I have been postponing my much needed repair - Kohler toilet leak. It was not constant leak but like a "ghost leak" I hear the water running especially in my sleep when I was half awake in the early morning. Finally bit the bullet and did some youtube research for "How to fix it - DIY way?"

I didn't see anyone posting it using the universal Korky valve and no close-up look of the tower style toiler flush so here it is - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q6E4w860TbI

You can buy parts from here - cheaper universal seal kit (2 in a package) than the Kohler's seal valve part.


The hardest part of the whole thing was to twist 1/4 turn (90 degrees) counter-clockwise the inner shaft to separate the shaft tower from the base.

Big mama snakehead caught today at Roaches Run by DC Reagan national airport

It is a very hot and humid summer July day. I went fishing at Roaches Run by DC Reagan National airport around 6pm. The high tide of the Potomac River is 7:12pm. 40 degrees humidity, air temperature was 78 degrees Fahrenheit. Water starts to rush into this little lake. I wasn't catching anything but saw big swerving here and there on the surface by big fish. Not sure what they are, but they must be fish. I finally got a fish on around 6:45pm. Wow, this fish felt like a big Catfish. She fought and tugged like a bull dog, and I took out my video camera started filming. I had to use my legs to hold the rod for a few nervous seconds, but I had no choice. I need this awesome catch in video so I must take the risk of losing it before I was able to net it and bring it into my Old town 14 feet canoe. Wow, she just wouldn't give up. She tried to get away as I was trying to net her. She broke away the first time I tried to net her. Luckily she was still hooked. I was finally able to net her and brought her into the canoe. A whopping 26 inches female snakehead. What a big mama, I found tons of eggs inside her after I gutted her out. That was 100,000 eggs (baby snakeheads eliminated).

Watch the snakehead catch on Youtube video here - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tpi7lOVJ3SU

I didn't want to take the chance of her jumping out of my canoe, so I just killed her right away. On second thought, probably should take her to the shore and have a nice picture taken. Oh, well next time.

So I continued to fish and caught 2 more blue channel catfish. The larger one was measured 27 inches. I continued to fish and got rewarded by a gar fish. Here again, I had to pause to get my video camera on. Too bad, this time the gar fish broke loose and got away.

What a bummer, that is why you have to be extremely lucky to catch the action in a video. Fish takes advantage of loose line all the time and the big and experienced fish know how to survive the fight with a fisher man. Oh well, he would have been my fourth gar fish of 2016. It was getting dark, so I called it a quit for the day. Not a bad summer day fishing at Roaches Run. Total score - 1 big mama snakehead, 2 catfish and 0.5 gar fish.

All 4 big fish caught using a Rattlin Vintage Rapala firetiger lure. Here is a link to buy one that is similar to my vintage lure, 

Converting a foot controlled trolling motor to a remote control one

I took my 1974 wellcraft airslot sport 165 open bow boat with the motorguide 70 lbs foot controlled trolling motor to gravelly point to fish and test out my raymarine dragonfly 7
downvision and chirp sonar fish finder and map charting GPS , I fixed the trolling motor by pinching the foot controlled steering cable with a 1" drywall screw into the hole to pin down the cable inside the steering rack gear.

I deployed the trolling motor into the water after we got to the boat ramp very excited. I started the motor and the cable snapped right away. The motor lower shaft started to spin freely again. I knew the cable probably came loose again but I thought I pinched it down really tight. So, I needed to open the power head cover and have a look. I was debating whether to open the power head on the water at the boat ramp, because parts could drop into the water. But, we just got to the boat ramp and I was really anxious to see what is going on inside the power head. I kept telling myself I will be careful. As soon as I loosened the 3 screws and opened the cover of the power head, 2 things flew out and dropped into the water - bummer. I looked closely, Sxxxxx - my steering rack gear was gone, so was my coupling for the directional sign. I was really mad about myself. Now, I am going to have to junk this trolling motor. I don't see any point to invest any money into this crap. So, I started to research for new trolling motor with 70 lbs push and above. Man, they are so expensive from $600 and up.

An idea came to me after a good couple night of sleep. I am just going to convert this foot controlled trolling motor into a remote controlled for turning left or right. I already built a variable speed control using PWM parts I bought and built for this trolling motor. Now, I just need to make it turn remotely.

Stay tune when I have pictures and videos to show you in the next few days.
 

Occoquan river boating and fishing on 2016 memorial day (May 30, 2016)

occoquan river fishing - 2016 memorial day (May 30, 2016)
We launched out of occoquan regional park boat ramp, and paid $9 for a day VA launch fee at the boat ramp - honor system with cash envelop to record the truck license plate. Annual pass is $105 for VA resident. We fished hard from 9am to 2:30pm and only caught 3 fish between the 2 of us. There is no motor hp limit so lots of Big fancy luxury yacht roaming in the river. You can sail into the Potomac river and the Cheasapeake bay. Very nice long and wide boat dock. We caught our first bass 15" in the very shallow area closer to the lily pads, second fish was a minnow and third  fish was an 18" bass caught under the Rt 123 bridge by the post. Tons of shad fishing played around the post. We went all the way up the waterfall, and abandoned boat dock with huge tires bumper We also saw police boat patrolling the river to make sure people obey the no-wake zone. It was memorial day, so we saw truck 18 wheeler crawling on  Rt 95 above us. Sun was in and out of the cloud, so not too bad. Almost no wind, tons of people kayaking, boating, canoing, BBQ. A very fine and dandy day.

https://youtu.be/r6Ub58vWI7M

Roaches run fishing May 14, 2016. People continue to catch snakeheads between 26 inches and 35 inches in Roaches Run lake next to Reagan National airport. These fish live in the lily pad areas and very concentrated compared to Pohick bay or Dogue Creek and Hunting Creek in Riverside Park. It is fished heavily on weekends, You will have better luck in catching these trophy sport fish during the week. You need to keep changing lures to catch their interests, Almost everything works and almost nothing works. It can be very frustrating when you try to catch one of them here. But, rest assure when you cast over 100 times during your fishing trip you will be rewarded with a Frankenstein fish, you know you are in a sweet treat when you hook one in the lily pads, they have no where to go but jump out of the lily pads and into the air. You will have the fight of your life with the northern snakehead and one of its kind. The adrenaline will shoot through your body like nothing you felt before. So, good luck in catching your first northern snakehead fish, Tell your stories when you do catch one. Here is a picture of a skunk savior. You can always count on them to save your day.

Roaches Run fishing - May 1, 2016

We started fishing at 3pm and fished until 6pm. No other boats were out on the lake. Weather was kind of nice and started drizzling and cold. High tide was 4pm. Fish stopped biting for half an hour. We lost 2 big fish in the lily pads area. One took our crank bait with it. It was on a 6 pounds line - too weak for the snakeheads in the lily pads area. The Rebel crawfish crank bait was the killer for both Saturday and Sunday. Crawfish lure wobble nicely between lily pads at high tide (the water cover most of the lily pads). It attracts fish from beneath with and without the lily pads. We used 12 pounds line to get the bait out of the tangle from lily pads - a must in heavy cover and at Roaches Run for Big mama snakeheads. Yesterday we caught a 27 inches big mama snakehead. Tons of eggs when we severed her neck. We prevented between 40K and 100K eggs from hatching. The big mama was caught on the Rebel crawfish lure as well.

Click the picture to see live action video -

Get cash back with Mr rebates

Get cash back with Mr. Rebates. I used to get cash back with Discover card, but their programs have dropped a lot of retailers like Home Depot etc. I used to be able to use discover card to buy from Home Depot with 5 or even 10% cash back. Well, not any more in 2016. So, I use Mr. Rebates or ebates a lot more than before to get some money back for my purchases. Mr. Rebates have a lot more vendors to get cash back from. Happy online shopping!