What are you doing during the heat wave?

[djkimmel]

Just wondered how you are all surviving this present Great Lake heat wave?? I went fishing to sweat off a few pounds. I took a LOT of water with me and less coffee. I drank water until I was almost sick of it but I think it made a big difference in being able to stay out for 8 or so hours in that heat!

[dartag]

This is my Weekend Rig.   I use the other boat for weekday tournaments.

[TimH]

Over a month ago I had scheduled Thursday and Friday (July 21 & 22) to be off of work.  My plan was to fish with my Dad on St. Clair on Thursday and then head to Portage with a buddy on Friday.  I wasn't thrilled about fishing in the heat, but I've barely gotten out this year so I wasn't going to let it stop me.  Launched on Thursday at 6:00AM at 9 Mile and was back on the trailer by 6:05am due to a motor issue.  No fishing Thursday since it turned into a boat repair day.  My buddy was supposed to be at my house early Friday, but due to his 9 month old having a rough night he arrived just before 8:00AM.  On our way to Portage we had to drop his son off in Livonia so his grandmother could watch him while we went fishing.  Traffic was brutal at that time of day and it took us 1 1/2 hours to get to from Roseville to Livonia.  From there to Portage was another 1 1/2 hours, so the boat wasn't even launched until 11:00AM.  The first 45 minutes flipping docks were slow, so I switched to a top water LiveTarget sunfish and started targeting pads.  Second cast the lure gets hit and bring in what turns out to be my personal best largemouth, going just over 6 pounds.  We continued to move up the river and into other lakes.  I caught a few short fish and a 3 1/2lbs smallmouth on a creature bait before we had to leave a 3:00PM to pick up his son and head back home.  The trip home was just about as slow as the morning, and we didn't get home until 5:45PM. Upon arriving home, I find out that my air conditioning in the house had gone up and it was 87 inside.  After 20 minutes I trouble shoot the problem, but at that time of day, no HVAC suppliers were open to go get the part.  This meant I had to spend Saturday tracking down the part and doing the repairs, so no fishing.  My plan was to fish for a few hours on Sunday, but thanks to the break light relay going out on my truck late Saturday night, Sunday turned into repairing that.  After I was done with the truck repairs, I decided to spend the rest of the day going over my truck and boat with a fine tooth comb to try and prevent further issues.  Even though I repacked my trailer bearings at the beginning of the season, I replaced them on Sunday just to be on the safe side.  So, after four day weekend, I spent four hours total fishing and the rest of the time working outside on air conditioning units, my truck, trailer, and boat.  I'm not complaining though...four hours is better than nothing and replaying in my head the catching that 6lbs laregmouth makes it all worth it. 

[djkimmel]

There's the silver lining I'd say. Better luck the rest of the year. You need it.

[Firefighter Jeff]

  Glass is always half full Tim  !!!!