fishinwrench

Here's one that was made for me last year. It could use a few minor tweaks (and I could use two more the same size) but I really like the concept.

It's gonna take about 4 years (going by standard growth rate) to put another pound on them. Hopefully after that period of time, barring any major floods or die-offs, they'll be able to maintain a replenishing population for a year or two.

Just pull the lake down 3ft. There's your trail

The cool thing about a trout park, is that can change overnite. Bennett might be full of 20+inchers tomorrow. It's like a lottery.

And if that isn't bad enough.... now there's Diet Coke !

Rodeo sex! You really can't pass up a single thread on this forum or you'll miss out. Ya just never know where a topic is gonna lead to.

Yeah I think the powers that be at BSSP are onto something. If you slither along the bank on your belly with the cork of a 3wt. clutched in your teeth, and crop your photos just right it almost feels like you've accomplished something reverent. What a special place!

The TOASTER ???!!!!!! Those Sonsabitches ! That cuts it!

Well, you can try all kinds of things but a systematic approach will get you to the heart of the problem more efficiently, and assure that there isn't more than one issue (like a worn out water pump, a partially melted water tube grommet, AND some debris clogging a cooling passageway). Many times there are multiple causes involved with a single symptom....ESPECIALLY when dealing with jet pump equipped outboard cooling systems.

Take a piece of wire (or weed-eater cord works great) and ram it up your pee hole. If that doesn't clear it out and make it start pissing again you'll have to pull the thermostat housing and verify that you are getting substantial water pressure to the top of the powerhead. If there is little to no water gushing out let me know and I'll coach you through the proper steps to refresh/repair the cooling system.

^^^correct^^^ Insurance or potential warranty issues are the only legal drawbacks of overpowering that I am aware of. 4-6hp outboards really are kinda gutless, especially in current. A 9.5-9.9 manual start o/b isn't gonna "overpower" it to the point of being dangerous. Plus there are way more prop options available with the 9.5+ motors, whereas you'll only have maybe 2 choices with a 4-6 hp. Be mindful of your transom height though. If your Gheenoe has a 15" transom then you need to be sure to get a short shaft outboard.

#6 or #4 Eagle Claw Lasers are a "fine enough" crankbait hook. They are reasonably priced and available in bulk at WM.

This lake can come up real quick, and when it does they can't just open the gates and blow the Osage out of its banks. We also have a buttload of shoreline property owners that think their property value decreases if there is milfoil around their docks. The drawdown and frosting of the shoreline out to 4-5' during the winter keeps the milfoil and hydrilla from taking hold. Personally I'd LOVE to have the milfoil return, but.... There's also considerable seawall work that can't be done during normal pool, and construction crews that need work during the winter, so the drawdown allows that to happen. Kind of a Win, win, win. Another cool thing that comes from the winter drawdown that a bunch of fishermen don't realize is that during the first few warming trends of Spring the crawdads that are burrowed under the high & dry seawalls wake up and crawl back down to the waters edge. This "hatch" is what puts the bass on that killer jig and Wiggle Wart bite that everyone looks forward to.

So of all the chemicals that pass thru the human body THIS is what concerns them most....Today?

You answered the question you asked me. But I don't even have to catch any as long as I know they are in there. Having 3-5 year-classes of fish in a stream shouldn't be an impossibility for a hatchery of that quality and magnitude. It has been done in the past with a hatchery 1/4 the size and a skeleton crew of personnel. They are taking the cheap and easy road, it seems, by producing buttloads of hatchlings, then unloading them ASAP to keep from having to feed them. Seems they only shoot for numbers. A years worth of those pellets might be a little costly, sure, but the amount of funding is pretty large too. No? And their facility is top notch. The little Podunk hatchery of old saw to it that Bennett Spring was alot more than a ditch full of 10-12 inchers. Why with all this "progress" are they not progressing? Is it more important now in this day of "everyone is a winner" that everyone catches multiple fish easily?

I'd like to see them stop rearranging the landscape down there and start concentrating on raising fish. That's one heck of a hatchery operation they have there for a 1 mile stretch of spring creek. I can't fathom a good enough excuse for "so-so" fishing at Bennett Spring. The fishing should be excellent mores than not, and those businesses around there should be flourishing! What is reason for the lack of awesomeness down there?

Pretty cool endeavor, and it has given me an idea... I'd like to round up, photograph, and positively identify every critter than swims/crawls/or slithers here in my home creek. There are some minnows, bugs, and amphibians in there that I'm not 100% sure exactly what they are.

I admit that I've suffered through some lonely nights, but I promise I've never mounted a bullfrog. That top-fuel tomcat rode in the back of my truck during an ice storm. Froze him solid. I'd really like to unload him before he thaws out and starts stinkin'.

Is the plan to just chalk up incidental catches, or will there be a specific general goal at the beginning of each day out? For instance: Will you wake up one day and think...Today I'm going to target the various chubs and shiners?

If you were to rip a jerkbait all day you'd have a fair chance at catching an oversized bow (and probably the days biggest brown). But if you really want to lock down that Big Bow prize I think your odds are better trying to sight fish to one.

I'm not a White river regular but about the only way I know to target bigger rainbows is to sight fish to the big bows that have chosen a place to sit tight for a bit. After doing this (successfully) for awhile you'll learn the kind/type of areas that bigger fish like, and that will bump the odds slightly in your favor during times when the water is too deep, or too off colored to spot them. A fly like the Y2K is an excellent sight fishing fly. Just keep it up in the water column just enough so that you can barely keep an eye on it....when it disappears set the hook.

Right on then. I misunderstood and thought you said that someone had disassembled the lower unit at one point. The only thing I was attempting to emphasize on was that gearlube alone (regardless of what kind it is) is not the root cause of the problem. There is something else going on there. Have you drained the gearcase and inspected the lube? Any metal particles in it?

LOL Well certainly. Even if you had to fly the watery eyed pooch halfway around the world. Only a total jackass like me thinks of money at a time like that. In PC terms only the very well to do should harbor pets because they are the only ones capable of caring for them properly and keeping them out of trouble.

My daughters BFF is a 3rd. generation vet (in training), and just so happens to be holding down a kitchen chair here now. I asked if an eye infection could cause permanent damage and she says its unlikely unless considerable inflammation starts to put pressure on the eye and nerves. She says that if it is BOTH eyes that it is likely not an actual infected eye issue, but rather an allergy of sorts, and the eye irritation is a symptom of THAT.

Not a very fair pig fight if one of them has a gun.