MOFish

My dad (age 72) lost one of his good friends this way fishing a river in Colorado. The friend slipped into a deep hole, water filled his waders, and he didn't have the strength to swim back to shore. The search team found his body a couple of miles downstream wedged under a bank.

One thing we do like (and can do) with the timeshare is give a vacation to someone else who is struggling or needs to get away from home but can't due to their finances. We've also hosted couples for four-day weekends so they get some time away from home when money is tight. The last time it was a couple where the husband had lost his job and was also being threatened with a (truly) frivolous lawsuit. We love doing stuff like that. We can give a weeks worth of time away to charity auctions and let the winning bidder pick where they want to go. The ability to do that became the silver lining to something that can be, at time, a pretty dark cloud.

I wouldn't recommend buying one either. While we really have gotten good use out of ours (trips to Hawaii, Gatlinburg, Williamsburg, etc.) and have hosted friends and family for vacations in Branson, it was by far the dumbest financial decision we ever made. We knew up front we would never be able to sell it off and recoup even a portion of our money, but what we didn't count on were the annual maintenance fees and the near constant barrage of appeals to upgrade (buy more time/points, pay more in fees). But we were young, making good money and swallowed hook line and sinker. With that admission of mea culpa out of the way, we do enjoy staying at the Suites at Fall Creek and can't really complain about dirty dingy units like we've seen elsewhere. They do try to maintain the property. We'll probably keep ours a few more years, and then just hand the contracts back to the company and walk away. They'll find some other schmuck to buy it and repeat the whole thing all over again.

We are 'owners' (what a misnomer that is) there, and it's nice to see them working on this. Don't know enough about the repair design or specifications to know if it's the right approach or not. I'm hoping they'll dump topsoil over those big rocks and plant cover and trees along the bank above the high water line so it isn't much of an eyesore for long. Over time the riprap will be covered over with silt and soil anyway, and there will be some natural brush that takes root in it. We did get hit with a special assessment before the new year, and I believe that insurance is covering some portion of the cost. I'll have to go back through our papers to see if the company spells out the financing for this. Diamond Resorts seems to have a better business model that either Sunterra or the company who owned it prior to that.

Managed to catch this nice walleye, my first, in Table Rock last weekend. Twenty three inches, and we estimage three to three and a half pounds, caught near one of the points across from the dam and up by Jake's Creek cove.

I have never used them before but do you see anyone using COWBELLS to trolll with. I used a cowbell ONCE on Taney back the second or third time I fished there, and caught fish. I also caught the laughs of the guys I was with who thought I was crazy. Dad taught me to troll with cowbells on lakes in western Colorado (Blue Mesa, Island Lake, Ridgeway and Crawford reservoirs) and they DO catch trout. The key is the speed of the boat and the type of rod used. Taney is really too shallow to effectively use cowbells on the upper stretches, from the bridges to the dam. They might work fairly well from Branson landing down to Powersite. We used nightcrawler pieces for live bait, or small treble hook spoons (Daredevils?) when the worms were gone. For anyone who wants to try it, I would suggest getting the smallest, shortest brass cowbell rig you can find. Bigger rigs run deeper because of the weight. The leader to your hook (or spoon) needs to be six to eight inches long. Using a six to six-six medium casting rod and ten pound test, start trolling slowly and let the cowbell spin out behind the boat until you have fifteen to thirty feet of line out. The more line out, the deeper the rig runs as well. Hold the rod perpendicular to the boat, and just a bit tip high to keep the line away from your motor. You can use rod holders, but we preferred to handle the rods ourselves. Two guys - one rod on each side of the boat. Three guys - one holds the rod high so the line passes directly over the motor. He'll need to let out more line to reach the same depth. The speed of the boat should be just fast enought that the tip of the rod twitches to or three times per second as it transfers the vibrations of the spoons up to your rod. If the rod tip isn't twitching, you need to adjust your speed. This is a fairly SLOW troll. Dad uses a 6 h.p. motor on his boat and a low-pitch prop to get his speed down. I think it's around 2 to 2.5 mph. If the rod bends a lot with no tip twitch, you're going too fast. Finally, if you don't pick up fish after five minutes, let out five more feet of line at a time (after five minutes) until you find the right depth. You'll know when a fish hits the worm or spoon. I would only try this when the water is OFF because boat speed control is so critical.

Here are a couple (I think). It was amazing to me that they shut the gates off sometime this morning. but couldn't get back out on the lake to see how the fish recovered (or not).

Interesting. I wonder what they do when they need to replace the boards. Wait until there is no flow out of Table Rock and the level drops below the top of Powersite? If anyone else has info about hazards above Fall Creek (or above Cooper Creek for that matter), I'd appreciate it. Thanks WebFreeman!

Dumb question, but I'll ask anyway... When you say "the boards are still gone at powersite," what does that mean? I've heard the phrase before, but don't know the lower end of the lake (Powersite) at all. If the 'boards' are up, how much does affect the water level of Taney? The other question from earlier is how much the water has cleared up. Is it still fairly murky?

We have not been down to Branson since January, but will be there for a week starting on Saturday, and I could really use some help from those on this board. Prior to the flooding I was very comfortable knowing the lake, especially from Fall Creek up to the dam. But now I'm not sure if I even want to bring the boat or waders down this time. I've been scanning old reports, but am looking for a concise way to answer a couple of concerns as we pack for the trip. What dangers are there in the upper part of the lake that weren't there before? I had some trees, rocks and logs marked on my GPS but am wondering if they were moved. Should a guy just accept having to idle upstream remarking the obstacles? Is the water clear enough now to even see rocks and submerged logs? Does a person even attempt to go above Lookout Island to the MDC stairs/boat ramp if only two generators are running? I guess my main two questions are about the clarity of water in recent days, and the liklihood of hitting something in the channel that wasn't there before the flood and heavy water flow. Finally, although we're catch and release people we will have our three neices (4 to 10 years old) with us and I'd like to see them catch at least one fish each. Would it be wiser to fish downlake (bridges area) at anchor using live/natural bait, or is there still too much current to anchor? This will help me decide whether to take them out on Taneycomo, or try fishing for sunfish on Table Rock. Thanks in advance for any help you can provide so I don't have to learn things the hard way.

This may be a dumb question, but I'll ask anyway. I've always tried to keep the jig down within six inches of the bottom and hopefully just barely making contact with the bottom as we drift. Pickups in that range seem to be fairly strong and solid. But this last weekend they didn't want it off the bottom. They wanted it at a depth just below where I couldn't see the jig unless it was right next to the boat and the wind was calm. I would watch it drop and if the float stopped it before I lost sight of it then I was too shallow. If I would cast off to the side and the float stopped the jig just out of sight, then I would start getting nibbles and light hits. I would move the float another two or three inches up the line away from the jig and then I'd get solid takes. It was like they wanted their food in a particular part of the water column. Is THIS behavior typical of Taney rainbows?

Fished out of the boat primarily from Lookout Hole down to Fall Creek, but got up nearly to Rebar once and drifted down to Short Creek. One generator was running most of the time, but the water was COLD! Temp sensor read 42.5 degrees to 44 degrees. Best tactic was a 1/16 oz. olive maribou jig below a Thill ice float, adjusting the float to get the jig down deep enough where I couldn't see it. We seemed to pockets of fish and then dead water for awhile. The best area seemed to be from the downed Sycamore tree to about halfway to Fall Creek IN the channel, after they shut the water off on Monday and the wind was rippling the surface. Most fish ran 12 inches and nothing bigger. I also used an in-line spinner, gold blade with black body, and had some viscious strikes but only hooked up four. Got curious about the cold water and tried white jigs, and caught two up near lookout hole.

I just like having toys. Mine is a Garmin 176C, which was replaced with the 276C. Some of the Humminbirds, as I understand, require a separate receiver but I could be wrong. The nice thing about them is that you can mount a GPS/Fishfinder combo on that universal mount most of them have. I had to drill holes to mount a stand-alone unit. The newer GPS units (Garmin) give you the ability to get weather radar information off of a satellite feed! We were on LOZ once when a storm came out of nowhere, so I'd love to be able to switch from the GPS map to the weather radar to see what's coming down the lake - or how bad its going to be. Can't answer your question about BPS Springfield, but the BPS Warehouse in St. Charles had a guy that knew his stuff. Sold my wife, sold me and sold my father-in-law. Don't remember his name, but he really did know a lot about GPS units.

Skeeter, I'm truly sorry that your boss and brother-in-law had such a bad experience. I wouldn't wish stuff like that on anyone, regardless of the brand or the dealer. I've had nothing but good experiences with the people at the Fishin' Hole, but I really didn't mean to stir up a hornet's nest. The point I was trying to make (rather than recommend a specific dealership) is that its important to do some checking around on any dealer, their ability to resolve issues and do quality work before you plunk down a bunch of money. Bojack, you sure are right about the size of the trolling motor. 54 pounds just doesn't cut it. I'm trying to break mine (can you break a MotorGuide?) so that I can replace it with a 74 lb MinnKota Maxxum.

Dutch is right. If you buy the published "Package price", you'll regret it. Here's what I did: I built my ideal boat without considering brands using the following criteria: Length of the boat (I needed at least 18 feet) Length of the package (motor, boat and trailer including the tongue) Beam (width of the boat) Package width from outside wheel fender to outside wheel fender (to see if it would fit in my garage) Horsepower (I wanted to max out the power, and 150 was it) 12V, 24V or 36V trolling motor (I made my biggest mistake here; should've gone 24V) Dual or single console (Wanted dual because of my wife) Fiberglass or aluminum (and why?) (Aluminum because I fish lakes with very rocky shorelines, and aluminum dents rather than cracks) If aluminum, rivited or welded hull? (Welded, because rivets pop loose) Bass boat, walleye boat or other deck layout? Type of hull (Mod-V; V-hull or flat-bottom) (Wanted V-hull because of large lake waves and wakes) Number and location of livewells Electronics Suite (two depthfinders and a GPS) Trailer Brakes or not? (No, boat wasn't heavy enough to justify the cost) Fuel capacity (Wanted 35 gallons minimum, got 40) Number and location of storage lockers (enough to store rods for 2 people) Number of possible fishing stations (pedestal mounts) (Wanted 3) Spare tire and mount Radio/CD player or not? (No, but I can tell you that fish like country music) Also, what size and kind of lakes and rivers will you most likely fish on? Using these criteria, I narrowed my choices down to three brands: Crestliner, Fisher and Tracker. The cost difference was neglible after I priced out the boats using the same motors and options. I ended up picking the Tracker because it had platforms for three pedestal seats and a deck arrangment I liked. I also fit into some of the dock wells we use, whereas the Crestliner (arguably a better boat) was TOO WIDE! Imagine dropping $20 or $30 grand on a boat and finding out later that you can't fit it into the dock well of your most frequented fishing resort! I'll put my boat up against anyone's for the fit and finish. But maybe I just got lucky.