Chatfield 9/30

Hit Chatfield this morning with Diane. We fished from 7am till noon. Did best on the point just outside the marina and Massey Draw. Caught 8 or 9 fish. Mostly smallmouths, with a few walleye, and a yellow perch. All fish were super fat. The birds were diving on shad all day. Apparently everything at Chatfield is living large right now. Fished in about 12-16 FOW. Raps and blades. Vertical and casting. Water temp was 60-61.

Replacing Lund Fuel Vent

Up until 2020 models Lunds came with a plastic fuel tank vent on the port side bow. The vent stuck out about 1/2 inch and was easy to damage. After breaking off 3 I decided to see what my options were. I found a flush(mostly) mount stainless steel vent from Attwood that is mostly a drop in replacement. The model number of the stainless steel ven is 66032-3, you can see it here: https://www.nauticexpo.com/prod/attwood/product-22400-418439.html. For refrence here is the old style (66419-3): https://www.nauticexpo.com/prod/attwood/product-22400-562207.html.

Here are the steps to replace the plastic vent:

First thing is to remove the gas hose cover. To do this remove the two screws that hold the plastic gas cap assembly to the gunnel.

Open the gas cap and remove the four screws that hold the cap to the cover

Remove the two screws that hold the cover to the deck.

How you should be able to fully remove the cover and get it out of the way.

Now unscrew the old vent. Once that is done you should be able to pull back the gas and vent hoses away from the gunnel.

Now is a good time to remove the p-trap part of the old vent assembly from the vent hose

The new stainless steel vent is quite a bit bigger than the old vent. You will need to drill out the old hole to about 1 and 3/8 inch. I did this using a cheap unibit I got from Amazon for $10. After cutting deburr the hole.

On the inside I had to cut a little bit of carpet away from the gunnel so the new vent could make a good seal

Now install the vent. I used blue loctite on the backing nut and the removable screen. Not sure if this is needed, but I did not want anything vibrating apart. After the vent is installed in the hull plug it into the hose and tighten the hose clamp.

Put the cover back on and tigten everything up and you're done!

Cherry Creek

I fished Cherry Creek a bit before work Thursday. I think maybe I found a bit of a pattern. Vertical jigging puppet minnows in 12FOW near the marina. I caught 6 pretty quickly. Biggest was maybe 14" Also managed a couple on blades veritcal. Pretty happy to catch something with all the shad around.

11 mile and Spinney

Fished Spinney Friday evening and Saturday. Friday evening I only fished for an hour and a half. Managed two small pike on s-waver. Saturday I fished with Russ and his son Kevin. I got skunked. They managed 8 fish between them. Water is super low. The docs are being pulled out Monday. Slept in Sunday. Launched the boat at 11 mile about 11am. Fished for pike for 2 hours. Had one follower and one maybe hit. I then tried the north shore in the back abd did really well. Trout bite was hot using a small white tube w/ 1/4 jig. Also caught one small pike.

Chatfield and Cherry Creek

Catching up on some walleye fishing. Hit Chatfield a few times. Caught a decent amount of SMB, few walleyes. Seeing a fair amount of shad which is good. Hit the creek a few times. Shad EVERYWHERE. Its harder to catch fish, but you can catch the biggins. Blades and jigging raps. Fishing shallow. Have to use side scan or blind cast. Misc: Seaguar smackdown seems to sucks for jigging raps, it always breaks. Trying some fireline I have. Hopefully it will last longer Use 20# floro leader for blades and jigging raps, seems to help with fouling After a cast let the blade pendulum down on a tight line to stop fouling. Got a little better at double pop with 'raps Fished a larger shiver minnow today, seems pretty cool, should try it more often.