Friday, October 15, 2010 Still at Bay Hill

Met some new Loppers this week at docktail's.   "The Old Grouch" is from Canada-a 37' Nordic Tug and "The Lady in Red" is from North Carolina-an American Tug.  "Old Grumpy" a Chris Craft from Alabama came in last night.  We haven't met them them yet but they have a gold burgee so they have already completed the loop.

The last couple of weeks we have had pounding or thumping noises coming from the bottom of our boat.  We just though it was small fish feeding off the bottom.  We had experienced the same at Bill's Bay in Red Wing but the last few nights the thumping noise got worse.  It was very loud and almost constant.  I did some research and found out that it was the Gar pike (pictured).  It is a member of the Lepisosteidae family and there are 7 living species found in Eastern North America, Central America, and the Caribbean Islands.  Their fossils have been found  from the late Cretaceous Age to the present.  They pray on little fish (obviously the little ones feeding off the bottom of our boat and every one else in the marina).  They are voracious predators catching their pray with needle-like teeth. They obtain the fish with a sideways strike of the head.  They run about 2 feet in length.  They were so loud last night it was hard to hear the TV.  Keith started stomping on the floor of the boat and they stopped for a while but as soon as he stopped they started in again.  They woke me up several times during the night.

Hair cut day

CO's comments:  For all my boating friends out there, we all know that the cost of  boating accessories is 3 times what what it should be.  Therefore, before you purchase anything like anchors, rode, horns, etc., it would be wise to consult with several other boaters to be sure that what you are purchasing will work as advertised and do you really need it.