Raycaster

Just thought I'd make a quick post. I usually just target pike (spinners/cranks) and I think the total is 7-8. My boat is slow so I have been hanging around Southbay and Ant Island. Fishing has been ok but not great. I put ALOT of hours on the lake these 2 weeks and besides the 7-8 pikes I lost 4-5 including a bass. Never seen a wallaye these 2 weeks which is unusual. I can't totally be disappointed as being lazy I threw out a wallaye harness and worms and trolled back slow from Southbay. Caught a 42" musky on the cheap CT walleye harness, took pics and had a healthy release. Makes me laugh thinking of all the $30+ musky lures I have for those Lake St. Clair trips. Here are some pics, didnt bother with pike pics although they were decent 24-28. Everytime I see this island it reminds me of that island you could see infront of old Stelco before going over the skyway bridge in Hamilton. Pictures are unedited without lensflares/chromacrushing or colorgrading, I think mother natures makes it perfect already. The pikes were great meals. "Toothy" was released and swam away reminding himself to never be tempted by a $2 walleye harness again.

Dave, yes I meant square tubing with rounded edges

Just came back from Lake St. Clair and had a brutal time launching my boat from the public ramp at Jeannettes Creek.I have a 16ft pontoon on a tendem trailer which is ok for towing but when I built the bunks on the fenders I didn't realize the height would come back to bite me later. The boats sits high on the trailer so unless the ramp is a "cliff" my vehicle has to go way too far in the lake to launch. Anyways I plan to just make a simple extension used ONLY for launches, a hassle but 10x better than driving into a lake. I just plan to purchase 3-4ft of 2"OD rounded 1/4" steel tubing. Will drill the 2 holes on the one end and put a ball on the other. Anyone know the cost or a good place in Hamilton area to purchase the metal? Went to a trailer place and the prices for extension started at $100 for 12" soooo its a DIY. As mentioned this is launch ONLY and will get a good tremclad paint job first.

Learn how to use the "looping" mode recording and have backup batteries. Don't get excited about 4k, a lot of time 720 at 240fps may provide better action video for editing. Be ready for fog and rain preparing for condensation problems. Put a usb connector in your boat (2.1A if possible) Get ready for abuse from the veteran fishermen!

I'm going with the Lutron Bridge to enable pico "fake" switches in the outlet boxes and then using plug dimmers in cabinet. Eliminates more hole patching and dust.

Perfect. I have been using Lutron switches in the house (bridgeless) .I wasn't sure if the dimmer resistance would scale properly with the puck leds. Thanks. I have to rethink the wiring though I thought I was smart and just wired low voltage wires to my switches. Now I may go with wall plug dimmers in the cabinets. Had to punch holes in drywall and patch to wire, might have to repeat with 14/2..

I agree its a "1st world problem" and a luxury and kinda silly telling Google to turn the lights on and off but its fun... The wifi aspect is just the automation function of controlling switches and lights by scheduals, vocal commands or logic scripts. Wifi control is kind of frivolous but some items are practical. Having your smoke detector text you at work due to smoke would be practical. Having a cheap $50 outside camera monitoring your cottage would be sensible. Having a water sensor text you to prevent basement flooding is practical.The cost of these sensors are getting very cheap and present the thought "why not"? Walking into my den and saying "ok google hockey time" automatically does this: Turns on Cable box, turns on stereo, turns on tv, sets all inputs correctly. Dims main lights and puck leds. Yes, kinda silly but fun.

Its called Sketchup and has a billion tutorials on youtube to get up and running. Its great for furniture - cabinet design - anything. I'm proficient with highend 3D software (Modo/AutoCad/SolidWorks) but for quick visual designs its perfect. Its perfect for visualizing space and sizes. Designing on paper is great but seeing how it fits in a small room or how a new steering console fits on the deck of a small boat etc. its great. I used it to design a retro fit for my pontoon boat trailer. A great thing is that you don't need to design alot of stuff from scratch as most 3d object are available online. All the decor in the above pic was just downloaded in to look nice. Companies provide for free realistic 3D objects of their products (dishwashers/furniture/appliances) so you can visualize in your kitchen designs.. Cabinets of all sizes are already done but I usually make from scratch to save money but bu looking at the commercial cabinets you can make your own cut lists/patterns. There is a free version plus trial versions plus student versions etc. Yes an average non-geek will need a few days of playing around with it but after a few tutorials you will be a rock star. PM me if you need any help. I've included a design of my mother-in-laws kitchen and the mess of the room before the wall cabinet (hence the need to visualize space).

Waiting for the ice to melt (non ice fisherman) I have been tackling lots of home projects and currently building a cabinet wall in a TV room. Since Christmas gifts of google homes I have slowly been switching outlets and switches to wifi. The cost suks but its enjoyable and besides too shallow outlet boxes its pretty easy. My question involves using wifi dimmers for puck leds I will be using in the built cabinet walls shelfs. They are low voltage with inline dimmers that I was just going to chop and rewire for wifi wall switches. I was thinking of having the dimmer control the 12-24v supplied to the pucks but I may need to control the 120v before the cheap 120v - 12v adapter. I may have to experiment as the electronics may regulate voltage etc. Anyone else tried this? I have included the room I dimensioned and rendered in Sketchup. Simple design but I always render first for a visual to spot size problems.

I think its always tricky due to having to work around the security. I was able to install on my old Freestar but it was brutal trying to match wiring coloring that didn't exist etc...

I promise this is the last NON-FISHING post for awhile. Don't want to abuse the awesome feedback here but truth is... its awesome that someone on this board is always able to help out on every subject. I'm a hobbyist computer/electronic guy but the last remote start kit I installed was over 5 years ago and if I remember correctly I made a note never to do it again. It was a Ford kit involving over 10 wires and splicing into several car spaghetti looms under the dash. I now have a 2016 Ford Edge SEL and wonder if things have changed to make it harder or easier DIY. I looked quickly on Amazon and the first couple kits seemed to have a cutoff of 2014. The Ford dealership quoted me $599 with a smile. I put out a few other emails to Hamilton Installers but still waiting for replies. If anyone has had any luck with these lately for DIY or can suggest installers please let me know. Thx.

Thanks for the help guys. Emptied wallet, problem solved.

Apparently you have never met my wife. Happy wife = fishing...

(NON-FISHING) The Continental Winter tires at CT seem too good to pass up but does anyone have a line on Winter Rims + Sensors? I just bought a 2016 Ford Edge (245/60/18) and will searching for decent priced steel rims is proving hard. Also the 3rd party TPMS sensors seem to be hit and miss with the requirement of the TPMS sensor reset gadget... If anyone can shed light on this I'd really appreciate it. thx

Got the reply yesterday: *********************** Hello, Yes, you can drop that off Monday through Friday between 8:30am and 5:00pm It will be approx. $25 for a full service and cleaning. Regards *************************** So... Next week I will drop off and I will follow up with results but heck $25 seems pretty reasonable (if not a damn good deal!).

I'm going to inquire at Shimano about price and will post info.

I actually missed a BNIB for $200 on Kijiji but was up north fishing... The used on I just purchased should be ok.

Thx for reply, found a tutorial on the FH which may be okay. Gotta find the part manual now!

This isn't a slam against Shimano Service, just a question if its REALLY ($$$) needed. I bought a new Stradic 2500 FJ a few years back and fell in love with it right away as it was super smooth and just prefect for my needs. Unfortunately like a moron 2 years later I lost it overboard and since it was no longer manufactured I purchased a Stradic 4000 FK ??? looking for not only a replacement but maybe a upgrade from the awesome 2500 FJ. Well, the FK if fine but it just seemed bland compared to my old FJ so I searched and found a used 2500 FJ on kijiji. I realize I may be totally over evaluating how good the 2500 FJ was but an extra reel never hurt right? Sorry for the long story but the question is whether its worth to send the used reel to Peterbrough for service over the winter? The reel has some scars but seems smooth and 100% operational. Just clean up and light oil everything or invest in a true full service at Shimano? I have no idea on the cost as service may be more than the reel's worth...

Thank you for the replies. I selected the first option as I wanted all replies back to me without any cross referencing between recipients. I switched to that setting above (group mms) but the contact group again did not show in either plain conversation or start group conversation. Not sure why this is so tough or requires another app. 1) Edit 10 contacts. 2) Make team group and make sure the 10 contact r in the group 3) click on msg and click on to: to add group, nope - no group to select 4) click on start group conversation- nope - no group to select 5) Manually add 10 contacts to: and use that thread forever... yup. Brutal i am using a LG V30 with latest android. i'm always amazed at huge research and constant updates provided for Android but little things like constant notifications of "change keyboard" has never been fixed.

I'd like to think I'm an above average tech guy but I'm getting stumped on how to send MASS txt messages. I coach a team of 10 guys and added them in contacts and put in a group. When I try to start a msg or group message it never lets me select the group and never auto fills to the group name. I can select individually all 10 no problem but that defeats the whole group thing. I feel like I'm missing 1 stupid step... I click on Start group conversation and it brings up TOP CONTACTS etc. but not groups. Any help appreciated.

The "pulse" technique on the figure 8 is actually pretty educational, don't know how many fish I lost due to them getting tired of a repetitive figure 8.

Just a heads up as I found my Onyx A/M-24 inflated in the garage during the spring and needed a re-arming kit. Lots online but searching locally only came up with CrappyTire in Brantford. Bought it and while installing noticed the bobbin dated almost 3 years! Probably still fine but I think the docs say replace after 4-5 yrs.

Ok ,got both batteries tested, THEY PASSED WITH FLYING COLORS!! I will keep charging separately once every few charges to keep a eye on them. Thank you for the commenst guys

Thanks for the replies guys. Basically each battery took about 60-90 minutes to get to 90% and then a day to get to FULL. I will now separately charge them a few times a year. Might get out on Balsam one more time to drain the batteries again and recheck...