mclothier1

I cant endorse the deck boat, yeah they have plenty of room and not too bad to fish from, but my bro in law rented one from Indian point marina earlier this year and had a heck of a time with it as fas as how it handles. It was real sluggish in the turns, and especially hard to dock. Maybe it was just the way that brand was? not sure if other brands are the same? I have a 20' Glastron 205 SF basically a 20' open bow runabout with a 5.7 volvo/penta which has more than enough power... about 60mph top end on a 21 pitch prop which is plenty good for me. It does everything I ask of it. You wanna fish... it has front and rear fishing seats, trolling motor, fish finder mounted to the trolling motor bracket, and even a livewell. In about 10 minutes you can break it back down to a pleasure rig and pull wakeboards, kneeboards, tubes etc. Three or four people can easily fish from it, or If I have to haul people, it will comfortably fit eight adults, and its rated for 10 passengers. I just couldnt tie myself down to just a fishing boat or a ski boat, I wanted it all.

Also when running at night, use that spotlight every 15-30 seconds to scan the water in front of you, and slow it down! Last year I almost crashed into a parked houseboat sitting out in the middle of the lake with absolutely no lights on, and to make matters worse it was one of those pitch black nights where you couldnt tell the water from the land. I was only going 20mph and I still didnt see it till I got within 50 feet, and IMO that was WAY too close. Be safe out there.

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I cook mine for 45 minutes on a charcoal grille (no gas for me...usually that comes later ) I usually set it right in the middle directly over the coals with the lid closed, just dont forget to shake it around at least every 15 minutes so it dont burn. And yes you can add just about anything to it, Sometimes I chop up some carrots to throw in there too. Its all good. Secret recipe... I wont give you the exact amounts I use because everyone has their own tastes, but here are the main ingredients... Paprika, Brown sugar, Kosher salt, Coarse ground black pepper. I also have a few other ingredients, but thats the secret part. Just experiment with it till you get it how you like it. And remember the more sugar you add, the more chance it has to burn or blacken on a long smoke.

Here's a simple easy way to make a great side dish while grilling. (enough for about 4-6 servings) Youll need... about a pound or two of small red taters or new potatoes, your call half pound of fresh green beans 1lb package of your favorite bacon 1 tablespoon minced garlic 1/2 chopped onion stick of butter seasonings Get a 9x11 foil pan that is at least a couple inches deep, wash and quarter the taters, cut up the bacon into 1 inch long pieces, wash the beans and cut the ends off, place all this in the pan with the stick of butter, garlic and onion, at this time I season mine with salt, coarse ground black pepper, a dash of cayenne, and some of my secret homemade meat rub to give it some color and a nice flavor. seal the foil pan and cook it over direct heat on the grill for 45 minutes, making sure to shake it around a few times so it dont burn. Its even better if you can cook it for 30 minutes, then slide it over and cook burgers or steaks with the foil lid opened up so it absorbs some of the smoke from the sizzling fat off the meat. I also close the lid on my Weber to make sure it drowns in smoke. Good stuff!

I smoke with a heavy Oklahoma Joe offset firebox. I am the kind of person that doesnt have a bunch of time to tend the fire all night long, believe me I tried it and it was fun and all, but with as much time I put in at work, sleep becomes more important! Brisket 1. come home from work and fire up the smoker, go inside and rub the brisket, but first slather on a thick layer of regular yellow mustard to help the rub stick and to develop a nice bark... dont worry you wont be able to taste the mustard after its done. 2. place brisket on smoker after about an hour, when the first few logs are burnt down with good coals. 3. smoke that brisket till bedtime without opening smoker at all, just adding logs to maintain temps. 4. around bedtime, remove brisket from smoker, place in foil pan, cover it with foil, and put it in the oven, with meat temp probe of course. set the oven temp to 200 and let it go all night. 5. the next morning check the temp, if I want to slice it Im looking for a temp of 180 if I want to pull it or chop it, then around 200 is better. 6. If the temp is where I want it, then shut down the oven and let it sit in there till I get home from work. It will still be hot. I also use the juice from the pans to whip up my own finishing sauce. I have done as many as four large 10-12 #' packers at once and they all came out awesome! So far this has been the most consistent way for me to get a great brisket without investing a bunch of hours tending the fire. Keep it low and slow and you cant go wrong. I usually dont use store bought sauces or rubs, I make all that stuff myself. secret recipe kind of stuff. Spare ribs... use the 3-2-1 method smoke 3 hours, mopping every 30 minutes after the first hour. Foil and put in 1/2 cup apple juice or beer or whatever then seal and back in the smoker for 2 hours unwrap for the last hour and let it firm up the bark if you like a dry rib, or slather some secret sauce on them if your feeding wet rib lovers Baby backs...same method but they will cook much faster, more like 2-1-1 Pork butt... Rub your butt with your favorite rub, use mustard to help the rub stick and to develop a nice bark. Smoke it to 190-195 degrees internal temp Foil it and put it in the cooler with towels to rest for an hour or two. Pull that pork! Awesome stuff if you try it "Memphis" style onb a bun with a heap of coleslaw on top, along with a vinegar based finishing sauce. yummy!

About the same thing happened to mine, the transducer cable got pinched in the trolling motor bracket and the fishfinder started acting all wacky, losing signal and stuff like that. I am mil spec solder certified so I just solder that sucker back together after taking a bunch of length out of the cable that I didnt need. I made sure and used some quality shrink sleeve which requires some advance planning and thought, then wrap each wire in foil, then shrink sleeve over the whole mess, so far its worked fine for a year. So to answer your question...I gotta ask one. Did the wires themselves get nicked or cut? any exposed strands? If the wire is still fine, you probably want to cut away the insulation covering each wire so that you can re-insulate each wire without fear that they will short out when submerged. Definetly more time consuming than just wrapping the whole thing with tape, but it wont work right if it happens to develop a short. Also use some quality tape such as 3M stuff, not the dollar store junk.

Not sure if this will help or not but we caught several nice keeper Gills off of some of the same points we were looking for bass. Caught them from point #7 to point #5 around 27ft deep off of a dropshot and crawler a few weeks back. Ive had the best luck with the crawler, Ive tried crickets, but they dont last long! Just remember, the biggest ones are deeper then the smaller ones.

Nice one... <------kinda looks like

Two years ago on vacation, my bro in law rented a pontoon, you know...the kind that has the BBQ grill on the front. Anyways we were tooling down the lake with him and a bunch of the kids in the pontoon, and me and a couple passengers in my 20' Glastron. I see this HUGE cruiser coming down the lake so I gas it and stay out in front, the bro in law wasnt so lucky he saw it coming and couldnt get out of the way, he is a novice boater but he did the right thing out of instinct and pointed the bow into the wake. The front of the pontoon dug in after going over the first wave and nose dived to the point that the BBQ grill was completely submerged and the motor was out of the water, then as the pontoon popped back up the wave flushed across the deck washing out all the seat cushions, a cooler, and almost one of the kids. Scared the living crap outta him. Of course we call all laugh about it now, but to this day his Table Rock nickname is U-Boat Captain. He didnt give up on boating completely, last year he rented a 23' cruiser, this year a 21' deck boat and he did fine. Ive heard that this is the same exact situation that can cause pontoons to flip over. In retrospect I should have hung around him and made sure he was gonna be ok.

Those big cruisers seem to run up and down the lake on half plane. Im no expert on those boats, but seeing as everyone of them I have seen is plowing water, do they ever plane out? or maybe its just the driver enjoys swamping other boats? In my mind it all comes down to common sense, when you know your driving a boat that throws a huge wake, common sense would tell me to slow down especially around other boats fishing and even more so around the bridge piers. I had the pleasure of fishing a point and a boat came within 100 ft to my left, then another boat came around the other side and cut inbetween the two of us. Ive got a 20' fish and ski Glastron and we had to hang on pretty good, felt like it was gonna throw us. Like I said common sense, too bad not everyone has it.

Ill definetly be back, lots to learn from the all the years of knowledge posting on this forum. In fact I feel that the guide helped us, but I also feel that reading all the information here helped me just as much if not more. Still have some of the same problems with the rest of the family though, they are just convinced you have to be in a cove to be catching fish, I thought sharing the knowledge with them would change their outlook, but no luck. Already booked next years trip, second week of June... only about 360 days away, cant wait!

Well Im back... Vacation was awesome! Caught more fish this year than we ever have. We got there Friday night 6/13 got stuff settled and pulled the boat out and decided to try the drop shot for the first time ever, it was probably 10:30pm and I just trolled out to the point just to the south of Lone Pine's dock and ended up catching a 18" Striper/Wiper ? not really sure, never caught one before but it hammered the drop shot and put up a nice fight. Saturday/Sunday wasnt able to get out and do any serious fishing, mostly family stuff. Monday 6/16 we got on the water at 6:30 am and hit points from #5 to #7 with the half day guide trip. Drop shotting crawlers in about 25-32 feet of water, the bite was REAL light, not what I was expecting, the fish would just pick up the crawler and put a lil pressure on the rod tip, if you were impatient and couldnt wait you would yank it right out of their mouth. At any rate we only ended up with 6 keepers all K's biggest one was 18" had probably another 6 that were short. Tuesday 6/17 another half day with the guide, tried the same method as monday, but we started out around Kimberling and worked south to #5, we found out that the cold front that came thru really turned the bite off for us anyways. The guide at one point showed the screen to me and pointed out his drop shot and the fish following it....then proceeded to wiggle it right in front of his face....no bite! He was marking fish the same as the day before, but they just didnt bite. Ended up getting one keeper K right at the end of our trip, but it wasnt a total loss, we all caught fish, a few goggle eye, a few short SM and even some nice hand sized bluegill. Wed-Thurs Tried to duplicate what the guide was showing us, still no bite, Thursday we found another way to catch a few, we noticed that by 10am or so the same fish we were dropshotting were moving out over deeper water. we found them suspended anywhere from 12-20 feet in water from 35 to 70 foot deep. Seemed like they were lining up on the points across the mouth of big coves. Ended up trolling deep diving crankbaits and caught a few but I wouldnt say it was fantastic. All in all we had a great time, caught enough fish to keep us from getting bored. And already planning the trip for next June!

Mick, After thinking about it a bit, I would love to update while Im there, but isnt a vacation supposed to be about getting away from all that junk? LOL Just checked their website and they do have WiFi. Ill have to see if it will connect. S&M hmmm, looks like a nice unit for just a little more. Ill keep my eyes open, thanks

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Im sorry... Keep a spare tranny on hand??? j/k

any talk or rumors if they are going to drop the level? Seems like they are just playing with the gates to maintain 930. Im hoping its back down to at least 925 by June 13th that way we can at least use the dock and our vacation wont be shot. I could only imagine having my boat slipped on the lake and not being able to get to it.

Another option would be to contact a resort that also rents pontoons. We always stay at a place called Lone Pine resort and they have a couple of pontoons for rent. They are located on DD point (west side) also known as Coney Island. Half days are $125. Give Marty and Carol a shout. here is the link to their website... Lone Pine link to a map of their location... Map of Lone Pine

Just wanted to add, we are mostly catch and release type of people, if we are lucky enough to land a pig it will get its picture taken and then right back in the lake. For the fish fry we will only take the smaller ones (legal of course) and if we can find a mess of crappie, bluegill, or even a walleye then all the better. Oh and what I mean by big fish for the father in law... If we can get him hooked up with anything larger than 3# then its gonna be a great trip!

Yes please post your results, I will be doing the same come June. And good luck!

some people clain to have felt it here in south central Kansas. I didnt feel it...I was on my way to work that morning and my truck shakes enough that I wouldnt have felt it anyways.

I saw $3.07 last weekend at Cassville, seemed like the farther away from the lake, the cheaper it gets.

Im relatively new here even though Ive been reading and lurking a bit. I consider myself on the bottom rung of the "Novice" ladder especially when it comes to fishing TRL. But the info posted here about patterns, baits, and even a few locations are priceless to someone like me who dont have a clue where to start. I am hiring a guide for the first time this year on vacation and I hope to learn a lot. I am not one of those people that would just cold call a guide out of the blue expecting "inside" info. no way no how. With that being said, Phil posted something about putting an address on here to send money to. My thought is paypal...Im not a rich man, but I would happily kick in a few bucks just for the stuff Ive learned just from reading all the excellent info posted here. You might be surprised at how many people deposit a few bucks, just to say thanks.

Last year we had our best luck out on some of those long points, my son caught the 3#er on the long point across the lake from the glass house just east of Kimberling, I think its point #7. So we plan to hit that area a lot more this year. We stay at Lone Pine on coney island, so we are close to Kimberling. As far as the fishing we have tried most of the areas from Kimberling to Indian point but Im sure we missed a few places. I am willing to go wherever I need to, even if it means long trips like Shell Knob. We havent tried night fishing with the lights, Ive got a couple of those floating crappie lights, but I've also seen those submersible LED and Halogen lights, which ones work the best? And what areas or methods work the best? Ive got a few topwater lures, stuff like jitterbugs, hula poppers and I think Ive got at least one chug bug. I've been buying up lures for several years now since I made the mistake of leaving my tacklebox in the center aisle of the boat and the whole mess flew up and out of the boat and onto the highway going about 70mph on the KS turnpike. By the time I got back, most of the stuff was ruined and a lot of it got run over by other cars. Ill never do that again! Thanks for the info so far.. cant wait till we can wet our lines!!!

Hi all, First a little intro... I have been coming to TRL along with the rest of my wife's side of the family for the last few years for vacation usually the first or second week in June. there are about five or six of us that really try hard to catch a few fish, but it seems like every year we dont have any luck catching anything of any size or quantity...excpet maybe bluegill which is fun, but I really want to put my father in law on a big fish this year. Plus We have always wanted to do a fish fry, but we have never caught enough to make it a dinner, more like a snack. Ive been lurking for the last few months reading as much as I can about fishing the Rock. This year looks to be different with the high water and all. Im assuming the level will drop back somewhat, but anybody have a guess what it might be in June? Ill keep reading to see whats working and whats not, but any specific tips are greatly appreciated. We are from Kansas and not used to the clear water and deep fishing, I dont have a high dollar fish finder, just an old Eagle. We try to adapt but so far it hasnt been easy getting down to the fish or finding anything the fish actually wanna bite. Things we have tried in the past include just about every crankbait in the box, spinnerblades of various types, plastics of various types but never tried the drop shot rigs, but out best luck has been drifting off of points with a white roadrunner, my youngest son actually caught a 3# LM last year and boy was he excited! After some reading I have stocked the box with various types of drop shot stuff, some Chompers plastics and jigs and a few more spinnerbaits. I have also hired a guide (Keith Greenough) for a couple of half days to hopefully put us on some fish or at least knock us over the head and point us in the right direction. After reading about how the fishing is picking up so far this year, I REALLY want this year to be special. Oh...almost forgot, Ive got a bro in law that loves to trotline for catfish, any locations or tips for that would be extremely helpful too. Last year he caught one 9# flathead out of cow creek on the trotline baited with sunfish, I know we can do better than one fish all week!! So thanks in advance for any help you toss my way. Mitch