Stoneroller

if it had red eyes, it was an alibno, otherwise it's called Amelanism or would be referred to as an amelanistic trout, meaning it has no melanine in it's skin/scales. most of the animals people see that they call albinos are actually amelanism, true albanism is very rare. as you can imagine a 'white' (in this case yellowish) fish would not live long with predators around. usually hatchery fish have their adipose fins removed, but i'm not sure if that's standard practice in all the hatcheries in missouri.

Optima Blue Top 3 yr warranty spiral wound electrodes, virtually indestructable. used by offroad racers and offshore racing boats for their shock resistance. can be mounted in any orientation, etc etc gonna shell out $200 for each, but worth every single penny. AND it's not WAL-MARX garbage!! B.A.S.S. sponsor too... http://www.optimabatteries.com/home.php you can buy direct or from autozone.

i think all the shimano rods have that warranty, the voltaeus has the same deal as the compre, just half the price.

the ugly stick lite series make great crankbait/swimbait rods with their moderate tip. I like the berkely amp series, shimano voltaeus, and bass pro's carbonlite rods. (just got a couple of these on sale after using them fishing with my uncle). the ugly stick and voltaeus are good crankbait rods. the carbonlite you could throw just about anything on. I got a MH for fishing jig n pig, worms, etc and a M XF for dropshot/shakeyhead/grubs.

Marlin makes some excellent .22's, they have youth models if you really want one, but most .22's tend to have small stocks anyway. If you want something a bit 'nicer' check out savage's line of .22's both companies make great shooting rifles and are well priced. I have 3 marlins and my buddy has a couple of savages and I'd take ANY of the 5 out shooting or hunting without 2nd thought as to which one I actually grabbed. I would stick with a bolt action if you are really wanting to train him to shoot properly. semi auto promotes rapid unaimed fire, although it sure is fun, but shooting fast and not hitting anything is fail. I'd stay away from lever actions. far to many moving parts to worry about for a new shooter and difficult to clean. Bolt action definately the way to go for a new shooter, less to think about, easier to clean/clear, and accurate.

"here is some cab fare..." lol epic!

personally not a fan of UL actions, the typically have too little backbone to toss a lure properly. I prefer a light or medium light action with a softer tip. the ugly sticks are great for that, I like the 'lite' series that ugly stick makes. they have a 5'6" light action 2pc that is nice, if you want something a bit longer or in UL action they have a 7foot UL that might be tempting.

I like the berkely lightning rod too. i recently got one of their amp rods and am looking forward to trying it out on some vertical techniques to see how I like it. Don't forget blade baits for verticle jigging too, especially down there in so ill. banging a blade bait off the rocks over and over and over pisses off the fish and they'll smash it on a drop. you only need to hop it up off the bottom about 4 inches or so. works best on rock bottoms/shelfs/slopes.

I'd also shoot for a medium action, as you are unlikely to be tossing a jigging spoon into heavy cover, although you might be jigging in some, but the chanch of getting hung up is less, thus lighter weight, which should equate to more sensitivity. Fast or X Fast tip, and some kind of braided line, you can use a fluoro leader if you think the fish are seeing the line. I think length of rod kind of depends on depth with jigging a spoon, deeper you go, longer the rod for more leverage. overall i'd say get something very sensitive as you want to be able to feel as much as you can to pick up on those lighter bites that can come during cooler water. you might also go with a 10-15lb braid since open water, winter fishing tends to mean fewer snags, but go with what you are comfortable with. confidence in your gear can mean more than all the recomendations in the world. Bass Pro has their carbonlite rods on sale till dec 5th. $20 off reg price. they have a couple of different spinning models that would be great for jigging spoons. i'm sure they have some casting models that would work if you use that technique.

I know what you're thinking. "Did he fire six shots or only five?" Well, to tell you the truth, in all this excitement I kind of lost track myself. But being as this is a .44 Magnum, the most powerful handgun in the world, and would blow your head clean off, you've got to ask yourself one question: Do I feel lucky? Well, do ya, punk?

http://onlinefishinglog.com/ found this site looking for a paper fishing journal. It has an excellent setup and awesome tools that allow you to summarize your fishing season/seasons. the only down side i've found so far is that you can't upload normal sized images,you have to downsize them all. other than that, i'm really impressed with the layout, information and functionality of the database. Check it out if you keep a journal or want to start keeping on. I plan on keeping a paper journal then coming home and uploading the info to Fish Swami so I can have a quick easy reference to my season of successes and failures.

I just got 2 Pflueger Supreme XT's and love them. i can put 300 yards of 10-15lb braid on them (40 series) and the drag is amazing. really smooth reels, had them both for about 2 months so far and love the quality and smoothness. plus they have the gold bling going on. next years models are all black... ie, the gold ones are on sale if at cabela's for $70 and they are normally $130 or $140 i think. saltwater and braid ready. 6.2:1 ratio if you want 5.4:1 then look at the President XT models. the xt's have the saltwater bearings and a different handle than the non xt models. I dont like the wooden handle on the non xt models and the price cannot be beat.

I'm liking your method, Al. I think we'll have to do that this spring. no entry fee, but $5 towards big bass sounds like a great idea, I have a couple of ideas for small, cheap prizes too. I have noticed that many kayak 'events' allow participants to put in anywhere within a desinated area, which is quite unlike an event with powered boats, where trailering your boat during the event results in dq. I'm currently putting together some 'guidelines' ie 'rules' too.

must be non motorized. I'm currently working on a set of 'guidelines' for what I'll probably refer to as a "club scramble" instead of a tournament so as not to confuse people about possible 'prizes'. and yeah, hopefully you will be able to actually go fishing by then!

here's a summary of smallies in resivoirs: they will be where the gizzard shad or crayfish will be. clearly we all know that. summer, they will be holding deeper off the main lake points or suspended over deep flats. in the fall when the water drops to 60 the smallies will move up into the creeks but not all the way to the back, they will stay to the east of johnson creek for instance. the creek channel drops to 20 feet or so from the put in back towards the lake. Largemouth will go all the way back up under the bridge and sit in 2 feet of water in contrast. the smallies will still be shallow but wont go quite that shallow, not unless there is inflow current from the creek. you can expect them to hang out up the creek arms till the water temp drops to low 50's at which point they'll move back towards the main lake and hang out in deep water where the shoreline drops down into a deeper area, usually the creek bed or a point. from say low 50's to upper 40's they'll hang out around the base of that slope, where it transitions. once the water drops below say 48ish or so, they will pull out to the humps and deep water points in the main lake. basically just following the bait fish. crayfish won't be an option for them once the water gets below say 55ish. during cold water they'll fish more like walleye than bass, but you might catch some fat eye's fishing for them then too. a drop shot rig would work well when the water temp is in the 40's or you could try a jiggin spoon. otherwise try a suspending jerk bait, work it slowly. when the water is between 60 and 54ish try horizontal baits say less than 6feet depth. that way you can cover more water and put your bait in front of more fish until you hone in on what they want. dont be afraid to throw a 'big' lure either, their prey at this time of year is going to be larger than in the summer. I like smithwick rogues and husky jerks in the 4-6 inch range. if the water is still near 60ish you can try throwing a zara spook or a buzzbait.

i was just looking at some of the IDNR stocking data. the first year they stocked smallies in kinkaid was 2005 and that year they put a whopping 50 fingerlings in the lake. I had a 100+ trout day at Devil's Kitchen about a month ago. the fish were jumping 3 feet out of the water that day. awesome day of fishing.

Let me know when you head over to kinkaid, I'll come down and we can tear that lake up. and I'll let you in on a 'secret' at kinkaid, hidden neck.

Al, I'm really liking that spotted bass idea and I think I might steal it. I'd really like to see you participate too. we should talk and see what we can come up with. I think that would be an awesome way to help curb the spots and resolve the issue of fishing on top of each other in the river. come to think of it, I caught mostly spots last time I was on the meramec...

spring and summer I will run at least some kind of informal club type tourney in Missouri for anyone who is interested. Anyone who would like to help or has any resources they might want to help out with would be more than welcome. It'll be more of a bragging rights/excuse to fish type deal than some big money thing with tons of awesome prizes, just so everyone knows what to expect. the things i'm seeing that other tourneys do is 1. have some kind of 'token' or sticker that must be in the picture with the fish and 2. usually provide the measuring board upon which you are expected to measure and photograph your fish. The only issue I see with that is you end up with 20 fish measuring sticks at the end of the season, all plastic and not biodegradable, which seems like a big waste to me. So I'm thinking a sticker of some kind or maybe a dog tag or something like that. i'm also really wanting to include some rivers in the tourney trail but i'm not real sure how that would work out. if it were less than 10 kayaks/canoes it probably wouldn't be a huge deal but more than that might be difficult to start as we'd all be piled up and fishing on top of one another for a while. something else i'm going to have to think about. suggestions or insight?

Illinois doesn't have as much clear flowing water as Missouri, so most all of the creeks and rivers are dammed up in multiple spots. Also because of the lack of springs and the depth of the water table, there are far more municiple water supply lakes over there. I'm not saying Missouri doesn't have lots of small lakes, I like the accessibility and HP restrictions on most of the illinois lakes under 2000 acres. Plus the powerplant lakes have me dreaming of hooking up on 10lb largemouth and 30inch plus stripers surrounded by steaming water and lightly falling snow... If you know of some good lakes between LoZ and St. Louis, let me know, I'll meet you there and we can give em a whirl. I've fishing Little Dixie Lake and really like it, although it's pretty small and after 6 hrs you've pretty much fished the whole thing.

all I've been throwing since the beginning of October has been topwater, with the exception of one lake where I threw a jerkbait. I've been enjoying huge largemouth exploding on a frog and a buzzbait for the past month and a half. as long as the water is above 55ish or so and the shad stay active the topwater bite will be awesome, even on bright sunny days. the fish are simply hungry and fattening up for winter. which is great news for us anglers. looks like you had a great day, don't quit now, still plenty of good fishing days left!

Most of the rules concerning actual payout tourneys are strictly applied to boats with motors and are typically only applied to tourneys with over a certain amount of participation. i.e. Patoka Lake in Indiana, you dont need a 'permit' until you have 15 or more boats. this allows clubs to hold their own events without going broke. I'm flexible and resourceful enough to stay out of trouble with any laws or rules. I'm really amazed there isn't more interest, not withstanding it being Illinois waters (which frankly for a kayak/canoe series offers FAR better opportunities than Missouri lakes do). It's really just a casual thing with a little sauce ($) on the side to make it interesting. hell if people are interested and want, we could do it for free or $1 each, the money isn't the point. getting out and fishing with some competion and becoming a better angler is. If we can get some participation and there is continued interest, I'm all for doing something in Missouri. I'd like to see a series set up which would include lakes and rivers here.

Looking into who would be interested in fishing a kayak/canoe "club trail" this winter, mostly in the power plant lakes over in Illinois. Coffeen, Baldwin, Lake of Egypt, Newton, Sangchris. very informal club series environment. just something casual for us to do over the winter to stay out on the water. the power plant lakes seem to be the best bet for avoiding dragging jig and pigs for the next 3 months. I'm still debating on going with black bass/temperate bass or black bass/temperate bass/catfish CPR style. Run each lake twice between say dec something through the end of feburary. $20 per person per event, pay out 100%, payout would be 1 place for every 3 anglers. so 3 anglers only pays 1st place, 6 would pay 1st and 2nd, 9 would pay 1st, 2nd, and 3rd, etc. Ante could be anything we want, depends on interest I guess along with economic situation, i'm not trying to break anyone's bank or make anyone rich, just something to make a win worthwhile. check in if you would be interested in something like this. I'd like to do something similar in the spring/summer and again summer/fall (some date in july would be the start/end of the 2nd mini season, but more on missouri lakes and rivers. If there is interest we could certainly include plenty of Illinois lakes in the season. There are a ton of HP restricted lakes that would be perfect for a kayak tourney.

epic!

I'm going to try Lake of Egypt and Coffeen Lake this winter. Two power plant lakes that are supposed to be better for bass fishing nov-feb than any other time of the year. The biggest issue with floating and fishing ozark streams and rivers during the winter would be the off chance of capsizing and getting wet and cold miles from warmth and safety. but, if fishing is good, hypothermia is a small price to pay. =)