fishinwrench

The upper Gravois can still be accessed and fished during Summer. A cruiser will occasionally run up, do a Uey, and stir things up, but it isn't a constant barrage. The upper Glaize should be the same accessed out of PB#1 The far upper ends of all the other tribs remain fairly calm but you need to be able to get there, so access becomes a problem. The Little Niangua can be accessed from Green Mill campground for a fee. The upper Niangua can be accessed from Der'Vaters Edge resort for a fee.

I wouldn't buy a whole bag of shot, I'd just cut open a shell or three of #8's, that'd be enough for quite awhile. On the other hand..... there's a mod for a Daisy red Ryder that turns it into a pretty effective little shotgun. Allegedy good to 15 yards or so. A paper hole puncher is used to make wads from a Oreo package. I assume you load from the muzzle.

I have crashed in some pretty shady digs, I'm really surprised that I have yet to meet my first bed bug. I have had to deal with a flea infestation though. Probably about the same.

The EPA needs to be Trump Stomped on this outboard motor thing. We had some truly fine outboards being built until those douchebags came along. They haven't succeeded in cleaner water, they've only succeeded in costing folks a lot of money to own and maintain watercraft. Instead of the fine, strong and reliable/easy to maintain motors of the 80's-90's now we have the Rock'em $ock'em Robot, and The Conehead-Blownhead pushing 2018 boats.

Back when I rode dirt bikes I was all about Honda's. And if I ever get another one it will either be a Honda or a Kawasaki. Awesome machines! Not too impressed with their outboards but in all honesty I haven't gotten to spend much time with one. I had one brought in with a bad starter relay and a tilt/trim problem so I called the nearest dealer to see if they had a starter relay in stock, and to speak with their tech about the trim issue. The tech asked me if I had completed Honda's "platinum service training" course, and I said Nope. So he says "well why are you working on it then?" I asked if he did service calls to Gravois Mills, and he said "No". I said well THAT'S WHY I'm working on it then I guess. Bottom line is that he wouldn't advise me one bit on the trim issue, and the starter relay, while reasonably priced, was backordered from Japan and took just under 3 months to receive. The reason nobody can last very long as a Honda outboard dealer is because the factory refuses to share technical information to anyone who is not in their dealer network, and it's hard to sell a motor to anyone who lives more than 30 miles from a dealership because nobody else can knowledgeably service one of them.

Some people would rather be lied to than to hear something they don't wanna hear. I certainly don't enjoy upsetting anyone, but I have a hard time letting someone believe something that I know is BS......even if I could potentially profit from it.

Latest news from Mercury is that they are dumping the Opti-max/Pro XS. No more 2-stroke anything from Mercury going forward. Good luck getting OEM parts for them after the warranty period on the last production line of 2-strokes plays out. Just as well AFAIC.

It sounds like your batteries are on their way South. Leave them off the charger for 12 hours, test the voltage, then test the voltage drop when loaded. If you loose more than 0.5 (half a volt) after the 10 second load test then you should start saving up for a pair of fresh batteries.

Nothing inherantly wrong with Mercury motors. It's the company that is behind them that hacks me off. As big as they are they could afford to do a lot better job, and take more time to perfect things. But as with all things Mercury, they just gotta be the fastest. Fastest on the water....and fastest on THE MARKET. When you rush to get something out on the market, and then charge customers heavily for the mistakes you made by doing so.... That's just rotten.

Fly names It's getting harder every day.

A better plan altogether! I'm sending each of you a pair of Spiderman underwear. Wear them when your wet wading and I guarantee you'll appreciate them way more than any of the flys these hacks are about to whip up. As an extra bonus I'll include one pair that has been previously seasoned. . I'll not send the Batman ones though, because if I did you all would have pregnant wives within 6 weeks. Spiderman is considerably less potent around the lady's. Since my underwear has been repeatedly brought up since last October, let me explain before y'all start wondering "WHY IS A 50+ YEAR OLD MAN WEARING SPIDERMAN UNDIES?" It's because they are made from the same material, and probably come from the same manufacturing plant, as the 44.00/pair Under Armour stuff, they only cost 6.00/pair but only come with superhero's printed on them. They wear like iron and are bone dry 10 minutes after you get out of the river. The best undies in the world for bicycling or anything else outdoorsy. I once had a leech in my butt crack.....so I don't wet wade commando anymore, and I don't recommend that any of you should either.

Only when the ground is frozen. Things in the boating industry move considerably faster during the season. Your main lag time was over livewell reconfiguration. Nobody who loves themselves as much as I do is gonna pick a fight with 30 year old bassboat plumbing when the snow is flying.

Absolutely! What good is having experience if you can't fall back on it. I kept journals for 17 years. I can look back thru those and find identical conditions 98° of the time, and it may not result in a win but if I get all my bites in the boat it will absolutely result in a respectable finish. It's a starting point that always works and I understand it. I don't care anything about tournament fishing anymore but my goal anytime I go out is 12#. I consider 15# better than average, and anything above 15# is kickin' butt. I'll typically have 2-3 20#+ days per year, and I'm plenty happy with that, especially since a usual day on the water for me is only 5-6 hours.

I have no problems at all getting Johnson/Evinrude parts. Clear back to the late 1950's. I have no special contacts or anything. I order/they arrive in a timely fashion. What part did you have trouble getting?

I wouldn't say THAT..... but thanks!

I might buy some Zoo Cougars from Fly Depot and have them drop shipped to Ness. Want me to add a dozen Boogle Bugs to the order? You can buy me lunch some day.

Fly swaps become just like work after the first fly is finished. I'd rather you ask me to help you move. Because I'll at least know that I'll be fed and get handed a beer or two.

I have said this a dozen times on here, but I'll keep repeating it because it's important.... Operating a Trolling motor with a battery that is on its last leg will damage the brushes and armature contacts in the trolling motor. Low voltage creates heat, and excess heat causes the brushes and contacts to glaze over. A trolling motor that is ALWAYS run with good, strong batteries will stay strong and probably last forever. One that is run on dead or dying batteries will have a loss of power even after a fresh battery is added to the system, unless you replace the brushes and clean the armature contacts.

Well it IS time for a fresh battery, but something you need to know about chargers is that they bring a battery up to 15v as quickly as they can without over-boiling it, then they shut down until the battery voltage falls back to about 12.6, then they kick back on and once again bring it up to 15v. This goes on over and over again until the time it takes for the battery voltage to drop increases by a predetermined amount. Some chargers have a MANUAL option that over-rides this function but that is not advisable except in emergency situations, because without the cooling down cycle the battery can actually boil the electrolyte down to a level that exposes the plates. Simply charging until the light goes green ONCE is not charging the battery but about half way. A battery that is fully charged, in good condition, and has set for 12+ hours without being hooked to a charger will test at 12.70 or more. Here's a guide that shows percentage of charge that you can test with a simple voltmeter. To test the full condition of a battery just apply a decent load (turn something on that has a substantial current draw, for 10 seconds) and see how far the voltage falls. If it falls below 20% then returns to less than 0.5 volts of your beginning voltage when the load is removed then the battery is failing. When the light is green on a charger that doesn't indicate that the battery is fully charged, it simply means that the battery will not accept any more charge AT THAT TIME.

Nice! That's a fatty

I'm sorry but you are nuttier than a squirrel turd! There isn't an outboard out there with more readily available and reasonably priced parts than Evinrude! Even back to the 1960's For Christ sake man, Mercury parts start becoming NLA (no longer available) as early as 7 years after their manufacture date. What other company in the world, besides a government based company, can justify an 86.00 O-RING ? Surely you are just trying to get me all fired up.

Thought you said you checked the oil and the level was fine? That's pretty much impossible with a stuck or broken float on a 4-stroke. Whether carbed or EFI the flooding fuel had to of made it into the crankcase. Make sure they change the oil and oil filter after the float replacement.

BBT hasn't been around for a few years. Dude just up and left us I feel like I gave it ample opportunity, but that fly just didn't cut it for me. Either a Stalcup Crazy Dad, and/or a Mudbug continues to successfully do 100% of my crawdad imitating work.

There are models that do, but I can't tell ya which ones they are. It isn't in the pedestal, it is in the swivel base. Ski boats have them at the helm. Pull up on the lever and it releases, push down and it locks every 90° I thankfully don't know what effect chemotherapy or other treatments have on ones balance, but I do know that if it's been awhile since you've been in a boat your balance will be sketchy for awhile. But after you are out a few times your balance and ability to stay upright improves pretty quick. Alot of people go out once and find themselves staggering all over the boat so they immediately determine that they just HAVE TO have a seat. If they would just tuff it out for a day or two they'd find out that they can stand up there and fish just fine. Like anything else it is just something that takes a bit to get comfortable with. I used to roller skate all the time, but if I went tomorrow I guarantee I'd be hanging on to the fence for dear life and probably still bite it right quick. Give me a few hours though and I bet I can have it mastered again. Same deal. So my recommendation is to not be a puss and reach for a crutch right away, get out there and give yourself some time to get your sea legs back. Quit accepting the "I'm old and feeble" BS so quickly! I knew a 77 year old roofer with asthma and prostate cancer that could walk up 34' aluminum extension ladders like they were stairs and hop onto the roof with a cigarette in his mouth after puking up a whiskey hangover.