Mississippi River Fishing - world class catfishing

[coach]

i guess we can move the misisy river fishing here.........none of the posts from the old board will be coming over.....................anyway, i caught a 22 lb blue sat. and 4 in the 5lb range today.......towboats are tough out there right now!!!!! i had to throw the anchor 5 times today and let the waves calm down........

[badkarma]

hey Coach!!!! at least your fishing my fishing funds ran out and I won't have any more till the last of the month so I'm having to wait till the fall Pickwick gathering.
I like the new board setup but it's gona take a while to learn how to get around in it.

[Cataholic]

Coach,
yew Dawg! I'd give my I teeth to be catchin any blues!
Keep on Fishin' Brother!

[turtle1173]

Looks like quite a few changes with this new format for the BOC.

I got my fishfinder (Fishmark 320) back today from eagle. They said that they didn't find anything wrong with it and it was likely a problem with the power cord or fuse holder. They sent me all new wiring and the fuse holder. What that amounts to is the transducer and everything!

Let me say that before I ever sent the unit in, I went through the wiring very closely to make certain that wasn't the problem. I replaced connectors and made sure everything was clean and tight. I go out and hook up the fishfinder to my "old" wiring. Nothing. I jiggle a connector that I had running to the battery and it comes on :rolleyes: I know I've gone over all this wiring at least 3 times.

Anyway, that's the way it goes, and now I've got a brand new transducer for a spare, LOL.

Shane

[Arkie55]

Hey Shane,
Its good to hear you found the problem with the wiring. I hate fishing blind and I know you do to. I read the post about you taking your wife and two kids with you on Saturday. Those pics were real nice. Looks like you have fishing partners for years to come.

Coach, I fished Saturday too. However, I didn't do as well as you did. I only managed two small fish. One little channel and about a 3lb blue. I took a guy with me that wanted to learn how I was catching all those big blues. Now I guess he's thinking I sandbagged him and didn't show him anything. We fished about 8 hours and he didn't catch anything. That's how it goes you know.

[Charlesp54]

Well guys I change my user name during the move. I went out yesterday for a little while but I only got one fish about a 4# blue. The river is very low if it gets much lower we will have to start bank fishing.

Guys be on the look out for a little blue horsey he ran away from home and I can't find him anywhere. :cry-big:

[scout]

Hey Coach, what did it feel like catching those cats. It has been so long since I caught one I forgot lol. ;)

[85Dave]

Hey, y'all! What's up with the new website?

[dudlbugr]

All new to me. Looks alright. The arcade looks fun, but I can't figure out where to put my quarters... No fishing for me yet. Maybe this weekend...

[NANNER]

Hey Dave. Nice Blue in your profile pictue. What did that pig weigh?

[85Dave]

It was 77 lbs about 2 hours after I caught it. Probably 80+ when I got it in the boat.

[gofish]

So this is the new home huh? Gonna take a little while to figger it all out.

I started a new job a couple of weeks ago. I haven't had a lot of time to surf the board.

I'm glad to see that everyone is alive and well.

I'm still fighting motor problems. I have my carbs torn apart and will do some intensive cleaning tonight. Hope to have it running well by the weekend. Otherwise I'll have to bum a ride with Dudlbugr.

Y'all catch some bigguns!

[bigriver]

So this is where you guys are hanging out! I started a new thread under MS River fishing. Guess I should have looked around a bit first. This stuff is always confusing at first, at least for me.

Dudlburg, how you making it? When are you and Joe coming back to sore-lip all my big fish?

[three_rivers]

Reb that profile pic pretty much sums it all up right now. :D I feel cheated since mine came with no stripes! If you get a chance while your in, come on up to memphis and fish with us one of these days.

Thanks for the update Matt, we're lookin at coming that way more than likely thursday if the weather will hold. I've been looking forward to drifting but everytime i've tryed it i've came up skunked. Charles said something about some feller loosing a axle at mckellar so it might get pretty interesting trying to launch. :eek:

Joe, good to see you posting again. Hope you get all those outboard problems worked out and back to doin some good fishing.

To all you guys goin to fish the tourney this weekend. GOOD LUCK!!

[dudlbugr]

Hey 3 and bigrirev,
I'll have to see if my fishing partners can make it up there one day. We'll see. I spent way too much money on fishun last time I was home. I can't do that anymore! All I can say is, it's a good thing I get the petroleum worker's discount. I don't think I could stand paying the full price for gas like everyone else... :p

[dudlbugr]

Hey y'all,

What's up with the "reputation power" thing? Everyone must start off with a good reputation, and then it counts up as it gets worse? I see BK's got some reputation power, and we all know about his rep.... :confused:

BK!!! Getting to be the right time of year down here... You gonna come down and fish with me sometime?

[missed mallards]

I like this new site they have. Hadn't been able to do much fishing lately over here. hadn't the time or the money.

did figure out why i'm over here though. well besides bars, girls, and class to get an education to be able to afford gas. It really hurts to get low on the stuff now exspecially with a gas guzzling V8.

Glad to here that ya'll are still getting after them. i hadn't got a hook wet in quite a while. i guess i'm going to have to get my priorities straight LOL. Ya'll Have a good un. Tom

[badkarma]

Now if some one will tell me if it's a bad rep or a good one. :confused:

Reb I would love to drive over and fish with you but right now money is the hold up.I'd have to take out a bank loan to buy the gas but I do tax sales at the end of the month and if the offer still stands then I may take you up on it.

[Arkie55]

The cost of fishing is getting expensive!!! I mowed my yard today and it cost me about 7.00 just in gas to mow. The gas was 2.56 a gallon. Filling up my boat and adding oil that's a total of 18.36 for 6 gallons of gas. I normally burn about 6 gallons a trip and add in ice, drinks, gas for my rig and I'm looking at about 35.00 for one trip :cursing: and I only have to go about 6 miles to the ramp. Will I let it slow me down? I don't think so!!!! :p Heck, I may even go to my local lake this afternoon and chase a little bass around and wait on the shad to school to replenish my bait supply. I'm getting low on shad still have plenty of skippies. :D

[turtle1173]

Just wanted to say "Good Luck" to those who are fishing the Tournament in Caruthersville tomorrow. Sure wish I could be there. I agreed to preach a wedding several months ago and they didn't have a copy of the tournament schedule then, LOL.

The 1st place winners from the New Madrid Tourney are fishing this one. They are going to take advantage of the "trailering clause" that allows one to trailer their boat to other places on the river. They are planning on fishing in their usual "honey hole" in New Madrid.

Make sure you give us all the gooey details when you all make it back.

[coach]

managed a 10 and a 2 this morning......... dang near too hot for me!!! is the memphis connection fishing?????????? i noticed the surface temp down here was nearly 88 degrees.......... didn't know anything else to do, so i fished deep.....80 ft. plus

[three_rivers]

We made it out to mckellar friday. Soon as we got to the ramp one of tennessees game wardens said that mckellar was the only ramp left open. He gave me the low down on celebrity we had on the water in mckellar that mornin. Bill Dance was trolling for crappie just north of the ramp. He also told me that Patterson landed a 47 drifting a few days back.

We finally get out there and the fish just wasnt cooperating! Which i really can't blame it on the drifting as they were that way everywhere. We drifted for about three hours and anchored the rest of the day. Nothing like a day out there to humble you to really get the blood flowing. Finally at 7 o'clock we called it a day. Not one fish made it to the boat.

How'd the tourney go fellas??

Good luck to all the guys goin out tomorrow!

[bigriver]

The Caruthersville tournament had some real good fish weighed in and some hefty stringers too. Thirty-eight teams fished the tournament with the top five weighing in more than a hundred pounds each. My dad and I squeked in with 101 pounds and took fifth place.

Our biggest problem was in keeping the fish we had caught alive. Our first fish was in the high twenties and the next two were around twenty, all by 7:30am. We had a twenty pounder that kept rolling belly up even after poring the fresh water to him frequently. Five hours in the heat was tough on the fish. We decided to head back to the weigh in site before he got any worse. But since we had trailored thirty minutes down the highway, that also meant the end of our fishing for the day. But all-in-all, we probably only lost an hour of fishing time and all the fish were healthy.

Dad and I got to the weigh-in site at about two-oclock and were suprised to see Daryl and his dad already there. We figured that they had similar problems. They kinda did, but to a much greater extent. I'll let him fill ya'll in on the details, and if trys to be modest, I'll fill in the blanks.

The BOC was very well represented at the tournament (although we sure missed you Shane). Got to finally meet Slimcat at the weigh-in, and some new fellers from Batesville(?), but I forgot ya'lls name so you better speak up here and join in. CatfishHunter was there and took fourth with his partner. And lets not forget Guthook and his partner who weighed in a respectable catch as well. Cabela's and Caruthersville put on a good tournament.

[rwilley3]

We had another good day(by my typical standards anyway). I took a guy who had really had never been serious catfishing on the river. We both got us new personal bests. I couldn't remember exactly the weights we caught but I think it was 5#. 7#.9#, 10#, 11# and 14# for him. I think he broke his personal best 3 times in one day. I took 2nd fish of the day for my turn and then ended up letting him reel in the rest. That second fish call ended up being a good call because I caught a 43# blue. I got some decent pics this time and will put one or two on later. Congrats to you guys who I understood took no prisoners in yesterday's tournament and to those who came in a lttle further back but still placed. Lets hear some of the details on that.
Roger :) :) :)

[ArkansasCat]

Alright Matt i am finally joining in here. I'm one of the fellers from Batesville. It was great meeting you and your dad at the tournament. Also great meeting Daryl and his crew.
I found the BOC a few months ago and have been reading a lot trying to catch up. Ya'll are a good bunch of guys and I look forward to talking to ya more.

Come on Daryl tell everyone how you did in the tournament!

[Tee]

Great job everyone! Nice to see the BOC represented so well too.

[crane]

Well guys, yesterday was to say the least pretty unbelievable, I'm still a little in shock. I don't really know where to start, so bear with me if you get lost or I get windy.

Jason and I had prefished the area a couple of times earlier this year and found a few decent spots to fish. The plan was to go back and fish the same spots and hope for the best, but that plan changed as my dad decided to take a little time off from work and fish the tournament with us. So Jason fished with a buddy of his and dad and I fished together. The spots we prefished wasn't enough for 2 teams, so jason fished the spots we knew of and dad and I was fishing unfamiliar territory. With the help of some aerial photos we picked a stretch of the river that looked like it might have some potential.

The morning started out pretty dismal as the first 5 spots we anchored on only produced one blue about 9 pounds. It was 10:00 and we had tried cuts in the bank, slow straight current, and dikes. At this point I started questioning my choice to fishing blind on a stretch of river I had never seen, but then things started getting interesting.

We went back to the stretch of river with the slow straight current and moved out away from the bank into some 40 foot deep 12oz straight current. After 16 minutes of no bites I was about to tell dad to start reeling in and moving, but a rod pulled down and the first good fish was on. I reeled him in and dad netted him, a 12lbr. Before we could even unhook him the second rod went down, a 15 lbr. We baited back out and another rod went down, this was a little better, so we threw the bouy and reeled in a 30lbr. We went back to the anchor and threw back out and another rod went down, we threw the anchor and put another 25lbr. in the boat. We gave the spot one more try without a bite so we moved up river 200 yards to some 40 foot 16oz straight current. After 22 minutes and no bites we started reeling in and just as i started reeling in the third rod another one hit, 11lbs. We moved back down river 300 yards to some more 40 foot 16 oz straight current and caught another 15 lbr. At this point we had our 7 fish and knew we had a limit of fish that would put us in the running for a little cash.

We had fished that quarter mile stretch of river pretty hard but I wasn't ready to give it up yet, so I told dad we need a biggun to put us over the top and moved on out into deeper water further away from the bank. We ended up in about 55 foot of water that 16oz of lead would just barely, and i mean "just barely" hold the bait down. Before I could get the second rod in the holder the first fish hit, a 15lbr that felt like more like 40 in that current. We started baiting out again and before we could get the 4th pole in the holder another pole bent. We threw the bouy out this time because i just couldn't get the fish to the boat, another 15lbr. We went back to the bouy and tied up again and this time we actually got all 4 poles out in the water. I told dad we might need to call it a day and head in because the livewell couldn't hold much more, we was having to run the aerator full time and changing the water every 10 minutes to keep the fish alive. It was only 12:45 and the fish were biting so good I just couldn't make myself leave.

The 4th pole was in the water less than a minute when the middle rod started a slow pull and then rolling off drag real slow. I picked the rod up and just held on because there was no stopping this fish. Dad asked what to do and I said without any hesitation "Get them rods in and throw that bouy...........QUICK!!!!". Before he could get that done the fish nearly had me to the backing on my reel. After 10 minutes we landed my personal best, a 54 pounder. We stood in the boat and looked at that fish and the already full livewell. What to do now..............Cull the 12lb. fish, empty the bait cooler, put a 15lbr. in the bait cooler, cram the 54lbr. in the livewell, and get to the weighin ASAP. Believe me that 35 minute drive the longest drive of my life.

Luckily all the fish made it, and the unbelievable thing was that the 45 gallon livewell was full to the top with the fish in it and only had 10 gallons of water with the fish out of it. How they all survived the drive in 100 degree weather I don't know. The total for the 7 fish was 169lbs. and we were the first to weigh in a limit of fish.

To make an already long story short we held on to first place to win the tourney, but lost the big fish by 4 pounds. Oh well, you can't win everything.

I'd like to say thanks to all you guys and gals here on the BOC for making my first full year of fishing the Mississippi river so successful. Special thanks to Bigriver, three_rivers, Coach, Turtle1173, and all the other Memphis guys. I just hope that someday I can be as helpful to all the other guys as you have been to me.

Sorry about the length of the post, but I'm still a little excited about catching all those fish. It's not very often I get to catch fish like that. :D

I'll post a picture later when I get them downsized. :cursing:

[crane]

Here's all I've got right now.

Hey shane, was that post gooey enough for you? :D

[turtle1173]

Daryl, that is absolutely awesome! :happ-big:

What a great day. Sounds like I sure missed a great tournament. One of the members of the Church here went down to the weigh-in yesterday. So he filled me in with the biggest catches but he didn't know "who" anyone was.

I'm real happy for all you guys. You all really did great. Can't wait to get out myself this week!

In fact, ol' Joe is supposed to be coming up on Tuesday. He's got some work to do just down the road from me. So we are going to fish on Tuesday afternoon and then all day on Thursday.

[bigriver]

Daryl, congrats on a fantastic day. I can't think of a better time to catch a personal record than in a tournament. You guys found some fish and stuck with it, then had the sense to bringem' in early. It was a gamble, but paid off.... literally. Couldn't think of anyone better to get hammered by!

ArkansasCat, glad to have you on board. Hope to hear a lot more from you and to fish with again soon.

Guthook, I think your brother and dad have dibs on the "big boat" next time around. But that might be a "good thing". I wish that I and the rest of the crowd had gotten to see them at weigh-in.

I took the day off from fishing and cleaned up the boat. Worked in the garage most of the day with temps hovering around 101 degrees. Lost some fluids, but made sure to replenish them this afternoon.

Way to go Daryl!

[rwilley3]

Congrats Daryl and Dad
That is awesome to have to empty bait cooler and weigh in early because you have caught so many fish and to think it started so slow will help me keep my hopes up in the future.

[three_rivers]

Congrats to everyone that had respectable catches this weekend! Sounds like a great weekend for all involved.

Daryl, i'd have to say it couldnt of happened to a better guy. Its days like that, that keep us all coming back for more. To do it in a tourney is icing on the cake. All that time out on the water is paying off bigtime!!! Ride that cloud for a little while.

Arkansas Cat, good to see you posting. It was nice meeting you up at the dam. How did you guys fare?

Roger, congrats on a good day! Where were you guys fishing (dikes, rip rap, cuts)? Friday was tough on us. I guess thats why its still called feeshing. Its hard to complain though as nice as it is being back out there.

Looking foward to seeing those pics!!!!

[ShilohRed]

Sounds like a great time was had by all at the tournament. Big river are you going to make it to Pickwick next month?
Pete

[canepole]

Way to go Daryl, Sounds like you all knocked them out, Looking forward to seeing the picture's

[ArkansasCat]

Three Rivers it was great meeting you also.

We had one of them days where everything went wrong. Our day actually started off good, had a 12lb blue in the boat 5 minutes into the tournament. Then our anchor broke loose and we slid right through our hole.
The rest of the day was troubles. 2 Rods tore up, lost an anchor and 60ft of rope. Later in the day we caught a 21lb blue and a few small ones. No where close to Daryl's 169lb stringer or Matt's 101lbs.
Congratulations fellers. :D

[solomon]

sounds like yall had a good trip. Congratulations on the catches and the tourney win. It's enough to make a poor ol south MS boy real jealous. :thumbsup:

[guthook]

well guys i just got back from meeting with my crisis counselor and she said talking about my grief is the first step to recovery. It's not so bad that my dad did better than me, because dad's are always suppose to be better at everything. It's the fact that the brother put a good ol country whoopin on me!!!!

Now that i've had time to think about it i figured out his plan of attack. I went over and prefished the week before and struggled. He used that info and did everything opposite that i had done. So yes i deserve a little credit for helping him determine how not to fish. But what i cannot figure out is why did i stick to what was not working. :cursing: I think my partner and myself burned up some of our luck at the casino the night before.


All joking aside, it was a good time and enjoyed meeting some fellow boc members. Congrats to Bigriver and his dad on a well fished tournament!!

Here goes the painful part,,,,,,,good job daryl,,,,,,AAARRRRGGGHHHH!!!!

[gofish]

Great job Daryl!! Congratulations! That sounds lika an awesome day of fishing!

I'll be heading up to New Madrid in the morning. I hope Shane can hook us up with a few fish. We've set the schedule and have bait. All we have to do now is get on the water. I'm excited about getting the chance to fish up there. I've been talking to Shane for a while now about the possibility and now it's going to happen. I hope I have a great report to give when I get back home.

Reb and I fished Saturday above Greenville but didn't do much damage to 'em. We caught a handful of skips in about 45 minutes and then set up on the upstream side of a rock dike. We were fishing in about 30 feet of water with the depth charger showing fish everywhere. When the first towboat came by, Reb caught a fish. One towboat later, I caught a fish. We fished there for a while longer and then went riding and looking. We set up on another rock dike and Reb caught another fish when a towboat came by. (Seeing a pattern here?) We eventually went back to the dike we started on and fished for about an hour. The depth charger still showed fish everywhere but we couldn't talk 'em into it.

The river was rough due to all of the towboat/barge traffic but we had a good time. I have never seen that much traffic on the river at one time.

I should get the parts for my boat today and get it back together. I won't be able to test it til at least Friday though. I sure do miss my boat!

Oh.....the fish we caught were between 5 and 10 pounds.......good eaters ifn we had been keepin' 'em.

[dudlbugr]

Congrats Daryl!

A 54, AND 6 more fish for a total of 169... All a fella can say is WOW! That sounds like some fishin'!

[rwilley3]

Here are my pictures of my new personal best. At least this time I had someone with me and I was able to get me and fish in the photo.

[Individualist]

That's a dandy Roger. Congrats on your personal best.

[missed mallards]

Nice looking fish. It's a good un for sure

[turtle1173]

Joe made it up here at around 12:45pm. We immediately headed out on the river.

I don't know why but it was a less than ideal day :crying: We tried all kinds of great spots but the best we could do was to get a few "tap-tap taps." We didn't have one good hit the whole day.

We fished above dikes, behind dikes, deep dikes, shallow dikes, a cut, & a straight current bank. Finally at 7:30pm, I had a small hit (very small) and decided to set the hook since we were leaving. It was a 3lb Cat. Weird looking. One of those "Big Head but small body" cats.

The water temp was 86.7 degrees. The water was very clear. I've never seen it like this before. You could actually see the concrete of the launch ramp when it was underwater up to a couple of feet!

So we figured that the fishing was poor because: A) Front moved through Sunday/Monday, B) Frozen Skipjack, C) The water was too clear and the cats were confused.

Joe and I are going out on Thursday morning one more time for about 4 hours (he has a meeting at 2:00). Any good suggestions??

[three_rivers]

:frk-big: Ew. That give me dejavue. Sho nuff sounds like what happened to us last friday. Other than coming up there and checking out the fishing, keep on keepin on is all i can offer. We tryed everything and still came up empty even with fresh bait. Maybe Daryl or Matt can give us some advice on our fishless days.

[turtle1173]

Well, I think my plan of attack is to first go catch some fresh shad. I really think the skips looked a little on the soggy side.

Then I think we will hit some 40 foot+ water. Joe kept asking me yesterday where I've been buying all my fish. I've got to get him hooked up with something. Maybe I can find him a nice 10 lb Drum, LOL.

[dudlbugr]

Shane,

If you can put Joe on a 10 lb goo, he'd love it. As a matter of fact, if you can put him on a school of them, he'll be happy right there!

I fished yesterday, kind of... Put in at the bridge, ran 5 or 6 miles to the bait hole, caught 3 skips and a stripe. Ran 3 miles back towards the truck, and started looking. Everytime I marked a fish, I looked at the bank, and then looked at the 4 towboats coming downstream towards the neck I was in, and kept going downstream. I wound up riding past the truck, down to Joe's favorite hole, as they had been loading grain earlier. Marked 2 fish...
Went back up to where I'd marked the fish, said to heck with the tows, and started fishing a back current on an outside bend. Marking fish on the slope from 25 ft out to 45 ft. Got one good pull down on a gut pocket, but missed him. Rebaited, drank A beer, and the thunderstorm that sounded to be about 20 miles off made me think about the truck. VROOM! off I went.
Oh well!

[scout]

Hey Reb, at least you got to drink that beer before the storm hit lol :rolleyes: . Where have you been working out of lately? Taking any helicopter flights out of Louisiana? I am about ready to start doing some fishing as long as I can still afford to buy the gas. We have a fishing rodeo coming up here for labor day week-end and I think I will brave the heat and give it a shot. Looking foward to some cooler weather. Talk to you later.

[solomon]

scout what's the weather like down there in october? Going to Venice the 2nd weekend.

[scout]

Hey Solomon, the weather during October is usually pretty good. It starts to cool down nice and the fishing gets better. We do have some pretty bad storms when the cold fronts pass through and the water conditions can get pretty rough for a day or so. October and November are my favorite months for fishing. I have worked in Venice a couple of times years ago but I have never fished there. I am about 4 hours from there. Check the tides for that area for that time of the month and it will give you a idea on how the fishing might be. Try and fish the falling tides. Good luck on your trip.

[turtle1173]

Well today wasn't as grand as I had hoped. I stuck with the plan to catch some fresh shad first. We were very rushed because we basically only had 3 hours to fish before Joe had to leave for a meeting.

I decided not to head to the dikes because that was really going to cut into our time. We decided on a rip rap bank. We found a decent spot that had a fairly good drop but it didn't pan out very well. I immediately caught a 2 lb Flathead and our hopes were high but that was it for the spot.

We moved down a little farther. This was a high current area but it had a good drop. The depth was around 30-40'. We were using anywhere from 12-14 ounces. I immediately caught around a 6-7 lb Drum (Goo). Joe was getting jealous at this point and started accusing me of being a poor host :crying: Joe actually had a couple very promising hits in this spot but he failed to deliver and finally blamed it on too small of a fish for the size of bait he was using.

Someone was close to the next spot I wanted to try, so we headed down to a large cut on an island. I usually anchor in the back current but today we wanted deep water so we anchored in the current. It drops gradualy from around 20 feet to 75 feet. This was the deepest spot we could find in this low water. We anchored in around 30' and let out a bunch of line and sat over about 60' of water. I immediately (again) caught another 6-7 lb drum (Are you seeing a pattern here?). Joe at this point was trying to figure out how exactly to hold his mouth. I didn't want to tell him that his mono and "weird rig" were probably confusing the fish. That along with the circle hooks he was bragging on.

But satisfaction would soon be his, as he man-handled the last fish of the day. He stood proud in the photo as our 2 day fishing extravaganza ended with this lunker awed at his expertise!!

Oh yeah, the fish weighed in at a hefty 5 lbs!! All our fish were caught on shad today.

Thanks for coming up and fishing with me Joe. I sure enjoyed it and am sorry I couldn't put you on some decent fish. The New Madrid Guide Service will have to wait a while, LOL.

By the way, Joe was busy making diagrams of all the dikes and marking specific "X's" during our outings. I don't think he had his GPS but you might expect an auction soon of a series of X's on a Skipjack Bloodied paper. :p

[bigriver]

Shane, good job! You don't want to show them all the "honey-holes" the first time out. You gotta make them work for it. Those weird Greenville rigs will have you scatching your head for sure. I don't know how they can tie those things and still have time to fish. But they work, I have seen them in action... the one time I made the mistake of showing them a honey-hole. :p

[coach]

looks like the memphis gathering at shelby forest is set for the second weekend in october............could be those "weird greenville rigs" will show up there.... :p

[dudlbugr]

Shane,
Exactly what was weird about these here "Greenville Rigs?" He didn't have any straws with him did he? Man I'm here to tell you, the straws are weird on a Greenville Rig! Fortunately, I fish what I like to call a "Hushpuckena-Rig", named after one of several formerly cat-infested waters a river-rat of ol' time legend that showed it to me, had fished as a boy.... What kind of rig do you fish?

Randall,
We're still working out of NOLA. Working down at Green canyon until November, when I think we're heading to Trinidad for the winter, and either Brazil or the North Sea next summer. I'm hoping for Brazil.... :cool:
I'm expecting the North Sea... :cursing:

[scout]

Hey Reb, sounds like Brazil would be much better than the north sea lol. Did you get to see the BP rig that was tilting real bad in the Gulf after that storm passed a few weeks ago. We service that rig out of Boothville. It is hugh and brand new. They almost lost it. We flew out some explosives in case worst came to worst so they could blow the tethers that anchor it. It all worked out for the best and they got it leveled off. Good luck on Brazil, talk to you later.

[dudlbugr]

Randall,
We didn't see it in person. Saw several pics and even a video of the Coast Guard checking it out. Thunderhorse is huge! I wonder how BP is doing on their own scorecard??? That was Cindy (the storm). We rode her out on the east / wrong side, with our gear out. Picked up for Dennis when we may not have needed too, but we made use of the time with maintenance, so it worked out okay.

[gofish]

Well, Shane pretty well described the Misery fishin trip. :p We had a lot of fun and fished hard with little to show for it.

It was a pleasure meeting and fishing with Shane. Although I wouldn't tell him to his face, he is an excellent host. :D

I couldn't help but think of Goo Duhon on Thursday as Shane started haulin in goos. ;) I'm thinkin Reb might have me confused with GooManDu! :confused: However, with Shane catching a fish every time he put his bait in the water, I was wishing for a goo....for anything! I did miss a couple of good runs but I was fishing with a big ol skippie head and I had already had a couple of 'gut-suckers' toying with my emotions. Tap tap tap......tap tap tap.......tap tap tap.....check the bait.....only a skull left. :cursing: Shane finally let me catch a fish about 10 minutes before it was time to head in. Thank you much Shane! One five-pounder in 9 hours of fishin.....makes me want to go back NOW!

I'll be teaching a class on the proper way to tie a Greenville Rig some time in the near future. Seeing as how Coach is my mentor, it only seems appropriate that it be done in his presence. I sure hope I can make it to the Memphis gathering.

Got the parts for my motor and I'm gonna get that back together today. I'm gonna give 'er a whirl this afternoon and hope to be back after 'em in the morning. I sure am sad when my boat is sick :sad: Wish me luck.

Thanks again Shane for takin me fishin. I really enjoyed it! I'll make my way through there again sooner or later and hopefully the fish will be more cooperative.

[crane]

Well guys, after last weeks haul I'll take off this weekend just to let you guys catch up..............Just kidding. :D Really I have to work this weekend so I'll not be catching much besides a case of the drag ass. Sure wish I could be out there, but that's the way it goes. Pay bills first and play second. :cursing: Good luck.

[Little Mac]

HEY COACH!!! Did you see where those men were From ?? ARKANSAS Thats right ARKANSAS!!! :p :p :p Guess we aint all baitcatchers!!! :glare: Ha! Fellas ya'll Did a fine job of winning that tournament, Sounded like a very exciting day wish I coulda seen it. ;) Sounds like you other fellas had a good time too. Congrats on all the new personal best thats what its all about right? Well, I guess I have Heckled Coach enough today :D

[scout]

Hey Joe, are you trying to steal my Goo Master Title that I worked so hard for at WDM back in 2004 lol :rolleyes: . You sure do travel far (MO.) to catch some Goos lol. Hope you get your moter running soon. Just a reminder, it is almost cat/redfish time in the marsh. When you feel the need to head south just let me know. Just remember, we are looking for the Goos with spots on their tails ;) .

[three_rivers]

Mac, thas exactly what i was waitin on. :grin-big:

Looks like its work as usual this weekend. We did get all the honeydos caught up. For the last week we had this fishy smell every time the boat got rained in. I went on another treasure hunt this afternoon to investigate that smell. Low and behold half a skipjack done fell down by the bilge pump under the back deck. :eek: Got my vice grips out and disposed of it as it was a litte mushy from the rain we been gettin and broke out the bleach. lol Looks like i'm gonna be kickin rocks for a bit as far as fishing goes . Gonna do some work on some rodholders for the boat, and maybe pick u a new rig or two. The gatherings coming up quick and Tunicas right behind it.

Shane, ol joe won't admit it but he really wanted one of those goos. :D Congrats, when fishings tough like that i'd be as proud of that one as i was a biggun.

Good luck to everyone thats heading out.

[turtle1173]

Reb, I use a sliding 3-way rig or I think some people call it a break-away rig. Two barrel swivels. Main line goes through the eye of one swivel with about 15 lb test line that goes from the opposite eye to the sinker. The other swivel ties to the main line, then the leader goes to its opposite eye.

Joe, glad you made it back home safely. I imagine I'll be catching 50 lbers by next week, LOL. I never seem to do very well when I fish with someone else. I don't show any partiality though. Whether its you, Demetrius, or even my Dad. Demetrius and I had a decent day the first time we got together but since then it's been rather slow. Some people are just hard to get along with I guess :glare:

[gofish]

Well, the ol motor didn't quite do what I expected. I had to field strip the carbs in the parking lot at the ramp. I had both of my daughters with me telling them we were going for a boat ride. Reb pulled up as I was getting the boat ready for the water the second time. He rounded up my youngns as I ran a test loop on the motor. Not fixed. :cursing: :0a32:

I tested firing on the bottom two cylinders. The bottom plug was wet but it seemed to have good spark. :0a28: It will crank but not idle. Run but not well. sigh

Goo, did you get an email from me last week? I got yours and wrote back...?

I have maps for sale! They'll lead you to a north-flowing river to a secret dike that has no fish around it. It's beautiful though.... :D (Caution: Some of the local folk are kinda hard to get along with ). Cheap!

[85Dave]

Gofish-I had a similar carb problem a few years ago. The solution for me was to get a gallon can of carb cleaner from the parts store and soak the parts in it. Using cans of carb cleaner just wouldn't do it.

[ArkansasCat]

Gofish......I had a carb problem on my motor that I tried to fix for a long time. I soaked the carbs in cleaner, sprayed cleaner in the intake, and ran a can of "seafoam" through the gas. I had to finally tear all three carbs down and take each jet (High speed and Idle) out and poke a small piece of wire through the tiny holes. The old gas deposits were packed in some of the jets so much I had to dig it out.
Before doing this my motor would run but not good......When I did this I found some jets were open and the others stopped up so much you couldn't even see through them. The motor ran great after doing this except........Now when I let it idle it would flood out in a minute or two.....so i just pulled the bottom carb (bottom carbs seem to give more trouble) and I found 1 piece of deposit (trash) under the needle valve. This deposit was not letting the float shut the gas off when the bowl was full. So don't forget to clean under the needle valves while your in there.......Now it runs like a STRIPED APE !!!!!!!:D

If ya need some ideal on were to find a piece of wire that size I used copper wire from the windings of an electric motor or just take the wraping off a bread ty.

Hope this helps and gets ya back on the Mighty Misipy after those big Cats!!! :thumbsup:

[coach]

just finished lookin around the board for new post................ reckon what i found!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! on the arkie thread, they are already worried about the skips not being at the hot water outlet this winter........... i sure hope that dredging makes ya'lls fishing better this winter mac and 3............ be a shame for ya'll to go the winter without any skipjack pictures!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :cool: LMAO!!!!!!!!!!!!

[turtle1173]

Now Joe... Do you really think these fine people here are going to believe that you can sell them a map that shows them where they can fish on the south side of a dike and be fishing upriver from it? :p

Joe, have you done a compression test yet? I would start there. If you have compression (no more than 15 lbs variation between the cylinders but perferably 10 or less) and you can verify spark, then I would work more with the fuel system (air leak, filter stopped up, etc).

I once had a carb that took 3 times in the chemical dip before it would function right. Sounds like some good sermon material right there, LOL. Of course it was a Chrysler carb :rolleyes: Speaking of Chryslers, I have a 55HP on a stand in my drive way that I just got running good. We had some bad storms last night and when I got out this morning, the motor and stand were laying over to the side :eek: This motor weighs a good 200 lbs or so. Fortunately, it wasn't damaged (to my surprise).

ArkansasCat has some good advice about the jets and passage ways. Just be careful not to gouge anything. I am wondering though... how exactly does a Striped Ape run? :D

[gofish]

Thank you fellas for all of the ideas. I honestly think that I am beyond a fuel problem. I'm going to try a couple of other things before I shoot it and put it out of its misery. Coach called and offered some suggestions that I will try. I'm also going to call Bob Gilvary to get his take on the situation. It sure is aggravating! :mad:

I'll let y'all know how it turns out. Hopefully there will be a fish story attached tomorrow!

[ArkansasCat]

I am wondering though... how exactly does a Striped Ape run? :D

Well turtle......I have to be honest.....I have never actually seen a "Striped Ape" run......but all the oldtimers sure refer to them a lot.....so i guess back in the day "Striped Apes" were everywhere and running mighty, mighty fast. :D :D :D

[scout]

Hey Joe, remember you owe those girls a boat ride when you get that boat fixed lol. No, I did not recieve a e-mail from you Joe. We are keeping a close eye on that hurricane in the gulf. It is getting a little too close for comfort :crying: . Good luck on the boat motor.

[gofish]

Hey GooManDu, I'll see if the letter is still in my 'sent mail' folder at work. Lots of changes going on around home for me.

My motor is still not running right but BobPaul is helping sort it it out.

Y'all stay dry and good luck with the huricane!

[rwilley3]

Well yesterday weatherwise after the rain quit was great to be out fishing. We made it out a little before lunch. I had a hard time finding bait but finally managed a few. The first place we anchored ended up being our "honey hole" for the day. Within 5 minutes a rod went down and up came a 10# blue. As we were getting his hook undone another pole bent over and we knew it was a decent fish. As my friend was reeling it in the 3rd pole bent over and I got it. I actually landed it while Jason fought on the other. It was a 14# blue. Jason finally got his in and a 25# blue. While we were taking a picture of his new personal best the last rod out got bit and ended up with a small blue about 3#. We decided we better go get some more bait where we found the first before getting too far away so we went and spent about another hour and only being able to get about 6 more skipjack. We fished rest of the day and only caught another cat about 3# and a drum. Still pretty exciting having 4 poles out and ending up with 4 fish on them one right after the other. Anybody else fish yesterday?

[crane]

:thumbsup: Sounded like a great day to me. Was you fishing those dikes or some straight current? It's spots like that, that keep you going back. That is exactly the kind of bites that we got last weekend during the tourney. You'll have to PM me the specifics on where those fish were caught.:D Just kidding, you are on the right track to catching one of those bigguns. Keep it up.

You guys down in Mississippi better batten down the hatch, Katrina looks like she means bussiness. Be careful and keep an eye out. Yall might want to fuel up those boats, might need them.

[rwilley3]

Daryl
We were back on a dike with about a 60' hole. I guess I am going to try more of those as well in the future after the last two weeks. Congrats on you write up in the Commercial Appeal today.

[coach]

fished this morning----- got a 17 off a dike,,,, along with 35 skips........ got a 15 off a point in a deep outside bend.......both on gutpockets........ katrina seems to have the mouth of the misipy in the crosshairs.............anybody know what good bait for shark is!!!!!!!!!!!

[gofish]

Reb and I fished this morning. Fished the upstream side of a rock dike and caught a 22. We went upriver to the mouth of a chute and caught 3 more. One about 3 pounds, another about 5, and then there was Reb's fish. We moved across the river and fished the tip of a dike and caught one more--about 5 pounds. It was one of the better days I have had fishin in some time.

I think it had something to do with the host :p

[scout]

Joe, Reb, Steve, seems like you guys had a great day. Joe it was nice of Reb to let you take a pic with his fish :p . We may be able to fish out of the back yard if that storm comes any closer :rolleyes: .

[coach]

reb, i gotta know, did the circle hook get him?????????? :rolleyes:

[dudlbugr]

Joe,

Thanks for posting the trip. Did anyone else notice how much bigger the pic of MY fish was than the pic of Joes fish? :p
Coach, I got him on a 9/0 Kahle, on a Hushpuckena Rig. The other fish of the day were caught on those weird Greenville Rigs... on circles.

ATTENTION FISHERMEN:
Be warned that taking Joe Ware fishing can be very disheartening, as not only will he likely out fish you, but he will also take note of your fishing holes, and soon thereafter, he will fish them out! :p

[turtle1173]

Ouch Joe, that "jab" really hurt, LOL. Even after I let you catch the biggest catfish of our outings!

Keep after 'em guys!

[three_rivers]

Where is everyone? I'm still sitten around kickin rocks and with these gas prices i just might be kickin a little longer! We did get lucky enough to top the boat off as we came back from memphis the last trip. I'm on babywatch tonite so i was wonderin about everyone and my itch is gettin unbearable. :cursing:

Roger, thas a great catch! What more could you ask for with a day like that. Looks like you findin a groove. Was you fishin like we talked about?

Joe, Reb great day too. A twenty pounder is icing on the cake for a tough day. Reb, a fish like that i'm sure your glad to have joe around as a net man. :0a10:

Coach, what can i say you always seem to find the fish even when fishings tough.

Dave where ya at buddy? Ever get that motor up and running or find out whats ailing it?

Matt, i would ask ya how the fishings been but you'll only make me wanna get back out there. Oh well, hows the fishin?

Shane, it woulda been a good idea to keep joe away fromt those big fish you got up there cause he'd a surely dragged one in. I already seen first hand.

Good luck to everyone thats gettin to go out this weekend. After we get everything done up i'll be back that way and it'll be none to soon.

[dudlbugr]

Danny: Net? :confused: We gaffed him! Do you think anyone noticed I was hold him out from my body to make him look bigger? I hope not....

[turtle1173]

I hope everyone down south of me is doing OK. What a mess it looks to be.

Right now fishing looks to be on the back-burner. Gas is $3/ gallon everywhere and there are places that have run out already. Aside from the availability issue, burning $18/trip is rather excessive. I know many of you do the same thing PLUS you have to drive a distance to get to the river. That adds up quickly.

The river has been going up 2-3' per day lately. It is up to 12' today, so the debris is starting.

Although this seems rather depressing, I'm going to use this time as an opportunity to get some of my projects finished. I mentioned the Chrysler outboard the other day that I've got running good. I've also got a 14' Fiberglass tri-hull with a 35HP Evinrude that I've been working on. I've got the motor running good but I have to redo the interior. I got started on that today. I've really been dreading the carpet work but I got half of it laid now. Once that's done, I've got to put new seats in and re-build a couple of hatches. When that boat is finished, I'm hoping it will get better gas mileage than my usual boat :D Then I'm going to start tearing in to that one. My usual boat (16' Starcraft) leaks like crazy (ask Joe). I believe I've got several hundred pounds of extra weight in there with 2 layers of plywood and soggy water saturated foam that hasn't seen the light of day since 1972. All that's going to come out and I'm going to fix my leaking problems from the inside. I'm then going to rebuild my front deck and I'm also thinking of taking out the side console to make room for a 100 gallon livewell.

Usually when I think of ALL these projects, I end up saying "I'll do that later" and then I go fishing instead, LOL.

That's probably more information than anyone wanted to know but ... Danny, you asked for it :p

You all take care and stay safe!

[rwilley3]

Danny
I did catch them about like we talked about last week but the bigger one the week before was a little different. I am heading out to go dove hunting tomorrow about 1/2 way to PIckwick. I think I am going to finish out the day going on up there and getting me some fresher frozen bait. I bet since river is coming up I will have a hard time finding any for a couple of weeks until it at least clears up some. I haven't decided whether I am going to try it Monday or not. As Shane said it is getting to be a pretty big bite even going here. From the look of gas stations today finding gas may be an even bigger problem than shelling out the money for it. Good luck to all that are going after them.

[bigriver]

My dad and I pooled all our savings and decided to go out this afternoon. Actually I feel pretty bad because I think he had to dip into his retirement account. Whoooo! It's bad at the pumps! The station we found only had premium left. I thought we were lucky until I saw the price.

We had a real nice afternoon after we forgot about the gas prices. We managed a 12, two 7's and one that may have gone 1 pound... sopping wet. How those little devils get a 9/0 kahle in their mouth I'll never know.

The debris had picked up quite a bit, something we have not seen in quite a while. We had one big limb come bby that got tangled in all three rods we had out. Oh well. The floatsome wasn't real bad, but I figure it will be getting worse before it gets better.

Shane, you are a glutton for punishment. I did one "boat floor rehab" that dang near killed me. I don't think I'll be doing that again. But good luck on it all the same.

It was good to get away from the television for a while today. The news from the coast is really heartbreaking and has been consuming my thoughts.i hope and pray things get better down there soon.

[gofish]

I finally decided that my motor has a bigger problem than I can handle by myself. BobPaul helped me out quite a bit but I seem to have stumped even the master. I dropped the boat off at the dealer this afternoon and I should know something tomorrow. I hope it isn't $eriou$.

Ga$ price$ are gonna put a crimp in everyone's style it $eem$. If Reb will have me, I'm gonna fish with him again this weekend. The river is jumping so I don't know what the fishing will be like. I guess I'll just go along for the ride and try to remember the secrets that I learn along the way. I guess it's a good thing that I'm getting old and the memory isn't what it used to be. :p

Good luck to everyone going out this weekend. Be safe!

[turtle1173]

It looks like after tomorrow, the river is going to start dropping again. I was surprised to see 6 boats out today, as I drove by the ramp. On a "normal" day, there's only 1-2 but being this is a big weekend, maybe that accounted for the increase.

I stayed in today and finished the carpeting on this other boat. After that dries, I've got to do some trimming. Then I can put some seats on her and take her out.

Matt, I would prefer NOT to do the floor of my boat but I know it's got to be done, esp. the leaking aspect. Plus I can change the layout of my boat and perhaps harness a little more room. Or ... I could sell both of these boats and get me something bigger and better. Hmmm...

Joe, whenever you drop a boat off at the dealers, that usually indicates $$$. But who knows, it may be cheaper to have it worked on than to buy gas for it, LOL.

[missed mallards]

glad to see everyone doing o.k. and glad ya'll are still able to do a little fishing. with the price of gas know it's hard for me to do anything. It's a bad situation and even worse on the coast. after watching the chaois here lately it make's me glad that i'm as fortunate as i am.

hope ya'll the best and stay after em.

[rwilley3]

Anybody get out yesterday or today around Memphis? I am trying to decide if I want to go and try to soak some of the big skippie heads I got from Pickwick yesterday afternoon or just conserve some gas and money.

[turtle1173]

Hey Guys,

I still had some gas left over from when Joe and I went fishing, so I decided to go out today. I didn't have anyone to go with me, so I knew I was guarranteed to catch something, LOL.

I decided to head downstream today :eek: which I rarely do. But there's a rock wall down there that I heard might have a few skippies around it. Plus it is really deep but even I didn't know JUST how deep it was.

The rock wall was kind of like a dike. It goes all the way across this side channel but the water only comes over in a couple places. The water is really moving! I drove around some likely looking areas but I didn't see any activity on the surface. Incidently, it was around 8:00am. I casted and looked around at some other places and finally decided it was time to get my trusty cast net out. Within a half hour, I had a bunch of shad (including a couple 8"ers) and a few small skips. I fished at the edge where the main thrust of the water goes over this wall. I was anchored in about 20 and casting into 50. I didn't get any good hits there (just a few nibbles) but when I was leaving I found out that this spot actually drops down to 115 feet!! So I circled around on the other side of it. There is an Extreme back current situation on this side. I was facing upstream and I needed 12 ounces to stay on the bottom! But this is where the fun began. I'll tell you upfront, I didn't catch any cats here but low and behold I saw jumping shad and skips all around me :p I put my cat poles out and then grabbed my bait pole. I had 4 fairly large jigs on this pole. What a show these guys put on for me. You would see about a dozen shad jump out of the water and then a skipjack jumping out right behind them. It was a blast. My jigs were a little on the large side. In 1 hour, I had around 40-45 on but I only boated 11. I had 4 sets of doubles but they would get off right at the boat. But boy what a time I had!

Next I had a rather scary incident that left me wanting to get back to more familiar territory. I anchored at a good looking drop but the current was severe. It would have taken 24 ounces to hold on the bottom. I motored upstream some, in order to get some slack in the anchor rope to allow me to pull it up. I went to far (apparently) because all of a sudden my motor stopped. The anchor rope was wrapped around the prop. I started drifting downstream rapidly and was getting very close to the large rocks on the shore. I don't have power trim and the anchor, chain, rope and the pressure made it near impossible to pull the motor up. I could pull it up some but not enough to lock it in place. Anyway, after what seemed like forever, I really leaned hard on it and managed to get it locked. The rope was wrapped around 3 times. I couldn't reach it but with the help of a hammer and an oar, I finally got it undone. The anchor dropped and caught. I was about 10 feet from shore in around 7 feet of water! I was scared, worn out and just about ready to call it quits.

I decided to go back to familiar water and stayed close to the ramp instead. After all, I had these fresh skips to use! There's 2 big piles of rocks right downstream of the old launch ramp. When I say "Big" I mean it's about a 30 foot drop! Sure enough, the top of the pile was at 12 feet and the backside of it was around 45. I anchored right on top. I dropped one pole straight down, one out a little farther and then one in the core of the hole.

After a little while, I caught my only fish of the day. A 15lb Flatty. He was beautiful. I don't know if you can make out the coloration from the photo but he was a very light yellow with some speckles of brown. Oh yeah, he was caught on a skip Fillet (with a half-digested shad in the gut) in the core of the hole at around 1:30pm.

Thanks for bearing with my long stories.

[rwilley3]

My wife and I went out this morning. It seemed very slow on the biting at least. We finally did catch a 25# on the 2nd to last place we fished and a 10# on the last place. Only had one other decent bite just some tappers and chewers. Still a good day and she got her a new personal best. Great day weather wise to be out as well.

[85Dave]

We haven't been out in a couple of weeks. The crankshaft siezed in the outboard. Apparently the oil pump went out on us. Still deciding on what to do. We will either get the motor rebuilt or try to find a used one.

[bigriver]

Shane, that is a scary situation, and one that I have always feared. I imagine that the boat would could go down pretty quickly anchored from the tail end. Just like you, I will ease the boat forward some and run up to pull in some of the rope. When you are by yourself, there aren't many other options. A couple trips up and back will usually have me close over the top of the anchor, and usually pretty out of breath as well. But I guess it is better to make a few short trips, rather than one long one.

We had a near mishap on Sunday. My dad and wife were fishing with me and we were anchored in the current at the head of a cut. A large tree, with root ball snuck in from upstream and caught on the anchor rope. We had to release the rope. Had the tree been much bigger and the outcome may have been worse. I often look upstream to make sure nothing is headed down at the boat, but I often forget too. I've been thinking of getting one of the rearview mirrors made for ski boats.

DThorpe, I hate to hear about your motor problems. Is that a possible cause for the motor malfunction when I towed you in? At least ya'll know what the problem is and can deal with it. Better on dry land than in the river.

[gofish]

Shane, that sounds real similar to what happened to me at Wilbur Mills. Ask Tim and Randall and Coach if it scared me?!? :eek: I'm glad things worked out for you. It's scary how fast things can go from good to life-threatening on the river. We should never take things for granted!

Matt, it's better to donate an anchor to the river than a boat or gear or a life. Let's hope that our close calls remain that....close.

I called the mechanic today to check on the status of my boat. He said he didn't have time over the weekend to look at it. I'm not sure if I still believe the saying that 'no news is good news'. I want to know what's wrong with my motor! Better yet, I want it fixed!

I didn't get the chance to fish over the weekend. Hopefully my boat won't cost an arm and leg to fix and I'll be able to get back after 'em soon. Y'all be careful out there and save some fish for me!

[three_rivers]

Shane, glad everything worked out for the good. I always look forward to reading your post. I worry about a situation like yours. If it ever happens to my boat it'll surely go under as the back of the transom is only six inches out of the water. When i can i usually will pull the boat to the anchor which is no easy task out on the sip.

Matt, my wife could tell ya a story about those big trees. We had a run in earlier in the year with the high water.

David, Joe, sure hate to hear about the motor problems. If all else fails check out some of the rebuildables and repo sites. My brothers bought three boats from there and has good luck with them. Most the time its damage to the boat or trailer.

Roger, that sounds like a good day.

[dudlbugr]

Man, Shane, good to hear everything worked out ok. We've all for sure had some close calls, whether we admit it or not.
There is no way to completely remove risk when anchoring. Heavy current just compounds the problem. What about the logs, refrigerators, and other large junk that floats down the river that you DON'T see? Any of them hit our anchor ropes just right, and there's nothing you're gonna do about the boat. You might get lucky and live...what we need is a JSA on anchoring. If only we had someone who did these professionally... achem....

Decided to not fish this past weekend, and donated the value of 2 fishing trips to the Red Cross. Now, I'm strapped for cash and got a heavy case of the shakes. :D
Thinking about flathead fishing in the back yard...

[scout]

I can back up Joe's story. Our friend Tim had his life jacket on in about a 1/2 of a second and was about to bail out lol. Ole Joe did not panic and saved the day minus 1 anchor. Coach towed us to shore for the rope in the prop removal. :)

Reb we go overboard here at work with those JSA's. I think we even have one to go to the bathroom lol. :rolleyes:

Joe did you get my e-mail? Have you heard from Tim lately?

[gofish]

Randall, I got your email and I apologize for not writing back yet. I'll get an email out today letting you know what is going on in the big G. I haven't talked to Tim in a while. He told me that they installed a firewall on his computer at work and he no longer has access to the BOC. He doesn't have a computer at home so he isn't around much. Next time I talk to him, I'll tell him you asked about him. I hope all is well down south....your south. I know how things are due south :sad:

[scout]

No problem Joe, I was not sure they were getting to you. I sure do miss hearing from Tim. I hope he gets a puter soon.

[85Dave]

Matt,
We're looking for a replacement motor. The crankshaft is seized and trashed the block. Not worth rebuilding. Hopefully we'll find something soon.
David

[gofish]

Randall, I sent you an email last night from my hotmail account. With the new job, I have a firewall that prevents me from checking hotmail (or any other outside mail service). If you replied, I'll get it tonight.

I heard from my boat mechanic today. He says my boat is fixed and that I can come get it. He told me that I broke it trying to fix it. He said there was a bolt that fell into the carburetor manifold that caused one of the reeds to stick open. It was flooding the bottom carb with fuel. He said it was a good thing that I had not run it any more than I did or it could have caused major damage. He felt that my original problem was trash in the fuel and that I made the situation worse. At least I know what happened and it didn't cost all that much to have it fixed.

I'm thinking I'll be on the river tomorrow afternoon. Gonna be doing the family thing on Saturday so I probably won't be back after 'em again til Sunday.

At the risk of putting the cart before the horse, I sure am glad to have my boat back!!! Let's go fishin! :0a22: