fishinwrench

I know one thing... If the Little Niangua watershed doesn't get a flush before long the algae is going to choke out fairly large sections of that river. I've never seen it this low or this slimey. The fish look good (fat & healthy) as of yesterday, but living in that crap long term can't be very healthy.

Awesome ! Where'd you take out at?

Well dammit ! Let us know what the issue turns out to be.

People actually use #8 splitshot in moving water? I think #4 is the smallest I've ever had a use for. I could see using #6 while stillwater midging with 12x, but #8 on a Missouri stream ? OK.

Finally someone gave that move a name. Paddle wheelin'....I love it ! You haven't mastered stealth on a trout stream until you can effectively Paddle Wheel without putting every fish down within 100 yards.

Sounds like you're considering taking some folks out fishing that aren't particularly "into it". You and them both will have a much better time if you just go bowling.

Yeah you can buy a good used starter for that XP 150 for less than the cost of a new drive gear. You can thank Katrina for that.

It should just rotate up and off of the shaft. I've never had one stick that tight but if I did I'd just smooth out any visable burrs, give it a shot of WD, grab a hammer and persuade it a bit. Maybe put the drive gear in the vise and use a drift punch to drive the starter shaft out of it ? ***Have a helper hold the starter so it doesn't bounce off the floor.

The measure of a jet rig is "how shallow it'll run". And the measure of the operator is "how sketchy of a spot they can navigate clean". There is always going to be guys out there finding out. And every time they get a different rig they gotta "find out" again.

Yeah Al, that's my favorite of all the MO trout stamps I've ever had. At one time I had 4-5 more on a different rod tube, but that one got swallowed by the twister. It had a Kennedy Fischer 5wt. in it but I miss the stamps more than the rod.

Try "reinstalling" your controller. I think on that model you disconnect the power for 30 sec., then hook it back up, wait for the beep (or is it 4 beeps?) Then press and hold the on/off and + button simultaneously and hold them until it beeps again. Oh, and of course make sure the battery's in ALL of the remotes onboard are fresh BEFORE reprogramming. Check your manual though.... Cuz I've had a few naps and I'm not sure my instructions here are spot on.

Thought I had a '85 but these are all I have left.

Balderdash!

I could snatch a lower unit or an ECM so fast it'd make your head spin. But a complete V4-V6 outboard from a boat either floating or on a hoist??? Oh Hell no! My back is worth way more to me than that. Had to have been a dock builder with a work barge (and a helper) to pull that one off.

Sounds like a fisherman hit to me. That's what happens when you get someone hooked on fishing that can't afford it. So see, the "Take a Kid Fishing" campaign is only gonna cause problems unless you first get them a good JOB !

I'm standing by my prediction. That critter knows his bizness !

Not a lot of experience with the latest and greatest of either, but MK has always had the better motors while MG has always had the better mounts and controls. Nothing more annoying than a sloppy mounting and control system.

Sure do. But they aren't 48"wide !

There are, or used to be, some old pics on the wall at the Camden co. courthouse showing stringers of big smallies taken from Zora (when it was a resort) that'll make you wanna puke.

A 9.9 on a loaded 1648 is gonna be a slug. You'll just always be wishing it was a 20-25hp. In comparison a 1636 (or possibly a 1442) jon with a 15hp will just barely suit your lake needs and be better on med. sized rivers like the ones you mentioned. Just my opinion of course.

I thought you hi-tech "$onar $cholars" were specifically geared up and anxious for situations like that. Quit yer whining and put that expensive collection of circuit boards and pixels to work !

Yeah those lines are cool looking. It's too bad that so much of it is totally bogus. Seems as though someone spent a lot of time bending lines via a computerized image overlay....filling in the gaps between areas of known contour locations, which ironically falls far from where all of my fishing seems to happen. On the areas of lakes where they truly lack accurate or complete data they really should just avoid faking it. An improvement IMO would be to highlight those unknown zones with a notation of something like...."This image may or may not be anywhere close to accurate, our designers were just playing on Paint and guessing. Hell they've never even been in this state before, much less halfway back in horsepecker branch !".

It's a tough call. The times when you aren't getting frequent bites are usually when I catch the bigger ones. I'll stay in a known good "area" but I won't soak bait in one "spot" for long. It really REALLY helps if you get a chance to survey the bottom beforehand during low/clear times (like now). So remember the areas that look awesome but are too shallow now, and fish them the next time the water is up.

I like the outhouse. Is that a Ranger exclusive? How hard are those to install, and how bad is the "wind resistance"? Can it be mounted on top of the outboard instead of on the gunnel ? And lastly, are OAF members allowed to use it if we see you on the lake?

If the boats transom can handle the weight and torque of a 250 shoving it forward then it can handle a bumpy road. Transom savers help take some weight off the tilt ram and guard against a leakdown but if you have ever manually tilted a V6 then you know that once you are off the trim rams things get WAY lighter due to the balance of the outboard power head. Where I have seen damage occur is when using a transom saver but NOT using snug transom tie downs. Usually these are guys that live real close to the lake who get lazy. If you're not securing the back end of the boat to the trailer then you are probably better off not bothering with a motor bracket either.