OneLung

This morning my buddy Sam and I went fishing in the coves on the west side of the main lake near the town of Stockton. As we were moving down the bank with the trolling motor, I heard some rustling in the trees near shore. When I looked over I saw this squirrel making his way out onto a branch that was overhanging a large boulder in the water. Now as the squirrel was making his way out on the branch I wondered what he was looking for, and behold, right on top of the boulder was a very large acorn. I told Sam to stop the boat so we could see what was going to happen. As the squirrel approached the end of the branch it was bending over (the branch that is) and getting very close to the top of the boulder. The next thing I know the squirrel leaps off the branch onto the top of the boulder and yes, you guessed it, the branch sprang back up out of the squirrels reach, trapping him on the boulder. The squirrel stared up at the branch for a moment, then commenced to eating the acorn. Both of us started laughing and wondered how that stupid squirrel was going to get off that boulder. Then all of a sudden out of the corner of my eye I saw this big wake in the water coming out of the weeds heading towards the boulder. And then BAM this huge Largemouth Bass came out of the water, grabbed the squirrel in its mouth, then crashed back into the water headed back to where it had came from. I was in shock to say the least. Sam and I looked at each other in amazement and could hardly believe what had happened. As we started to move away from the area, here came that wake in the water again. What happened next was truly amazing. That same huge Largemouth Bass came swimming up and carefully placed another acorn on top of that boulder.

I went fishing this morning, but after a short time I ran out of bait. Then, out of the corner of my eye, I saw a cottonmouth swimming along with a frog in his mouth. "Frogs are good bass bait" I thought to myself. Knowing the snake couldn't bite me with the frog in his mouth, I grabbed him right behind the head, took the frog, and put it in my bait bucket. Just then, I realized I had a problem, how was I going to release the snake without getting bit? So, I grabbed my bottle of Jack Daniels and poured a little whiskey in its mouth. The snakes eyes rolled back and he went limp. I released him into the lake without incident and carried on fishing using the frog. A little later, I felt a nudge at my foot. There was that same snake back again with two more frogs in his mouth.

There's a guy on eBay who's here in Missouri selling scaled-down 3-lead versions of the A-rig. It's a lot smaller than the original and I've been catching some nice crappie with it. Just search eBay for umbrella rig and select the 3-lead version.

Thanks

I just purchased a Humminbird 998c combo. I can read the 12MB PDF file until my eyes cross, but it can't give me the tips and tricks known only by fishermen who actually use it. Anyone have any advice on using this thing?

http://lmgtfy.com/?q=Illinois+fishing+regulations

The boat is sold. Thanks to everyone who looked at it.

I have a couple of these rigs. One 5-wire and one 3-wire. There's no doubt they work, but they kind of take the fun out of Bass fishing. What I would like to see is a miniature version of this rig designed to catch crappie. It could come in handy when I want to catch several of them fast to cook-up for dinner.

Located in Stockton, MO. Please go to http://boat.dwallace.net/ for a full description and photos of this boat.

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I use 4" Berkley "Alive" minnows on mine. To make it legal for MO, I simply tie-on two of the minnows without hooks, leaving only three with hooks. Still works great. If you're using lures, just remove the treble hooks from two of them.

If you have one of the newer down-scan-imaging and/or side-scan imaging fish finders, DO NOT install the trandsucer through-the-hull. You will seriously degrade the down-scan sensitivity and completely destroy the side-scan imaging. It's easy to install what's called a TDA (Transducer Deployment Arm) on just about any kayak. Here a link to the one I use... http://kayakfishinggear.com/liberatorbymadfroggear-fishfinderplatformandtransducerarmdeployershownwithaportablefishfindernotincluded.aspx Also, a 7.5 AH Dry Cell battery will keep your fish finder going all day.

Don't get me wrong. After being born, raised and living most of my life in the desert SouthWest, moving to Stockton, MO for an avid fisherman like myself is akin to dying and waking up in heaven. I just have to keep in mind that I am in a Red section of a solidly Blue state and, traditionally, Blue politicians and their bureaucrat minions are hell-bent on squeezing every penny out of me they possibly can. Often using the guise of security, safety and progress. i recently bought a Hobie Pro Angler fishing kayak This thing is so freakin cool, I'm thinking about selling my conventional bass-boat. And it doesn't have to be registered because it's leg-powered. Hobie calls it a "mirage" drive. I call it a "Flintstone" drive.

I often fish from a Hobie Pro Angler kayak. I launch it from the public ramp at the end of RB road in Stockton and usually follow the curves around the coves and never venture too far out into open water. If you use a side-imaging fish finder, you may discover many places in those coves where monster bass are hanging out.

Missouri is just as bad. I moved to Stockton in July 2011. I misplaced my birth certificate and had to get it replaced before I could get a MO license. CA said it would take 6-8 weeks and I wasn't going to wait that long to go fishing, so I bought an out-of-state fishing license; $48.00 for a license that exires in Feb 2012. Geeezzz. Then when I finally got my birth certificate, it cost me another $150 to title the boat, motor and trailer. In Arizona, a permenent plate for the trailer is only $13.00. I didn't have to title the boat becuase it's under 15' (14' 11") and the motor is personal property. Here you have to title everything. I just wrote another check for $112 today to title/license the Hobie Kayak trailer I just bought. Sales tax is a full 8% if you live inside the city of Stockton.