Pool 16 trip

Fished Fri and Sat. morning, boated a couple flats and channel. Not bad for fishing new water, and being powered by the human propeller…now, the rest of the story..

Fished the Andalusia Slough area of pool 16, which is a nice running side channel with a lot of wood everywhere. I started scouting looking for wood cover 10-15′ deep with current. Didn’t have to go far (more about that later), and got a small channel cat. I headed further upriver for a scouting expedition…

Stopped at another spot, watched an eagle, after no takers there, I high-tailed it upstream to scout some more. Found an awesome spot, two root balls bookending a ton of lumber, filed that one under must fish later.

I was hauling further upriver, when unexpectedly it changed from 8′ to 2′ then WHACK! Solid Rock. Lower unit seemed ok, prop was dinged up real good. I started back towards the launch very slowly, and managed a tow from a speedboat about halfway back.

Later I figured out a seal inside my old Mercury prop went, so the prop could only rotate so fast before it would slip (this one doesn’t use a shear pin).

I attempted to repair the prop while I cooked some food, and launched again at dusk to test it. Seems about the same, I get just about accross river, and props no longer pushing at all. I made it worse

Moment of truth: call it a night and head back, or break out oars to hit spots near the launch. Since i made the trip over three hours…I decided to hit the spots.

I lost a couple in the wood, and won a good fight with a 27″ flathead. In between hits, it was a peaceful, quiet night on the water; with an awesome night sky (the milky way was so prominent I thought it clouds for a second!). A buddy stopped to check if I needed a tow, but I wanted to anchor up on one more spot. A little later, Tim Scott stopped, and accepted a tow this time.

Got up early made coffee , dropped all the extra weight I could, and started rowing so I could get a bit more fishing in before caling it quits. Got another small flattie, and just missed a couple other pick-ups.

Considering my very limited mobility (I was only hitting a couple spots maybe 1/2-2/3 mile from the launch), it wasn’t a bad trip, had around 10 pick-ups, boated 3 cats and lost two in the wood. May be rethinking my decision to go with 20# mono and 50# power pro.

Very nice area to fish, if you’re ever down this way.

Shawn

ps while not the 20+ fish I was looking for, did manage a new pb on the trip.

Everyone always say you have to revive the fish!

ahhh for the good ol’ days. I almost forgot what an oar looks like. Sorry to hear about your motor, but it sure made some great reading thanks- -jerr

after thought****

you must have planted that white rod, BK sez they don’t catch catfish

Shawn, I fish some of that same water, just not for cats. Maybe I will see you out there sometime. Sorry to hear about your prop and L.U.. Been there myself.

Good job Shawn, I’ve seen your posts for a couple years. You used to ask questions, now you are getting good results.
There is a closing dam on the river map up in that slough, maybe where you spun your prop. They can be rebuilt, (Marv’s prop shop, Davenport) or get a rebuilt or new which is quicker. Good thing you had oars, had to use mine to get back a week ago. Should be a good week, Dark of the moon etc.

Good read Shawn. Many would get discouraged and call it a day.

You just let the weekend play out and enjoyed it.

Hey Jerr, there are many cat guys that take a white rod along they call it a “throw down rod”.

Quote:

---

Many would get discouraged and call it a day.

---

It was a very close call. Had I not scouted near the launch first, might have just done that. But, it became a matter of sheer determination…”traveled all this way to fish, I’m gonna fish!” It also helps to have a small boat (14′ 48″ shallow-V).

I don’t know how I would have done with the motor, but it wasn’t a total waste, and does make for a good fish story.

Good learning experience, nice pool to fish. Yeah, I ,may have found that closing dam…I was maybe 2 miles upstream from Andalusia Slough Rec Area Launch when it happened. I think the prop shaft is ok, prop probably repairable for now. Considering I only paid $100.00 for the motor, it’s been a good one. I hope I can keep using it for a while. For 10 hp, moves me along pretty good. Well, maybe too good. Should have known better.

Shawn

ps Not sure I got any fish on the white rod…the bigger flat was on my Shimano rod/Salt Striker baitcaster, smaller flat on Cabela’s classic with Quantum Iron Spinning. Actually, since the tips are painted bright white, guess they’re all white rods!

We made it out Saturday as well, only we were after walleye and ended up with my PB flathead. weighing in at just over 20 lbs. Caught on a jig and 1/2 crawler with 6lb test. Took about a half hour to finally net him. It was caught just outside the field of view of your last picture. if you were working a wingdam just south of where you were when you took that picture you probably watched us do battle with it. We were in a black Lund. And not but a month ago I landed an 18 out of that picture just north of that island trolling a crank. Sorry for the crappy cell phone picture but thats all I have.

And I forgot to add that that out in front of that island all the way out to the channel is a VERY dangerous area in lower water conditions. Very shallow and all rock! That is a trolling motor only area for me. But the area does produce some nice fish of all species.

I was working along the shoreline in that general area, and I was off the water by Saturday 10:30 so don’t know if I missed you. It was a couple miles upstream I “spun” the prop… too bad I didn’t have Hank Parker’s gizmo to use when the rubber bushing that absorbs the shock and transfers torque to the propeller gets ruined.

The drive from my house was a little over 3 hours, but again, very nice pool of water to fish. Glad I made the trip.

Think i repair or replace my prop and i’m back in business…lower unit oil looks ok, and prop shaft appears straight.

Shawn

Welcome to Ido Primitive!

It’s nice to see more reports from the southern pools. I was starting to thing that the river ended at pool 7 with Bret and crew!

Thought I’d put a follow-up on this one…

Epilogue:

After that trip, prop was dinged up good and I had broke a piece broke out when I was trying to straighten a bent section…

I kept the chip (about the size of the surface of a computer key), and glued it back in with JB Weld. I also tried to smooth and even out the blades a little, and glued the spline shaft into the rubber bushing and used a little extra on the end. I’ll eventually pick-up another prop off E Bay, and can use this as a spare.

I did a test run in the tank today, seems like it should propel me ok. I quickly empty the water when I revved it up in gear!

That old Merc is one tough sob…should have taken a pic of the damaged prop before I fixed – looked like a child with a missing tooth!

tank test

That motor is the best $100 dollar I ever spent on gear…

Shawn

I have only one experience with a spun prop. It would move the boat along slow. Like in your tank test, it seemed OK but when getting up a little speed it would over rev. In the good old days a simple shear pin replacement and on your way. Wasn’t easy but duable. Don’t bet too much on your prop repair, lot of tork there. Good Luck.

I hear you… i’m considering pulling the prop off and JB welding the spline shaft in there some more before taking it out…

Shawn