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After a few disappointing days of bass fishing, I ended my afternoon yesterday by going to my favorite striper spot. After 20 minutes of casting something different took the bait, it was darting every which way unlike the small striper I had caught before. When it finally surfaced and rolled I quickly knew what I had. I netted the big walleye head first and then broke my net as I flopped it between my legs in the kayak. A boater nearby had a scale and weighed it for me, "10-12!" he says. I finally broke the 10lbs mark for walleye. Definitely awesome to finally catch one this size, especially from the kayak. It ate the Jakked Baits 3/4oz Flash Jakk with a white 4.8" BPS Speed Shad.

If folks are going to cheat it's hard to stop, regardless of the format. Have to make the rules severe enough to discourage that. An immediate release is entirely possible without an official. Been there, done that, have the Iowa Federation hat. It just requires everyone to use the same equipment, scale or board. The old Golden Rule Weighmaster boards give the option of recording length, and estimated weight. I get the inherent distrust that brings up. I also wouldn't fish anything where I had that little trust for the other competitors. Guys who would cheat on immediate release, would find a way to cheat live weigh ins too.

Well our annual dove opener blast and eat is over. Sorry no pics of the lunch feast. Bacon wrapped dove breasts with a slice of jalapeño in the middle, grilled fast and hot, cream cheese stuffed mushroons, large jalapenos split and seeded, cream cheese & brown sugar then wrapped in bacon, potatoes salad, and baked beans. We nearly ate ourselves into a stupor. Afternoon dove hunt nearby, but since I had already limited out this morningI stayed to bait and run crawdad traps (with dove the carcasses for bait). And may have had a nap or two. Our traditional supper is a ctawfish boil, with taters, corn, andouille sausage chunks, and a bag of frog legs. Absolutely gorgeous day, lots of shooting, way too much food, good friends, and my 18 yr old college boy son (all 2 weeks of his college career). Since my wife and oncologist prohibited me from going last year this was even more special.

I just wanted to thank everybody again...3 months out from radiation and chemo, exams and scans this week show ALL CLEAR!! Mary is cancer-free, and it's "very, very likely" that it will NOT recur. Hurrah!

Wife and I launched at Greer Spring access this morning. We basically fished from the bridge down to the first island. Had pretty good luck using weighted egg patterns and brown woolly buggers. We ended the day with 15 in the net and a nice one at a tad over 18". Lost a couple of other good ones due to barbless releases just before the net. Just fun to hook them and enjoy the fight. Water looked great and no one else fishing. What a Pretty river!

Rolled out of the Big M launch about 0615, went up lake a ways and worked a chunky rock bank that merged into a gravel point. Threw a Yum Might Bug, Texas rigged right up on the bank, dragging and hopping it back - caught several bass doing that, with a couple of keepers. That bite died off once the sun got over the hill, so did some different stuff, threw a shaky head for a bit, picked up a short, threw a buzz bait, picked up another short, then tossed a DD22, while paralleling some windy banks. DD22 also got me a short, and a miss on one that might have gone 2 lbs. that jumped and threw it. Decided it was time to drop shot some gravel banks. Didn't do much on the first bank I tried, but found some off another bank. It wasn't hot fishing, but steady, mostly spots, with one keeper LM on the drop shot. Boat traffic started getting crazy, so I left at 1230. They were still biting when I left, but it was just getting silly out there. Not that I was surprised, nice Friday before labor day weekend, you know it is going to get busy. Fish were mainly round 30 feet deep. I have been using a Missile Baits Fuse 4.4 in color "Purple-Ish" as my drop shot bait of choice lately, they seem to like it. It is made out of very buoyant plastic, which is nice as the spots are pretty feisty this time of year and almost always throw the bait. That Fuse will be just laying there on top the water, pick it up and use it again. That Fuse, cut down a little, might make a good winter bait on a certain finesse type jig head. We'll see. Caught 20, with half a dozen keepers, none over 2.5 lbs. Came into the Big M ramp, couple of MDC Warden trucks were parked there, one with an empty trailer. They came in right as I backed my trailer down. Got checked, fortunately my papers were in order. Big M ramp has been repositioned and is useable once more. Water temps were 82-83, water is still a bit murky.

You can do CPR like us kayak guys. There's a 2 new tamper-proof Hog trough style boards that are supposed to hit the market soon to hamper cheats. And a unique identifier makes sure the fish is from that day.

Believe this is my 1st mean mouth. Put in at Aunts Creek at 6:00am. Caught 7 on a drop shot, and 4 on top water. Off the water by 1:00. Beautiful day!!

Oh yeah, my son limited out this morning in the same field we hunted this afternoon, so he didn't hunt with us just scanned the skies. Of course I taught him everything he knows.

About all I can say about trap shooting is it's a hell of a lot of fun. It sure didn't make my grandson and I better dove shots. At least he got his first dove and I got my first one of the season. But we had a ball. He couldn't sleep on the way home because he was too excited. He wants to go again.

Gringo Style - At Lake Baccarac several years ago some Texas high-rollers were betting serious coin each day on largest 10 fish stringer and on single largest bass. We were just there to enjoy a few days of fishing but witnessed all this. The daily ante was $5k per boat with another $1k on big fish. Last day was double pot and big fish for the trip had a seperate $5 per man pool. There were 7 teams and the lowest scoring team had to cover transportation (charter) costs for the whole group. Ouch! Breakfasts were tense. They had a pile of digital read-out Boca-grip style scales that got calibrated every morning and then "locked". Each team picked up a scale and a freshly-formatted camera SD card. There was complaining and excuses at weigh-ins but the system seemed to work accurately. Biker Style - We have used the unique identifier and camera SD card system for Motorcycle Rally competitions for a long time, very successfully including the big one, The Iron Butt Rally. http://www.ironbuttrally.com/IBR/default.cfm?CFID=21850493&CFTOKEN=51709266 That is as competitive a bunch of people as you will ever meet. Boss - With respect to bass tournaments - Much like ship captains and pilots, fair or not, the responsibility for rules/actions that yield desired results rests squarely on the shoulders of each TD. We can save fish, stop relocating and killing them, and use creative creel limits by adopting some new ideas. Tournament Director is a tough job; especially tough when implementing changes, so most won't put forth the leadership to do it. but it sure would be great to see something good and innovative come from these events. Who else has more power to implement significant changes?

Have tournament organizers buy like 50 scales to start the year. Before each launch, put some kind of unique sticker on the scale to prevent old photos, and distribute to boats. That way the scales are given to anglers rather than personal scales.

mitch i think you have a great idea with the photo reading of the bass on a digital scale. since cell phones can easily take and record a pic with the bass and scale reading, it could be easily done. it would not take any longer to tally up everyone's phone pics than it would to weigh in the bass. it would just require entrants to carry a cell phone, and a digital scale, to take and record the pic with bass and weight. of course, it would also be nice to have a recorded time of the pic, and that would prevent some temptations of cheating, but there will always be those few that do so. perhaps, it might be something that this forum might attempt a trial run at. bo

No doves or crayfish for us last night. We had panko coated pork cutlets, green beans, and mashed potatoes. Added a little mushroom gravy.

Been up since 4pm yesterday so I'm plumb worn out. Got off at 0600 and decided to give it a shot. Stopped by the house grabbed the yella dawg and gear and headed to the fields. Awsome sunrise pulling into the field. Only 2 other parties in the field when I got there so plenty of room. Birds were few and far between but had my chance at a limit plus. Passed quite a few shots that were just out of range and had a few the came in from my blind side that I didn't get shouldered quick enough for a shot. Ended up with 10 birds total, no lost birds with 16 shots fired. Lost 5 shells in the brush. Not too shabby of shell to bird ratio considering I usually go about a box and a half pet limit ;).

Just got back from a week in Colorado. Part 1 here: http://looknfishy.blogspot.com/2016/09/intro-to-colorado-part-1.html

Up front I am not a tournament guy. I assume there was a "dead penalty" for non surviving fish. I would also guess that somewhere nearby in shell know is someone who likes fish, even bass, to eat. Surely one of the guys in the tournament could be responsible for collecting any fish that don't make it, and icing them down to deliver to someone to eat, or even filleting them for those folks.

Johnsfolly, its a secret location, not far from a friends house, I am afraid I would be lynched if I revealed it.

hey Rick,is it hard to sight fish with that catfish float blowing around in the wind ?

Went to the Niangua caught 1 Redhorse, 1 Hog Molly and 1 Shellcracker . oneshot

Couldn't of asked for a nicer dove opener, A nice north east wind with overcast skies. Made sunrise like in John's photo pretty plus easier on my eyes staring towards the east at times. I had been watching a cut silage field for the last couple of weeks. Each time I checked it there was more birds gathered. It is owned by a local dairy so I found the head honcho last week and asked permission. Got that! A good solid field with a grass waterway that run along a tree row. Drove up that row and waltzed into the field off the point of the row and sat on my cooler. Did put out a couple of mojo doves. Sometimes they help, sometimes the birds are indifferent to them. Today they helped as this is a very large field with no one stirring up the birds. The decoys spinning made some of the distant birds swing by for a look. Even had a trio of pigeons come in. Pigeons are memorized buy the spinning wings and will hover. I took two out with the first shot and their buddy with the next shot. Pretty steady shooting early and then it slowed. I lacked four birds. Soon great groups were up and like a switch made them all leave the field? Curtstice and I had been texting each other seeing who would finish first. I was beginning to think I would have to come back in the afternoon/evening to finish out. Then I got a little help . Tractor came down the road making all kinds of racket. I could see bookoos birds come out of the trees and off the power lines along the road. Swarms of ten to twenty came back to the field. Four of these swarms later I had my four last birds. I would only shoot one out of each bunch as detest loosing a bird. As I drop a bird I do not take my eye off of it. Get up and go right to it. It can get pretty intense though seeing birds close in the corner of my vision though. So here is the bag for today. Yes I know tailgate shots of dead stuff is not in favor much anymore but I am not in vogue and tend to sing a different tune than most . Did not have the shell to bird ratio that John P. did but thirty shots for eighteen birds isn't too bad,

Cool looking but also looks pretty danged uncomfortable! Wooden seats? Yikes! That wet deck looks like a disaster for us old dudes! Down goes Frazier! Down goes Frazier! Down goes..........

Excellent info here indeed. And you guys are right ... it's not getting into the ears that need to hear it. Those who don't give a flip are gonna continue to kill our fish with no regard for anyone else. All they care about is getting their entry fee back and maybe a little gas money and then going around blowing about how they really smashed 'em Friday night. Chances are, Bo caught 5 pounds or more above the winning weight while just enjoying an evening out with his wife and pooch. And didn't kill or harm a single fish in the process. Without a jersey or power poles. Or a buff.

Unfortunately that one isn't my catch, but I'll share it anyways. a buddy of mine pulled that one in several weeks back around McCall bridge. 6lb LM...

I use google earth with my “Hot Spots” maps to find new areas and now you can download the Pro version free… Google Earth Pro requires a license key. If you do not have a key, use your email address and the key GEPFREE to sign in.

Some background: This summer is the first time I've really chased Smallmouth with any determination. I've gotten pretty good at finding those 13 and 14 inch fish which keeps my enjoyment level high during floats. I live near Shelvin and Delaware, so I've floated that stretch a lot. I've also made it down to Hootentown a couple times, weaving in and out of recreational canoes and rafts like a slalom skier. Because I fancy myself a goal-oriented individual, I proclaimed this "The Summer of The James" meaning I would float from Springfield Lake to Galena in sections this summer (spoiler alert: I'm not gonna make it this summer). Your reports of 18+ inch fish have me salivating and working harder to land one of those big boys (or girls). Before today I had pulled in several 16 inch fish but nothing bigger. I grew up fishing farm ponds, small lakes and muddy creeks in North Missouri, so this clear water river fishing stuff is different. Learning is fun. With all that in mind, today I floated from Hootentown to Ponce and thoroughly enjoyed myself. I'd say it is my favorite stretch I've been on thus far. I hit the water about 6 am, and the topwater bite was on. The river is wide, current is good and obstacles are few. I was trying to meet a ride at Ponce at 1, so I didn't dally during the first few miles. Pulled in plenty of fish, size was good. As I went through a deep fast run, I hooked into a fish that took some drag and turned the kayak. I was sure my 18 inch goal had been reached. After fighting, beaching, landing and measuring, the tale of the tape said 17 inches. No disappointment - it is still my largest yet. 5 casts later in the same run, I hooked into something with shoulders. A couple minutes (it seemed like) of singing drag, current runs and then came the breach. The football sized brown beauty was noticeably bigger than the 17 inch puny minnow I had just landed. Bronze back glistened in the morning sun as the beast cleared the water. Ferocious head shake, splash down and SNAP. My lucky crankbait swam off in the mouth of a picture worthy Smallmouth. Still no disappointment. It was an awesome day. I got to Ponce at noon. 6 hours to float 6.5 miles with a couple fishing stops. If I wasn't under a time crunch I could have stretched the float to 8. Boaz gauge said 300 cfs. Of course all the fish I caught were released. Best Wishes.

I got a laugh out of Pepe's story. Just doesn't make any sense to me to go on a bass fishing vacation with your "friends" and end up in a high dollar fish off.

Bass Blaster is always putting out cool pics and blurbs about what is going on in the fishing world. Get an email or two a week from them and always have interesting baits, fish or just general cool bass fishing thingies. Just thought I'd share 2 from this weeks issue: Guy caught this on 1000 Islands during an FLW Federation event. Went 8.13 and caught on a drop shot. In the 2nd pic the other fish is 5lbs for reference. I also thought this was pretty neat.

It doesn't mean 'Bucks Only', it just means if you want to take a doe you have to punch your 'Any Deer' tag.

How about starting a new trend where you take a pic with a scale reading and release the fish. People won't like it, but something needs to be done. This kind of stuff drives me crazy. Thanks for your response and appreciate your concern sir.

John I was on the far east side, I parked on the campground side. The guy in the middle was getting probably 3 shots to my 1, it was were the birds wanted to be, I believe he had his limit before 9. I did see your dog chase the cripple and you shoot the bird. I believe that was when a couple of birds flew by that I did not see until it was too late. I had one bird that went down in the tall stuff and I went to pick him up and he flushed like a quail, but I got him. Again I really enjoy watching a dog work, to me it is just about as good and the hunt.

That is my old stomping grounds! I was running the Army recruiting station in Rutland, VT from 96-99. The further south you run on that Lake the more large mouth you will find. I fished that lake more through the ice than from a boat though.... Just be ready for are the toothy critters and don't lip the pike.lol Man I do miss all that grass......But not the winter.

Three was my limit on pigeons today but that is because no more showed up:) . The only limit on them would be set by the shooter. Farmers detest them and want them shot as some of them roost in their machine sheds and out buildings. We think they taste like doves , fix them like we do doves. BilletHead

Just gotta experiment with placement...I know that I was able to carry four or five rods flat in the boat when I had the Pack, but don't remember how I did it. You never want the tips above the gunwales.

I haven't decided yet. Last fall was the first one I've done. We had a good time, but I felt like I had been worked over with a baseball bat after fishing out of an aluminum boat for two days on that pond.

Ah yes, the bi-annual event where every bass 3 lbs. and over is relocated to Workman hollow, PB2, and Standing rock cove. <heavy sigh!> Here's to blown powerheads, shelled out gearcases, and busted trolling motors. <cheers>

We have 4 guys fishing (donating). We will split any winnings if lucky enough to cash any checks.

Whether hiking, canoeing, camping, fishing, or hunting my Dad instilled in us at an early age to leave the area better than what you found it. Picked up a lot of trash, sunken cans in the river, floating debris on the lake, trash left in the duck blinds on the CAs over the last 50 years. Irritates me to no end to see trash up on the bank and a trash can 50 feet away.

Missouri lost one of its pioneers of trout fishing, Spence Turner, last Saturday night. If you enjoy fishing for trout in Missouri, especially brown trout, or enjoy fishing any of the "trophy" trout areas, it's because of Spence! Rest in peace my friend! http://owaa.org/owaa-legends/spencer-e-turner-iron-man-in-chest-waders/

One more busy weekend before, we as fishermen, start to get the lake back. Though is seems the bigger boats are staying out later and later, but it will dwindle down each week. Here on the lower end of the Big Niangua, boats are getting bigger and bigger. Doesn't seem like long ago, 28-30' boats were about as big as we saw, with a few exceptions. Now, not counting the 4 or 5 cigarette boats running back and forth, 35 to 40+ footers are getting more common. The wakes are just tearing up the docks and shorelines. I know of one 40 footer, and the driver really doesn't know how to drive it. I don't think he's being a smart a$$ or anything, I just don't know if he realizes common courtesy rules or in the matter nav rules and regs. But hopefully, all this is going to die down and us under 20' boats can enjoy the lake without getting beat up. That being said, crappie fishing around docks are starting to pick up. I've been catching quite a few, though most have been under 10". Find shade of the docks and brush, they seem to be hanging right on top of it. I would assume they are busting into the shad, though I haven't cleaned any, their bellies look pretty full. Had to get away from the blue ice color and go back to blk/chart. But, I guessing the better ones will be showing up soon. Found water 82-83 degrees, fish have been biting about 6-7' down. Better fish just a bit deeper.

This has been a problem at SK on their small derby's for as long as I can remember. As Slowbait mentioned there are some great guys and gals that go the extra mile up there to keep the fishery as viable as they can. Some very good fish care. Problem is there are also several small tournaments out of H hwy, ie Baxter on the SK side, SK and Campbell Pt. that don't give a flip. You might remember a wig-out I had several years ago after a Friday nite deal about this time of the year out of SK. When I went to ramp that Saturday morning there were at least 2 dozen floaters. This just looks horrible and puts a very bad face on us fishermen. There are several things you can do in addition to fish care we have covered on here 1000 times. 1st. is put a 3 fish limit on these buddy tournaments. This does lots of good. For one the livewell is not over crowded, for another those teams that are killing fish will have lots less to kill. It is not usually a dozen boats with a dead fish but more often a 1/2 dozen boats with multiple dead fish. Penalty should be you lose one, the dead fish does not count and your big fish does not count. Besides education on fish handling and care it goes back to the old adage that everything you learn either hurts you or cost you money. Having that fish float around on its side for 4 hrs. in a livewell and then getting fizzed at the ramp is horrible fish care.

Took my son out for a little bit. Went to a small creek. We got eaten up by the mosquitos. They just about won. We fished a little down from the honey hole we found a few weeks ago. Within 10 casts I had my first one on. It got off. I was using the Zarra Spook Jr again. I really like this lure. I caught a 17 incher and a 13 incher. No real blow ups, just a swirl. My son was fishing Dave's Ned Rig. He caught 3. He is really getting excited about going out. His were 8 inches, 12 inches and we did not measure the other one. We had many chasers. We went out about 6:15, quit just about 8. Not bad for less than 2 hours. Of course, all fish were released instantly. This is a small creek, and I really enjoy the time on it.

Definitely not mine. Still in the "meh" camp on that critter.

Nitroman, I am not trying to convince you of anything. Expert on Table Rock, nope, did work there for the COE so am quite familiar with it. I am merely trying to provide you information on how some things work. I am curious did you have a house on TR that got flooded? My family doctor (who recently retired) owned a house on Taneycomo and we had several conversations on water levels, releases, flood control etc. And I am sure that the businesses on Bull Shoals and Beaver might disagree with your sentiments on how they get preference over Table Rock when it comes to flood control, every time there is high water there they say it's to protect TR. You are certainly welcome to come up to Pomme and become an expert on anything you might wish to. I will even buy you lunch and we can cuss some of the things the COE does together. Here on OA I am not a representative of the COE, just a guy who likes to fish, but I do try to provide information from a different viewpoint.

That is a bad scene seeing all those dead fish I agree, but Quillback you think that every tourney is bad? I will tell you that the tourneys I have fished in on Wed nights from the bridge and Fri nite from Campbell that there is a group of fisherman that stays after the tourney to help the fish survive. The tourney directors also push hard about needling the fish so they do move on. there are some people that care to make the fish live on. I will also tell you that it was the Jack Henry/Efco tourney that was out of the bridge Sat nite, and from what I hear from some that this tourney does not take care of their fish. This is not the first time that this tourney has done this. Most of the time they fish out of Big M. There are a few men that fish this tourney that do care but may not have been there Sat nite to police the fish. Yes this is a bad scene but not all tourney fisherman are to blame. There are a some out there that don't care and they should be shamed, like the tourney you are talking about. During the tourneys on Wed nite and Fri nite we have handed out needles and literature on how to keep your fish in good health, including cool (not cold) livewell water. We try our best to make this happen. A few years ago the Mill Creek tourney had the same problem. So they were policed and had to drop their limit to 4 fish during the summer. Hopefully they have learned to needle and take care of their fish, I have not heard if they have. So maybe this tourney needs some help or does need to be policed and fined. But not all tourneys are bad ( some are). We are all out there to enjoy what God has givin us. And yes, to harvest some fish is a good thing to help over population, no argument here. To waste is a bad thing and should be policed. Or someone needs to take the dead fish home.................

Thanks for the report 196, sounds like you had some great fishing. Sorry to hear about the dead fish. Donna pretty much sums up my feelings on the subject. Might not hurt to shoot an email to MDC, let them know what you see, not that I expect any enforcement action, as I don't know if any laws were broken, but there may need to be some regulation changes needed for summer tournaments. Fish kills like this aren't good for any of us, whether you are a fun or tourney fisherman. This is just wasteful and avoidable.

I am going to put buoys 100' around my boat, and a sign. I am going to make a mobile walleye hot spot.

Again that is in line with what the MSHP I doing all over. The COE is falling in line. As if they had any real choice in the matter. If the MSHP, as the agency that permits and enforces the law and wants to change it then what are you going to do, except express disagreement. As for TR it will eventually go the same way as LOZ, whatever ends up happening there with NWIS buoys and no wake zones. Most definitely make your thoughts, comments and feelings know to the MSHP in Jeff City, even better if it were to come from an organized group of Marina Owners etc. As a boater I see in smaller waters that often boaters simply ignore buoys, signs, and common courtesy where wakes are concerned. I wish I had an answer that would work, some sort of magic formula I could pour into the water supply and suddenly everyone would think about the effect a boat wake has on other boats, docks shoreline etc. I know the COE does some odd things (trust me I have seen it up close) but this one is coming down from the state level, in fact I believe that the MSHP would love to be completely out of the buoy permit business except for enforcement, similar to MOOT establishing speed limits on roads and then MSHP doing the enforcement. The buoy program was inherited with the merger of the old Water Patrol and MSHP sees it as a detracting from their main purpose of enforcement, but that is a topic for cold beer, hot coffee or mediocre fishing.

Always buy or build up on the hill. Its silly to see the billions that went into retail development in Chesterfield Valley since the flood of 1993. Lots of levy improvements, but you know its going to get flooded again sooner or later.

Smallies aren't the only thing to chase after down on that stretch