Ranger Dave

Sure looks like a musky to me. I could be wrong but they don't look like the walleye's I caught.

I'll have to echo "fishinitup". We all have the right to use the public water just like Jerry Rap said. What is lacking is a sense of ethical behavior. Many of the jet skiiers and some of the standard water skiiers and tubers behave like they own the water. They don't care if you are trying to fish or not. In fact, I have had some of them drive out of their way to come right up on me and make a "U" turn just to bounce me with their wake. I respect their rights when they are on the water and try my best to stay out of their way. It seems like they could do a little better job of respecting the rights of others instead of acting like they own the water.

Are there any boat ramps on the Pomme De Terre River Arm south of Fairfield and Highway 83? I have been driving to Warsaw to fish around the dam but I was hopeing to find somewhere a little closer to home with easy access off of Highway 65. I drive up Highway 65 from Strafford. Please indicate where any ramps are located and how to get there from Highway 65.

I am making a trek to Warsaw this weekend for some crappie fishing. Planning on staying at Sterrett Creek and fishing near the dam area. Might try some trolling for whites and hybrids as well. Any suggestions on where to fish? Colors and lures for whites and hybrids?

Electronics really aren't that difficult. You typically only have 2 wires plugged into the back of a depth finder unless you have a temperature or speed input (most just have the power input and the transducer input). The power input has 2 wires; red (positive) and black (negative). The red wire needs to be fused. The tranducer wiring is pre-wired at both ends; the wire goes directly into the transducer at the tranducer end and the other end has a molded plug that plugs directly into the display unit. I recommend just starting at the display and tracing out the wiring. Any unused wiring should be removed.

I plan on using it this spring on white bass and crappie in Grand Lake. I think it will work great with 3 (or possibly 5) buck tail jigs in the Spring River. Does anyone know how many hooks are allowed in Oklahoma?

Where is Sapp's Landing located? I would like to try it. I did most of my crappie fishing around the Dam and near 83 highway.

I also purchased a Lifetime Fishing License in Oklahoma several years ago. It cost $275 but I figured the cost per year would average out around $10 per year based on my age. I understand that Oklahoma did away with the Lifetime permit. Fortunately, I got one for my wife too before they quit. You can get a Lifetime Fishing license in Missouri as well but it isn't worth the price unless you are less than 16 years old. It is $275 for under 16. If you are over 16, it is cheaper to buy the yearly permit since you only have to have a permit til your 62. What kind of marketing stragedy is that? I am 49 years old so I only need to buy 13 more permits. At $11 per permit, that only will cost $143. I think the Lifetime permit would cost me about $175. Of course the yearly permit might go up some but I guess I will take my chances. I did purchase a Lifetime permit for my daughter before she turned 16 and I plan on doing the same for my son before he turns 16. I can't believe that a permit for someone less than 16 is only $275 but the permit for 16 and up is $400. Go figure!

What happened to the fishing dock? I haven't been there for a while.

When was the last time you purchased something at Bass Pro? The tax rate for Bass Pro has been either 8.2 or 8.6 percent for over 6 or 7 years now. Check your receipt. The tax rate at the Bass Pro in Branson is 9.3%. I think it is taxation without representation to allow the government to impose a sales tax without voting on it. At the very minimum, there should be a sign at the checkout area stating there is an additional sales tax and what the additional sales tax is for. The Bass Pro sales tax in Springfield is for the Wonders of Wildlife. We voted to raise the Hotel/Motel tax in Springfield for WOW but we didn't vote to raise the sales tax at Bass Pro for WOW.

Drove to Cedar Ridge Sunday night. I was surprised to find the ramp was closed. When was the ramp closed? Can you use the ramp inside the camping area when the main ramp is closed? In the past they said the ramp inside the camping area was restricted to campers only. There weren't any signs along the way until right at the ramp. The sign simply said the ramp was closed due to low water conditions. I think the Corp could do a little better job of posting for closed ramps. I ended driving to Masters which wasn't too far away from Cedar Ridge but if I had known about the ramp being closed I would have drove directly to Masters and saved a lot of gas money. I was a little reluctant to drive to Masters because I feared once I got there I would see another sign saying Masters was closed as well. It would be nice if the Corp's signs referenced an alternate ramp when they put up a closed sign. Are any other ramps closed?

You don't have to worry about getting a ticket because... in order to boat on Fellows you must first go to the Marina and purchase a boating permit. They won't let you purchase a boating permit with a 90 on your boat. You can't simply "go" to Fellows and launch like your at Stockton or somewhere else. Fellows has a lot of picky rules.

This place may be difficult to get to from where you are located since their location is on the south side of the Aldrich bridge. I think the bridge is still closed. The convenience store in Fair Play (south side of the road) used to sell minnows.

Don't forget about the rear end ratio and the type of transmission and their affect on mileage. I have an older Chevy V8 (350 CID) with a 3.42 rear end. I get around 17 mpg on the highway when empty or not towing. However, when I start towing my boat, my mpg drops to 11 (it dropped to 9 when I pulled my 18' travel trailer). My brother-in-law has basically the same truck but with a 3.73 rear end. His highway mileage is about 1 less than mine (16 mpg) but when he pulls his boat, the mpg only drops to 14. I suspect the small 4 cylinders will drop mpg drastically when pulling as opposed to driving empty so I highly recommend getting a V6. In addition, an automatic will pull better than the straight tranny. Check out the horsepower and torque curves in the new truck brochures. The auto will always have more pulling power than the straight stick.

Rule books says the following about life jackets and throw cushions: For all boats, life jackets must be "available" on the boat but not in a locked or closed compartment. It doesn't matter if the engine is running or not. For boats 17' and larger, a Type 4 life preserver (typically a throw cushion) must be "immediately" available. (I don't know why boat length has any thing to do with it; probably more people around here drown in 16' or smaller boats because they aren't suited for our lakes) My in-laws thought about getting the inflatable type of life jacket since they are not as bulky and more comfortable to wear. However, they were scared off by the instruction manual which stated there was "no way to check and make sure the inflation system was operational". It said the CO2 cartridge could leak and you would not know it until you needed it and it wouldn't work. They probably aren't that bad but the manufacturer's put that in the instruction manual for liability reasons. I guess you could replace the CO2 cartridge yearly but you still wouldn't know for sure the system was operational.

I don't know what has changed. There was definitely a passing lane under the 245 bridge. I used it many times. It would stand to reason that if it was possible to pass under the 245 bridge then it would also be possible to pass under the 123 bridge. I guess the Coast Guard or the Corp just doesn't think we need to go on the east side of the bridge. It would be a different story if there was a Corp sanctioned ramp on the east side of the bridge.

Just in case anyone else out there is not aware (like I was), the Hwy 123 bridge at Alrich is closed to boaters under the bridge as well as car traffic above even though it is not clearly marked. I was stopped by the Coast Guard and was issued a warning. The patrolman kept insisting that the restriction zone was clearly marked but I had to disagree with him. The middle bay under the bridge has a large sign stating for boats to keep out and the north bay under the bridge has buoys in the middle. However, the south bay is wide open with no signs or buoys. The two south-most buoys (one on each side of the bridge is directly in front of the south bridge piers. This leaves the space between the south brige pier and the south bank open (about 20' wide). I just figured the south bay was being left open like they did on the 245 bridge last year. Guess again. The patrolman indicated that this is the most violated rule presently on the lake. Possibly because it isn't clearly marked? I didn't argue with the patrolman too much since he issued me a warning and I didn't want to push my luck but I honestly don't think it is clearly marked. I was also issued a warning because my life jackets were inside my front deck compartment. My throw cushion was on top of the deck. I guess I have been in violation all of my life. The rule book says the throw cushion must be "immediately" available and that life jackets must just be available. However, there is another note that says life jackets cannot be inside a "locked" or "closed" compartment. Hope this helps prevent someone from getting a ticket.

Are you fishing East of the bridge or west of the bridge?

Picture looks like Alrich boat ramp parking lot to me.

I recommend advertising on Craig's List. I'm sure someone out there would have one.

Based on my experience, stators either work or they don't. The stator must be working or you wouldn't have any spark for idle. The stator generates the voltage to charge up the capacitors in the CDM module (the old models had all 4 modules combined into one box which was commonly referred to as a "power pak" or a "switch box"). The trigger then "triggers" the respective CDM modules. Since your engine only idles on the top 2 carbs, you could have a CDM problem on one of the bottom 2 carbs and you wouldn't know if until you get above 1200 rpm (point at which bottom 2 carbs start kicking in). You can make sure all 4 plugs are firing by using an inductive pickup timing light. Place the inductive pickup coil around each plug wire. If the plug is firing, then the timing light will trigger. If you find a plug that is not firing, swap the associated CDM module with a CDM that is working. If the problem follows the CDM module, the module is bad. If the problem stays with the plug then you have a trigger problem. These are quick and and cheap tests but you could also have some other problem causing the same symptom. You could spend a lot of money replacing unnecessary parts. You might be money ahead by taking it to a mechanic just for a diagnosis. You would have to pay for the diagnosis but at least then you would know what parts you needed to purchase instead of just guessing. If you end up buying parts, I recommend Performance Product Technologies (www.perfprotech.com). I saved over 20% of list. You might try posting on Bass Boat Central's Mercury Forum page. The sponsor of the forum is a Mercury Mechanic in South Carolina (or somewhere around there) and he will field almost any question you have. I can't think of his name off hand. He sent me his email address and I have been contacting him directly for over a year. He will send you copies of pages out of the Mercury repair manual and also give you detailed instructions and advice. You could also have a problem with the accelerator pump. Does it make a difference if you slowly accelerate as opposed to fast acceleration? Fast acceleration requires the accelerator pump to be working or the engine will die out because of fuel starvation. Slow acceleration will work without the accelerator pump.

I would recommend taking it to a mechanic just for a diagnosis then replace what they said it bad. The diagnosis couldn't take more than an hour so the charge would be about $100. Changing the power pak is simple; just taking off some wires and putting them on a new pak. I have never changed a trigger but in my experience, the trigger doesn't fail that often.

I am questionings some of the responses posted. In order to use a boat on Fellows Lake you must first register your boat at the Marina, pay a registration fee (used to be $5 a year but maybe more now), and get a sticker on the side of your boat. The sticker states the horsepower of your outboard. To my knowledge, they will not give you a sticker unless you have a 40 Hp outboard or less. Boating without a sticker on your boat is an instant fine. I would recommend talking to the guy out at the Marina and see if he will issue you a sticker with an outboard larger than 40 Hp.