Hymer turns houseboat into dreamboat for fishing exploits

Submitted photo/ Dennis Hymer in action aboard his houseboat.

Nevada Daily Mail

Dennis Hymer of Strafford, is a serious crappie fisherman. He catches crappie in all of the four seasons.

In the spring, when the fish are spawning, he said "the catching is easy." In the summer he goes a little deeper. In the fall and winter, he is still pulling crappie from the lake and has come up with a way to fish indoors when the temperature gets below freezing.

Submitted photo/ Hymer pulls out a crappie from inside his boat.

He and wife Tina, bought a houseboat which he described as "the ugliest boat on Stockton Lake." He said, "We thought about it and thought about it. I knew it was a nightmare boat, but I had a vision of what it could do and what could be done about it. It had motor problems, issues with the pontoons and problems with just about everything on this boat."

To make matters even worse, a big storm hit the lake and Hymer's boat took a hit and started sinking. The boat went underwater all the way up to the stove. Thanks to Dan Howard and his crew from Mutton Creek Marina ---- Hymer said, "They were great, Dan's son Dustin, dove in and hooked the broken cable to the hand rail and the hand rail picked this heavy boat up. They got the boat to the marina where it was worked on. After 15 months and 25 days, the boat was back in the water.

"We have put in 500 cubic feet of foam on both pontoons, all new fixtures, a hot water heater, new appliances and new windows. When you go to refit an old boat that has been used and abused, it takes some time to get it fixed. Our main goal was to get the boat fixed so that we could teach kids how to fish.

Submitted photo/ Hymer unhooking a crappie he caught from the well inside his boat.

"There are father and sons out there that we know would enjoy coming out here for a day or evening and get the phone out of their hand, and put a fishing pole in it. Football, basketball, and baseball all includes a ball. One team wins and one team loses. But when you get right down to it, kids, one- on-one when they catch a fish, the look on their face is like no other because they are actually doing something they can't do in school. Our goal was to open it up for children and teach them how to catch fish."

When Hymer was growing up, his parents had a houseboat on Grand Lake in Oklahoma. He said, "It was just a small houseboat that had a small well in the boat where we would catch crappie in the wintertime. Those memories triggered it and in all my working years, I thought about getting a houseboat and putting a well in it when I retired. The time has arrived, although it was faster than I thought it would be.

"All along, we enjoyed coming to the lake and seeing loons, eagles and other wildlife. It wasn't just the fishing, but to watch the seasons change, and there is nothing like sleeping on the water."

Submitted photo/ Some of the crappie caught by Dennis Hymer from his houseboat.

Hymer's interest in crappie fishing started when he was 5-years old. He stills likes to catch crappie more than any other fish. He has caught a lot of crappie over the years including his largest, a 17 inch fish he caught on the Neosho River. The river gets muddy, but every four or five years it floods and the fishing for crappie gets good.

Hymer said, "I have fished many other places, but fishing in the Ozarks is the place to be. Fishing in other states just isn't the same."

This crappie fisherman always uses jigs to catch his fish. The color of jig he uses depends on what the fish decides is the best. He found that for line, he uses three pound test. He buys 3,000 yards at a time.

Submitted photo/ Dennis Hymer in front of his restored houseboat.

"I keep everyone using three pound test line," he said. "I have caught some big walleye using that line, so it's strong."

By using jigs, he catches other species of fish including bass and even catfish.

The fishing hole he had installed inside his boat is four feet by 18 inches. There is plenty of room to catch fish in the comfort of being inside where the temperature is nice and comfortable.

During the recent cool spell, Hymer was catching crappie inside where the temperature was 65 degrees, while outside it was 28 degrees.

Putting cover out has contributed to his fishing success. The crappie hang out in the cover, like cedar trees, he has dropped into the clear water of the lake.

Another plus to fishing inside his houseboat is that when you catch some crappie, all you have to do is clean them, turn on the stove and fry them up. You can't get fresh crappie for dinner any easier.