Ondrejka

Good luck brotha. Sending positive vibes!

How about the BPS rod/reel combo? Better deal together?

Got a pretty awesome text from my dad the other day to brighten my dull work trip in Texas. Got the "new" motor all hooked up on my boat for me. Just need to bolt on the trim and tilt and it's a done deal. Thought I'd share with y'all (yeah, it's kind of sticking). Looking forward to running her when I get back!

So jealous of everyone still getting out. I'm still stuck in BFE Paris, TX and the weather sucks just as much here. It would suck a lot less if I could wet a line, though. Got to fly over Texoma and Ray Hubbard, and a bunch of other good looking lakes though. I'll be back next weekend with an open seat to break in the new motor.

It's definitely a fun way to cure cabin fever during the winter, brings me back to my roots up North. If it gets cold enough again, I may venture on to Clinton.

Right! Curt is gonna put me on his flathead spots!!

The boat gods are shining down on me. Was able to pull the trigger on a near mint 50 horse Johnson to replace my toasted Evinrude. Having them swapped out this week at the boat doc and should be back on the water in no time. However, the kicker is that I may be heading to Paris, TX for two weeks to train a new site for my job Nov. 9th-22nd.

But...if Clayton isn't catching fish on them, or not going to use them...then why would I use them?!

I think it's because he's secretly patterning flatheads there.

That just means that it's time for us to go back and get an official weight on a new one

Anywhere from 40-60 long shaft. Trim and tilt preferred. And I can just use the controls I already have from mine now. Have a line on a few 60s already, I'll peep Smithville marine too

Just got word back from the motor doc. To make a long story short, gonna have to say RIP to the Evinrude. There's a possibility of a rebuild, but still kind of early at this point. Otherwise I'll be pinching pennies over the winter to pop for a different engine before spring. Will probably use my dad's Lund whenever the opportunity arises, but if anyone has Melvern trips planned, I'm always down for a backseat if it's open. #BUMMED We'll see what happens though.

On another note, I'm probably going to have a replica made of my dad's 4.3 pounder from Saturday. I've done a little research, but does anyone have any recommendations on good taxidermists in the area?

No kidding. I was baffled at how dead and bluebird the conditions were, but how hot the action still was. We were roasting but the one after another after another helped us along.

Whatever. 10, 15. All relative.

I posted last weekend! Annnd here's another. What a sweet day today. On the lake by 7:30 and the fog...wow. Pretty gnarly. Started out on the north side of the dam, and surprisingly was alone. I was hooked up with one of the first fish of the day on a tube, when all of the sudden my dad ties into a fish too (squarebill). Conor net my fish, and then my dad's came out of the water and it was a GIANT. So after a fun battle, we had her and my fish in the net. What a pig compared to my decent fish. Weighed in at 4 lbs. 3 oz., 19.5". Within the first thirty minutes on the water, my dad's day is already made. We made our way down the dam a little ways, caught a bunch of decent fish between the three of us on the Ned, then decided to head back up and fish a shallow flat nearby where we'd caught big fish before. Not the case today, definitely needed wind and there was none of that stuff. So we opted to make a run to Turkey Creek and see who was home. Started back at a favorite secondary point, Conor and I with tubes and my dad with the Ned. Conor got bit right away which ended up being a drum. As he was working the tube out of his in the net, I got bit hard and was tied into something big....like a huge drum. Put another tube on and on the very next cast, I was hooked up again, this time it was Mr. Smalljaw. Jumped right off the bat and put up a pretty intense battle. Thought for sure this was my 4# +, but was just ended up being a hair shy at 3 lbs. 11 oz. Still a really nice fish and great fight. Hit a few more spots on the way out of Turkey and didn't see much worth staying for, so we just blasted back to the dam to spend the remaining hour or so roasting there. All three of us rigged up a Ned and just went to town. It was pretty much every cast. A lot of Ned specials, raised a GIANT smallie chasing my dink that was easily pushing 20+ inches and all of 5#. Conor dropped his Ned down but she didn't want it. Nice to talk to Drew and Schauer for a little bit amongst the 15 other boats on the dam. Gar were busting everywhere by the intake and we were marking loads of bait. My dad's just dragging a Ned behind the boat when all of the sudden he's hooked into something big. We all pretty much knew what it was, so I netted and landed it for him. Somehow got snagged on a pectoral. Decided to call it around 1:30-2. Pretty awesome way to cap an already epic day for my old man, with his PB Smallie and a 100+ fish day.

Getting my dad out for his last Melvern trip of the season tomorrow morning. Red Lund, give a shout!

LOLOLOL