New washdown pump

Posted by Greybeard on Sep 15th, 2009 in News and weather | Comments Off

I installed a new JABSCO , 4GPM, washdown pump in the SportCraft today.  It was about 1/2 the cost of replacing it with the original Flojet pump,  and was almost a direct swap.   I say almost, because I did have to drill 4 new mounting holes,  since the mounting base on the new pump was different.  Being this late in the year,  with the date to pull the boat getting so near,  I suppose I could have waited and let the SportCenter replace the pump when they winterized the boat,  BUT,  I -am- a retired mechanic,  and there are still a few things I can handle myself.  And on that note,  I can definately say,  I’m glad I don’t still have to do that kind of work on a daily basis.

Pt. Lookout to Pt. AuGres mini report

Posted by Greybeard on Sep 11th, 2009 in Fishing, Local, News and weather | 1 comment

Busy day today.   The dog and I took the SportCraft out into the Bay for a ride.   I packed a lunch and planned on a slow fish scouting ride.   The wave forcast was 0 to 1 feet.   Typically,  the actual waves were more like 3.5 to 4 feet!    We could plow into the waves at about 8 mph (without pounding the boat).  At that speed,  on about every third wave  the anchor pulpit would dip below the next oncoming wave and spray would fly up and over the boat.  (a lot of windsheild wiper time)   Roxie, (my German Shorthair), wasn’t crazy about that action,  so after a short run into the waves, (out to 25 ft of water),  I spun around and idled down to flow with the waves.   With the waves at our stern is was relatively smooth,  and I was able to eat my lunch and watch the fishfinder for a bit.  We saw hundreds of small fish on the screen.   About half near the surface, (which could have been bubbles),  and the other half near the bottom, (most likely true fish).   There was nothing large enough to consider fishing for in that wave action,  but it was a nice ride.  After about a mile or so,  we were nearing Pt. AuGres,  so I pulled around and headed back through the rough, far enough north of the river mouth  to quarter the waves back in.  ( Quartering in, was an interesting 25 mph, side slewing ride,  as we angled up over one wave,  then slide down the side of another.)   All in all,  it probably wasn’t one of Roxie’s favorite boat rides,   but,  I did get a chance to learn a bit more about handling the boat in rough water.

Getting back to land well fed,  I decided to head out to the gun club to practice a little bit for the upcoming Turkey Shoot.   We shoot clays, with shotguns,  and paper targets with .22’s.  I normally do the rifle shoot.   Five shots from the standing position, 50 yards,  no support,  highest score per round wins a small prize.     Some folks might think this sounds easy…   I say come out and try it.   You walk downrange and back, to hang your targets,  then step right up to the shooting line.   Only those in the best of shape haven’t raised their pulse a little bit.  No matter how talented you are at keeping the sight on the bullseye,  there’s always that pulse bounce to deal with,  not to mention the possibility of a breeze.

Considering that I haven’t shot much this year,  my practice session went pretty well.  I decided to try my old Ruger 10/22,  with the 2.5x Weaver scope.  I was able to shoot 47 out of 50 points a few times.   In past experience 47 points has a pretty good chance of winning the round.  We’ll see how it goes.

I also used the opportunity to pop of a couple of dozen rounds out of my carry gun,  (Glock 36, .45 cal.)   That went fine also,   the first paper plate taking 12 rounds into a 7 inch circle,  and the second taking 11 rounds into a 6 inch circle, (with one stringer opening it up to 9 inches).  All at 15 yards.

Boating, Shooting,  and time with the dog,  all in the same day.  Not a bad day at all.

It appears

Posted by Greybeard on Sep 8th, 2009 in News and weather | Comments Off

It appears that Doc Russia has returned to his beloved state of Texas.  (congrat’s Doc),  so I’ve moved Bloodletting,  out of the local section of the blogroll.

Beautiful week of days

Posted by Greybeard on Sep 7th, 2009 in Local | Comments Off

Labor Day today!   Since I’m retired,  the holiday weekend isn’t as noticable as it was when I was working,  but,  we’ve had incredible weather.   We’ve been on the Bay everyday for the last 5 days.    That’s the longest string of boating weather we’ve had this year!!  The temperatures have been plenty warm enough to play on the sand bars,   and the waves calm enough for those who want to fish, though the fish don’t seem to be co-operating.

I feel for our friends, who have to return to work tomorrow,  and know that the time to pull the boats is growing nearer,   but this was a Labor Day weekend to remember.

Fishin’ Report, South of Pt. AuGres

Posted by Greybeard on Sep 2nd, 2009 in Fishing | Comments Off

We took the SportCraft south a bit today.  The weather and the water were great.   There’s a hole I’ve been wanting to check out, down south of Pt. AuGres.   It took a little cruising around to find it,   it wasn’t exactly where the charts showed it,  but when we got to it,  we pulled in 3 nice Walleye,  and saw hundreds of baitfish on the fishfinder.    The only problem,   the hole,  is long and narrow,  about 9 feet deeper than the surrounding waters.  Some commercial fisherman had dropped a fishing net directly across the middle of the hole.   (Thanks pal)  The three ‘Eye’s we caught were on the North side of the net.  I’m thinking that a full cruise down that trough,  would have provided at least three more of those Walleye.    A lime green bladed crawler harness  behind a 1 oz. bottom bouncer did the dirty work.  Kind of confirms my thought,  that the Walleye are still there and still hungry,   ya just gotta know where to look.