Spiel

That's where I got mine. 2006 Lund with a 4 stroke 75 Mec tiller. Can't offer any personal opinions on the other brands as I've not used them, but thus far my Merc has been an absolute pleasure to own.

Well if you were closer to Hamilton I'd be happy to do it for you but since you're not why not try and do it yourself as Daplumma suggested. It's not difficult and there's plenty of online info and I'd be happy to offer any needed advice.

I'm waiting to see if Tybo gets it.....LMAO Must have been a good party. I wonder if his next 1000 will be "nice fish".

Hahahahaha.....I get it.

Sounds like the perfect icebungalow meal for six Doug. Just saying.

Well since I've seen that you generally wear your lifejacket at all times they'd always be handy.

I sort of recall the early set up. You either had to scale down or get a bigger boat.

Nice morning read Mike, well done. Boy when you decide to test new waters you jump in with both feet. That's a lot of new gear and those jigs look awesome! Congrats on icing a few lakers, they're sweet.

What happened, you get tired of hauling out your TV, VCR and Honda generator.

Wouldn't take much to fashion your own with a good set of pliers Rob. A length of lanyard and a large float of some sort. Hmmmmm, I think I now have a project for a rainy day.....*looks out window*

Hmmmm, all I saw was wallys and smallies.

Given the amount of snow melt in those tracks I'd be hard pressed to even venture a guess.

Apparently about a 1000. dollaramas in Canada

Great Lakes waterfront report: Progress stymied on fish consumption Mar 10 2010 Danielle Emerson / Great Lakes Echo LANSING, Mich. – Michigan officials report at least fair progress in the state’s water quality with the exception of one measure: ensure fish that are safe to eat. The state’s Department of Natural Resources and Environment recently detailed five measures of success in efforts to improve water quality. The study –which has measured mercury levels of northern pike in inland waters since 1984 – gave progress in lowering the risk of eating fish a “poor” rating, stating, “There has been essentially no change over time.” But the question remains as to why, in more than 25 years, the ability to ensure safe fish hasn’t improved. Joe Bohr, of the state’s fish contaminant monitoring program, explained, “There hasn’t really been an overall reduction in the atmospheric deposition of mercury.” Maggie Fields, head of the mercury division of its Office of Pollution Prevention and Compliance, said coal-fired power plants are the biggest contributors of mercury in the air. The most direct source of mercury deposits in water, however, is dental amalgam, which dentists use for teeth restorations and dyes. Bohr said fish with the most contaminants are in the western end of the Upper Peninsula, and that although the levels are not as high in the Lower Peninsula, they remain high enough to be a health concern for consumption. Christine Aiello, the DNRE official overseeing the Great Lakes areas of concern for the Clinton, Detroit and St. Clair rivers in southeastern Michigan, said mercury isn’t the biggest problem facing the Clinton River, which discharges into Lake St. Clair. Specifically, the Clinton and St. Clair rivers have PCB contaminants, which contribute to wildlife and fish degradation, or worse, their loss, according to Aiello. “We have as much of a handle on the waste from industrial sources as we can,” said Aiello. Industries seeking to dispose of their waste in a river need state-approved permits detailing which contaminants will be disposed of and how much. Aiello said the department is more concerned with ways to contain contaminants from sources like stormwater runoff and sewage overflows. The fight for Michigan’s water quality is not over, according to Fields. She said the department has seen a reduction of mercury emissions, but not enough. For instance, a 2008 law will require dentists to discharge dental amalgam into a separator that is at least 95 percent efficient when it takes effect full effect in January 2013. Moreover, although mercury in products like thermometers, thermostats and medical instruments is now prohibited, it remains in older equipment. A 2008 law says state agencies should avoid purchasing products containing mercury or mercury compounds, but only if an alternative exists or isn’t too costly. Aiello said the Clinton River Watershed Council submitted four funding proposals to the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative, a project overseen by the Great Lakes Regional Collaboration. “The projects are mostly for habitat restoration and stormwater education about the best management and practices,” said Michele Arquette-Palermo, watershed and stewardship director of the council. Arquette-Palermo also said the council would use the money to implement a remedial action to remove contaminants from the Clinton River. “A dam removal project is planned for the North Branch of the Clinton River to restore 93 miles of fish passage by reconnecting the main stream of the river to the headwaters,” said Aiello. She added that streambank restoration and soil control measures have been implemented in the watershed to help restore fish and wildlife habitat. DNRE’s Bohr said much is left to do in the regulation and containment of mercury emissions before water quality can get any better. “Even if local sources are reduced, we still have mercury falling out from other sources,” Bohr said. For example, even though fly ash from coal plants is being contained, if it gets reused in cement it will re-emit mercury into the atmosphere. And Fields said, “There’s a lot of interconnection with mercury. For example, if dental amalgam isn’t separated from water, it may settle into a sludge on land, which will continue to emit into the atmosphere and so on.” Legislation to regulate, reduce or eliminate the use of mercury-containing products passed the House, but is stalled in the Senate Natural Resources and Environmental Affairs Committee.

Mature females key to beluga sturgeon survival Hatchery fish unlikely to restore caviar-producing fish populations Rachel Ehrenberg / www.sciencenews.org Pre-caviar Management of the Caspian Sea’s beluga sturgeon population relies heavily on hatchery-bred fish, such as this youngster from a facility in Kazakhstan. The dwindling population would be better boosted by protecting older females, a new analysis finds. The Institute for Ocean Conservation Science Saving grown females first — not fry — is crucial to preventing extinction of the beluga sturgeon, suggests a new conservation assessment of the fish that’s been pushed to the brink by demand for its roe, known as black caviar. Current harvest rates are four to five times higher than the population can handle and management practices must change if the species is to survive, scientists report in an upcoming Conservation Biology. “In this case, it’s a no-brainer,” says fisheries biologist Dylan Fraser of Concordia University in Montreal, who was not involved with the study. “The data are saying if you want to save the species, stop fishing — or drastically reduce it. The evidence is overwhelming.” The new study concludes that current conservation efforts, which rely mostly on introducing young fish bred in hatcheries into the wild, are unlikely to succeed. Instead, it finds the survival of the species depends on protecting the mature females that are most prized for their copious roe. Beluga sturgeon, Huso huso, used to swim the Adriatic, Azov, Black and Caspian seas. But dams, pollution and demand for eggs that sold for $8,000 per kilogram in 2009 have pummeled populations. The fish is gone entirely from parts of its range and is critically endangered in others, but commercial fishing is still allowed in the Caspian Sea. Using life history traits such as age of maturity and population data on the sturgeon that return to the Ural River to spawn, the researchers examined the implications of keeping different age classes of fish in the population. For fishing to have minimal effects, they concluded, sturgeon shouldn’t be harvested until they are at least 31 years old in order to assure the females have had a sufficient chance to produce eggs. Saving mature and nearly adult females was 10 times more effective for maintaining a healthy population than supplementing the population with hatchery fish, says Phaedra Doukakis of the Institute for Ocean Conservation Science at Stony Brook University in New York, who led the study. In fact, Fraser says, introducing hatchery-raised fry may harm the fragile population further, because hatchery stocks derive from only a handful of fish; their genetic blandness could swamp out whatever diversity remains in the existing population. “There’s always the argument that if we are fishing more, we’ll just stock more,” Fraser says, but the new analysis demonstrates that hatchery supplementation “can’t be viewed as a cure-all.” The Caspian Sea sturgeon fishery “has been a bit of a black box,” says Doukakis, who hopes the new analysis will help guide management strategies. Efforts are complicated by the fact that five countries border the Caspian Sea and must work together to manage the fishery. Beluga sturgeons are protected under Appendix 2 of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species, which allows regulated trade. But they are a good candidate for Appendix 1, Doukakis says, which bans all commercial trade of the creature in question. The species’ status is not on the docket for this year’s CITES meeting, which begins March 13 in Doha, Qatar. The animal committee will review the fish’s standing early next year, says David Morgan, chief of the CITES scientific support unit in Geneva.

I did a quick Google search (septic systems and paint) on it Lew and found there are many opposing opinions on this. This question and answer came from allexperts.com Plumbing in the Home - latex paint in septic system Question: what will cleaning latex paint from brushes do to a septic system? Answer: Well Greg, Considering no chemicals should go into a septic system, Any thing beside human waste causes the bacterial growth to die off, and then there is nothing left to get rid of the waste. I do not think a one time brush cleaning is going to ruin your septic system, but I would not make a habit out of it!! Hope this helps!

I think we discussed that handle, yes?

Snowmobiler hailed as hero March 11, 2010 DAVE JOHNSON / www.wellandtribune.ca A 19-year-old Ridgeway man is being called a hero by fellow anglers after he rescued a number of them from the ice of Lake Erie. Barrett Johnson was fishing off of Pleasant Beach Rd., between three and four kilometres from the shoreline, when he noticed water coming up through fishing holes cut into the ice. "Right away I noticed the water ... and my dad taught me that when you see that, you get off the ice," said Johnson. He quickly packed up his gear and headed for shore on his sled snowmobile with a friend on the back. Heading toward the shore, he saw a large crack had developed. Johnson drove his sled across 30 metres of open water to get to shore. "The ice was exploding behind me," he said. Once on land, Johnson headed back out and grabbed three more anglers, bringing them to shore. There were about 20 anglers out on the ice at the time, most between three and four kilometres from shore. "I asked everyone if I should call the fire department and they said yes." Port Colborne Fire and Emergency Services and Niagara Regional Police responded to Pleasant Beach Rd. and Sherkston Shores and Johnson waited for them to arrive. Once on scene, fire Chief Tom Cartwright and a police sergeant discussed their options and decided to call the Erie County Sheriff's Office for assistance. "We alerted Trenton, but the (Canadian Coast Guard) chopper there was (several) hours away, too far to assist us," said Cartwright. The sheriff department's helicopter quickly arrived on scene as anglers on all-terrain vehciles were making their way back to shore. Cartwright said the helicopter rescued one man from the ice who was out there walking his dog. The man had become trapped behind the crack and couldn't make his way in safely. "We're very appreciative of the help Erie County Sheriff provided us," said Cartwright, adding the fire department has never received a bill from the county for use of its helicopter. Standing on shore watching the helicopter make passes in the area, to check for any stragglers, angler Dan Gilmore spoke about Johnson's efforts. "He's the hero here," Gilmore said. When told about the hero comment, Johnson said he didn't really feel like one. "I just did what any Good Samaritan would have done." As he thought about the situation though, Johnson said the heroic part may have been when he got the other anglers across "I've crossed open water before up north, by choice, but never because I've had to," he said. Gilmore had to jump his quad across a crack in the ice. Angler Leo Larabie also drove his quad across a crack in the ice after finding a safe path to the shore. A number of anglers followed Larabie's path, said Gilmore. The two men said a number of anglers huddled together on the ice and when Larabie found a safe path, everyone followed him in. "We just made it," said Larabie. All three men said the situation developed very quickly. "When we went out there, the conditions were perfect," said Gilmore. The crack developed, the men said, at about 3:30 p.m. and took 10 to 15 minutes to break away from the shore. "We were on a huge ice floe," said Gilmore. "The ice is done, no one should be out there now," he added. Car twright agreed with Gilmore's assessment. "The ice has been deteriorating very quickly because of warm weather and with several days of rain expected, it will only get worse," he said. Larabie won't be going back out on the ice at all this year. "I learned my lesson. This is my fifth year of ice fishing out here and this is the first time I've ever been caught like this." Cartwright said if anglers are going to be out on the ice, they should have cellphones or a way to contact someone for help and should have some sort of flotation device. "They shouldn't be out there when it's deteriorating like this, though." The chief, who is an ice fisherman himself, said he wouldn't go ice fishing on Lake Erie any time of the year. "I personally don't believe this is a safe lake to ice fish on. There's a lot of wave action and all it takes is a little bit of open water and wind to make the ice crack," he said.

Very nice work Dave. I've been at this so long I still can't believe I don't own a lathe of some sort for turning caps, reel seats and checks but it is on my need to get list. So what new rod are you putting these on Mike?

Very nice! Shouldn't be long now before the Brown action is heating up on the west end of the lake. Perhaps it's already started, gonna have to make time and get out and see.....soon!

Yep, just unburnt 2 stroke oil. My old 76 Johnson was just like that. I switched to a quality (supposedly) smokeless oil, I believe it was Johnson brand and ran it a little leaner than 50-1. Wasn't perfect but it was a lot better.

Wow, now I know why you wanted that neon chartreuse thread with white trim on your new rod, it matches your fly perfectly.

That's some good advice Mike and can be done while on the water if needed. I have the same issue with my Stanton which I solved by just rubbing down the threads with some sticky bees wax. Tighten down the retaining nut then back off a 1/4 turn or so.

What Roy said. I look forward to seeing you then.