7/29/2025 TWO DAYS IN A ROW ON THE TFUNKY RIVER

Yesterday when I took my Tin Ranger out to fish catfish with my son in law and my grand daughter the
70 hp outboard had a miss and didn't have the same get up and go. Earlier that morning we were running late so I grabbed a can of gas out my shed that had been there for some time and dumped 5 gallons into the boats gas tank. Since the motor seemed to run great at first and then just lost power after I was up on plane for a few minutes I figured I had put 5 gallons of bad gasoline into my tank.
Sooo When we got home I ran to Boat Stuff and bought a new fuel filter, 4 new plugs and 10 gallons of fresh non-ethanol gas. I drained the tank and flushed it with a gallon of new gas. Changed the fuel filter and changed all 4 spark plugs. All this was done in 97 F degree Humid heat. The socket wrench was too hot to pick up with my bare hand it was so hot.
Since I needed to see if I had fixed the sputter I invited my bride to take a ride back to the Funky T river to test the motor and while we were there we would fish for some more blue cats with green worms.
Well launched at 8:45 and put it on the trailer by 11:30 with 20 big blue cats. Oh, the first thing I did was get the net out and available and good thing I did because my Bride hooked a cinder block blue cat that wold have broken the pole or pulled the hook if not for the net. Happy Bride Happy Life!!
PS The motor ran Great AGAIN!!
Lesson Learned: Don't put old gas in your boat. Take the time to stop and fuel up instead of trying to save a few minutes because you are running late.


Bon Temps!!

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Good job. Hot work but glad you’re back in business and remembered the net.

bad gas can sure foul up a trip , had that happen to me back when , them are some nice blues bro ....look highly edible to me :highfive

Now you get why I got you fuel filters for an emergency. After surveying the engines we own I realized the little fuel filters under the Cowl are way too small if ever a shot of Bad Gas came into play or water in the gas for that matter.

Mama's fish is bigger BTW you gotta tighten Up.

btw , did you say you used them there "green nightcrawlers" ?
absolutely NOTHING eats them in these parts , not even the bluegill .....:dono

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Originally Posted by Ketchn

btw , did you say you used them there "green nightcrawlers" ?
absolutely NOTHING eats them in these parts , not even the bluegill .....:dono

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I was under the impression he was referring to the "green worms" found in slightly sandy riverbank soil. I use to dig'em up and fish with them on the KY River, back in my teens, but mostly caught Drum on them.

On the bad gas, there is a product by Starbrite called Enzyme Fuel Treatment. It does a great job of renewing gas and ethanol problems. I learned about it running a small engine shop one time. It does not take much of it. I know people who use it in there weed eaters and do not have problems with ethanol.
We went below Nickajack yesterday on the TN River and only caught one decent channel. No blues at all. The water temp was 87 degrees below the dam with it generating. Nice catch on the cats.

He may be talking about catabwa worms.

"Green Worms" are Red Wigglers, Night Crawlers, even regular Earth Worms that have been feed the green dye that colors them Chartreuse. This is the Dye used.

How To Make Live Composting Worms Turn Neon Green To Drive Fish Crazy & Improve Your Catch Rate… – Worm Farming Secrets

Great post! I am glad you solved your engine issue as well.

Wow. That was some catch your wife had! Good photos. Your grandson would have liked to have been on that trip! How has he been doing? Out of HS yet?
Bob

Yep
18 Biggens to a box. 1 scoop of the green glow worm food and a couple days later you have iridescent green worms the color of antifreeze. I only put about a 2” piece of the worm threaded on a #1 circle hook tied on a loop about 12” above a 1/4 oz sinker. A bigger sinker is sometimes necessary if the tide is moving fast or after a big rain event.
We also use the green worms for bream when they are on their beds.

Austin is entering his sophomore year of high school next week. He was on vacation with his mom in Florida this week and was watching our location on 360 on his phone. He knew exactly where and what we were fishing for when he called us later that day. He returns home today and I hope to out there with him tomarrow. Although now that he has his boater safety certification he has been going by him self. He has a 14 fiberglass jon boat with no electronics and a pull start outboard motor. No battery and nothing to break. It has a new 25 hp 4 stroke tiller Yahama and a bench seat. We rebuilt the boat and trailer a few years ago one summer.