MrGiggles

I put in at Crabtree yesterday. Water was pretty dingy. Not really dirty but a lot of algae floating around. Caught one keeper walleye, a crappie, and a spot. Pretty slow afternoon. I'm not into the visibility disk stuff, but I could see my jig down to 3-4 feet or so.

Water temps in the mid 60s already after that heat wave?

Wonder if it'll be viable long term, or if they'll go the way of emus and alpacas. Why do the knees look backwards on the one closest to the camera?

I always wondered why say a 3 cylinder 2 cycle 1000cc outboard powerhead only turns 5500 RPM and produces 60-75hp, while that same powerhead in a snowmobile will turn 8500 rpm and make 100+ horsepower. The outboard needs to do it under 100% load continuously.

I think you're right on, environment and lack of use. A lot of guys don't use their boats but a few times a year, and they tend to have fairly large gas tanks. I keep my distance from Humansville, although it seems to be on the rebound. I went to high school there.

I don't even think I can get ethanol free gas in the immediate area. Anything that won't run happily on whatever swill Pilot is pumping doesn't belong on my place. And oddly enough, I have never once pulled a carb apart on any of my stuff, unless it needed going through before I brought it home.

A lot of mix oils have stabilizers in them. I've also found that with pre-mix, once the gas evaporates, you're left with an oily film that protects surfaces pretty well. I don't think I've ever seen a two cycle that had a carb filled with the deck stain looking gunk that 4 strokes usually show up with. I don't think ethanol is as much to blame as everyone thinks. Small engines are jetted so lean from the factory now that it doesn't take much at all to plug them. Half the time they don't idle right or surge right out of the crate. You can thank the EPA for that.

I fished Saturday afternoon and was catching them in 10ft of water under docks and in the flooded bushes. It's hard fishing but they're still doing their thing.

Almost looks like the color of on-road diesel. Wonder if the fuel man hit the wrong hole for a second...

According to the generation schedules, they aren't letting anything out this weekend and hardly any during the week. They usually won't release Pomme and Stockton until Truman has stabilized, since they can only let so much through LOZ.

I think it's still a little cold for pulling cranks, but I've heard that some guys are doing it. Crappie will be either in prespawn or spawning depending on where you're at in the lake. Coves are the places to look. They'll either be up shallow or in cover close by in deeper water. Main lake points are a good place to start with walleyes. I like to start at 35ft and make my way in. A lot of guys like bottom bouncers or jig and crawler.

If it's stupid, and it works, it ain't that stupid... The ned is a flat out fish catcher.

10 is fine.

The transducer has it's own wire, you don't need to do anything there. All you need to run is the power/ground cables for the black box. Dedicated 10 gauge is plenty for the black box and the graph that runs it. Most boats have wiring that is barely adequate for what they come with, once you start adding big graphs, the black box, etc. you'll run into voltage drop (livescope works way better at 12.5+ volts) or interference from livewell pumps and that sort of thing. You want good, clean power for the best results.

I did okay last night. Crappie were real finicky and I never could figure out exactly what they wanted. Caught them anywhere from 30-55ft. All males that are starting to color up. Walleyes low and slow on the drop shot. 25ft or so, 2 shorts one keeper.

Got mine on Monday. Pretty much identical to Billetheads. Short double beard, which is new to me. It was kind of a dreary opening morning here. Not many gobbles but some. Had a young gobbler in range early, must have been just in between a jake and full blown long beard. He had a fairly long beard, but it kinda stuck out in an arch like a horses tail, and was pretty small over all so I passed. He never did pop into full strut but puffed up a little like he wanted to. Anyway a short while later a pair of gobblers came down the hill into the field. They didn't really like that scrubby bird on their turf and ran him around for a while, staying just out of range the whole time. Was a good show though. Eventually they made their point and moved off to my right where I couldn't really see, I figured they were gone. Fortunately that pair must have broken up and one crossed in front of me again, just barely out of range, probably 45 yards. He circled to my left, getting closer with every step. 45, 40, 35. At this point there was a tree in the way so I couldn't see, but he continued and popped into view again at 30. That was his last move. A ground blind is the best thing ever for turkeys. It is amazing the movement and noise you can get away with in them.

Another vote for Louisiana in the blue bag. You can make more or less the same thing with corn meal and flour, season to taste.

There are a couple white hens around here. Seems like every few years there will be one but they don't seem to stick around for more than a couple years. I'd shoot them if they were legal. But I think a white gobbler is pretty rare. Only a matter of time until a predator gets them.

I use 10lb Power Pro with a leader. White or yellow high vis, green is too hard to see. I've been using the same spool for 3 years now and I don't think it has knotted up once. I like Fireline too, it has a little more memory than normal braid but still far less than mono. I used Nanofil for a season, it was okay, but I found that it would eventually fatigue just from running through the guides. I'd have to strip a hundred feet off now and then to get to fresh stuff before a knot would hold. It also sucks to tie with. I never bought any more, it really didn't seem to offer much over regular braid. I have buddies that can't stand braid, cuss it the whole time they're forced to use it, but I get along fine and don't do anything special. Occasionally I will get a loop around the front of the spool but it's easily dealt with before it gets out of hand. Reeling on a totally slack line is what does that.

I went out again last night. Came home with a good mess. Same story, crappie really deep on the drop shot, 40ft down in ~50ft. The whites and the walleye on points casting at dusk. Probably could've done better on the walleye if I had stayed later, but I pulled out just before 9. I've always heard jerkbaits are the best, I haven't caught a thing on that $30 jerkbait, crappie jigs have done way better for me.

Yeah I was talking about the plastic gutters. The ID on them is quite a bit smaller than a 2x4.

2x4s won't fit inside unless you rip them.

I used to have PVC gutters on mine. I didn't really notice a big difference in loading and unloading, so I put carpet back on. I also couldn't find any that would fit well over a full size 2x4. Just like anything else it can be the best thing ever for one and a nightmare for another. My boat is not that hard to crank up, and I like to drop the winch while backing down. I won't pull the boat out of the water without the winch hooked, but when the bunks are dry and the boat is pulled up hard against the bow stop I don't worry too much.

I was out again last night. Did much better as far as walleyes go, between the two of us we had probably 15 fish but mostly shorts. Anywhere from 15-30 feet. The one big female I caught was still full of eggs so they are not done with the spawn but I suspect we are at the tail end of it. Crappie are still tough to find on the main lake.

I found crappie in 50ft yesterday on brush by the dam. Real deep. Caught one short walleye and two bass casting around the points near the dam last night. Been pretty slow both nights that I have gone recently.