OhioFisherman

Congrats Roy! Glad I am not that old yet!

You can use any style of worm weight with a rubber peg, if the weight gets snagged steady pressure on it should pull the line out from the peg. It's simple to improvise? Scraps of solid copper ground grounding wire can have an end easily flattened and a small hole drill in it and pegged. A decent set of side cutting pliers allows you to adjust the length and weight?

If you can't find commercially made slip floats any craft shop usually has smooth finished Styrofoam eggs or ball that can easily be turned into a float large enough for very large minnows or suckers, and even perch where legal. You can fish a slip float deeper than 10 - 15 feet, suckers as bait tend to seek out the bottom, to small a float and they will keep it buried. Chubs and other minnows tend to wander various deeps, a small weight is usually needed to keep them in the desired depth range. A bait fish in distress attracts attention of predators, some times it's nice to kick back and let them do the work.

I recall one trip to Pointe Au Baril, some guys were leaving when we arrived and they showed us the fish they were taking home. One was a 19 - 20 inch largemouth and from the gill plates back it was slashed to hell. Dude what happened to that one, a huge muskie grabbed it, it didn't let go until it got close to the boat.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/New-Shimano-Corvalus-CVL401-Fishing-Baitcasting-Reel-/190820520876 http://www.ebay.com/itm/Shimano-Cardiff-Baitcasting-Reel-CDF401A-LH-/200632999452 http://www.ebay.com/itm/SHIMANO-Calcutta-CT401D-Left-Hand-/310529192941 http://www.ebay.com/itm/NEW-Shimano-Calcutta-Conquest-401-Left-Handle-Spinning-Fishing-Reel-SVS-Japan-/271168769460

Heat and water temp reduces the amount of oxygen in the water, game fish tend to suffer before rough fish - panfish.

A few buddies and I spent a night in Cleveland's drunk tank when I was 19 - 20 for peeing down the concrete steps of an apartment building as the cops were coming up, it seemed like a good idea at the time? Drunk and disorderly? Who? Us?

I tend to think the number 1 cause of fish fatalities is people eating them, or perhaps other fish. Of course homes on a lake, boating, swimming has nothing to do with reduced water quality?

I took my ex son in law and one of my best friends to Sandusky Bay for some early season smallie action years ago before they had a closed season on them. My son in law caught the first carp, on a tube, just guessing around 25 pounds. I got the second, on a tube around 35 pounds. My best friend's came last, also on a tube and I am betting it was close to 60 pounds, it dwarfed ours and looked bigger than the one in the link by a good deal. Early season and cold water, they are like hooking a freight train. You set the hook, line starts peeling off your spool and you follow them with the boat until they wear out or break light line. Not really a carp fan, but it is different after catching 1 - 3 pound smallies all day. Watching the commercial carp and buffalo netters in some areas was interesting too. They would string a net that seem to be a couple of hundred yards long out from shore by boat and bring it back to shore. Then wrestle carp into a slatted side barge about 8x16 until water was washing over the sides. Those guys got some real hogs.

http://www.sanduskyregister.com/article/4274451

You might want to look for a brass or stainless cotter pin in your spare time? A marine store or decent nut and bolt supplier should have them?

Art, Marinettes were very common in this area, a good boat, I can't recall any complaints from their owners. My buddy had a 28x11 Pacemaker with twin crusaders also a good boat but fuel prices can limit you?

This, I had a 25 foot Searay Sundancer, it had a 70 - 75 gallon fuel tank. 233hp Mercruiser and a top speed of around 33MPH, it could handle rougher water, but you might not at top speed. Gas was sort of cheap back then, a buck forty or so a gallon, with it at or near 4 bucks a gallon now?

I have no idea what the weather has been like on your side of the lake, but I am guessing on our side the mud line is probably close to the Canadian side. We seem to have had almost daily torrential downpours since they announced the start of summer. Most of my area was under a tornado warning again yesterday evening, flash flood warning also. If the amount of dirt and dirty water flowing down my normally dry culvert into the nearest river is any indication? LOL, allegedly the next 3 days will be dry, it may take my yard longer than that. We haven't had what Toronto got, but nothing much better. http://www.19actionnews.com/

My wheelchair has brakes on each wheel, but I don't know how well they would handle a chop!

Weather, don't ya just love it? We had a great spring here, then they officially announced the start of summer and the rains started. We are under a tornado watch right now, and I think we have only had 2 dry days since summer started.

http://www.cnn.com/2013/07/09/world/americas/toronto-train-flooding/index.html?hpt=hp_t2

I can't picture fishing a conventional wacky rig in 40 fow, I would fall asleep waiting for it to hit bottom. LOL Like mentioned a drop shot rig, tube, jig, blade bait, jigging rapala, modified carolina rig, there just seems better choices to me.

Hmmm... 25 bucks an hour now, 6 bucks an hour in 1973. That new van I bought in 1973 cost 3100 bucks out the door, the cost now? easily 5 or 6 times that? The brand new 3 bedroom split level home I bought in 1975 for 28,900 bucks, easily 5 or 6 times that now? The CEO of a major corporation making 250,000 k back in the 60's and 70's now making 10 mill +, who is the fish? They are making a lot more than 5 or 6 times what they used to have to work a lot harder at? You may live better now? of course both parents having to work to get what they want or need now might be a factor?

In Ohio maps are available for all the lakes i have fished, so it is a lot easier to have a general idea of a good place to start? The safety factor also, we don't have anywhere near as many rocks to hit. I fished with out one or with nothing more than a flasher for years and did OK. They speed up the process of getting on likely spots, but that can be done with out one, it just takes more time.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/03/08/muhtar-kent-coca-cola_n_1332063.html http://www.glassdoor.com/Salary/The-Coca-Cola-Company-Salaries-E160.htm Just me? I don't buy any product with the intent of feeding the pigs who get rich on the backs of their employees.

My first thought would be to check the plug since it does start, the connection to the plug also. Spark plugs don't usually last as long as engines, and a dirty fouled plug or corroded plug wire connection reduces the spark.

Spawning always made me sleepy afterwards too.

Just another thought, I clearly remember staying at Ken Lea camp in Pointe Au Baril as a teenager and swimming off the main dock with my brothers and cousins. We learned very quickly not to dive too deeply, after you got down 6 - 7 feet it was like stepping into a very cold shower. We never went there until after bass season had started as a family, so that surface temp doesn't mean a lot? One of the reasons fishing points is usually a good place, you just fish the point into deeper water and it can give you an idea at what depth the fish are holding on?

I would seriously doubt a big die off that didn't affect other species as well. One of the challenges of fishing? to be consistent. I have caught largemouth in 17 - 22 feet of water when there wasn't really a logical reason for them to be there. We had a tournament with our club at one of our hot spots, a bay off of Lake Erie. He had a spring tournament there, with a club rule of a 3 fish limit per boat, it took over 12 pounds to get a check. Basically the same crew fished the fall tournament, all regulars on the local bass fishing scene and skilled at it. No one got a fish not even a dink. Did they move? or just lockjaw? The only difference I could see was wind direction. The wind was pushing water out of the bay, the water level dropped 1 1/2 -2 feet during the course of the day. That doesn't explain why they weren't in the 8 - 12 feet deep rip rap banked channel leading into the bay though? It was also a good spot at times.