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Oh neat, there's an actual fishing thread. One of the very few advantages being unemployed has had for me the last couple of months is I get to fish again. I recently started using a baitcast reel again, and now I remember why I quit using them in the first goddamn place.
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Dec 11, 2017 02:01
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| # ¿ May 3, 2024 15:31 |
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Rythe posted:They are not that bad, I pretty much practiced in my yard and a local pond for a few hours messing with different weights and brake settings until I dialed it all in and now I could never go back. Plus all the practice got me used to fixing birds nest relatively quickly while I'm kayak fishing. Finally saw a method via YouTube on getting rid of birds' nests without spending 20 minutes stripping half the reel and cutting that I need to try out. YouTube taught me more in a week about using one than I learned in years as a teenager trying to suss it out from BASS books and whatnot; no backlash since then, but it's only been one trip. The real itch I've had lately is pier fishing; used to do it for a week straight on vacation and fell out of the habit. Went for the first time in years this September and it was a real study in contrasts    Even though I haven't fished anything close to all of them, I've at least finally visited all of them in NC that still exists
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Dec 11, 2017 05:04
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Rythe posted:You any where near the Raleigh area by chance? Fayetteville, which coincidentally leaves you few good local choices when you're boatless. I have recently realized that a bunch of the Sandhills Game Land is accessible even with my 2WD Corolla however, which may give me more options than just garbage-caked NC Wildlife piers.
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Dec 12, 2017 07:17
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Rythe posted:I am about a hour away from you in Goldsboro. Do you have a kayak by chance? Nah; given my last attempt to canoe, it probably wouldn't end well (especially since I'm a giant fat dude anyway). Plus I'm just not that fond of boats; some guy recommended kayaking the Cape Fear to me, but the idea of paddling that river gives me the heebie jeebies. Belly boats for ponds seem kind of interesting though. Speaking of the Cape Fear, man if you want to meet some scuzzy characters just hang around the few shore-accessible spots of the Cape Fear in Fayetteville on weekends. EDIT: Thanks YouTube, due to your tutelage I was able to toss a jig around on the baitcaster for about half an hour today without a single backlash
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Dec 14, 2017 04:29
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I've never fly fished, but I do have a little experimental rig I haven't tried in about 10 years that I need to give another shot. Somehow I wound up possessing a handful of panfish flies, and had the idea of tying them to the end of a 2 foot leader attached to a barrel swivel with a clear bobber near it. Briefly tried casting it with a spinning rod and making the occasional short, twitchy retrieve a couple of years ago but no luck. Apropos of nothing, how come there's no trout within 3 hours of here, yet every Walmart and bait store has jar upon jar of goddamn trout paste and trout eggs
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Jan 2, 2018 05:03
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Has anyone here ever tried curing chicken livers in the winter?
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Jan 7, 2018 07:36
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Rev. Bleech_ posted:Has anyone here ever tried curing chicken livers in the winter? Trip Report: It took 5 days and has given my shed a gassy garlicky smell. Hopefully the channel cats like it.
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Jan 15, 2018 07:00
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Rythe posted:Curious how this work, I like to fish for cats during the winter but I typically use blue gill I saved and froze from summer time. A few tutorials on YouTube, but the short version: arrange livers on a grate of some kind that lets fluid sluice through easily, cover with garlic salt until no liver is showing. 8 hours or so later, flip them and repeat. Leave them in the sun if weather permits, second day flip again and cover them with regular non-iodized salt and Borax. Next day, flip and repeat salt and Borax. After a few days (a couple if you're lucky), when you crack the Borax covering off of them they'll be good and leathery and feel only slightly moist. They'll be tough enough to stay on the hook much better, but rehydrate enough to spread the scent. Alternately, wrap them with bait thread or pantyhose for a bit more staying power. I've heard beef liver or turkey liver recommended, but can't find turkey liver anywhere.
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Jan 16, 2018 03:57
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Rev. Bleech_ posted:They'll be tough enough to stay on the hook much better, but rehydrate enough to spread the scent. Got around to testing it in the Cape Fear River earlier this week; they did in fact stay on like a champ and survive 3 or 4 recastings no problem
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Jan 19, 2018 02:09
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My father-in-law laughed at me last week, telling me it was the wrong time of year to go catfishing. Three days later I get to tell him "suck it, bruh."
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Feb 4, 2018 07:33
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speaking of reels, is there such a thing as a relatively cheap, reliable spincast reel? My wife refuses to use anything else, and I'm tired of having to replace hers every year or two after they rust or fall apart. Jesus, I have poorly-maintained surf reels that got salt and sand coated that lasted years longer than the average stupid Zebco spincast.
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Feb 18, 2018 01:49
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gamera009 posted:I really like Mitchell reels, but I also have this thing that I picked up cheap off amazon that's been fantastic. looking more for spincast than spinning. I've tried and tried repeatedly to get her to switch to spinning, but she, my father, and my sister all simply refuse for reasons I can't fathom. I have cheap spinning reels I bought 20 years ago that I still use today and they work perfectly EDIT: LOL at the $5.46 Zebco 202 there. The old fart at my local tackle shop quit selling them because half of the people came back wanting a refund when it didn't last a single bream fishing trip.
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Feb 18, 2018 04:50
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tesilential posted:There is no such thing as a decent spincast reel. The best I’ve seen was a $60 zebco that appeared to have some metal parts. Spinners are stupid easy, if they can’t use one then Fishing just isn’t for them. What happens when it’s time to learn knots? Knots? That's apparently what I'm for. For some godawful reason none of them seem to be able to transition from reel-over-rod reeling with the right hand to reel-under-rod reeling with the left, they always try it upside down when they can be convinced to. It's weird, there USED to be decent spincast reels. My dad had the same Zebco 404 from the early 70s until the late 90s and it kept working just dandy. I had a Zebco 33 that lasted for almost 10. Last 10 years or so though, I have yet to see one that works more than 2 seasons. And while I'm in a complaining mood, screw you fish; even though the bream are moving back into shallow water, all they would do was stare at live bait today without touching it.
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Feb 18, 2018 06:48
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Only got one 7" bream today and something enthusiastic on my catfish line that threw the hook halfway in. This guy however was scrounging for crawdads below the dam, and when I went to see what he was yelling about, he told me this monstrous goddamn snapping turtle almost took his finger off instead 
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Feb 24, 2018 04:58
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Well, at least I didn't go home empty-handed yesterday. Still, this constant up-down-up-down temperature game is getting annoying; bass should typically have long since started bedding by now, but the water still feels like low/mid 50s
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Mar 19, 2018 15:58
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LingcodKilla posted:D’oh! Take him home as a pet! Since he was the only thing willing to bite (despite having 3 other lines out for catfish and some halfhearted Hula Popping and buzzbaiting), I granted him his life. Five bucks the family across the lake caught him when I left and ate him then and there.
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Mar 20, 2018 03:17
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Rev. Bleech_ posted:Still, this constant up-down-up-down temperature game is getting annoying; bass should typically have long since started bedding by now, but the water still feels like low/mid 50s Spoke too soon; today saw no less than 15 in a huge clear area right at the water's edge that were completely uninterested in anything live, dead, or artificial I threw at them and instead sniffed the dirt and chased each other. That's right, rather than being productive, I spent the afternoon watching fish gently caress.
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Mar 20, 2018 21:11
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So on Monday I'll have 3 hours to kill in Washington, NC on the Pamlico River. Haven't fished much brackish water before, anything special I should try for stripers or should my normal saltwater strategy of "sling out two minnow rods on the bottom and one bloodworm alternative rod" suffice?
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Mar 31, 2018 05:33
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Trip Report: first two bass hits of the year today. Hit 1: live bluegill. I see him take it; when I set the hook, bait and all pop harmlessly out of his mouth. Jerk. Hit 2: I decide to try out a senko for the first time (not being very good with or having much luck with soft plastics for years, this thread goaded me into trying them). Wacky rig it, toss it out. On the fourth or fifth twitch of the very first cast, I am too dumbfounded by the fact that an angry bass has grabbed it and surfaced to remember to set the drat hook and he never comes back for a second grab. Missed Opportunity: I see two nice sized (18-24 inches I would guesstimate) bass swimming by; as I quickly pull my gear in to toss bait in front of them, my line wraps around a tree that I am still fighting with when they lazily swim out of sight I also realize that holy poo poo I'm like the last three posts here. Forgive me, I'm obsessed 
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Apr 7, 2018 03:22
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bongwizzard posted:It seems ridiculous, but I also sort of believe it there’s something magical about the senko rate of fall that drives bass wild. Like I said, I quit using plastics years ago because of my lousy success rate with them (always had a lot more luck on a broken-back Rapala minnow and black Jitterbug I've had for 25 years), but one day screwing with a Senko was enough to get me onboard. bongwizzard posted:It’s warm-ish where you live the bass will be in pre-spawn and should be more aggressively chasing lures, pick up a spinner bait or two and try that, they’re very easy to get hooksets on as you’re already reeling it in when the bass hits it. Awesome; picked up two beetlespins today since they're one of the few lures I can buy while unemployed. On a semi-related note, a public service announcement: if your kids are unable to communicate without shouting, keep them the gently caress away from other people while fishing.
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Apr 8, 2018 03:29
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Rythe posted:Yeah I wanted to take mine out in the Raleigh NC area on Thursday but it was 43 degrees and I tried on Friday with 75 degrees but 20+mph wind...... It's really been a fun winter/fake spring hasn't it? Late March/early April has been a warm water bass-a-thon for most years I remember (prior to my weird hiatus the last 8 or 9 years anyway), but this year the water hasn't even cracked 55 degrees in the Cape Fear yet.
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Apr 9, 2018 02:02
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Rythe posted:I just want to get out and find the crappie already, I have a ton of oil left from Thanksgiving that requires one more use for a fish fry. The best crappie lake I know of (with the advantage of being less than 2 miles away and largely unfished due to being a "private" lake with a "residents and guests only" park that no one bothered to kick you out of) had it's dam blown out in Hurricane Matthew and remains unrepaired  The creek that's left is maybe 6 inches deep.Pictured: the last bass I took out of that lake. Poor guy choked on it. 
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Apr 9, 2018 05:58
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Thanks wacky-rigged senko for the first bass of the year, you've made a believer out of me Much bigger one I spotted later on appeared to be guarding the nest and was uninterested in anything
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Apr 10, 2018 21:25
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so I guess it's unofficially official I'm moving to friggin Greenville NC in the next couple of months. The only part of it that I'm not conflicted about is that I can do fresh, brackish, and saltwater fishing all within a 30min drive 
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Apr 12, 2018 00:17
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Rythe posted:Hell yeah man you will be a hour down the road from me. Do you have a kayak? Nope...as a fat dude, me and small boats do not mix. Apparently they rent some kind of small johnboat out at River Park North that I'm tempted to try out though
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Apr 12, 2018 02:39
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hagie posted:I am not small by any means, definitely not Kevin Smith either. 6'4" ~300lbs I fit in my Vibe Sea Ghost fine. I bought it because of the 425+lb capacity. Ooh. Well I may be willing to give it a try then, since River Park North has a bunch of small lakes where I could easily swim to safety. Not fond of boats in general due to having an utter terror of drowning/being adrift, but I'd give it a shot in that sort of setting.
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Apr 12, 2018 05:01
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Go to lake I have had almost nil luck in, only pulling out a single robin out of 7 or 8 visits in the last 4 months. First friggin' cast tossin' that Senko out: I don't care if he's only 10 inches and his mouth ain't much bigger than the 3/0 hook, my day was made.
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Apr 15, 2018 02:52
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Gumbel2Gumbel posted:Told ya. Senkos work. If you want, try the BPS stik-os once you get a few more. I'd love to know what your experience is with them. Poverty may force me to try them instead; even that rinky dink 10 incher blew the senko in half. Question for those in the know: am I correct in assuming a population of large shiners in a small/medium lake means that the bass/jack population is lacking? Because if a shiner can grow to 8 or 11 inches in a relatively small lake, I get the feeling there ain't much out to eat them.
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Apr 16, 2018 00:08
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bongwizzard posted:Generally, a LMB can eat a fish about 1/3 of it’s own length. I’m not sure what kind of Shiner you’re talking about, These doofuses who are maddeningly annoying when you're going after sunfish. bongwizzard posted:but an 8-11” shad will absolutely be prayed upon by 3-4 pound bass, and lakes a large population of shad can hold very large bass as they have plenty of calories to let them grow. Awesome, good to know; wasn't sure if it was the same sort of dinky bluegill/bass ratio or not and I have yet to pull anything out of that lake besides an okay-sized jack and a bluegill. Went freshwater cast-netting today and got into a swarm of them 4-6 inches long. I also had my cast net bucket and bait bucket get blown into the lake by a sudden gust of wind in front of like 5 people, one of whom helpfully retrieved both using his bottom rig. Whoops.
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Apr 16, 2018 06:03
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"gee, the weather is kind of nasty. I'll forgo the live bait lines and just trot out there with a worm real quick, probably a waste of time". Welp. 
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Apr 24, 2018 20:50
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Gumbel2Gumbel posted:Senkos, man. more success in three weeks than I've had in 30 years on other soft plastics. gently caress you, Texas-rigged bullshit. Hell, only the black jitterbug and rapala minnow have even come close. Anyone else here use the badly-written atrociously-named "Fishidy"?
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Apr 25, 2018 22:36
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Gumbel2Gumbel posted:Don't sleep on T-rigged Senkos, Bass'll hit that drop like it owes them money Today in particular. Visit a one-acre lake tucked away on some game land no one seems to know about :  Go to the other side after having no luck there and cast around a mostly-submerged beaver-toppled tree. Cast #1: Bass strike, miss the hookset Cast #2: Bass strike, maybe a foot long, hook him but he manages to throw the hook near shore Cast #4: Bass strike, set hook, he looks drat respectable (I would guess 18-20 inches), fights well, manages to swim through the tree branches and break me off in them. Return to where my tackle bag is for a new senko, pretty decent sized bream takes my worm line, throws the hook. Return to the tree I was at before, get no strikes. But I did toss a golden shiner under a bobber out and got my consolation prize: the biggest friggin warmouth I've ever seen in my life:  I really really need to get a scale. I estimated him at close to or just over 2lbs, tossed him back. I check the state records later, and the record is 1lb 13oz, coincidentally caught not far away from where I was. My other consolation prize: as I pulled my senko up from a cast later on, there was a minnow half the size of my pinky trying to grab it 
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Apr 27, 2018 00:21
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Bass in crystal-clear water are bait-ignoring dicks. That is all.
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May 1, 2018 06:35
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"This lake is managed for Channel Catfish". OK *leaves cured chicken liver, garlic/strawberry cured hot dog, and half of a dead shiner on three lines, go an hour with no bites* Well, let's try this then *tosses Senko out, bass on the fourth cast* It really is starting to feel like cheating.
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May 3, 2018 04:12
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Gumbel2Gumbel posted:what's your hook, presentation, and fishing method? Wacky rigged 3/0 straight through the "band", let it sink, two quick short jerks (usually horizontal if the tree situation allows), sink, repeat. Works almost every time (the biggies I saw earlier in the week ignored everything live or artificial during their shoreline cruises). Unless you meant the cat lines, which are just 4/0 circle hooks on a Santee rig.
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May 3, 2018 04:53
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RIP, last Senko of the bag. You truly are the best $5.79 I ever spent on a lure.
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May 6, 2018 03:04
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Spend an hour working the worm down logs, around lilly pads, the dock, nothing. Start tossing toward open water off the dock, get these two within 10 minutes (and boy that first one did some aerobatics)   (ps thanks for the random grand-opening $10 gift certificate Gander Outdoors, me gusta the O ring rigger; also amusing to see how far up the line they blow it) Rev. Bleech_ fucked around with this message at 21:52 on May 15, 2018 |
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May 15, 2018 21:48
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Apologies for barraging the thread but: 1. After looking at what passes for my old catch log, I'm 4 fish away from my best bass year ever. 2. Today while tossing a red/green senko around a murky-rear end lake with barely any visibility, I got a 2 pounder and then this porker. I'm not 100% sure since I never carried a scale before this last week, but at 5 pounds he may be my new personal best.  The only part that makes me sad is he was lurking about 2 feet offshore so it was a short fight. On the other hand, he threw the hook after landing and almost flopped back in the water, so maybe it's better he didn't.
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May 18, 2018 02:27
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Today is the third trip in a row where the first cast caught a bass, this time in a heavily-fished lake where they should know better. It's starting to feel like I've unlocked Easy Mode.
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May 21, 2018 03:33
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| # ¿ May 3, 2024 15:31 |
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A Pack of Kobolds posted:These are the days to remember during the periods when you can't catch a fish to save your life and you wonder if you ever will again. You've been posting some real hogs lately! Why thanks; and that day came today if you were curious  Still beat the hell out of whatever else I could have been doing.hamsystem posted:Had a bittersweet phone call with my dad last night, who decided he's gonna hang up his rod and reel at the end of this season due to some physical issues and general age related weariness. He's been my #1 fishing buddy for the past 30+ years so it's a pretty big bummer. The plus side is that he's giving me his boat. It's nothing fancy but I know it's reliable. Gonna start saving to upgrade the electronics since it's still rocking the fish finders it came with back in like 98. I've been trying to get my dad out to fish for awhile since we haven't done it together in close to 20 years in freshwater.
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May 21, 2018 23:32
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