If you fish in Arkansas... or duck hunt I suppose???

[RUGER]

REMOVE YOUR BOAT PLUGS – The Ozark Fly Fisher Journal (wordpress.com)


All aquatic vessel drain plug(s), including, but not limited to, bilges, livewells, baitwells and ballast tanks, must be removed before and during trailering of vessel to and from waterbody access facilities.

 

[Pilchard]

Do people not pull their boat plugs at the ramp? I pulled mine every time and left it out until the next trip..

 

[Knothead]

Lake Millwood has a type of vegetation running rapid down there because of it. That's when a lot of panic started happening in Arkansas — when that started spreading like crazy!

 

[WTM]

TWRA has been recommending this for a few years to try to keep the spread of zebra mussels to a minimum. even flushing out the motor with a hose attachment.

 

[Safari Hunt]

Zebra mussels will stick to the hull and carpet on the runners. There is an instruction sheet that tells what to do to kill invasives. The link is for zebra mussels but have seen it for basically any invasive species.
https://www.tn.gov/content/tn/twra/fishing/twra-fish-species/zebra-mussel.html

 

[Dbllunger]

I really thought this was a common practice for most folks anyway. Interesting.

 

[RUGER]

I never remove my drain plug unless I get caught in a big rain or take on water from the wind and waves.

 

[catman529]

I pull mine anyway. One time I forgot to and parked the boat at home, and got a big rain storm, and it took me a second to realize why the tires were so low.

 

[NumberOne]

I am not sure why you wouldn't pull the drain plug every time? Why keep water in your boat. Not only will it hurt the performance of the boat by carrying extra weight but it will put pressure on your trailer and tires.

 

[TNLynn]

I never keep mine out. All aluminum, auto bilge and I never have to forget to put it in. Occasionally I pull it out on ramp to get every drop out. Then I stand there with it in my hand and replace it before I head home.

 

[woodyard]

I never pull the plug on the AR boat unless it rains at night over there. No reason to pull it all the time if you don't take on water.
Always give it a good washing after a trip and it hasn't been in any TN water since it was new and checking the motor.
Never pull it on the bass boat either after fishing. Doesn't take on any water other than the livewell.

I have seen a few of them over there that forgot to put the plug in prior to getting it in the river. Entertaining.

Now ruger and I will have to add another item to our checklist when we go over there. May have to go to writing this stuff down so we don't get too fast in our enthusiasm to start fishing after a nice 5hr trip over there. Lol

 

[moondawg]

I've never pulled the drain plug out of my kayak. Didn't think I needed to. I guess I will be checking that and rinsing off my kayak after a fishing trip in the future.

 

[Crow Terminator]

Include me in the group of normally not removing the drain plug. Boat doesn't leak...but it sure will if you forget to put the plug in lol. If I don't remove it, I don't have to worry about it not being in. The only time I have been in a hairy situation was after washing my boat, I took the plug out to let it drain and was so used to always having it in, that I didn't check before launching the next time. It doesn't take long for one to fill up with water with the plug out!