merc1997 Bo

nothing like trouble free operation. just have to worry about fishing. bo

guess i failed to read elite idot in his comment. he stated elite folks, and i did not take it as a derogatory comment at all. i just took it, that you can catch just as many bass out of anything that will get you there. bo

that is what i used to have on the boat, and it is easy for me to remember. especially since it blew up because of running too lean, and that would be most likely a computer problem. bo

bill, with the computer controlling your fuel air mixture, the engine burns cleaner. they also use synthetic oil, which runs longer between changes. we have cleaner roads than back in the old days running on dirt and gravel. dirt does in an engine. the cleaner they burn, and the cleaner the environment they run, the longer they will last. bo

when is supper??? bo

jason, i have tangled with the water patrol for years for one, not using a bit of common sense. two, seemingly always targeting bass fisherman, when the barge traffic, crotch rockets, and tourists that have not business on the water during the day let alone at night. even the boats that the water patrol run now throw out too big of a wave. in fact, last year one came by while we were fishing before dark, and the wake came over the side of a pantera. i was not happy. we seriously need to have an operators test for anyone to operate a boat on the water. there is too much traffic for dummies to be out operating a boat. i see way too many tourist running over very dangerous stuff. to them if it is wet, it is good. i do not know how we do not have way more serious accidents because of idiots pulling their kids over timber that is about six inches under water. bo

bill, the answer is to enforce the law. you are responsible for your wake. pwc are licensed the same as any other boat. so, they should have to follow the same safe boating rules. you would have given a ticket to any boat cutting all the di-does the they are doing on the pwc's. we have rules in place to stop the chaos. just enforce them. bo

i know several that run e-tecs, and have not had one problem. one of them is a guide on falcon. his etec is an 08 250, and he has done nothing but run it everyday. as much trouble as i have had with mercury not standing behind their screwups, and paying out of my pocket, i doubt that if i ever own another mercury. the best of the rest might not be any better, but if i were to buy a new one tomorrow, i would have to try an e-tec. bo

now bud, it is much safer fishing with me now because the 5+'s are much harder to come by. they will be mostly 3 and 4 lbers. now. who needs a net. bo

nice boat. you will love the champ. bo

glad that you are getting a new dog. our westie terrier wesley died about a month ago. we had bought a new westie puppie about one week before wesley died. i agree with whoever posted to get your new puppy and see what his personality is like. we decided on toby for our new westie, and he is one ball of energy, and not afraid of anything. good luck with your new pup. bo

wow, it rained really well at my house this morning, but did not have any strong winds at all. bo

ouch!! i have had to do a bit of surgery on people over the years for hook removal. i did fish over the the kings the other night, as i felt the bass in the kings were done spawning a while back, and should be eating again. we managed 6 keepers with a 4lb. in the bunch, and several shorts. we did catch a few up on the bank, but most where in the 15ft. range. most were all caught on a 3/8 NuJig. here is something crazy, and that is there seemed to be two thermoclines showing. one was at 20ft. and the other was showing at 35ft. i have seen this before, and it sure can make figuring out just what to do very head scratching. bo

jason, looks like you all did pretty good saturday night. good job. bo

interesting read about losing bass. over the many years that i have fished, i have spent enormous amounts of hours studying the hooking mechanics of the various lures and hooks we fish with. many of our lost fish are not due to anything that the fisherman did wrong, but was a failure mechanical wise in the hooking process because of what we are fishing with. many times, it is more a matter of luck of getting a bass in the boat because it was hook poorly. the other thing that many do not realize is how many times they set the hook, and their lures or hook comes out without hooking anything. over the years, i have won a lot of money from not losing my bites. i have been on that end of losing bass long ago, and i never did like it. i always want to touch them. isn't it bill dance that is saying that all the time?? sounds like you had the bass figured out though. you were right in there with some darn good bassers. bo

really nice trip, but there again, it appears that not all have spawned. it truly has been a different year. i am guessing there will two different patterns going on this moon. bo

nice trip. bo

as we move from spawning to a feeding june pattern, there will be times that a single spin fished out on feeding flats will just really be the ticket. if you fish the dam area any, it is a great method to catch some whopper brownies. transition chunk rock banks is another place that single spins work sometimes for post spawn feedeers. many bass will be caught on a jig or soft plastic though. crankbaits at night can be very effective too. bo

nice ones. bo

i have fished a few nights recently, and we are catching quite a number of keepers. last monday, we had 15 keepers, but nothing over 3 1/2 lbs. we just fished right around big m. i am not really convinced there a number of big bass around there, but seems to be a good number of keepers. i have caught a good number of 5+ in the last month, but most of those have came in the cambell point and baxter area. my wife and i fished aroung big m last night and we had 5 keepers and a 22 inch walleye. the walleye was dripping eggs, one bass was empty, one almost empty of eggs, and the other two full of eggs. i talked to a friend that has been fishing under lights for crappie around eagle rock, and has been railing them, and he said they were all full of eggs, and really close to spawning yet. eggs were just beginning to get bloody. another buddy of mine was fishing the old 86 area over the weekend, and the brownies they caught for the most part seemed to have spawned, but all the blacks they caught had not, and only one of them had any signs of fanning. mike sowders told me that there are just now nests showing up in the k-dock area. i still think, that with the water as clear as it is, the abnormally cold winter, the cold spring, cold rains, that there are still many bass, and in particular, many of the bigger ones, are just now moving up or in to spawn. most of the bass that i am catching are in the 10 to 20 ft. range, and all of the big bass are very close to 20 ft. all of them have been caught on a NuTech 3/8 NuJig and a 1/2 Blitz football jig. i keep fishing back in pockets and coves, but without success. everything is coming off on main channel banks. bo

sorry to hear that you are going to have to have your replacement replaced. guess that is where they keep improving as we go along. my knee was replaced about 2 1/2 years ago. i am a bit of an experiment. for one thing because i fish all the time, i need to be able to twist like a normal knee for running the trolling motor at all the odd angles. my knee replacement allows that. the other great thing is that it has a replaceable wear surface. they x-ray it ever two years to measure the space of the wear surface. if it get too thin, they can go in and replace the wear surface in a very minimally invasive surgery. the wear surface in testing shows to last an average of 30 years, but only time will tell if that is correct. here is a prayer for everything to go smoothly for you, and that you will be good as new in a short time. bo

great pics. bo

good question, and they follow spinner baits a lot too. and, i do not know why they do that. just the nature of the beast i guess. why do bass eat all the phony looking lures we throw at them?? bo

you both got keepers!!!! nothing like spending fishing time with your eternal mate. nice pics. bo

sure is bill. for one thing they do not have all the houses on the lake and that means less sewer going into the water. since bull shoals is further to get to from metro areas, they do not have all the big boat traffic that table rock has. and, less fishing pressure. bo