03-07-2019, 03:33 PM
I recall reading about bladder leaks (no not that kind, we'll all get there soon enough)
The kind where your tube slowly seeps air. The fish cat 4 was flawless until last year when I had to replace one bladder. Never found the leaks which seems like it should be obvious once you put it under water and/or soap it up.
I suspect pinholes from bluegill fins on my stringer where the cause. But why they would not show bubbles is a mystery to me. The coated bottom of the fish cat helps a lot, but still looking for a way to prevent those big gills from causing small holes.
I guess it could have been a valve issue but no bubbles there either.
Also wanted to share my "Snapper Dick" tale.
The small lakes where I hunt bluegills often are lorded over by snapping turtles. I have had the interesting but unnerving experience of being charged 3 times now by those bad boys/girls.
I will be calmly trolling in a nice gill looking cove when out of the depths rises a big old snapper, surfacing usually about a rods length in front of me. They invariably stare at me for a minute and then begin to swim toward me aggressively.
I have yet to find the nerve to stand my ground. I have bigger fins so I can easily out swim them and they will give up quickly.
They have become my nemesis and obsession. I am resolved in my mind to not run away next encounter. My plan is to raise my fins up in front of me to block their advance and see what happens.
Worst case scenario is they dive under and snap on to my leg. Ouch!
[signature]
The kind where your tube slowly seeps air. The fish cat 4 was flawless until last year when I had to replace one bladder. Never found the leaks which seems like it should be obvious once you put it under water and/or soap it up.
I suspect pinholes from bluegill fins on my stringer where the cause. But why they would not show bubbles is a mystery to me. The coated bottom of the fish cat helps a lot, but still looking for a way to prevent those big gills from causing small holes.
I guess it could have been a valve issue but no bubbles there either.
Also wanted to share my "Snapper Dick" tale.
The small lakes where I hunt bluegills often are lorded over by snapping turtles. I have had the interesting but unnerving experience of being charged 3 times now by those bad boys/girls.
I will be calmly trolling in a nice gill looking cove when out of the depths rises a big old snapper, surfacing usually about a rods length in front of me. They invariably stare at me for a minute and then begin to swim toward me aggressively.
I have yet to find the nerve to stand my ground. I have bigger fins so I can easily out swim them and they will give up quickly.
They have become my nemesis and obsession. I am resolved in my mind to not run away next encounter. My plan is to raise my fins up in front of me to block their advance and see what happens.
Worst case scenario is they dive under and snap on to my leg. Ouch!
[signature]