Ham

I’m certainly Glad to hear that you are having success and enjoying your purchases. I’m not sure I deserve any credit, but if I do, You’re Very Welcome.

Those who know me have probably figured out that I never know when to leave things alone gear wise. I’m always looking for a little better mouse trap and /or a possible replacement IF a favorite rod disappears from the marketplace. More as an FYI rather than a ringing endorsement. The Lews Wally Marshall crappie spinning rods are in the same price range, weight range, and functional range as the beloved Air Stream Rod. See the attached photo. The Air Stream is a tiny bit lighter and a tiny bit faster than the Lews. I need more time Fishing it and more fish caught on the Lews a fully formed opinion, but I’m not ready to break it over my knee. I guess my one concern is what I call recovery time. Does the rod react quickly enough to a rapid change in direction from the fish to keep the line tight and the fish hooked up. I had a couple mystery get offs so far and I’m paranoid about that. 100% sure it will fish small cranks (SR 5), small lipless cranks (3/16 oz Spot), and small jerkbaits (Rapala F7) very well.

Here’s my take on Big Smallies : They are not quite as aggressive as smaller fish and they might be a little more wary than the 12 inch guys BUT the rate limiting factor is largely the fact that there are Relatively so few of them. They bite plenty often. If there are sufficient numbers of them where you fish and you can fish proficiently and you gear isn’t crap, you will get one. I’m pretty sure Pete knows how to fish and that his gear isn’t crap. You’ll get one Pete. I might average one a year from the rivers I fish. Might. And if I’m lucky, I might get another 20 inch SMB from a lake. Might. I’ve had years where I have done both and years where I’ve done neither. A 20 inch SMB is a toad no matter where you catch one.

Keep fishing where they live ; it’ll happen.

Joe Johnson’s 18 foot 48 inch bottom does Great with the Tohatsu 25. Joe’s is Great Shape, but he’s not slight. I’m a 200 lb guy. That boat had no issues. My concern was about angler spacing not insufficient power for 3. Those Tohatsu’s generate a lot of torque.

A man has to know his limitations. IF Big jagged rocks are involved, I run out of courage before I do water. I’ll run shallow gravel ALL Day though. The Tohatsu will have electric start and electric trim. I hope to jump up on plane quickly and be able to stay there at 15 MPH. The good news is that all the jet drives come from the same place so after market jet feet are available for replacement.

I’m not sure. I’m pretty sure I’ll be able run <6 inches and float through < 10 inches.

I’m pretty committed to Alweld. Blazers are a Great Boats though.

Awesome!

There may have been some fishing in the Current River afterwards where Smallies were caught. 😀

Tohatsu Jet

I spent the day working with Fred at Current River Marine designing a river boat. Les Wilson and his buddy Joe helped with the process. Joe is having a boat built also. He will be selling his 18 foot 48 inch bottom Alweld. It has a RiverCraft trailer and a Tohatsu 25 HP Jet. i test drove his boat and looked at the boat he is selling for ideas. Joe’s boat is very nice. It is in Super condition. He only wants about 1/2 of what I’ll end up paying, but I want the 20 foot boat to make fishing three ppl easier. I’m going to go 20 foot 52 inch bottom. 100 gauge metal. Aluminum trailer.Tohatsu Jet. Ultrex TM. Plenty of dry storage. Perf metal foor. Please feel free to make suggestions. The final build request has not been submitted.

I actually purchased a towel from the Harrods in London because of that book and carried it for many years. My Dad basically ruined it for me playing with my kids, but I think my wife orchestrated it because she was tired of that old thing hanging around. I think I had it for 18 years.

Wait...there’s five books. S O B

I think it’s kinda like Fight Club. I’m not sure anyone is keen to share a video of a perfect Redfin.

Seriously jealous. I’m glad you caught em, and mad as Hell I didn’t. I know what’s possible. It just isn’t happening for me.

I’ve got big worms, but I haven’t used them in years. Looks like I should.

Is that just worn down to Bone? Or did you sand on it?

It’s another screw driver. Like maybe a Torx 20. You don’t really need that often, but sometimes it’s the best option. I don’t see it being useful in deep water so I think of it <15 FOW. You need fairly clear water. It can be you best option and not expensive to get set up for so.

I really need to get my fly fishing stuff in order. An emerger would have been amazing.

Ballast Point has lots of Good beers (or so I’m told). My wife has bought that one before.

Lots of time lost cleaning algae

First cast

I had a little time after work so I decided to go pick on some trout. I figured I had about 90 minutes to fish. I looked at generation schedule and decided to go downriver to avoid the hard ride and algae that would be knocked loose. To Ranchette I go. I got the boat in the water and a rod rigged finally, first cast one silly trout lost his mind over the Zig Jig. Poor little guy needs to leave the Mtn Dew alone. I’m thinking it going to be crazy good, but the water is so trashy. I clearly have a lot to learn. The river was full of pieces of algae drifting down in minimum flow. I felt like Jon Snow. Next 30 minutes were awful. Changed jig sizes and colors. Missed strikes and last second turn offs. Even the trout were trolling me! But... I hung in there. I found a long riffle with a big hatch (mixed caddies and midge) and rallied. It was a strike almost every cast for an hour. Nothing over 14 inches, but Good Color and a lot of fight in these fish. Very little stocker wallowing around. I only had one fish that was so poor looking that stomping his head looked like the kind thing to do. All fish were released as lovingly as possible. Many I never lift from water. Barbless almost always. 1/32 oz Zig Jig (Olive/Orange) was best catcher, but 1/16 oz (Olive /Ginger) worked too. I finished with 26 caught in the 90 minutes the boat was in the water. 23 of those in the last hour. I left them biting. These are my first trout since late March. I’ll probably leave them to the tourist for the weekend. Might fish Some Sunday.

Well, since I catch less than 5 Gar a year, I don’t NEED to change a thing.