Thanks for the info. Anyone care to share some minor details, postspawn, spawn? Maybe what pool was hot this time. Usually I am up there fishing know these things, I can only watch from a far for now.

Had a little rain this morning hopefully it pull the death grip the ice has loose.

The best part of the Dudley story is the fact that he stuck a grand total of 2 fish. Oh the head games

I have seen this tactic plenty on the river, I may have even pulled into a community area or two and set some hooks on the night before, more because I was bored and wanted stretch some string than a defensive tactic. Figured the community spot would best the least destructive to others.

How big there JC? There was some musky activity last night also.

I remember a Iowa state tourny down at Muscatine (1993)where everyone ran the rollers and some went over the spillway dike. My partner ran the rollers close to the dike, right when we cleared the dam a skeeter crossed in front of us coming from running over the dike and we ate the prop wash of 200 hp from about 20 ft. Great fun. Everyone did it that tourny, didn’t think it was a good idea then, don’t now. I was the passenger so what do you say. Sure ain’t worth getting DQ’d or blackballed over.

I use 20lb Trilene Big Game when pitching and flipping. I have wondered to the greener grass only to find the pasture I was on is better. My reels are loaded with 15lb or 20lb Big Game. The 15lb is for spinnerbaits and cranks. If I was lake fishing I would use some 10lb or 12lb for other applications but for flipping 20lb or heavier.

We didn’t leave until 3 pm so I think we were the only two boats brave enough. Nasty wind.

I am usually throwing a 1/4 oz white w/ #4 single gold colorado. Somedays bring out the tandem willow and others bring out the double willow. I seem to favor the double willow in the fall. I have been seen throwing a black with orange blades on occasion also but don’t tell anyone.

We were on the Croc hole Saturday afternoon. The warmest water we found was 39.5. The shad were in the backs of the creeks. There was some real muddy water coming in those creeks. We had one shad that ran in the hooks on a 9″ Suick.

I think that scent does not hurt anything. I think salt helps to keep a fish hanging on. Two examples.

1. I was flipping a Gene Larew Salt Craw and missed a strike and lost the craw. I put another on and flipped back in. I caught the fish and upon examination I saw the other craw just barely sticking out of the fishes gullet. That fish was eating that bait thinking it was real food.

2. At state tourny in Muscatine once I weighed a limit to my partners 0. The only difference was I was tossing a Zoom lizard and he was using a Berkley Power Bait. We both had same color, both 20lb line, both 3/16 oz sinkers. The guy knew how to fish very well. In my mind I think the fish were hitting light and spitting the Berkley out before the strike was realized and holding on to the Zoom due the salt taste. It was extremely pressured water that we were fishing.

I’ll take salt over scent but both are good.

The biggest problem with breaking the record is that these people are just too nice…..the fish is going to have to be killed. Sad but true fact.

Reel Guy, that is a weird deal with the 4600’s not casting. About all I do is pitch and flip with light lures and mine work fine. I don’t throw weightless flukes but I do pitch tubes with 3/16th oz sinkers a lot with no problems. Goes to show how the same products can be different. I have no doubts the Shimanos are great, I have spent some time with Calcuttas and if I ever did step over to the “dark side” Shimano is where I would go.

They are not low profile but they sure are tough. The old standard Abu Garcia 4600 C3 or C4 are in the price range mentioned. I will say that the C3 does outlast the C4. Shimano has the only reels that I have seen stand the test of time like Garica.

We were on Table Rock in March one year and the fish were biting good. Crawdad Wiggle Warts, jigs and Rougues. I hate Rougues but thats what they wanted. We got into some big old white bass too. Grand Lake or Fort Gibson in Okl. are good in the spring also. It has been a few years since I have been to either so things may have changed.

It was a sad day when Chuck Marshall left the tourny scene. Good for some, they were fish for first again instead of second. One of the nicest guys a person ever talked to. Local bests, who knows, Ritter, Stelner,Samo, Stanton. Depends on the day. National bests, Clunn, Nixon, Brauer, Van Damme. My favorite is Tommy Biffle. I am sure I have left some out, the competition is close.

Crees, no offense intended but most of the big names made their name when these similar rules were in affect years ago. FLW kind of forced some rules changes on BASS but they now regress to the old ways. Sounds like it is well received by most.

I am glad to see BASS go back to the off limits and such. It will show who’s got what again. In that cut throat game you can bet they will police themselves with some vigor. Those with the talent don’t need the help anyway.

Those muskies were giving you “the fin”. When you see them sufacing and making themselves visible you might as well go somewhere else cause they ain’t biting. I am kind of gearing up for fall myself but the summer has been pretty good to me too. Those stripers have been real fussy. Don’t know what their deal is.

We were on pool 9 Sunday. Caught probably 35 fish, 1/2 and 1/2. Some nice smallies on a 3/8 oz buzzbait, some on a silver minnow. One 17″ largemouth on a spinnerbait. The remainder of the fish came on tubes. Overall a good day.

And here I though the Corp waited for me to enter a tournament find good fish and then let a foot of water go the night before. Silly me. I will be on 9 Sunday just to see how low the water is.

Rumor has it that a good pair of binoculars are the best pre fishing available.

Rough check shows over 60 limits weighed. Looks like a person needed to be on the right ones for sure. Ounces mattered quite a bit. From my limited experience on Sunday I would say that a lot of fish had sore mouths. That back boating thing used to be easy to cure in the old Red Man format, give me a good half day: I give you a good half day. Being backboated is a bad feeling, almost helpless and sure can put a person on edge. Can’t catch them where the mow the grass. Depending on the serverity I would consider not signing the weigh slip and spoke with the director, doesn’t get your day back but may help someone in the future.

A friend of mine has Bullets, and I will tell you what they are nothing short of awesome. I couldn’t drive the damn thing as fast it would go but it was fun to see how fast I could. Fished nice too. I run a 16 ft Lowe Big Jon with a 15 hp Johnson.

This is where those little Pool quircks come into play. For some unknown reason on pool 10 when the water drops the fish hate to move so they can be extremely shallow and right on the bank. This has been my experience over the years. I think they hate to move on that pool ever, seems when the water is rising we catch them deeper. Could just be the areas I fish.

I was thinking the same thing two weeks ago while muskie fishing. I was with a very experience muskie angler and he was talking of my ability to slip lures into very tight spaces, “damn bass fisherman can hit dime at 50 yards” I believe was the statement. I had never given it a second thought. It is the hours and hours of practice that make the difference. It is hard to impress how important it is to inexperienced anglers the need to fish in the yard before going to the water. I still go out in the yard and pitch jigs for fun and much needed practice.

Buy whatever Minn Kota fits your budget and be done with the whole deal. Hands down better than any others out there.

Some of our largest fish have came out of slop. Usually the nastiest stuff you can find. It gets interesting pulling 4 lb fish out of thick slop but a guy has to do what a guy has to do. A long time ago there was a school of big fish in the Ambro slough that had no access to deep water, unless you want to call 5 ft deep. They had at least a 400 yard journey to water 10 ft or more.
I found your muskie info interesting. I recently solitified my 15 yr addiction to muskie fishing, meaning that is what I do now. Leaving the bass behind for the most part. I just read in Esox Angler that Dick Pearson is targeting more shallow water this year. Goes to show fish are where you find them. (especially muskie) Another thing every pool on the river fishes a little differently sometimes a person has to adjust for it.

I really think a person has to find a style of fishing that suits them and then get proficient at it. Then you go find the areas that matches up with your style. Ex. JC likes fishing around the main channel and catching smallies, he spents alot of time looking there because that is what he likes. I like sloughs with current in them and wood. I spend my time there. The difference will be on payday who finds the spot with fish on it. My point is that fish are all over the river you just have to find them. Weed fish are probably the most consistent out there as far as staying put, but even that isn’t a for sure. One thing is for sure, the more fish I catch the less I know for sure.

We were on 9 on Saturday. Not a great day for numbers but I will take the quality. Our top 6 would have totalled around 16-17 lbs. Mixed bag of smallies and bigmouths. 3 smallies over 17″. We kept the boat moving, fish seemed to be scattered about. One of those days I won’t complain about, I even worked on my tan.

I have had the pleasure of fishing out of an X-19 Express with a 200 yamie. The ride is ok, not of Stratos, Champion quality but it does shake your nuggets like some. The speed is definitely there, if my buddy would put the right prop on his not too many boats in that class would run with him. The part that disapoints me a little is the front deck space and storage. Again not bad just not great. I think they are one of the best options out there for keeping the middle class guy competitive.