fishinwrench

Oh man, I could write a book. 😊 To me they are the perfect warmwater fly-fishing target. Not a lot is written about them and very few "studies" have ever been done, so basically you are on your own to figure them out. I find that to be a very rewarding challenge. Since I mostly fly-fish for them I only target the ones that are in the shallows (6ft. or less), and I actually like Summer/Fall out on the flats better than the Spring spawning run up the creeks. They hit like a freight train, fight like hell, are delicious to eat, and they often run in large schools so once you find them you can usually load the boat in under 30 minutes. Not always though, sometimes they'll throw you a curve and you may not be able to figure out if they've changed locations or just changed their feeding strategy. The technique I use to find them involves a fly that you can see underwater, and a high speed erratic retrieve. They can't seem to resist a RACE, so if you zip a sexy pattern by them real fast usually one (or 15+) will rush after the fly and either body-slam it or flash at it. Once you see THAT then buckle down and try to figure out a way to catch a few. As you start catching them the rest of the school often gets all fired up by the activity and becomes more and more aggressive. It's fast, furious, and even after doing it hundreds of times I still get all excited and have to work at staying calm so I don't blow it. If you make a really sloppy cast, or make too much noise you'll put them off and they'll either move or quit biting/chasing. What's not to love about that ?!!! 😎

Blindness?

That's the way I interpreted it too, even after reading it the second time. 🤔 They might screw in Canada....but I know for sure that eggs hatch right here within 2 miles of my house. 😅 I darn sure wouldn't travel that far to get laid. Well wait, maybe I would....since having talons might make masturbation rather dangerous 😣 Lots of willing chickens, turkeys, or Emu's though, you'd think.

Angle compensation will make or break a long range airgun shot. I have a soup can hanging on a branch "way down in the holler" that is 50+ yards from my front deck, but if it was elevated straight up level with my deck it would only be a tad over 30. I am sighted in at 30, so in order to rattle that soup can, I hold dead on. My AR-15 toting neighbor just can't wrap his head around that and thinks I have the flattest shooting airgun ever made. 🤣 The same goes for shooting a squirrel high up in a tree. It might seem like a 40+ yard shot...but if the base of the tree is only 25 yards away, then you shoot him as if he is an easy 25 yards regardless of how far away he looks. Stuff like that is what makes the whole airgun thing so much more fun.

I tried to click on the thread that had me as the last post but it took me to a place that wants money. Although I'm shocked that I had the last word, I'm doubtful that what I said was worth paying for. 😂

That's a hell of a shot ! 👍 I have pretty much declared my squirrel head limit to be at 55 yards (2.5 mildots) on a dead calm day, with a solid comfortable rest. At over 45 yards if I misjudge distance by a mere 4 steps.... I'll miss. I'm able to range-find using the scope and get within 5-6 yards. From all my past archery 3-D shooting I'm real good until the target exceeds 50 yards, so really the ability to use the scope to determine range doesn't help me enough.

I really like those ! 👍

One day with me stripping streamers for Whites will change that. At the end of a slow day I feel like my arm is gonna fall off.....and sometimes wish it would! 😅

Back when the group of us were shooting Golden Eagle bows we thought it was cool to see a GE, and although we didn't see them regularly, it was far from rare. Saw plenty along Salt river and its tribs as a kid also. Saw one pluck a muskrat off the river once. And my old marina boss and I saw one snatch a keeper bass (solid 2+pounder) from the mouth of Mill Creek during late fall while winterizing boats. Nothing rare about Goldens in MO.....unless I'm badly mistaken.

I read and interpreted it to say that they migrated to breed. Even if that's innacurate I have seen many MANY nests outside of areas not designated as "year round". I expect there to be exceptions, but I can't buy the "rare" Golden Eagle thing. I've been seeing them for ever, even back when bald eagles were kinda scarce. There's nothing else they could have been but Golden's.

Well the bald eagle range map is inaccurate. I know for a fact that we have breeding going on here.

I'm no eagle expert by any means but when I was heavy into 3-D archery I shot on a Golden Eagle team, and I'm about 99% certain that I've seen quite a few of them in MO. If they weren't Golden eagles then they were Jurassic HAWKS.

Hopefully they've gone back to normal lake level management, like back in the good ol' days.

Looks to be on a rise now, about to crest. Good conditions to swing a leech.

Floating or hiking?

I wish it was legal to shoot Hawks, and I'm almost to the point that I don't care if it's legal or not. While I enjoy the fact that there are no mice around here and feral kittens get thinned out quickly, I hate that the squirrels and rabbits don't have a chance. We used to have lizards, ringneck snakes, and little skinks everywhere, but even they have been picked clean. Those bastards are insanely efficient preditors, and for some reason they will not move away from this area here. We have counted 8-9 that we could tell weren't the same one counted twice, just sitting here in our yard.

Yeah I'd call that a bit of a hybrid. It's like what would happen if a shallow water skiff and a bay boat made love. That would be a fun rig to own.

Airgun hunting is such a hoot. I need to find a good woodlot to hunt, we simply have no squirrels anywhere near my place. Darn few anyway.

If it started earlier that day then a sticky bendix gear is unlikely. A shot of lube might make it jump up and engage but that's not curing the REAL problem.

By golly you're correct. Somewhere along the line I was told that a single cylinder 2-stroke would inevitably detonate at anything above 7000, so I assumed that chainsaws and weedeaters were tuned at about 4500. Apparently I misunderstood or was told wrong. 14,000 is common according to Google. That's pretty amazing when you think about it. Can you even imagine the centrifugal force on that aluminum wrist pin hole if it failed to spark at 14k ? Wow! One misfire and there's no way that piston is staying connected to the rod. I'm surprised that you don't see chainsaws blow up like hand grenades on a daily basis.

This should be a thread of its own. Things to consider: RPM range and consistency of load on the engine. Your truck has likely never seen 6000 rpm. Neither do chainsaws or weedeaters, or your Honda ATV. Frequency of use. I have customers that only use their boat 3-4 times per year. I also have customers (dock builders and such) that use their boats every single day....and beat the living crap out of them. Guess which ones write me checks most frequently? Very VERY seldom does a powerhead or gearcase fail because of poor manufacturing. Something that is bolted onto it, or fed into it, is always the cause.

Woah wait.....I never heard THAT theory. That's hogwash. 😂 Lost foam casting has no flex whatsoever. It's rigid right up to the point where it breaks. I was referring to the operation of things bolted to the powerhead, such as fuel, ignition, and charging system components.

Who is it that upsets you most, the ones POSTING info, or the ones READING it ? In other words..... would you rather break fingers, or gouge out eyes?

Cylinder expansion isn't the problem. #5 and #6 are going to run cooler on any vertical powerhead by law of physics (heat rises). More often than not the problem is caused by the various components bolted to the powerhead, not the powerhead itself. Science got the best of them at Mercury Marine R&D. What looks good on paper and theory just doesn't always fare well in the real world.