The November 2005 issue of Boating magazine had some interesting observations on the increasing use of ethanol in gasoline in their Boat Doctor column by Charles Plueddeman.

Apparently, boaters on the east coast are seeing a higher number of fuel injector failures and filter clogging. Analysis of the residue indicates that it could be due to the ethanol in the fuel. The current theory is that the ethanol (which is a good solvent) is loosening up accumulated gum / varnish / debris in boats' fuel tanks, which then gets carried into the fuel system and gunks up the filters. Ethanol also attracts water.

Marine systems are typically not designed to handle more than 10 percent ethanol. This is the specified level for automotive fuel, but a Suzuki field study found that there were a large number gas stations in which the ethanol content exceeded 10% by quite a bit.

Recommendations? Go to a larger water separator fuel filter with a 10 micron sieve size (versus the more common 28 - 35 micron sieve size), and check it frequently. We would also suspect that aftermarket fuel additives developed to address this specific problem will appear shortly.

The same article also described an interesting way to subdue green fish at boatside: Using a spray bottle, Capt. Temple simply squirts some cheap tequila into the fish's gill area. This calms the fish down and makes it easy to handle!

Marlin magazine's November 2005 issue featured an article on New Zealand striped marlin titled "Light Tackle, Fat Stripes" by Sam Mossman. In this article, Mossman describes another approach to bridling that improves hookup ratio with circle hooks - using a #32 rubber band instead of floss for the bridle. The rubber band stretches to allow the circle hook to rotate.

This tip is from Pacific Coast Sportfishing's September 2005 issue. In Bob Hoose's article "Busting Bigeye ", he mentions a neat trick for using the boat to help fight big tuna - simply keep the boat in gear and moving forward slowly while fighting the fish. The constant pressure helps keep the fish's head up, and discourages it from sulking down deep.

Fly Fishing in Salt Waters had an interesting trick for attaching heavy leader butt sections to fly lines in their July/August 2005 issue.

In the article "When Dreams Come Blue", Capt. Gene Quigley describes his "Chinese Finger Trap Rig" connection, which he uses for bluefin tuna: 

• Run 18" of 100 lb dacron over the tip of the fly line, and push it up the fly line.
• Overlap 12" of the heavy mono butt section with the tip of the fly line
• Use 15 lb mono to nail knot the end of the 80 lb mono to the fly line. Use a similar nail knot to attach the tip of the fly line to the 80 lb mono.
• Coat the nail knots with Pliobond
• Work the dacron back over the overlapped fly line / butt section, and whip down outside of the nail knots.
• Coat the whip finishes with Aquaseal

This connection tightens down as tension is applied, similar to a "Chinese Finger Trap" toy.