merc1997 Bo

try using a wire duo lock snap. bo

flutter spoons will work. as far as results comparing to using a jigging spoon casting against a flutter spoon, it is one of those that the bass have to tell you for that particular day. i have had great success casting either type. usually one will out produce the other depending on the day. bo

i think the moss has pretty much gone away. i fished from the dam to big m, and encountered very little. bo

they released stripers in bull shoals. there goes the fishery in bull shoals again. way back when they tried stripers in bull shoals the rest of the fishery went to nothing. they finally quit, and the stripers either got caught or died, and the fishery on bass and crappie came back. i do not know how they expect anything but the same result this time. bo

fished friday and saturday night (24th and 25th). the moon was pretty, and the bass were eating. friday night produced 15 keepers. the biggest 5 went about 191/2 lbs. we had the boat back on the trailer by 1 a.m.. saturday night was pretty much a carbon copy. 12 keepers with the best 5 weighing a bit over 20lb. most everyting was caught on a 3/8 NuJig, with a brown and blue skirt, and a solid blue trailer. all the bigger bass were very close to 15ft. deep. they were in all stages of spawing, either done, in the process, or just about to. guess the next step will be to figure out where the bass spawned first, and see if they are ready to start eating again. bo

NuJig by NuTech Lures

it seems that many of you do not remember table rock of old. visibility in the dam area used to be 30ft. anytime. the upper end around eagle rock, 15ft plus was the norm. we have high water for so long without a normal winter draw down that we have had much more color in the water. when the water stayed so high so long, there was a lot of brush decaying. that in itself contributes to more water tint. if the water stays as clear as it has been so far, i am anticipating some night fishing like we used to have. we have so much color in the water that fish have fed much more readily during the day, and not so much at night. the year has been pretty good for big bass at night so far. bo

if you are peeling ears off of every prop, it is not a prop issue. sounds more like a prop shaft issue. no one else is peeling ears. as far as you running a yamaha, a yamaha prop should be a good setup for your boat. but, you still need to get to the bottom of what is causing slinging blades. slinging a blade on a cast prop is very rare without damaging the prop to begin with. bo

you must not spend much time in the dam area during the summer. it is like a zoo on table rock. actually the barge traffic is getting bad on the upper end also. when you get up to eagle rock, in the summer about all the fishing is out in the main channel, and you just get beat to death trying to fish during the day. sure with for the good old days when we just ski boats running around. bo

those big boats we are all cursing are dock owners. go figure. make a ripple around their dock and see how they react, but it is ok for them to wash everyone else up on the bank, and tear up anyone else property and equipment. the insanity needs to stop somewhere. bo

well bill sounds like everyone got in on some fish catching. sounds like night fishing is better for catching the big ones though. i went monday night. we fished the baxter area. did not catch an enormos number of bass, but we did catch some good ones. our best five weighed 27lb. and some change. all of the big ones came about 15ft. deep. all were caught on a 1/4oz. NuJig tied with hair, and trailed with an 800 spring lizard pup. we were back on the trailer at 12:30. not too bad since it is not good dark until about 9. bo

everything after dark was on a NuJig with pork trailers. before dark, we caught lots of small bass on jerk baits. bo

those boats were all illegal by being over the allowed decible rating. i am sure that since bass pro was putting it on, the water patrol was looking the other way. i feel sorry for those that had to listen to that all night. i was fishing in the kings and had to listen to about 15 of them come by, and you could not carry on a conversation in the boat for about an hour when one of them got into hearing range. put some mufflers on those things and get legal. bo

night fishing in the eagle rock and big m areas is picking up. went monday and tuesday last week and really caught them. before dark, we caught a ton of little ones on jerk baits. after dark, we got out the NuJigs and went to work. monday produced 12 keepers with a couple of 3's and one 4. several smaller ones in the mix too. tuesday was a repeat, but we had a couple of 5's and one better than 7. we were back on the trailer by 12 both nights. it was great to be the only boat out. sure hope all the rest of you stay home . i sure enjoy having the lake to myself. bo

bigger worms will catch bass. the trick is to know when to use them. bo

my input will be limited for a while. healing up from some wrist repair. bo

i went wednesday in the kings river to do a bit of filming for the proto type nujig crappie jig. we had 20 keeper crappie in about two hours. use the same jig the entire time, and did not loose a crappie either. here is a link to the you tube video for those that would like to take a peak. bo

i would say that dutch has the spot pinpointed. many boats run aground there. bo

wish the carpal tunnel was the only thing. got several other issues to repair besides the carpal tunnel. did you get your jigs? bo

did a little fishing in the baxter area friday and saturday. there appears to be two patterns going. deep water fishing, and a shallow jerk bait bite. friday, we started about 10am and chased the deep bite until 3;30pm. we caught at least 50 bass. the bites came from 40 feet to 65. then we did some jerk bait fishing which produced 5 and three of those were nice 3lb. chunks. saturday we started about 11am and went jerk bait fishing first. after two hours of no bites, we went back to chasing the deep bite. wish we had been chasing the deep fish all day as we ended up catching over 50 bass again, and 10 of those were keepers with 4 over 4 lb. hope i can get back out before wrist surgery on the 31st. might as well get the wrist really irritated, right?? bo

your idle is too fast to begin with. that will make it hit hard going into gear. also, you have to have a balance between going into forward and reverse. you need a bit more pressure going into forward than reverse. this is done with where your shifting cable is set under you cowling. disconnect the shift cable out of the lock down holder. leave shifter in nuetral. manually shift into neutral on motor. roll the brass barrel back to match the hole in lock down. go past a couple of rounds to give it just a tad more pressure in th forward position. if you are unsure of how to do it, take it to a GOOD mechanic. being out of adjustment can cause premature wear and damage to your gears. bo

if you oil alarm is beeping, the first thing you need to do is chech the oil level on the reserve tank on the enging under the cowling. if it is low, you have a problem of the supply tank not keeping the reserve tank full. here are the most common problems. take the lid to the supply line loose. take the tube assembly out and check the fine mesh screen in the bottom of tube. good chance it is full of gunk and preventing oil to go up the supply tube. the fix for that is just to remove the plastic mesh screen. the other common problem is that the lid on the fill side of tank is loose or the o-ring is not sealing and letting the tank pressurize. remember to refill the reserve tank on motor. this is where the float alarm is. that cap has electric wires to it. if these simply things do not fix the problem, then either your oil pump is not working or the diaphram in the fuel pump is bad. there are two diaphrams in the pump. that is how the oil tank is pressurized to push oil to the reserve tank on the motor. hope this might help you chase down your problem. bo

you do not want to get me started on the subject of boat docks. everyone needs to keep their boat at home. there has been so many good fishing spots ruined on table rock from putting in boat docks than you can shake a stick at. the dock is bad enough, but they cut out all the timber, and there is not so much as a stump left!!! the corp forgot a long time ago that the lake is for flood control. that is why we have dealt with so many years of high water. the more water they hold, the more electricy they generate during the summer. that does not help people that depend on someone using the lake for a livelyhood. when all the parking lots are covered with water, there is not too much going on as far as lake useage. the corp would just as soon the lake be 936 every year. ever ask one of them why they can't leave the lake steady during spawning season. they will tell you that the lake is for flood control. i then ask them why they are not doing their job then. this will be the first year in "umpteen" years that we have gone into spring with the lake down a little bit so it does not flood everything if we start getting any late winter and spring rains. kind of hard not to flood everything in site when the lake is at power pool or higher going into spring!!! bo

to answer bill, yes the lake in the last ten years has changed tremendously. now that the water level is down, there are banks that used to be big thick cedar glades, and now there is hardly a stick there. much of the timber that is left is nothing more than a pole, not a limb left on them. the days of catching bass suspended in the branches of a tree is almost non-existant anymore. thick timber stands used to be where to fish in the hot part of the summer. in years gone by the timber in the summer had green algae, and that gave off oxygen with attracted shad and crawdads. plus the crawdads fed on the green algae. now, the timber is coated with a brown sludge which tends to give off c02 rather than o2. therefore, it is a rarity to catch vry many bass out of a tree anymore. not saying that on occasion you get on, but i can not even remember the last time that i was in a tree out in 50 ft. of water at night, and got up in the top of the tree, came over limb and punched the button, and a bass ate the bait as it sank back through the tree. it is a complete different ball game now. it is becoming a game of figuring out how to catch a bass suspended out in the middle of nothing, and relating to nothing but shad swimming around. even at lake falcon, they are dealing with that very thing right now because of fishing pressure, and low water. just as we adapt to situations, bass do the same to survive. bo

fuel costs are shrinking everyones' pocket books. living in an area that is fueled by tourists, and that would include those that fish, it certainly affects a lot of businesses. wehn we do not fish as often, we are not buying gas, fishing baits, using up usable miles on the vehicles(which at some point means repair expendatures, tires, oil changes, ect.). i would guess that all working people would like their wages to go up in accordingly to fuel, insurance, taxes, ect. of course with higher wages, especially those attached to manufactured products, the cost of those goes up. kind of a vicious cycle. bo