03-12-2019, 05:12 PM
[quote Tommer_Tuber]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![/quote]
For slow leaks, I inflate the bladder with enough air so that it stands up lengthwise and hardly bends at the point resting on the floor. I keep the bladder upright by resting it at the corner of something like a shower stall. Then I use tube dude's method spraying with soapy water, starting at the top, and let the soapy water liquid slowly ooze downward to run over the suspected areas. Usually Tiny Bubbles appear at the slow leak as the liquid runs down, and are not
with those bubbles coming out of the spray bottle initially.
For the snapping turtles, Maybe you can you use a stick to whack them. I carry a homemade floating lightweight Gaff / lure retriever made from an old super lightweight carbon fiber golf club shaft, which might be used for that.
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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![/quote]
For slow leaks, I inflate the bladder with enough air so that it stands up lengthwise and hardly bends at the point resting on the floor. I keep the bladder upright by resting it at the corner of something like a shower stall. Then I use tube dude's method spraying with soapy water, starting at the top, and let the soapy water liquid slowly ooze downward to run over the suspected areas. Usually Tiny Bubbles appear at the slow leak as the liquid runs down, and are not
with those bubbles coming out of the spray bottle initially.For the snapping turtles, Maybe you can you use a stick to whack them. I carry a homemade floating lightweight Gaff / lure retriever made from an old super lightweight carbon fiber golf club shaft, which might be used for that.
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