fishinwrench

Just for the sake of stirring s#it, and not that it means anything, BUT I just visited with a 1986 GT150 that was rebuilt 11 years ago (by yours truly) that has just under 500 hours on it. It had developed a trim fluid leak and needed 23.00 worth of seals.

Yeah well, if you follow tournament weigh-ins for any time at all you'll usually come to the conclusion that there's ALWAYS a bite going on EVERYWHERE. About one in every 7-8 times I go out here close to my place I can load the boat pretty good. If you saw what I could bring to the scales on a good day you'd prolly think there was a hell of a bite going on in the Gravi. But there really isn't

I got one of those from Pomme once. I forgot about it. Nothing ever happened. Several others have done the same and the result has always been the same. I don't think they follow-thru on it at all and I am inclined to believe it is simply a compliance thing. Most folks get handed/delivered a "citation" and it freaks them out... "OMG I AM A CRIMINAL, I MUST CLEAR THIS UP IMMEDIATELY" so they fork up the dough ASAP. It's a head game, and it IS working....isn't it? Otherwise you wouldn't give a crap about that meaningless piece of yellow card stock. Nothing is binding there. Did you sign into a contract with them?

There was some folks in Raccoon and Possum hollow that were spreading pellets to kill the coontail/milfoil/hydrilla/whatever back in the day and it was reported to DNR but the stuff had been "approved". It actually made for a sweet place to fish because all the pellets did was create nice clean holes in the weedbeds. My buddy and I were buying "Grasshopper" colored 9.5" Luck-E-Strike ringworms by the 100 bags, and I don't know how many limits of solid 15-17 inchers we took on Tuesday evenings fishing that area but it was a bunch. The place just seemed to reproduce keepers on a daily basis. Pretty cool.

There are small isolated patches of milfoil popping up here and there but the fish don't seem to be hanging around any of it. Fish behavior this whole season is just odd to me. Certain little niches and tricks that I could always depend on producing....just don't, or haven't YET. At least not to the degree that satisfies my ego. I'm beginning to think that I spent too much time playing with the fly rods and lost my edge with the gear-fishing.

Bear Bottom does a display every weekend, so I'd expect them to do a big blowout display on the 4th. That's the closest one to you as far as I know.

How can you not find up from down? Follow the bubbles? And who the hell wants to go deeper than they can see? .....Freakin Stupid. My 4 y/o's favorite thing to do is put a towel over her head and take off running thru the house. How many more bloody towels before she "gets it" ? Remains to be seen. Pretty sure that's a trait she got from the "better half".

Nice Kitten! Is that an old Starcraft you're fishing out of?

Jerry, they started drawing the lake down further during the Winter and leaving the shoreline high, dry, and frozen.....an environment NOT very friendly for aquatic vegetation. That's my take anyway.

Apparently many crappie did not deposit their eggs this year. They had ample chance(s).... but passed on the opportunity every time. Likewise with the green bass. And the white bass run was as weak as I have ever seen here on LO. The gar and buffalo didn't even go at it like they usually do. The shad certainly got it done though, so there will probably be an over-abundance of them to go around.

Pretty sure he only does that for YOU. Someone prob told him that you tip better that way.

Of all things to have to tow....... A Rendezvous ! Poor feller. And let me guess, they don't own a trailer for it?

Less than 300 in 144,000 were buzzed, and I'd guess maybe a dozen of those 144,0000 were truly staggering drunk. The way I see it that's something to brag about, not launch a campaign against. But ok, if that is where everyone thinks all the law inforcement effort needs to be.....so be it.

Good deal ! I'm starting to hear more and more "decent" crappie reports lately. Seems that about 12' is the magic depth for the better ones, with most suspended at that depth over 18-20'. I wanna go see if I can catch a mess asap.

A single 50+' rope with a 10# mushroom on one end, and a 16# fluted anchor on the other end is the "system" I use. Drop the heavy, then ease forward and drop the light one, then pull yourself back a bit and lash to front and rear cleats. The extra rope (if there is any) can just lay across the decks.

Just something to chew on here; I run various boats across the same piece of water regularly and I don't think I've ever seen two depthfinders read the same, and the differences in reading between the different setups often varies as much as 3-4ft in water over 10', and as much as 2' in shallower flats. Hell, surface temp readings between various setups are more in sync than the depth readings are when compared to "actual". You can calibrate some units, but if they are the type that always boot up in AUTO MODE then you loose your calibration adjustment everytime you turn it off. My point here is that if your are assessing a crankbaits depth by using the info you get from your LCR unit then the s#it ain't gonna jive when you're in your buddys boat. So what is the acceptable margin for error when it comes to trolling crankbaits ?

Is that FOY so far? Nice One! There's gotta be a story here. Looks like one of those "stopped to pee and made a long cast to clear a backlash" kinda spots.

My better fish (bass) are coming from super shallow water, usually under the shallowest dock in the cove. It's a little bit of a grind having to idle all the way back there just to fish 1 or 2 docks....then idling back out and doing it again on the next cove, but if I had to catch a limit of above average bass right now that's what I'd do all day long. Ya just gotta sneak around back there and make the first shot count. Nothing pisses me off worse than idling 100-200 yards, easing into position slowly and quietly....and then blowing it with a sloppy pitch. I can only pull a consistent limit of keepers from deeper brush or structure maybe 1 in 7 trips out, and those odds don't suit me. Although far fewer in numbers (and willingness to bite) those shallow backend fish almost always are sporting an extra pound or three, and after 20+ years of pitching shallow docks I am finally able to look over the backend of a cove and pick out the 3-4 most likely pitches to get bit. I still struggle with the discipline aspect because once I get back there I just wanna FISH AWHILE. I don't want to idle back there, ease the TM down, sneak into position, make a 1/2 dozen pitches, and then LEAVE. But piddling around back there any more than that seriously wastes too much time. It's not a lot of fun, especially for whoever is riding with me, but for myself that's the best way I know of to consistently put 5 or more fat bass in the livewell on Lake O from mid-April to late-November. Trying to find bigger than average bass around deep structure or brushpiles is a total crapshoot for me, on average I suck at it.

Sure!

Those are nice rods for the $$. Love the blank and the handle, but not crazy about the high profile guides or I'd have a whole fleet of them.

There appears to be a shad fry hatch going on now that has triggered the surface activity. I saw some clouds of tiny fry yesterday that I assume are shad.

Good Grief! Sounds like something out of the Old Testament.

Yeah you're a lucky basturd. I gave up on finding a fishing chick for myself but I raised one for somebody else.

Yeah and don't dare test it cuz there a dude that's on a mission to have you arrested if you do.

Neighborhood of 600.00