Newbie Fishing At Beaver Lake

[Feathers and Fins]

If you were at the Cave you were at the right place. when you get to the cave throw your net at the stick up directly in front of you and slightly to its right and you should have a few shad. If not motor out and then over to the main creek arm and throw it a few times in there. BEWARE TURTLES IN THE NET LOL.

HDS10 not a bad unit. First thing is take some soap and water and gently clean off the transducer HDS units are fenicky about being clean. WATER DEPTH 20 FT TO 50 FT= Ping speed 19, Colorline 53, Sensitivity 64 for good id and 74 for drop shot, Set to archs and fish symbol. Under 20 ft turn on the flasher it has a instant return. Remember your cone is on the up and down 10 ft = 2.5 ft, 20 ft =5.25 ft, 30 ft = 9.75ft and 40 ft = 16ft I got those numbers from a buddy who dives and has a HDS7 AND HDS10 and dropping my 4oz rigs around the boat those numbers seem very accurate.

I use the arch/fish function because fish in the center of an cone always appear big and ones barely on the edge of the cone small. The dual ID helps me better understand where in the cone the fish is to help me correct the rods.

If im off Saturday Ill be out all day and Should be able to get on them all day if mother nature doesnt mess us up with this front. They are hanging in 50 foot right now and moving up in the PM so for me Ill be hitting them shallow in the moring and follow them deep in the midday and back in shallow pm. Probably going to need to go to Ye Old Flyshop in F-Ville and get more flies McLellans is going to love me more this year than normally with them being on the fly this early.

[Feathers and Fins]

Just finished going through my e-mails. Got a few interesting reports of Stripers in Montne chasing shad in the back of it 10 to 16 pnd class fish, Also reports of them in the back end of Bear creeks doing the same thing, Big stripers sitting just outside of Condo cove by 12 bridge 20 to 35pnd class. The 3 e-mails are reliable sources NO WAY am I going near Condo Cove this weekend with te Kentucky Derby going on though.

Sounds like if a creek is feeding the lake the shad are up in the back of it and the stripers are hanging around. Looking over the Temp forecast for the weekend the Shad will stay there and come up on the mud flats to sun themselves and feed durring the day this weekend. The Bass anglers should do well near those areas for certain and im betting a few catfish are going to be in the area as well.

[Stump bumper]

Just finished going through my e-mails. Got a few interesting reports of Stripers in Montne chasing shad in the back of it 10 to 16 pnd class fish, Also reports of them in the back end of Bear creeks doing the same thing, Big stripers sitting just outside of Condo cove by 12 bridge 20 to 35pnd class. The 3 e-mails are reliable sources NO WAY am I going near Condo Cove this weekend with te Kentucky Derby going on though.

Sounds like if a creek is feeding the lake the shad are up in the back of it and the stripers are hanging around. Looking over the Temp forecast for the weekend the Shad will stay there and come up on the mud flats to sun themselves and feed durring the day this weekend. The Bass anglers should do well near those areas for certain and im betting a few catfish are going to be in the area as well.

Thanks for passing that on, I love to find those stippers in the back of Montne.

[wc1063]

Does anyone have recommendations as far as what I need to change or replace on the boat or motor annually?

I know I need to change the lower unit oil, how about spark plugs, lubing the gear and the transmission, fuel filter, etc.... Do they need to be done or check every year?

I run the boat with marine fuel stablizer with every fill up. I store the boat in a un-heated garage. Didn't want to winterize the boat since I'd like to take it out when we get a warm day or two in the winter. Should I get a small heater for the garage to make sure it doesn't freeze?

BTW, I have a Mercury 150 two stroke.

And finally, is there a shop you would recommend locally to do the work?

[Feathers and Fins]

I normally just do it myself, I would trust Bradford though with my boat.

[Stump bumper]

Lower end is easy, just make sure you fill it up from the bottom. I check mine about every three trips along with pulling the prop to make sure the is no mono caught up to ruin the seals. One bad lower unit replacement due to water getting in will make you parnoid.

Fuel filters are easy also, once or twice a year is easy and cheap.

Winterizing an outboard is not really necessary IMO especially if it is inside, the big thing to remember is to pull the plug as soon as it comes out of the water and leave it out and lower the motor and let all the water run out while you are still on the ramp during the cold months. When I put mine in the gargage I set the motor back down and crank the trailer up so if there is any water left it will drain.

Also put the dog ears on and flush the dirty water out once in a while, not a big problem on Beaver until the spring when you are sucking in muddy water, but I flush mine about once a month since I had a cloged line on the water.

If you don't have an onboard charger with a battry maintainer, you will want to check the charge on your batteries once a week during cold weather and non use. Cold kills batteries. If you have a switch to disconnect your batteries turn it to the off postion when the boat is not in use, there are a lot of engery thieves on boats even when the key is turned off.

[Feathers and Fins]

Lower end is easy, just make sure you fill it up from the bottom. I check mine about every three trips along with pulling the prop to make sure the is no mono caught up to ruin the seals. One bad lower unit replacement due to water getting in will make you parnoid.

Fuel filters are easy also, once or twice a year is easy and cheap.

Winterizing an outboard is not really necessary IMO especially if it is inside, the big thing to remember is to pull the plug as soon as it comes out of the water and leave it out and lower the motor and let all the water run out while you are still on the ramp during the cold months. When I put mine in the gargage I set the motor back down and crank the trailer up so if there is any water left it will drain.

Also put the dog ears on and flush the dirty water out once in a while, not a big problem on Beaver until the spring when you are sucking in muddy water, but I flush mine about once a month since I had a cloged line on the water.

If you don't have an onboard charger with a battry maintainer, you will want to check the charge on your batteries once a week during cold weather and non use. Cold kills batteries. If you have a switch to disconnect your batteries turn it to the off postion when the boat is not in use, there are a lot of engery thieves on boats even when the key is turned off.

AMEN to that, I put inline fuses to all my electronics and pull them after each trip the 30 seconds it takes to put them back in is well worth the time to save on battery life. Dropping the motor at the ramp for 5 minutes then when you get back home is another must do and the plug as always. GREAT ADVISE and none of takes long to do. Only thing to add is be sure to was off transducers with soap and water on occasion.

[wc1063]

Thank you much for your inputs!!