fishinwrench

My biggest issue with Spotted bass is that they exist in streams only to be a host for a parasite. I haven't knifed very many SM but of the ones I have filleted I have never ran across a single grub in their meat. On the other hand I have knifed a bunch of spotted bass from streams and you can't hardly find a single Spotted bass that has no grubs in it. And many of them have as much weight in grub meat as they have in fish meat. That's freakin' disgusting. For whatever reason the parasites find exactly what they are looking for in the spotted bass.

On smaller streams like the Little Niangua, where the elimination of a daily catch might make a difference, I'll throw them up on the bank. But on the bigger rivers it isn't going to change things noticably I don't think unless EVERYBODY does it and continues to do it forever. The MDC should propagandize the hell out of that so that everyone knows what a spotted bass is and knows to eliminate it from the system every chance they get. Otherwise nothing is ever going to change.

There's no fixing this for good. Even if you shock up and kill every Spotted bass and Hybrid in the river it is only a temporary thing. They are just going to repopulate again and again and again. Might as well just accept them and carry on with your life. Same conclusion I've come to in regards to the White bass/Hybrid mutts here in Lake O. It can't be fixed, the damage is done.

Awesome choice, looks like you really did your homework. Assuming the velocity tests on YT are accurate your numbers should look like this with Crosman Premier 14.3gr. (which it reportedly shoots well). This is with a 25yd. Zero

Saw a few cool ones. It started clouding up here about 1:00

Car wax or Rain-X will supposedly keep ice from building up. The water on your guides will still freeze but one shake of the rod and it all falls right off. So they say. I don't fish when it's down in the 20's anymore.

Been looking periodically but haven't seen one yet. Supposed to peak about 1:30-2:00 so I just put coffee on. The youngest child is currently having a meltdown because it's bedtime and she hasn't seen a shooting star yet. I told her she could stay up for it but then mom had a meltdown and said "no way". So now me and the youngest are both in the dog house. Piss on it, she can't tell ME when to go to bed !

I'm excited for ya. Which one did you get for yourself?

A bad rectifier will do that. So will some older key switches. If you get a little spark when connecting the battery to the motor battery leads, disconnect the main harness plug under the cowling and see if the spark goes away, if it does then your key switch is mildly shorted to ground. If it doesn't then the short to ground is most likely in the rectifier or voltage regulator. Disconnect the red wire to the rectifier or regulator (whichever your motor has) and the spark will probably go away. About the only other thing that will cause a constant draw on the battery is if you have a stereo in the boat. They draw constant micro voltage to maintain channel memory.

I've been doing alot of ballistics calculating, and I'm learning some cool stuff. There's so many useful resources out there (apps and stuff) for Airgun geeks! Want a detailed and incredibly accurate ballistics chart with any gun and (almost) any pellet? You can get it in minutes. Here's my latest with the JSB Jumbo Heavy .22 I've learned that it takes about 4gr. of pellet weight or a pellet with a drastically different BC (ballistic coefficient) to make a worthwhile difference. A heavier (and slower) pellet will overtake a lighter (faster) one at about 30 yards both in speed and energy. It takes about 12 ft/lbs of pellet energy to take down a critter the size of a fox. About 9 ft/lbs for a squirrel, and 7 for a rabbit. So choose the heaviest pellet that has a ballistic curve you can live with and is consistently accurate enough for kill zone shots at your furthest range. Then determine what kinda critter you have enough punch to take on. Looks like I'm good on fox/coon/possum type critters out to 40 yards, and squirrel/rabbit type critters out past my effective shooting range (which is now 55-60 yards). Last week I couldn't get a good 50 yard group to save my hide, but now I can hammer 5 in a little Post-it note easily at 55. Super fun stuff.

I like that too. My wife asked "Don't you ever get burnt out talking about boats and fishing?" Hasn't happened yet. I've heard horror stories about barns and houses burning down because of battery chargers left on, and the motorcycle shop up the road burnt down just last year because of a battery charger left on a 4-wheeler overnight so I don't do it anymore.

My persimmons were 2 forks and a knife.

Don't run an EFI/DFI outboard out of fuel if you can keep from doing it. Introducing air into the high pressure fuel pump while it is running is not advisable. It overruns and overheats real fast if it is not submerged in fuel.

JD pretty much covered it. On your jet you need to hit that grease zert every time you pull back into your driveway. Yeah I know it's "zerk" but all the mechanics who I looked up to all my life said "zert", so I say it that way out of respect. If you keep the boat in a garage then remove the cowling and let things dry out under there, and blow out any dead bugs or other crap that has collected in the lower cowling. If you see anything that looks like a piece of broken plastic or a bushing of some kind.....find out what it is and where it came from. Any bolts, nuts, or washers laying in there? Find out where they came from. If you smell fuel or see fuel puddled anywhere under the cowling close your eyes and give the primer bulb a few hard squeezes to see if fuel squirts or oozes out anywhere. If it does... get it fixed ASAP. (close your eyes because if there's a leak there is a 80% chance that it will hit you right in the face....they love to do that). Water pumps on jet pumps need service twice as often as prop lowers. Don't play games with THAT because even if you're in a warranty period the warranty is void if the motor suffers an overheat. On your 4-stroke POS you'll wanna check your engine oil kinda frequently. If it's low add some, if it's getting dark, change it, if oil level is HIGH your in trouble....check your bank balance and give your favorite outboard tech a call (Actually, no, don't tell anybody, just sell it quick while it's still running, and go buy a new motor). Battery(s):. Keep them charged up and clean, make sure terminal connections are clean & tight (use a wrench or pliers, not your fingers). Buy a new cranking battery every 2 years regardless of how good you think it still is (cheap insurance against ignition/charging system problems). What else can we talk about here? Feel like pulling the foot and inspecting/tuning the jet impeller?

Sounds like you have a good excuse to go do a bunch more fishing soon.

I have a stack of empty fuel cans and 2 inboard fuel tanks in my bone pile outside, some have been there for 3 years or more. I just went and checked (just for YOU) and there is no moisture in any of them. All 7 portable tanks and both inboard tanks are bone dry. So unless someone talked you into installing some kind of "fuel heater" inside your fuel tank, and you drank that Kool-aid too, then I think you're safe from any condensation. Don't you just love a smart a$$ on a Wednesday morning?

Nah, we're talking about less than 6 gallons here. Which do you think is better, fuel that has had kerosene and more alcohol poured in it to "save it", or good freshly bought fuel? Fuel stabilizer isn't a gimmick, it does what they claim it does, kinda, but it also degrades the fuel to a degree, and the claims are largly exaggerated so they can sell more of it (duh!). I can't set idle mixture correctly when the fuel has stabilizer (or any other additives) added to it, so what's that tell you? Injector pulse timing is programmed with fresh 87 octane fuel, free of a witches brew of additives in it. Again, what's that tell you? If you have a full 40-120 gallon tank then it's your only reasonable option....but otherwise your way better off with good fresh fuel. Now that our rubber compounds have been reformulated the only real downside to alcohol blended fuel is that it has a very short shelf life. I encourage everyone to treat fuel like milk. Buy only as much as you need at the time, and drink it up before it goes bad. Why don't we have additives to make milk last longer? If we did would you buy milk by the barrel full, or still buy it fresh by the gallon? If you find yourself with too much fuel in your tank then go looking for Smallies below Cannon dam, that'll burn it up!

Whose Kool-aid are YOU drinkin'?

Excellent! The only thing I'd add is to not let it set for extended periods. Even if all you can do is hook up a hose to it every few weeks and let it run for 5 minutes in your driveway, then by all means do it. The worst thing you can do to an outboard motor is to let it set for a month or two without running it. You are using a small portable fuel tank so do NOT pour in any additives or stabilizer. If fuel gets older that 6 weeks dump it out or use it in a chainsaw or lawn mower, or your truck. Keep the fuel in your outboard and in its fuel supply/primer hose fresh, and keep good fresh fuel moving through the system.

If you're strictly targeting smallmouth you are gonna need something to get you up and down the river. On Elk fork I used a 2 man ABS catamaran type boat for awhile and it worked ok BUT those little things are like paddling a log raft and with 2 guys, a battery and gear they draft over 12". Middle Fork is big enough for a full size 16' jon boat with an outboard. Canoe or yak is great as long as you're not fly-fishing.

Not many do, we're laying some good stuff on ya here man! You'd better prove worth it. There were only a small handful of river rats back before MT was impounded and all but a few were strictly catfisherman. My grandpa just happened to be one of the few. After the lake was built the tributary rivers pretty much got completely deserted and forgotten. They aren't the kind of rivers that you float just for fun, and your girlfriend/wife will NOT have a good time so you should probably leave her at home. But there are some nice fish to be caught. It isn't "Ozark Smallie fishin'" it's just Bass Fishing, and some of the bass you catch will be Smallmouth. Monroe, Audrain, and Montgomery counties have an interesting geological substrate. As you go down the rivers there will be areas of mud, areas of white clay, areas of limestone rock, flint, sand, and gravel. So what you see when you cross a bridge or pull up to an access area is not what you're gonna see all day as you move up or downstream.

Let's do that! I need to visit home. I've forgotten what it's like to spend a week on the river and not see anyone.

I didn't experience any "truly good" days this year, did you? I betcha if I had run up to my old stomping grounds in Monroe county I'd have had a truly good day. No angler pressure, no giggers, no float partiers.....and plenty of stupid hungry fish. Plus I would have gotten to see some bullfrogs. No bullfrogs in the Ozarks

LOL. I never waded or canoed the Salt, always had a motorboat for it. I learned to waterski on the Salt River. Dad's favorite thing to do was dump me in a boggy ol' backwater where it was creepy to swim. See where my sense of humor comes from?