Stoneroller

what extra money? the coosa is $999, the tarpon 120 is $985. $14? coosa was designed from scratch as a river kayak. the tarpon was not. end of story. i'm not getting the rod holder thing. are you saying you run through overhaning trees and strainers and they snatch your rods out of rear facing rod holders? there is a simple fix for that. stop running through overhanging stuff that would snatch your rods. =) or better yet, store them inside the hull of the coosa. even a 9 foot fly rod fits.

I took at look at the inflatable vests when I was up at BPS yesterday. the manual inflation vests run around $90. which is the same price as the kayak fishing PFD's. But I can tell you, an inflatable vest would be much, much more comfortable in the summer heat. Get whatever you are going to wear, because a PFD is useless in the hold. Keep in mind though, a manually inflatable PFD will not save you if for some reason you are unconscious when you hit the water.

there are a couple key design flaws with the fs12 ascend that bps sells, which, in my opinion are inexcusable. 1. There are no scupper holes in the seat section. which means all the water that ends up there, will not drain out and your butt will be soaking wet all day. great way to get chapped butt. 2. The scupper holes that do exist are about the size of my pinky. far too small to drain water quickly and effectively. They'll work fine for a small splash, but not for anything more than a pint or so of liquid. I don't like where they are placed as when the boat is loaded they tend to be at a level equal to the rest of the footwell, which leads to pooling of water in the footwell areas. are these terminal faults in a boat that is half the price of a coosa or trident? the 2nd probably isn't a huge deal, but the first, no drainage where you sit, is a deal killer. the pelican castaway 100 suffers from this issue too.

wayne that's a great point. i never really considered that because both my kayaks have recessed scuppers, but it's definately a design feature/flaw that you'll want to look out for in any potential yak.

Austin Canoe and Kayak is probably your best option for kayak gear. There are other places out there: yakattack, hook1, colorado whitewater, etc but i've found ACK to have the BEST customer service from ANY company i've ever dealt with. I have the stohlquist fisherman's pfd. Although, admittedly I rarely wear it. I make sure to wear it in whitewater or if the water temp is below 60, especially if the air temp is too. A kayak specific PFD will have no floatation in the lower back area so you can sit against the seat. It's also going to have more range of motion in the arm areas than a normal PFD. The inflatable PFD's would be a good option. I just didn't want to have to deal with buying recharging cylinders if i were to take an unplanned swim. Although, clearly a PFD doesn't work if you aren't wearing, so if you will wear an inflatable PFD, then definately get on. Frankly there doesn't look to be a huge difference in features with those, so I'd look for a name brand you can trust that falls within your price range.

just like live bait, the a rig is a crutch for people who are fishermen and not anglers. ban hydrowave too! fishing doesn't need a 'steroid' and we sure as hell don't need a barry bonds... kvd, hope you are listening.... put the hydrowave down and step away...

even a lightly flowing river can be a task to manuever my trident 13 in. because it is made to track straight over long paddles, ie the ocean or a lake, it has a sharp and deep bow keel, which when the current hits makes the boat impossible to turn. A Coosa will easily hold you and your gear, it tracks well enough on open water but really shines in any kind of current along with being one of the most stable kayaks on the water. Look around, take some for a test spin. Check out a local kayak guide.

easy, there are a number of systems that could be used to verify the photo. Usually it entails some type of 'token' that is place on or near the fish while it is photographed. This eliminates people from submitting pictures of fish outside of the time period where the specific 'token' is issued. other than that, if someone wants to be scumbag and cheat, there's nothing really stopping them except integrity. I've been on this forum for long enough to know if someone were to cheat in the tournament and get caught, they could pretty much kiss their safety on the rivers in this state goodbye. Cheaters dig their own hole and I don't believe the other participants would tolerate someone being a d-bag.

Bought my first kayak a few years ago and haven't looked back since. You need to ask yourself where you will be fishing. some kayaks are made for flat water, a few are made for rivers. if you are a river angler you'll want to check out the jackson coosa. I have one of them it's about 11 feet long and can be handled by one person with ease. has a great seat, it's very manuverable and has the features you'll need in a river kayak. if you intend to do mostly lake fishing, you might want to check out the ocean kayak trident and tetra lines. I have a trident 13 I lake fish out of, has some great features and is awesome on the lake. not so great in moving water though. Wilderness systems also makes some kayaks worth looking at in their tarpon and ride series.

sorry about the font size, i copied and pasted from my document and it made the font tiny.

2010 Smallmouth Tag Results 1420 Tags 12" and larger fish 6 River segments Return rate of tags (7 month total) Castor 43% N.Fork White 44% Courtois 46% Black 49% LCurrent 40% UCurrent 43% total 44% 　 *castor/white=wadable water *courtois/black=floatable water *current=boatable water 　 　 Harvest rates varied from very low to moderately high

Smallmouth angler survey results from Missouri Smallmouth Alliance meeting Feb 15th 2012 first number is everyone. number in ( ) is MSA members only. 　 Which river do you MOST often fish? Meramec 60% Big 42% Big Piney 42% Gasconade 39% Mineral Fork 35% Table Rock 21% BullShoals 12% Norfolk/Stockon 7%/7% 　 　 Least often fished? Tenmile 0% Elk 1% James 8% Joachim 10% 　 Regulations are difficult to underdstand? yes 12%(13%) 　 Stream regulations allow harvest? too much 17%(72%) not enough 4%(1%) right amount 39%(15%) don't know 40%(11%) 　 what do you consider a quality fish? 12" 18%(8%) 13" 4%(16%) 14" 22%(46%) 15" 29%(14%) 16" 9%(4%) 17" 3%(8%) 18" 7%(3%) 　 Preferred State Minimum? 12" 39%(11%) 13" 4%(2%) 14" 19%(18%) 15" 25%(50%) other 13%(17%) 　 Favor/Oppose 6 bass limit Oppose 27%(4%) no oppinion 18%(4%) 5 11%(1%) 4 18%(14%) 3 22%(53%) other 5%(23%) 　 # trips/year 6 or fewer 57%(43%) 12 or fewer 76%(75%) Catches/trip 4 or fewer 57%(27%) 8 or fewer 76%(56%) 12 or fewer 87%(77%) Havested/trip 0 26%(??) 2 or fewer 77%(??) fished springs in winter 10%(16%) *much more frequent trips though 　

Drew has decided to yank the plug on the trail this year. You guys know as much as I do.... take a moment to think about that... So, I am in discussion with some of the nearby ambassadors to see if we can get something setup for this area for the summer. I am also working on a plan with the MSA to put together a series of events similar to what KBF does. Obviously all of the plans I had made and were in the process of making have been turned upside down at this point. That being said, I am still going to move forward with my plans to put together something for us locally. Lesson learned I guess.

I have 4 pflueger's 2 president xt's and 2 supreme xt's and love them. no issues and they've worked flawlessly. the 'MG' series has a magnesium frame as opposed to the aluminum frame on the XT's but that shouldn't be an issue. One thing I really like about the supreme is that the side plate can be removed to lube the gears without removing the rotor, unlike the president xt, which requires significantly longer time to clean and lube. Pflueger has possibly the best drag on the market in the supreme and patriarch lines. I did add a tiny bit of loctite to the screws on the side plates of my reels as they would loosen after a couple of weeks and I was paranoid about losing them. In my opinion and experience shimano tends to be overpriced for what you get, seems like they think their name alone is worth a 20%markup. but that's my opinion.

I'd like to point out, nothing is really set in stone. I'm just trying to play out the pros and cons here instead of it becoming an issue out on the water. I have heard a few others support the 1 day format too, so it's not out of the question. And it's possible we could try it both ways, do the first stop as a 1 day and the 2nd stop as a 2 day. I want people to feel like they are getting their money's worth, even if they don't win a prize.

so $60-40 to fish a single day tourney seems reasonable? There is nothing that would prevent someone from fishing a single day of a 2 day tourney. Hell, you could sign up, show up 30 min prior to the weigh-in, fish the river at the weigh-in, catch 3 big fish and WIN the entire thing for only 30 min of fishing. If you fish both events AND the regional, you've commited 6 days out of 365 to fish. If that can't be done, then tournament fishing isn't for you. I don't see how it makes economic sense to pay to fish a single day tourney. A single day tourney format also SEVERLY limits the floatable water available. In some cases it cuts out more than half of the available water on a river system. A 1 day tourney format also does not allow you to fish the entire day. I've never understood tournaments that fish from sunup till 3 or 4. I'm not going to pay, nor would I ask anyone else to pay $50 to fish what amounts to half a day. I guess I can kind of understand that 2 days would be more difficult for some people to attend both days, but overall I think I provides us with greater opportunity and MUCH greater value, and those two things far outweigh the inablity of a participant to secure the entire weekend for fishing. If you can't fish both days, just fish one. Problem solved.

I am happy to announce that Missouri will have 3 events during 2012 as part of the RiverBassin.com Tournament Trail. We will have our own division, and will likely share a regional event with Arkansas's division. (exact division names have not been determined) From what I know the Arkansas stops will be Fayetteville and Little Rock. I lobbied very stronly for our own events so we would not have to travel to another state to participate. That being said, I'm really hoping for a strong turnout at each of our events here in Missouri. We will have 2 regular events and a regional final, plus there will be a national final. Currently I am looking at the Meramec/Bourbeuse River drainage as one stop and the upper Gasconade,upstream from Jerome, River basin for the 2nd stop. The regional will likely be shared with the Arkansas division, but it looks as though it would be based in Springfield because of BPS. So that greatly benefits Missouri anglers. I know 2 stops sounds small, it is, on purpose. This is the first year, so rather than over extend, going with fewer events will help us provide a higher quality event. Here is the input that I need from you guys as anglers. WHEN would be a good time to hold these 2 events? Keeping in mind that time still has be left for the regional and final events. Would you rather fish spring or late summer? Keep in mind school outings/starting, hunting season, football season(i personally care nothing about the former 3), holidays, typical river flows etc. The idea is to fish the river when we stand a chance of catching the greatest numbers of quality fish, while having plenty of water that is fishable. I lobbied for later in the summer and into fall as water levels, although lower, would be stable. Unlike the past RiverBassin events I am lobbying for a 2 day event, where you could put in saturday morning, float, camp ON the river, and then float sunday and meet for 'weigh in' around 4 at a centralized and mostly downstream location. Thoughts about that? camping on the river is another reason I went for later in the summer to avoid flash flood or tresspassing issues. You are always able to fish just one of the days if you can't make both. 2 days opens far more water, allows you to move to a different area if you wish, allows camping on the river therefore more river miles are available to us, and makes more economic sense, although our divisional event entry fees will be less than the current $60/event, from what I understand. I'd just assume avoid the spring closed smallmouth season if possible as I felt most Missouri anglers would rather not have that 'pressure' on the river during that time even though it is a CPR/No Take tourney. I've seen some of the battles on here over fishing bedding fish. We close all other seasons during breeding, no reason fish shouldn't be the same in my opinion, but i'm open to constructive thoughts and ideas. It is also VERY likely if not imminent that MDC will be at each event final and/or checking anglers on the river. The state fisheries biologists will receive our results, including photos to help their creel surveys. I have the ability to make this into pretty much any format, within reason, that will provide the best that our rivers have to offer and I want to make sure it's scheduled and set up in a way that will maximize participation. I realize 2 events can limit the ability for someone to participate, which is why i'm open to suggestions with supporting reasons as to why an event should be held during a specific period on one of the rivers mentioned.

the reason you have that many views is simply because of your title, which makes people want to click on it to see what the rumor is.

except it's a river fishing tournament, trying to avoid flat water, plenty of powerboat tournaments already in that racket.

not just a single river, a single river drainage basin. for example if we were to do the current (which is unlikely) eligible rivers would be the current and any river that drains into it including the jacks fork. something like the gasconade or meramec would open up a ton of water to fish. it's an idea that i'll have to play around with to see how realistic it is and it's subject to change of course.

I kicked this idea around at the start of last season but things transpired that prevented me from concentrating on making it actually happen. 2012 is a new year. I am currently seeking individuals or companies in Missouri/Southern Illinois who would like to help sponsor a 6 or 7 event kayak/canoe river fishing tournament next year (2012). If you are interested, please contact me asap so we can begin discussion on involvement level and such. Those interested in participating in the tour, stay tuned, I will update on here as soon as I have some solid information set up. Basics are it will be a river fishing tournament similar to what riverbassin.com does. Currently planning on doing the events based on river drainages instead of set a set radius, although that could change or vary. CPR tourney only, although we could certainly have a spotted bass round up during the tournament. It's in the conceptualization stage now, so anything is possible but I see no reason not to go through with this next year.

http://www.basspro.com/Plano®-Jumbo-Airliner-Rod-Case/product/53148/-1007759 if you have this thing, then you can wrap your clothes around the rod and slide the rod and clothes down in the tube. this is pretty much the most bomb proof way to transport rods. if you just have the rod sleeve thing that hold just this one rod, then you'll have to carry it on. make sure to bring some leaders and flies with you in your other carry on if you do, that way if they lose your other luggage, you can still go fishing.

I'd like to wish a Happy Birthday to the following members: vonreed (32), hawgslayer (20), AZ_Trout (58), Painter nick (32), Stoneroller (39) Hope all my fellow revelers have a great day and catch lots of fish!

they have their 'best' person on that job...

other than obvious issues with the engine, which you aren't seeing, i've seen this issue one other time. boat was fine last few times it was out, now in the past couple of trips it's really slow to get on plane. Turned out my buddy's boat had a crack in the gel coat and water had gotten into between the outside and inner hulls, the foam floatation in there was full of water... he sold that boat as quickly as he could find some sucker to buy it.