motoman

- Duo Realis does make some great looking baits! - Glad the spybait was mentioned during jerkbait time; I was thinking the same thing. Can't wait to see how that pans out. - I order from TackleWarehouse WAY more than I should. They're fantatstic! Great prices, variety, and free shipping over $50. Or typically 2nd day air for $5 when you spend over $50. Sometimes I don't want to wait for ground shipping, and just pay the $5 .:-)

- Ned rig is much simpler, smaller and easier to fish. - Half a Zinker, on 1/8-1/16 ounce mushroom head jighead; 6-8 pound flurorcabon, green pumpkin or PB&J in color. Cast it out, let it sit. Or cast it out and slow roll it, ticking the bottom. - Try a search for it here on the boards and there should be lotsa great info and pix. It's the kinda bait that'll surprise yah.........tiny bait, with plenty of big fish potential.

I like the tilting base for the seat, where you can adjust the angle of the butt seat. Cause the butt seat sitting flat, digs into the back of my legs; no matter how I adjust the height. Tilting the angle and height adjustment allows me to get it jjjjusssttt right! Great for a long day of fishing. Cause then I can just adjust the height a bit and kinda sorta sit too if I feel like it. - I really found it to be a trial and error thing, finding a comfortable butt seat.

Here at Indian Point on a family outting and it was a MONSOON a couple hours ago. Good half hour or so of minimal visibility due to the downpour

Wow! Stunning pic Tully, thanks for posting.:-)

Great report and good looking fish! - I completely forgot reading a while back that rapala bx waker is 3/4 ounce! I imagine that bad boy casts a mile. Keep us posted please on future use.:-)

What about some of those giant, unholy, rare-earth super magnets rigged to some type of line and dropped down? - I know it's stainless and not as receptive to magnetism; but it still may be worth a shot? Then maybe if the magnet doesn't grab it, find some big crazy saltwater trebles or something to try and drag over it and snag the hub area. - I have some 1/8" diameter rare earth magnets I just tried on my stainless Fury prop; and they were like stink on grandma! I would imagine those larger ones would grab it with ease? - (Just thinking out loud here)

And I thought it was just a plain ole parking lot.........interesting read........and as mentioned above, a little more thought should've gone into the layout, and the fact there may be a couple (:-P) vehicles and watercraft trailers coming thru there.

- You bring up a good point ham. A buddy of mine who does pretty well for himself, but lives modestly, brought up a good point years back. He had a couple cars he owned; that were a few years old, but still nice and in good shape. He was drooling over some new luxury vehicle, myself and a buddy with him told him he should treat himself, and buy that new fancy car he wanted. He refused and said, - "naw.......cause then it never ends. There will always be a faster car, bigger boat, bigger house out there. And I don't see this new, fancy car making me $50,000.00 happier than what I have; so I'll stick with what I got and enjoy it." - That comment has stuck with me for years, and I tell people that all the time......"just enjoy what you can afford":-) - And by the way.........anyone see that built in oil reservoir on the new g2 evinrude?..........hey........wait a minute........I almost got us back on topic.(Hahahaha)..........as you were.:-P

I'm a fan of schooner creek myself.........but my wife is a bit more 'difficult to please'?..........shall we say.:-)......... She's never been to schooner; and she had little interest in even coming to table rock.........of course, until a friend recommended Stillwaters resort near Indian point. Then table rock was suddenly a great idea (huh!?!??.........women can be strange!)........anywho, I jumped at the opportunity. Stillwaters is VERY nice and VERY family friendly with a little general store that makes subs and pizzas; right there on the property. Fancy pool with a wooden bridge over it and a waterfall. And elevators to all the floors........ Not cheap for the 2 bedroom condo with kitchen and patio deck lakeside we stayed in, but, it kept everyone happy. So that's all I needed. Dock was very nice with a large day parking area at the ramp; and the ramp has a nice gradual slope. BUT, keep in mind if you don't slip your boat; you can't park it at night by your room; you've got to park it up in the gravel lot, away from the buildings; with the other empty trailers.:-(

- You would think. Especially with the way the other manufacturers are heading to 4-strokes and with all the EPA restrictions. But, BRP sticks by the 2-stroke.......crazy how they make the emissions so clean for a 2-stroke too. Pretty amazing when my pea brain thinks about it. - I believe the BRP outboards/E-Tecs burn cleaner than the competition 4-strokes too?

- It's a 2-stroke; burns oil, nothing to change. - I thought I read this new Evinrude calculates a crazy fuel to oil ratio of like 150:1..........or something crazy lean like that.......but I could be mistaken. - And for the record, as cool as these innovations are; I couldn't see myself being the first in line for one........even if I could afford it.

- I'm glad to see some forward thinking and innovation myself. I was hesitant of the appearance at first, but after looking at the thing over the weekend (over 400 color combinations), it makes the soft edges and safe, smooth curves of traditional outboards look a bit dated already. - Evinrude has an hour long presentation online of the release to the dealers. It's actually interesting to watch, and hear about all the thought that went into this engine, with consumer input. They addressed the shortcomings of the ficht in the 90's (prelude to e-Tec) too. They show a ton of sketches and prototype design concepts. And some of them look a 'little' different from today's outboards; which I initially thought would be the way to go. But after looking at those 'safer' designs, I thought "wait a minute!.......where's the fun in that?!?'"........and I quickly realized I liked the more aggressive styling better. - Some cool features that caught my attention of the g2: - -2 gallon oil reservoir integrated into the midsection -speed sensitive, adjustable power electric steering (proven in automotive applications for years) -speed sensitive automatic tilt/trim settings -electric shifting -complete fly-by-wire, single wire loom running to engine (no traditional cables-optional) -beefed up lower unit to handle 600 ft/pounds of torque at the prop -5 year no maintenance -quick release cowling side panels (Zeus style fasteners like in race applications) -lower unit water intrusion sensor - Love it or hate it; it's good for the end consumer. The pricing I've heard is supposed to come in less than comparable engines.(supposed to) - I think this sort of styling will force the hand of other manufacturers to start adding hard edges and more aggressive lines to their outboard designs. BRP did it with snowmobiles years back, and others followed suit......so I guess time will tell. - Tharp is supposed to have one on his boat next week.

Great report and pix Dave; glad to see you down on the water with the little ones!:-)

That sucks magic, sorry to hear about our troubles. Hope they find the dirtbags and your stuff intact. Better yet, hopefully your neighbors camera got some good pix! - They do still sell loc-r-bars to Jerry. - How did they get your trolling motor? Just rip the whole unit out, bracket and all? Or lift the motor from the mount? (Just so others can possibly take precautions)

I can only offer bbq suggestion for up thataway, and 2nd the Dannas suggestion. - If you get down by Kimberling city and cross the 13 bridge on Thursday you can get some good bbq. ;-).......But that might be a haul with little ones.

Awesome pix Matt! That's what it's all about. Those are fantastic.:-)

- That's awesome! You gotta a lotta stuff indeed.:-) - But, tell your wife she has nothing to worry about. You are talking to someone about your fishing.........all of 'us'!..........problem solved.

Sadly, basspro leaves much to be desired on the jighead front. The closest thing I've found they had are tungsten, wacky-inchi-zappu (Japanese) hooks and you'll pay through the arse for them!.........And the tackle shops around Kimberling City at least, haven't gotten the memo yet either.(rolling eyes) I guess it'll take some jersey wearin, wrapped boat type to win some big tourney on one before they jump on board.(can I roll my eyes twice in one paragraph?:-P) - I prefer #1 hooks (not 1/0) in the 1/16th ounce head. And occasionally 1/8th ounce. - I believe our own dtrs might be able to get you some more details on where to get some. Shoot him a PM. He can certainly cure what ails yah on this topic!;-)

Congrats there Mark! What a great post, and cool way to propose. You did find a good one.......she likes to fish too.......that's fantastic!

- Aw jeez! That didn't take long.:-(..........what a shame. - As stated above, be careful out there. PFD's, kill switches and a bucket a good ole common sense can save lives.

- You're right quill, sorry about that, I should've clarified. I did it on other similar brand, but I believe you are correct, I think I actually did have to use 2 split rings. - It was an 'on the water' repair/improvise when we boogered up some hooks on them.:-(

- Those Swing Oil wobble jigs are WAY more affordable than those biffle heads. Ole Biffle should be ashamed what he's charging for those things! - If your Swing Oil hooks get rolled or dull; just snip them off and put a split ring on the head, then whatever hook you like.:-)

- That's cool to hear about the pup doing that with that dumb possum. That's exactly the kind of behavior that comes to mind. - And we won't tell PETA.:-P

Not sure if and when they'll be back in stock; but here's a cost effective alternative to try? I've read a lot of good things about these blanks. - http://bustinbassbaits.com/programs/shop/estore.cgi?category=Unpainted_Crankbait_Bodies&showitem=1270