Macky Time !!!!
 

Scored well today, about 150 pounds for the
freezer and Grrrrinder. :laughs: :laughs:
(My Buddy here is happy)

This was NOT taken today, it was rough as hell all day...
I've been on land for 3 hours now and the boats still ROCKIN !!!!!

Damn, that must have been fun! Still, you could have alot more macks if'n ya brought me with ya!:smash:

I don't know, you know how you surf guys are...:yak6: :yak6:

Plus it was 2-3 all day with the occasional 5+ footer.

Even Tom got that :yak4: :yak4: feeling today......

but he managed to keep everything down...
(Feel free to rib him tomorrow night !):laughs: :laughs:

Yeah, I probably would have launched my lunch......I can't rib Tom for that! He looks pretty happy there in the picture though!:happy:

Nice!

BF can not st a hook van, he just can't:rolleyes:

Lots of Macks!

Lots of Macks! Here's what we got Sunday.

I give up....anyway we caught a lot of em. Sorry I couldn't attach the picture....too big.

holy mackerel batman
 

Nice job. Did you live line any?

sweeeeeeet,

how ya hittin the cod?

No pic, but thats OK, Sunday was a sweet day, I made the mistake of listening to the weather man and didn't plan on going.

Oh i made that mistake today too "Winds only 10 mph today" so i did plan on going !!!!!

10 MPH !!!! Yea maybe somewhere in the country, not where I was...:af: :af:

I won't be out again till the weekend, but weather sounds crappy again !!!!!!!!!:af: :af: :af: Oh wait,,, it will probably be beautiful...

QD, yes we did live em' a bit, but the "Mission" today was to load the freezer. Just the same when the action slowed late day we lived and got a bunch of hits, no hook ups. Boat was drifting real fast even with the sea anchor out so Bassin was difficult.

Christian , we didn't do any coddin, but i was marking HUGE schools right off the bottom. They might have been cod or herring, dunno..

Buddy got one 22" by accident...

Van,
You keep that cod ?
starting next Tues, thats a $7.00 - $8.00 fish !!!;)
$10.00 - $12.00 alive !!!
Started setting up my (big) tank for my boat tonight:happy:

What the hell do ya do with a ive cod????

Who wants ethem alive ???? (Opps I may know that)...:D

Hi Van,

Hows the new location working out, quicker to get out? Wish there was a weight station nearby?

Like everything, it has it advantages and dis-advantages.
Getting out is quick, but loading the boat is a PIA.

The security of the place is great, but getting into my slip is really tight and I suk at docking !!!!!!

As for the weigh station, I live real close to the den, so its OK.

Still its comes out positive...you putting in or what ????

Van - how much $$ to fish your chumline this year ? :D

Beetle, for you no charge......
Maybe a ride in your new machine is all......:D :D

I be in right after Bettle! Say what? Bettle, still got those spiders webs on your trailer wheels?

Van,
How do you grind up those macks?, do you have a manual #32 grinder?, is it easy?, do you have to grind it twice? Do you re-freeze the grind afterward?

MANUAL GRINDER ???????? NOOOO WAY !!!!!!!
This baby (#32) grinds about 5 pounds a minute !!!!!
Macks, Herring and Pogies....

Grind once into a 1 gal bag then freeze it.

Casper - still doing 50-60 hrs/week at the plant. Been bouncing from there to work around the house to work on the boat. Collectively between all - probably working in some way shape/form the last 2 months 90-100 hours per week. :smash:

The boat will be in the water soon though when it counts the most, think you know what I mean. :D

Take Vans word for it...this is THE GRINDER!! you want.

Nice load of macks!

It must be fun feeding those suckers into the hopper.

Van awesome grinder! I have the same grinder but where you have the motor I have a big metal crank. It S&*^%! Where did you get the motor and how can I get one? Did you have to custom rig it?

Can I come over your house and grind my chum? ;-)

Van your a regular chum packer ey:hihi: Why the Yamalube in the background looked to me like an american made product pushing your boat;)

Van I was playing with all my grinder parts (that sounds rude!) and I noticed that the fit between the grinder shaft and the coupling is not as tight as I would like it. Did you machine the shaft to fit better or did you jury-rig it somehow?

Also, where can I get some of those square 4 gallon pails with covers. I want to store my chum in those pails because it takes up less space in the freezer. Plus the frozen block slips nicely into my 5 gal bucket dispenser. I found 1 website that sells tehm but you need to buy 10 and the price with the cover is like $7 per bucket.

square buckets
 

Hi Fish on,

The only square buckets that I have see recently are the one that you can buy fill with those white pellets for melting snow/ice. But I would check out building 19..... I saw some black buckets, good for storeing eels there a while back, so who knows.
Anyone else seen any around?

Answers:

Fish on---I got real lucky and found the motor and gear box on some scrap equipment here at work. (It is possible to purchase the same, but I think its very expensive, (probably from boston gear) I also got a foot switch from a member here a SB. So its hands-free. If you have the big wheel that came with it, does it have the v-groove for a drive belt? I was going to use it that way before I found the motor and gearbox.
I got square buckets in my neighbors trash they have cats and buy kitty litter in those buckets. I can get 1/week.

Vector-Yamalube box is just a box. The way I buy marine accessories. I need lots of boxes and bigger ones !!!!!
I run the rude ficht (175) and so far so good, it purrs like a kitten...always starts. This is the 4th season I've had that power plant.

Jim--I did machine the shaft on the auger, here at work on one of our lathes, the factory end is crap and not straight (parrallel) to the auger part. I reduced it slightly to fit the adaptor coupling in pic. I also had to machine a new keyway slot, had to be real careful, the auger is crappy cast iron. The coupler is 5/8" on the motor side and 3/4" on the auger side (Pretty sure about that.)

When I start to grind, I get help from my buddys I have a 6" piece of pipe that goes over the hopper, it is about 12" high. That way the squirt doesn't get all over me. AND THEY DO SQUIRT AND SPLATTER !!!!! Its actually kinda nasty, looks like an autopsy gone wrong...:laughs: :laughs: A few beers helps too !!!

So one guy feeds the hopper, one guy bags by just holding a one gallon freezer bag under the plate, and the foot switch helps alot.

FIll em and freeze em' the bait has to be thawed though, so we plan a couple of days ahead. Chuck them in there head first and bye bye !!!! Fishy hamburg out the other side.

I ground all my left overs from last season, the macks and herring from thjis year will be cut bait. I CAN"T WAIT !!!!:happy:

If I can help any of you guys to build your own I'd be happy to help in any way I can, let me know.

Anyone wanting these parts to make this can buy them on ebay (including the motor, #32 chumgrinder, ect) I picked up everthing I need to build one there exepct the coupling which I got from another on-line source that sells lots of couplings. It is on my to-do list to build a chum-station and hook it all up but there are a bunch of other things ahead of it.

Van has blazed the trail...I thought his was so cool I had to make one....I think he should write an how-to article for "The Fisherman"

I think if you do a lot of grinding you will need a better blade, they make some nice HD stainless cutters for diffierent sizes.

Van, when you grind the macks, what is the hole size do you use? Did you purchase a better blades?

Yes I purchased larger plates from
www.sausagemaker.com
they also sell the grinder.


I use 1/2" and 3/8". (1/2" mostly) so it wont clog. I shoulda bought the 3/4" I think that is the biggest.
I still might get it. I also purchase some extra blades and keep them sharp.

Main thing also is I clean and DRY it after each use, especially the plates and cutter. If they get rusty forget it the thing will be nothing but trouble.

you guys are gross:yak4:

Used to do it by hand fishing the shark tournies.... even got good enough to grind up small bluefish.... but mushy macks grind nice.... add some bunker oil to the bucket and good to go!

here's another idea.

Sweet setup--

That works too...just be careful you don't get you hands near that spinning wheel. :eek:

I didn't get the wheel with mine, just the hand crank. Anyway I'm dying to motorize it. What do I search for on e-nay (terms)? Also, how hard is it to rig it/connect it so it works properly?

Van you are the man!

Fish on: I still have the wheel that came with my grinder, you are welcome to it. (You can see the box under my bench in the pic in my cellar)

That set-up is what I was going to do b4 I found the gearbox.

I would put a cage around the belt though.