Dave Marks

Any seen some hopper action on the tailwater yet?

Still for sale, now with price drop...get it for 200!

Still available....please save me from having to deal with the wackos that populate craigslist Remember I can probably meet in or around (within an hour) of bella vista arkansas to deliver boat also, though I'd prefer someone local to tulsa area

Boat is still available guys

Hi there, my name is Dave Marks. I have a red and grey skagit pontoon I bought a few months ago that I'm looking to sell. http://www.classicaccessories.com/product_detail.aspx?pid=307&cid=3 I've taken it out maybe half a dozen times total. A couple times on a small local lake, lake brittany in bella vista, and twice to beaver tailwaters. No leaks, no rips, tears or patches. The only wear is a little dirt that can be hosed off and some scratches on the frame which is basically impossible to avoid if putting it together or taking it apart stream side. I took it out to beaver tailwaters just a few days ago but on the way back I needed to scratch an itch and stopped in at the siloam springs Cherokee casino and hit a jackpot ...so I'm thinking I'd like to upgrade to a 2 man boat now. I live near Tulsa, but my parents are retired to Bella vista and I visit frequently to fish...oh and see them too, I guess So if you are interested we could probably meet up some where around there fairly soon. Otherwise I'm looking for local buyers around Tulsa, or are willing to drive to Tulsa to pick it up. When I looked for these used I couldn't find them for much less then retail. In fact I saw one of the cheapest models sell on ebay used for a few dollars more then you can buy the same model for new (silly people). Anyways I was looking to get around 250 for mine. Sorry No motor, I got a pretty good deal on the 40lbs thrust reconditioned from sportsmans guide so i'd like to hold onto it for the upgrade boat. Btw with the high water and full generation at beaver I was still able to creep upstream, no generation was no problem at all of course. Not sure if it would make it upstream during more typical periods of generation when river level is lower and faster. I can throw in the hand pump and whatever came with the boat which really wasn't much more then the oars and a valve wrench and a patch. I think I can find that stuff (I definitely have the oars, wrench, and everything needed to inflate the boat). If anything seems to be missing I'll knock a few bucks off and if you feel you need it there is a kit that contains the odds and ends that came with the boat plus some other stuff for around $30 online, but the boat is ready to fish now if you were to add your own trolling motor and battery. Here is one place that carries the kit... (you want the large size with the extra brass oar holder for this boat model) http://www.kodiakoutback.com/ProductDetails.asp?ProductCode=PONTOON+BOAT+REPAIR+KIT_12&utm_source=VersaFeed&utm_medium=VersaFeed&utm_content=Pontoon+Boat+Repair+Kit&utm_campaign=base&v_traceback=c0613_0715_f0619_0744&Click=6 Its probably a good idea to pick up the kit regardless just so you have back ups of everything. That was my plan until I decided to sell...just hadn't gotten around to it yet. Oh the foot pump will fit in the cargo area of the boat. This particular boat retails for around 375-400 new and then you gotta figure 35+ for shipping. So basically that would be around at least 160 less then brand new for a nearly new boat. Like I said its only a few months out of the box and I've made some modifications, some of which you can see here... This pic is crappy but you can see the modifications I made for paddling and the raised seat. Mainly I added a motor mount for a trolling motor and raised the seat up substantially since I like to sit high off the water (craft is still extremely stable even sitting high, pretty much can't tip it sideways and even leaning all the way back to screw with the motor my 155lbs and battery weight wasn't enough to tip it backwards). The downside to raising the seat was you sit to high to use the oars so I started modifying those. I installed steal pipe where the oar holder would go and then installed the oar holders at the ends. It worked but now the oars are to short to reach more then a couple inches into the water, but since I don't actually use them (40lbs thrust trolling motor), I haven't fixed that yet. They might be usable if you replaced the 13 inch seat riser with an 8 inch one (the 2 sizes available at most wal-marts) and removed the steel pipes. Other option is to replace the 2 pipes with slightly shorter ones or cut the ones there a few inches and reattach the cap the oar holder is mounted through. Or if you wanted you or I could just undo the oar/seat modifications and use it as intended, but its pretty sweet sitting higher. I could cast my fly rod pretty easily from it and my feet still reached the foot rests (I'm 5'9). If I were to keep it I'd probably just adjust the pipe length rather then give up my high chair I used threaded sections of galvanized steel natural gas line, which aren't hard to come by. One thing nice about this model is the nice cargo basket and storage pockets, stripping apron also (with measuring tape graphic printed on it). I laid down some finer mesh material in the basket so small things won't fall through into the water. I'll throw in the battery box also since its zip tied to the boat. The motor mount board is installed with heavy duty zip ties and painted black to match the frame. If you are thinking "Zip ties? Hmmm, not sure about that..." Don't worry, that sucker isn't budging. Its very secure. I leave the frame partially assembled in my suv, basically broken down into the 2 side sections, the seat section and the basket and all that plus the deflated pontoons fit in the cargo area of my suv pretty easily. I haven't done any modifications to the boat that can't be undone within a few minutes using the most basic of tools. So you can take this thing all the way back to stock setup pretty easily if you want and use the oars as intended, or modify my modifications to get the oars usable while still sitting high and having the option of a trolling motor Anyways enough rambling for now...If you are interested feel free to contact me here, or Dmarksvr@yahoo.com or if you just have some questions. I'll give my number to those who seem like serious buyers and wanna chat about the boat or have another way to contact me. I have the title of course (haven't gotten around to sticking the registration numbers on the side yet) and can send drivers license pic with address and all that if you need any reassurances that I'm real and want to have the option of knocking on my door if something went wrong Its a good little boat and has encouraged me to get out and fish a lot more then I have in recent years, I'm just looking for a 2 man craft now that I've got some real money in my pocket from that jackpot let me know! thanks! Sincerely, Dave

I was there on the 16th, and did ok trolling deep divers from my 1 man pontoon. Caught half a dozen 13-15 inch rainbow trout and 1 sand bass or small hybrid (i forget how to tell the difference). Water is still extremely high as others have said and shore fishing is very limited. Most of the places where you'd even have a chance to catch something from shore were taken pretty early so if you are going to attempt it from shore get out real early and claim your spot. Road is closed to the handicap accessible area and parking spot that puts you at the big left turn in the river. I think you can still walk down there but fishing space is limited and if the Corps catch you driving past the barricade its a 500 dollar fine I think. I stayed at spider creek 1 night hoping that even with high water I'd be able to fish that great hole right there from shore but no dice. Might be able to fish the creek some but I didn't try. Water is over the driving surface of their little red bridge so you have to take the county road behind the Dam store to get to the other side of the resort. There were still lots of cicadas on the water, but I saw very few fish rise at all while there and never saw one actually hit a cicada. I tried fly fishing a cicada but no takes or even rises to look at it. People are catching all kinds of stuff that came through the dam, and walleyes are being caught also I heard. As others have said if you have a boat its worth fishing for sure but otherwise probably best to head elsewhere. My 40lbs thrust motor was able to get me upstream even during generation so if your boat is small enough you may not need an outboard but be careful out there kids.

Thanks, I think it will be awhile before that happens unless I'm specifically going just to practice at one of the small lakes by my house but perhaps someday when I have more confidence in my ability...especially when it comes to fishing nymphs and emergers. I've stuck with mostly dries and streamers so far, but I'll have to learn nymphs on the white river system to be successful consistently (and midges)

I didn't do so hot on my trip last week. I only caught 2 on a small brown/black woolly bugger. I tried the cicada, several small dries, foam beetle, some larger streamers like zoo cougar and sculpins, but fish didn't show any interests in anything but the woolly bugger. There was a guy near the end of zone 2 fishing sinking glow balls or whatever with an indicator and doing really well. I went and got some on my 3rd trip to the store for drinks and to cool down but by that time was tired and overheated so decided to head back to the folks house in bella vista. I didn't make it to Tim's shop sadly, have to check it out next time I guess. I did have one significant accomplishment on that trip though... First time I've refrained from picking up my spinning rod. It was fly fishing only

Rad, thx Tim. might be by the shop for gear if im not to busy catchin fish ill probably be on the water by the time someone reads this

I'm thinking of heading that way Tuesday/Wednesday since the white and beaver tailwaters are so high now and I don't have an outboard, just a 40lbs thrust trolling motor. I'm curious are the cicadas out there yet and if so, have they started dropping into the water and have the fish keyed in on them yet? Thx