Whatcha doing?? Personally, I'm going to sleep late at least one day this weekend - too many nights of 2-4 hours sleep makes Johnny a dull boy...

Want to do: Fish the Wall sometime this weekend but the conditions don't look right for it...

Want to do: Finnish building my "Super Rod Wrapper" - gotta see #^&#^&#^&#^&#^&#^& to do some specialty wood cuttin'

Going to do: Spend some QT with the wife and son...

Making a lure probably. Something easy. I don't have a lathe or anything so just gotta sand it out by hand I guess. Might check the water temps to see if they are around yet. Then I have to replace the water pump on a friend's outboard. Probably have to put new gear case oil in as well and change the spark plugs. The motor sat around for 10 years.

Hey while we are on it, we need an award show, like "The Surfies". :D Solid gold Dani plug with platinum hardware and diamond eyes. I wonder what kind of TV coverage we can get :p

Saturday is a busy day for me. First bass tourny at a local pond then a surprise birthday party for the wife who is 40. Looks like Sunday I'll rest.

C-Ratt, give a hug and happy birthday from everyone here... Good luck in the tourney...

This weekend I also had planned to let the bass know I survived the winter. However , with the weather , I'm going to do fishing and house related chores at home this weekend. Smokey and I will be doing Jig making related stuff tonight. We'll pour if the rain eases up at all and we'll tie if the weather stays bad.

Remember not to believe any fishing stories you hear on Sunday!

Patrick, you are either about the smartest, most talented sportsman in history, or you are so full of BS that you could fertilize half the farms in Kansas.

From your posts, you can fix outboards, build rods, build boats, build lures, and you've been a serious, diehard fisherman since you were about 3 years old. And you had a reputation long before I got into the message board scene a few months ago, so I'm sure your expertise expands far beyond these items.

Dude, if you can do all this at the tender age of 18, you are way ahead of the game. We'd be calling you the "Boy Wonder."

But ya know, I'd really like to see you show up at on of these stripedbass.com shindigs and, forgive the cliche...

PUT UP OR SHUT UP!!

And hey, sorry to hear you had to give up your years of flyflishing because of a dreaded hooking incident. I hope you can someday recover... mentally. But ya know, being an amateur psychiatrist, I think the best thing for you to do is get back on the horse... face your demons. I spent an hour on the table while a doctor tried to remove an Atom Popper from my thumb. Guess what, the fish were biting so I was back out the next morning. True. It was really tough to pick up that rod again (not true), but I'm so thankful I did... I owe it all to that one brave moment... yes, I'm being a sarcastic jerk.

I'm not trying to pick on you, but dude, why don't you join us, show us how talented you are, and I'll give you all the credit you deserve.

I'm calling you out boy! Sabre 1088's at dawn.

ROTFLMAO - still crying

- Patrick, the ball is in your court...

Gentlemen, no obscene or foul language please...

**** modified by JR ****

Not trying to stir the pot or offer up any entertainment but...

BRAVO!! BRAVO!! Long overdue post

Well I am hoping I get my truck back from the repair shop today. I had the unfortunate bad luck of breaking down on Rt. 24 north in Brockton yesterday at 6:40 AM. Turns out the motor was only running on 4 cylinders.not good! It doesn't look promising as I haven't heard from the mechanic and it's now past 3:00 fri. Of course if I had the mechanical aptitude of some of the board members I would fix it myself. ;)

Who ordered this rain anyway? weekends shot. Inside activities this weekend I suppose. Maybe I'll tie up some rigs with the teasers I bought at the show. Spend time with the wife and kids..

Schoolie,

Ha ha. Fun fun fun. I learned all this stuff in the special aquaculture school. Built a rod there, that was a lot of fun.

Took apart a 6 hp Evinrude. Completely disassembled the lower unit. Took apart the powerhead and put it all together again. Not much to the lower unit, drain the gearcase oil, take out a few bolts, take out some more bolts, put the new impellar in, but the bolts back in, torque them to the manual's specs, slide the lower unit back up over the rods, flip the switch back and forth until the rod locks into place. Put the remainder of the bolts back in. Not too much to it. Now the powerhead is a pain in the butt. The camshaft has these needlebearings that are covered in bluegrease. They stick to your fingers and are really hard to put back in. Hopefully I won't have to do that. Sparkplugs are changed just like they are on your car engine. Take the boots off, twist and pull.

As a class project, assembled 4 buoys, then wired the lights up to a battery and a solar panel that recharges them. That was easy. Just had to tin the wires really, drill a couple holes through 1/8-1/4 inch of metal. Nothing to it.

As far as boat building, that was my favorite course. My first year my friend and I made an 8 foot pram using the stitch and glue method. Recieved an excellance in boat building award.

The next year, we used autocad to design a 12 foot round bottom boat. Made a mold, then used 4 layers of 1/8 inch wood to make half of the hull. Then using a vacuum, we sucked a tarp down over the mold to compress the wood up against the mold. I have also built a 12' Power skiff, worked on another 12' Powerskiff, countless 8 foot prams, and helped with the construction of a 15 foot electric harbor boat. All of the boats, except for the 12 foot round bottom, were made using the stitch and glue method. Had to use industrial sized equipment (had a bandsaw there with a 20 foot blade among other tools) also learned to use handtools. Of course got tested on the safety issues for OSHA and all. The second year, I got the Master Boat builders award.

Passed a course in Marina management. Recieved my safe boating license. Learned knots like the Bowline, square knot, sheepshank, and some others. I also got to ride around in the Bridgeport Harbormaster's 21 foot scorpion I/O and ride in a coastguard 40 footer, got to pilot a Steigercraft and helped on a 50 foot research vessel. During these two courses, I also learned how to use Radar, Fishfinders, depthsounders, VHF radios. Went over how trailers work, how to upkeep trailers. Part of this program, I learned how to shrink wrap boats. Got a demonstration from a professional.
That was just the tech parts.

The science part of this class, we got to go out on the research vessel (the 50 footer with an A-frame) and did soil samples, water tests like temperature, work with secchi discs, salinometer. We also did otter trawls and picked up flounders, crabs, silversides, lobsters, and pipefish(related to the sea horses). We aslo did a bottom dredge and mostly picked up shells. I can't remember anything too specific about that dredge. As part of chemistry classes, we use spectrometers (passes light through materials to determine their composition), made aspirin and did a lot of cool things.

There are of course other programs in the school which I didn't get involved in. Sailing clubs, rowing clubs, afterschool fishing club, Intensive work with fish raising. In the fish tanks at the school there were baby brown trout that were released, tilapia(an african fish), eels, winter flounder, summer flounder and maybe some others. Other kids in the school used hydroponics to grow marsh grasses.

I have been blessed to go to this school. I have learned so much about the ocean. Honestly, I wouldn't have survived highschool without this place. It was a close knit school where I knew all the teachers, a lot of the kids. All the kids wanted to be there so there weren't trouble makers for the most part. Not only did they offer highschool stuff but they had college fairs and stuff like that. There were plenty of oppurtunities for continuing education.

Now for fishing, my dad and uncle took me along with my cousins. I had some Zebco pushbutton reel that I got for easter. I didn't catch any that trip. I fell in love with the sport. My dad is originally from MD and he was a Navy man so the ocean is sorta in his blood. I guess he passed along the outdoorsman gene to me. Other people that got me involved in the sport was my great uncle and his friend Lou, both of whom have now passed on, they gave me my first real taste of saltwater fishing. Another Uncle and Aunt who are diehard freshwater fishermen and supplied me with SO much gear and enthusiasm for the sport. The man who runs the tackle shop I go to because he always is there to help me out and last but not least my mom who saw me getting involved in a healthy hobby and encouraged me to have fun.

So if you think I'm BSing you, try and call my bluff. Honest to God I have done all the stuff above. I aced just about every class they threw at me. I know I've said a lot above but if you don't believe me, I will do everything in my power to show you that I can do it.

The main thing keeping me out of fly casting is the cost. I have two fly rods upstairs, one is a cortland, the other is a pfluegar. They are freshwater outfits and frankly, I just don't freshwater fish enough to use them.

I'm looking forward to seeing you guys soon. I'll be up your way one of these days, you just wait and see. I'm not the best fisherman in the world, (maybe the best looking ;D) but I catch my fair share of fish.

Now, despite what you say, I can tell you are just trying to bust on me. I really don't appreciate it.

So have a good day,

Patrick
if you want to go to the striped-bass tourney Ill give you a ride the times I go . I like your gumshin " if you don't believe me, I will do everything in my power to show you that I can do it." Thats all you can do is your best . It doesnt matter what we think but to just even the playing field show up and fish people will respect you when they see that your not full of it . just my .02

Well, I have to admit,thats an impressive resume for a guy your age patrick.I do not think your lying at all.The ball has shifted back to the other guys court now!If you did learn all that stuff,I give you a two thumbs up! Hang in there,you can stand toe to toe with these guys,its nothing more than hot air!

You have been very well behaved in your time on this board...dont let em' get you down!

I cant even tell time? I was ready to turn my clocks ahead tonight!

Chris,
Thanks for the offer. I don't know if I'll be able to make it because I'm going to be starting a job pretty soon I hope and that pretty much explains why I don't know. Let me see how working turns out and I'll get back to you. Perhaps it'll be Home Depot and I can get a discount on some wood and a mini-lathe.

#^&#^&#^&#^&#^&#^&,

I guess the ball is in their court :) I don't even know how they respond to that post.

The funniest thing about it, I can't stand boats. They are holes in the water in which you throw money. I could see if I was down where I had to travel far out to catch fish but that's not the case. Gas prices on the water went all the way up to $2.25 a gallon down here. No thanks.

You have been well behaved here Patrick and I won't go into all the details again....yadayadayada.

Sometimes, you come across like you're talking out your butt. I can't blame someone for thinking you had one more sweat dream than reality and calling you on it. Not everything you have said in the past jives with reality and most people can smell fertilizer when blindfolded. This is not a tweak but an observation of having you here for a relatively troublefree year (woohoo) and from several places prior.

Schoolie, your turn to reply. Just maybe, you'll get to a PC before you go to work next week...

Patrick - put up and get to at least one and prefferably all of these meets this year. You'll have a chance to silence some of your critics if you're up to the challenge and who knows, people actually may enjoy your company if you are yourself... That's an honest and open invite...

Good list of accomplishments Patrick. I'm puzzled though. With that kind of success in the school program , why Home Depot? Building a boat for a class doesn't make you a boat builder. Getting a job at a boat yard and putting in 10 years or more of hard work is what makes you a boat builder. Attending a marina management school doesn't make you a marina manager. You got to start low and work your way up in the buisiness. If you liked the field and did well , why not get going in that area and start using what you learned?

Patrick,

I agree with Saltheart. There was no choice for a "Marine" program in any of my high schools and no chance to do what you did. But if I had that kind of background with the desires for the bays and oceans I have, I'd try to find something along those lines. You live very near the shore with much marine infrastructure - get a job there as you will learn much that can translate into your fishing and your character - give it a shot. Spring is coming as well as your best chance to find a job. Who knows, in a couple years you could be a mate on a charter and a few after that, your own boat and business - not a bad thing, is it??

You know the saying never mix business with pleasure? That is why I could never work in a tackle shop. Watching all those people come in and tell you about a blitz, while you are selling them lures and knowing you have to sit behind that counter while they are slamming huge blues and bass.

For a while, I wanted to get into boatbuilding. That is messy work. I'm talking messy messy work. I was working on 12 foot boats and I didn't really have a deadline to hit and my clothes still got ruined. I have boots with epoxy on them, pants with paint and epoxy on them. Shirts, hats, everything has epoxy on it. I couldn't imagine building a large boat, working with 55 gallon drums of epoxy. It's just not the life I want.

I don't know what I want to do. I have some strong gut feeling to be a cop. I don't know why. It's not like I wanted to be a cop when I was little. This is just a recent thing since I started getting interested in civil rights.

My cam isn't working so I can't send a picture of my certificate. Oh well

ok I was going to be good and keep to myself...but I am feelin wild already tonight so here goes...


Patrick if what you say is true thats cool BUT......from MY personal point of veiw I cannot understand you idea of messy work ...it just doesnt stick (hehe get it??) If you want to be a cop think about these things....how about dealing with bleeding accident victims that were so traumatized the crapped themselves, or drunken idiots puking on you, addicts with needles, or maybe even having to be on the scene of a horribly brutal murder? Dont get me wrong...I am not dissing police...I admire their ability to deal with the many aspects of their jobs, but I couldnt do it! I would rather sell bait or lures to the guys killing them on the beach and not being able to get out there my self! Better than what you could be doing.....

and one last word on "business with pleasure" I dont know one person who wouldnt want to have there hobby as a job!!!!



P.S. I worked at Home Depot for three weeks before I finally realized that I was miserable and called out FOREVER!!! Why you ask??? Well I made pretty good money there but they put me in a department that I HATED! I hated it so much it made me miserable!!!!

Spent Wed thru today on the road with business and traveling and look what I missed, bummer. I'm too tired from traveling and too spaced from sipping beers in concourse A, B or C so maybe I'll give this a look later.

Gave me a good laugh though and I thank you all for that, lol.

Tight lines.

Welcome back from your, ah, Business Trip - yeh, that's it... HVAC Products for the Fish Hatchery Industry, hehehe

How was fishing???

Yes , please do tell us GS about your business trip. ;-)
It's been cold and wet around here you know.

I could have thrown the charter money into the air and had the same results. Neither the guide or myself got bit the entire morning. I had a full day charter booked, but cut it to a half day after it was apparent the high stained water (all the rain) and cold water temps (all the cold weather) have held of the usual great spring fishing. Got a freebie trip in the future, wooppie...

How was the fishing this weekend, anything cooking down your way? This weather is just ducky, looks like it's going to be a really Sh*tty cold spring. Since I've got a ton of catch up to do, it's probably best I didn't come back to 65 degree weather.

[img="http://www.rgsiroisco.com/fisherman.gif"]
Tight lines.

Not much happening really. I'm sure that there are still fish in Providence and in some of the South County ponds but the conditions were awful for the West Wall so I didn't even bother... Hopefully this will warm up with a few weeks of predominently SW winds to kick start things...

my buddy and myself hit the providence river sat am next to the hurricane barrier...nothing. lots of gulls working something on the water, don't know what...first time fishing the area...checked out over by the brown univ. boat house(?). nothing again. weather wasn't horrible, nice to get out...bottom ate up six zoom flukes though (guess that's why they sell them in 10 packs).

Sorry John, I rarely login from home and Karen was out of town this weekend, so I was a single dad.

My serve, aye?

Patrick, I'm not just bustin' on you. But the internet is an easy forum for people to spew alot of crap. You are absolutely right... I don't know you, I don't know where you've been or what you've done, but alot of what you say just doesn't add up.

And if you can do all this stuff, that is great, I would have no reason put you down because of your broad experiences...

Heck, I ain't the best striper fisherman either, never claimed to be. I've only been fishing saltwater a few short years and only this past year was I able to really put some real time in.

But I think "claim" is the key word. You claim alot for someone so young. And you come off, intentionally or not, like your an old salt who's seen and done it all.

I'm not insulting you or trying to cause a stir... I simply am curious, as I'm sure many of us are, as to whether you are really a child protege, or just a top-shelf BSer... or maybe somewhere in between. Can you honestly blame me?

I'm not asking to meet you behind the school for a fight, I called you out to go fishing. I don't see anything confrontational about that. Hopefully, these trips will be a chance for all of us to get together, have fun, and get some fish. No doubt somewhere in the back or our minds, we all want to see how we stack up against each other, but this isn't gonna be cutthroat competition.

Most folks would love the opportunity to prove their doubters wrong. And heck, maybe you'll catch the lunker and you could talk smack the rest of the year.

But be warned, if you show up with a picture of your boat and it reads "boston whaler" and your custom rod says "ugly stik", you will get hazed!

Schoolie,

No harm done.

Oh boy, the rod doesn't say Uglystik, but that's what it is. The school, like every other school is on a budget and is faced with more and more enrollment. With the amount of kids going through the school, they can't let every kid build a Loomis. Their goal is to get more kids that haven't experienced fishing going out and enjoying it. They buy all the parts, show you how to do the work and you do it. Then you tally up the bill to show what your hardwork is worth. If you choose to buy the rod, it's 15 bucks. For 15 bucks, it's a hell of a deal if you ask me.

Hey, what's wrong with Boston Whaler, they are great boats. I know, everyone has one but they work well.

I can understand why you tried to call my bluff. If I hadn't lived this life so far, I would have done the same. You mentioned you are a dad. Perhaps all of you should investigate this style of school for the future of your kids. There aren't too many Aquaculture schools on the highschool level. At one time, I believe we were the only ones. Now I think other towns along the coasts have developed these schools. I feel as though I'm a better person because of my experiences at this school. It's really a great setup.

Nothin' wrong with a whaler or an ugly stik... my point was that a custom made boat or rod would not have the logos on them.

Like if you show me a yozuri minnow and said you made it and it said, "made in Japan" I would tend not to believe you.

Jetty Jockey18, sorry to hear you didn't hit fish in RI ,the next time you go that way get a hold of me and i'll get the latest info for you. Too early for the Seekonk river and when they are there /there are better places than at the boat house,hOPING TO GET UP TO PROVIDENCE THIS WEEK MYSELF// LATER

appreciate the offer...it was more of a recon expedition to get me out of the house and check out some new places...besides, i had a brand new stik with me and sometimes it takes a while to break that new rod curse...

This weekend might be good at the wall. Nice weather all week and may...maybe extra nice this weekend. I think we are going down Sunday.

That's what I'm thinking too. Saturday or Sunday at the Wall - weather dependent - but it looks like SW winds fueling a warm up. Just what we need...

Hey FW - What does Thursday look like for you two??

Not sure yet, may be headed to the cape, and have an eboard meeting that night, but I will let ya know!!!!