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eel has not been found near shore. There seems to be
two separate populations of eels, American and Euro
pean. Both populations seem to spawn in the mid-At
lantic, and the tiny newborns, called elvers, somehow
find their ways back to their respective continents. No
one has any idea how they do this. The eels then stay
in the estuarine waters for several years and eventually
find their way back to the Sargasso Sea. To me, this is
truly amazing. Eels are caught on hook and line, but
they are slimy fish and most fishermen consider them
non-edible pests. The Japanese, Dutch and other Eu
ropeans consider them delicacies. Smoked eel to them
are sort of like pretzels in Philadelphia. You buy them
on the street and eat them as a finger food.
An eel fishery based on using tubular eel traps or
“pots” was attempted back in the 70s and 80s. The
intent was to ship live eels to Japan. It was a failure..
The potting was to be done far up the estuaries, near
Bath, Belhaven and Swan Quarter. I still run a few eel
traps near Belhaven. The eels I catch I eviscerate, brine
overnight, and then smoke at low heat, 180 degrees,
for six to eight hours. After smoking, the skin is dried
out and peels off easily. The meat is white and rich and
very tasty.
Other than the “rock,” most of us on the coast
never know about these other “anonymous” “anadro-
mous” fish that pass us by.
As far as our normal fish,.nice blues have shown
up at the Cape Lookout rock jetty. We are talking
blues in the 22 plus inch range, some big enough to
call “choppers.” They are taking mud minnows, fresh
squid, shrimp and white Gulp. I hope to try some
white streamer flies as well. Twenty inch Hues on a fly
rod are a hoot. I do try to sneak a small piece of multi
strand stainless steel leader to the end of the line fly
to reduce cutoffs. In the turning basin, sea mullet are
showing up in good numbers and nice sizes. These
are also known as whiting and northern kingfish.
They are delicious to eat. Speckled trout and puppy
drum are showing up hungry in the deeper holes in
the marshes. Of course, sometime in the next month,
the ocean water will hit 65 degrees, and the Atlantic
Bonita will zoom through, feeding over the artificial
reefs like 315 and 320. As always, these fish are early
feeders, so fishing usually is best at dawn and over by
8 a.m. As the water warms more, the cobia will show
up on the reefs and in the inlets. Out deep from #14
to Big Rock, nice tuna can be trolled. However, at $4 a
gallon for fuel, you had better plan on a fuel bill of at
least $300, Add in the bait and forgetting the gear and
wear and tear on the boat and equipment, even a great
day of two 40 pound tuna per fisherman for three
folks, and the edible meat cost is going to over $3 a
pound—not that many fishing days actually yield six
yellowfin tuna, just for the record.
In any event, let’s hope the close-in fishing gets
good so we can enjoy some good fish without going
broke. Enjoy spring.
^EEEK
CaRHER
By Dan Law
Spring is finally upon us, and I have to admit that
it has not come too soon for me. We have been busy
doing spring cleaning in the yard, home and on our
sailboat. It’s amazing how dirty and moldy things can
get during long, cold winter months. This is also a
great time to take a close look at your desktop com
puter too. A desktop’s tower not only collects dust on
the outside and on the cooHng fan vent, but an inspec
tion of the inside will reveal even more heavy dust.
It’s bad to clean the inside of your computer with
a vacuum cleaner because vacuuming creates a large
static buildup that could (and most likely will) dis
charge into the sensitive electronics inside the com
puter case. Static electricity will cause serious damage
to sensitive internal electronic components when it is
allowed to discharge directly to them inside the case.
There are specialized vacuum cleaners designed for
cleaning out computers and electronic equipment, but
given the limited amount of use a single user would
get from such a purchase, it’s not a very wise one since
they range in cost from $300 to $1000.
What the Geeks recommend doing is taking your
computer case into a well-ventilated area (outside
on a sunny day or in your garage is a great place),
grounding the case to protect against static discharge
(although the risk here is very low)
and using compressed air to clean
the dust off. If you’re using an air
compressor (as opposed to just a
can of compressed air from the
computer store) make sure to start
a good 24” or so away frorh the case
and work your way in closer. You
want to use just enough air pressure
to blast the dust off the surfaces and
out of the case without overdoing
it and pushing dust into even more
difficult-to-remove places.
One important thing to consider
is that compressed air (from a com
pressor, not a can) contains minute
amounts of water vapor. However
remote the chance, it is possible to
blow moisture into the connectors
on your mother board and damage
it if you were to boot it immediately
afterwards. This is in the range of
lightening-strike remote, however.
Nonetheless, to be extra cautious, -
we would recommend that you
leave the computer off and in a
warm, dry location for a few hours
after you give it a good air compressor cleaning to
allow any residual moisture (if it’s even there to begin
with) to evaporate. It’s better to be safe than sorry
later. Personally, I use store-bought compressed air
cans since I don’t currently own an air compressor for
the garage.
The “How-To” Geek website has this information
and many more computer tips. Got a question? You
can seek the information from the same people I turn
to frequently. Just e-mail them to Ask@howtogeek.
com. They give great advice, but remember it’s often
difficult to solve every computer issue remotely since
most issues can be caused by many different circum
stances.
In the March issue of Smart Computing, a sub
scriber asked: “I’ve already installed Adobe Flash,
but whenever I encounter a Flash-enabled Web site, I
get a message telling me that I need to install it.” The
answer: “It’s possible to have downloaded but not in-
staUed Flash, so first make sure that you downloaded
and ran the installer. If so, it may be that Flash is, in
fact, present but is disabled in your browser’s add-on
manager. In Internet Explorer, go to Tools and select
Manage Add-Ons. Select the Flash add-on and click
the Enable button. In Firefox, go to Tools and select
Add-Ons. Select Flash and click the Enable button.”
Although the above suggestions are very likely
the solution to that issue, the problem could have
other causes, like outdated driver software that runs
the hardware. The problem could also be caused by a
Trojan, malware or spyware.
Until next month, stay.safe and have a happy,
warm spring season.
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May 2011 Sudoku Puzzle • Difficulty level: medium
8 The Shoreline I May 2011
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