Harps

Thanks for the replys guys! I'll have to alert some buds about Bud's in Carthage, but that's way out of my way. Fair Play and Aldrich are on the opposite side of the lake from us but might be worth the trip, so we'll call and check on them. Anybody know of a source in the Springfield area? That would be most handy for me. We've used them in Canada with very good success, typically catching several fish on one leech before needing to re-bait.

Who has real leeches available?

Sounds like you didn't get polarized lenses. Like Wrench said, get the lightest tint of amber in a polarized lens if you want to fish with them. You don't need dark sunglasses, even mid-day, and dark ones are useless early morning or later in the evening during prime fishing hours. I have prescription sunglasses with the lightest amber tint that was available, polarized, and have bifocal cheaters/magnifiers built in so I can see to tie a hook on. Not cheap, but worth every penny to maximize my fishing enjoyment.

Many of our natives are of the freshwater sunfish family — Bluegill, Longear, Green, Largemouth, Smallmouth, Goggle-eye, Rock Bass, Crappie, and more..... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Centrarchidae

Really nice tie. You a student of the Mike George technique? I think my biggest Longear might have been 7 inches or so....

How long can one expect to get out of a battery, and what are the warning signs Wrench? My interstate is coming up on 2 years, and would hope to get another 3-4 out of it. As you know, I don't run my boat every weekend. Guess I need to add a voltmeter at some point.

I don't see any leg locks/standing braces.😎 Seriously though, in for the updates as I've been considering this for my jon boat too. I would like to see some more detail shots of how those are mounted — maybe a shot or two from beneath.

So the 'miraculous recovery' of the locker was short-lived?

Awesome!

I do have to say that is a narrow body of water to be tossing a big boat like that around. And I didn't see a PFD on anyone on that boat or anyone belted in. If they hit an object and it compromises that boat and it goes down.......

Do you still have to keep every fish caught, and how much per pound is it these days? I enjoy the restaurant there when in the area, but haven't fished there for the above reasons.

Yes, Flatbanks up to about a third of a mile from Stanley. It just started to get difficult to navigate the trees and obstacles and the water had a lot of pollen scum on the surface, so we turned back.

JMO, but dragging anything behind a canoe in a river, or even a lake (unless known to be clear of underwater trees, rocks, etc.) is asking for something unpleasant to happen. And has been stated, it can happen very quickly. I find canoes poor vessels to fish out of compared to some other types of boats, but I'm often fly fishing which makes things even more difficult. Canoes are OK for slack-water or frog-water, but even then the slightest breeze can mess up a cast or retrieve. If I'm running a river in a canoe, I just accept that there are waters that I will have to pass over or not bother with. If I want to fish a spot and it's wadeable, I just pull over and get out to fish. I'm also not a big fan of drag chains on rivers during spawning seasons as you sometimes are dragging through a spawning bed.

What makes Stanley Creek the place to be? Seems like the closer we got to it, the worse the conditions were. After we left I was on the side of the fence of not planning a trip back there, but maybe we just hit the calendar wrong. Smallieflys proved the potential for nice fish there and I would still like to catch a bowfin on the fly........ I may try to add some pics in a day or two, too much going on at the homestead....