Hahahaha, I tried plugging in all of the info into AI and see if it could come up with a good visual of what I'm designing.

Well, it looks good from a high level, but pretty AI-ish the closer you look.  hahahah

Oh, I will totally look like the "Borg" in Star Trek when I am finished....

I might even start to market the Rotator Cuff Sx Sling!!!

Quote from: sasquatch on November 10, 2026, 01:49:56 PMHow is the handle on the right side of a spinning reel going to not involve your right arm? I'm confused.

Just make a sign. "Expert fisherman, hook and hands $5 each"

Then hook the fish, make them reel it in, and put it on your stringer.

I didn't realize Sasquatches were so mean... 

I'm going to blow your mind with my new engineering project.  You think you've seen me at my best, but I have some serious ideas on this one!

Funny, the last time I had surgery on this shoulder I showed up and met you and the EDC at DeAnza in 2007.  Wow, almost 20 years it's held up.  LOL

I corrected my list to only include Saltwater / Freshwater.  It looks like I only have 333 species which is less than I thought.  I'll post it up here during my downtime after surgery.

In between all the business trying to prepare for my Surgical Downtime (Pulling down X-Mas stuff from attic, yard work, prepping chairs since I'll be living on them for a bit) I decided to start to try and engineer a sling for my trout rod that would let me fight a fish and reel in without using my right arm.

I've come up with a few possible configurations, but that reeling in the handle on the wrong side (affectionately known as "Squatch-Handed" reel) is still a bit tough.  Only have a couple of more days to figure it out, but hope to have a working concept here by Thursday.

I'll post pictures when done.

Man, what a cluster!  They stocked some HUGE Golden and Blue Rubies as well as normal trophy rainbows.  I was amazed watching some of the videos and talking with the Rangers.

On the other note, I'm glad I wasn't fishing.  Fist fights, Kids just disrespecting other anglers, and crowds.... I mean CROWDS!!!! 
Dave is going today so hopefully he gets one of the beasts.  I'll throw up a report for him if he's successful.  I would join him, but I have a 13-hour day ahead of me all week leading up to my surgery because apparently surgery is just unpaid time off and I'm costing the company while I'm gone even though they aren't paying me.

Quote from: jrodda on November 08, 2026, 05:10:36 PMthis guy rolls up in front of me, middle of the ocean, and stops 150 yards in front of me, apparently as the spot he wanted to relax on the boat with his family. I know we were in no danger, but why stop in front of the only boat around? Because you're an idiot.

BTW, there's no shortage of them out there.  Whether it's done on purpose or sheer ignorance, incompetence, Negligence, or Naivety...  The 80% rule works for every facet of life, especially in boating where it's more like 90%.  (That's only my rule I've been running with the last 20 years... thus my boat's name... the Curmudgeon!)  hahaha

Well, I hope you get out Friday. I'm going to need something to read about in my post op drugged up state!

Congratulations on Concolors first ahi!  Hopefully it just gets better. Love the pics and the story.

Sasquatch went out today for nothing and hopefully we see a report from him, but well... you know...

Bravo again!

It was the last weekend before my surgery and I was going to take my boat out one more time by hell or high water.  Friday night, the marine conditions looked good.

Saturday morning ramp... a cluster f@ck...  Ugh...

As usual, the marine weather was way off in both size of the swells (x2) and the wind speeds.  What a washing machine out there!





Warm water everywhere, but not as clean as it used to be.  Also not a single strand of kelp anywhere to be found!

No way I was going to get to the 178 or at least burn up a lot of time getting there and I needed meat for the fridge!  I know the fleet has been fishing the inside dropoff, so I decided to start there.  I had a few buddies out there also we were going to buddy boat and keep all of us informed.  Friday was a great day for the fleet... but you know how that goes... Should have been here yesterday...

My buddy called me on the radio when I get a triple hook up!  Bent butt/Spreader Bar (This one at least sounded right) as well as both my jet head side trollers.  Unfortunately trolling 5 rods takes a bit to set up and to figure out how to fight the fish in without tangle.  I had to do the spreader bar last since it was the furthest out but started with the rods that were not bit and moved up from there.  Lost a football on the bounce and picked up the second.  Now to the bigger one.  Funny how a 20# yellowfin can dwarf the little 5-6# footballs!  LOL... But NOOOOO!  The 20# model pulled the hook 15' from the boat.  ARGH!!!!!!

Well, at least I got one of the 3 of the triple hook up.



Immediately these f@cktards came out of nowhere and started doing circles around me.  Jezus christ I hate Saturdays as well as the "New Money" anglers.



After 4 loops he took off and I commenced trolling.

I picked up another YFT and lost a few more but they were even smaller.  I saw the fleet and decided to do a huge circle around them to get any outer orbit fish that were well away from everyone.



Tons of bullet Tuna...



I caught 5 or 6 and it was just nice catching something.







I was near the ledge and decided to drop for some rockfish before heading in for the day.  The wind got up to 20 knots and I was soaking wet from all of the spray.

No working trolling motor so I had to manually motor in place as best I could.  I made a dozen drops before realizing it was too much as I was taking water over the stern.

I got a red...



As well as 4 or 5 sculpin.





Turned around and two douche bags started trolling circles around me.  My god....



I picked up an few more whitefish and called it the day. 



Not what I had in mind for the last ride of 2026, but not too bad coming home with some tuna and groceries.

Now it's time to prep the house before going under the knife again.

Thanks for reading and until next tide!

"'Bring a dropper loop rod...'
Translation: Go catch white seabass, yellowtail, barracuda, bonito, and yellowfin tuna in depths where none of them are supposed to be. Totally normal day. Nothing weird about that at all.  I think the baits been deeper to keep cooler.  My yellowfin were plugged with squid and that yellow I caught 400'+ deep is just more evidence.

Also, congratulations on accidentally becoming Southern California's largest private barracuda processing facility." 😆

Hell yeah Clan Timmy!  And HEY JERRY!

Nicely done down at the bat cave and those are some nice leopards to boot!

So much fun and no boat to "Gas Up"!

Awesome trip guys!  Nothing like some big bats to put smiles on everyone's faces!

Thank goodness for the cart!

I was supposed to fly out for Dad's 80th birthday, but then my surgery got scheduled and the planets just never seemed to align.

There was only one thing Dad wanted for his birthday, though, and it was something he wanted me to make.

Twenty-six years ago, I built him a wooden sign for their house up in the hills. Somehow that sign survived 26 years of snow, ice, rain, sun, and everything else Mother Nature could throw at it. Back then, I shipped it out for what felt like pocket change compared to today's shipping costs.

When Dad asked for a replacement, I told him I'd build something he'd love.

The original sign used real antlers, which seemed like a great idea at the time. Unfortunately, the local rodents thought they were a snack, and the neighborhood kids apparently viewed them as souvenirs because they kept trying to steal them off the sign.

So with that in mind, I got to work on version 2.0.

I also built the shipping crate like a tank because there was no way I was trusting this project to make the trip unprotected.

Here's the progression from start to finish:

I went resin this time.



PNW Redwood.



Rounded edges and smoothed out.



Honey stain and nautical rope trim.















Arrived today and the shipping is 5x as much as the last time I shipped one to him.





He was really happy with it and was as stoked as I've heard him in years.  Last time I saw him this happy he had a hole in one!  Okay, well he was happier over the hole in one.  hahahah

I need to get the rail mount for my camera. Probably could use a remote control to start recording also.