fishinwrench

I always considered 15# a pretty good day, and I still do. I'm usually good for 2-3 20+lb. limits per year but I darn sure can't do it consistently. The boys that can pull that off on a semi-regular basis pretty much have to be homed in on schools of released fish. In a natural environment you are just not going to consistently be able to locate and catch limits of 4-6 pounders during all four seasons of the year.

Not bad at all once you make the turn and round the first bend at the mouth of LN, but HHT has become a party cove so from the hwy.5 bridge to the 64 bridge it can get pretty insane. Narrow channel and lots of big boats.

My hardware store has nylon bushings in varying lengths, diameters, (and colors) that are perfect for this. They are tough as hell too, you can't squish or crack them. Back by the nuts and bolts. You can cut them with a hacksaw if you need to.

I'll forgive all but the well driller. That sumbitch oughta know how a water pump works. 😀

LOL. The water pump doesn't move unless the pistons are moving.

If the motor is tilted up the prop isn't going to spin. Tilt a buzzbait a few degrees and try to make it spin by blowing on it. Better to have the gearcase in neutral just in case you bump something or run over a deer/dog/armadillo/piece of wood. Might save a prop, propshaft, gears, or driveshaft.

I know what I say. I say "Well dang I guess I can't fish here safely anymore. Bummer". Yet another reason why I'm a backend guy. I'd be happy if I could just get from one backend to another, but some days you can't even do that in a 18' boat. I really don't like 20+' bassboats because #1. I dislike heavy boats with dual axle trailers. #2. I like being able to get into tighter or shallower places. And #3. I prefer motors of 150hp or less, and trolling motors that only require 2 batteries or less. Having to own a boat big enough to hold a square dance in, just so you can get from spot to spot is rediculous.

The narrower creek arms and coves are where the true problem is. If the boats over 26' just stayed in the main lake when above idle speed it would be fine. All the mainlake hotspots have effective wave breaks, as they should, but wave breaks shouldn't be necessary up the smaller tributary arms. Before Coconut's became a go-to place there wasn't a single day that I couldn't run the entire length of the Gravois arm in a 16' Jon boat. Now it is sketchy in a 20' Ranger or in a 24' pontoon even on a slow day. I don't give a crap about dock damage, I used to have a lakefront home with a dock back when it was calm....and the dock still needed constant maintenance. I just wanna be able to go fishing and get back home without getting swamped.

IMO the No Wake zones create more problems than they solve. It is because of the big cruiser rollers and the resultant No Wake areas that I have to idle for a mile or more in my fishing boat to get to the backend of a cove, which is a major pain when you are running a backend pattern. Unless the WP actually sees you violating a no-wake bouy you're not going to get cited for it. Everybody that runs out with their phone or GoPro attempting to video a boat on plane or plowing through a No Wake doesn't realize that they will have to forfeit a day or two of their life and show up in court for anything to happen, and by the time the court date is upon them they have gotten over being upset about it. Who wants to drive to a faraway courthouse and set in court for half a day just so some jackass with way more money than them can get fined 70.00? A call to the WP is not going to cause an officer to waste 20.00 in fuel racing to a location 15-20 miles away just to chase down a no-wake violation when odds are that no damage was created. And even if there is damage how can you prove when the damage occured, and by whom.

For sure. I witnessed the state record Brook trout being caught. And when I was a kid we caught a behemoth bluegill on a limb line that I'm sure would still be the standing record. It ate a 3" long goldfish and was as big around as a frisbee.

Plain ol' smallie.

You just can't beat the Senko shimmy on the fall. Sometimes it doesn't matter, but who knows when it does and when it doesn't? I don't earn my living by catching fish so I have settled on the SK Shim-E-Stick and I give them a good stretch before rigging, but if I was fishing for money I'd definitely throw the Yamamoto Senko.

The one positive thing is that it has become too rough for wake boats and even too rough for PWC's to navigate it. After about 2 miles, a guy on a wave-runner is like "ok I've had enough of this".

Stupidest thing I've ever heard. Certain bridges and roads have limits, and nobody argues that by saying "Hey, No Fair.... it's not the vehicle, it's the WEIGHT". Oversized boats are causing damage on a narrow waterway, so instead of upsetting the overly-privileged owners, let's just keep accepting the damage they are creating to property that has existed way before that boat was bought.....or even built. This is legislation with zero balls in a society that pretends to be against bullying at all levels.

Is it like this one?

That's good to see.

Has that record not been broken since? I've been told for years (and I think I remember reading it) that the Mo.state record green sunny was caught in Little Gravois creek in the mid '80's by a bass fisherman during a tournament.

I would expect it to turn a 15p or 17p prop. Most 24' toons with 115hp outboards will turn a 19p prop of the same diameter. With the motor basically level (no negative trim) have him try slowly accelerating from a dead drift and note at what RPM it begins to blow out. Then have him "nail it" from a dead drift and see if it blows out earlier or at the same RPM it did during gradual acceleration. A toon has no "pad" to get up on so tucking the motor in for a hole shot really doesn't work. Once you find the trim angle that eliminates plowing and causes the steering to be as near to effortless as possible then that is the correct trim angle for the day..... don't touch the trim switch again unless passengers move around or the load changes.

Can you post a pic or two? (Preferably from the rear) If I could get a look at the rigging setup I might have some ideas. Have you pulled all of the drains to be sure none of the toons are heavy with water?

Am not! Just keepin' it real. There are some things that certain people can't be trusted with. With me it is lawn mowers. You could loan me a perfectly good QUALITY lawn tractor and I'll have that thing torn all to hell in a matter of minutes. Totally refuse to work on one also, so when they explode I just hop off and walk away. They (the mowers) are the haters, they hate me and personally I don't have time for their cranky fickleness. At least when I work on a boat there is a positive payoff (somebody gets to go fishing!),. But when you work on a mower the only payoff is.....Oh Yay, now I get to MOW THE DAM YARD. Pizz on that!

I don't know what to say. Some people just have a way of screwing up everything and can't even be trusted with a tube of toothpaste. It may be a curse.

Yeah I miss the rig I had with the wireless TM every once in awhile. It still can't keep the boat from swinging around, and it always had the boat pointing in the wrong direction.

The only other person I know that has this problem is my daughter, and her "thing" is that she worries about the glue setting up immediately and doesn't put the cap back on right away. I put the cap back on immediately before doing anything else and never have any clogs. The glue won't set up until you compress it, so it is ok to take 2 seconds to put the cap on.

I can handle the deepness, it's the not being able to stand up on the deck without getting tossed into the lake that bothers me. I get a wake pushing me towards a dock, or the bank, and I can't pick my foot up to operate the trolling motor without stumbling all over the place. That's the REAL reason I don't like mainlake stuff and fish primarily near the backends. 😉

Was out Friday, Saturday, and Monday and limited all 3 days. The best day was Monday (9 keepers in 3.5 hours). None over 4# but plenty in the 2.5-3.5 range. 1/2oz. FB jig on the shady side of creek channel bank docks, bites in 10-15'. Brush wasn't a factor, I caught some in brush but caught just as many if not more where there was no brush at all. By the end of the day I was pitching the jig along the dock, feeding line so it fell straight down, if it wasn't already in a fishes mouth I'd hop it twice....then crank it in. All bites were on the initial fall or the first hop. Now go get'em! 😀