This afternoon was so warm I just had to do something pertaining to fishing even if I couldn’t go.  The boat got pulled out of the garage where it’s been sitting for way too long.  Last year when I changed to lower unit oil I overfilled it. It was cold when I did it so when things warmed the oil expanded and some ran out. I wondered if some water also ran in. The water will be the first thing out when you remove the bottom plug.  When I took it out more water came out than I liked. When I took the top plug out it was not tight. I’m hoping that’s where the water came from.  When the oil started to run out it was clear as when I put it in. I decided to put in some more oil, tighten the plugs, run the boat on a couple of trips and then check the water situation again. If a whole lot of water comes out this time, it’ll have to go to the shop for a new seal.

I bought the boat in August 2005 and have not changed the spark plugs. I figured it was about time. Did that this afternoon too. The old ones looked amazingly good. Probably could have gone a few more years.

The gas, although is was the non ethanol kind, has been sitting in the boat since October. There is probably 1/2 tank, or 6 gallons, in the tank.  I have one of those siphon hoses that you put in the tank and shake up and down to get the siphon going. I siphoned the gas out and then siphoned it back into my truck. The boat will get new gas on the first trip.

I filled up the oil reservoir and am now ready to go fishing. Now is a good time to get all that maintenance stuff done.

I was at the private hole early this morning. I have not seen the boat there for a month and a lot can happen. So I went early to get the boat ready. It was muddy so I had to carry all my equipment, including a battery, down the muddy ramp. My anchor was sitting in the middle of the boat without a rope. The landing net was out of the boat about 40 yards down the bank. Maybe a strong wind, but the anchor rope had been cut. Maybe someone needed it more than I did. A Rapala XRD10 was the first bait out of the box. It’s a deep suspending jerk bait. I’ve read a lot about fishing jerk baits and everyone stresses slow and pause. Some people swear they pause for a minute. Not me, but I didn’t catch one on it either. Had a nip or two but no fish caught.  Hal and Richard went Friday and caught 8, many of those on a drop shot.  I tried that too but no bites. Tried a Carolina rig, DT-10, and shaky head with no luck. Hal told me that the fish bit better from 11:00 to 1:00 and sure enough at 11:10 the first fish came into the boat.  It did not have the bait in its mouth but just came too close to the Rapala DTF7 I had put on. Again I had read somewhere that a flat sided crank bait was good in cold situations.  The “F” stands for flat.

You can see in the first photo how the fish was hooked. The second one shows how pretty the fish are out of the clean clear water. Ten minutes later another fish came in the boat. After being scared of a skunk, things were looking up.  Then disaster struck.  The DTF7 got hung on something and I could not get it loose. It was hung on a sack that someone sunk a couple of years ago that has captured 4 or 5 of my baits. The bag has a house block or something just as heavy in it that I can not pick up with my bait rescue pole. The DTF7 was lost.  Out of the box came a small Bomber Fat Free Shad that dives to about 8 feet. It finally caught the third fish about 1:00. I fished until 2:00 but could not raise another bite. The fish were textbook, on the sunny side of the hole that had the wind blowing toward it. Three bass total, all between 2 1/2 and 2 – 13.

There has been nothing but silence on the Bitespot lately due to no fishing. I can assure you I want that to change, and soon. Last year was such poor catching for me I did not even add up how many fish I caught. Usually that’s good for a post. Today I did purchase a new battery for the private hole boat in anticipation of maybe getting to go there in the next few days, and I am looking into a new depthfinder since the old one quit working and is worth about what a new transducer will cost. The old one partially works so I can upgrade the one on the private hole boat. Please have patience and stay tuned.