97procraft

I was paired up with Dion at this tournament last year. It is amazing how far that guy can get a lure under a dock. He catches fish from places that 95% of us will never get to.

Fish get transported all over the country all the time. I am sure that if a dolphin can make the trip in a tank from Florida to Connecticut a bass should not have a problem with a small 1 hour ride. I am sure they will be given every special attention they can to ensure their survival. Lets give these guys the benifit of the doubt before throughing them under the bus.

Last year I went to Lake Vermilion in MN for a week of fishing. I hired a guide for walleye and he told us that the rusty crayfish was introduced in the 90's and they have taken over the lake. He told us that they have killed all of the native crawfish and have eaten most of the vegetation out of the lake that the native fish species use for cover from those toothy predators. The lake was murky when we got there, but cleared up by the end of the weekend and the guide was not kidding. You could look into the lake and see them everywhere. Each rock the size of a volleyball had at least 6 rusty's on it. On the other hand it was not hard to catch smallies. All we needed was a watermelon red flake tube and it was on. Pretty much each day was 15-20 smallies each from 2-5 lbs. There was also some pike, Muskie, and walleyes mixed in there all on the tube. My dad landed two Muskie over 40" on a tube.

It is illegal to sell crawfish in Missouri, don't know about Arkansas.

Do you wake that f-13 or jerk it on top? Looks like a great trip.

You may want to make that offer to some of the guys on ebay. They usually only sell them in smaller packages, but most are open to offers. I would think with an order that size they will be willing to talk. Send out offers to several and shop around. I have done this in the past, some will take offers, and some will think you are trying to rob them.

stuartsx5, I haven't found a bad time of year yet. My favorite time is the fall (October), just because the boat traffic is less and the cats bunch up and feed consistantly. The earliest I have started jugging has been early March. We ended up with 12 in one day that time. I stay away from LOZ in the summer time, so I don't know what the fishing is like then. We anchor ours with a 10-16oz weight, and have one hook 5' off the bottom and another 10' off the bottom. I try to find them on the fish finder and then drop the line right in the group. You can catch a ton of fish if you find them first. Jugging for cats was kind of an after thought, so we only used two jugs this weekend. If we go down targeting cats we will use 10-15 jugs. My buddy likes using shad, I like using small bluegil. Those 2.5-3" bluegil will catch more fish than the bigger ones. Our 4 cats were in the 5-10 lb range.

Wow, after reading some of the other posts, I feel really good about my fishing this weekend. My buddy and I fished the area around Captain Ron's and did really well. Friday night we ended up with 15 total. All on jigs and in 5' or less. Saturday was more of the same. We fished from 8-11 am took a break to fix a few things at his place and headed out that evening. The evening bite, 6.30 to 8.30, was on fire. We ended up with 30 for the day. Fished from 7-10 this morning and had to search for them, but found them in the same depth in a different part of the cove. Ended up with 10 more today. Almost 2 limits each and 4 catfish on jugs made it a great couple of days. Side note, only 3 crappie we cleaned had eggs in them.

thanks

I will be heading down this weekend also. Are you using jigs or minnows?

It sure makes me want to experiment with it a little more.

I like around the 3 min mark where one of the baits was not running correct and the bass still hit it. I always wonder if they will hit it if it is not running correctly. A couple of the ones at the end looked like he was just holding it directly below the boat and the were schooling around it. Really give you a different look at bass activity. thanks.

We tax payers have been building baseball, football, hockey and other arenas all over this state for decades. I am not surprised that someone figured how to do it on a lake.

Its a little late, but fish a club tourney there on March 15. I caught several small bass on a red and black wiggle wart. Winners used jerk baits and jigs.

My daughter asked if I could paint one with her name on it. I painted it all red with her name in black and acutally caught fish with it on Clearwater a couple of weeks ago.

I tried Reclending also, but had to back out. What the were doing for me wasn't exactly on the up an up. Interest rates do suck, but that is what you have to contend with when buying a used boat. When someone tells you that they can cut the interest rate in half, it may be to good to be true. Check with your insurance company. Some of them will do loans.

With those numbers it is going to look like a nascar race heading up the river. Hopfully with the big bass bash on LOZ this weekend the spectater boats won't be a problem for these guys.

I will use nothing heavier than a medium for crankbaits, and my favorite rod is a Medium Light camo stix. I wish I would have bought several more of those before cabelas sold out, the had them or $30. I like the ML so I never have to set the hook, the fish will do that for you. The lighter action makes sure they don't throw the bait and I can use lighter line with it.

Is that a "new" wiggle wart. I thought that bass would only hit a "pre repala" wiggle wart.

got it. I will put it in the mail later this week.

I may have one at the house. I will look tonight and let you know. Jeff

Has anyone been over to Clearwater lake lately? Is there any ice on the lake?

I had cabin fever here in St. Louis and had to leave to get on some soft water. We ended up in Long Creek staying with friends. Went out Sat and Sun with little to no results. We fished bluff ends, channel swings, transition banks, timber and long points. Threw nothing but the A-rig and jerkbait both days. Nothing on the rig and only a few hits on the jerkbait. I just don't have the patience for that thing. Best thing that made it into the boat was someone elses A-rig that I snagged off of a submerged tree. Thanks for that by the way. Would like to hear how everyone else did. There were several other boats out both days this weekend.

Don't know if this guy is close to you, but here you go. http://www.bbcboards.net/missouri-bass-club/453937-trolling-motor.html good luck

Most V6 SUV/Trucks will pull a boat like that, just don't worry about gas milage. What you need to look at is how big the breaks are. Usually stoping is the problem with that much weight in the back, unless your trailer has breaks. I had a V6 Dakota with my 97 Procraft 170 and no trailer breaks. The truck pulled fine, but once I needed to stop fairly fast and the boat ended pushing me a lot farther than I expected. Luckly for me the person in front of me got out of the way and there was no accident. I ended up trading that in for a full size truck shortly after. Now I have a 20' skeeter with trailer breaks and love it. Come to think about it, I may need to change my screen name.