fishinwrench

I think it's funny that garlic, coffee, banana, peanut butter, vanilla, licorice, and whatever it is in Powerbait that smells like dirty panties....Are all considered "attractants", but tobacco is supposedly the worst thing in the world. "Don't dare touch a bait after smoking a cig"!!! If that's not the definition of propaganda I don't know what is. That's right in line with these people who can stand there and burn leaves, brush, and trash all day, park next to a running diesel, ect. .....But somebody lights a cigarette and they almost go into convulsions. It's amazing how media mind control works.

I get asked all the time "what's the best boat, and what's the best motor"? In my opinion what makes the boat "the best" is the interior layout, this is where you store your stuff and spend all of your time. The way the hull rides is secondary because you can adjust your driving style to compensate for hull design. I don't know of any Piece Of Crap boats these days, they are all built well, which is not something you could say back in the 70's and 80's. Cracked transoms, hull splits, cap seperations, bunk blisters, and soft floors are pretty much all things of the past. Motors? Well I make probably 80% of my living on Mercury's, but the truth of the matter is I hate the way the corporation does business and I'm blown away by the number of guys that remain faithful to them. My personal preference is Evinrude because I like their history, I like the way the company has always done business (both OMC and BRP), I like owning them and I like working on them. As for what I feel is truly the best and most reliable outboards available? Yamaha. You'll be hard pressed to find a guy anywhere in the world that is disappointed in his Yamaha outboard. Their ignition, cooling, and oil injection systems are as close to flawless as it gets, powerhead tolerances are finely tuned and consistent, and their gearcases are bulletproof.

The fact that gel coat becomes thinner with age is pretty much proof that SOMETHING is being lost. Science aside, the fact that soaking in oil works is really all I'm concerned with. I've never noticed any damage from doing it. No further yellowing and it isn't like the oil soaks into the fiberglass or anything. Only time will tell if today's gel coat is any different, but the stuff from the 70's-80's doesn't mind a good oil bath one bit. And it definitely last way WAY longer than a wipe down with Armor-All. ?

The DVD (whenever it becomes available) will have alot more footage than is shown on the broadcast versions.

It's hard to sell an ugly boat but when it comes to fishing that's what I prefer. I can't fish the way I really like to if I'm worried about getting a scratch on my boat. If a boat looks real pretty then I can't help but try to keep it that way. There is a happy medium where it looks good from 100 feet away, and that's my definition of the perfect finish on a fishing boat. ?

For what it's worth here is what I know/have learned about gel coat: The cloudiness that everyone refers to as "oxidation" is the result of the loss of petroleum (oil) from sun exposure, and reflective flake speeds up the loss and makes it look worse than if it was on a solid color with no flake. If left alone long enough all of the oil will be pulled from the clear coat making it so thin that you can actually feel the flake underneath. At that point it is just gone, but if a decent amount of the clear coat is still there you can actually soak the cloudy area in oil (motor oil, gear lube, just about anything petroleum based) and the clear coat will soak some up and restore that bright clear finish. But it takes time (as in weeks of constant soaking) if it is really cloudy. I learned this by accident after removing a V8 engine from an old salvaged boat sitting in a field. When we jerked the engine out we slopped oil all over the old boat and since it was going to eventually get bulldozed into a crush pile we didn't bother cleaning up our mess. A couple months later the boat got shoved into a pile with various other dead soldiers and on the area where we slopped all that oil the finish looked and felt like a brand new boat. No amount of scrubbing/buffing anywhere else on that boat could have made it look and feel as pretty as the spots where all that oil sat on it for so long. So when I take in a faded old boat around here I buy 3-4 cans of Liquid Gold furniture polish and I spray it on until it is almost dripping off....And I just let it sit like that, then a few days later I drench it again....And again if it sits here long enough, then rub it down with a dry towel. The longer you let it soak the longer it will stay looking nice. Some non-detergent 30w motor oil will work too but I like being able to spray it on, so I use the Liquid Gold. It works great and doesn't stain the carpet if it drips on it some, like motor oil will. But the trick is to saturate the clear coat and just let it soak in for as long as you can stand it. This works on old dried out vinyl seats and decals too.

Cabela's has gone LIFETIME WARRANTY on all of their stuff now, so I'd grab a pair of their house brand breathables.

40-43° where I was.

Trout Park Flatfish??? The first schoolin' I ever got on River Smallmouth came on a Flatfish. Yellow with green dots. Elk fork of the Salt River near the Union Covered bridge. I'm actually surprised that nobody fishes Flatfish and Lazy Ike's anymore. Maybe they need to be revisited.

It is pretty typical for the crappie fishing to get slow from late Winter (now) until they start showing up along the banks. The first ones to begin relating to the shoreline will be the 11+ bigguns though, so I look forward to that. We need that first good warm rain to come along, put a little color in the surface water, and then it'll be on. We bass fished Sunday in the Gravois and it was really slow. It took us 6 hours to catch 5 keepers that barely weighed 12# and the fish we caught had no fight in them at all. When they bit it was like reeling in a wet sock. Not much fun, but what a gorgeous day to be out.

I originally tied these for spring run Whites when the water is muddy, but everytime I tie one on I catch a Walleye. Just get the little Beetle Spin type clasps and cut the wire like the one on the bottom, lash it to the hook, then just tie a Clouser. I use calf tail hair to keep it short so it doesn't foul the blade.

Yep, you can kiss that warranty goodbye. ?

This sucker right here! If by chance anyone has some laying around I'll totally make it worth your while.....Call Me!

It occurred to me quite a few years back that NEVER, on a treacherous boat ride day, have I done well fishing. In other words I've never had it pay off to cross a wicked stretch of water. So I just don't do it anymore unless I have to, to get back home. In my younger days I just had to prove (to whom, I have no idea) that I could do it, and I always managed to pull it off. I've now decided, before luck runs out, to quit while I'm ahead. ? Alot of people probably think that because I'm a boat & outboard wrench that I like to scream down the lake like a madman, pushing that boat to it's absolute limit. Nope. I don't even enjoy boat rides that much, and I especially dislike rough and sketchy ones.

I can't even tell you how upset I get every April-May when there isn't a bubblegum floating lizard to be bought anywhere in the world. I am down to my final 1/2 bag, which is enough for maybe 1 day.

If they are the 6.3:1 version I hope you bust something real soon ? ?? I have 18 round reels so I'm kinda ok, but I could use 2 more high speed models just in case one of mine has a hiccup, or I wanna switch line.

When I come across something that I really like, or that really works good for me, I'm always afraid it will become extinct (because that does happen alot) so I'll buy a lifetime supply if I can get my hands on it. This has resulted in quite a surplus.

That doesn't make sense. If water was high enough to seep out of a hatch lid then it sure should have been coming up out of the floor drain. Did that really say 8' swells? Good God man, even figuring in the exaggeration factor of those waves... it's time to go home !!! A team with 30 years of boating experience shoulda known better. That's no way to treat a freshly restored rig. If those boys are hoping for a nice insurance settlement then they'd be better off not talking anymore.

Girschwinn, just get online and follow the tournament circuits. Find out where the bigger ones launch & weigh-in at and fish within a mile or so both ways of the release area. Keep in mind that those bass will not be acting like typical bass though.... because they are lost. They still bite like bass but they won't be in basslike places. Don't hesitate to cast Senko's and lipless crankbaits out in the middle of nowhere, or just mindlessly drag a Carolina rig around. When you catch one cast right back to the same spot right away cuz there may be 8-10 hanging there together. Keep moving and cover all the water around you, there will be some right along the bank, others suspended behind you, and others scattered in between. Don't try to "pattern" them because bass that are lost and lonely can't be patterned again until they have settled into and learned a new home range and are once again comfortable with their new surroundings. Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays are usually best.

I have a bunch of old Kodak pics from there. The fishing was crazy good even from the bank.

If it is a few leaky rivets you can tighten them up with a pair of hammers. Other than that a thin layer of RTV silicone will do better than JB Weld. Just clean the area real good with alcohol first.

Oh Puleeeeze!

A local dealer here on LO sold VIP's during the 80's and there are still a bunch of them around that still appear to be holding up well. Most are fish-n- ski types that are typically tough in the transom but weak in the bow. They were rated for plenty of HP as a bunch of the 18 footers were rigged with monster Evinrude 235's

And whole nother world's altogether, evidently.

Yeah I wasn't sure about that, but we have rabbit and quail hunted along railroad tracks all of my life. Never once had a problem. Darn good hunting too.