fishinwrench

Find ya one of these... This one took 42 years of river punishment and still looks and operates as good as new.

At 3am I'd say he was either fishing or chasing tail. No mention of the Champion in that accident report ?

I purposely don't talk about that area of the lake much.

What? Another round reel guy? I love'em. Best dang baitcasting reel ever made IMO.

I'm all good for the moment, but if the price is right I'm not afraid to stockpile.

Every G-3 boat I've ever met has been a fine craft.

I went out this afternoon/evening and caught 4 keepers and several shorts. The best fish (3lbs+) came shallow on a big spinnerbait and the other 3 keepers came from 10-12' brushpiles down in the clearer water on a worm. It's clearing up fast in the Gravois. Water temps are 82-84°. The muddy upper ends are still cooler than the clearer water down further. If I was fishing for a heavy sack I'd stay up in the mud all day long.

The walleye fishing here is sketchy, I've been here 25 years and only know of one time a person actually caught a limit of them. Could be just because we don't know how to target them, but I'd challenge anyone to say they are going "walleye fishing" and come back with more than ONE.

I use P-Line CX Premium which is a co-poly. I wish it was a tad limper but I love it for its abrasion resistance and knot strength. It also doesn't seem to degrade (rot) like mono. It has an incredible shelf life.

See, that's the common misconception... That IF you don't believe the words of the bible then you must be a drunken thief (or similar type person), or that you have been overtaken by Satan and worship HIM instead. That is the furthest from the truth. I don't have any beliefs in Satan either. A person doesn't need God in their life to be genuinely honest, helpful, caring, and just be a good person. The payoff for being genuinely good are immediate and everlasting even without religious faith.

I appreciate that. Maybe someday in person that would be great. I have done a considerable amount of bible study (cover to cover, not just random snipets of scripture) and I find it flawed terribly. So since all we truly know about God is what is in the bible that leaves me in serious doubt. Religion has a vital place in society no doubt. It makes things easier (tolerable) for folks that can't handle the harsh realitys of life/death, but I'm not sure I can be convinced that any of it is actually true. I have tried really hard because I was raised by Christians and really want to think it is possible, but I grew up to be a free thinker and can't fool myself into truly believing something just because everyone else does, or because it makes the hardest parts of living easier. I can't even get through the first 5 pages of Genesis without feeling like I am reading a fairy tale written by retards. What is there, besides the bible, that anchors the belief ? And how can you ignore the validity of the things spoken by guys like Penn Jillette or Christopher Hitchens ? Although I do NOT consider myself an "athiest", to me those guys are intelligent and make perfect sense of it all.

Absolutely! The hardest thing about deep water worm/jig fishing is knowing when the bait is in a fishes mouth. Some days I can't tell until it's too late, and that is with only 15-20 feet of line out. Add another 20+' of line and you are clueless to probably 80% of the bites.

Nobody will ever be able to answer that I don't think. Nobody knows. If you want to base your patterns around currents in the lake then concentrate only in the NARROWER areas of the main lake where it is more likely to make a difference. I truly don't know, and don't know how to find out....so I ignore it. Some guys claim to have all that figured out but I think they are full of beans, because they don't catch them any more consistently than anyone else over the period of a year.

So just work on becoming the best Bank Beater you can be. There are always good fish within a short cast of the shoreline. The shallower a fish is the more active it is likely to be IMO. Those deep fish are flakey, I can't depend on them one bit. There is always something that makes deep water fishing miserable (wind, boat traffic, ect.). but those shallow backends are always safe. The water is always calm, never any crazy boat traffic or whitecaps, no big rollers ever, it is the closest thing to "stable conditions" you'll find anywhere on any lake.

Bass fishing is so cool because there are so many ways to catch them, it never has to get boring. I enjoy fishing deeper unseen water for them but I'm truly not very good at that, so if I am competing then I have to fish the way I feel I have the best chance at catching the biggest 5 fish that I possibly can even though I do get pretty tired of fishing that way sometimes. I don't have any desire to get back into tournament fishing really. It's easier for me to take someones money by fixing their boats than it is to take it by trying to beat them at fishing. And I noticed early on that if I beat a guy fishing more often than not then he will NEVER bring his boat to my shop. Funny how that works

I'm rather jealous of you guys, I'd love to believe in my heart that it is real. But I just can't And it does no good to pretend.

Shade is a biggie. Anyplace where I can't see the bottom then there could be a fish there. Cables in the water are where I've caught some of the biggest fish, they'll lay right under the lowest part of the cable or where the cable first touches the water on the shoreline side IF they are unaware of your presence. Once they detect something in their area then they'll ease back under the dock. Right under the walkway on the bank side, or under walkway supports are places they will lay and feed. You gotta drop a bait right in their face and they'll bite out of reflex. Trick shots (skipping way back under the docks between floats) is what I try at the very last before I give up and leave a backend. I don't take a chance with those type shots until I've done everything else because if you miss and smack a float or hoist then you've spooked the whole backend. Typically they won't be that far under the docks UNLESS they are already semi-spooked. I go out of my way NOT to Spook them as I ease in there so that I don't have to rely on my super-human pitching skills to catch them. When you first start in there the fish are usually laying under a cable easy to get to, but if you stay on that trolling motor too long or make some racket then they'll ease up under the dock....where they are harder to catch. They don't hide under docks to EAT, they hide under docks because they know YOU ARE THERE.

Finding them is easy, they are there. Catching them takes some effort that not many guys wanna do. You have to ease back in the quiet backends where nobody is stomping on docks or swimming. Turn the livewell pumps off, depthfinders off, and only use the trolling motor if you absoutely have to. Fish move up into those backends at night to feed and will hunker down and stay put until something scares them off. These 3 came off the same shallow dock recently in less than 20 seconds You have to have multiple rods rigged and ready, swing one fish in QUIETLY and grab another rod right away, swing another in and grab another rod, ect. If you take time to gawk at the first one, unhook him and high-five your partner... well while you were doing that all the others got the hell out of there. Get another bait in their face while they are still trying to figure out what just happened to their buddy.

LOL, That is actually a anniversary pic. Fathers day last year. Same day, different fish

Before they started drawing the lake down the edges of seawalls and concrete ramps were a sure thing. It's not quite as dependable on those spots now, but the shallow jig bite is just as good.

There's just something weird about fishing where there are "cabs". But hey...

Speaking of hurricanes, it looks on radar like Northern Mo. is having one. Recently divorced hu? Well bless your heart. Don't forget that as sweet as the butcher seems...there's someone out there that wants to choke her.

That's cool. There's just too many things it could be for us to start sending you on goose chases. I can narrow it down to heart of the issue in about 30 minutes if I could lay hands on it.

Why the disappointment? Dirty water is a GOOD thing. Capitalize on it while you can.