Stump bumper

Some quick tips that help me, I know it is 3 feet from my reel to the first eye. So if i see the shad at 30 feet and fish at 40 I strip the line by hand 12 times to get the spoon at the bottom of the shad and above the fish. If that does not work I drop it right to the bottom. Knowing how much line each turn of the reel takes in and you don't have to watch the fish finder as much and you can play your spoon faster. I am amazed to how much water I cover in just raising the rod, sometimes less is more when working a spoon, it should be a wounded shad not a super shad. Sometimes changing shapes from shad to minnow will trigger more strikes than changing color, when spoon fishing I have 4 rods and 4 different spoons at the ready until I get a pattern going.

I agree Champ maybe that comment was a little off base but it seems so hard for young people to get outdoors without grandparents owning land then everyone running the woods in 4 wheelers that cost more than pick ups used to running you over if you choose to walk down a trail. The Children days are great and the trout programs are great for kids, like I said it just struck a cord and sorry if I insulted anyone. I love the local tournaments and most the people who fish them but I will not be disappointed if these young men and women that work hard and enjoy the outdoors don't end up on TV. I also would not be hart broke if the FLW took Beaver off it's tour, it might hurt the tourist trade and I don't want anyone to suffer but I would not be hart broke if they did not come back anywhere in Arkansas. Though they are better than WAKE BOATS!!! Also I did not mean that the article was not good, the writer did a great job, it was one line that got me going and I am over it now. I am also glad that the money we give in our license and sportsman taxes are going back to a sport I like so much. Even though a good day of whites biting is just as good to me as catching 5 or 6 5lb bass. I just enjoy fishing and hope the next generation does too.

Sorry to turn this around, I agree with everything the AGFC is doing, but to start out there is no "young" members of the FLW coming from Arkansas is what motivated them to start looking at bass habitat just stuck a cord with me. I have fished many local tournaments along with Champ, but there is not one person on this forum that probably has not been almost run over by those FLW guys when they come to town selling the latest and greatest and for everyone to look at the TV for role models I just have a personal beef with.... Sorry to get this off track and it was a good article, just wished they would have used a different attention getting statement at the beginning of the article. Their pay checks come from the locals like all the great folks on this forum not the guys that fly through here one week every year. I wish the AGFC would look at fishing and hunting more with the 12 year old with a zebco 202 in hand and rusty single shot rifle and how to make his life better and less about how they will look on TV. I know why I love the outdoors and hope to pass that to my grandchildren and I don't plan on teaching them from the couch.

I don't know why they are so worried about producing young FLW and BASS pros since IMO those are sales and marketing professionals not the type of sportsmen that I was raised with in Arkansas. I was taught the ethics of hunting and fishing, not to shoot a bird on a rest, never take more than you need and to always clean up after yourself and leave the land better than you found it. Beside catch and release I find very few of the manors and ethics practiced around tournaments that were taught to me as a child in the 60s. I see more and more people posting land and very little of the friendship and skills that were taught to the young people of my time. I see a lot of $50,000 boats being sold but very few grandfathers showing grandchildren how to skin a squirrel or cook a opossum down to grease to make biscuits over an open fire. Not to mention staying out in the woods with them long enough that those things tasted good. Those were the men that survived the depression and fought WW2 and wanted to pass their knowledge down without fear and hate. I guess I just don't watch enough TV so I don't understand what is important for young Arkansans to lean about the outdoors and skills they should develop as Sportsman. I guess in need to down load some commercials and get with the times and teach my grandchildren how to push product instead of wasting time on a shore lunch of fresh caught fish.

Thanks fishinwrench, I will diffidently change the accelerator pump, I am guessing it is a rebuild kit, looks easy enough to get to. When I say the idle is not smooth, the RPMS are steady but the engine shakes alot and sounds like it might die, sort of like a misfire but stops when given more fuel so I am thinking air is getting in where it does not belong or fuel is not flowing right. Since I have no idea how to set the floats I will start with the easiest fix and work my way up. Yes JDoc did check the movement of all the linkage and everything seems to be good. Maybe we can run into each other at the ramp some day and you take a quick look for me and give me some tips. Thanks again for all the free advice, feels like I have real friends here.

It runs fine when not at idle. jumps on plane quickly and runs good wide open. A bad accelerator pump diaphragm would not affect the engine at higher RPMS? I have no idea that is why I am asking. I will try a higher octane, ethanol free fuel next time out.

I have two of the Mettle and have nothing bad to say about them, can't beat them for the price, got mine on a black Friday deal. Just as good as some Shimanos I have paid 2 1/2 times the price for. I have not had them as long as the Shaminos so can't say how they will hold up. They are smaller reels that I am used to, but love the way they fit in my hand.

Ok, the top screw was out 8 (1/2) turns bottom out 6 (1/2) turns, took them to 1 1/2 could not engine to idle without advancing gas. Took both out one full turn and it idle to warming up. Depressed accelerator pump plunger several times no change in RPMS. Bumped up primer bulb (it was hard before starting was soft while engine was running) no change in RPMs or how engine idled. Sounded good on muffs, was idling better, but not smooth I know once the blade is in water to expect that to change. Very interested in what you have to say or if what I have reported makes any sense.

Thanks Fishinwrentch, will get hooked up as soon as I can, worked just called and I am on the road tomorrow, will get it hooked up this afternoon if I can if not won't be home for a week.

I have attached the repair bill, I hope it comes up. The $500 for carbs I was expecting but a total of $777 because the last mechanic hooked CDI boxes wrong and the motor will not idle right still is what upsets me. That is a total of $1,277 to the biggest Marine repair in town and still not running right on what started as simple adjustments. In fact runs worse than when I started with the first. After looking at the bill, they did more than replace plugs for $190 but I still feel they overcharge for plugs. I should have known to put new plugs in before going there since every mechanic has replaced plugs on me when I tell them I will do that later. They also don't approve of champions in a Merc so I will never take it in to a mechanic like that again. Repair bill.pdf

I will hunt up the invoice and gladly post it with the name of the business on it, thanks so much for the help will drag it out in the front yard and answer those questions tomorrow.

Thanks for the tips, I should have been more clear about the shop I took it to in the spring. They were told just to rebuild the carbs, I had done that twice and thought they were the problem. I told them to leave the plugs alone but of course they put in a $20 set of plugs and charged me $115 and a CDI module that ran another hours labor for a 5 minute job. That is the reason I never took it back, scared if they turned a screw it would be another $500. Of course they said if it wasn't right they would adjust or fix for free, but they lied twice before so I wasn't about to open the checking account for them to clean me out. J-Doc I will try cleaning everything that is connected to the idle arm but as far as taking it to a shop, I would buy a new boat first.

I am having trouble setting the carbs on my 2004 115hp Mercury, it won't idle when cold, but does fine after running on plane then after sitting for 10 minutes won't idle again. I have adjusted the mixture and idle control and it just won't adjust out. I just spent $700 on having the carbs rebuilt. Is there a possibility that replacing the bulb and fuel line to the tank might help? I do notice that when the boat sets for a while I loose the pressure on the bulb and 2 cyl oil runs back down the fuel line. Boat runs great when giving it gas . Anyone who has had this problem please let me know how you fixed it, really getting tired of the looks at the ramp.

What you are smelling and tasting that people refer to as "lake turnover" is dead algae, the result of life span that last throughout the warm months and like most plants die in the fall. They grow all through the lake during the summer and are too small to be strained out by the filters. Since the water treatment facilities on the lake don't take water off the top it really has nothing to with the lake "turning" just time for the flowers to die like the ones growing in my back yard. If you really want to taste the difference go to Grove and taste the Grand Lake water this time of year, Grand has such bad algae blooms that the health department bands swimming and skiing some years and you can really smell it in their drinking water.

The by the book answer to this is to throw a spoon to the boils an let it fall through the boil to the bigger fish lying below. This has got me strippers lying below whites but never a big large mouth. Just thought I would throw that out. I have better luck throwing a wake bait and imitating a wounded shad leaving the school.

Did you try spooning below those bait balls? Don't worry about how big those bait balls are, a few passes from a school of whites and they will be wiped out. I don't think we got below 41 degree water much last winter and did not get a good shad kill so it should lead to the young bass growing bigger faster. When those shad move back into the coves for warmth, the fishing will be non stop, and the deer hunters will miss out!

I have not tried it on my iphone but never used the old one on the phone so I would not know the difference. Looks great on the computer.

My approach is to separate fish and trees on my electronics, you can see them just one or two fish hanging on a tree. Then drop shot and/or drop a spoon in their face. No color or approach works every time but when you find that right color worm or right size spoon, stay with it and find more trees. It is slow and direct fishing under the sonar, not the cast and reel that most people think of as bass fishing so if not your thing I understand. I have pulled up a 8lb walleye like that and he was the only fish in the tree top, also a method most trolling walleye fishermen would not enjoy. The more you bump and scrape against the tree the bites you will trigger.

I disagree J-Doc when the water cools down the water being in the grass and up in the trees is GREAT. The biggest bass and biggest stripper I have caught on Beaver have been in areas that you could drive a truck through at 1120 feet. Now I will also agree that water being drawn through the dam and those first good cold fronts do make a wonderful combo, but so does 60 degree water and flooded grass.

I am setting in Denver reading this after a couple weeks in Texas so the reason I don't post much anymore is like everyone else, work. I really appreciate any post when I am on the road because all I think about on the road is getting back on the water. Thanks to all who have kept me going.

If you don't pass out from the heat and don't bust a prop it is a good trip this time of year.

As far getting started with drop shots I think the biggest mistake beginners make is setting the hook. You have to think more like a crappie fisherman or you miss most of your bites and just like J-Doc said most of the time bites are just weight then you reel. The worst thing about drop shooting is when you get used to it then throw a jig you will forget to swing on the jig.

You dove 30 feet without air ? That is a heck of dive ! I need to break down and get contacts so I can see under the water, I can see about two feet without my glasses. But I don't think I could get down to 30 feet and back up alive. lol I am always amazed as to the number of crawfish and the size of some of them when I swim in that area.

Man this site is quite!! Over on table rock they are at least posting some blue gill pics. Is anyone cat fishing with some jugs at night or something? I am not going out in the heat and traffic this time of year but I sure would like to hear about someone else's good (or bad) day or night. Anyone fishing the jack pots? Anyone been to Cabala's and thought about fishing? I am thinking about going there tomorrow for some spoons. How about the thermocline, how deep is it right now?

Finally someone finds some fish!