Greybeards Gripes

Well,  it looks like things are a changin’ since Rapala bought out Lure Jensen.    I just checked out the link to Lure Jensen on my bog links.  The history page at Luhr Jensen is gone,  but going to http://www.luhrjensen.com  brings up a request for your email,  so they can notify you when the new site comes up.    I hope the new owners pay respects to the original founder/owners.

Ok,  and I’m off politic’s right?  But,  I just did some ammo shopping,  and here’s the bad news:

.308 Federal Premium $39.99  (two bucks a pop)

30-30 Fusion  $19.79 (one buck a pop)

.35 Remington Powershock $23.99

.270 Federal Premium  $43.99

.300 SAUM Rem. Premium $52.99  (two fifty a pop)

Considering that these are 20 round boxes,  It’s looking like the anti-gun crowd has won one of their first big battles.  Who can afford to enjoy shooting at these prices!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I can’t blame it on the fish finder,  but another empty run.  About 4 hours of hanging both crawlers and minnows in front of what appeared to be schools of (small) Perch on the Fish Finder,  brought a couple of nibbles and one 4 inch White Bass.  The Bass half swallowed a minnow that was at least 3/4 his size,  and didn’t even get hooked,  he just couldn’t eject the minnow fast enough to get off.

Other fishing news:  The Salmon are running in the AuGres River.  Their still very healthy and a few nice ones have been taken.  It’s not like the runs on the West side,  but,  it’s not nearly as crowded or crazy,  and the meat should be much better considering the early season health of these fish.

I’m looking at a Standard Horizon CP-180 color GPS/Mapping unit to replace the ailing Lowrance Global Map 2000.   That will likely be the one, unless I can get ahold of my neighbors unused Raymarine (green screen) unit, that includes C-Maps of the Great Lakes.   The Standard Horizon unit,  also has a powerful fish finder option,  that is tempting.

Took the new boat out for our first run at Walleye.  The boat ran good,  and easily trolled at the right speeds (1.8 mph).

It was a real nice day on the water,  but a bad day for boat electronics,  lastest issue,  the Lowrance LMS-350 fishfinder,  joins the Lowrance Global Mapper 2000,  as a non-working device!  In four hours of trolling we never saw one fish or one one clump of weeds on the fishfinder,  and we saw depths from 0 feet,  to 980 feet.  (I’d estimate we were in 32 feet of water).  Needless to say,  fishing blind,  with no indication of depth,  we racked up another point for the “SKUNKED” side.

Guess I’m now in the market for a new Marine GPS,  and a new Fishfinder.  Add that to my shopping list that now consists of a new scope for my new Remingtion,  and it looks like the old Visa card is going to take a big hit.   Remember,  that nice old SeaRay is still for sale and everything on it WORKS GREAT!!!!

The SportCraft is in the water at my dock.  We haven’t had a good day to take it out yet. 

But,  so far,  (speaking of the boat that was fully checked out before I bought it),  I’ve replaced the forward bilge pump,  the mounting bolts on the anchor pulpit,  the pressure switch on the fresh water wash down pump,  and discovered that the Lowrance Global Mapper does not work!

Fishing season is fading fast,  I hope we get some calmer days soon!

The new gun is,  a Remington 700 BDL,  in .300 short Ultra Mag.  with ammo at near $40 a box,  it’s already starting to look like a “Safe Queen”.  Sometime in the future, I’ll post about getting it scoped and sighted in.

I probably can’t afford it,  and it probably isn’t a good time,  but,  I have a line on a 1997 SportCraft 252  with 400 hours on it.  Anyone interested in an oldybutgoody 21ft SeaRay?  (650 hours on it)

Yesterday was an excellent day to be on the Bay.  Not a particularly good day to be fishing. 

We spent about 5 hours out off Point AuGres,  (”out from the hotel”) as everyone say’s.  We marked a ton of fish on the fish finder,  but only pulled in about three baby perch,  and one baby Walleye,  and the Walleye came in on a Perch rig.

Between the mucky bottom and the wind,  we couldn’t get the anchor to hold,  so most of our fishing was drifting.  We drifted slowly dragging the anchor, using Perch rigs,  and we pulled the anchor and trolled while drifting with the wind.  (about 1.5 mph trolling speed).  That chatter on the radio was,  “slow day, but nice day to be on the water”.

Bottom line:  If I was fishin’ for a living,  I’d have to find a new job!