Jonny

I looked it up, just for fun... So I was kinda in the ball-park --- huge ball-park though!

I've been adding oil to the gas for my 2 stroke motors for so long that it's just an accepted ritual. It's not a hassle. One of my motors is a 1980 25 HP Mercury tiller handle, used to be my primary motor and has seen a LOT of use. I take care with it so it still looks shiny and much newer (had to re-paint the lower unit --- too many miles of gravel road). Proper gas/oil mixture (careful about that), lower unit oil change before winter storage, carb cleaner in the gas at least for one tank-full a year, fresh plugs once a year, and it's still going strong, never needed any other maintenance. A real workhorse. I don't know if they build them the same any more, but based on this motor I'd buy two-stroke again with no problem.

I just noticed --- your avatar is an aqaurium fish! (Some variety of barb?) I'd still-fish for those. Casting isn't necessary.

Keep in mind that pregnant women should not eat fish that could have elevated levels of mercury etc. in them. Protect your lady and your little ones by knowing what's safe and what's not.

True enough. I was thinking more along the lines of two guys out for the day. A full load on a long trip would be more strenuous. But I think back to the days when my Dad towed a heavy plywood boat with a 15 HP Evinrude on a heavy home-built trailer (with axle and wheels off a '36 Ford) with a 36 HP VW Beetle. Plus Mom and I and all our gear. And he did it for years. As long as I didn't exceed load weights (and if the car really has a 1000 lb towing capacity) and it has a tranny cooler, I wouldn't worry if I could maintain 90 kph. Nowadays even if you drive the speed limit you're going to have TONS of people on your tail. That's their problem. Those big land yacht motor homes often travel 90-95 and they don't worry about anybody. Heck, even if you drive 100 to 105 in a 90 you still have tons of people passing you.

Yep, after Hockey Night in Canada! The good old days - Ed Sullivan, Bonanza, The Flintstones, Roy Rogers, Phil Silvers, George Gobel, Yogi Bear, Huckleberry Hound --- I was a kid in the 50's and early 60's.

14' deep vee, plain interior - about 250 lb 20-25 HP motor - about 150 lb max Trailer - no more than 300 lb. You should be good to go. Nice thing about an outfit like that is that it's pretty light in weight. Make sure you have decent tongue weight on the hitch, and if the trailer has 12" rims, it should pull like a dream.

They go good with beer... and cholesterol medication.

I see you blanked out the background so we wouldn't try to guess where you got it.

Charlie Chamberlain and Marg Osborne. <Cue the music> "Got my dancin' boots on, got my Sunday best, Goin' to the barn-dance tonight..." Something like that.

That could be the problem. Are the battery contacts clean and shiny? No signs of leaks from the batteries?

I had a depth finder like that. One day it worked great, the next... NADA. Another dumb suggestion... you've maybe got nothing to lose... give it a couple of good smacks with the heel of your hand, or tap it firmly against a counter. Then try to power up again. Of course if it works then, you'll never be able to totally rely on it. --- Actually before I did that, I'd search the internet for possible causes and solutions. I have a Canon camera that started acting strange after 3 years. Without searching other people's problems with the same model, I would never have found out that Canon had major problems with the CCD sensors in these cameras and was replacing them free of charge, even for cameras long out of warranty. All it cost me was shipping them the camera. They even paid the postage to send it back to me.

Yeah, kind of goes against the grain, don't it.

I can symapthize with a comment Craig Ritchie made in another thread, to the effect that when your recreation becomes work, the enjoyment of the recreation suffers. I've always been an avid photgrapher, and for a few years I did it on a "semi-pro" basis --- portrait work and the like. Eventually I gave it up because I found that I enjoyed photography less when I was tying it to monetary gain... in other words making a job out of it. I wonder if some of the pro's feel the same way --- "It's just a job." You're not fishing to relax and enjoy the surroundings, you're not fishing for the "soul", you're fishing for First Place.

Don Messer`s Jubilee

That's the key. If you do that, then and only then, "there's no point in worrying about it". Eat mainly the small fish you catch, which have lower concentrations of contaminants. (Hey a good reason to target SMALL fish! All sorts of positives to that, except for the ego!) Also keep in mind that in salmonids, toxins are concentrated in fattier tissue. Don't eat belly meat. Personally, I generally apply that rule of thumb to everything except pickerel and perch.

"If I ever see another bass I'm gonna puke!"

On the right-hand side... the button with the light-bulb symbol below it. Press and hold until the screen comes on. EDIT - Go here... http://www8.garmin.com/manuals/eTrex_OwnersManual.pdf and here... http://www8.garmin.com/manuals/eTrex_QuickStartGuide.pdf You need Adobe Acrobat to read them.

This is gonna sound stupid, but it's just the kind of thing that derails me sometimes when I haven't used a piece of equipment for a long time --- Did you press and HOLD the power button til the display comes on?

If I was with you I'd be tempted to stick around and enjoy the experience. Plus I think that with a little incentive I could probably run faster than you! Yup, different altogether. And if your toe didn't come off some of those buggers could actually take a good shot at dragging you under the water. I've seen some big ones.

I've had a yellow "base model" etrex like that for close to 10 years now. It's seen a lot of use and it always works. Two batteries basically last a full day of fishing or hunting, which is dirt cheap if you look for when the big packs of AA's come on sale. I wouldn't go fishing without it. Compass Clock Sunrise/sunset times Trolling speed Distances ... and of course marking reference points, submerged weed beds, good structure, etc. I keep it in a little case with a little spiral-bound notepad (and pencil) with it to mark what my numbered waypoints mean. Although you can edit waypoints I find the notepad easier.

I'd be outa there so fast I'd leave a vapor trail. Sharing the shallows with a big curious toothy critter ain't my idea of fun!

But it is well-written, isn't it? "Only one barbless hook may be used" And what's a hook?... "A hook includes a single-pointed or multiple-pointed hook on a common shaft... Thenumber of hooks includes any single-pointed or multiple-pointed hooks that are part of a lure." Now some peole may (erroneously) assume that "one barbless hook" means a single hook with a single point, but clearly that's not what is said and therefore it's kind of weird to assume that.

It looks pretty simple and it's in the regs. If a special regulation is made it would have to say something like "a single hook with a single point". Otherwise a treble is considered a single hook. Note that a fishing line must not have more than four hooks attached. That's four trebles. If it wasn't, an ordinary Rapala with three or even only two trebles would be illegal.

The depth of the spool shouldn't make any difference if both reels are loaded up with line almost to the lip. The deep spool will just need more line loaded on it to accomplish that. It's the wide spool "gap" and wide diameter that should make the difference. Those comparison diagrams are confusing and not quite as useful as MJL's photo.