Devan S.

Its an interesting species but I don't think you guys have to worry about your urges. There is several fences, even a overhead fencing to hold you back from your urge and even then the access is such that to just drive up, your likely not going to be able to see pupfish. Its quiet a ways down to be able to see fish that are an inch long. Its literally in the middle of nowhere....and really not in Death Valley proper. I suppose you could get in if you wanted too since its so remote but ehhh... Now Shoshone pupfish are in a readily accessible spot in Shoshone right outside Death Valley. Here's the kicker, you can walk right up to the spring and see them directly. Could also fish them, although I assume illegal, you can get actually close enough to see them. I wouldn't promote it but its a pretty open spot and really easily accessible. Death Valley pupfish exist in Salt creek within Death Valley proper. Again easy to walk along and see them.

Yeah I have almost zero knowledge on the trout stocking rate. Considering its a pure put and take deal in a town of ~14,000 people and its the only pond stocked seems slim to me when the limit is 5/person. Also seems wild to haul them 5 hours and dump 275 but maybe they dumped more along the way. My work trip(if it happens) will take me close enough for a detour on the Mad River and to get there I will likely try and hit Brookeville Tailwater in Indiana.

Well checked off Illinois today. I Fish Illinois listed that all stocking locations in Southern Illinois would be stocked by Saturday 10/25. Officially fall trout season opened last weekend but due to temperatures my easy southern targets were delayed. I rolled out of Eagle Rock at 3am this morning. Basically power drove to New Athens to fish Willow Lake outside New Athens in the Peabody River King Wildlife Area and was there shortly after 8:30am. Took a couple work calls and started fishing. Clear water really and could see absolutely zero signs of fish...fished a white jig so I assume fish would see it and at least chase. According to the I Fish Illinois, this was stocked in time for the opener with no delays....water was plenty cool. I wasted 1.5 hours here and never had a bite and I covered water. My backups were in Mt. Vernon Veterans Memorial Park Pond and 3rd option was the Trout Pond at the Saline County State Fish and Wildlife area. I was prepared to come home via highway 60 very late and sleep in my truck somewhere around Popular Bluff. When I arrived in Mt. Vernon, I had a bad feeling. The pond was covered in nasty green slime and very limited visibility. Basically looked worse than my cow ponds. There is half a dozen aerators running. I don't know if this is good or bad. I had zero faith. As luck would have it, a gentleman out walking the path around the lake came up and struck up conversation asking if I had caught anything. He informed me he saw them stocking yesterday. Said the trout had come from Ava, Mo. Said he thought it was wild they were hauling trout that far. I kept my mouth shut...didn't want to explain that I had left better waters to be here, explain OCD and unrealistic goals. Apparently they normally stock a different pond but this year stocked this one and he asked how many I thought they should stock. I figure for a pond this size maybe 800-1000. Its probably 5 or 6 acres. I don't know how deep but with a population of 14,000 this number seems reasonable to me. He advised they dumped 275 fish in....wild to me how low the number actually was....seems like a heck of a long way to drive for 275 fish but who knows. He also told me there was a couple albinos so I assume palomino trout. I set a timer of 1 hour and after 30 minutes I finally hooked a fish and landed it. Checked a box and got out of there as fast as I could. Little over 14 hours for 1 fish. Listened to an audio text book for a Masters class 2x over...hopefully I get a decent grade.

We are closing in on that time of the year. Hopefully, I will sneak off for a longgggg day this weekend to check of Illinois. Will be a stocked location a "check the box" if you will. I have plans(not set in stone) for Mississippi and Alabama in mid-December. Again a check the box if you will. Following those 2, the plans diverge into 2 options: 1. Tenn/Kentucky. Check the box for both. Knowing I will likely get back to a more "wild Tennessee trout later". 2. Georgia trout slam + South Carolina + North Carolina + Kentucky+ Tennessee or any combination or the group. I have the vacation that needs to be burned. It all depends on timing and someone else's availability. The spots are mapped out. After Jan 1, I will probably get my Oklahoma + Louisiana trout in the same weekend. *These are all personal plans. There is an outside opportunity for Indiana, Ohio for some work related travel. Would be nice but not something I am 100% planning on. I am delaying Florida. I haven't received significant confirmation that Rainbow Trout are there outside of 1 single location. That being said I am not sure that counts for me so I have elected to ignore at this time.

Its been awhile and I would have to dig, but I know there was a study done on Beaver tailwaters that indicated the special regulation section had a higher recapture rate of tagged fish for trout vs the rest of the tailwater even though none of the stocking happened within the SRA. Interestingly the SRA on Beaver Tailwaters isn't true C&R and it has some of the worst access above spider creek so it may driven on pressure or habitat. Sure doesn't indicate they stay there but certainly that they move around significantly and at least congregate to a degree there.

I ran up the Norfork from the confluence Saturday and the water was bad nasty. I have no problem with the changes at all. My only argument is that if your not going to stock Beaver Tailwater for the next 6 months, then it should be catch and release only and there should be some level of tackle restriction.

The sage continues....I purchased another control board and yet again still no working. I am at a major loss here...mostly mentally.

So now I am in a real pickle.....I've called around locally. Everyone wants to charge a "diagnostics fee" to confirm my control board is bad and then I'll have to pay labor to have it swapped plus parts. I'm figuring its going to be $400(labor+diag fee + parts). Or I just risk it and buy another board 2X if I have too.

Well more troubleshooting. Reed switches are both normally open. Checked on both controls and they both work. Applied power direct to motor drive and transmission and they both work. Now its down to either toss another $215 on another new control or take to a dealer and let them do it so I have some sort of coverage if I luck into another from the factory bad board.

Yep that is where I bought it but due to the distance obviously I didn't come up there to do simple job. Further investigation looks like there is a reed switch on my old control board. Need to crack the new one open and see where it is at exactly. I'll do some tinkering and maybe give them another call Monday. May just try bypassing that if I could prove that was my problem. More to come.

There is nothing on Youtube or web searches that tell me anything similar to what I am seeing. Its just all about changing the control board. I called Motorguide support this afternoon and they claim I'm very unlucky and my second board is bad as well. Of course, when I call the place I just bought this new board from to ask about support they are going to argue no returns on electrical components. I challenged them as to where the switch/sensor that tells the control the motor is stowed or deployed and they tell me its magnetic switch on the board itself. Wildly interesting considering the entire unit is built of non-ferrous materials I am not sure what reference it would use to "detect" any change in position.

The other day midday my Xi5 just stopped. Lights went out and dead. When I got home I took the cover off, I have voltage at the control board so I assumed I control board was bad. Installed new control board today and still nothing. Its almost as if it does not detect that it is deployed. I have not been able to find a switch or magnet anywhere obvious. Any idea where one maybe or what else to check?

@Daryk Campbell Sr here is where I am collecting my trout in every state information. Here is my current map: I had planned to take some vacation these last couple weeks and go down to the lower Illinois in Oklahoma to check off Oklahoma but as I understand they have stopped stocking there this month(generator down and high temperatures) so I will wait until later in the year. After the first of the year, I will likely make a run down to Shreveport, La and pick up a stocked pond fish in LA. As soon as I know they stocked Lake Lamar Bruce in MS, I will head there and pick up a fish(history says this happens sometime in Mid-December) From there its a couple hours to Sipsey Fork to check off Alabama. On my return, I intend to try and get TN and KY. I was 15 minutes from a spot in KY last year but decided to not make my family endure me fishing after driving for hours. I will probably end up picking up a better non-stocked tailwater locations in TN later. Right now my only major concern is FL. As mentioned before, there is a private pond stocked and open to fishing(for a fee) outside Tallahassee but I haven't looked into it lately if it still open and stocked. I haven't found any state sponsored alternatives. At this point, I haven't researched every state in the northeast but from a temperature and habitat standpoint, once I check off LA/MS I feel a lot better about being able to find a trout somewhere.

100% ill advised.....but when you wanna catch a trout in every state.

Man I want to attend this but I have a trout trip to Mississippi planned that 100% hinges on when they start stocking. I won't know until they tell me they stocked. One of these days I need to make this happen.