N Wolf

Is that water as muddy as it looks in the pic? If so how hard is it to find the fish in that? I have lots of muddy little creeks up here I just never thought about trying to fish them.

Let us know how that works out. Is the water shallow where yu will be fishing? Is it clear water?

I dont understand how come every one thinks small mouth in the ozarks are picky? They are the baddest things in their invironment, if it moves without their permission, it deserves to die! They're not trout that are scared of their shadow.

rc guy, you cant go fishing. I see your hobbies, you cant possibly have any money!

Carp on the fly rod in a kayak? Yeah, I like water skiing too. Actually sounds like a blast.

Wow, carp in current like that would be awsome. I would have to call it a day after three of them. My arms feel like their gonna fall off after a couple of lake fish even with a boat to chase them.

Yeah, you will need some room. once you hook up he will tangle you with every other line in the water. They pull very hard! The cork in the handle of my 6w is cracked from the rod flexing in the handle. Are you on the Missouri side?

10-4

To those that say fishing with live bait for smallies is no fun: I would love for you to meet my mom. She is in her sixtys now and has fished with crawdads all her life, she still squeals like a little girl every time she hooks a good one. She probably loves the fish and fishing more than most people on this site. By the way, she releases all fish. Next point. The reason more fish swallow the hook with live bait is becouse people tend to let the fish take it and swim off a bit before they set the hook to increase the chances of a hookup. It works but also increases the chance of a gut hook. As far as circle hooks for smallies, waste of time. Most saltwater fish eat on the move. They will take the bait in passing and pull the hook to the corner of the mouth as they swim off. If youve ever seen a smallie eat a craw off the bottom you know that they suck it in then swallow it without swiming off, that putts whatever kind of hook in the gut. One more thing that I know is going to stir things up but needs to be said. Deer and fish are alot alike. They have to live on what is available. If you fish on a river that has a lot of very small fish, you have seen this in action. If you were to kill 3/4 of the fish, the remaining ones would increase in size very quikly. Im not suggesting we do this, Im just saying that killing a set number of fish is needed. That is why we have limits. They are set to promote a mix of numbers and over all quallity of the fish in the watter. Keeping fish is a managment tool that is in fact a neccesity on most waters, so condeming someone for doing it is ignorant and counter productive to your own cause. In closing, Iwould realy apreciat if people would refrain from insulting my mother any further, thank you.

Yes the handle spins backwards too. And Im not saying that you cant catch fish on it, two of my biggest fish this year were caught on one of mine. Im just saying that the anti reverse is poorly made and has to heave of lube. If you take it apart you will see that there is a plastic bearing seperator between the inner and outer race. That plastic peice is the part that is the biggest problem, it has alot of burs in it. You can take the time to clean them up but removing the grease does a pretty good job of it. To be more specific Im refering to the BPS reels with the "Power lock" instant anti reverse. It comes on their low to mid grade reels.

Hi Trevor, As for the BPS reels, you can do alot better for the same money. I use pinicle reels that I buy from wal.... I have twelve of them and have not had a failure yet. I will say that I do regular maintenance on all of my reels so I have no idea how they will work if you dont. I also have three BPS reels and they all have the same problem. The anti reverse sticks causing the reel to backspin on the hookset. If you take the one way bearing apart and clean it with WD-40 then alcohol and re-lube with 3 in 1 oil they do much better. In their defence, all manufactures use grease that is to thick to work when its cold but a cheaply made 4 bearing BPS still costs more than a very well made 9 bearing pinicle. If you will be at mozingo this weekend you are more than welcome to give one a try. There are better reels, but not anywhere close to this price.

This one actually came from the elk just down stream from the bluff up from cowskin. (some years ago)

Try to stick with browns or greens in the size 10-14 range. Something with a little weight to it is nice depending on water clearity. Carp are supper spooky in clear water. Here's a few from last year.

Strange how camera angles change things. The one on the bottom right is actually the biggest, he was 5 lb 7 oz caught during a tourney. The one bottom middle was the smallest at 3 lb even. He did have a huge head though, I wasnt holding it out. I could almost put my head in his mouth but he was only 20 1/2" long.

These two are both just a shade over five. One is five pounds 2 oz and the other is five pounds 3.