skeeter

Until the area get's appreciable rainfall or the demands for electricity generation decrease, the Lake will keep dropping. Those two heavy, but brief, rains that moved through with the tornadoes Dec. 30 & 31 helped a little but not enough and there has only been .002" since then. Good time to get out and scout exposed structure if you've never seen the water level down before. It can and has gone much lower and with nothing but snow in the forecast, it probably will continue to drop.

The Baxter dock and Marina is closed until about April 1 but Baxter also has a Marine service center right up the hill from the Marina. Curt operates a "service van" in which he will come out to your location and perform requested service. The Marine service center is open all year. This time of year, they are open Mon. thru Fri. and Curt is a trained Mercury tech. They also service boats while on the lifts at the dock and, since you are located in Trace Hollow, can probably get over there via water too. I would suggest calling them @ 417-779-4244 for a quicker response.

From "Billfo's" previous postings and pictures I think he has one of Tom Blake's "Econo-Lifts" ?? I've never noticed an Econo-Lift, so far, that has a chain on it that limits the depth of the lift. Maybe one can be added ? Tom installed "guides" for my neighbor's tri-toon, maybe he can help you since your time here is limited ? 417-464-2111 cell.

Actually I was thinking more about the possibility of small children being jumped. Cougars supposedly won't mess with a "larger" person and I've got that covered. We thankfully don't have the population density CA does here but old or injured predators will pick on the easiest available prey. They also like to steal trout from wading fishermen....yum....smell that fishy kitty kat ? I would have bet $1K on some kind of sarcastic reply like yours with an attitude rather than an intelligent discussion. It happens on every board and I win. Again !

Agreed, I wouldn't either. Our OPEC "pals" seem to be making sure that the economy will remain in the septic tank. We get a little bit of a rebound and "boom", they stick it to us on oil prices again.

Roger has been trying to sell the beautiful Downtown Lampe "Corner Drive-In" for a while. He's been closed for several Months now and won't re-open until April or May. The Baxter Country store has also been up for sale for some time and we will miss the owners when they leave/sell if anyone can ever pry any money out of the danged banks these days. They did wonders with that old place but want to move on. This economy has not been good for Mom & Pop businesses and once the new Hwy 13 bypass is completed between "OO" and just South of "DD", probably more economic stress will visit business owners along that stretch of road. If your pipes in the crawlspace survived last Winter this one, so far, will not be a problem. As far as the Merc lower unit, IMHO it's good to change the lower unit lube in the Fall and note the color and condition of the old lube. Good time to make sure no water has gotten in from discarded fishing line wrapping around the hub or just old age of the shaft seals. I got a nasty surprise on my Yammy this Fall and had to have the seals updated.

Sure thing, all you gotta' do is show up. Lake is getting so low now ( 908.6 ) that I'm concerned about getting the boat off the lift when this Arctic stuff leaves us alone. 5 Degrees this morning with 8 - 10 mph winds and -8 wind chill. Know what you mean about cabin fever.

Freely admit I don't know much about Cougars but I'm trying to figure out why some folks on here seem to want a breeding population re-established in Missouri ? Going to play the devil's advocate here....having read the stories about attacks by Cougars on humans in areas of California over the past few years with a couple of resulting fatalities and severe injuries to survivors I'm thinking do we really want them here again ? If memory serves, the Cougars positively identified through carcass recovery or hair exams in Missouri have all been males supposedly seeking new territory. Do females do the same thing ? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_fatal_cougar_attacks_in_North_America http://tchester.org/sgm/lists/lion_attacks_ca.html

'Bout an inch or less. Some melted yesterday then it started again later in the day..very lightly. Blowing at 17 - 20 mph right now from the WNW. Temp about 14 and indicated wind chill is -3 degrees. Lake area lucked out again on snowfall. More forecast for the coming weekend beginning Sat. night if you can trust long-range prognostications.

Martin...you are right about the correct names for "North Indian Creek" vs. "Big" and "Little" Indian Creek in the Baxter area. No amount of fines (which they will never collect a single dollar of) can remediate that infusion of silt that continues with every gully washer. Wonder how many spawing banks it has already covered ? Billfo...Kind of an eye-opener isn't it about submerged timber becoming exposed with lower water levels ? I keep seeing skiers and tubers getting towed right over the tops of barely submerged pole timber and praying that no one get's seriously injured. The erosion from that ill-advised Indian Ridge development is really screwing up North Indian but we have another type of run-off in the Big Indian area. It's from all the cattle country that Big Indian drains to the South in Arkansas. Between the Lake and the Boston Mountains to the South there is heavy use of the land for both cattle ranching and concentrated chicken production and much of that area drains into Big Indian.

Smalliebigs I didn't think you were old enough to remember Virgil. I always wanted to get him a larger aquarium for his demos. I'll still tie on a Beetle Spin occasionally and catch some fish on one. Not many fish today have seen them before and they work well for beginner's use being semi-weedless. When you wanted the latest fishing reports in print you always went to the pages of Friday's Globe-Democrat Sports Section and read their reports. The Post never paid much attention to the Outdoors scene (just like they blow off motorsports) and their staffing of that desk showed it. George Carson was also the PR guy for the Globe and wrote some good articles on the outdoors for them. He used to amaze the crowds at the original St. Louis Boat Shows at the old Arena annex by shooting aspirin out of the air with a BB gun. His Son-in-law, Bill Seibel, took over that job when George retired. If you remember watching Jerry McGinnis' show he always wore a STL Cardinal ball cap. I think someone said he was in their minor-league system at one time ? "Oh Son" always came across as a blow-hard and a shill, maybe he's different in real life ?

Thanks for the link to the video. I think that was taken the next morning (Sunday)it seems ? Yeah, the wind was worse Saturday and whomever made the decision for the Belle to leave her dock has rocks in his head. There was no way they were going to be able to control that high-profile barge in those winds and now they are claiming (?) they lost power... Hope that helps in the inevitable lawsuits as there were reports of five people with medical conditions having to be evacuated Saturday before the rest of the passengers who were stuck overnight. That was a risky operation for the first responders due to winds blowing spray and icing everything over. They were realy lucky the boat didn't drift into and strike the dam. They had divers down yesterday inspecting the hull for damage and it checked out OK. Steady winds all Saturday afternoon and evening never lower than 35mph on my weather station and it recorded a top gust of 54mph. Tops of the rollers were blowing off horizontally and if anything wasn't tied down securely it is long gone.

We aren't called the "Show-Me" State for nothing. Believe it when you see it. So many other blue-sky, "fly-by-night" junk has been yapped about in the Branson area it's laughable. While SW MO seems to have a fan base for NAPCAR, the recent demise of Gateway International is a classic example of a track doing poorly due to not being able to land a Cup Race date. Fans will not turn out in numbers for the NAPCAR support races for Trucks and the Nationwide (Busch) Series. It boils down to two things, the cost of moving a cubic yard of dirt in the area and whether the owner/promoter can get a Cup Event. The talked-about site for the track is supposed to be just West of the new Branson Airport and just East of Highways 65 and 86 intersections. There are a few million yards of dirt liberally mixed with Ozark rock that would have to be moved and the political and court based gamesmanship that has been going on between Bruton Smith and the France family over Cup Dates goes back several years so how a new guy would be awarded a Cup event is beyond me.

Yep, what an asinine statement that is. Did they radio collar one or several of them ? Don't think so. Seems there is enough livestock and deer to keep them happy right in the Show-me State. Here kitty-kitty

There used to be a big Striper fishery on Bull and I recall Tony Albright night fishing and catching several over 40 lbs down by Oakland. Some so-called "expert" thinking Stripers could get through not one but two high dams like Beaver AND Table Rock, flood or no flood, and survive coming thru flood gates open to a 150 ft + fall is highly questionable.

Good luck with that 10 year old Lowrance unit. If it breaks,Lowrance has probably declared it "obsolete" and will refuse to repair it. The marine GPS units I have experience with show a map of the body of water you are on and your current position on that map. I'm not aware, but others may be, of any unit that audibly says, for instance " Turn left at the James River arm" to get to Cape Fair. Perhaps some sort of chart plotter ???

Could have been Christmas trees I suppose. Good suggestion because they have never marked these locations on their map. Didn't know that was a separate project and that they do that every year. They dumped them about every 100 feet or so along the bank and it could have well been for minnow and fry cover which is a plus in that cove.

Billfo, A very big DITTO on Tom Blake. Have never heard a single complaint about Tom. Reliable, answers his phone, shows up when he says he will and from your pictures, it is apparent you have one of his "Econo-Lifts" that he sells, installs and services. Tom installed my lift for a bass boat, my Daughter's lift for a deck boat and a good friend's and neighbor's lift for a Tri-toon so he can adjust the bunks to correctly accomodate your boat which is VERY important. Tom is a local and his shop is on Hwy 13 both are close by to Trace Hollow. You will not be sorry.

We were fishing the flats across from Baxter in Nov. 2008 and watched the MDC pontoon boat dump pile after pile of brush on the right hand bank ( going in ) of Flint cove which is the first cove right around the end of the bluff from Baxter Dock. The problem, IMHO, is they dumped the brush in such shallow water it ain't gonna' do squat. Relatively shallow bank and the brush is plainly visible from a distance in your boat. Maybe 5 to 8 feet deep at the most. To my knowledge, those numerous bush piles are still unmarked on the MDC map. Those MDC fishery Biologists may be "qualified" but after seeing this brush placement I wonder about their knowledge of Table Rock conditions. Maybe habitat for minnows ?? Just don't understand it. Had to grin at Bill's comment about "long in the tooth". Back in the early 70's it was almost a news item fit for print when an angler caught a SM. Most I was aware of came from around the islands up the James arm. Sure is nice that they have done so well since then.

Ever watch those TV shows about the Catfish "Noodlers" who reach into those underwater holes in the banks while they are swimming ? No way man ! Can't tell what the heck is in there.

Yep, read the post from AR on the Table Rock thread on the subject about Ethanol free 89 octane. He expects folks to swallow his contention that use of corn to produce ethanol has not driven up food prices dramatically. The MO legislature actually turned down 15% last year because several were cattlemen that had seen their feed prices triple since corn based ethanol 10% content came along.

Hate to be the bearer of bad news but the fracking EPA morons just approved 15% Ethanol fuel content ! Read DENJAC's informative post in the General Angling section. Just unbelievable how these Government morons are unresponsive to the public. Of course, the head of the EPA is an Administration appointment and no one but the President has any control over that Department's personnel. Guess the Ethanol lobby is gonna' get their money's worth now at all of our expense. There goes food prices again through the roof and more engine damage to say nothing of lower MPG's due to Ethanol content.

OMG !!! Those fracking idiots ! There goes food prices again...+ MPG's will decline. They have learned nothing and obviously do not listen. Another reason to vote them all out. Total idiots from the top right down to the bottom. Write your so-called representatives and complain !

Nice (kind of) to hear this bothers someone else. This has been a pet peeve of mine since that stretch of I-44 from the Leasburg on-ramp West to the Phelps County line was re-surfaced at the worst possible time of the year (late May/early June 2004?), right when schools let out and everyone was leaving for the lakes/vacation. There were weekends when people reported being in traffic jams over six hours trying to get through there both West AND Eastbound (Eastbound jams were way worse on Sunday afternoons). I bounce through there with a repetitive suspension oscillation no matter what vehicle I'm driving, particularly the pick-up. MoDot has been doing a lot of expansion joint repairs along there with little or no effect, just throwing money away again ! At least they are admitting a serious error was made in road bed preparation and someone's head needs to roll for this. I am fed up with this continuing Government incompetence but what the hey, it's not their money they are wasting....! A huge, expensive project and it turns out worse than the original and causes extreme inconvenience for the motoring public and now is causing premature wear to vehicle suspensions. I mostly drive in the left lane through there and move over when someone wants to pass, it's a tiny bit better in the left lane, but not much. The entire length of road needs a fresh asphalt overlay to smooth this brand new concrete out, but if the roadbed is faulty the problem will transfer through to the asphalt eventually. This project and it's laughable (oh yeah,they are professionals at MoDot ???) results reminds me of the boondoggle in St. Louis where they spent $650 million in taxpayer money to "improve" Highway 40/I-64 and then left the same old three lane bottleneck in place between Brentwood and Oakland. I and many others tried explaining and warning about this plan mistake to the project Engineer, Linda Wilson, and she was unreceptive to public input on that subject(surprise, surprise)and insisted her way was just fine and now drivers routinely complain about the same old traffic problems and wonder why MoDot didn't really improve anything but spent all that taxpayer money and shut the major East/West Highway thru St. Louis down for two years. MoDot=MOronsDissipatingOurTaxes.

Not sure what you mean by "sealed up" ? Do you have unpainted aluminum on the jon boats ? If so, there is a product I saw on one of the Powerblock shows on SPIKE TV or SPEED channel ( Truck U ? )called "Sharkhide" that they rubbed on a piece of diamond plate aluminum by hand. They also applied it to a thinner piece of aluminum and then proceeded to bend it back and forth many times and the coating did not flake or crack off the metal. Suggest you try Googling the brand name and see if it is what you want.