sms_alum

I think I saw your boat fishing about 6:00 pm on my way home from work. Looks like a good day on a tuff stretch of river.

Great report, I don't get to Bennet very often but its a great place to fish.

I did see a guy getting arrested yesterday morning up at the check-in station. I'm not sure for what, but I would venture guess it was drug related based only on his appearance. Seemed like there was a bunch of several goggle-eye caught as well, but all the ones I saw were tiny and released.

Hmm, is this a south st. louis county park?

Sometimes you need a follow up shot on a deer, and I would rather see a dead one with 4 holes than a wounded one. Of course you always have the guy who hasn't fired his gun since last deer season and cited in 4 years ago. That guy usually shoots several times. I do think the temperature played a factor this year with deer activity and people's accuracy. They might have been doing drives with multiple hunters, but I wouldn't think they would do that on opening day. I think the blood you found is most likely a wounded deer, but who knows.

Not sure, I'm still new to the area. We hunt a little south of Vandalia lake.

Also, I can't wait a few more years for youth season.

This was the first rifle season at our new lease. We are in Audrain county and we have been seeing a lot more deer this year than our old lease in Lewis county. The neighbors to the south-southwest of us started shooting early and often. I bet I counted 30 shots by 9:00 am out of the same general area. We have 4 hunters on our 400 acres and everyone waiting for a nice deer but we didn't get anything opening morning. About 2:00 I had a the 8 pointer below come limping up to me. He already had a coyote following him so I figured he wouldn't make it and shot him. He had a back leg blown out. I'm not sure how you shoot a deer that far back with a rifle,but I guess things happen. Not that I am disappointed with him, but as they say he would have been a hell of a deer next year. My buddy then shot the nice 14 Sunday morning. I was staying warm back at camp and was thinking I was lucky to not be in stand that morning, but I was wrong. His deer scored 153 before deductions and drying, mine only 114. We did notice a lot of does moving and bucks still chasing, rubbing, and scraping. One of our hunters had a young 8 charge in after rattling so they are still hot after it. I am sorry to hear about CiRe's story and losing an uncle. Stay warm out there and be safe.

I'm planning on attending the second tournament. These are always a good time and Phil does a great job putting them. If you haven't fished them in the past I suggest giving them a try. There isn't much else going on that time of year.

That's a hell of season before the rifles come out. Great job! Also, I commend you on not taking a shot on the second buck and waiting to track one you were sure you hit. There are hunters in the woods that would not do the same and it gives us a bad name.

Awesome deer, congrats. I hope I can post one after this weekend.

I had that happen a few years back, then my buddy did the next night. I think certain times of the year they are pretty thick. Who knows how many times you come close or have hit them in the past. Now I just blame a bad cast at night on the bats.

Susan park has a fairly small lake loaded with shad. Is that the lake you are referring to jpb2187?

I assume your neighbor is allowing this, so I would make friends the some law enforcement. They have ways to pursued them to move. People like that usually have a warrant out for something.

Columbia Bottoms is the area you are referring to. I would do your homework before heading up there. Those big rivers (Mississippi and Missouri) can be tough to fish from the bank.

These look exactly like the old Berkley deep diving thundersticks. I think they just renamed them.

I appreciate the concern. Unfortunately I kind of already fill that roll in our hunting group. The other three guys aren't really that big into fishing, more so the hunting. I like both, so I get to do most of the fishing. I'll keep you guys in mind if I need some help. Rifle season this year is going to include a few fish fries.

Forgot this.

I got to hit up the deer lease ponds again over the weekend. One of the ponds seemed pretty thick with crappie so we decided to thin it out a bit. We are on private land, so limits do not apply. Had 44 Sunday morning out of one 30 by 30 foot spot in the pond. All the fish were pretty much 10 1/2 inch clones of each other. We threw back a few small ones, but I am not sure we really put a dent in the population. Anyone have an opinion on keeping crappie populations in check on smaller ponds? Also, had a bull come square up with us while we were cleaning fish. I think I know why this pond never gets fished now. He finally got bored and left after a half hour.

W headed up to our new deer lease to set some cameras and drop off some stands. The google earth pics showed some ponds so we brought some rods with us. We were only able to get to 2 of the ponds, but I may be more excited about the fishing than hunting. I nailed this guy at the first pond. That pond also has a ton of nice gills and crappie. The second pond had a lot more nice bass. I lost one even bigger and had too many 3-4lbers to count. I can't wait to hit the other two ponds, but I will need a four wheeler to get back to them.

The fishing was so so this weekend. We definitely had to work for them. Bass fishing was tuff, we caught a few in the mornings on plastic worms with the best success coming on main lake points in the mutton creek area. We found a few keepers but nothing over 3lbs. We were able to get a few off of bridge pillars on grubs and spinner baits as usual. Looked for the whites all over but only saw a few surfacing, which was disappointing. As hot as it was and marking fish deep/suspended we took to trolling. Found the whites and a few nice crappie. If you were marking bait they seemed to be near. Crappie and whites where on the flats using flicker shads and bombers. Crappie seemed to hit the deeper running baits. Trolled some points in the same areas and picked up more bass than I expected, also picked up half dozen wallagators, but only one keeper. The whites seemed to be a scattered near the points as well, but always after marking shad. I tried the the trolling rig with a spoon/crank and caught a few on it, but I was only picking up fish on the crankbait part so I dropped the spoon after a few tangles. The lake looked to be in great shape and was a little busier than in previous years, but everyone seemed to be behaving themselves. Lastly, I did not notice and cut lips on any of the bass, I hope that crap is over.

Thanks for the info on that trolling rig. I will have to give it a try this weekend. I will let you know how we do.

Interesting trolling method. How long on a leader do you have on the crankbait and spoon from your swivel?

Black River Lodge is a awesome place. I have some great memories there as a child. Might need to start heading there again when my son and (coming in Oct.) daughter get a little older. Great report on the fishing.

I don't think those things could handle wind and wake. Also, it would take awhile to get to your spots unless you were on smaller water. Cool concept though.