mixermarkb

Head to the Lew's store in Springfield when it re-opens after lockdown. They always have great In-store deals on closeouts or reconditioned reels. I'm a big fan of the regular BB-1 series. I prefer simple centrifugal brakes, and a minimum of bells and whistles, and that model has what I need in a reel, along with superb casting distance. The Tournament Pro is a great reel as well. Diawa, Shimano and Abu all make good reels, but I can't say enough about how the guys at Lews treat their customers. Out of 20+ reels, I've had two small issues, and both times, I dropped them off at lews and had them waiting on me by the time I got back to STL from Bull Shoals. Great products, with national headquarters right here. Its a no brainer to me.

That's sort of what I'm trying to say about my rig. I have scaled my boat to see exactly what it weighs, but it isn't pulling that I notice the big difference, it's stopping and just general handling. With my 2005 1/2 ton, or the 08 1/2 ton Yukon, I could feel the boat kind of push the truck. It wasn't bad, or unsafe, but man, when I went to the 3/4 ton and all of that push and sway is gone, it just feels so much more solid. It's the suspension, not the drivetrain that I like about the 3/4 ton.

I think it's all gonna be what you decide satisfactorily means. The wife and I are looking at a camper sometime in the next couple years, which is why I jumped into the 2500, but I gotta say yet again, I love love love how this truck tows my 20' champion. I wouldn't sell my 3/4 ton until you strap the boat to a 1/2 ton and see what it's like first if I were you. It would be hard for me to go back. I can still see myself occasionally towing with our Yukon once I get it running again, but I'm so sold on the big truck it's not even funny. Makes that 20' with a 225 on the tandem trailer feel like a 14' Jon with a 9.9 back there.

I'm kind of headed the opposite way. I've always had 1/2 ton GM's with the 5.7 or 5.3, and 3.42s (I think, I may have had a 3.73, im not 100 percent sure). I've towed 20' glass boats from St. Louis to Bull Shoals and Lake of the Ozarks all the time, with no problems. I recently bought a GMC 3/4 ton diesel, and now, I feel like I never knew what I was missing towing with a half ton. The absolute feeling of control, from the stopping power to pulling out on a two lane highway and getting up to speed in a hurry, not to mention fuel economy while towing, is just worlds better with the 2500. Were the 1500's fine? Yep. Would I go back now that I've done it a few times? NOPE.

I’ve been thinking real hard about a chatter bait, but it’s hard to commit time to a new technique when I don’t get to fish all that much. The MLF guys sure caught them on it post spawn last year tho-

Thanks Wrench!

I've been using it quite a bit because I can make long casts and cover lots of water. I'm snapping it hard and pretty fast, without much of a pause in the cadence. When the lake is high, it's in my head to cover water. If I catch a fish on the jerker, I go back with a swimbait or a ned or both. I kind of tend to get spun out when I look at all those trees and bushes in the lake, and feel like if I start throwing a fluke or senko at all of them, that its gonna take too much time. I've been fishing 6" to 8" swimbaits and the jerkbait and just moving down the areas I know fish stage this time of year, making long casts semi parallel to the bank, and trying to fish that outer bush line, cover as much water as I can looking for quality bites. I know when its high skies, the fish get in the bushes and you can get them with flipping, but I don't have the first clue how to pick which bushes to flip, when there is SO much flooded stuff to throw at.

nice looking boats. In my opinion, they are way overpriced and overcomplicated for a tin rig. In my opinion, boats are really only good for one thing, and the more "multipurpose" you try to make a particular boat, the less good its gonna be at anything. If you fish shallow rivers, tin with a jet is your jam. Troll for walleye and panfish? Deep V tin, with a big transom for a kicker. Bass fish on lakes? Glass all the way for ride in rough water. I don't really see anything that the Vexus does that couldn't be done better with a used glass boat, for the same or less money. I also agree mostly with Wrench. Simple mil spec switches for lights and pumps, an analog fuel gauge, a water pressure gauge, and a nice big dash for a 12'" to 15" graph with smartcraft interface gauges for everything else is what my dream design would be.

c'mon, don't make me pay that other site a fee just to read fishing reports!!!! lol- I'm thinking of coming out to fish tomorrow with my younger son. How's the mid gravois as far as water color? Anyone launch at Coffman since the COVID stuff? How are the crowds?

Regular 110. Tried the plus one, but it was getting down in the buckbrush and the normal 110 was staying above it.

Hey guys- What gear do you keep in your boat that is overlooked most of the time, but really dang handy when you need it? Most of us have good rainwear at this point, but something that I like is a cheap full face motorcycle helmet. I caught fish all morning yesterday under overcast and spitting rain. Quit when the downpour started, and had about a 15 minute boat ride back to the ramp. Sitting there warm and comfy in my rain gear and wearing that helmet, it was a nice cruise back at 55mph, and I was even able to see!! $35 a few years ago on Amazon, and I wouldn't take $500 for it on a rainy day. whats something you keep around that maybe the rest of us haven't thought of?

I kept thinking hard about a fluke and throwing that senko more, but I've had better luck with quality fish on the bigger swimbaits and jerkbait the last few years, so I kept on those. Shame it's flooded so bad, at normal or even like ten feet high level, it would be an absolute smackfest!

The lake is high. Real high. Higher than a farmer's market tie dye tshirt vendor on 420 day. Anyway, there are a few good ones to be found swimming around in al that extra water. I was down at Theodosia Marina Resort again this week, fished by myself on Monday while my wife enjoyed her solitude in the hotel room and the fact that we left the boys at home with Grandma. I got the boat in the water at Buck Creek late, after a heavy fog delay and some minor boat stuff to fix. There is a working ramp with a courtesy dock there, and another road that is just fine as a ramp as well. Fished around a little, caught somewhere north of 15, mix of all three black bass species. Buck largemouth and Kentuckies up in the bushes in the backs of creeks, along with a few better fish on the drops or in the channels in 4-6 feet of water. Wacky rig senko caught the buck bass, and caught 3 keeps on topwater in the channels. Smallmouth were on pea gravel, in the 15-20 foot range. There is quite a bit of buckbrush in the 12-15' range, and most of the smallies were on the outer edge of that buck brush, or on areas of open banks cleared for people's yards. They smack a jerkbait pretty hard anywhere there is a breeze, and Ned where there isn't. Water temps 58-63 in the back of pockets. Finished the day with a 19"+ largemouth in a swimbait out of a cedar in 20' of water at the mouth of a spawning pocket, to go with a couple 17" largemouths on similar stuff. Tuesday I also put in at Buck Creek, around 9am. Not a cloud in the sky, and fishing was tough. I still managed about 7 or 8 fish, with maybe 2 keeps, before taking a break to go eat some cold cuts with the wife, and she joined me in the boat for the afternoon. Buck Creek again, fished 3 till 6ish. She put 7 bass in the boat, mostly smallies with 2 or 3 keepers, a couple spots and one 15" LMB, all on a Ned rig. I caught about 10, with 3 or 4 keepers, mostly on a megabass 110 jerkbait, with a few on a kietech 3.3" with a 1/4oz ball head. Today with rain in the forecast, I dropped in at Spring Creek at 8am, and fished under overcast with spitting rain until a steady rain started with some thunder around noon. Started the day with a 22" walleye on the megabass jerker, and proceeded to smoke a variety of fat spots, a several shorts and a couple keeper LMB, and a few smallmouths on it until the wind died down. Picked up the Ned, and started in on the smallmouth for real. Several in the 16" range, then a pair of 18" on back to back casts! At least 6 keepers, maybe more. I don't have a clicker like Ham, but I know I was way over 20 fish in four hours. Public Service announcement- Boat launching at Theodosia is a zoo, and an overcrowded one at that. The ramp is flooded, and folks are launching off the road, and saw several backing rigs across hwy 160 to do it. It's dangerous in my opinion. Buck Creek and Spring Creek are a short drive away, and fully functional with courtesy ramps and all. There is no reason to fight the crowds and back across a highway, when there are other easy options. 2nd Public Service announcement- No name imported full face shield motorcycle helmet. Like $30 bucks on Amazon. I wouldn't trust my brain to one of these things riding an actual motorcycle, but it's flat out amazing for driving a bass boat in the rain or cold. That helmet, my Columbia rain gear and a pair of gloves, and I was snug as a bug in a rug for a 15 minute boat ride in a steady downpour, plus could actually see where I was going, which is always a plus when running a boat. Get one, stuff it in a boat storage compartment. Worth every freakin penny.

Not to understate Mr Morris's business skills, but love him or hate him, he owes gentlemen like Charlie Campbell, Stacey King, Dave Barker, and several others a debt he won't ever be able to repay. Be it an eye for talent, or just dumb luck, he sure found several great ambassadors for the BPS brand, right here in the ozarks. Charlie will be missed. We should all tie on a Christmas Tree spook, take a moment of silence, and throw it at a cedar in remembrance.

Nice work!

As long as its people from the same household, and they are being careful with social distancing, I don't have a problem with someone driving a few hours to fish for a few days. I dare say folks will have less contact with others fishing somewhere in the ozarks than most do "staying at home" eating at drive thru and carryout, and going grocery shopping and to home depot and lowes for "essentials" to work on all those quarantine honey-do chores.

I'll have to try it next time I'm down and staying somewhere where I can cook. I've gotten pretty good with a steak over the past few years, except our little beagle mix hates it when he sees me headed to the stove. Up here, it's a Costco NY strip, Tony Chachere's creole seasoning, red hot cast iron, ghee, and finish with a little butter right before letting it rest. The little pup is convinced I'm burning the house down, and goes back and forth from being under my feet, to staring the wife in the deep in eyes the whole time I'm cooking.

Man, over cooking a perfectly good cut of steak will get you thrown off the deck of my boat faster than your politics! Away with ye, ya heathen! Is Harter House extra special good meats?

While folks are asking if things are open... is the Ken's Pizza still open there? they pulled out of the STL area decades ago, and a few years back I found one open in Harrison... was a childhood favorite of mine

My wife's family from semo all talk about buffalo ribs. I've never had them, but the folks around Mississippi county love them.

What Vernon said. I like the blue and gray bottles of LocTite gel, but the yellow tubes of superglue gel from Dollar General work just fine as well, although it seems to take a little it longer to dry on the water.

In all honesty, what I'm saying BassPastor, is while they are a good bait, don't run out of keitechs and let that get in your head. They aren't magic. No bait is. If you found fish on a type of structure and location, keep fishing them, and keep trying to duplicate the pattern. If you are out of small swimbaits, throw grubs. If you don't have grubs, throw a Ned. If you don't have a Ned, break out a Crig French Fry or lizard. Often times, I catch fish on a jerkbait while someone in the back seat is tearing them up on small swimbaits or grubs, and pretty often, the jerkbait fish are better quality. There are a lot of mousetraps, and if you are out of one, keeping a positive mental attitude and finding another one that works is key. Too many times I've run out of a bait, or a certain color of bait, and flat psyched myself out of catching fish that I know now I could have caught had I not spun out. ps- you might be surprised what super glue does for a banged up Fat Swing Impact, as well as how many fish you can get out of a fresh one if you seat it to the head with superglue.

I go back and forth, grub is my confidence bait, but I have been known to make a second pass down a productive bank with the keitech after fishing it with a grub. If I'm really feeling froggy, I'll make a third pass with the Ned, especially if brown fish are involved.

Grubs still work. Sometimes better than keitechs. Shhh.

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