Severn 12/15/13: Good, Bad and Ugly

[Shady]

Launched from Jonas Green around 7:30 this am to look to see if the Striper that Chimo found were still around and then to look for Pickerel. I got to the old bridge debris and found slack current. Tried jigging for a little while, but no love. Decided to head to another location in search of Pickerel.

The Ugly: On the way to my Pickerel spot, my mirage drive broke again. This time the chain broke. I think I've broken my drive just about every way possible at this point. Luckily, I have other means of propulsion .

The good: Fired up the Torqeedo and headed over to my Pickerel spot and found them more then willing to take the minnows I pitched to them. I also caught a couple on small Crappie spin tubes. Final count was 6 landed 17"-21.5" and 2 yakside released.

The bad: Decided to head back out to try for Striper with the current finally moving. Seems that they were either not there or too cold to bite. Also, ran out of juice for my Torqeedo as I didn't recharge after yesterday's M&G trip. Just as I was about to head in the wind kicked up something fierce and I had to paddle my Outback barge against it. Luckily, I wasn't far from the beach as I was just at the old bridge debris.

All that said, the good still outweighed the bad and ugly. Hope BYB can fix the chain on my drive...

Here are the two biggest Pics, notice the tiny Crappie tube in the one Pic's mouth...
DSCN5944.jpgDSCN5941.jpg

[sparky1423]

That's "turrible" about the mirage drive, paddling my outback is like paddling on top of a beach ball. Good job on the pickerels!!...I might hold off and wait for the YP. I have been really anxious to try for some walleye in my neck of the woods. I purchased a few deep trolling rapalas, might just give them a try next week.

[Shady]

That's "turrible". I have been really anxious to try for some walleye in my neck of the woods. I purchased a few deep trolling rapalas, might just give them a try next week.

lol... Susky for walleye? Id be interested to hear how u do.

[toyomo]

Damn that sucks about the mirage drive. I had to paddle my outback when i bent my fins at conowingo against a really strong current and i hope to never repeat that experience. Do u know what caused the chain to break? Did it break at one of the ends? Btw nice fish.

[Shady]

Similar to just about every time ive broken the drive I was in deep open water and did not hit anything it just broke. The last link on the chain broke in half where it links with the cable.

[Wavy Davy]

You have inspired me to carry a spare mirage drive when I go out. I have a tandem and a revolution, so I have extra drives. I love my Hobies, but paddling them is more work than this old man likes to do. Once, one of the fins fell off my drive and I didn't know it until I got out of the water; it moved pretty well with one fin. It is a turbo, which may have made a difference.

[Runnin]

Sounds like Mirage is a tad problematic. I think Hobie needs to work on it. I'll stick with my good old fashioned paddle boat. Nice outing though. Those are some nice pickerel.

[Nitefly]

If the Redskins would have been playing later I would have been out there too. I woke up a bit too late for an early launch. Nice Pickerel!

[AbuMasgouf]

Good to hear that the good out weighed the bad and ugly. Although that ugly is really ugly! LOL

I'm sure BYB can fix it!

By the way do you ever lube tour drive between outings? I hit mine with Silicone spray or wd 40 between outings.

[Shady]

Ive sprayed with wd40 a couple times but not often

[Mark]

I also spray my Mirage Drive chain and axel and pedals with WD40 after each outing.

The only negative thing I notice about that is that the lubricant creates a black film in the Mirage Drive port where it locks in place. It washes off with a little effort.

Given the work a Mirage Drive does -- think of the hundreds or thousands of cycles per trip -- I think lubrication is important.

[AbuMasgouf]

The silicone doesn't leave a film, since it dries out but still lubricates. I can't remember where I read that but I remember that's why I started using it. Not sure if that makes it "better" than wd40 though...

[Mark]

Mustafa,

What brand lubricant do you use?

Thank you,

[AbuMasgouf]

Mustafa,

What brand lubricant do you use?

Thank you,

Hey Mark,

I was at Walmart and saw a new product line from WD-40 called "WD-40 Specialist" and one of them was silicone. It works well - http://www.wd40specialist.com/produc...one-lubricant/

[chimo]

Nice work Shady. I launched a little later than you but had similar results. No signs of life around the bridge rubble and several nice pickeral to 19.5". I landed mine on a small curly tailed grub. That wind really sucked...