Smalliebigs

I guess I failed to mention we caught a monkey dodo ton of fish and it was a smorgasbord. I’m not good at keeping count but, we did well. I met someone half my age who has just as much of a passion for fishing as I do and that impressed me very much 🙂

I finally hooked up with a friend I only knew online. We always talked fishing and we decided to go try to nail some Winter fish. I’ll just say we did pretty good for about an hour of fishing and I was very proud of my new friend when he nailed this dang near 20 incher but, that SOB weighed 4 + all day long. Are people deer hunting??? 😜

Dang Dave!!! Congrats homeboy

I highlighted those craws with a Black and Orange Sharpie hahaha The color is a new one Tackle HD came out with..... GP/Blue I am not in the tackle selling business anymore but, I make stuff for myself all the time but, my tackle is for catching big fish that’s about it hahaha

My buddy Paul or MOSmallies on here ties some for me very similar to the Dirks but a little different.... the hook ain’t the same but, Paul’s jig works better than a Dirks and I usually put a 3.75 Tackle HD craw on it. This combo is friggin lights out once the water temps go below 52 😜 Im not trying to push anything here just informing hahaha and I’ll get you a pick of just the jig Dave. Dirks is a good jig but there are options out there for sure

Man I just think these fish should be in rivers. I would really enjoy fishing c n r areas because I don’t keep fish. Watching everyone with flailing trout on their lines bouncing around on the ground only to kick them back in the pond is disgusting to me. catching trout that big from there was a complete joke but, I had to do it but, I would pay more in taxes to have them stocked in the parks with Catch and release zone permanent..... increase my taxes for that

Man I couldn’t agree more. I really wish they were putting these in the Springs and rivers where suitable. I caught so many eventually I had a crowd of the Lou’s finest watching and wanting the trout and getting more and more pissed which each release. There were no signs there explaining the MDC rules for this oil Trout bonanza

Well I just nailed Two 24 inchers and a 22 incher and a handful in the 2 to 3 lb range..... so I would say they(the MDC) stocked most of the lunkers in the city ponds??? Why they do that is beyond me and pretty much killed my Winter trout fishing in the parks and below in the rivers. Why they stock these big trout in these ponds is silly and a slap in the face a true trout fisherman that would like to catch their non natives from an actual river or moving water. Sorry these pics will suck but, there were 3 definite hawgs. The one longer one launches out of the pond like 3 feet in the air and the old man down from me shrieked “that looked like a steelhead my god” hahaha

We used to live right down the street from J Wabash and we moved in 1983 when our neighborhood went dark overnight seemingly, oh and I got mugged twice at Walbash as I fished pretty much everyday. A group of 6 Black kids surrounded me trying to take my tackle and beat my posterior. I had a large bell sinker on the end of my one rod with some 20lb test line on there and fended them off with vicious blows from the end of my rod like they were a pack of dawgs. They got the tackle but, I kept my rod and a cut on my head and a bloody lip. The second time I had a gun pulled in my face and I gave him everything I had which was a 20 and fishing tackle. Ah the memories of the Ferguson Berkeley border there......great times. I have caught 3 rainbows from Jefferson lake that were all over 25 inches so they are in there and it seems pretty dumb to me that they are in there but, who am I to judge as they are just pellet pigs. It seems they would be better served to put them in the rivers that could sustain them??? who knows???

agreed bigtime......if you think the Red ribbon area gets nailed by poaching with a gig??? you should see some of the classic winter holes down stream where bass stay through out the Winter........straight up carnage on the bottom of the river and the amount of fish you catch with gig wounds is amazing. Do I report it??? give me a break!!!!.....they are friggin sick of me calling and taking up there time about it. Things are not gonna change on that front so I gave up. When the MDC said certain things to mine and my friends face at Powder Valley in the feedback meetings that was pretty much all I needed to know. Jesus man more Trout get eaten by Otters than get gigged......I know of a small creek that absolutely was decimated by Otters and was told to quit bugging them about it. I own a piece of property with a 5 acre pond on it that has been completely wiped out by Otters. Otters re introduced by the MDC......obvious illegal gigging going un checked because of traditions and lack of enforcement power due to other more important things like deer hunting hahahahaha. I'll stop now and go back to not giving a sh$t and shut up but, trust me there are some who see your side but, now I just worry about me and where my next adventure begins and how do I find a spot where some gaper with a youtube channel hasn't just been trying to make his outdoors career explode.

Dude that is absolutely FANTASTIC!!!!.....kudos on the great outing. It's always very fun to look back at the GIANTS you catch where you don't expect......that is a killer creek bass no doubt, obviously a very fertile creek, treasure it

seriously I think you will have a better time than you think......I will make sure you are in the catbird seat and where the fish are

I really need some help in the form of many other lines in the water to pull as many of these Spotted Bass out of the river we can. I can show you where to fish and even give you some baits to use hell I even have Two very nice kayaks for a couple of people to use. There is a perfect 2 mile stretch we can float but, you have to bring a cooler and a fillet knife. I am serious here..... this is your chance to go nail the hell out of some bass on the Meramec. pm me here and I will give you my digits and itinerary. I will also be trying to do this when the most opportunistic weather patterns are here so this will be a play by ear situation so I do apologize. Who wants to nail some bass??? I promise you will more than likely will nail some

Yep those seem to be about the size most people catch at that lake from reports on here anyways

23.5 inches but wasn’t the most thick one. My buddy H Wally is the KING of the Walleye on that river and nails one’s that make this one look like child’s play with regularity 🙂

Yeah we’re are on different ends of the spectrum as I release every nice Wally I catch As they are my second favorite river fish here. I had to force myself to start keeping the Spots as I really don’t keep anything I catch. I have been keeping close records as to how many have left the river for a grease bath over the last 6 months and it’s getting to be an extremely large number now as I am on these suckers right now and can go nail 15 to 20 pretty easy.

Hey Bill hahahaha yep I think I could have talked with you for hours man!! Have a great weekend and hopefully I didn’t reveal too much about my goofy posterior. Have a great weekend and GO CARDINALS

I haven’t posted much recently as my time to fish has been reduced by my commitments to my family. I still probably fish more than most people get to but, nothing like what it was before my family life.My personal quest to remove as many Spotted Bass from my favorite home stretches of water is in full force recently. Many many Spots have made the last mistake of their lives recently. Here are some of the sacrifices. I’m actually amazed at how many I can catch when this is my sole purpose on my ventures. Fishing might suck in certain areas for a bit??? We have had Two really nice fish frys at my new place in Bonne Terre recently and my mouth is watering thinking about the next 😜

Hell yes they would have to be dumb MOTHER F Er to turn them loose at the rafting company.... I honestly can’t believe they did??? Because I have never in my 50 years caught a Spot above the Huzzah.... until 10/01/2019 Starting wonder what’s going on here. I can’t believe the guys that fish the river Tourneys would be so ignorant and reckless

I fished your area down to Onondaga yesterday and caught 4 Spots and all 4 are dead now. Fishing was tough for the BIG fish I was there for but, caught many many 14 to 16 inch fish deep in the wood that related to moving water. That was my first time catching a Spot above Leasburg though, which was a BIG bummer.