Stoneroller

Trophy regulations produce trophy fisheries. Proven fact

Too bad, looks like you guys would have had a first place fish. D'OH! free stuff sucks huh?

lighter line, lead strips/dots, weight on the line in front of the lure, downrigger, trolling with more than 100' of line out, these methods will make divers go deeper than normal.

sweet I hated running all that CAT 5 cable to my tent from the conference center.

The bass tournaments at Cedar Lake are completely out of hand. Parking lot triple parked with 4x's the number of rigs it's supposed to hold. The fishing shows too. That kind of constant pressure has really hurt this lake. Micro finesse might be born here soon! Avoid the weekends if you want any kind of peace and quiet as there will likely be over 100 boats on that lake on any given weekend morning. I used to fish that lake all day and see only 1 or 2 other boats, now you can't throw a lure 50 feet without hitting someone who wants to fish right next to you. IDNR and the city of Carbondale need to take a really hard look at seriously limiting and policing the number of tournaments that are held on that lake, and fast! What used to be one of the premier get away lakes is now looking more like LOZ on a summer weekend.

Coffeen is at full pool!!! Last year in the fall it was around 5 feet low and it's now full. Illinois isn't going through the lack fo rain that we currently are. Water temps were 88º- 91ºF 5 feet of visibility Fish were all hugging the bottom, typically 10 feet or deeper. I caught 3 fish in 6 hrs of fishing. 2 on deep cranks and 1 on a spinnerbait near some shallow wood. I did see a guy sitting on a point throwing what looked like a french fry worm on a carolina rig and he was hooking up almost every cast. If I were going to go again, I put in at the north pool and skip the main lake as the water temps are just too high already. Remember, it's a power plant lake and there is not stratification. It's 90º from top to bottom.

I do. trade her in on a model that fishes all day, every day.

kayaks, sit on tops preferrably. it's not the fastest and largest sector of the outdoor market for no reason. Once you buy them and outfit them you are finished, no licensing, no fuel, no rebuilds/breakdowns, etc. you can float where boats and even canoes can't, although a canoe can carry far more cargo, but it doens't give you the individual freedom a kayak does. you don't have the range of a boat, but you also don't pay launch fees at LOZ. no motor = no fee (at least at the ramps I launch from) which btw, you don't even need a ramp now, you can launch from any point you can access water at. you are only limited by your sense of adventure.

fast. I only like extra fast on my drop shot rig and that's because it might be 30-40 feet deep when i'm fishing it. otherwise fast is what you want. Moderate is for crankbaits and essential for good hookups with them if you are using braid due to the low stretch of the line. Sensitivity isn't a real key to choosing crankbait/spinnerbait/topwater (essentially reaction baits) rods as the fish is slamming the lure anyway, hard not to feel a fish with any rod. I use ugly sticks for my crankbait/topwater rods and a cabelas mag touch for my spinnerbaits (safetypin style). I don't like spending more than $50 on a rod and won't spend more than $100. You also have to take into consideration the amount of weight and style of 'worm' fishing you might do. that might cover 1/8 to 2oz in weight, hooks from #1 to 8/0 (or bigger) and baits from 2 inches to 12 or more. I have a rod for texas/carolina rigging and a rod for wacky/dropshotting. Both are BPS Carbonlite series and I've found them to be perfect for the type of fishing I do. You are dead on to want a sensitive rod for any kind of bottom contact fishing.

living in St Louis, it pays to get an Illinois non resident license and explore some of the many, many lakes that are within a couple hours drive of the city. Lake of the Ozarks is around 2.5 hr drive for example. But in Illinois there are well over 50 lakes within a 2 hr drive. Illinois does a much better job of policing the waterways over there too, so there tends to be less trash, better fishing, and fewer toolboxes. ie no class 5 offshore powerboats blowing past you 10 feet away at 75 mph. Most of the lakes in Illinois are horsepower restricted and many are 10hp or electric only lakes. HUGE difference in the quality of fish and fishing when that kind of regulation is in place. Don't bother looking to Illinois for river/stream fishing. There are some decent places, but they are few and far between. Missouri definately has better streams/rivers.

if you are smart that boat will get stolen...

yet you took the time to read all this and comment on it... hello kettle, what color are you calling the pot?

looks like southern missouri got around an inch or so, but from rolla to farmington to centerville, they only got a trace. We need some week long, all day, soaking rains or it's going to be really, really ugly in october.

Great points. and as gobbler mentioned matching weight to depth by way of using only the amount of weight you need to stay in contact is the best guide. Also, you don't need an EWG hook with a worm either. you'll get better hookups with a straight shank/offset hook. as a rule I want my hook gap to be twice the width of the soft plastic i'm using.

where were the invites?

^^^^ meanwhile MDC 'hides' in the bushes....

that's called a 'donkey rig' it's deadly if you use two slightly different colored flukes. on the river keep your leaders short, 12 inches or so and try to keep them so that the flukes are at least touching each other for better action.(I'm going to try it with the new tiny flukes zoom has) if one leader is much shorter than the other it tends to wrap up more. if they are about the same length I find the fluke on the longer leader sinks deeper while the shorter one darts around closer to the surface. there is a fishing company I'm less than thrilled with currently who makes the swivels that work best. Starts with an 'S' ends with an 'pro'...

welcome

you are never going to look back bro. have fun, it's impossible not to!

Here's probably the easiest way to pace yourself on any river/stream. Use google maps, create your own map, and you can actually draw/click lines to measure river mileage to key features, access points, bridges, direction changes in the river, etc. It makes it much easier to have 2 or 3 points throughout each day and a timeline to hit them by. Long/multiday floats are easy to get behind on and there's nothing quite like paddling your butt off for a longer than neccessary period, in the dark. =)

i keep my 'used' flukes, chop the noses off and use them as trailers on spinnerbaits and swimjigs if they won't behave normally after the surgery.

I thought something changes about the trout regulations there because you could get a ticket for catching a fish/fishes below the shoals and then transporting that fish above the shoals. *trout only though. smallmouth regulations don't change through there that i'm aware of and the regulation change that I'm speaking of may be old, it's been a while since I've been down there, plus I don't keep fish, so i'm not a master on regulations. oh I see the blue ribbon area goes down to turner mill. I think last time I was there it stopped at MD shoals. Obviously Brian has a much better idea of the current regulations than I do.

Al, you should try the swimbait hooks that are available now. most have a spiral keeper on them that holds the nose of the fluke and makes it much easier to rig them perfectly. you can also snip off the nose of the fluke and screw the keeper into fresh plastic if the nose wears out. the come in weighted versions to so no need for split shot and as mentioned, some even allow the weight to be moved on the hook, or you can diy with lead tape to alter the fall/drift/flutter of the fluke.

watch around Mary Decker shoals. That's the only place in 12 years of fishing in Missouri where I've ever been checked by conservation. Trout regulations change at the shoals so they like to frequent there. Also, the county makes a bunch of money from handing out tickets for anything not wildlife code related that could happen on the river. Don't do anything on the gravel bars you wouldn't do right in front of a cop. *not that anyone would, just a friendly warning above all, take time to enjoy the scenery and enjoy getting bit off when the pickerel get ya! (oh yeah, bear territory down there, leave your cooler away from camp and don't leave food out. Chances of getting hit by lightning are greater than seeing a bear, but be safe, it's a long helicopter ride to a decent hospital)

yeah i've been using 12# fluoro and it's been working pretty well. Uni to Uni is one of the best knots i've found for line to line connections.