Seth

I never really understood the deal with trout parks and Bosnians. I'm not sure I ever see them anywhere besides Maramec. Are the other parks like this or is it just due to being the closest park to STL?

What are we lying about? I don't lie about park trout that get replenished every day. 😁

That's correct. No hatching goes on at Maramec. They have several rearing pools to hold fish and I'm assuming they just move the fish between the pools as they mature and as more fish are delivered.

I did that last year. The worst part about it was I was having the best year I've ever had in fantasy fishing.

Not sure to be honest. We walked the hatchery and there are a lot of nice stockers in the pools ready to go. I've not had a problem catching quality fish for the past couple of years, even in to the fall. There was a spell leading up to a few years ago where the fish ran extremely small and I actually stopped going down after the first month because it sucked so much.

Yep. All other parks are still a limit of four though. Kind of odd, but I like it. I can keep four like before and then just catch and release fish.

Got down about 9am and landed four decent sized fish in the first 30 minutes on the orange wacky power worm and a white trout magnet. Those fish were cleaned and put on ice in a cooler and then I went and walked around the hatchery for a bit with the fiance. After that was done, I went down to the bathroom hole. White trout magnet was getting lots of interested again. I caught 4 or 5 more and then let the fiance catch one (free fishing weekend so no tag required) and then we headed out. I thought the fish bite was decent, but saw very few trout caught by others. You had to keep the bait near the bottom or you didn't get bit. Water had just enough stain that it was hard to see the fish tight to the bottom, but they were there just ahead of the dumps. People asked me if I was being forced to wear a mask due to Covid-19. Nope, I'm just a white boy who burns easily and sheds like a snake!

Wheeler is #1 without a doubt and I'd probably go with Thrift after him. After that, I'd have a hard time choosing between several anglers. Edwin Evers, Jordan Lee, Aaron Martens, Andy Morgan and Ott Defoe all come to mind. Amart hasn't been as solid the past few years as he had been. Morgan was always the FLW version of Amart IMO. Both guys were consistently in the hunt, but always seemed to fall just short of the W. Evers, Lee and Defore are all hammers, but I'd give versatility to Defore between those three. Jordan and Edwin have won some serious $$$ in recent years though.

We were at Rileys in Buffalo City. The furthest up I ran was to Rim Shoals, which I think was about 10 miles if I recall. Waters were definitely raging, but we still caught fish in the eddy pockets and creeks. It was no different than fishing Taneycomo when it gets high IMO. On the last day, we went and hit Norfork and had an absolute blast. The water over there was about like 2 units on Taneycomo. I was glad to have a 60" wide rig for that trip for sure.

Wasn't it 30-35k during Jigfest in December?

I'd be curious to see how many hours my 2013 150 Etec has on it at low RPM's from all of the trolling I do during snagging and gigging season. No issues at all so far. With XD100 set on the 100:1 ratio, it sips oil.

Drift from Scotty's down to the powerlines below the bridges. Stay in the middle near the ledge. You should get some fish. They really like to hang around those bridge pilings when the current is ripping. I always fish jigs, but drifting power bait should catch them just fine. Heavy spoons should work too.

Etecs are fairly popular in the outboard jet world around this area, but the guys I talk to that fished bass tournaments said that Mercury outnumbered Etecs 30 to 1. It's a shame they couldn't have just down sized and filled a niche market instead of axing them totally. It is what it is though. I'm not sure what other option there really is for outboard jet dealers who sell a lot of the bigger horsepower engines besides Mercury now. Yamaha doesn't really offer a good option. I've seen some SHO's with jet pumps, but was told that the warranty is voided when they get jetted.

@JamiePatterson you'll love that 150. I bought my 2013 new in 2014 and it's been rock solid for the 6 years I've owned it. Love that engine!

It just says that Mercury will be supplying engines for BRP boat brands. I didn’t see anything mentioned about outboard dealers though. Cowtown just got the Etec G2 jets up and going and now this happened. I’ll be curious to see what they end up doing. They were one of the few dealers that strictly sold one brand of outboard because they truly believed it to be the best product on the market. What a deal.....

Well looks like you will be forced to choose another brand besides Evinrude. BRP released a statement that they are ending production on Etec and Etec G2 outboards. https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.wired2fish.com/news/brp-discontinues-evinrude-mercury-to-support-boat-packages/amp/

The non-HO motors can be programmed to use oil at a 50:1 or 100:1 rate. You can run XD100 at 100:1 or 50:1, but the XD50 can only be ran at 50:1. Some guys run XD100 at the 50:1 for extra protection. HO motors are programmed to use oil at a 50:1 rate and that it can't be changed. That's what I've always been told anyways. Oil usage will be higher in the beginning during the break in period as you've mentioned regardless of which oil setting you are using.

Same concept as the Stand Up Lures Sure Hook Up Shakey Head. https://www.tacklewarehouse.com/Perfection_Lures_Sure_Hook_Up_Shaky_Head_3pk/descpage-PSH.html

I ran a 115 Etec from 2010-2014 and a 150 from 2014 till now and have had very good luck with them. My 150 probably has over 400 hours on it and it keeps getting me from point A to B and back again.

Well shoot.... Sounds like I won't be able to attend this year. The only thing I'll be doing between Halloween and the start of rifle season is planting my behind in a tree stand with a bow. Dad and I will be helping the Missouri Disabled Sportsmen group host an antlerless deer hunt in northern MO for youth and mobility impaired hunters on the weekend of December 5th. I'll definitely miss going!

Go to a heavier weight so you can stay in contact with the soft plastic. I typically throw a 1/4-3/8oz bullet weight on a trigged tube and I can't recall ever hooking one deep. In the past I would use an 1/8oz bullet weight on a trigged senko style bait and I had issues with deep hooking fish because I was losing contact with the lure in current seams. The lighter setup allowed for a more natural presentation, but it was more prone to deep hooking fish due to slower bite detection.

I right right handed with casting gear and left handed with spinning gear. It wasn't hard to train myself to cast well with either hand using casting gear, but I can't for the life of me hold a spinning rod in my left hand and reel right handed without feeling super awkward. @fishinwrench I believe Sampo still makes those stringers. I've not seen them in stores, but you can buy them online. https://www.samposwivels.com/products/accessories/nylon-fish-stringer

We were surprised to see the water off this morning. After we got packed up, we decided to go fish till 1pm up in the trophy area. The jerkbait action was a bit slow in the lower flow, but the jig bite was hot. The best stretch for us was about halfway between the Narrows and Lookout. Most of what we caught were 12-14” rainbows but a few in the 17-18” were landed. Sculpin/orange jigs did most of the damage. a few came on pink/white too. Just to mix things up, I broke out the long rod and fished an olive micro jig under an indicator and caught several. For whatever reason, that same stretch was very slow for us when the generators were cranking the previous couple of days. I’m hoping the Gopro caught the brown trout busting shad yesterday. That fish was coming completely out of the water. I fired up the big motor to get within casting distance and got bit on a white jig on my first throw, but I rolled whatever bit and didn’t get hooked up. The fish we saw busting shad looked like it was in the 20-22” range.

I had blackened crappie two weeks ago and I liked it better than the fries stuff. All the guy did was season the fillet with Zatarains blacken seasoning and sear in a cast iron skillet with a little olive oil.

We ended up going with a high end American Standard Platinum air source system since it was a retrofit. If we ever build a new house then we will probably go with ground source. Our place was pretty cheap to heat and cool on the old system so I don't expect we'll be saving all that much with the new system over all. Our decision was based more so on the financing terms (0% for 72 months) and comfort level that it would provide versus going with a lower end system. The home is a lot more comfortable now that the air is constantly circulating at low speeds instead of being off or blowing full speed like on the old system.