Nice smallie. My nephew landed one on Pepin last evening that had to be pushing the 5 lb mark was 21.75″. I wish had a pic cause this was one thick fish, biggest one i’ve ever seen out of pool 4, or anywere for that matter. His hit a mimic minnow.
Wheww! I thought someone saw me fall knee deep into the drink when i was heading towards the access today. 
Thanks Dave I know the exact screw your talking about now. 
Thanks for all the tips!!. Goose you better get on the road, the fish should be snappin today at IGL.
“I would try backing off the needle a little bit… 1/8 – 1/4 turn is usually enough”
Are you refering to the screw on the outside of the carb?
PM sent 
There is more than just a few in Pepin. I ran into a school that exploded out of the water(4-5fow). This was the lower portion of the lake. I’d estimate 10-15 fish. Hopefully the population doesnt take over the system.
Is there much for trophy potential on Pool 8? Ive been targeting crappies for the last few years on pool 4. Seems to be mostly 10 inchers with a rare 12-14″. Have yet to crack the 15″ mark. Whats the biggest crappie anyone has caught or witnessed on the river, any pool? Ive personally had better luck trophy hunting on good lakes. Seems like the river would be ideal to grow them bigger however…Anybody have any thoughts?
So how long do we need to play T. Jackson for you? What did he do in college that was so great? He was a back up to Matt Jones in college, before transfering to a small school were he put up ok numbers. Matt Jones did not even get a chance to be an NFL quarterback. What makes Jackson so special? He runs a 4.8 forty(thats slow). He has poor fundamentals, poor accuracy and zero touch on the ball. Brooks Bollinger put up great numbers at Wisconsin. Why is he not the answer? In my opinion Jackson has done NOTHING to earn a spot on an NFL roster let alone be anointed as the Vikings starting QB.
That being said, I agree that we are rebuilding and need to be patient. I say this year is a wash and a proving year for Jackson. I have a funny feeling that this might turn into a Kordel Stewart situation however. How many years was he allowed to “develope” with the Steeler’s?
Can you recomend any good dealers to work with for waranty work on ETECS?
Easy Lew. Im with you an this one… My guess would be the Root also. I have yet to catch a smallie greater than 14 inches in the Zumbro this year. 
The Root has miles and miles of water. I dont think just naming the river would hurt at all. Now naming a specific area of a stream is different IMO. Its nice to hear reports on the local streams.
That being said, I have been fishing both the Root and Zumbro lately. Ive been finding better size and #’s on the Root. Ive always thought though that the Root was a better fishery than the Zumbro. The Zum is closer for me and i fish it more, but the Root just produces better for me. Tubes have been producing best for me.
Ok it looks like ive been using the wrong size. Get the 1/4 ounce ones. They seem to be the tickett.
I have zero confidance in them. Ive tried them many times were I know fish are located and have yet to catch anything. I then switch to a tube or plastic worm and pullem out. I dont know what im doing wrong. Ive slowly realed, twitched, hopped and burned them. I gave up on them.
Thats why I dont eat any from pool 4 either. Im sure all of the sewage and contaminants find their way down river..
I got my etec back from the shop. Apparently there was just some sand in it. After $300 and a 3 week wait I finally gave it a good workout. I was impressed.
Ps- Never take your boat to Smitty’s in Lake City to get worked on, unless you want to get the shaft and wait for a month to get it back. Unbelievable 
Update- Sand got in the engine and they had to flush it out. That was last week. They are still monkeying with the radio. Going on 3 weeks now at the shop to flush some sand out. Are all shops this slow?? I would think I would be a top priority customer after dropping over 8 grand on the new motor with them
Anyone know how your to supposed to clean sand out of the indicator hole on the etecs? I dont want to have to take it into the shop after everytime i run it in some shallow water. My old motor I’d just unscrew it and blow it out. There is nothing to unscrew on the etec. I cant be the ONLY one with this problem..
Fair enough. Did your Etec eat sparkplugs? Hopefully I can get some time on the water soon and give mine another workout. 
Chris,
About a year ago I remember you touting the ETEC as the greatest engine ever… Now you seem to have changed your tune. I personally bought my Etec after doing all the research I could and ,believe or not, I remembered your posts embracing them as a reliable performer. Now it seems you are saying the opposite. Is this merely driven by sponsorship or did you in fact have negative experiences with Etecs? I may have missed some of your posts along the way explaining this, so sorry if that is the case.
I bought a 115 Etec this spring.
Pros= Good hole shot, mid-range torque, quiet, uses little oil and fuel.
Cons= Poor top end speed, kills when trolling, fills with sand easily and doesn’t seem to have a plug to unscrew for cleaning it out, not as easy to start as they say.
I havent owned the motor for long but this is what ive seen so far… If I had to do it again Id look more closely at Yamaha and Mercury
Well its still at the shop!! They said its overheating cause I had sand in it. That seems odd because it still had water coming out of the indicator. They tried some different props and were able to get it up to 42 mph. Sure seems like a long time to be at the shop to clean some sand out of it. Im going to have to post the name of the dealer if service doesnt improve real soon.
Ok this is getting a little annoying now. So i take the boat out for the 3rd trip of the year shortly after I got the new tranny put in the truck. Now the NEW Etec overheats when I run it wide open. I shut it down and start it up and its fine for a while. What a pain. Plus the NEW stereo i had installed woulnt hold onto a station so I brought some CD’s with. CD funtion doesnt work on the NEW radio. So now it has been in the shop for about 2 weeks and I havent heard nothing….When will it end. Im thinking of getting rid of the rig and just shore fishing and hiring a guide. I think someone upstairs doesnt want me to own a boat…
I tried lead for the 1st time last week. One thing I noticed is that I was letting out 150′ feet of line to get down about 16ft. I was trolling about 2mph. I had good results but didnt think i would need to let out that much line???? Are there different wieghts of line and such that I should try?
Well I took the Etec out for the first time. I ran well and was very responsive. It did want to kill a few times as I was trolling but hopefully it just needs to be broken in.
Now the good part. This is just another reason why i think i deserve the title of worlds unluckiest fisherman. As i back the boat in the driveway I hear a load grinding. Reverse goes out in the truck. Unhook the boat and try my best to push back out of the way. Get in the truck and start heading to the repair shop. Then it makes a loud grinding sound… Now the truck is stuck in the middle of the road so i call the tow truck. The bill will be $2300 for a remaufactured tranny on a 2000 GMC.
OH did I mention that someone stold my custom built walleye rod and about $500 worth of tackle out of my storage shed this spring??
2 trips with the boat so far this year.. Things are off to a great start!!! Im getting so used to it that i just laugh now when it happens 
I took a total of 15 tics off myself and my 2 kids after a trip to K-7. I was shocked!! 12 them were my 6 yo. Only 2 were attatched. I thinks they must be more attracted to some people over others. He is the same way with skeeters… Great fishing for the kids though.
Thanks, I found a good deal on trading in for an Etec after calling around. So it didnt turn out too bad…
NARC, Not Another Redneck Construction company… 
