Blazerman

This past summer we upgraded our swim ladder to a Wet Step and the old ladder was sunk at the back end of one of our boat slips. I also ended up hanging two of the christmas trees off the dock and i plan on setting the other 3 horizontally behind the dock.

I managed to get 5 nice big Christmas trees from a local lot yesterday and now I am thinking about the best way to sink them. I have done it before and i normally cut some branches off to give them some openings between the branches and then tie a line to the top and add some weight to the trunk at the bottom and hang them off the dock. But maybe placing them horizontal would be better? Also it might be better to let them sit for a month or two to dry out and lose the needles? Also might be better to sink two or three together? Create a good size brush pile right behind my dock? I am curious to hear what you all think is the best way?

You too dude. I fished my very first bass tournament as a co-angler with two rods. One had a Ambassadeur 4500 and the other was a zebco 33. I think it was 1975 and i was 18. BASS had a tournament at the Lake and there were a bunch of guys like Roland Martin and no one knew who they were at that time. My "Pro" was a farmer from mid missouri and my tourmament was not fun in his little "bass" boat in March with the wind howling. We were bouncing around while he was trying to run "up the river" and ended up breaking off the trolling motor and it went downhill from there. But i did actually catch more fish then he did. i was throwing a purple plastic worm and he thought i was nuts for fishing a worm in the cold water. After i caught a few including a decent keeper he said you got any more of those worms.

i'll tell you this about main lake points last year, my good buddy who has been fishing there his whole life of 60+ years kept texting me pics last spring of 5lb plus fish saying "man are you getting in on this main lake bite" He said in all his years he had never seen the bite so good for big bass. Based on his pcs i have no doubt it was happening. His place is in Racoon Holler and he would go from there straight to hopping around main lake points and hammer them time after time.

Lake News is reporting today Ameren says they will begin dropping it beginning in January. https://www.lakenewsonline.com/news/20191212/ameren-missouri-begins-winter-drawdown-at-lake-of-ozarks

Raising him right for sure. Good job Dad!

Nice boat and fish. Also nice that someone is running around the Meramec in a RiverPro now that Hogwally is slacking off running around the country for HD Tackle. I definitely miss running the river and fishing the Meramec in the fall.

Wild story. Be careful out there! https://www.newsweek.com/arkansas-hunter-deer-puncture-wounds-1467449

Saw a post on FB showing one of the boats fishing in the Gravois area this morning. Had the ref and the camera man with him.

Been there done that and that it why i am on my second blazer now.

I don't fish many tournaments but the one BFL i fished at LOTO taught me a lot. As a co-angler i got to watch a pretty good pro do his thing, which was flipping, pitching and skipping his bait around and under every dock he wanted to fish to. I was amazed by how far he could get a texas rigged worm up under a dock and also how consistently he could hit every little opening between the floats. Or under cables and next to piers. It showed me why they are catching fish that most average guys never get a bait to. It was fall fishing and a tough bite but he ended up getting his limit.

I have never hunted ducks but looking at these jigs makes me want to go out shoot some just to send you the feathers and get some jigs back.

I actually pulled up to a main lake point that has big brush pile that is about 15-20 deep and threw my deep running crankbait to come through it and ended up getting 5 fish there and 3 of them were keepers. Every time i felt it hit the brush and come through i would get a fish. There were two guys fishing in a really nice Nitro with dual power poles across the point from me and after i caught those fish they came over slowly and said hope you don't mind we came over but man we had to know what you're doing. They said we been fishing all day and not gotten squat and they were pre-fishing for this Costa tournament this weekend and we are not from around here and said we see you pull up and catch 5. So I showed them the crankbait and we talked a bit and i wished them luck. One thing i know from experience, i could pull up to that point 5 different times and not get anything and then on the 6th time they have decided to feed and they eat whatever is pitched in there and it can be fun.

The four keepers i caught Sunday were all on crainkbaits. I use a deep runner on main lake points and a squarebill around docks. Caught plenty of fish but no money fish.

Saw where some guys fishing the BBB at LOTO over the weekend got hit. They lost some rods and gear and their electronics. Sad deal. I found some solar motion detector lights that have magnets that i attach to my dock poles and i am hoping if the lights pop on it might make them want to move on.

No money fish for me but it was definitely better on Sunday after the rain. I had 4 keepers in the last couple hours but together they might of went 10lbs. Caught a bunch of shorts too. Always fun though.

What do all you think? Will it take a 4lber to get a check once again in every time slot? It seems the lake has been fishing pretty tough for bass lately. Tournament winning weights have been pretty low last few weeks.

I do not know if they are river strain but i agree there is a resident population of walleye in the white. Our group has been going there for 30 years in Feb. and every year we end up with some nice walleye while fishing for trout. And many time you can see them on the bottom as you float with the current. Seems like they migrate towards the dam to spawn and i have heard of guys targeting them in the state park at night with big jointed jerk baits. This past Feb i am pretty sure our group had more then any year before (but this pic is from a few years ago).

I had a big one last fall come straight to the boat as i was reeling as fast as i could and it went straight under and kept going and i almost broke my rod before i could push it into the water down under the boat so that the drag could pull as it was flying away. It then came back towards the boat and wrapped around the trolling motor and broke off. All i could do was shake my head a laugh.

Wow, all i can say is they know you well or they think you look like a criminal.

We are in our new house now which is located in Linn creek at LOTO and one thing I have noticed is the water patrol sit right at the entrance to Linn creek pretty much all weekend long. Yesterday he came and paid me a visit while I was fishing and I was surprised when he asked me for my fishing license. He actually watched me catch a crappie then pulled up and said that looked like a good one and I said yeah it was about 12”. And he said yeah looked like it. Then he said mine if I check your license? And I said really? And he said yeah. And I said I didn’t think you guys did that. And he said yeah we do. So he looked it up and then checked everything else on my boat and I was all legal and we chatted a bit about his job and the lake and how crazy it probably is. And then he was own is way. Nice guy and I have no problem with them being there but like I said I did not know they check for fishing licenses.

i enjoy those as well. The Joe Pickett game warden stories are really good if your into hunting and fishing. Once i read a couple i decided it would be better to read them in order. So i checked out Open Season and then read all 24 i think it was.

I have been reading my whole life and two of my favorite authors are C. J. Box and all the Joe Picket books about a Montana Game Warden and John Sandford who has the Lucas Davenport cop series. Anybody else read these? The Joe Picket books are very entertaining especially for anyone into hunting and fishing and outdoor activities.

Next time you are there head to the party cove as everyone is leaving and anchor about 3 quarters of the way back and you can drop a line there with about anything you want to use for bait and have a catfish on in about 30 seconds. The bluegill and catfish have learned that when people cove out and party hardy, they drop or throw out a lot of food. Any kind of cracker or chip will bring them to the surface and have them feeding in no time. Saturday we were at a very well know coving out cove around the 24 mile mark and i brought a light spinning rod with me just to have some fun catching the catfish that always show up. I was baiting my line with half a corn curl and had a medium size split shot above the hook and threw it out had about a 2 lb cat on in 30 seconds. I caught a bunch and they key was enough weight to get it past the bluegill fast enough to get it down to the catfish. I did not keep any but i believe if a person wanted a bunch of small cats for eating it would not be hard to fill up a cooler with small channels and blues. Think my biggest was about 3 lbs. If you tried it at night with the bait you were using i am sure you could pick up some bigger ones as well.

Here you go-