Gavin

Glad you had a nice trip. The Ned works well because of its buoyancy, lack of profile, and small size. If fish are active you want to fish something else. Usually go with an 1/8oz head with a wire guard on the river. Bite me hunter ball head, or the stand up head. Great hooks, good weedguards, and they don't snag up much. Its not the T-rock preferred head but they work for me. The hooks are a bit larger so cut your worm a bit longer. Don't think that a Ned wont catch big river smallmouth...Best to date on it is 19.75" plus a couple in the 17-18.5" range. I'd rather fish a jerkbait though.

Look at Yakima or Thule racks. They have fit guides on their websites and can direct you to a dealer.

Why not? Glad you had fun and caught dinner.

The bead head rubber leg RFSN is one of my top 3, Pat's Rubberlegs, and egg are the other two. New fangled streamers are more trouble to tie, and they don't produce as well as a good minnow hard bait.

How the bait sits IS a huge factor. Nose down or flat is good. Nose up=no bites.

6' medium spin. Will toss a 1/2oz or lightweight stuff.

Mitch read and shot me a text about the Albright jig. Buck tail red thread skinny grub. Single plastic guard. Produce a pic with a ruler to gauge size & proportions and I will tie you some.

Get a pic of one. It does not sound like something that is hard to re-create.

Good looking heads! Any guitar player would give you some old guitar strings. Strings lose there tone, and need to be replaced often. High quality gauged stainless wire...

That's some good accounting work Al. Want to fill out some tax returns if I need some extra help;>)!

Thanks for the tip Old Plug. Will check them out. As for colors, water clarity is an important factor. Imitative minnow/shad colors are my go to depending on clarity. If murky toss a bigger bait in your favorite color. I like the 128-130mm baits(5") a lot, 3.5"-4.5" is prime time mostly but I carry bigger, smaller, and some high end floaters for low clear river conditions. Been trying out some Duo Realis baits, good results so far. Run well, nicely made, cheaper than a Mega or LC.

Good for you guys. Glad you had a great day!

I've had a few fish related elbow & shoulder issues over years. I agree with Phil. Get a good chiropractor and a massage therapist to put you back in place. Hurts like heck for a bit but well worth it.

Lots of ways to screw up.

Lots of bs and shinola in the ancient mysteries of fishing. All you gotta do is toss something in the water near the fish w/o screwing it up.

I love the high end Japanese baits but the big box in the USA is screwing that up. Bass pro picked a bait I really like a few years ago and has totally dried up the good colors in favor of the crap colors that most folks buy.

Great fishing near the Fort. Smallmouth on the Gasconade & Big Piney(good bit of the piney runs though the base). Plenty of trout fishing nearby too. You will have a ball if you like to hunt or fish. Not much else to do there. I'm sure that you will find some friends on base with an interest. Good luck to you.

0zark does a great job with that class. Definetly worth your time if you want to get started with fly tying.

The science experim

Cheaper in terms of time to buy the stuff. Plus I've never seen a chartreuse deer on the side if the road.

Used too, woulda, couda, shougha, CGB. Keep on trucking with what you got but this is no BS.

If you know how to slider fish the Ned will be easy. Just a better bait and these guys have taken it to new levels. 1/8 or up for the river the river though. They eat on the bottom or top in the river. Best to get your candy where the fish are quickly.

Good time! Nice to meet Seth & Blazer chat with Bigs, Al, and many others. Folks new to me, and folks known, all river bass fanatics! That's a good thing! Mitch gave a good talk. You always learn a few things from him. Steve had some impressive hair jigs. Great tier! Will be ripping off a few of his designs.

Sounds good. Have a couple hundy handy for sales tax, paddles, life jacket, and kayak angler gizmos.

Wish I could help, but will clean up some stuff closer. Little Piney always needs some, Vida & The Forest Service spot at Milldam mostly.