Alex Heitman

Champ I totally agreee with you. I myself was lucky enough to fish the B.A.S.S. Open last year at the Rock. I started saving early and my parents also helped me out with the entry fee, which was about $1500 not including tackle or boat gas. It has always been my dream to become a professional fisherman ever since I was a little kid. I thought this would be my best chance to start it out since it was on my home lake. I was and I still am attending college so it is very hard to work and go to school to come up with any money extra for fishing tournaments. Luckily my parents have very good jobs and I got the chance to fish in it. Plus if my dad did not have a boat i wouldn't be fishing at all. The tournament sucked for me to say the least. One fish to weigh in in the first two days is not going to get you anywhere. I still don't regret entering in the tourney even though it was terrible. With this being said, even though my parents have great jobs and believe in me as a fisherman, it takes a LOT of money to get you anywhere nowadays in this sport. With the price of boats, tackle, gas, tow truck, and not to mention entry fees, you better have a hell of a lot of money to start out fishing tournaments because it only takes a few tournaments with no check earned to put you in a hole. I just wish there was a different road to take but it is the only way to effectively compete with the best and that is the $$$.

I still think there are a lot yet to spawn. I caught several Kentuckies and Largemouth this weekend fat as could be with bloody tails. It's definetly been a weird year for the spawn though.

Stacey King and his partner won today with 22 and something lbs is all I know.

I have been catching all my fish dead shallow on the bank. My suggestion is to go find the dirtiest water you can find with a chunk rock and gravel bank. Cranks tubes and jigs have worked for me. It may be only a 50 yard stretch or so but that's the patter I have honed in.

I went fishing this past weekend in the Long Creek arm and caught a lot of bass right on the bank in the stained water. They were mostly big smallmouth with largemouths and kentuckies mixed in. All of them had been gorging on crawdads. A number of fish had pinchers sticking out of there throats. I caught all of them on crawdad colored cranks and tubes. A lot of times as soon as the bait would hit the water they would smash on it immediately right on the bank. I noticed a lot of people had talking about catching them in deeper water but all of the fish I caught were dead shallow. I think the stained water is the key that is holding them shallow and a lot of fish are coming up to spawn or they are spawning. Both Saturday and Sunday were terrific days. Between me and my brother we probably caught between 12-15 keepers a piece each day. It was especially fun catching some 3-4 lb smallmouth that would come staright at the boat and fight like a freight train, gotta love them smallmouth.

Thanks Nitroman. I checked it out and they do have very good prices and the jerseys look nice. Jerry Rapp, I got a steal on the boat from a guy who puts on tournaments for Bass Pro and jerseys were not included. LOL

Does anyone know where I can find a fishing jersey that is like Stacey King's one that says Nitro Z-9 on the front? I found plain nitro ones but I wanted one that has Z-9, so it matches my boat. I'm guessing a custom ordered one might be the only place to get one.

Im heading down for the weekend tomorrow and was curious if the bass are spawning in the dam area as good as I have herd in the river arms. I herd the fish are really moving up and just curious if anybody has been out fishing in the area.

You can them on auto or manual and I always run them manual. I don't trust the timers.

Hey guys I have a brand new Nitro z-9 boat and I have been having touble with my livewells I think. When I go out I fill them with clean water from my first fishing spot with the areation on high. I also put my recirulating pump on high as well. After I put the first fish in there, I turn on the oxygenators, which are running with the areation and recirculator as well.The fish seem to act fine for an hour, but after a while I notice they are putting their mouths toward the top of the livewell, as if gasping for air near the surface. After a few hours I will drain part of the live well and fill it back up again. After about three hours I have noticed the fish are starting to turn belly up. I have never had this problem before until now. The livewells seem to be performing just fine. I can't figure out the problem. I have always taken pride in proper fish handling, and I am just curious is there a small mistake I am making, or should I have my livewells checked out? Like I said it is a new boat so I am getting used to it still. What are you guys thoughts?

What an awesome day they had. I watched them catch a couple big ones right off my dock at my condo. I fished all last week down there and had good bites as well. My last day there Sunday was not as good, probablly my wrost day with only 5 or 6 keeps around the 3 pound range between the two of us. Looks like they caught all of them that day before I could get to them. Haha. Here is a couple pics of so nice ones I caught during the week

It didn't seem to matter what time of day it was and structure was also irrelavent also. Just as long as it was way back in the pockets where creeks or runoff came in. The wind was so bad over the weekend I just looked for an area that had protection from it. It seemed though if deep water was somewhat close to a long shallow flat in the back of the pocket they were there scattered close to the bank. The fish were not bunched up either, but I caught 4 or 5 nice keeps in each area I fished. All of them as fat as can be. This tells me the fish are exploring spwaning areas and more are going to come up early this year if the nice weather continues.

Mike, just noticed that Lake of the Ozarks and Table Rock are the only lakes that Lakemaster does not have on the Missouri list. I do not understand that at all. guess I will be getting Navionics then.

Which one is better for the humminbird unit? I have herd good things about both, but it looks like the navionics chip might be a little better and more detailed. What are your guys thoughts?

Has anyone been catching fish shallow in 8 ft or less in the very back of pockets where the water is warmer? I was down at the Rock last weekend and was surprised how many fish we caught that shallow. All of them were keepers with a couple of nice 5+ LM.