Dinkslayer

All you guys with A-rig envy should see a doctor. 

All you guys with A-rig envy should see a doctor. 

Here's a little tip to save you the trouble of re-baiting and extracting swallowed hooks.  Use those jigs tipped with a crappie nibble.  Trout love them too.  I have buddies that have used powerbait for years and I laugh at the troubles they go through catching 12-14 inch trout.  They are re-tying and re-baiting so much that they lose a lot of their fishing time.  Not to mention how often those poor trout swallow that tiny hook covered in dough.  There are days when you can work that jig fast and erratic and days when they want it slower and deep.  Try a few different techniques and you will figure out what works for you and the fish.  Good luck!

Here's a little tip to save you the trouble of re-baiting and extracting swallowed hooks.  Use those jigs tipped with a crappie nibble.  Trout love them too.  I have buddies that have used powerbait for years and I laugh at the troubles they go through catching 12-14 inch trout.  They are re-tying and re-baiting so much that they lose a lot of their fishing time.  Not to mention how often those poor trout swallow that tiny hook covered in dough.  There are days when you can work that jig fast and erratic and days when they want it slower and deep.  Try a few different techniques and you will figure out what works for you and the fish.  Good luck!

Here's a little tip to save you the trouble of re-baiting and extracting swallowed hooks.  Use those jigs tipped with a crappie nibble.  Trout love them too.  I have buddies that have used powerbait for years and I laugh at the troubles they go through catching 12-14 inch trout.  They are re-tying and re-baiting so much that they lose a lot of their fishing time.  Not to mention how often those poor trout swallow that tiny hook covered in dough.  There are days when you can work that jig fast and erratic and days when they want it slower and deep.  Try a few different techniques and you will figure out what works for you and the fish.  Good luck!

There was talk of a black bear spotted near a trailer park in Pevely, Missouri on the local news last night.  We had one in Desoto, Missouri a couple of years ago.  I've never seen one and spend a month a year in the woods.  I'm excited for the comeback!

If you ask nicely at the park, they will usually work with you.  I've rented canoes from them and floated from 21 bridge to Mammoth and they let me bring the canoes back.  I had a buddy float that area on Sunday and they seemed to have some good luck with the smallies!

Did not get an early start this morning Got launched and made my first cast around 7:30. I built the fly rod and started throwing it first. Wanted to prove something to myself. Found the fish in 5 to 12 foot of water. Used a sink tip with a four foot leader. The predator X I tied in the bass fly swap and then a pine squirrel thingy with a couple of rubber legs.  
  Caught a few and then put the fly rod down and started throwing the short worm on a jig head. Now known as the ned rig. Many years ago we were doing this but times have changed with super tough stretchy colorful worms and specialized lead heads. Back then we used what we had.  Last three trips including today I was throwing the same head and PB&J rig. Darned near indestructible .  Got tired of this and decided it would be nice to take a few fish home this trip. Wanted to do some exploring and messing with a new to me used Helix 7 depth finder. I put on a flicker shad in fire tiger and began to troll. I go pretty nuts just trolling if the bite is slow. I have even been known to doze off doing just this. I had not went thirty feet and had a keeper walleye. Hum I thought and proceeded to catch another soon afterword. Rigged up a second rod and worked down the bank to find a crappie. Then a nice fat channel cat about four pounds that just about took the rod out of the boat.  Of course it wouldn't be a real trip if I didn't catch a drum ,   I tried to stay in 10 to 15 foot of water. My baits did not run deep and the only time I felt bottom is if    I strayed into less than ten foot. Caught fish out to 18 foot so I know the fish were off the bottom and very aggressive.  I messed here and there for a couple of hours. A good day with totals of 10 walleye, eight crappie, the drum and channel cat and bunches of the green stinkin bass plus more of the pretty brown bass. Kept four of the walleye that ranged from 17 to 18.5 inches and four of the crappie that were 11 to just over 12 inches.  Water  temps 72 at start and 75 when I quit at noon. Used the big motor when trolling. Not a slow speed either. Slowest I could get it to go was 2 MPH and at times I was moving at 2.7 MPH  When you fish alone you have plenty of time to think. I thought a lot of my fishing partner Richard I lost to cancer. The boat I used today he bought new then he sold it to me and later he bought it back. Then when he passed I was gifted it back again to me from his wife. We spent many, many hours together on this lake and other places in this rig and I felt he was watching me today. I could hear him saying. Hey would it hurt you to take some soap and water and was the boat once and awhile? Other things too. The way he would laugh out loud when fishing was good like today,
  Pretty good mess of fish and fillets
     Everybody have a safe and fun holiday weekend off and on the water,
     BilletHead

Pulled boat down to fish bullshoals but brought kayaks along to fish the ever popular crooked creek.  Floated the 3mile float from Kelly's slab to yellville.    Didn't catch any any 4 or 5lb fish but did catch lots of nice smallie on jigs, ned, flukes and cranks...they are all in spawning mode and pulled this 3lb one on a jig and pig ...I can see how these deep pools can hold some big fish

Lol well I’m not sure why that stuck out as a good illustration but if someone is a sucker for sight fishing they know the struggle is real. 
 
That said, every year I’m realizing more what a great tool jerkbaits are. I’m stubborn so it took a while. This time of year is my favorite because you don’t have to imagine how fish react since you can see it. Watching fish shoot like torpedos out of bushes to hit the spook or 110 was awesome. Or watching them chase it down. A couple years ago (I reported then too) I was catching better quality fish that would leave a bed 20’+ to smash a jerkbait that was ripping by. This year the quality wasn’t there for me but fun is fun. I also see how important long casts are due to the drawing power of these baits. Countless fish followed it to within feet of the boat and once the baits action stopped they turned, of course. 

Well played!

5Bites. My wife saw your post and said you must have been the Jerk-bait😁
i stuck up for you but had to giggle

The pic pretty much sums it up. Lots of jerkbait and topwater fish to be had but I get distracted by bedding fish. 
 
75-78° water
Mouth to half way back of actual coves was best. A spook and 110 knockoff jerkbait did most of the work. The more souther I went the more worser it got. We left Saturday because of the weather coming in Sunday but if I could have fished Sunday I would have started at Roaring River and worked toward Shell Knob. I would have ignored ALL bedding fish under 3lbs too. It becomes a challenge then a vendetta then a test of pride against a pea brain fish and then embarrassment thinking about the time I wasted just to prove a point to nobody but the fish and I. 

Took my dad, brother, and nephew down to TR and stayed at Lunker Landing(great place for us) Thursday through Sunday.  Had a great long weekend of fishing and family.  Dad and I got on the lake Thursday by 1 pm and it didn't take us long to start catching fish.  He was able to catch one of our biggest of the weekend which was right at 3lbs on a Keitech swimbait in black shad in the first 20 minutes.  I know 3lbs isn't that big, but to my dad it is!  So, the old man is catching some fish on the swimbait and the ned rig while I chucked the A-Rig.  Found two transition banks in the wind and we had a blast catching 14 1/2 inch spots on light spinning rods with the swimbaits.  We caught the occasional 15-16 inch fish throughout the day and ended with 4 keepers and about 35 fish.
My brother and nephew joined us on Friday and we made it out after breakfast around 8 am and caught fish off and on all day until 7 pm.  Again we caught several shorts but we still had a blast and everyone got in on the action.  My nephew caught the biggest of the day and of his life with about a 2 3/4lb spot on a road runner while he was crappie fishing.  We ended up with 9 keepers Saturday and also 1  14 inch crappie with about 30-40 shorts throughout the day.  Caught most fish on one of the transition banks from the day before and also caught some of our keepers all the way back in the coves.  Main lures were ned rig, A-rig, and every different type of plastic craw I had in the boat.  Fish seemed to nip at the swimbait and A-rig a lot on Friday.  I had a pile of keitechs in the bottom of my boat with the tails bit off when I cleaned it that night. 
Saturday got a little more difficult for us with fewer fish but better ones.  We maybe caught 15-20 fish all day but ended with 7 keepers.  Mostly on the A-rig and a few on a spinnerbait.  We ended our day early and had a fish fry and never made it back out.  All in all it was a good weekend.  Everyone got to catch some fish and make fun of each other like we were all kids again.  Found a few beds but no fish on them yet where we were. 
I know there were several tourneys on TR this past weekend and I'm sure most of those guys were respectful.  I had two incidents with tournament guys that give them all a bad name.  Whoever runs the Friday night tourney has a guy in a blue Nitro 18 with a 175 merc on it that rolled into our cove around 11:30pm and proceeded to cast 5 feet in front of us while we were crappie fishing on the dock.  You just don't do that.  No excuses in my opinion.  I bit my lip because my nephew was sitting in the boat behind me.  The next day as we idled to a point to begin fishing, I had two guys in a ranger pull right in front of me as we were dropping the trolling motor.  I simply told them that I thought that was a BS move and they stated that they thought I was fishing out deep.  I believe they knew better but maybe they didn't.  To their credit, they apologized and said they would leave.  I told them to go ahead and fish, don't worry about it and then they proceeded to drive between me and the bank, right over the brush that we were both there to fish.  Just want to thank all the other tournament anglers we spoke to that were kind and respectful of other fishermen.  I guess when you are playing for money and trophies some of them think they can walk over a boat with a family in it.  Sad.  I've fished tournaments for years and have nothing against them.  Just witnessed things that I would never do and I would never want my nephew to think it was okay to do that to someone or let someone do it to you. 
 
Good luck and be careful.

Took my dad, brother, and nephew down to TR and stayed at Lunker Landing(great place for us) Thursday through Sunday.  Had a great long weekend of fishing and family.  Dad and I got on the lake Thursday by 1 pm and it didn't take us long to start catching fish.  He was able to catch one of our biggest of the weekend which was right at 3lbs on a Keitech swimbait in black shad in the first 20 minutes.  I know 3lbs isn't that big, but to my dad it is!  So, the old man is catching some fish on the swimbait and the ned rig while I chucked the A-Rig.  Found two transition banks in the wind and we had a blast catching 14 1/2 inch spots on light spinning rods with the swimbaits.  We caught the occasional 15-16 inch fish throughout the day and ended with 4 keepers and about 35 fish.
My brother and nephew joined us on Friday and we made it out after breakfast around 8 am and caught fish off and on all day until 7 pm.  Again we caught several shorts but we still had a blast and everyone got in on the action.  My nephew caught the biggest of the day and of his life with about a 2 3/4lb spot on a road runner while he was crappie fishing.  We ended up with 9 keepers Saturday and also 1  14 inch crappie with about 30-40 shorts throughout the day.  Caught most fish on one of the transition banks from the day before and also caught some of our keepers all the way back in the coves.  Main lures were ned rig, A-rig, and every different type of plastic craw I had in the boat.  Fish seemed to nip at the swimbait and A-rig a lot on Friday.  I had a pile of keitechs in the bottom of my boat with the tails bit off when I cleaned it that night. 
Saturday got a little more difficult for us with fewer fish but better ones.  We maybe caught 15-20 fish all day but ended with 7 keepers.  Mostly on the A-rig and a few on a spinnerbait.  We ended our day early and had a fish fry and never made it back out.  All in all it was a good weekend.  Everyone got to catch some fish and make fun of each other like we were all kids again.  Found a few beds but no fish on them yet where we were. 
I know there were several tourneys on TR this past weekend and I'm sure most of those guys were respectful.  I had two incidents with tournament guys that give them all a bad name.  Whoever runs the Friday night tourney has a guy in a blue Nitro 18 with a 175 merc on it that rolled into our cove around 11:30pm and proceeded to cast 5 feet in front of us while we were crappie fishing on the dock.  You just don't do that.  No excuses in my opinion.  I bit my lip because my nephew was sitting in the boat behind me.  The next day as we idled to a point to begin fishing, I had two guys in a ranger pull right in front of me as we were dropping the trolling motor.  I simply told them that I thought that was a BS move and they stated that they thought I was fishing out deep.  I believe they knew better but maybe they didn't.  To their credit, they apologized and said they would leave.  I told them to go ahead and fish, don't worry about it and then they proceeded to drive between me and the bank, right over the brush that we were both there to fish.  Just want to thank all the other tournament anglers we spoke to that were kind and respectful of other fishermen.  I guess when you are playing for money and trophies some of them think they can walk over a boat with a family in it.  Sad.  I've fished tournaments for years and have nothing against them.  Just witnessed things that I would never do and I would never want my nephew to think it was okay to do that to someone or let someone do it to you. 
 
Good luck and be careful.

Took my dad, brother, and nephew down to TR and stayed at Lunker Landing(great place for us) Thursday through Sunday.  Had a great long weekend of fishing and family.  Dad and I got on the lake Thursday by 1 pm and it didn't take us long to start catching fish.  He was able to catch one of our biggest of the weekend which was right at 3lbs on a Keitech swimbait in black shad in the first 20 minutes.  I know 3lbs isn't that big, but to my dad it is!  So, the old man is catching some fish on the swimbait and the ned rig while I chucked the A-Rig.  Found two transition banks in the wind and we had a blast catching 14 1/2 inch spots on light spinning rods with the swimbaits.  We caught the occasional 15-16 inch fish throughout the day and ended with 4 keepers and about 35 fish.
My brother and nephew joined us on Friday and we made it out after breakfast around 8 am and caught fish off and on all day until 7 pm.  Again we caught several shorts but we still had a blast and everyone got in on the action.  My nephew caught the biggest of the day and of his life with about a 2 3/4lb spot on a road runner while he was crappie fishing.  We ended up with 9 keepers Saturday and also 1  14 inch crappie with about 30-40 shorts throughout the day.  Caught most fish on one of the transition banks from the day before and also caught some of our keepers all the way back in the coves.  Main lures were ned rig, A-rig, and every different type of plastic craw I had in the boat.  Fish seemed to nip at the swimbait and A-rig a lot on Friday.  I had a pile of keitechs in the bottom of my boat with the tails bit off when I cleaned it that night. 
Saturday got a little more difficult for us with fewer fish but better ones.  We maybe caught 15-20 fish all day but ended with 7 keepers.  Mostly on the A-rig and a few on a spinnerbait.  We ended our day early and had a fish fry and never made it back out.  All in all it was a good weekend.  Everyone got to catch some fish and make fun of each other like we were all kids again.  Found a few beds but no fish on them yet where we were. 
I know there were several tourneys on TR this past weekend and I'm sure most of those guys were respectful.  I had two incidents with tournament guys that give them all a bad name.  Whoever runs the Friday night tourney has a guy in a blue Nitro 18 with a 175 merc on it that rolled into our cove around 11:30pm and proceeded to cast 5 feet in front of us while we were crappie fishing on the dock.  You just don't do that.  No excuses in my opinion.  I bit my lip because my nephew was sitting in the boat behind me.  The next day as we idled to a point to begin fishing, I had two guys in a ranger pull right in front of me as we were dropping the trolling motor.  I simply told them that I thought that was a BS move and they stated that they thought I was fishing out deep.  I believe they knew better but maybe they didn't.  To their credit, they apologized and said they would leave.  I told them to go ahead and fish, don't worry about it and then they proceeded to drive between me and the bank, right over the brush that we were both there to fish.  Just want to thank all the other tournament anglers we spoke to that were kind and respectful of other fishermen.  I guess when you are playing for money and trophies some of them think they can walk over a boat with a family in it.  Sad.  I've fished tournaments for years and have nothing against them.  Just witnessed things that I would never do and I would never want my nephew to think it was okay to do that to someone or let someone do it to you. 
 
Good luck and be careful.

Took my dad, brother, and nephew down to TR and stayed at Lunker Landing(great place for us) Thursday through Sunday.  Had a great long weekend of fishing and family.  Dad and I got on the lake Thursday by 1 pm and it didn't take us long to start catching fish.  He was able to catch one of our biggest of the weekend which was right at 3lbs on a Keitech swimbait in black shad in the first 20 minutes.  I know 3lbs isn't that big, but to my dad it is!  So, the old man is catching some fish on the swimbait and the ned rig while I chucked the A-Rig.  Found two transition banks in the wind and we had a blast catching 14 1/2 inch spots on light spinning rods with the swimbaits.  We caught the occasional 15-16 inch fish throughout the day and ended with 4 keepers and about 35 fish.
My brother and nephew joined us on Friday and we made it out after breakfast around 8 am and caught fish off and on all day until 7 pm.  Again we caught several shorts but we still had a blast and everyone got in on the action.  My nephew caught the biggest of the day and of his life with about a 2 3/4lb spot on a road runner while he was crappie fishing.  We ended up with 9 keepers Saturday and also 1  14 inch crappie with about 30-40 shorts throughout the day.  Caught most fish on one of the transition banks from the day before and also caught some of our keepers all the way back in the coves.  Main lures were ned rig, A-rig, and every different type of plastic craw I had in the boat.  Fish seemed to nip at the swimbait and A-rig a lot on Friday.  I had a pile of keitechs in the bottom of my boat with the tails bit off when I cleaned it that night. 
Saturday got a little more difficult for us with fewer fish but better ones.  We maybe caught 15-20 fish all day but ended with 7 keepers.  Mostly on the A-rig and a few on a spinnerbait.  We ended our day early and had a fish fry and never made it back out.  All in all it was a good weekend.  Everyone got to catch some fish and make fun of each other like we were all kids again.  Found a few beds but no fish on them yet where we were. 
I know there were several tourneys on TR this past weekend and I'm sure most of those guys were respectful.  I had two incidents with tournament guys that give them all a bad name.  Whoever runs the Friday night tourney has a guy in a blue Nitro 18 with a 175 merc on it that rolled into our cove around 11:30pm and proceeded to cast 5 feet in front of us while we were crappie fishing on the dock.  You just don't do that.  No excuses in my opinion.  I bit my lip because my nephew was sitting in the boat behind me.  The next day as we idled to a point to begin fishing, I had two guys in a ranger pull right in front of me as we were dropping the trolling motor.  I simply told them that I thought that was a BS move and they stated that they thought I was fishing out deep.  I believe they knew better but maybe they didn't.  To their credit, they apologized and said they would leave.  I told them to go ahead and fish, don't worry about it and then they proceeded to drive between me and the bank, right over the brush that we were both there to fish.  Just want to thank all the other tournament anglers we spoke to that were kind and respectful of other fishermen.  I guess when you are playing for money and trophies some of them think they can walk over a boat with a family in it.  Sad.  I've fished tournaments for years and have nothing against them.  Just witnessed things that I would never do and I would never want my nephew to think it was okay to do that to someone or let someone do it to you. 
 
Good luck and be careful.

Took my dad, brother, and nephew down to TR and stayed at Lunker Landing(great place for us) Thursday through Sunday.  Had a great long weekend of fishing and family.  Dad and I got on the lake Thursday by 1 pm and it didn't take us long to start catching fish.  He was able to catch one of our biggest of the weekend which was right at 3lbs on a Keitech swimbait in black shad in the first 20 minutes.  I know 3lbs isn't that big, but to my dad it is!  So, the old man is catching some fish on the swimbait and the ned rig while I chucked the A-Rig.  Found two transition banks in the wind and we had a blast catching 14 1/2 inch spots on light spinning rods with the swimbaits.  We caught the occasional 15-16 inch fish throughout the day and ended with 4 keepers and about 35 fish.
My brother and nephew joined us on Friday and we made it out after breakfast around 8 am and caught fish off and on all day until 7 pm.  Again we caught several shorts but we still had a blast and everyone got in on the action.  My nephew caught the biggest of the day and of his life with about a 2 3/4lb spot on a road runner while he was crappie fishing.  We ended up with 9 keepers Saturday and also 1  14 inch crappie with about 30-40 shorts throughout the day.  Caught most fish on one of the transition banks from the day before and also caught some of our keepers all the way back in the coves.  Main lures were ned rig, A-rig, and every different type of plastic craw I had in the boat.  Fish seemed to nip at the swimbait and A-rig a lot on Friday.  I had a pile of keitechs in the bottom of my boat with the tails bit off when I cleaned it that night. 
Saturday got a little more difficult for us with fewer fish but better ones.  We maybe caught 15-20 fish all day but ended with 7 keepers.  Mostly on the A-rig and a few on a spinnerbait.  We ended our day early and had a fish fry and never made it back out.  All in all it was a good weekend.  Everyone got to catch some fish and make fun of each other like we were all kids again.  Found a few beds but no fish on them yet where we were. 
I know there were several tourneys on TR this past weekend and I'm sure most of those guys were respectful.  I had two incidents with tournament guys that give them all a bad name.  Whoever runs the Friday night tourney has a guy in a blue Nitro 18 with a 175 merc on it that rolled into our cove around 11:30pm and proceeded to cast 5 feet in front of us while we were crappie fishing on the dock.  You just don't do that.  No excuses in my opinion.  I bit my lip because my nephew was sitting in the boat behind me.  The next day as we idled to a point to begin fishing, I had two guys in a ranger pull right in front of me as we were dropping the trolling motor.  I simply told them that I thought that was a BS move and they stated that they thought I was fishing out deep.  I believe they knew better but maybe they didn't.  To their credit, they apologized and said they would leave.  I told them to go ahead and fish, don't worry about it and then they proceeded to drive between me and the bank, right over the brush that we were both there to fish.  Just want to thank all the other tournament anglers we spoke to that were kind and respectful of other fishermen.  I guess when you are playing for money and trophies some of them think they can walk over a boat with a family in it.  Sad.  I've fished tournaments for years and have nothing against them.  Just witnessed things that I would never do and I would never want my nephew to think it was okay to do that to someone or let someone do it to you. 
 
Good luck and be careful.

Took my dad, brother, and nephew down to TR and stayed at Lunker Landing(great place for us) Thursday through Sunday.  Had a great long weekend of fishing and family.  Dad and I got on the lake Thursday by 1 pm and it didn't take us long to start catching fish.  He was able to catch one of our biggest of the weekend which was right at 3lbs on a Keitech swimbait in black shad in the first 20 minutes.  I know 3lbs isn't that big, but to my dad it is!  So, the old man is catching some fish on the swimbait and the ned rig while I chucked the A-Rig.  Found two transition banks in the wind and we had a blast catching 14 1/2 inch spots on light spinning rods with the swimbaits.  We caught the occasional 15-16 inch fish throughout the day and ended with 4 keepers and about 35 fish.
My brother and nephew joined us on Friday and we made it out after breakfast around 8 am and caught fish off and on all day until 7 pm.  Again we caught several shorts but we still had a blast and everyone got in on the action.  My nephew caught the biggest of the day and of his life with about a 2 3/4lb spot on a road runner while he was crappie fishing.  We ended up with 9 keepers Saturday and also 1  14 inch crappie with about 30-40 shorts throughout the day.  Caught most fish on one of the transition banks from the day before and also caught some of our keepers all the way back in the coves.  Main lures were ned rig, A-rig, and every different type of plastic craw I had in the boat.  Fish seemed to nip at the swimbait and A-rig a lot on Friday.  I had a pile of keitechs in the bottom of my boat with the tails bit off when I cleaned it that night. 
Saturday got a little more difficult for us with fewer fish but better ones.  We maybe caught 15-20 fish all day but ended with 7 keepers.  Mostly on the A-rig and a few on a spinnerbait.  We ended our day early and had a fish fry and never made it back out.  All in all it was a good weekend.  Everyone got to catch some fish and make fun of each other like we were all kids again.  Found a few beds but no fish on them yet where we were. 
I know there were several tourneys on TR this past weekend and I'm sure most of those guys were respectful.  I had two incidents with tournament guys that give them all a bad name.  Whoever runs the Friday night tourney has a guy in a blue Nitro 18 with a 175 merc on it that rolled into our cove around 11:30pm and proceeded to cast 5 feet in front of us while we were crappie fishing on the dock.  You just don't do that.  No excuses in my opinion.  I bit my lip because my nephew was sitting in the boat behind me.  The next day as we idled to a point to begin fishing, I had two guys in a ranger pull right in front of me as we were dropping the trolling motor.  I simply told them that I thought that was a BS move and they stated that they thought I was fishing out deep.  I believe they knew better but maybe they didn't.  To their credit, they apologized and said they would leave.  I told them to go ahead and fish, don't worry about it and then they proceeded to drive between me and the bank, right over the brush that we were both there to fish.  Just want to thank all the other tournament anglers we spoke to that were kind and respectful of other fishermen.  I guess when you are playing for money and trophies some of them think they can walk over a boat with a family in it.  Sad.  I've fished tournaments for years and have nothing against them.  Just witnessed things that I would never do and I would never want my nephew to think it was okay to do that to someone or let someone do it to you. 
 
Good luck and be careful.

How about "mercenary jaw"?  

I fished up mill creek for about 2 hrs last Saturday and caught a couple. 
Rock crawler and A rig. 

All these lure retrievers are worth their weight in gold!  My fishing partner and I have saved thousands of dollars since lure prices got so high.  I used to think these were a gimmick, now I'm a believer and a promoter of them all.  Have mine rigged to an old reel and it seldom lets me down.  Save 10 megabass = $200!!!!!!

All these lure retrievers are worth their weight in gold!  My fishing partner and I have saved thousands of dollars since lure prices got so high.  I used to think these were a gimmick, now I'm a believer and a promoter of them all.  Have mine rigged to an old reel and it seldom lets me down.  Save 10 megabass = $200!!!!!!

Well done gentlemen! 

I've fished Millstream Gardens for years and did well when the water was rising on tube jigs for smallies.  Even have caught a few large walleye out of the holes in early spring.  Very dangerous place for wading.  You will fall regardless of your footwear.  I refuse to fish here alone anymore since falling seems to happen often!  I've also witnessed the cottonmouths coming out in early spring and sunning on all the granite boulders.  I've never seen so many poisonous snakes in a two mile hike.  It makes a man watch where he puts his wet feet!