vernon

With so little understanding I guess an element of forgiveness is out of the question.....😢

This thing has been known to go off in my own hands on occasion. Well, actually a lot of occasions.🤷‍♂️

What was the question? 👴

Et tu? What'd I do? I'm just sitting here minding my own business looking out the window at a potential two and a half inch downpour...... Glad I mowed yesterday. ⛈️

Man that's a great job but just looking at that thing makes my back hurt. Oh to be young and have working body parts! Hope you get lots of great use out of that baby.

Don't look at me!😇

About ten or twelve years ago my brother and I were cleaning some whites and crappie on the dock at the Kimberling Inn when a bass boat with two guys about my same age pulled into their slip. As it turns out they were there for a tournament that weekend. Anyways, one of them saw me and jumped out of the boat and comes charging over literally yelling, "Hey you! Those better be white bass!" Well I ain't tiny and my brother is a man's man and I was still in pretty good shape at the time so I puffed up about a big as I could and replied, "No, they're great big fat largemouth and they're all full of eggs. What exactly are you gonna do about it?" He backed up and down pretty quick and just said, "Well, nothin' but that's just wrong." and walked away. Over the weekend we saw him a couple times after that and he never seemed to have anything more to say about it. People need to mind their own dang business and not worry so much about everybody else's.

Comparatively speaking I guess overall we haven’t done all that bad. It’s just been disappointing in relation to expectations as we thought it was gonna be really good. In other high water years we had a blast on spinnerbaits and top water but not a sniff so far this year. Friday night we had three with no keepers in about an hour and a half, Saturday it was eleven fish with two keepers and Sunday we caught fifteen with two keepers. Both weekend days we didn’t get out until around 230 cause of the wind so it was around five hours each day. Most were Ned fish with a few on Keitech. Only a few were caught shallow as we moved deep pretty quickly after zeroing in the bushes starting out. About once an hour we’d make a few throws up close just to see but then moved back out as we weren’t seeing any baitfish in the trees so figured there probably weren’t any bass either. Most bass I‘ve known over the years didn’t hang out in trees just cause they liked trees. Yesterday we played golf which was OK except for the wind although we suck at that too! Looks pretty placid out there so far today so we’ll see what happens although the first thirty minutes will be backyards and picnic tables with spinnerbaits for sure. Gonna keep giving them a chance to redeem themselves!

Our minds could certainly use some “opening” apparently. We stunk it up. Amazingly nice day though especially considering that we’re here and the least boat traffic I’ve seen on this lake in quite a few years. Felt like being on Bull Shoals compared to what we’ve come to expect. Dunno where everybody was but we enjoyed the peace and quiet. Except for the silence of the fish……🎣

Do you recall what some of the highest levels were of the last fifteen years or so? I know we were there for all of them and remember being able to easily touch the Kimberling bridge from the boat a couple of times but the years are a blur. Really wish I’d have kept a journal all these years.

Yeah but it's been long enough ago that the statute of limitations has run out on holding me responsible for that one! I gotta say though I'm beginning to scare me.....🧟‍♂️

I know I joke around all the time about this weather stuff but I seriously hope everything and more importantly everybody is OK down there and there's not any serious damage as a result. That's an awful lot of water.

Hey! I'm right here! I gotta confess that I tried a different technique this year and it kinda worked I guess. I booked this week and next week back to back with no intentions of actually coming down the first week. Figured not even I could screw up two full weeks in a row. Well, you see the result. Forty days and forty nights type stuff this week and now 90's next week. Not sure if I picked the right week though as my old posterior don't much like heat that much better than cold anymore. More of a Goldilocks kinda guy now. Regardless, headed y'all's way in about 24 hours if the lake doesn't come to us first.

Good for you guys!

Well you can bet the week after that is certain to have some "pop"............

NOT Blue Springs Marine. They charged me almost fifteen hundred bucks to perform the five year standard maintenance which according to everyone I've talked to should have been around $500 to MAYBE $600. It sucks that Cabela's can't/won't do it anymore (thanks Johnny) since that's where I bought the boat and is literally ten minutes away. I had checked with Branson West Marine a year ago last fall and they had quoted five to six hundred bucks and if I had to do it over again that's where I would take it. Well either that or over to Wrench at LOZ. Neither are close by any means but Blue Springs is the absolute worst and I'm not aware of anyplace closer that still works on Evinrudes. Too bad cause my 2016 G2 is by far the best motor I've ever owned and that's going back to 1975 so it's not a small sample size. Good luck and please let me know where you end up and how it goes.

Did you enjoy our little spring shower Saturday night? Just gettin' warmed up.....

Hmm. I dunno. Have been able to a few times in the past but it's been awhile.

Imagine if they had kayak and bow fishing tournaments at the same time......... I'd buy a ticket to that standoff.😎

I also used Invisx pretty much exclusively on spinning reels for quite a few years but also got tired of the loops and curls not to mention the expense and was looking for an alternative. Yo-Zuri hybrid seemed like a decent choice for a while and I also tried the Maxima that Mr. Babler loves but did not get along with it at all. At the recommendation of RPS I tried a braid called Finatic and liked it enough to convert all my spinning tackle and I'm a guy that's been a braid hater since the original Spiderwire. In my opinion it handles and performs better than any braid that I've ever used and doesn't lose its color. This will be the third year for the same line on at least three reels and it looks just like the day I put it on. It's never dug into the spool or come flying off in globs like some braids or most mono or fluro nor has it ever wrapped around a guide. It has also never gotten frayed or that fuzzy look that every other braid I've tried does. I have never used a leader in my life and needing to would be a dealbreaker for me but this stuff ties directly to the lure with no problem. I really like it for Ned fishing and tiny crappie jigs. I have even spooled it on a couple of bait casters for jig and other bottom bumping stuff and it works great. If I have a complaint about the stuff at all it would be that it's kinda hard to see but certainly no harder than Invisx that's for sure. It comes in a blue/black or green/black color and I really haven't found one to be better than the other. It ain't cheap but if it lasts three or more seasons I'm saving a ton of money compared what I was spending on Invisx and having to respool every couple of days. I use the 10 lb. version which is .006 diameter. I'm sure RPS could fill in the blanks as to whatever details I failed to mention.

When I first got the boat I played around with the foot throttle quite a bit and really wanted to learn to like it but just never did. The cool thing about the Evinrude setup though is it just takes the push of a button to switch back and forth between foot and hand throttle so it's not a one or the other kinda deal.

My G2 has a proprietary to Evinrude built in "Hot Foot" which is almost identical to the accelerator pedal in a car/truck. I find it much more comfortable and easy to use than a traditional Hot Foot which I hate. That being said I NEVER use it as I also prefer the hand throttle and in my opinion it isn't even close. Like Wrench said, on longer runs I set it where I want it, put both hands on the wheel and just drive.

Would y'all stop whining about the temperatures and the rain and the lake levels? What REALLY matters is there's still 56 days left to enjoy it all before the days start getting SHORTER! I live for spring....... AND just wait until the 6th of May when ol' Vernon will REALLY give you something to cry about for a week or so.

Aww c'mon! You can't be serious? What all the INTENSE competition? I just dread the commercials cause it breaks the suspense! Oh wait. The whole thing IS a commercial. And, yeah, the school lecture deal is embarrassing. Charlie should stick with giving health and nutrition advice.......🤦‍♂️

That sucks. I haven't gotten that bad but I've gone from being a really, really good putter most of my life to somewhere between mediocre and poor on any given day and it's tuff to take. I don't really have the yips - it just seems like nothing has gone in since I turned 65. Burn edges and lip 'em out all day long until nobody is more surprised than me when one actually goes in. I used to use the same putter for ten or fifteen years at a time and never even look at another one to where now I've probably used a dozen different ones in the last four years and just ordered another new one yesterday. I still love it way too much to even consider quitting and I figure my back/body is gonna give out soon enough to where quitting won't be an option so I wanna get in all I can while I can. Crappy golf is still better than no golf - for me at least. Heck, I don't catch fish anymore either but I ain't quit that!