Carolina Pines

Nice find, basically identical to my 1969 Johnson 6hp. Reliable, simple, wonderful little motors that have stood the test of time. I'd recommend at the very least new coils, condenser, and wires for peace of mind at some point when you feel like tearing it down. I went the extra mile and replaced all gaskets, seals, lines, float... basically anything that could degrade over time. This also lets me run ethanol fuel without any issues. Here are some links that I found very helpful. Incredibly informative site with a lot of helpful pictures. I really enjoyed reading this guy's articles. https://www.leeroysramblings.com/OMC_6hp.htm Good source for part diagrams, part numbers, etc. They have great prices for some stuff, others you can search the part numbers and find better deals. https://www.boats.net/catalog/johnson/outboard Baseline carb settings. http://forums.iboats.com/forum/engine-repair-and-maintenance/johnson-evinrude-outboards/610721-idle-mixture-intial-setting-johnson-6-hp-6r69m More detailed carb adjustment instructions, also recommendations on spark plugs (champion J6C .030 gap) and instructions for setting the points. http://www.marineengine.com/boat-forum/showthread.php?424419-1970-johnson-6hp-high-speed-problems Great article explaining in depth how to set points, replace coils, etc. http://www.leeroysramblings.com/johnson_magneto.htm You'll need a good strap wrench and a harmonic balancer / steering wheel puller (autozone) to pull the flywheel. Other than that, since you're a mechanic you'll probably have all the tools you need to completely tear it down.

I'd go with the small outboard. But I agree with @OkobojiEagle just fish it as is for now until you can find a good one worth fixing up. I looked around until I found a nice '69 Johnson Sea Horse with over 100 psi compression in both cylinders. I just got back from fishing the Roanoke river the past 2 weekends in my small V hull. Mine is only 12 feet long and I have a 45lb thrust TM up front. We put in at the ramp in Weldon and float downriver, anchoring at various spots and fishing. This past Friday however, when it came time to go back to the ramp, we had to make the trip upriver and the flow had increased. If I didn't have the 6hp outboard, it would have been a serious struggle to make it back. As far as Ethanol gas is concerned, the carb on an old OMC 6 / 9.9 is very simple and easy to work on. Replace all of your gaskets, float, lines with modern ethanol rated components and you won't have any concerns with ethanol gas. Mine runs like a champ on Ethanol gas and has for years now. These old motors are easy to work on and very reliable once sorted out. You're a mechanic so you won't have any problems tearing it all down in a day or two. I really enjoyed fixing mine up. Parts are cheap and readily available. Great winter project.

A 12' V-hull is much different than a 12' Jon boat. I have a 12' V-hull and I've had it out in the intercoastal waterway with 3' swells (caught in a thunderstorm flounder fishing) and it handled it just fine, although I was pretty nervous! I wouldn't want to be caught out in any type of rough water with a Jon boat, but the V hull will handle rough water much better and is a much safer boat in my opinion. Mine drafts about 4" and I can lift the outboard all the way out of the water and use the trolling motor to get me around. If a kayak can go there, I can almost guarantee I can get my V-hull in there too. Some advantages of a small V-hull versus a kayak: Outboard power - I have a 6 hp 2 stroke ('69 Johnson Sea Horse) on mine that is very reliable and lightweight. Miles and miles of range. Room for 2 adults - can stand and fish simultaneously without issues. More room for your gear, and much more comfortable. Anchoring is easier and safer. I actually have an anchor winch on mine. Best $100 amazon purchase ever. Take your wife / kid fishing. Some of my best memories ever have been made in that little boat watching my kids catch their first bass. I wouldn't feel safe with a 3 year old in a canoe or kayak... but the V-hull, most definitely (with a life jacket!!). Canoes and Kayaks certainly have advantages too, especially for places with difficult access where trailering a boat isn't possible. I also have a 16' Old Town royalex canoe which is great for fishing shallow rivers that I wouldn't want to put my V hull in. If you have a place to launch it from, my vote is a small V-hull boat all the way. So much more comfortable and easy to fish out of.

Those are great little crankbaits. I have one in cell mate and I love throwing it on spinning gear. It casts really well and gets a lot of bites.

I've been using a 50ah Power Queen that runs my 45lb thrust trolling motor for around 4 years now. It's been a great battery and I've used it 2 trips in a row before without running it down. I typically fish smaller bodies of water and less traveled shallow areas of lakes from a 12' aluminum V-hull. Some days I never crank up the outboard and use the TM exclusively. I have another off-brand smaller lithium battery for my anchor winch. I don't run any fish finders or depth finders but I'm considering adding one in the near future. Both lithium batteries have been great! My cheap amazon charger wouldn't work for the Power Queen... I reached out to their customer service and they were very responsive. I ended up purchasing a Power Queen charger and it's been working well ever since. I wish they would have been more up front about the need for their specific charger... but it is a nice charger and works for my other lithium battery.

I'm on the list for the FG knot... it's the thinnest and strongest braid to leader knot out there. I tie almost all of mine at home but I have tied some out on the water. It just takes longer out on the water. I tied probably 15 or 20 before I really learned how to tie them well. Here's a few things I like to do that really help the knot stay put and keep from unraveling: After I finish my wraps and make the first half hitch, I take my fingers and compress the wraps lengthwise as much as possible. This makes the knot shorter and it doesn't stretch out as much when I pull hard on it to set it. Next, I cut the leader at a slight angle very close to the top of the knot. I then make sure my final half hitch positions itself directly over the cut end of the leader. Tug on it a little bit but not too hard. A lot of the time if you pull too hard, it slides off the end of leader. That's not good and it can cause it to unravel. I use a TINY bit of super glue on the half hitches. Ever since I started doing this it's never unraveled on me. It's one of my favorite knots. There's really only 4 knots I use regularly - the FG knot, improved clinch, palomar, and non-slip loop knot.

Thank you for posting this Joe, you are absolutely right about having a positive attitude. Not only with fishing, but with life in general. It's really tough sometimes, and it's been especially tough for me over the last year. I've been dealing with a lot on a personal level. Keeping my head up and focusing on work helps, and I'm determined to make good decisions to move in a positive direction. I know that I'm becoming a better man at the end of it all. A funny story about this and how it relates to fishing - on November 22nd (2 days before my birthday) I couldn't make it to my big bass lake, and I was pretty bummed. I had been excited to fish and I had the boat all hooked up... so rather than stay home and let it get me down, I decided to go to a different lake nearby for the afternoon. It's nice but get a lot of pressure. I did end up catching a couple of nice fish including a 3 pounder. The BEST catch was when I snagged a 7'4" Fenwick Elite Tech Smallmouth spinning rod off the bottom of the lake. @A-Jay has one of these, and uses it quite often I think. I see it in a lot of his pics. So I learned a valuable lesson that day about keeping a positive attitude. I was rewarded with a "new" rod that is very well liked but was discontinued years ago. New cork handle & reel seat, and it's good to go! Happy birthday to me!!

Yeah I agree with this. I can't cast a buzzbait very far regardless of the reel I'm using. I don't throw them all that much though. I have a JDM Zillion SV TW on my spinnerbait rod and it's a great reel that hardly ever backlashes... but I'm pretty conservative with my settings on all my casting reels. I can cast a spinnerbait pretty far with 40 lb. braid. On my longest casts I've still got maybe 1/3 of line left on the spool. I have a Curado DC with 30lb braid on my jerkbait rod and I really like it. Lots of the time I'm throwing a 5/8 oz jerkbait straight into the wind and I can really bomb it out there with no worries about backlash. So in these circumstances (throwing jerkbaits into the wind) I would say a DC reel is a definite advantage.

I'm very sorry Bob, and I can't imagine how difficult it is to try and stay strong for your children. She was truly an angel, and the world needs more people like her. Your kids had an incredible role model and I'm sure they were raised to follow in her footsteps of benevolence and generosity. I'm praying for your family, and I hope one day you can find peace and joy in life again.

Have you ever tried shad roe? I"m talking Hickory and American shad... this is not the same kind of fish as gizzard or threadfin shad. We call it "redneck caviar" and I can't wait until March rolls around and I can go catch some. Lots of guys I fish with eat it too. I fry it in bacon grease and some garlic... and eat it with grits, bacon, and green onions. It has a unique, briney taste. Once you get past the thought of eating "weird food" you might love it as much as I do! Other guys I know cook it with sausage and eat it with eggs for breakfast. Your uncle had the right idea smoking it. The meat itself is very tasty smoked but it is a lot of work. I use my charcoal smoker and the hardest part is taking the time to pull the meat off the bones... but it makes some of the best fish dip you'll ever eat. Shad is a very important fish in the history of our nation. George Washington was a commercial fisherman, and shad fed our troops at Valley Forge that were on the brink of starvation. As far as LMB is concerned, I've ate a few that were pretty good, but I've also ate a few that tasted like mud. I don't eat them anymore, too many other tasty fish out there (like shad)

Good looking fish @Pat Brown glad your son was able to get a nice one too! Lipless crank bite is picking up here as well. Years ago, I used to rent a house that backed up to a pond and I fished almost every day. I miss catching them on the regular like that! Good times...

That's how it's been for me with the Chatterbait... we were absolutely killing the bass on them for a year or two, then all of the sudden it was like a switch was flipped and they refuse to hit it now. They definitely get conditioned to lures they see a lot. I'm still going to fish the Flashback and Mini Max some this spring, I'm looking to bring the bite back. @ol'crickety I was never much into spooks until I tried the One Knocker, it's been a game changer for me. The first time I used it, I think I caught more bass in one day than I've ever caught on the regular spook.

@RipzLipz I'm the same way, it's been probably a year or more since I've caught a WP bass... but I definitely need to throw my WP 90 more. A couple of years ago I caught a few dozen fish on it with a couple 5s and a 6. I've only caught a handful of bass on the 130 with biggest one maybe 3 pounds. These days I tend to use more poppers and spooks.

It seems kind of odd to me, but I tend to catch my biggest and most WP bass on the 90 size. I have a 130 and I've caught some fish but nothing like the size or quantity that I've caught on the 90. I'm looking to get a 60 too, now that I see they are available. @Zcoker I think mentioned he throws the 130 exclusively, might be worth trying one in the smaller sizes..? Not sure what sizes you're throwing @RipzLipz.

I grew up fishing but didn't take it very seriously when I was a kid up through my teenage years. I'd go canoeing with dad on the river, and I'd bring a fishing pole and maybe catch a few fish occasionally. It was fun but I didn't really know much of what I was doing. As I got older, I got into cars, music (playing the drums for the baptist church and local bands), and hanging out with my friends. Around that time I suppose I kind of lost interest in it. I would fish occasionally, just a few times a year. What really got me back into it was when I was in my early 20s, renting a house that was on a pond that I shared with my neighbors. One day I decided to carefully walk out on a log and cast a few times. I caught some bluegill along with some small bass, and suddenly having all of this available right there in my backyard was eye opening for me. I started walking down to the pond almost every day after work. I built a small dock and I had some great times catching bass of all sizes (mostly dinks), catching a few crappie, but mostly just enjoying the peace and relaxation from the time in nature. Sometimes I'd just sit on the dock and drink a beer or take a nap. It was very therapeutic for me during some stressful times in my life, and I got a new appreciation for time spent in nature even if I didn't catch any fish. Fishing and hunting started to take on a new meaning for me, instead of only having fun if I was successful, I learned to appreciate the entire experience. Eventually I moved out of that house on the pond, but I missed it terribly... mostly because I felt like I lost a great way to relax and get in touch with nature. I started to think about how I could get back into fishing. Where I live, we have a lot of great local lakes, but they get a lot of pressure. I started to seek out harder to access places on these lakes, in order to get away from the crowds and find some peace and quiet. It took some effort, lots of searching on Google maps, and lots of scouting, but after a year or two I found some great local spots with quality fish that didn't get nearly as much fishing pressure as the main lake areas. Having a canoe, along with a small aluminum boat with a tiny 6hp outboard helped me tremendously because I could go places other bass boats couldn't get to. I enjoyed the challenge and thrill of scouting and finding new spots to fish. I finally found my "escape" once again, and it's better than ever because I'm learning more and more, catching much bigger and better fish. I like to mix it up with different species / different locations when I get too bored. I'll fish inshore down at the coast with my little aluminum boat, catching trout, drum, and flounder. I have a new buddy who is big into surf fishing, looking forward to going with him some this fall. I haven't got the canoe out in several years, this spring I'm looking forward to floating the river again with my dad. There's always something out there new and exciting... for me the common theme is the peace and tranquility I get with spending time in nature.