Jerry Rapp

19lbs won the Joe Bass Team tournament over the weekend. It usually has very good bass fishing in May, June and into July, then it normally gets really tough.

best way to visualize it would be a smaller size version of Truman. It is definitely a "northern" lake as it gets the brunt of many cold fronts that just graze the ozarks.

Chapman started within sight of take off, but it sounds like most were at the Sugar Loafs or above. Did anyone fish Theodosia area?

mother nature has a funny way of making things even. The next good warming trend will bring all the species back in for a normal spawn. That warming trend looks like it will begin toward the end of the week. As usual, end of April, first part of May will be spawn time in the Ozarks. My grandpa always said it was related to the amount of daylight. Words of wisdom, most every year in my many years of watching it has held true.

today is the 21st of April, not the 1st of April

lots of good information and reality in your post Champ 188. Even with 100 boats you would probably have to be in the top 5 to break even. I did it for many years, won two boats along the way. I was doing as a business write off with a website and magazine and we kept track of every dime. Never came close to breaking even fishing tournaments.

my opinion, buy them at Wal Mart. Charge them as soon as you can after use. If you use them 10 or so times a year you can get 2 or 3 years out of them. If you use them 6 or 7 times a month like me, as soon as I feel they are petering out I will go get new ones at Wal Mart, maybe 1.5 years. If one is bad when you buy it (happened to me once), then a no hassle replacement at Wal mart. You are probably fishing in a 30,000 dollar plus boat, and the trolling motor is your most precious add on, just spend 200 dollars on new batteries each year and your peace of mind will be good.

Zara Spook, silver shore minnow color, modifed old Pop R with a white belly(any color on top of it), little head knocker buzzer in black, and I would guess number 4 would be a tiny torpedo, though I will admit it has been years since I have thrown it. I think I will dig some out now and try them this year. Crankbaits? Blue back/chart sides, or Sexy shad, and if I have to resort to crankbaits, it is not a good day.

consideration and respect is quickly becoming a thing of the past.

thanks for the report Al. Very good read and heck of a lot better than Donnie's stories!

here is my opinon. I have done the braid, co polymers, flouro thing. Just get some Big Game Trilene and use what pound test you want for the conditions. You will never worry about respooling(the cost factor) and I bet you catch just as many fish. I am just saying.

Ron's little hair jig did good today. By the way, the water temperature in the lake we fished today has fallen from the low 70's to the upper 50's in just a week. Everything is back to semi normal I think. No topwater bite at all today. But they did like a weightless fluke. The guy in the front of the boat lost a photo fish, but several good chunks came on board today. Crappie were non existent. One of the locals had one nice black crappie, but he said they have pulled out also.

a lot of times, especially this time of year, the fish will stay on the original bankline. So if you can't get bit in the new water, back off a bit and check to see if the fishies are still where they were.

haven't been on Wappapello for a while, but I have been fishing Clearwater a lot. The crappie fishermen there have been thick, with lots of crappies being caught. Doesn't really seem to matter where, as the crappie fishermen have been close to the bank and drifting in the middle of the lake.

I have messed around with it some, but really don't enjoy fishing it. I think the main issue in tournaments is that now someone who has not put in the practice and time refining things for a tournament, can go out and catch 20+ lbs if they just stumble upon a school. Is it a phenomal bait, obviously. Is it a cure all for everything, no. I don't fish many big tournaments anymore, mostly 20 boats or less type events. But even in these derbies, if I consisently get beat by young uns throwing the rig, I will probably just quit fishing them. 25 years ago I would have had them fine tuned by now and catching some good fish on it. But now days I don't want to do that. It will be interesting to see how it all plays out in a year or two.

details man, details. Great fish!

I hear you Ozark. I use clear sewing thread when I fish the trout parks in the winter. But this A Rig bundle is making me think.

the Alabama Rigs success sort of contradicts all the promotion of non visible line over the last few years. If a contraption of 5 wires, 5 lead weights, and 80lb braid catches them in the clearwater lakes, then maybe the fisherman has been caught by the flourocarbon thing???? The A Rig just defies all about stealth, quite entries, and making a lure look as natural as possible.

I would have thought that for a $50K boat that would have been part of the deal.

really need a bit more info. What burnt up? Foot or hand operated? 12 or 24 volt. How old is it?(maybe a lot cheaper to get it fixed). Wrench and others will know a lot more than I do, but the additional info would be good. I always try to get and recommend getting the biggest one you can.

living the good life now and enjoying it.

fyi, Truman is a flood control lakes which protects folks all the way down the Osage, the Missouri, and Mississippi Rivers. It has paid for itself many times over in flood damage reduction. LOZ is not a flood control lake and they pass flood flows through as fast they can regardless. It sometimes gets above 660 but that is because of rains below Truman Dam.

I caught 2 last year in the same general area that weighed a little over 4 on dig scales. So yes, it is possible I suppose.

does Eddie B still exist?

lots of great discussion. Thanks folks. I am becoming more and more of a KISS person. I used to be a lure junkie delux and had to have everything, with duplicates of all. But after 45 years of serious fishing I have finally come to realize that I just use a few baits 95% of the time. So that's what I carry with me now. Even the bass boat only has five, one sided plano boxes, and about 10 bags of plastics, a few of my fav spinnerbaits and that's about it. When I go fish now with someone else, I usually don't take more than one plastic one sided box with the lures I think I might use and a bag with plastics, jigs, and hooks/sinkers, etc. It sure makes it easier and in the last two years I really think I have caught more than the previous 20 combined.