J-Doc

These are good folks in the club. I'm not a member (yet) but I know Joe and I know a few others. They're good people and I'm sure they are keeping each other honest. What comes around goes around and they wouldn't keep members that cheat.

Yep, that's my thoughts as well. I wonder if they take multiple samples in the lake. One would hope. I heard they sampled the mouth of War Eagle a few years back and got a 10lb LM. I wonder how many areas they test and sample. I know they need to be on the look-out for the extra large gar and spoonbills I've been seeing. I was fishing one day and saw a dorsal fin surface and then go back down. It took me by surprise and I thought "Did I just see that???" THen I came to my senses and identified the dorsal as the rear dorsal fin of a spoonbill. THen below the 12 bridge, I saw a VERY large 6ft range gar thrash around on the surface. I thought it was an injured diver at first because it was so large and thrashing around on the surface. Kinda caught me off gaurd so I motored over the spot on saw the largest fish arches I've ever seen on my sonar. Two of them. Must have been some really large gar. Only thing that could explain it. Boy I'd like to be with the AGFC when they sample. No telling what they can shock up.

I didn't know who to contact on this so I thought I would post a poll to see if some of the locals and the guys who fish Beaver often would like to see a forum dedicated to SWEPCO.

Well, my old gas is at least 2yrs old and I used Staybil at the time. I have a full 6-gallon Evinrude can full of fuel mixed at 50:1. The other 6-gallon can has about half a tank I believe. I could be wrong. I hate to pour it out but I don't want to use 2yr old gas in a newly-rebuilt motor. If Fishingwrench says it's "OK", I trust him but it just feels wrong instinctively. As for EPA and dumping, I've seen my Dad pour out things that would make the EPA faint! LOL! Changing the oil? Dump it! Burning a brush fire? Mix some oil and gas and light it up! Hahaha! I live in the city and it's not exactly easy to dispose of 6-10 gallons of fuel without the risk of fire and I don't have a place that I don't want grass growing so I'll have to find another option. I wonder if Walmart will take fuel? I know they take DIY oil.

For the record.... I'm taking my boat to Fishingwrench for a full rebuild. I think he's the man for the job and he will get all my business going forward. Thanks to those that recommended him. Anyone that appreciates old outboards as much or more than me is my type of guy. Can't wait! I can hear my old Rude roaring already. Lol!

Isn't that dangerous? Could catch yard on fire....or worse.

I'm taking vacation days to attend. I always wanted to go to one and this is just too close to not enjoy free stuff and soaking in what I watch on TV all the time. Looking forward to this years classic.

If Fishingwrench says "no filter" ......then its gospel in my book. Good to know I can run E-10 gas. I'd rather run non E-10 but if there are no issues with it or concerns, I have that option. Cool to know Fishingwrench is upgrading me to the good stuff. I had no doubts really. :-) So silly question here....... What do you do with old fuel? You can't pour it out somewhere. Its a fire hazard and EPA would be on you like stink on a monkey's butt. By the way Fishingwrench, my current fuel is a out 2yrs old. I need to swap it out before I bring you the boat so you'll have good fuel in the tanks. I have the original OMC 6 gallon cans.

With today's ethanol content in gas, do most people run water separators on their fuel lines to the motor? My boat is quite old (33yrs old to be exact) and I'm getting Fishinwrench to rebuild my motor. I don't want to take any chances. If he says "run a water separator"....you can take it to the bank that I will. I just thought I'd ask and get some opinions experience with this. From what I've read, ethanol gas will separate in the tank causing water and moisture content to separate and often pulls water into the motor before the fuel. Also the water/moisture can rust internal parts of the motor. Anyone have experience with this?

Like you read a map...... :-)

SO here is an update..... I'm going to do the full rebuild and looking at local shops again. Last time I posted here, I took the boat to Wolf and he said "run it till it burns up". Not great advice IMO. I installed the new head gaskets and took the motor out for a run. Boat ran fine. Checked the compression again and it was down to 55psi on the bad cylinder so I put the boat up and haven't run the motor at all until yesterday. I only ran the motor on the trailer long enough to crank it. Carb needs a full rebuild/carb kit. So, I'm looking at places to get quotes on a rebuild. I'm not confident in doing it myself and I really don't have the time, a shop to do it in, etc. I'd just assume pay a little more and have a 1yr warranty with it vs. doing it myself based on advise and a repair manual. I don't have the specialized tools or knowledge that comes from years of experience. My options so far are looking at King's Marine, Wolf, Mobile Marine and High Performance Watercraft (full of old boats past Prarrie Creek on left on way to 12 bridge. Bella Vista Marine was the highest by far last time and had not even seen the motor and shot me a price over the phone in a 2min conversation which made me a bit cautious. Wolf's yard right now is packed to the gills with boats so I don't think he will need the money or want to mess with a rebuild. King's Marine has a good rep and had the lowest cost by far, (about 2K less than Bella Vista Marine cheaper) and I don't know anything about HP Watercraft but their online reviews sound good. He's also full of older boats so he must have competative costs. Anyone have some suggestions on who to go to based on repair experience/cost?

I have a used Lowrance X67c up front and an Eagle Fishmark 320 at the console. I am on a super tight budget currently and I look forward to getting a hi-quality graph maybe next spring. Here is why..... I just got the X67 on the TM up front and I've only used it twice now. It was free and my good buddy gave it to me since he didn't need it (thanks Jolicious!). Here is what I have learned after using it twice on Beaver and playing with the settings (ALL of the settings). I learned that I need to get a unit with more wattage/power to be able to pickup a drop shot in water over 15ft deep. Seems like after the bait drops 12-15ft, it falls off the graph. The units simply do not have enough power to pickup a small sinker and small plastic finesse bait deeper than this range. You also have to have the cone of the sonar directly over the bait and I mean DIRECTLY over the bait. The cone seems to be narrower than what I have seen on larger HDS units. I was able to fish with someone who has a quality graph and the difference is amazing! Not only the resolution is better, the sensitivity is much better. You can watch so much more and make more informed decisions on what fish are doing. So getting a quality graph will inheranly have more power than the lower cost units (such as mine) and in my opinion, that's the single biggest benefit. Structure scan/down scan and side imaging are just icings on the cake for super hi-def resolution. I have seen that if you want to find fish, the traditional sonar is much better over downscan and side imaging. They seem to show whats on the bottom over fish. The fish show up really small whereas traditional sonar shows fish pretty easy. Of course, downscan/structure scan can at times show some AMAZING images showing fish. Especially bait schools. Also, after playing around with the settings off of the Prarrie Creek ramp for a few hours on both units, I found that Kevin Van Dam's advise (and many other pros agree) the automatic factory settings were the best settings for me trying to find my dropshot. I adjusted sensitivity, chart speed, ping speeds, upper and lower limits, noise filters, etc. The best setting was hitting the "reset" button and right off the bat, I could tell an amazing difference. That's my 2 cents. Ok......so it was more like $10 worth but this is a pretty fresh topic for me.

Not trying to insult your intelligence here. Maybe a drum? I'm not sure I would know a drum if I caught one but this looks like what I assume you would have caught. http://api.ning.com/files/aq--7KaEYgnn0FM0meqZwBjOODDqa4aYbvkatfQG8pLYj9DU0OrG12rKE0gzOoOI3l7ymK7xbzfbVgn4bR7i3VNfPh0M-M2O/DSCF4770.jpg

I assume no photos? How big? Color? Shaped just like a sheepshead in body? Flat and stuby like a sheepshead?

We fished around the island across from Rocky Branch and found some small Kentucky schools. Moved around from Honey Creek to Ford and we caught over 40 Kentuckys/meanmouth on dropshots. I heard the bite was tough today and it took just 10-11lbs to win a tournament. The bite got better as the day progressed and started getting much better around lunch or later. I'm surprised you found a good bite on whites/hybrids. Then again, if anyone could find them, it would be you. :-)

By the way, that attached images shows Rocky Branch Marina on the upper left corner, Rambo towards the bottom middle and Van Winkle on the bottom left corner. The blue circle is where the tower is located. If you zoom in on Google Earth, you can see it and a drive to it. I "believe" I have the right location. It's along this shoreline anyway and this was the only structure I found on that shoreline that resembles the description I recall.

I believe this is what the original poster is referencing. The green tower is between Rambo and Cliffty, not the failed condo development in Coose. That's a different side of the lake and there are no towers over there. The green tower is a structure that is in fact "green" and from a distance, you just don't know what it is. Surely someone here knows the history of this and not Montne, Coose Towers, or any other story on the lake.

So what's the story? That's what everyone is wanting to know.

I've seen that thing from afar and never knew what it was. Now I have to go look......

We launched out of Hickory Creek public ramp and I got there around 5:50. I saw quite a few boats headed towards War Ealge in a big hurry. One boat was planed out so much, I think he had 3-4ft of hull still in the water. He was headed somewhere in a hurry so I figured there must have been a local tounrament happening. By the time Jolicious showed up to the ramp, I had already snagged a small black on a Skitter Walk after he kept bumping my mini-frog and couldn't take it under. Then we went down below the marina to the big bluff wall and I got this nice black on the Skitter Walk again. Jolicious caught several on a shakey head worm and that was the best luck we had. There were bass shallow but most were suspended on humps and ledges out in the open vs. the bank where we were fishing. We had fun though. I'm still surprised we didn't catch more.

Cheap is not a term I would follow too close to heart when it comes to the water pump. My motor has been down for almost 2yrs now so I can relate with costs and understand your dilemma. There are several places. Mobile Marine (Daniel) is good. Wolf (Rogers/Prarrie Creek) is is really busy this time of year. Almost all places will cost about the same ($300 ballpark range). When it comes to the water pump, you want to find the best mechanic. Its a simple job but can be a bit labor intensive on some motors because you have to drop the lower unit and some outboards are harder to put back together (like mine). I think the average cost is around $300-350 for a water pump and basic TuneUp. Call around, check prices and turnaround time.

http://www.4029tv.com/news/arkansas/Bass-Pro-announces-plans-for-Little-Rock-store/-/8897494/15121956/-/5a83wxz/-/index.html Some of you won't be impressed but with all the chatter about the local Cabelas, I thought I would mention this. I didn't realize there isn't one in Arkansas. Kind of strange really when you think about it. Branson and Springfield are so close together yet Arkansas does not have one yet.

You got whooped. :-) Fishing is really tough this time of year.

Brother.........you said a mouthfull!!! Don't get me started on the locals wasting gas and tearing up the shoreline. The AGFC is understaffed for the size of lake and the Sherriffs Dept also. One boat a piece is not enough and a few jet skis are nice but they need a darn arsenal! What's the difference between Falcon Lake and Beaver? You may die but it won't be from pirates on Beaver. Just an idiot newbie boater drinking beer and not having any idea how to drive a boat. Its weekends like this that makes night fishing so appealing.

I can promise you that I will be trying this. That's one of the main reasons I bought an A-rig in the first place. :-)