fishinwrench

Yeah don't use straps. I have one you could borrow for a day, or you could swing by here with the boat and use my ring and hoist free of charge.... But unless you are in the Lake O area for what it would cost you in fuel you could just buy one. Heck I could use another one, so go ahead and buy one, use it, then I will buy it from you when you're done. Deal?

Crosscut fur strips IMO are unnecessary. Once fur is wet it will do whatever the water flow tells it to do. The "crosscut" thing is a marketing ploy, it is how they manage to sell the inferior cuts from the side of a rabbit hide. For all intents and purposes the straight strips from the back of the critter are way better, they are more dense in fur and the hide is tougher. Straight strips are useful in more applications (tailing, winging, palmering). There is no benefit that I can fathom for buying/using crosscut strips for palmering. It just makes it harder to manage and takes more wraps to get the job done. Just throwing out my .02 for free since it was never asked for. ?

When I let one soak I don't allow it to just sit there on a slack line, I keep the line taught by moving it forward verrrry slooooowly. If the line is fairly tight they usually get stuck. Or at the very least they'll knock slack in the line and you'll know you've been bit.

Oops double post.

Well the reason I said I'd be hesitant to advise until I knew the whole story is because I know how deals like that can get weird. Example: I am currently doing a bunch of work to a Evinrude powered Triton that initially started out as a lower unit and jackplate replacement covered by insurance. Well when the guy learned how big of a check he was gonna get from his insurance co....the wheels in his head started spinning. So now instead of just swapping out a gearcase and jackplate I am overhauling the existing lower unit, and since I refused to attempt a repair on the damaged jackplate because I didn't think it was safe, he found some dude up in KC that agreed to do that and also do some cosmetic fiberglass work. He then decides that when he brings the boat back from the fiberglass shop he not only wants his freshly rebuilt and painted to match gearcase installed, he wants interior LED lights installed in the livewells, and a whole new switch panel installed because the original one is looking a bit weathered. And oh yeah...While you have it can you install all new lid assist cylinders because all the old ones don't hold the hatch lids open anymore, and oh yeah, there's a recirculation pump that doesn't work. Oooo K, so I order all the stuff and await the return of the boat. Well, the cosmetic fiberglass work didn't end up looking as nice as he'd hoped, and the guy that did that and the hydraulic jackplate repair ended up charging quite a bit more than was expected.....So now (in his mind) it's up to ME to keep this whole project within budget. When I stick it in his @$$ with a bill that is 1k+ over our original discussion, who do ya reckon he's gonna have an attitude with? And if you ever were to just hear HIS side of the story later on, you'd likely agree that ol'fishinwrench just flat out raped him. ☺

While I totally agree that everyone should pick up their trash, I have noticed that landowners tend to be enormous exaggerators much of the time. One might say "those basturds left trash everywhere", making you think of giant heaps that would take 3 men and a truck to clean it up, when in reality it was 2 beer cans and an empty cigarette pack. Still not good....but c'mon now. ?

Some are gas motors, they serve as a push fan AND a generator for the lights.

Whoopsy! Well I would need the WHOLE STORY to advise on how to proceed. Was there a budget mentioned when you gave them the long list of things you wanted done? Sometimes when you are trying to complete a job within a certain budget allowance you can't provide a perfect finished product. The screw thru the hull is a whoopsy, not a big deal at all, surely they'll fix that and apologize profusely. Step one: Calm down.

It's a fan pusher. Pushes you along through shallow flat water nice and easy for bowfishing. Doesn't churn up mud or spook fish. Operates off the generator power.

They aren't going to award over a million dollars to someone who was trespassing and got hurt. So there's obviously more to that story.....Or it's just a crock.

Well that's good. They grow fast so you should start getting some better ones real soon. Just because you catch whites on the lower ends of a lake in the Spring doesn't mean they are dropping eggs there. I was catching some from further down the lake in November that were already full of eggs and sperm. When they are actually spawning the female will be right at the surface with several males frantically circling her. They are pretty picky about where they do the deed. In the creeks where I chase them they may be spread out over several miles of stream but the only actual spawning activity is always in a few selected areas, and those areas change from day to day. I assume because of either water temp, water clarity, or the amount of current at the time. One thing is for sure, if you are catching them then they aren't in the act of spawning. You're more likely to snag one than get one to bite when the egg dumping is happening. The best catching is always a bit upstream of where all the slashing around is going on. If there is anyone else fishing the creek when I am there I always do better because these local boys haven't figured that out yet. They'll wear their arms out casting to those frantic spawners and will only catch a couple. It burns them up when I come back downstream 45 minutes later with a stringer full. ?

Interesting. Have the Whites made a comeback on Pomme yet ? So what kind of areas do you find them spawning, and when?

It's a great way to hone a kids coordination. Our 7y/o couldn't do anything until she started swinging a badminton racket around, but shortly after she started getting the hang of that she could suddenly throw and catch a frisbee, hit a ball with a bat, cast a fishing rod, and all sorts of stuff. She has a heck of a time with bicycles though, she can't shake the fear of crashing and goes totally Rainman about it. Drives me crazy.

Yeah they'll run up Mill cr. as far as old South 8 after a good rain. I've stood on that old single lane bridge and watched them. When it was up and rolling mud there were a bunch of Buffalo slopping around, but as soon as it settled down and started to clear up there was 20 or more whites zipping around within 100 feet both ways of the bridge.

I'm not aware of any open lake spawning by Whites. I've heard they will sometimes spawn on flat points, but I've spent alot of time on flat points during the Springtime and I've never witnessed it. White spawning activity is pretty hard to miss. If it's truly going on you're gonna notice it. They will still get it done below Truman dam regardless of the LO level, but all the other tributaries are basically land locked at 657.0 Like I said before, the males will first show up in the tribs (in small numbers) at 657.5 if the water temp is at least in the low 50° range, which is usually around the first week of April. They simply will not try to cross 150-200+ yards of ankle deep stillwater in order to get into the flowing portion of the tributaries regardless of the temp. The gar will do it, but not the White bass. And they always vacate the creeks by mid-late May. After that you might have a few hybrids that will stick around into June, but the Whites will be gone.

Here is the required guide curve with the window of White bass spawning activity shown with the green line. As you can see the Whites have a very short window of opportunity even with the best of circumstances.

Heck yeah! Somebody has to stick up for those guys. They are the blue collar workers of the lake. If you think those lazy entitled green basturds will keep the shad population in check, you're crazy. All they wanna do is sit in the shade and wait for handouts. ?

There may not be, and I certainly hope there isn't. Over the last several years though, they seem to have this habit of not allowing a gradual rise from low Winter pool. During the spawning season they invariably begin a up/down/up/down thing that keeps the level fluctuating 1.5 - 2' with a base level below 658.0 As far as I can tell it hasn't had a noticeable negative effect on the bass/crappie/bluegill spawn, and it certainly doesn't effect the catfish spawn since they spawn later during summer pool levels, but it does negatively effect the White bass spawn. What they either don't know, or don't care about, is that during normal pool levels the incoming water from creeks forms a sediment level creating large flats of shallow water, and when the level is then dropped and held several feet lower then there is a dam (of sorts) that prevents fish movement up into the creeks. When the lake level is below 657.8 you won't find a single White bass migrating into the creeks to spawn. At 658.0 a few will start making the jump, and the eagles and ospreys will camp out over the flats to pick a few off when they try. At 658.5 and above they'll run full force. 2 years ago they didn't allow the lake above 657.5 until late May and we lost a complete year class of Whites (I think). For a fish species that only lives 4-5 years max, losing a complete year class is bad news. If we ever lost two year classes back to back I think you'd definitely notice way fewer Whites. I love Whites, so to me that matters.

I'd say that they have figured out that even if it was 30.00 per boat the parking lot would still be full most days during the season. By keeping it as "low" as 10.00 they are doing you a twenty-dollar favor. ? Things get a little too crowded around there at times, so maybe they are just trying to thin out the rif-raf a bit.

Excellence ! ??

Wow, that's gonna add up to a pretty good chunk by the end of the year. What are their plans for all that extra dough ? Is the swimming beach still free? A $10 fee should include someone launching you and parking your truck, then fetching it when you return. I mean that's equal to 5 trips across the toll bridge just to drive over a 46 year old slab of concrete.

Anybody remember the Eagle Claw 45 Auto worm hooks ? Crazy. I was a Tru-Turn guy until Gami wide gaps hit the market. The alleged science behind them is questionable but I did catch a lot of fish on them. I bought some for catfishin' awhile back. You never hear anyone talk about them but they are actually a darn good hook after you sharpen them a bit. Circle hooks totally blow my mind. I'll never use one, my mind just can't accept it, but somehow they must work very well because alot of guys swear by them.

Pfffft! That dude hasn't even thrown any soft plastics since they hit the market. Bet ya a dollar. ? And if he did the fish weren't jumping. I wasn't aware there was a problem with fish "throwing" the other ones.

You're leaving out Retirement as an option? Haven't you made enough money yet?!!!?

One of my partner's has a couple. As of yet he hasn't whooped up on me with them. There are too many places he is afraid to throw it.