Another 11/17 report

[Tony Scime]

Up at 6am. Made the coffee and ate 1/2 a cream puff (great breakfast?). Moved bike, lawnmower, and ladder out of the garage so I could pull out the boat. BEEEEEEEEEP. What the hell is that beep. Seemed to be coming from the boat. After 20 or 30 seconds it stopped. Strange, but everything seems to be working fine.

Hitched the boat, made sure the trailer lights worked and off I went. Not sure if I'll fish the harbor or the river. Never really decide until I launch. Favoring the harbor at this point.

Pull into the Town of Tonawanda boat launch. Remove the straps unplug the trailer, raise the motors. Back the boat trailer into the water until it lifts off the trailer a bit. Jump out of the jeep, grab the ropes, pull the boat off the trailer and secure it at the dock. Go park the jeep and trailer. Head back to boat. Misty fog sleeping on the water. Picturesque, but hope it's not a problem.

Start the motor, revs up immediately. Arrange the rods and other stuff. Back out from the dock and start up river, harbor my destination. Motor seems to be running under-powered. About 5mph below normal speed at specific rpms. Is it just because it's cold (39 degree air temp). Don't recall having that problem before. Fished the tournament 2 weeks ago and everything ran fine. Decided to stay in the river until I think the motor's ok. At least I have a backup (kicker). Figure I'll take a few drifts and try again. Run to the triangle. Call Canpass. Grab a purple tube and start drift along Strawberry, tossing and retrieving the tube along the bottom. Nothing happening except the snags. Many snags. Wear me out. More work than other types of fishing, I think. Fog is thick. Never catch muskies in thick fog, I think. Decide to take a troll down the east river.

Run up towards Blackrock lock. Will begin the troll there. Put kicker down, pull out the choke, prime the bulb, and pull the cord, motor starts, sputters, and dies. Repeat, same result. Then pull the cord, and nothing. 5 times. 10 times. 30 times. I'm getting too old for this, I think. Time for an electric start kicker. Off-season acquisition for sure. I notice some gas in the water. Gas leak? Or maybe I just flooded the motor. Decide to drift some more, and head to Frenchman's.

First drift. Bumpity bump tick tick tick BUMP slack. I like this. Set the hook Feel the weight of a nice fish. Crank crank reel down crank crank. Decent fish. Stay away from the Go Pro. Everytime I turn on the Gro Pro while fighting a tubed fish, I lose it. That moment of less pressure allows the fish to spit the hook and get away. So I focus on the fish. Low 40s, I eyeball. Get the net. Start to net, hook pops out. Fish sits momentarily on the surface. I reach to complete netting her. She awakes and zips away. Good for her I think. Though I would have liked a better measurement. Good to hook into a fish. Tubes have been pretty good for me the limited times I've been out.

Drift some more, Try drift, cast along Strawberry again Nothing. Above International Bridge, just some snags. They're killing me, those snags.  Back down river. Try to start kicker. No luck. Kicker is ill. Big motor running ok, but still seems under-powered. Both motors ran fine during the tournament. Quit fishing at noon.

Pushing boat back into the garage, BEEEEEEEEEEEEEP. What the..... Can't figure that out. It stops. Notice I forgot to get some leaf rakes out of the way and trailer tire gets stuck on one. Reach for it BEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP. I have to figure this out. Put my phone down, because I thought maybe it was the phone and walk out of the garage and away from the boat. Still BEEEEEEEEEPING. I listen intently. Put my ear closer to my chest (no easy feat). It's me. I'm beeping? No one told me I would beep!

Next day changed the spark plugs in my big motor, not sure if that will help. Started up fine every time, and ran ok, just not up to speed.

Kicker had a gas leak. When I primed the pump gas leaked out onto the lower unit. But I could not find the leak. No trolling if I go out again. Off-season repair/replacement. Good excuse for an electric start.

Beeping was due to me being too close to my boat batteries. Never happened before, so somewhat surprised. Forgot that I should stay away from car (and boat) batteries. My internal electronics are messed up.

 

[Scott McKee]

What is this battery / defibrillator / pace maker no-no!?!? I have one of those! How close is too close? I know I have to stay away from magnets, microwaves and really high power sources, but batteries? Are your batteries nuclear by any chance?

I told you years ago about the electric start kickers. Remember? People with heart problems should not be pulling ropes for extended periods, Scime. After you purchase your new kicker do yourself another favor and pay a kid to shovel your driveway this winter.

[Scott McKee]

And one more thing while I'm at it... A cream puff for breakfast? You? Mark Maghran would be so proud.

[John Jarosz]

Tony...nice report & a good description of the fog that's been laying down in the morning but you still need to listen to the sage. You don't want to have to go in & get a kicker for your ticker, too.

A couple of questions:

1.  1/2 a cream puff for breakfast? You should go out with Jojo (or Ryan). That'll keep your energy up there. They know how to eat.

2. How old is the fuel hose on your main motor? I've heard from more than just a few people who had trouble, & had it happen to me, that the check valve in the bulb wears out & doesn't seal the gas as good as it should. Then the gas just sloshes back & forth between strokes of the motor resulting in lost power. Eventually, the big motor won't stay running at all.

[Tony Scime]

Somewhere I read or was told I can't work on car batteries. They interfere with the hardware? I suppose the same applies to boat batteries. My "alarm" went off three times at the exact same spot, which happened to be about 3 feet from three boat batteries. First time that has happened. Actually, the pamphlet says to stay at least 1 foot from outboard motors, too. Electrical interference, I guess.

Heart is strong and I can do anything I have done before. (Except dunk a basketball, which I used to do when I was eighteen. Vertical jump isn't quite there anymore).

Yes, will get an electric start. More for the shoulder than the heart. Will still shovel.

[Tony Scime]

It was a good cream puff.

[Tony Scime]

1. I generally don't eat much when I go fishing. Usually don't have an energy problem, though I did tire that day. More from fighting snags than anything else. I fished the tournament with JoJo, he fed me well, and I was full of energy to the end of the day.

2. Fuel hose is the original - 14 years old. I'll have everything checked out in the spring.

[John Jarosz]

Good, ol', Jojo. He'll keep you well fed, for sure. If you'd like to go out one or two more times, I have a spare hose & bulb in my boat that has no fittings on either end. I use it as a siphon hose to transfer gas from one container to another. I had a bulb problem after my neighbor told me about his & then I heard about a few of my other friends having the same problem. With the ethanol these days, the rubber components don't last as long as they used to.

If you want to cut off the fittings on your old hose, you can clamp them on mine. I'll drop it off at your house if you're interested in doing that. Let me know. I won't need it the rest of this year.

My neighbor keeps a full spare hose (bulb & fittings) on his boat for just that occasion. My Yamaha kicker has a selector switch & I can use either a remote tank or the tank installed on the motor so no need for an extra hose.

[Tony Scime]

John,

Thanks, but I don't think I'll be needing your hose. Not sure if I'll have a chance to go out again and I'll get it fixed in the off-season. Have changed primer bulbs on other boats I've owned.

Tony

[John Jarosz]

Tony...good luck with that fuel bulb. Hope that's the cause & it cures your motor problems.

So, I had an interesting conversation with my wife about your defib. She was an RN at Roswell for a lot of years, still holds her license & has a real interest in all things medical. So, I was reading your posts to her, especially about being close to the outboard, knowing that she would find it very interesting.

She asks: "Has he ever had that problem before?"

Me: "No, but he has a side console so might be five to seven feet away from the motor."    

Me (again): "I have a tiller control and sit in the back of the boat, like a foot and a half from the motor."

She: "So what difference does that make? You don't have a defib."

Me: "I know, but just in case I do have to get one, that means I'll have to buy another boat."

Excuse me now, Tony. I have to go in the backyard and finish pitching my tent.                                 
     

[Frank Stachowiak]

Tony

I had a 10HP Johnson, pull start kicker for years.  Len and I pulled that sucker for countless times. Choke in, choke out. All the steps. Drove me nuts. No pacemaker, but two stents.  Finally reason prevailed.  Joyce gave me an ultimatum.  Electric start or sleep on the couch.  My Yamaha electric start is a dream. I wonder who bought that Johnson. Probably someone needing rotator cuff surgery.

Anyway, I checked with Fran Brobeil.  His new 10HP Yamaha elec start are $3,550. My price - also yours - is $3400 installed. It's only money - ha ha! Shop around, never can tell what pops up.  Fran had no used ones but he will let me know if one pops up.