fishinwrench

The stirring of the water actually seems to make fishing better. I've had days on Truman when the water was relatively dead still....and the fishing sucked. I'd be willing to bet that an hour of stirring the water in that area would have improved the bite noticably. Sometimes it is an inconvenience that you can't fish a certain bank at the time you've chosen to, but in all reality I am beginning to believe that the barrage of wake activity on LOZ is what makes it the best darn fishing lake in Missouri.

Even the wakeboarders don't get on the lake much unless there is somewhere to go after they do their wakeboarding thing. They wakeboard awhile then they go somewhere to eat/drink/party. If there is no place open to go..... then the wakeboats pretty much stay docked and dry.

They do need to put a limit on boat size, whether by length or displacement, while they still can. The real driving force of large pleasure boaters on a body of water is....Having places to go. The reason LOZ is the way it is, is because of the lakefront bars/restaurants/clubs. If it weren't for the lakefront establishments then simply riding around in their big vessels would get boring and pointless, those people have to have crowded places to go where they can spend money, mingle, and show off. This lake stays nice and calm regardless of nice weather....until all the "places to go" open up.

Around here there are at least 2 storm chaser crackheads on every lake road, and everytime a dark cloud blows over they see "rotation" and set the sirens off. Therefore nobody takes the sirens seriously. The one time we actually had a F2 rip through here, guess what?......No siren. No need for it either because you couldn't help but hearing the twister coming about 40 seconds before the house started getting ripped to pieces. Sounded like a 747 coming in for a landing in my yard.

Good for you ! 👍😋 Wind can be a real force to overcome. My threshold in a 18' boat for being able to manage it is 13mph. Any less and I'm good, any more and I have to fish protected areas. In a 20 foot boat I'm still good at 15-17mph. It's irritating the difference 2-3mph makes. And that 2' more boat can make it manageable.

Have y'all compiled enough recipes yet to publish a OAF Cook Book ?

Respectable for sure. Sounds like you need some more competition. 😀

One of my neighbors bought and installed one of those cool underground SHTF capsules. Totally sealed but has a wind driven recirculation fan and is lined with crystals that are supposed to keep condensation at bay. Somehow it still stays full of centipedes, crickets, spiders, and those tiny green grass bugs. He has to get in there every month with a shop-vac and suck them all up. How they get in is a mystery because that thing seals up tight and the ventilation system is filtered. Nevertheless it's comforting to know you have a place to crawl into when the fear of a few spiders is overcome by the fear of something else.

A home for wayward spiders and copperheads. How nice.

They all had "cancer" back then too, they just didn't get "treated" for it. Somehow most folks just got over it on their own. I'm a firm believer that our bodies have amazing healing capacities, you just have to give it time to do it. Most folks get anxious and in a hurry to get well, and I'm not convinced that doctor's/surgeons help heal anything other than broken bones and severe lacerations. I just know that I've had numerous issues that most people would rush to their doctor about.....but I never did, and I have managed to get over all of them so far. A knee injury that I was told would require surgery 14 years ago.....I didn't have the surgery and within 2 months the knee healed fine and is strong as ever today. A partially detached retina in my right eye that caused everything to look fuzzy, egg shaped, and worried me sick..... Miraculously started showing signs of improvement after 3 weeks so I skipped my next appointment, and a month later it fixed itself. Woke up one morning numb on my left side, scared me to death, rushed to the ER and $11,000.00 later all they could pin it to was Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever (bad news!) I never filled the Prescription......still alive and numbness went away 2-3 weeks later. I dunno, but I trust my own body more than I trust the medical profession.

Fishing a hollow bodied frog in and around those mats of debris is paying off pretty darn good up here. Ya oughta try it. 👍😋 I'm actually sad to see them clearing out.

I guess quite a few guys have my number saved in their contacts and don't lock thier phone because I get butt dialed all the time. Mostly it's just dead pocket noise, but I've listened to guys fighting with their wives, arguing with their kids about bedtime, ordering fast food, singing like they are auditioning for America's got Talent, arguing politics, and all sorts of things. It's almost like having a voyeur app.

Once the carb bowls are full of fuel the primer bulb should get firm. If it doesn't then the first step is to determine why and rectify it. Remove the fuel supply line from the motor and see if the primer bulb is doing its job, if so then pull the air box cover off and make sure one of the carbs isn't flooding (overflowing with fuel). If not then operate the choke and see if it is doing its job, if so then you might as well take it to a shop where all the other systems can be checked/tested.

Ahh those were the days! I miss the days when freeing up a sticky timer base could make me the hero for a day 😀 Life was so much simpler back then. Glad she starts like it's supposed to now, thank YOU ! 👍😋

If it is coming out of the hole normally then you don't have a problem....unless your definition of "normal" is different than mine. Crawling slowly out of the hole is not normal/proper. Pushing the boat quickly onto plane with some power to spare is what I like to see, and if fuel is fresh and all engine systems are doing their job properly then the only way to help the issue is with the rigging (engine height, engine trim angle, and prop design).

It hasn't "gone away". But if what you mean is, "Will it usually crawl out of the hole..... but sometimes not?" Absolutely. This is why guys that insist on never sacrificing a single MPH year round have a Summer prop, and a Winter prop.

Travel slowly until you are familiar with the area. People that blast off wide open across unknown water are just helping to put my kids through college. Nothing wrong with that, we all smack a log from time to time, it's just part of boating. Outboard parts are being made while you sleep, so don't worry about it. 👍😋

Yeah I hear it all the time from Mercury owners. Often it is from trimming the motor too far down, covering the exhaust relief ports with water. Mercs don't have the low end grunt to overcome that slight bit of exhaust back pressure if the propping is on the steep side. Most rigs are propped out for proper WOT RPM, but if it is sometimes sluggish coming out of the hole then you may need to open the prop vents or drop down to a 25P Tempest or Trophy. An overheated compressor can kill the Optimax hole shot also, since you are driving a swelled piston that is doing nothing to enhance power. That compressor is a torque thief.

I like it. Sure isn't going to hurt anything, and a little setback is always a good thing.

I double checked it with my bow mounted unit and that's what they both were reading. Doesn't seem possible but I just tested my temp guages again in the driveway and they are dead-on accurate with the air temp right now.

I tried for a repeat performance this evening after the little storm moved out and I took a butt whoopin'. I tried everything I could think of but it seemed like the fish had shut down hard. The water temp up here has taken a drastic jump, I was showing 84-86° on both temp sensors. How did the water get that warm all of a sudden? It hasn't been that hot!

A tiny little micro-bass can only eat so much, then it needs some time to digest. I find it hard to fathom that any of them could possibly starve to death because of being born a week too soon/late. When I was a kid and had an aquarium the dude at the guppy getting place was all anal about not OVER FEEDING them, said they'd eat until they killed themselves if food was too plentiful. Who do we believe? Nature is seldom a perfect balance, and if all this useless information is even partially valid then it's a miracle that any critter with a pulse can survive long enough to reproduce.

I would expect all of the fry/fingerlings hatched in LOZ to have equal opportunity to feed, and all to feed upon the same thing. It would be interesting to know the ages of fish of varying sizes, and from different areas of the lake.

I bet there's never been a study of whether the growth rates of eggs hatched early in the spring are any different from eggs fertilized at a later date. Everyone just assumes that eggs from large fish turn into more large fish (genetics and all) but I've always questioned that theory because it doesn't take into consideration the genetics of the male that fertilized them. Does that not have an effect? I bet it does.

Boat traffic isn't a huge problem above mm-60 but you are a long way from good Summer and Winter fishing when you live up that high. And regardless of which side you're on it is going to be quite a drive to go buy anything other than beer and cigarettes. There are some really good deals on property up that way, and there is certainly a reason for that.