straw hat

What is the current bag limit and length limit on polar bears?

May the Lord bless you with many fishing trips during your retirement and may they all be rewarding.

Sorry to reply so late. Slow day. Fish have started to move deeper and are very spread out. Got to keep moving. Good luck.

CC - Water temp 72. 5' of clarity and some green coloration.

CC area 77 to 79 today. About 4 foot of clarity.

Same as freefallin.

Put in at CC (Greenfield). Water temp 78, 4' visibility. Water green. Lots of small crappie and small whites. Most everything else slow. Did come home with 10 keeper crappie.

That's them!!

Past experience. Back in the 80's my wife and I used to limit out on black nose crappie (a subspecies of black crappie in 2 to 5' of water all summer long. Black nose crappie are very aggressive and are easily over fished. I haven't caught one since probably 1995. During those later years we noticed we could still catch regular black crappie at the same depth during summer but only at certain locations. Spots that produce seem to produce constantly. Places that don't produce usually suck constantly. lol The wife and I put out small brush piles in places that looked good in order to have more places to hit and it has really helped. What is amazing is that things are most productive on very hot sunny days as the fish will collect against big rocks, stumps and small brush piles in order to get in to any shade that is available. We will tie up or anchor and flip small slip bobbers out to these locations. A slip bobber gets caught up less. We ill pick up 2 or 3 and move to the next spot. If it is a windy day then you will also catch white crappie with the blacks in windy locations. I think that part of the reason they pick this shallow location is increased oxygen content in the shallow water especially when windy. Normally we notice that this pattern starts when the water temperature reaches around 71 or 72 and will last until water temps fall back down below this level. You do have a point about the open water. Many many white crappie are caught in summer trolling or drifting the open water chasing shad. Find the shad, find the crappie. I hope this helps.

Fished CC area. Water temp 80F. Fairly "green" water. Visibility 3 ft.. The wife and I caught 21 keeper crappie. Most 4 to 6' deep in standing timber on windy bank. Real shallow. A few vey small white bass. Caught 5 channels including a 4 lb and 6 1/2 lber. All in all not a bad idea although did have to fight the wind a lot but at least it wasn't too hot out.

The twist lock connectors I have had in the past tend to leak a little but they have probably improved since "then". (1965?) Worth another look. This stupid hose barb on the motor seems very flimsy and it does not seem to be threaded on as there is no hex design on it to grab with a wrench, etc. It is also recessed into the motor and very difficult to access.

That is possible. I will have to see what I can do. Thanks

My 50 hp Force died a couple weeks ago and I had to break down and get a new 50 hp Mercury. Ni problems getting it to mount and connect to my trim/ignition/etc. But, the gas line for my old motor connected to the motor with a two prong snap on fitting which I liked. It allowed me to disconnect the line and take the gas tank into the garage were it would be safe. My new motor just has a hose nipple. You just slide on the gas hose and put a hose clamp on it but this would make it difficult to disconnect after each trip and bring it into the garage. Do you guys know if there is any way to adapt this new motor to a snap connection?

Thanks everyone for the advice.

Well guts, budget guys is around $1200 installed. Would like a motor of 2000 or newer. Now having said that I do realize I am asking the impossible. I am not handy with repairing outboards so looking for low maintenance (newer one). Also at my age it gets tough to do the work yourself to install a motor. Like I say, asking the impossible but I wanted to give it a try anyway.

I must admit, I hate outboard motors, copy machines and lawnmowers. They never seem to work right or last long. lol I was looking for something a little newer than that to be honest. I think I will pass. The way I feel about boats/motors right now is that I may take my boat out to the lake, drill too holes in the pontoons and make a brush pile out of it. lol Thank you for your time and sorry for the inconvenience.

You know I should have contacted you. My 1997 50 horse Force motor blew out two sets of gaskets on the motor and broke two motor bolts. They wanted to charge me $700 to fix it and I had to pay $225 just for the estimate. I didn't see the sense in putting that much money into a 20 year old motor that had already been rebuilt once before. What I wanted to mention was they wanted me to pay an extra $40 to take the old motor off my hands. I would up salvaging what parts I could and selling it for scrap metal. I would have just as soon given it to you for parts.

Sounds good Fishinwrench. Can you tell me what year? It looks to me like you are in LOZ area is that correct?

I live on a fixed income so the cheaper the price the better. lol I would have to have electronic ignition but other than that no special conditions. Can you give me some details on the unit please?

Looking for a good used motor for my pontoon boat. Preferably around 30 to 50 horse. If you have such a beast for sale please let me know. Thanks

I read this title and got all excited. I thought it would be about flathead catfish. Now I have to go get my heart rate down.. lol

I don't know how I made that funky looking post but I did. lol

Although most fish do not actually undergo estivation (summer hibernation) they do develop a similar state if the water temperature reaches a certain point. Their eespiration and metabolism slows and activity is greatly reduce. The following article is a fairly good over view of the process. http://sciencefairwater.com/physical-water-quality-parameters/water-temperature/water-temperature-effects-on-fish-and-aquatic-life/

You may do Ok. Ours were all shallow. Good luck.

Well not as good a trip as last time. We only caught 6 keeper crappie. This summer we have caught nearly all our fish on fallen logs and rock drop offs and virtually none on standing timer. Fish were all caught 6 to 10' deep on windy banks.Water was a lot greener than 2 weeks ago. Water temp 88 to 90 at the surface and 87 to 89 down 5 feet. When we finally packed it in and headed back to the launch, about half way my motor sound changed suddenly and the motor started shaking very bad. I looked back at the motor and there was a rubber gasket from where the top unit attaches to the bottom unit. et hanging down. So I have to add that to my project list. When we finally got home and my wife started to open her door on the truck the handle broke into 100 pieces, very sharp pieces to boot. Never seen one do something like that. The mechanism jammed in the open position so I had to tie the door shut with a bungee cord. Well, there is another thing to add to the project list. That is life though. The good news is it gives us something to complain about. lol