Misty Morning At Deer Creek

For some reason, I woke up at 4:50 AM...no alarm, just awake.  Hmmm...wonder if its still raining.  Looked out the window and everything was wet but no rain.  Wonder what the weather is supposed to be like.  Weather dot com says cool but clear.  Well, we're just coming out of a storm and the moon's been full and temperature's been all over the place...I should go back to sleep.  But then again, maybe I'll hook on the boat and just see what happens.

Launched at Deer Creek at about 7:15.  Misty water.  Calm.  Power squad must still be sleeping off the thunder from yesterday.  Shhhh....

Started out throwing a spinner bait and on about my fourth cast...Boom!  Largie!  And  he clears a foot of water and dives back down.  Fighter!  :)  Already I'm glad I didn't go back to sleep.

It starts warming up and some of the fog rolls off the water and up the hills.  I catch a few more largemouth in the 1-2 pound range and a couple of smallmouth around a pound.  The water's glass and the leave's are turning.  Just me and a hand full of other fishing boats.  Wow!  Tranquility on Deer Creek in the middle of Labor Day weekend.  Who would've guessed?

It starts warming up and the buzzers slowly emerge from their slumber to resume their relentless and thankless duties oxygenating the lake...But the bass still want to play.

Finally, around noon I headed back to the dock.  No lines!  I was off the water and on my way home in record time.  In all I caught about 15 bass.  None bigger than about 1.5 lbs - most under 1.  Mostly on spinner baits, topwater and plastics.  Tried some deeper water tactics with no luck.

Water temperature was 67-70.  Ambient temperature was about 52 when I arrived and probably close to 70 when I left.

Overall, it was the kind of Sunday morning that makes you feel like you're getting away with something - or being given something special for no good reason other than you were the lucky guy at the right place at the right time.

Catching fish, surrounded by majestic Utah beauty at its finest.  Memories like these sustain me.  I'll file this one in my 'Open in case of February' folder.

Converting An Old Aluminum Boat Into a Fish-Assault-Vehicle Part 1

Recently, my dad did something he said he would never do...he bought a new boat.  It was great for him, and great for me as it turned out since he agreed to sell me his old, reliable 1979 Gregor 15-foot aluminum and his 1978 25 HP Johnson outboard.

I fished a lot in this boat as a kid and I knew it had had one owner and had been pretty well cared for.  Also, the hulls of these Gregor aluminum boats are among the most stable out there and the modified deep-V chops through waves like a hatchet through melted margarine.

Of course, I wanted to do more with this boat than just troll.  I wanted to be able to easily maneuver into tight places to flip soft baits, cruise the shore casting Rapalas and other crank baits, drop-shot in the shallows...I wanted versatility.  So, I decided to put in everything I could that the limitations of space, weight and my tiny budget would allow.  I decided to try to make this a boat with a bow-mounted electric motor, decking, rod and under-deck storage, a live-well...the works!  I figured I could pull it off with a little (turned out to be a lot) sweat and creativity.  

Here’s how the boat looked when I brought her home:

The wood on the seats (original) was rotted from 30+ years of weather.  A few dings and dents…a few spots that had required welding…JB Weld here and there.  Overall though, it was in really great shape for a boat its age.

I got hold of it late in the summer and decided to forego purely cosmetic touches in hopes of finishing in time to still be able to use it a few times this year.

I started by doing a lot of measuring and a lot of thinking.  A boat like this is tough because of all the angles.  I also didn't want to have to weld anything or re-think supports much so I decided that the bench seat (at least the aluminum parts) would stay and I would work around them.

I also wanted to maintain or improve the boat's level-flotation capability.  My dad had actually put that to the test a time or two and said that it did in fact still float when filled with water...a feature I hoped never to need but wanted to retain just in case.

When I drilled out the rivets on the seats and removed the wood, I was surprised to find that only two of the seats actually had foam in them.  That was actually great news because I could put that extra space to good use.

I decided that the back seat would stay mostly unmodified.  So, I cleaned out the 30+ years of fish hooks, shotgun shells and other unidentifiable muck, then cut, carpeted and installed a new wood plank.  Off to a good start.

Next I decided on the layout for the front half of the boat.  I needed to find a place for two gas cans, a battery, a livewell, a rod locker and as much storage I could get while keeping the same or increased volume of foam in the boat.  I also needed to be able to mount a trolling motor on the bow.  


I wasn't quite sure where (or if) I'd be able to fit a livewell on board so I kind of made that a tentative requirement while I was trying to figure out weight distribution and placement of everything.  Finally, I started laying things out and framing and slowly it started taking shape.

 Here's how the framing originally started out...

 I used a piece of 1/8 inch  angled aluminum to create brackets on the bow to hold the deck for the trolling motor.  I had to use a heavy sledge to bend them to match the shape and angle of the hull.

One challenge this boat had faced in the past was that after years of anchors bouncing around under the front seat, the weld in the front of the hull began to come loose and had to be repaired.  You can see some of that repair in this photo.

Needless to say, I wanted to keep anchors (or anything else) off of that new weld to avoid having any more problems in the future.  The front seat mounts were welded solidly to the  hull and I decided that building a storage compartment in that space would be ideal for anchors since it is near the front of the boat and the weight would be well distributed and not put pressure on that repaired weld. 

I also figured I could stuff some of the foam on the sides and directly under what used to be the front bench seat. 

In part 2 I'll talk about measuring and cutting the deck, ports, braces and the building the rod locker.  

Thanks for reading and Think Outside!


Jason,
Nebo Creek Discount Outfitters
www.NeboCreek.com

New Site, New Blog and Lots More to Come!

Hi.

Welcome to the new blog! 

My name's Jason Davis.  I'm the owner of Nebo Creek Discount Outfitters (http://www.nebocreek.com/). 

I'm going to be writing about all kinds of fun stuff:

• Fishing Tackle and Gear Reviews
• Fishing How-To's
• Fishing How-To Videos
• Things to do
• Places to see
• Website Reviews
• Anything Else I Can Think Of!

I can't wait!

Our store is being completely rebuilt and updated to improve the experience.  I've been so busy working on it (and hiding inside from the cold) that I haven't been outside much lately.  That's going to change because summer's here - and also because now I'm going to need something to blog about too!  :)

The new store should be finished by June 1 and we'll be celebrating with deals all summer long.

There are other exciting projects coming soon too, but that news will have to wait a bit still.

Here's to new adventures! Thanks for reading.

Jason
Think Outside!