on two CNC mills right now cutting a top secret swimbait mold for a customer, so I didn’t want to leave the shop and go hunt down some fluorocarbon line. The mold cavities are secret, but I am working on a new-ish layout that I may apply to multiple swimbait…
I was planning on fishing a January YVRGC Derby, but they won’t start until late February according to the tournament director. I actually have a couple FIRE January spots, but February tends to be tough for me unless I get on some pre-spawn and spawn fish that don’t have boats line up on them ahead…
I’m looking for an old strap I bought about 30 years ago. I actually bought three of them. I know. I know. You want to tell what you use. You can if you want. I may even have some of what you use, but for the purpose of this post I just don’t care. I…
I had previously touted the Mustad 91768 with a snap on screw lock as the best (and probably cheapest) hooks for the Curly Buzz Frogs in all sizes. More recently I had noted I could go up a size using the heavier and stronger 38112 instead, except I didn’t think they made a 38112 small…
Want one? Take one. Want two? Ask Edgar. Want More? Buy the mold and make as many as you want. I’ll be taking a box of soft plastic baits over to The Hide-A-Way sometime in the next month or so. Wander in when you get a chance and see if they are there yet. I…
Really, I planned to take off and go do fun things today. Well the house isn’t caught back up after the holiday, so I told myself, I’ll do a couple chores first, then I’ll go finish outfitting my boat for the coming (*) tournament season, and take the afternoon to go fishing. I didn’t make…
