MrGiggles

I've got an axle stub welded right to the trailer frame, and have an assembled spare hub/tire assembly with me at all times. Just don't try to use it as a step, it rolls! That's one area where a tandem axle can really be worthwhile. Worst case you can remove the lame wheel, tie the axle up, and limp to where you're going. I've often considered upgrading to an ez-lube style axle. I seem to get about 3 years out of a set of bearings, not sure if it would pay off or not.

Last couple times I've went, I did pretty well. Lots of barely legal fish in the 10.5" range. Not getting as many big fish this year. I was finding them on main lake brush, 25ft or so.

I think they turned it loose in one of the tanks at Bass pro. Not kidding either.

If you want something that'll make anyone laugh, get yourself some big iron. It'll eat anything from CBs to 22 Mags. I have another with an 8" barrel that was a black Friday deal a few years ago. Both are pretty good shooters, just don't stand beside them. https://www.academy.com/p/heritage-rough-rider-22lr-16-in-cocobolo-rimfire-revolver

They need to start paying a competitive wage if they ever want to staff offices in bigger cities. Pay is the same across the country (aside from Hawaii and Alaska I believe.) $19 something for city carriers and $20.38 for rurals. No set schedule or guarantee of hours, may be 8 or 60 hours a week. Not really a surprise that turnover is so high.

You'd think the guy would know a snake when he saw one....

Been seeing the big horseflies and a new hatch of cicadas this week. Spiders still stringing cobwebs all through the woods. And plenty of those little flying gnats that like to hover right in front of your nose. Seems pretty normal to me.

Social media algorithms are designed to do exactly that. It's scary, the damage it could do in the wrong hands is immense, and likely already happening. The biggest wealth of information that's ever existed is being used to spoon feed propaganda and division. The most red-blooded Americans I've ever met will happily swipe on Tiktok without a thought in the world about where that data may end up.

A ductless heat/AC system. The condenser and evaporator are split up like a central split system, but the evaporator fan assembly is all contained in one unit that hangs on the wall. Pretty common for additions, garages, tiny homes, etc. I'm not an HVAC pro but have installed a few. They're very efficient and a good solution for applications where ducting cannot be installed without significant work. A mini split only needs a couple hoses and a cable ran through the wall. They're great at cooling, heating can be marginal depending on the unit, and efficiency goes down quite a bit. In our climate they're still not a bad choice if you have a source of backup heat available.

I have only done outboards but I suspect boats and trailers are similar. If it is not titled, you will need the prior state's registration documents, and the DMV's bill of sale form. The name and serial number on it will need to match the registration documents, and include the sale price for taxes. You can print the bill of sale form off their website. It wasn't difficult at all for me, but I suspect it can be if all you have is scribbles on a sheet of notebook paper.

Wish I'd have bought a whole pallet of them when they were $29.99 at Bass Pro a few years ago.

You are sure right about the pressure. At any given time it seemed like there was a dozen or more boats out on that little lake. There's lots of bank access as well, and people were using it. The guide that I met sent me a couple musky pictures the next day from Brushy Creek, spoke highly of it.

Unfortunately I have been busier than ever recently, have only been fishing a handful of times this year. However, the opportunity rose to use up some of my vacation days, and I took it. I had about 5 days, my plan was to eventually end up south of Minneapolis to visit my brother for a day or two. Des Moines is about the halfway point between here and there, and Big Creek Lake just to the north of it offers opportunities for good crappie and walleye fishing. I arrived Wednesday afternoon. Fishing was slow with showers off and on. Didn't catch anything, but got to explore and see everything. Thursday morning was more productive, I was able to get four crappie in the boat and one nice bluegill. Unfortunately the wind got very strong, peaking at 35mph and didn't let up until dark. I still tried to fish that afternoon but didn't catch anything. Friday morning was similar to Thursday, but slower. Nothing exciting. Saw the shad busting close to the boat, so I tossed my crappie jig into it. Something large grabbed it and broke or cut my line. Would've been nice to see what it was, wiper or musky I'm guessing. A bit humbled, I decided to load up and get everything packed up to head north. I struck up a conversation with another angler at the ramp, turns out he was a local guide that was wrapping up a musky trip, and about to head back out solo for walleye. He asked if I wanted to go with, don't gotta ask me twice. It was late in the morning at this point, we didn't catch anything exciting, although he did have a very large Musky come after his Rapala, after not seeing any that morning while actually fishing for them. We had some great conversations about the lake, how the fish behave there, and most importantly, everything I was doing wrong. 😅 Walleyes especially are in a very different pattern up there compared to here. While I was very tempted to bring my boat up to Minnesota, I really only had the one afternoon to fish up there, and the Airbnb owners kindly offered to let me leave the boat at their place and pick it up on the way home, which I took them up on. I locked the boat up, unhooked and headed north on Friday. I'm going to try and go back up there this winter and fish it through the ice if the conditions are right. It certainly is a neat area, and a very solid fishery for being so close to a big city. Unfortunately there really wasn't anything noteworthy to take a picture of, so I didn't take any.

I found a little patch of it last year just north of the state park.

It's always good this time of year. Just circle around any cove and you'll find them here and there.

Saw one riding on the tractor hood yesterday. First I've seen here.

No. Stabilizers have their place I suppose. I have used them once or twice in the past, but not much anymore. I'm not convinced that an additive is going to do any cleaning to speak of, especially at such a low concentration. Gasoline is a pretty good solvent itself. Most quality mix oils already contain a fuel stabilizer. I started up a cutoff saw today that had been sitting since 2018, sniff of ether and a top-up of fresh premix, ran like a champ.

Same deal in Bolivar. Saran wrapped pontoons for miles seems like.

Don't bring a knife to a snorkel fight.

Usually when I am having trouble with an alberto, it's the line that's to blame. Braid will eventually fatigue from running through the guides and reel. Usually stripping off 20-30 yards of line will take care of any issues I'm having. I've had mono rot in my storage departments too, couldn't tell you why. Stuff doesn't seem to last long no matter what you do.

It's the trendy cattle dogs/heelers that I have the most trouble with on the mail route. Snarling, tire biting, sneaky, hateful critters. German shepherds are hit and miss. I don't run across pits very often, I think most owners with half a brain are aware of the liability and keep them locked up.

I've been seeing people catching them on the Sac river. Seems to be sporadic, it's been going on for a couple weeks now but low water was a hinderance from what I understand. We had a few inches of rain last week that should've filled things up a bit.

That's probably how he can run so fast, carrot-on-a-stick sort of deal.

I run mine on a $60 12ah lithium. Don't always gotta spend big money. 18-20v drill batteries are pretty popular as well. Most guys have a few of those laying around. I didn't like the hassle of charging them so didn't go that route.

Having had it both ways, I think it's better on the trolling motor. I don't have enough hands to run it properly on a stick. Spot lock is not precise enough to keep the boat from moving so you end up adjusting it constantly. I find it easier to just run the trolling motor manually with the remote, point at what I want to fish and make my casts. It is great for crappie fishing. Walleye can be so-so since they're often on the bottom and you won't see them. At times, I wish I had it mounted on a stick so I could spin it backwards to watch my bottom bouncers. It is not hard at all to hook up. Power, ground, and a communication wire.