Hey Pipe...WORE HER OUT!!

[reelapeelin]

Pooch hoppin' around like crazy like she had cabin fever...grabbed the trainin' dummy and WORE HER OUT!!...now she's down and out... ;D...couldn't help but think about ya!!

[Pipe_Dream]

Now see, that's what I was talking about! ;D
I took some photos out on our boat Memorial Day weekend, including some of the dogs taking it easy . . . because I wore them out ahead of time! Got to download them and I'll post them. (I'm low-tech)
Hope you have a great time down South!

[Blue_Runner]

RAP, why you wanna beat the ol girl with a trainin dummy? I hear a rolled up newspaper works great!

Just kiddin ;D I know what ya'll are talkin about and it has nothing to do with a spankin!

I just couldn't resist 8)

When I get my new house built on the lake I'm gonna get me a dawg...well actually, I'm gonna get my kids a dawg.

[Pipe_Dream]

Dogs and kids go great together -- they're good for each other! I'm partial to Labs (we have two), especially around kids and water. Mine are swimmin' fools. But be forewarned if you're going to have a lake house, your Lab may never dry out! He'll be in that lake every chance he gets.

A house on a lake sounds GREAT! Is the lake big enough for your V-20? You probably won't have a problem we have down here with fresh water lakes: gators. At least I hope not!

[Blue_Runner]

Pipe, yes its plenty big for the V20. We saw close to a 40 footer out on the water this weekend. We do have a couple of low bridges to contend with, but it could be worse.

By the way, its High Rock Lake in North Carolina. You may have heard of it. Its a great large mouth bass lake if you're into that - I'm not. Used to be some big, big stripers in there (RAP's droolin about now) but the summer drought and drawdown a couple of years ago got a lot of em. I did hear of a near 30 lber caught last July, which was surprising. I've got a good friend that has caught several over 30 lbs and one over 40 in that lake.

One thing that is nice, the lake is full of shad, so I never have a problem finding baits. That is probably why the LM bass are doing so well ;)

About the dogs, my buddy on the lake has a blond lab that is gettin up there in the years. She got a lot of attention when she was younger, but now she stinks all the time and nobody wants to touch the poor girl! She could use a good brushing due to loosing that winter coat. I feel sorry for her, so I usually give her a good rub (with the bottom of my shoe of course)! I tell my buddy that he needs to give her a good brush down, but he's too busy with other things. Maybe I'll do it??

We used to have a big problem with leaving out of his dock cause she'd always jump in and swim out to the middle of the channel chasing us! I think she's wised up a bit now. She's slowing down for sure. That's the part that makes me not want a dog. I hate for them to get old! But I guess that is part of it huh?

[Pipe_Dream]

Hey Blue, I found your lake on the map in my atlas. That's a BIG lake! Is it navigable down to the SE as far as it looks? There is nothing like fresh water for swimming and skiing -- I used to do both a lot on lakes in southern Kentucky and northern Michigan. Is it a nice lake? How's the bottom? And too far north for gators -- yahoo! Might need to come and do some scouting around. ;)

Poor dog :'( sounds like you need to adopt HER! Yes it's lousy that they age relatively fast, but all the love they give you in their lifetime makes it worth it IMHO. Mine are my boat ride/car ride/beach walk/yard work/anything you want to do right now buds, they're always ready to go, and they never question your judgement! Like Dave Barry said, they always look up at you with that expression like Hey! That's a GREAT IDEA!

Best of luck with the lake house. Maybe we should trailer our V-20s for an inland regatta at High Rock Lake! 8)

[Blue_Runner]

Its a pretty nice lake. It doesn't have the crystal clear water that some lakes do.

The main problem is this:
The largest aluminum manuf. in the world - ALCOA - owns the lake and they only promise to keep it full from May - September. After that, they are makin power and you just better hope it rains alot! Seriously though, it hasn't been a big problem until that big drought we had a couple years ago. Lake level plummetted over 20 + feet from full pond. Poor fishies were dying in groves. Every year in the winter it typically drops from 10 - 15 ft. but no one expected close to 25ft that year. And for months!

I could go on for hours, but lets just say that ALCOA mis-manages their reserviors like crazy! We have a lake below us called Badin also owned by ALCOA. The difference is that Badin is full of rich @ss folks (sorry if anybody reading this is rich) and IMHO due to this, they will let High Rock drop 15 ft before they even start to drain Badin a foot. Its a cryin shame. Luckily the Lord has blessed us with lots and lots of nice rain since then.
Badin doesn't have floating docks and any time they drop below 2ft the owners ***** like crazy. All High Rock has is floating docks due to the fluctuation. We all ***** like crazy too, but it don't help.

Also Pipe, I've never heard of a gator in HR, but not too far south there is Lake Wylie, and I know for a fact there was a good sized one in there about 2 years ago!

As for the inland regatta - say when!

[reelapeelin]

I gotta Regatta!!!...and brang the pooches, too!!...Lake Hartwell on the SC/GA border would be great...1,000 miles of shoreline, lots of sand beaches and clear water...it's a doggy kinda place... ;D...

[Pipe_Dream]

Sounds nice! I've never been up there -- I've only been up to Strom Thurmond Lake (I forget what it USED to be called before they renamed it, Clark's Hill maybe?) and then we didn't have our boat. That's a pretty fur piece from here to tow a boat. It looks like there are campgrounds there, which suits me fine. Is it a good water skiing lake? I sure wish I had more down time to do trips like that. But, you gotta pay the bills!

[reelapeelin]

Yeah, gotta pay to play... ;)...Clark's Hill is right...1200 miles of shoreline and plenty of skiing opportunities...BIG STRIPED BASS, TOO... ;D...lots of places to camp...maybe a V20 Regatta in the fall sometime...I'd REALLY like to have a group of V20s cruisin' some waterway if we can do it...talk about photo ops...the neat thing about Lake Hartwell is the beaches that aren't there on other lakes...only about another hour towing for you...worth it!... ;D...

Oh and BRING THE DOGS!!...you can camp in a designated camping area or pitch a tent right on the beach...we've done it many times...you can have a whole island to yourself...and of course your V20 Buds... ;D...

[Pipe_Dream]

Oh man, sandy beaches and clear water? 8) I'd love to come up! That would be an awesome trip! Someday . . .

[reelapeelin]

Try to make it Fall 2005... 8)...

[knightfisher]

Wow Sounds Great the wife and I are hooking the boat to the motorhome this weekend and heading to Clarkshill. We have never been there we are staying at misiltoe state park I hope it's nice i heard it was. Any good tips on fishing there?

[reelapeelin]

Hey Knightfisher...you gonna LUV Clarks Hill!!! ;) :) :D ;D...gotta get my map out to locate Misiltoe State Park....do you know what part of the lake it's on?...GA Little River?...

If you go above the hwy 378 bridge stay CLOSE to the white channel markers...out of the channel and your lower unit is at serious risk...best to stay between red and green channel markers all over the lake til you get to know it...if you don't already have a map, get one...

Wish I didn't already have weekend plans...if you wanna post cell# on my PM, I'll call you if I can get loose one day... ;D...