How much water do I need at Bell Chute?

[Keiththom]

I would like to do some smallie fishing around Bell Chute soon.  Years ago,  I fished it quite a bit and always had good luck. What does the gauges need to read to make it good for my 1756 jon with a 60 Etec?  I don't do much running. Just like to get to a fishing hole and shut down. I always release small-mouth.  Hopefully save a few goggle eye for dinner. And what about put ins above Bell Chute? I'm just not familiar with the Gasconade anymore. Looking for some advice.

Thanks !

[Seth]

I've been from Boiling Spring down to Morelands with the gauge in the 1.50 range recently and didn't have any problems. Fished from Bell Chutes down to Morelands Saturday and never had any problems running anywhere down through there. The two shoals below Jerome are the trickiest areas that I've been through this year, but you can still get through. It's just shallow gravel so the worse thing you will do is suck up a few rocks.

[snagged in outlet 3]

The lady at Boiling Springs said somebody tore a hole in their boat Wednesday just upstream from them when they were trying to get to the Big Piney.

How was the fishing, Seth?

[Seth]

2 hours ago, snagged in outlet 3 said:

The lady at Boiling Springs said somebody tore a hole in their boat Wednesday just upstream from them when they were trying to get to the Big Piney.

How was the fishing, Seth?

It was a lot better for me than it had been, but I also threw finesse stuff the entire day. My buddy threw his typical buzzbait and jig and only caught two little short fish all day long. I had 14 keeper bites and only boated 7 plus several shorts. Still having issues with fish coming unbuttoned even with lures that I rarely ever lose fish on.

[Keiththom]

Thanks Seth.

 

I watched someone sink their jet boat on the meramec last week. He was a bit drunk and water was up to the top of the sides. He was bailing with half an quart oil can but not making any progress.  I've often wondered it I found myself in the same situation (except not drunk) how I could baby the boat back to the ramp?

[snagged in outlet 3]

Bilge pump??

[Keiththom]

1 minute ago, snagged in outlet 3 said:

Bilge pump??

It wouldn't take much of a hole to overwhelm a bilge pump. I put a small hole in my jet boat years ago. The hole wasn't too big, but it came in faster than the bilge pumped it out. I babied it back to the ramp sitting very low in the water. I was lucky because I was very close to the ramp when it happened. Looking back, I've often thought that it I could have found the hole and stuffed something in it, things would have been easier. Finding the hole could be problematic. But it's usually going to be at the very back. 

I would have hated to have been in the same situation miles from a ramp!

[Ham]

#FlexSeal tape

 

[Seth]

I found out last year what happens in that situation when I smoked one of the infamous rocks above Roaring Springs below the Sand Ford access. We continued running down river till it was deep enough to shut down and I had 6" of water in the bilge within minutes. All I could do was hammer down and run the few miles back to the ramp. Glad I had a 150 because it was starting to struggle to push the hull by the time we got back due to all the water weight. I've been wanting to fish the Meramec again, but I'm too nervous to try it in my rig with the water this low. It's been fishing a heck of a lot better than the Gasconade has been this year too.

[Gavin]

Ouch! Those rocks always have some aluminum on them. Meramec is very low...Trolled up to Castlewood from Valley Park Saturday. Fishing was slow, but got some good practice with the oars.