Cory Mathiowetz and Dan Martin are in.

Looks like I will finally be able to make it to this one this year after missing the past years. Look forward to it! Thanks for organizing Mike!

Ended up taking it to Rapid Sports on 65. I had a good experience with them from the start of when I called them, to the time I picked it up. They had it done 3 days ahead of schedule. It ended up being the flow valve that was faulty. Since they were in there, they decided to put in a new pump as well, all covered under warranty. Thanks all for the ideas. After trying everything, that was the only solution I could come up with…the flow valve.

Thanks for all the suggestions. I have deduced the problem to the flow valve that lies between the water inlet at the rear of the boat and the pump itself. When forcing water in from the back of the boat, it will not enter the pump housing, but instead, flows our the outflow port at the back of the boat. Unfortunately, it is out difficult to get into that area, so just gonna take it to Frankies. Is that peoples first choice is Frankies or Rapid?

Ok…no luck so far! Bait well still will not fill….here is what I did per the suggestions from others..
I removed the screen on the suction inlet for that pump on the bottom of the boat transom, stuck a garden hose up the hole, turned it on, then turned the pump on and nothing came out into the baitwell.

I did not take it on the lake again yet and try reverse, but dont have a lot of hope on that since people say that going backwards helps force water up intake of which that is what the hose does.

I also manually filled the baitwell with water, turned it to ‘Recirc’, with the hose at the suction inlet with no luck. Again, I can hear the pump running.

Any other idea guys?

I will try these ideas guys…thanks again for the ideas. I will let you know the outcome as it seems other guys has seen this same issue.

I heard back from a shop that said they can get an air lock. They said to put the boat into reverse then turn the pump on. I also has some guys suggest the same reverse trick from WalleyeCentral as well. So I will try this as well as turning the nozzle to make sure its open.

Ripjiggen – that Recirc/Empty/Auto turn knob does seem stiff all on its own, I can see that breaking in time. If the valve is not opening all the way when placed in auto, what was your next step> Is there an adjustment that can be made in the linkage? Any lithium grease or WD40 be added anywhere in the linkage to loosen it up?

2018 Ranger 621FS. I could try the compressor trick I guess. I have no water leaking anywhere, boat is bone dry. If it was never used, there shouldnt be a clog..

Thank you….user error. The do fit in there a different way than the image that I was going off of….

Great, thats what I was hoping and expecting. Thanks.

I purchased a Cfmoto 800XC and love it so far. Built like a CanAm but much less. Got a set of Casmo tracks. I still
Have to get some luggage racked for it.

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Lions was open, but the fish’s mouths were not. Went up river and down river fishing every current seam I knew and found. Fished mostly plastics and tried cranks and meat for a little bit too. Got bumped a couple times, but no stink on my hands today. Water clarity was still about 12”. Lions dock is underwater and stump is sticking out of water still by 10”. Pretty easy launching and landing boat.

Well, I guess I will make a trip to Lions and see….if anyone knows if it is open for sure, can you please let us know. I will post if it is open when I get down there.

Well, thinking of making my first visit to Pool 2 this year and try some high water fishing. As of yesterday, does anyone know of the 494 ramp is still open? Thanks.

Thanks CBMN.

Thanks guys. Can’t recall, is it possible to launch at Lions and beach the boat there while you park?

I have an open seat today 02/13 on P2. I know it is short notice, but I will be out fishing around noon today and staying out for a few hours. If interested, PM me.

I wasn’t able to make it again this year…excited to see some results posted soon….

Very nice!! Great release!

Looks like a great time…congrats to the winners! I wish I could have made it…great pics and video

Thought I would give an evening bite a try two nights ago with the full moon and all….another skunk for me. Tried all my typical fall spots and nothing. From the previous week…the visibility improved about 3 inches and was now approximately 10-11″. Water temps were still pretty warm in the 68.7-69.5 range. Bring on the colder nights and cooler days!

It has been tough for me as well. One here, one there, a lot nothing everywhere. It seems like after those heavier rains that we has last week or so, things really changed around for the worse at least for me….I did notice that the water vis took a dive with only about 10″ of visibility or less. I was hoping that cooler temps and no precip would have made it better changing the bite around…but nope, still tough for me..

Founds the same problem..got skunked out there on Saturday. Water visibility was low. I did find some baitfish, but could not get but one hit. I could see a few sitting tight to the bottom, but nothing up and active on the WDs.

How fun watching the little guy catch fish!

Thanks Paul. Yes, I have realized that speed, amount of vibration, how long/fast the rise, how long the pause/fall, slowly lowering the bait, or letting it hit the bottom, etc, all plays into reading what the fish want.

Thanks for the update James. I dont think you guys should get the summer off and keep producing great shows! I ended up watching last week’s episode all over again in its entirety. The rippin raps are great. I just started getting down on the Mississippi, and it is producing pretty well.

The fact that the variance of how much torque to lift up and vary the vibration was great to see again and I noticed they wanted a bit slower and less aggressive presentation where I was fishing- great show!

God bless you and what you do…we need more fishers of men!

I also run the Minnkota 80# Terrova and get much more time than that. However, I will admit, when the boat was new, and had it plugged into a three-bank charger over the three months it was not used, I did not realize it would use up as much distilled water as it did. The tops of the cells were actually exposed. Of course, this weakened the batteries so that they would not hold a very long charge like you are explaining. Since then, the batteries are always conditioned and plugged in all the time with the proper amount of water inside and the batteries will last all day.

Check the liquid level inside and make sure they are conditioned. If not, it sounds like it might be time to replace.

Just as an FYI for all….Costco sells deep cycle batteries. With most companies, if the battery is weak, they will prorate you for a new battery. Costco does NOT. If for any reason the batteries do not seem to hold a proper charge before the warranty is expired, they will replace with a new battery at NO COST. Pretty good deal….just an fyi

I have been out about five times this spring so far (with little success) and only seeing few fish caught from boats around me. I have searched many areas. I too get fooled by large groups of marks like that, but they are mostly all rough fish. When the water temps hit 40 and some back water area hit 42, I went searching to see if I could find anything in shallower water in the sand/gravel areas away from the main channel and the little current we have; hoping to find staging males or even some females that have an early itch to dump their load.

I took a photo of this school and had hestitantly high hope, but after working the area and snagging two carp, I was out of there. Sure there could be an eye mixed in, but doubtful. The second pic of four solo fish had me thinking that these could be some eyes as I could mark a couple here, one there, a few there, ranging from around 8-14fow off them main channel. I would think that these would be eyes, but as none were eager to jump onto my hooks, I could not verify. I had no meat that day, so I will go back and toss/drag something with protein for them….

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Nice slob!