Members MoFisher22 Posted April 21, 2020 Members Share Posted April 21, 2020 Recently bought an aluminum bass tracker with a 25hp on it. Mostly going to be putting it on Truman but I was wondering how far up river I could make it? Bell Chutes? I know it depends on specific water level at the time but I was just curious if any of you could help me out. TIA Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
45acp Posted April 22, 2020 Share Posted April 22, 2020 Where are you putting in? At normal flow levels your chances of getting to Bell Chute with a prop are slim and none. There are shoals on the Gasconade that will make a jet drive suck rocks. MoFisher22 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snagged in outlet 3 Posted April 22, 2020 Share Posted April 22, 2020 I say no go at Belle Chutes too. It's not as much the shoals but the real skinny water above them that gets real shallow. MoFisher22 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fishinwrench Posted April 22, 2020 Share Posted April 22, 2020 It only takes knee deep water to safely run a prop outboard. You just have to run it slowly a few times until you learn where to go. Go ahead and smack the prop (lightly) a few times so you can get a feel for what prop smacking water truly looks like. You'll be surprised at how shallow you can run. And it's really not a big deal to hop out and pull over a shoal on the way up. No worries on the way back down.... just raise the motor and drift over it. Greasy B and Terrierman 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
45acp Posted April 22, 2020 Share Posted April 22, 2020 41 minutes ago, fishinwrench said: And it's really not a big deal to hop out and pull over a shoal on the way up. 25 years ago I would have agreed with you on that. My boat-dragging days are over. MoFisher22 and Deadstream 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snagged in outlet 3 Posted April 22, 2020 Share Posted April 22, 2020 49 minutes ago, fishinwrench said: It only takes knee deep water to safely run a prop outboard. You just have to run it slowly a few times until you learn where to go. Go ahead and smack the prop (lightly) a few times so you can get a feel for what prop smacking water truly looks like. You'll be surprised at how shallow you can run. And it's really not a big deal to hop out and pull over a shoal on the way up. No worries on the way back down.... just raise the motor and drift over it. At normal flows some of that boat dragging is going to be a long haul. MoFisher22 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fishinwrench Posted April 22, 2020 Share Posted April 22, 2020 48 minutes ago, snagged in outlet 3 said: At normal flows some of that boat dragging is going to be a long haul. This old creampuff here made ALOT of river miles. Zero busted lower units, and only one trashed prop. MoFisher22, snagged in outlet 3, Deadstream and 2 others 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members MoFisher22 Posted April 23, 2020 Author Members Share Posted April 23, 2020 Thanks for all the help guys I really appreciate it. I’m 26 and in decent shape so I probably will experiment with the dragging although the boat mentioned above does look like it’s probably quite a bit lighter than mine. I’ve only floated the gasconade in my kayak and never went below Jerome in an effort to stay away from jet boats. I guess my question now is how close to the confluence with the Missouri is there still a stable smallmouth population? Assuming at some point it becomes a LM/Spots. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jdmidwest Posted April 24, 2020 Share Posted April 24, 2020 On 4/22/2020 at 4:45 PM, fishinwrench said: This old creampuff here made ALOT of river miles. Zero busted lower units, and only one trashed prop. Lol. That's a long shaft too. "Life has become immeasurably better since I have been forced to stop taking it seriously." — Hunter S. Thompson Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fishinwrench Posted April 24, 2020 Share Posted April 24, 2020 5 hours ago, jdmidwest said: Lol. That's a long shaft too. You're used to seeing a lower cowling (makes the shaft look shorter). That's a 17" shaft, and you can see I have it shimmed up 3/4". Those old small diameter prop motors are the best for running shallow rocky rivers. With the motor tilted up you can run them in 10" of water and still pull cooling water. Terrierman and MoFisher22 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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