camburgersoup

I inherited a jet / jon from my dad. I believe the motor is a 2014 Merc 60/40 jet. I have owned smaller prop motors but nothing over 25hp. Could someone give me a run down of the basic maintenance this motor needs? All my dad told me is that I should grease the zerk on the lower unit, he said any marine grease will do. Is that right? (he is not very mechanically inclined, and I'm not much better) My dad said he had it "serviced" once in 2017 but I don't know exactly what that means. Other than that I don't think any work has been done on it. It starts up every time and I think it only has about 20-30hrs total on it. Can someone give me an idea of what I need to do to take good care of the motor? Is there something I should be doing yearly and after each trip? Also I think I want to get a bigger motor at some point, when I add a 3rd person to the boat it has trouble getting up on plane.

Unfortunately I think you are right. I guess I will have to get used to being a quasi-criminal.

Thanks for the clarification, that is some good info. Do you know if there are any plans or bills in the works to address this issue? I imagine it's touchy with landowners on one side and sportsmen on the other. I don't necessarily think MO should have the same stream access laws as Montana. I would just like for it to be decided one way or the other so I definitely know if I'm trespassing. I feel like I have to be sneaky at any access point other than a marked fishing access. I don't exactly hide, but I try not to be seen. I worry about my truck being vandalized and trouble with landowners. I don't think anyone wants to feel uneasy while they are supposed to be relaxing and fishing. Knowing you are 100% legally fishing in that spot would be a huge relief.

I have found out a little more by reading this article by American Whitewater. It sounds like if you can prove the river or stream is navigable under Federal law, then the streambed is definitely owned by the state. To determine if it's navigable under Federal Law you'd use the "federal streambed title test". The article says: So if this info is correct, one way to definitively prove you can access a particular stream is to find verified historical proof of it being used to transport people or goods for commerce at the time of statehood. Technically many streams would qualify because they "COULD" have been used for this purpose at the time of statehood, but if it requires historical evidence it would be hard to find records of it.

Also, the town of Browning on the east side is very rough, I would stay away from it. It is on the Indian Reservation and has some shady characters. I've stopped there for gas twice. One time there was about 15 people sitting on the curb of the gas station watching me (the only car) fill up... and the other time I saw someone passed out in front of the steering wheel of their car, it looked like they had ODed.

Howdy there. I just moved from Western Montana so I might be able to help. I've been to glacier about 10 times and fished it almost every time. Honestly it is not known for good fishing, but I've had luck catching 8-14in cutthroats, a few bull trout and some lake trout. I was always coming from the Kalispell area so I spent 80% of my time on the western side. It looks like you are on the eastern side. I think the eastern side has more dramatic views and if you go north from where you are staying you are getting into some of the less used areas of the park. I have heard there is good fishing up near Lake Josephine but I have never been on that side. Tackle I would definitely bring: 1/4oz Thompson Cyclone Spoon - red/gold (other colors/sizes might work but this is my go-to spinning lure) Smallest Mepps spinner in yellow/red (and a rod that can cast it) Small Stickbait like a rapala with a trout pattern on it. Flies - my favorite flies are purple Chubby Chernobyl, Parachute Adams, Yellow Humpy... small nymphs like PTs, Lighting Bugs, Hares Ear and maybe a few bigger stonefly nymphs like a brown Rubber Legs (if you don't know how to use a fly rod, they sell these clear bobbers that allow you to fish flies with a spinning rod. You're actually casting the bobber and the fly comes along for the ride. The clear bobber doesn't bother the fish I guess) Another thing... I'm not sure if you are used to the mountains, but the temperature fluctuates WAY more. At night it will be in the 40s probably. Even if the weather calls for 90 degrees, it is usually around 55 or so when you wake up in the morning and is only 90 degrees between 3-8pm. If you are there May - Mid June the only fishing would be in the big lakes near the main roads. The streams will be "blown out" with melting snow and the hike-in mountain lakes will be unreachable due to snow. The creek between those two lakes I do not know about, maybe it is more regulated because it is between two lakes. I have passed over it near the St. Mary visitor center and have seen people parked and fishing near the bridge. July - October is when the fishing is the best. Most of the high elevation snow will have melted by mid June and you should be able to hike into backcountry lakes. I would say you have 3 options for different fishing experiences... 1. Bigger lakes you can launch a kayak or rental boat on 2. Backcountry lakes you can only hike into 3. Small Streams and rivers I will go through each one and hopefully give you some tips.... 1. Bigger lakes - The two bigger lakes I have tried fishing at are Bowman Lake and an hour fishing McDonald lake. I caught a lake trout on McDonald lake around dusk with a heavy casting spoon.. its was like a Krocodile spoon in orange/silver... I've heard they hunt in the shallow water at low light so I was casting in a long gradual bay. As for Bowman Lake, it was one of my favorite places in the park. I camped and fished at Bowman lake a few times at least. They don't allow motorboats anymore but I was there a few years ago with my boat and caught 10+ cutthroats in a day. The hottest lure was a small yellow mepps spinner and a gold/red thompson cyclone spoon (unfortunately the next day a storm came in and we ran out of gas trying to get out. We had to flip the 14ft boat over and spend the night under it while we waited for rescue, long story) 2. Backcountry lakes - Your best bet of catching a fish would be hiking into a lake. I have done this all over MT and generally it is really easy fishing. In Glacier, I have only been to one backcountry lake but it was AMAZING. It was Akokala Lake in mid August... the parking lot is in Bowman lake campground. I believe it was about a 4mi hike. I woke up right at dawn and got there around 9 or 10am. The one thing I remember is the fishing died when the shadows were all gone and the lake was in full sunlight. I caught about 20 small cutthroats and a big bull trout. It appeared the cutthroats would eat any fly that looked semi-natural. It was almost like bobber fishing... get the fly as far out into the middle and wait. Usually after about 5min-10min you will get a hit. These cutthroat were really small and I wanted to target the bigger ones. I switched to my spinning rod and tied on a smaller "trout-like" Rapala (I think it was brown trout colored) and caught a bull trout.... found out later it is against the law to target bull trout in some parts of Montana. If you catch one, it is okay to take a quick picture and get it back in the water. I wasn't exactly targeting bull trout, but I would definitely check the rules in Glacier NP before doing that again. I got a nice picture of it though (Attached below...the stringer makes me cringe now. The fish was released, I was just trying to make sure I got a picture!). 3. Streams and Rivers - The small streams are all similar. There are too many to count. I don't have much experience here but I have fished McDonald creek. Lots of small cuttys (notice a theme?) and some bull trout. The trick is to find the long deep turquoise color pools... most of the creeks are fast knee high water and there might not be a deep pool for couple miles. Some people can fish that fast "pocket water" but I was never good at it. When I find a deeper pool, usually I just use a simple fly like a Parachute Adams and drift it in the seams of the current before the pool starts. Another great tactic is nymphing with 2 flies under a bobber, let them "fall" off the gravel into the deep pool. For flies, I'd try a Pheasant Tail and Prince Nymph first... maybe a Rubber Legs Stonefly. I have heard the best fishing river in the area is the North Fork of the Flathead. It forms the western boundary of the park and it's actually a really easy float if you have access to kayaks or a raft (ford access to polebridge access). It is class 1 or 2, nothing hazardous, easier than most Ozark small streams but probably faster current. I have floated it twice in a raft (pics below), both times we caught 15+ small cutthroats. The fish are pretty small but they seem to be aggressive and easy to catch. I used purple Chubby Chernobyl flies, I would guess size 8 or so. Usually about halfway through the float we get tired of catching small fish and sit back to enjoy the view. I'm sure there is a way to target just the big fish but I've never tried. One more thing... there is a great bakery/general store in Polebridge if you ever get to the west side of the park. It is the only thing in Polebridge besides some rental cabins. They will shuttle your car if you decide to float the N. Fork of The Flathead, just ask the clerk. Anyway, good luck! I hope you can sift through my ramblings and find something useful! I'm happy to answer any questions you might have. Pictures: N. Fork Flathead River (my mom's first fish on a fly, purple chubby) Bowman Lake (day after spending the night under the boat) Bowman Lake (Cutthroat trout on a small yellow mepps spinner) Bowman Lake Whitefish (you can see my spoon box in the foreground) Akokala Lake - Bull Trout

I have been doing research to figure out when I am legally allowed to access a creek. I am hoping someone can help clarify. Maybe I feel lost because it was so simple where I used to live (Montana). I found this very informative (maybe outdated) post, but it really doesn't give me any definitive answers that I can regurgitate to a landower that stops me on a creek. Seems like the consensus is that it's a grey area and pretty much up to the local district attorney... and it's "MORE OKAY" but still not definitive if the river was used for commerce sometime in state history. If that is the litmus test for access, I have no problem digging up information and starting a collection of historical facts about commercial uses of MO small streams (maybe even start a website about it). It seems like the articles I have read online keep bringing up whether or not a stream is NAVIGABLE. It appears it is definitely legal to walk up and down a streambed if the stream is considered NAVIGABLE. The problem is that each state can define what is NAVIGABLE and I can't find (or understand) Missouri's definition. The closest I've found is where it's mentioned on pg 138 in "A Summary of Missouri Water Laws" by the DNR (2000). I'm not a lawyer, so it is hard for me to understand. It says: Adding to my confusion... this website says even if the stream is not NAVIGABLE I can still walk up and down the streambed? (as long as I legally access it) So then the question is, how can I legally access these streams from a public road? I know I cannot go through private land to access the bank. In Montana most roads have a "right of way" that is 30ft or 60ft. Is it the same in Missouri? If so, wouldn't any public bridge have 30ft of publicly accessible shoreline? This reasoning was recently used in Montana to deny a wealthy landowner from shutting out the public from a bridge access. I have tried to research this, but have came up at a dead end. I have found this 1997 MDC article that says: Pretty confusing I think. Can I only use fishing access points and "known" fishing spots if I want to stay 100% legal? That would be a bummer... In my opinion, half the fun is exploring and finding new spots.

Thats awesome! Sounds like the life! I'd be heading up there right about now. I never got a chance to fish that part of the state, I've heard there are smallmouth there. Maybe I'll have to take the jetboat up there. I'd like to take it to LOG on Holter lake and the lower Flathead too. I usually fished the rivers around Missoula like the Bitterroot, Clark Fork and Blackfoot (Also the MO, Beaverhead and Big Hole). I never really did any whitewater but I can maneuver some tight spots with the oars. My favorite place to bass fish was Noxon Rapids Reservoir up by Thompson Falls. The largemouth bass in the picture on my first post was caught there. Thanks! You guessed it. I graduated last fall and started working at Sho Me a few months ago. I've been liking it a lot so far, everyone has been great. I like living in Marshfield too, it has everything I need and seems like a good location.

I can confirm, just measured. The transom is 20" and the motor is about 19" from where it hangs on the transom to the cavitation plate. So with the extension it appears to be a standard shaft length.

I will definitely be hitting you up, I've never caught a white bass. The transom is standard as far as I know. I have no idea where the motor came from, it was on the boat when I got it. I'll have to measure to see if I need it. I've gone pretty shallow with it so I'm guessing it was a short shaft motor to begin with and was extended to 20".

Wow that sounds like fun. Unfortunately I will be visiting family in Ironton, MO that weekend. If it happens again I'd love to go.

Hello there! I would like to introduce myself. My name is Tyler, I'm a late 20s guy that just graduated school and got a real job (in IT) in Marshfield, MO. I grew up in STL and have family up there. Most of my fishing in the Ozarks has been when I was little at ponds and trout parks. I spent the last 10yrs in Western Montana fishing mainly for trout but also bass and pike. I learned how to fly fish and worked at a fly shop for 2 summers on the Missouri river. (Crazy to see the MO river with clear water and big trout) My favorite fish to catch is smallmouth. It heavily influenced my decision to move to the Ozark area. I own a few boats, and if anyone has recommendations on where to take them to catch fish I would be grateful! (Especially the driftboat, anyone else have one around here?) I'm strictly catch and release unless we are talking catfish or walleye, maybe stocked trout too. The last 2 weekends I have taken my jet boat on the gasconade and put in at the Hazelgreen access. Last year I took it down to the White River and nymphed up some tiny trout with my fly rod. My GF and I took the kayaks down crooked creek in AR and that fished pretty well. I will definitely be researching these forums for suggestions on where to go. I joined hoping to find and share local fishing info... maybe find a fishing friend or two. I don't know anyone around here. I am going to attempt to add pics to this post... mostly as a learning experience (usually its a pain)... also some might find them interesting Here are my boats: 16ft Alumacraft Aluminum V bottom with 25hp tiller 16ft Stealthcraft Jet Boat with 40hp 16ft ClackaCraft Headhunter Driftboat 12ft Alumacraft Jon boat with 9.9hp tiller Plus 2 Kayaks for my GF and I: