fishinwrench

I don't think we'll be seeing many airboats on our rivers. The guys down on Okeechobee say that you have to be able to "build one" in order to own one because they are always in a constant state of repair. And judging by the number of air rigs 1/2 torn down in back yards around there I believe them.

Atta boy! If 24 Goggle-eye fillets ain't a good trade for a handful of worms then I don't know what is. Way better eatin' than those hatchery slicks, that's for sure.

Oh come now If you can carry a sack of dekes then you could pull MY Jon upstream over a shoal! I can just clip the rope to the belt loop of a rotten pair of cutoffs and it follows along like a hungry puppy. And my big old Olympic wasn't much harder (man I really miss that boat ) Doesn't matter tho, I seriously doubt that You, Seth, Goggle-eyed, ect. would be the type to send folks hightailing it to dry land while giving the old Ft.Leonard Wood/Trout&sons shrug. I honestly have nothing against jet outboards, I love them! But if everyone who wants to use a jonboat on a Ozark river gets it in their head that a jet is the only way they can pull it off then we are all gonna be in trouble.

Yeah I find it harder and harder to be cordial when I'm fishing a shoal area and a jet comes blasting thru. With my little 15 prop I can idle down, or stop if need be, and keep from disturbing everything and ruining somebody's day. A lot of jet guys seem to be appalled at the thought of getting their shoes wet. They just shrug thier shoulders as they blow the piss out of a riffle as if to say "Hey sorry but I CAN'T shut it down here". Well, yeah you could have....But you bought a jet so that you wouldn't have to, so you don't. I get it.

Ya gotta be lower NY to chew those Archie Bunker cigars too.

I have a standing issue with jets, and it is that for fishing purposes I prefer to move along slow enough to study the stretch of water I'm on, and I also prefer to wade and fish IF the water is shallow enough. I can easily run knee-deep water with a prop outboard, and when it gets ankle deep it's not a huge inconvenience to just step out and walk the boat over the shoal. I usually intend to fish the head and tail of most shoals anyway so it works out just fine. I guess if I didn't have any intentions on picking up a rod until I was 6-8 miles up/down from the place where I launched then I would prefer a jet. But usually I can launch closer than that to the places I want to fish. Water is always deeper than it looks, and I haven't destroyed a prop in over 15 years (knock on wood) I've also caught a bunch of river fish in my no-jet owning years. Just as many as I would have caught if I had been running a jet all these years I think, and possibly more since I am forced to slow down in all the truly good spots.

Cool. Keep track of that bugger, his days are numbered. I'll be surprised if it holds through the next Spring.

You can look at the impeller shaft nut area and tell roughly how many shims have been removed by the amount of threads showing. Most begin life with 7-9 shims behind the impeller, and once you get down to 2-3 shims it is time to order a new liner (and maybe a impeller as well). The condition of the foot and grates are the easiest/quickest way to guesstimate the condition of a used jet pump. All in all they are a pretty simple and durable piece of machinery and not difficult at all to service or to teardown and repair.

All of this really takes me back to the days of the Gitzit (or G-2). If you'd fish a 3" tube bait the same exact way I think you'll find that you have extremely similar results.

If your wife can tell the difference between a good fly and a BETTER fly, you're a lucky dude. When I show mine one that is a genuine Masterpiece she just says "Uh hu, cool babe" and goes right back to sleep.

That was freaking Awesome !

Cool!

That's a fatty. Way to go. Looks cold !

Awesomeness is usually seasonal, so the first step might be to narrow down a timeline.

As soon as that purple stuff (Henbit?) starts sprouting in the corn fields near the pond in March the big bullgills will be easy pickins.

From what I've seen/heard, what TR lacks in Crappie it makes up for in decent sized Bluegill. Here on LO I never see a big bluegill, they seem to vanish at about 6-7", yet in a good sized heavily wooded lake just over the hill the gills run 9-11" but the crappie are hard to locate and paper thin when you do.

I guess I am either lucky or stupid. I absolutely love the feel of the sun on my skin. It breathes life into me. I hope I don't pay the ultimate price for it but I am simply not going to live an active outdoor life while hiding from the sunlight.

I know what ya mean, Pete. I enjoy fishing close to home way more than I do traveling. "Exploring new water" doesn't appeal to me unless I know I can stay there long enough to get it all figured out, or if my local waters are just not fishing well. It has been my experience though that if my local waters aren't fishing well then odds are the stuff 3-4 hours away aren't either.

I always begin the year as a Trout fisherman until late February. Then my focus turns to Crappie and big flyrod Bluegill for several weeks, with a few outings devoted to LM with gear. When the first warm rainstorms start moving in I'll not be able to think about ANYTHING (work, sex and food included) but flyfishing for White bass. By the time the White run is over I usually have a lot of work to get caught up on and my thoughts start migrating towards throwing bass bugs at shallow stumps for LM with just enough gear fishing and Catfishing mixed in to make sure I haven't forgetten how to do it. By the first of July I'll have transformed into a river Smallie guy and no other type of fishing scratches the itch for me until sometime in October when the rivers get too cold to wet-wade. Then it's back to the stillwater flats for LM and awaiting the first few cooling storms that trigger the White bass return to the shallows. Then... it starts all over again

Pffft. A few strikes with a bullwhip would be easier to take than the reality. One good thing about being a fisherman is that I've learned to recognize patterns right away... When my gal tells me I should go ahead and buy some over-priced thing that she knows I'd like to have, that just means that later on I will also be spending 200+ dollars on a purse and a matching belt or shoes that might get worn once. That scenario is more dependable than a buzzbait bite after a late September flood.

Gotta sell it before Spring. I want to buy a 1648 Jon boat hull.

I thought so... If you're seriously in the market gimme a shout and we can arrange a time to take it fishing.

What is the HP restriction on Fellows ? I have a boat that might fit the bill, and the pocketbook.

Very cool !

Those hooks should be perfect for the urban trout.