Thursday, June 20, 2013

Evening Outing At Middletown, Pa. (06/20/13)

Hello Folks,

It was a busy day for me today. I awoke this morning around 5:30 a.m. and was covered in sweat. Dang!... Even though the air conditioner was working, I still get night sweats like my father used to. Julie and I normally sleep with a fan running in our bedroom (white noise). It helps to keep the air moving during the night. However, early Wednesday morning (3:00 a.m.), I awoke to the "sound of silence"! I checked to see if my clock was still working and it was... Hmmm? I turn the fan off and on... Nothing! It's an oscillating fan, so I tried the oscillating feature on the fan and it worked. Okay... The fan part has officially died! We've had this Lasko Tower Fan for well over five years and it has run faithfully each and every night, except this past Wednesday night. I guess even good fans die eventually.

This morning I had to grab a quick shower and head over to the Lancaster General Health Outpatient Service at Willow Lakes and get a fasting blood test completed for Dr. Maheshawari. Dr. M is my liver specialist at Mercy Hospital in Baltimore, Md. I will be seeing him on June 15... Now I have both my MRI  and my blood completed. In fact, I got a personal copy of the MRI today in the mail.

Later this morning, Julie and I drove to WalMart to purchase a new fan. They happen to carry the Lasko brand and we were able to find a similar tower fan like we previously owned. When I got home, I assembled and tested it. It appears to run a bit stronger than the old the model... Cool! At least tonight I'll be able to stay cool with my new fan.  :)

This afternoon, Julie ran Zach to Trey Alexander's (Guitar Instructor) studio. Zach has been taking lessons from Trey for well over 12 years and they have built a friendship. Trey is a great guitarist and won the Guitar Player Magazine "Guitar Player of the Year 2006". Take a moment and check out his website:  Trey's Website

Because they left me alone at home, I decided to hook up the G3, grab a small supper and drinks, and head upriver to go fishing for a couple of hours.

On the way to Canal Lock Ramp (Rt. 441), I stopped at the Marietta, Pa. Sheetz for gas. They had rebuilt this entire Sheetz store and all the gas pumps, air pumps, etc. are in totally different locations. I drove into the parking lot and took a quick glance at where everything was located and decided to stop back on the way home to get gas and fill my trailer tires.

I launched my boat at 5:45 p.m. and headed upriver. The water temp ranged from 71.3 degrees to 73 degrees on my Lowrance. The air temperature was 80 degrees with a stiff breeze blowing from the south. According to Accuweather the breeze was around 7 mph. But you know how wind plays with you when you are on the river!

The east side of the Susquehanna River was running dirty to muddy. The west shore was a stained green-brown color with visibility ranging about a foot.

The Harrisburg, Pa. NOAA Predictor Gauge read 4.74' with a 35 kcfs (Thousands of Cubic Feet Per Second) and dropping steadily.

There were only two other trailers in the Canal Lock parking lot and I assumed they were island dwellers. I did see five other boats with anglers during the time I was on the water.

As I was driving away from the Canal Lock parking Lot, I passed the Middletown launch and parking lot. The lot was filled with cars from a baseball game that was taking place at the community park ball field. I was surprised that the Fish and Boat Commission allowed these folks to take up so many trailer parking spaces... Maybe that's why there weren't more boaters on the river tonight.

Canal Lock Ramp Looking South
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Heading North... Through The Two Islands
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I tossed spinnerbaits, crankbaits, and tubes tonight. I began my evening fishing mid-river grassbeds and islands and then switched to points along the west shoreline before heading back to the ramp...

Mid-River Island
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West Shoreline Point...
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The southerly breeze was causing a small chop on the water.
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Several Points Along The West Shoreline...
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There seems to be a lot more white egrets on this section of the river since I last fished there a few weeks ago. I also caught sight of two mature Bald Eagles as I was cutting through the two mid-river islands... See pic above. It's always cool to catch sight of mature eagles as you're fishing. They are usually good luck charms for me, but not this evening!

I wasn't sure what to expect with the front moving in tonight and with the southerly breeze blowing. I stayed on the water for only about two hours and had one strike and absolutely no fish in the boat!

I packed it up and headed back to the ramp around 7:00 p.m. so that I could make it back to Willow Street, Pa. before dark settled in.

Along the way home, I stopped once again at the Marietta, Pa. (Rt. 441) Sheetz and used my Weis Card for a savings of $.040 on the gallon. I was able to buy up to 20 gallons with the forty cent discount. So, I used eleven gallons in my F-150 and the last 9 gallons in my G3.

As I was finishing up at the pump, Mike Acord came walking over. He was gassing up just two pumps over from me. We spent a couple of minutes talking about the condition of the river and "what was hot and what was not". Mike is heading down to The Susquehanna Flats tomorrow to help a friend learn how to run without bottoming out. It's good to have some expert advise when learning how to run on the Susquehanna Flats! Mike wasn't sure what expect with the fishing, especially with the front passing through tonight... I hope they have a good day after making such a long drive to get there.

Before I left the Sheetz, I needed to fill my trailer tires. Their air pump is situated in a very difficult location to back a large boat trailer close to. After three attempts, I finally was able to situate my trailer close enough and with my truck safely out of the flow of traffic in the parking lot. The air pump had one of those twisty cords that stretches pretty far. Thank goodness... Phew!

My trailer tires are now filled to safe levels and I know how to park my trailer and truck close enough to the Sheetz air pump to use it in the future. Life is good! ;)

I knew my trailer tires needed air since I hadn't filled them this spring. The boat and trailer were at Lakeside back in January 2013 for motor maintenance and I they checked the tire pressure. But that was six months ago and I knew the tires needed to be filled.

It is hard to find a local gas station that doesn't have one of those "pre-set" air pumps. The "pre-set" air pumps do not allow you to adjust the air pressure high enough for trailer tires (50 psi)... My truck tires take 44 psi.

Take Care and Be Safe!
Dad