mixermarkb

Bull Shoals folks, we lost a good one. Bryan gave me the sad news in another thread, but I thought Gary Nokes at least deserved his own post here. I wasn't a close friend of Gary's by any means, but over the 30 years or so that I have been fishing at Theodosia Marina, Gary, who had been a friend of my late Uncle, became a friend and saved more than one fishing trip for me. He looked like the stereotypical Ozark Hillbilly, with beard, cutoff overalls, and ever present chaw. He also was one of the smartest men I've ever met, and an absolute mad genius boat mechanic. He was the kind of mechanic who had been to all the marine manufacturer's schools, and knew the "book way" to fix a problem, but also had the natural problem solving skills and experience to know the "RIGHT WAY" to fix a problem. I'll always remember overhearing this hillbilly looking guy talking on the phone to someone in the early days of the internet, about IP addresses and other technical netspeak, which one would never have guessed he had any knowledge about, given his appearance. Gary always had a funny story, and was a master storyteller in his messy on the water shop at TMR, while he worked on (and cussed at) somebody's boat. He saved no telling how many trips for unprepared amateur boat owners like myself by digging through that seeming rats nest of tools, broken outboards and trolling motors to somehow come up with whatever relay or switch or fuel pump or whatever other random part he needed, and worked his posterior off to seemingly magically get people back on the water fast when their boat was out of commission. He also drove a TMR rental boat from Theodosia all the way to Music Creek late one evening, well after work hours, to try and help some twentysomething year old kid get his boat started. He had a cranking battery and some other tools and fuses, and fully expected to be able to get him going. He wasn't counting on a melted wire harness, and after working til after dark, realized he was gonna have to tow that twentysomething kid in the new Champion back to Theodosia. Looking around the rental boat he had driven down, and looking around the dumb city kid's boat, he realized the only thing the had to tow a boat with, was a 50' orange extension cord from the trolling battery charger. Sooooo, for the next three hours or so, we made our way back to TMR, the dumb kid and the hillbilly boat mechanic, with me laughing the whole way with decades full of Ozark county and Bull Shoals stories. I cracked up for many years after that, walking past that stretched out orange extension cord, still plugged in the charger on that rental boat. I've missed Gary since he retired a few years ago. Theodosia Marina just hasn't quite been the same without poking my head into his floating shop and shooting the monkey dodo for a few minutes when I came down to fish. He was one of those humans who just made the world better, without making a big deal about himself. One last story. On Bull Shoals, at the mouth of the Little North Fork arm, is a long runout point called The Saddle. There is a real narrow hump that comes back up, WAAAAAAAAAYYYYYY out in the middle of the lake. At certain lake levels, the tip of that hump is just barely under water. Gary said he used to have a buddy drop him off on that hump, and he would stand out there and pretend to be walking on water in the middle of the lake, just to get a reaction out of "the flatlanders" cruising by in their runabouts and pontoons.... Here's hoping I'll get to shoot the monkey dodo again with Gary, my Uncle, and my Dad, when I get on to the place the guy who really walked on water said He was going to prepare for us. Thanks again Gary, for the fixes, and the stories.

Bummer. Gary was a great guy.

Thanks for being a sportsman. Taking the extra time to protect the resources for everyone else is a class move.

I feel ya. I'm still working on buying a new truck. I'm without a tow vehicle to get the boat to the lake while the fish are waking up and moving around!

Good lookin wart, too!

Good goin! I'm trying hard to get a new to me truck bought early next week, and I should be down there messing with them myself! Gotta retire the ol black truck, she's done well at 350K miles, but it's just time. I've found a new one, just gotta get the bank and dealer and myself all happy with the numbers...

May also be worth looking in the phone book around Mt. Home, Arkansas. Lots of guys who work for boat builders in that area also do fiberglass work on the side. I had a guy there fix some stress cracks on a boat many years ago- I don't remember his name or contact info though.

Shockey's boat and motor over on Bull Shoals does that, I think. They do pretty good work, but I've done a few of them myself. It's not difficult, just takes man hours and elbow grease. You can buy a variable speed buffer at harbor freight for like 30 bucks, a couple foam pads and two grades of 3m or ProTec polish, plus some sandpaper. I'm going to re-do both of my boats here in a week or two when I can catch decent weather and time off of work.

Yep, good to see you on Old Plug, prayers for you and your wife to feel better.

Nice to see ya winding that spinnerbait in Champ. Tis the season, glad you got out after em...

I know, question has already been answered, but I agree with what MObass said above. Here are pretty much how I use the reels I have, what I fish them on, and why I use the gear ratios I do. 2x BB-1 in the 5:1 ratio, on 7' Falcon Cara reaction medium crankers, pretty much dedicated to Warts and Rock Crawlers. These have the old fashioned multi-stop anti reverse. (the handles have a tiny bit of back play on this model, which I really like for grinding along bottom, because when you hit a rock you can kind of lean back on the reel and the wart floats up and right back into the fish's face) 2x BB-1 in 6.4:1 ratio, on 7'10" St. Croix Legend Tournament magnum crankers. These also have the old fashioned multi-stop anti reverse, and are dedicated to 15-25' deep cranks. Prevailing wisdom on deep cranks is the 5:1 ratio for less fatigue when cranking the big pullers, but I fish deep cranks in the summer, and find I get more bites really banging them along the bottom pretty quick. Also, fish are active and fast post spawn, and I was losing fish trying to keep up with them with that 5:1 ratio. 1x BB-1z in 7:1 ratio, on a Falcon Cara 6'5" jerkbait special. This one has a megabass 110 of some flavor on year round. I like the 7:1 ratio, with instant anti-reverse on this one, because just a small turn of the handle pulls up the line, and keeps just the right amount of slack for the bait to work. 2x BB-1z in 6.4:1, on Falcon Cara 6'8" angler of the year rods. These get used a lot. Spinnerbaits, topwater walking baits, small whopper ploppers, squarebills, chatterbaits, etc. The 6.4:1 is probably the best all around retrieve ratio for me. I can wind it fast, or slow it down. 2x Super Duty in 6.4:1, on Falcon Cara 7'5" Super Duty rods. These get used for anything big and heavy, Arigs, the big Whopper Plopper, big swimbaits, etc 4x Team Gold in 7:1, on G. Loomis NRX 7'3" Carolina Rig rods. These are my main bottom dragging rods. C-rigs, 3/4" to 1oz jigs, and enough tip to pitch smaller jigs and Trigs into brush or around docks. Some guys use the ultra fast 8:1 ratios on these type of setups, but the 7:1 seems plenty fast in bringing up slack, and they didn't make an 8:1 when I bought these. 2x Team Gold in 7:1, on G. Loomis GLX MBR-843 7' medium heavy. These are pretty much finesse jig rods, with a 5/16 or 7/16 pigsticker football on them year round. 2x Team Gold in 7:1, on old G. Loomis IM6- 7' popping rods. To be honest, I'd rather these be 6.4:1 ratio BB-1's, as I think the BB-1 ever so slightly outcasts the more expensive team gold, but I got a deal on them, so I use em. These rods are soft noodles, and get the Redfins and sometimes the bigger gunfish. These are long cast, open water topwater rods. Having said all of that, everything I own has been in the garage since August, because work and family...one day I'll get to use them again... LOL one more thought, that may not be the same now- all the Lews reels I have have the same paddles on the handles, and the same thumbar release, so they really don't take any time at all to adjust to, they feel pretty much the same in hand...

I don’t know that I’m willing to go as far as the no-name Chinese reels. I like the BB-1 best because it’s got the things I like in a reel- metal frame and centrifugal brakes, and bearings everywhere you bearings. It’s about $150, and as solid as you can get. For me, the more expensive reels mostly fall into incremental improvements. I like the combo of magnetic and centrifugal brakes for pitching and skipping, because I suck and those help me be better at something I’m not great at. Other than that, you really don’t get a lot for your dollar as you spend more in reels. You get a little lighter, but that’s about it, IMHO. The cheaper reels all have graphite frames, and I’m just not sold on them from a durability aspect. Once you get into a metal frame, I’m perfectly fine with any of the Lews models.

I'm a lews fan, but haven't bought any of the higher end ones in a few years. I own team golds, super dutys, and BB-1's, and I've been very happy with all of them, and I've got close to 20. To be honest, for the way I fish and what I like in a reel (I prefer centrifugal brakes), the plain BB-1 is all I need for any moving bait applications, and casts those baits a mile. My team golds still suit my needs for pitching jigs and for bottom contact baits, and they are like 5 years old at this point. I will say that they don't hold their resale value quite as well as Shimano. I believe this to be because of a market perception that they don't hold up as well, which I have NOT found to be true. I also think it's because they are constantly coming out with new models, and that puts reels several generations back in just a few years. I don't think you could go wrong with Lews, but you may not need to spend $349 each unless ya just wanna...

Hey, the sound engineer was awake too, I was just surfing on the other fishing site after I got home from work. I hate the days I have to work at the casino and then work church the next morning...

I've found the wife finds a lot less for me to do if I have a tournament scheduled, vs. just mention that I'm thinking of going fishing next week...she's ok with me fishing, but there are times the honey-dos seem to multiply right before a good couple of days when I could run to the lake.

My personal fishing evolution has gone something like- Phase 1-struggle to get bites or catch one anything in a day Phase 2-catch a few to a lot of dinks consistently most days I fish, struggle to catch a keeper Phase 3-catch a keeper(s) most days I fish, struggle to catch a limit Phase 4-catch a limit of keepers most days I fish, struggle to catch a big (3 pound smallie/spot, 4 pound LMB) fish Phase 5-catch a limit of big fish On Bull Shoals and LOZ, I'm generally pretty darn close to a phase 4 fisherman, on weekdays, when I can kind of choose the weather I'm going in. In a derby, I'm much closer to Phase 3, although I have a definite pattern going lately of having 4 fish with one or two good ones, and missing a limit fish that keeps me out of a check. I think part of it is poor time management on game day, and part of it is fishing pressure, but it's nice to see where I measure up. I think if I guy can be somewhere between phase 4 and phase 5, day in day out, regardless of weather and seasonal pattern, he's gonna do pretty well in the local tournament world. The TRUE pros that can be Phase 4+, on tour, fishing everything from tidal backwaters to highland impoundments to Great Lakes smallmouth to TVA river lakes to Florida swamps, are the names we all know. Lots of phase 4++ guys in their region drop to phase 2 or 3 on tour. Idk, may not make any sense to anyone but me, but that's kind of how I look at it

I resemble this remark. I only fish a few derbies a year, although I'm contemplating the Winter Bass-o-Thon, or maybe Joe Bass Bull Shoals again. It's a money loser for me, but I know that going in. It's also a bit like playing the lottery, there is always the chance that I may get lucky. The truth is though, I enjoy knowing how I stack up. On days that I'm in a derby, I fish harder and learn more than when I'm just out for fun. I've never won one, although I have gotten inside the top ten a couple times, one of which was in a winter bass o thin against a tough crowd of locals. What I learn by competing, I don't feel like I learn just when fun fishing, so for me, the entry fees are worth it. I'd never run my family hungry, or use bill money to play with, but I've spent disposable income in dumber ways in my life. YMMV, Mark

This. A fast stop by the sportsmans outlet in Springfield and I'm always happy. I also haven't had any durability problems. I have a bunch of Team Gold and BB-1 baitcasters that are now several seasons old, and they seem to hold up just as well as the Shimanos they replaced, with a good cleaning and lube every once in a while. If anyone has some that are whining or feel loose, I'd recommend taking them by Springfield and see what the guys can do for you.

I gues he has retired, but Bob Bochert out of the Theodosia area knows where Walter lives.

Any way to lock the ultrex? Change out the hardware to something with a security bit maybe? I mean, a theif that would take a troller is committed, but still- that's a lot of money sitting up there...

Wasn't that part of what Bass Anglers Sportsman's Society was doing before everyone decided that we had to "grow the sport"? 🤔 We have a pretty darn good collective voice here on this forum, but I'm not sure how to go about making the Corps aware of us, since we don't have large sums of money to donate to politicians, unless Phil is holding out on us...lol One unpopular (and off topic- Phil, please remove if it becomes an issue) thing I will say though, is that there is actually a lot more common ground between some of the liberal tree hugger organizations and us outdoorsmen, than there is between the oil, mining, and pro global corporation groups that lobby DC every day for doing away with the clean water act, deregulating the national forests, and privatizing national parks. If we want the Corps of Engineers to consider fishermen and outdoor recreation, we *might* have to look at a wider scope of candidates when it comes to voting, on both the local and national levels, because in theory, the COE works for us, but in reality, they only take orders from those we put into office with our votes.

Jeremey, Thanks for taking the time to post this here on OAF. I also agree with Bryan, bass fishing on Bull Shoals is going to continue to be good in 2020. Now, if I only don't get flooded out before the post spawn topwater bite really gets going...

I won't comment much on these latest TMR thefts, other than to give my condolences to the guys who lost all their gear. Opening up a rod locker to nothing but carpet sucks bad. After getting hit twice like 15 or 20 years ago, once on the dock, and once in the covered storage on the hill, I just stopped leaving anything I want to keep in a boat overnight. This pretty much led me to dropping my boat in and out each day and not renting even nightly slips. Thieves can still get me at the hotel, so I still take gear in and out, but it's easier to secure my stuff when my boat is parked just outside the room vs. at a seasonal business during the "off" season. I also believe that the lake areas in general, and the Missouri side of Bull Shoals specifically, have suffered a lack of quality LE since the highway patrol/water patrol merger. The old water patrol officer, Mike Cochran, was able to recover some of my stolen gear once, and kept a solid eye out for thieves in the area. I just don't feel like we have the same level of local LE presence from the highway patrol troopers. Don't get me wrong, they do their best, but they seem to be stretched too way thin in the ozarks, IMHO. I hope they find the stolen gear, but with the combination of Meth and EBay, I just don't trust leaving my hard to replace stuff anywhere, be it Theodosia Marina, Branson, Lake of the Ozarks, or my own driveway in the burbs of St. Louis. It's not a specific TMR problem, it's a every darn place all the time problem. I have been blessed with an abundance of fishing crap, some would (probably rightly) say that I'm a hoarder with a sickness. I realized years ago though, that this stuff is a LOT harder to replace now that I'm a husband and a father. So, I leave stuff I'm not likely to use at home. I load up for seasonal patterns, travel as light as my aforementioned mental illness will let me, (think 6 to 8 combos vs maybe 30) and I unload the boat after each day. Bonus is, I think it's made me a better fisherman, increased my organization, and made me pre-plan my trips better. I've had it bite me in the butt a couple times, when patterns were changing fast in the spring and I was all stocked up with warts and jerkbaits and didn't have the spook box I probably needed, but it's been at least 15 years since I've had to go buy all new crap. Sadly, I think we all just are living in a world where we have to assume that thieves will find a way to theif, and $500 to $1000 combos, $1500-3000 graphs, and tackle boxes full of $25-30 baits are just too easy of a target to be ignored anymore.

The part that I find most interesting is that the only time I read of Jesus showing REAL ANGER, was when the religious folk of the day, turned the temple into a place of business. There is an entire multimillion, probably multi billion dollar worldwide evangelical industry today, which trades mainly in anger and outrage. Most of which, feeds back through media company corporate consolidation to large companies run by folks who are decidedly un-Christian in belief and actions. I know first hand from my involvement in the "Christian" record business, that the accent is firmly on "business" and the "Christian" side of things is just a label, like "country" or "rock" or "R&B", as well as know how hard megachurches work at marketing to get their slice of the evangelical pie. I personally think that those who have an understanding of their faith as real, and not myth, would do well to take a step back from the media industry surrounding it and refocus on practicing it on a smaller, more personal level of showing love and care to those who directly cross their path. Back to the fakebook, umm I mean Facebook topic tho- I don't want to hurt any feelings here, because I'd gladly share a boat with any OAF member, on any day. The respect folks show for each other and their beliefs around here is amazing, and a true testament to the character that Phil runs this place with!

I was looking at you, Wrench, when I said I was gonna lose some folks...lol I'm not advocating we ignore science, or all subscribe to a "earth is 6000 years old because that's how I interpret the Bible" world view. Knowledge isn't inherently evil, and neither is the Internet. I do find the fact that the logo hasn't changed in a few thousand years interesting though...