Seth

This is what I get when I click on this link. This link works fine. I see Bablers brown trout mount video, the Feb 10 One Cast and so on.

As long as they keep the quality of fish the same as it's been the past few years then I won't mind. There have been a lot of 1.5-2# fish put in the park the past few years. If the quality of fish goes to crap, then I'll just stop going. There's plenty of other fish to chase.

The abundance of shad on the Gasconade last year helped fatten up the smallmouth like I've never seen before. There were a lot of 3+ smallmouth caught and several over 4. Quite a few 20+" fish were weighed in throughout the year, but a few were the typical skinny summer fish that didn't make the 4lbs mark. I'm not sure if it had an affect or not, but there was essentially zero gigging done the previous fall/winter. There wasn't much gigging done this year either overall. I'll be curious to see if the trend of nice smallmouth continues. What's weird is that even though the smallmouth seemed to be doing extremely well, the largemouth fishing sucked. There were zero largemouth over 3lbs caught all last season on the Gasconade that I am aware of. There are usually quite a few 3s caught and a few that break 4. This was a 21 incher that weighed 3.45. The big one in this picture weighed 4.22. This one was 4.05 and not quite 19". Probably the fattest river small mouth I've ever seen. Those boys followed that one up with a 4.60 the very next weekend!

Fish length is really the main factor of how old a fish is as weights can vary drastically depending on how thick the fish are. This is one Schultz caught a few years ago in late May or early June that was 22" long and weighed 4.28. This is one a buddy caught in the fall that was between 22-23" and didn't even weigh 3lbs. An 18 incher that was fat almost beat him out for big bass that day.

You can always repower later on if you want. I think 150hp is the sweet spot for rigs like ours. You get that v6 torque, but they aren't over the top like the 3+ liter engines. I've drive a few rigs like mine with 250's and they are just a bit too over the top for me. I'm sure it's just due to me not being used to handling them as I felt the same way going from a 115 to my current 150.

You gonna call some more post-Elfrink dinosaurs this year? 😆

@Blazerman you pretty well described everything I used my boat for as well (minus the Canada trips). I think it's hard to beat an 1856-1860 semi V with a jet for a do everything kind of boat. I buck a lot of LoZ waves and run lots of shallow riffles on our Ozark streams every year. All mine has seen this year is trout, but that will change soon enough. Lots of crappie and paddlefish will be hitting the deck this spring followed by plenty of smallmouth, spots and largemouths.

That one was over 4 too.

The Meramec has been really showing out the past few years. It has been producing a lot better quslity largemouth than the gasconade as well during the summer tournaments. Today must have just been a perfect storm because I think Corey said there were at least 5 smallies over 4# weighed in today. One weighed 5.25#. Could you imagine weighing a 5.25# smallie and still losing out on big fish by over a pound! That 6.40 surely has to be one of the biggest smallmouth ever landed on an Ozark stream. No surprise who it was caught by either. I’m not sure if this is the heaviest limit caught by him either. Schuktz and McMillen weighed in around 20# in a summer evening tourney at Sand Ford years ago too.

I’m guilty of doing this. There is some great stream and creek fishing within 20 minutes of my house that I don’t take advantage of nearly enough.

You catch a lot of fish without a bass boat and yet you still own one, right? I don't see what the difference is owning a jet boat versus a kayak when it comes to stream fishing. The kayak will get you to areas you can't run a jet boat, but you can also cover far more water with a jet from a single access. If I wanted to go catch fish, I could walk 300 yards and catch all the little stunted ditch pickles and bluegill I wanted for free, but where is the fun in that? That's for people who are using spinning reels upside down and think the only lure you could ever need is a Johnson Beetle Spin.

I love my 1860/150 setup, but I am constantly thinking how nice it would be to have a smaller setup for some of the extra skinny waters.

I know they have hydraulic steering, but I don't think they have the electric assist features like I-trim. I'm hoping to get over there and check them out in person soon to get more details on them.

The quietest OBJ I've heard was a 90hp Suzuki 4 stroke. I knew their prop jobs were super quiet, but was surprised at how quiet they were when jetted.

@fishinwrench I agree with you on the mounting bolts. The G2's have to be mounted up higher than the G1's and I think they are going to require some transom tweaking to make it look good. I really think they transom is going to need to be built up a few more inches. The porpoising was probably just due to not being trimmed out quite a right. My boat with a 150 will get that way if I get it trimmed up a little too much. Guys that race these things seem to think a little porpoising gives them the best top speed. That might be true, but I can't stand riding around like that. That's a big outboard jet for you. They all scream at WOT.

It's on the right side where the group messages get posted. Here is a screenshot.

There are always people walking around with smallies on stringers right when trout season opens back up. All I've ever seen agents do is tell the people to put them back without issuing a ticket. Those fish are usually about on their last leg and surely died anyways.

Maybe they will do the world a favor and crash in to a light pole on their way to wherever they are going......

We were parked next to them on the dock below the Lazy Valley condos. I bumped in to them Friday evening on the dock as I was preparing to go catch a few sculpins for Saturday and we chit chatted a bit. Saturday morning, the walk way was really slick and one of them helped me out with getting dad down to the dock safely. If my schedule permits, I'd like to make it down and fish that Lazy Valley tournament. I've seen the pictures on their Facebook page and you all tend to bring in some nice browns every year.

I see it a lot in the summer time.

I'm really digging the photos that are being taken of anglers out on the water fishing after the take off. These are a couple of dad and I fishing down by the Landing Saturday morning.

We caught some really nice fish Friday, but couldn’t seem to find them Saturday. Lots of fish were boated, but most were 3/4 pound stockers. We weighed three fish a bit over a pound and everything else was 15oz on my scale. Dad drug his minnows and worms all day like usual and never did get that kicker bite like he usually does. We had a great time like always and you couldn’t ask for a nicer day to be on the water. We’ll be ready to do it again in a few weeks when the Elfrink rolls around.

I'm very interested in your White River shows!

Just sent my money.