Seth

https://www.evinrude.com/en-US/e-tec/e-tec-full-specs.html#tab=7

The 60 is a 52.7cu block and the 60ho is 79.1. I imagine the 60ho will have more noticeable torque since due to the higher displacement and extra cylinder. The 60ho also weighs 80lbs more than the non-ho 60. I'd go with the 60ho or bump up to the 90 since they weigh the same (same block as Brett already mentioned).

I bought a spool 3lbs P-line Floroclear to try this weekend. A few weeks ago I was trying out a Riffle custom rod and he had a Shimano Nasci spooled up with 3# Gamma Touch fluorocarbon. That 3lbs setup was awesome! It felt like I was casting 2#, but you could tell it was stronger as I never broke off any fish on the hook set like I tend to eventually do with 2# if I don't retire after a bunch of fish. I'll be curious to see if the Floroclear is as good as the Gamma Touch. It's definitely a lot cheaper!

Thanks Bill! I've been using Pline, Trilene XL and the SOS line in 2-4# test for several years and am not really partial to any of it. It all seems to work the same to me. I finally gave in and bought a spool of 2# Maxima, but haven't really got a chance to use it much since Taney has been running so much water this winter. It's pretty well been a 4# line and 1/8oz jig for me all winter.

@Bill Babler so do you think it's even worth spending the extra $100-120 for a Shimano Stradic or Daiwa Ballstic over the Fuego? Another member said they really like the Daiwa BG model as well. The biggest difference that I'm seeing comes down to weight. The BG is quite a bit heavier, but the Fuego isn't too far off in weight from the Stradic CI4 and Ballstic models and it's only like $20 more than the BG. The Daiwa reels seem to hold quite a bit of line with their deep spool design. Are you putting backing on the reels before hand or just filling it up from the start with whatever main line you are using for trout?

If you ever start getting in to the micro jig and float deal, I like tying gold head olive, orange head brown, gold head ginger and chrome head pink in 1/80-1/100oz.

These are the colors I carry these days. Sculpin/ginger is what I find myself using the most followed by white. White Black/olive Black/Yellow Green head/sculpin/ginger Orange head/sculpin/peach green or brown head/sculpin/burnt orange

I fried up a few breasts today for lunch. Boy were they good! Cut them up in to bite sized pieces, dredged in flour, egg wash and Italian bread crumbs and then deep fried for two minutes at 350 degrees. Not sure if it's because I cut them in smaller pieces or what, but they seemed extra juicy and much better than the fried wild turkey that I've made the past few times. I'm going to fry the rest up next weekend for us when we are down at Taneycomo for Lilleys' Elfrink trout tournament.

I went on a pheasant shoot today and brought back 12 pheasants worth of breast meat. Anybody got anything super tasty besides the typical season, batter and fry?

If it was all about the graphs, then everybody at Eufala should have been able to do what Wheeler did, but that was far from the case. Graphs did help him find those fish, but he had to know when it was right to go back and try to make them bite. He said he couldn't catch them prior to that point.

Check out this video about the setup Wheeler is using on the bow. He runs Humminbird, Lowrance and Garmin as they all seem to excel at certain things. I'm sure he could get any one of those guys to sponsor him, but he feels it's worth more to buy the units out of pocket so he isn't limited to one brand. He makes a pretty good case after the show he put on at Eufala.

After reading up on the BG series, I may save the money and go with one of those. A lot of people compare to them to reels around the $200 price point, albeit just a bit heavier.

I love their bait casting reels, but haven't tried any spinning gear. What model would be equivalent to the Shimano Stradic and Pflueger Patriarch? I'm pretty sure Mr Zig Jig had a higher end Daiwa reel on a Crossfire rod at Jig Fest this year that I was playing around with and it felt amazing! I'm not sure what model it was though.

I'm having a Riffle MHX trout rod built for me and am looking at pairing it up with one of these reels. I've always used the Pfleuger Presidents in the past, but want to put something higher end on this rod. The biggest difference that I have seen is that the Shimano does have a faster gear ratio. The Pflueger has a few more bearings, but I doubt that really makes a noticeable difference. Does anybody have any input on either of these reels?

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.