Blazerman

If you think boating is bad in Missouri, checks this out. https://www.al.com/news/birmingham/2019/07/alabama-suffers-25-boating-deaths-in-2019-the-deadliest-year-on-state-waters-since-1998.html

Last night we caught probably 20-25 crappie off the dock but only 2 of them were over 10", which is my personal limit. The first one i caught was 10.5" so i kept it thinking it was the start of a getting a good limit of fish. But that was not to be. I put that one plus the other decent one in a fish basket and let it sink about 10' down and this morning both of them were fine, so i let them go. I bought 3 dozen minnows and the minnow bucket worked great. All the minnow stayed lively all night and the few i had left were still fine this morning.

Thanks for the responses. I plan on getting one of these and see how it goes. https://www.academy.com/shop/pdp/marine-metal-products-cool-bubbles-8-qt-insulated-livewell?gclid=EAIaIQobChMIwObPreW-4wIVRr7ACh0-zQdcEAQYBCABEgJBb_D_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds#repChildCatid=12044&affcode=42&campid=1757576084&adgroupid=67599021726&device=c&keyword=010951861&Channel=pla

In this heat is it reasonable to expect minnows to stay alive for long? Or is there a way that can help keep them alive for longer periods? I tried fishing with some fish lights after dark last weekend and was surprised we actually caught some decent crappie. We did not keep any but this weekend i plan on doing it again and maybe keep a few. Last weekend I bought 2 dozen minnows and had them in a Styrofoam minnow bucket and some died pretty quick, and some lasted to the next morning. But i was thinking maybe there is something i could do to help them survive. Which brings up another question. If i put the crappie in a fish basket and let it go down 5-10 feet, will the crappie stay alive for a while? Or should i just put them on ice in a cooler? My plan is to fish long enough to hopefully get enough to clean, like 10 to 15, then clean them when it gets light.

Great stories and great memories. i am lucky that i have a bunch of those memories too from all there years of fishing with my kids. And that smallmouth looks huge for the length of it. It is probably the heaviest smallmouth under 18" i have seen here in Missouri. Looks like a northern smallmouth actually. Like you get in Canada.

It is an 18/56 and has a merc 90/65. It is not a go fast boat by any stretch. I can cruise between 25-30 when it is loaded. I actually wish i had gone up to the 115/90. But because it is a 4 stroke i get great mileage for a jet. Neat thing at LOTO was taking it up past the swinging bridge on the glaize a couple different times last summer. And i plan on running up the nianguas too very soon.

Here is my experience with fishing in and around STL. When my kids were young I spent many days on the Meramec, either wading or in a canoe. We would haul them all ( I have 3) along with other family or friends to the caverns and hang out there on the gravel beaches alongside the parking lot. Sometimes we would camp there. But mostly it was just a day trip where the kids would swim, fish and play in the water and I would wade and fish as I could. Then later as they were getting older I found property that I bought on the Meramec and ended up going from the canoe to a jet boat. I had 3 different jet boats while we were there and still have the last one I bought in 2015, which was a modified V Blazer. We spent 14 years there and loved it until they got older and went off to college and we got tired of the flooding and finally sold it. When we sold the river place we bought a condo by the Grand Glaize Bridge at LOTO and I had the Blazer on a lift there 18 months and loved it. Recently we bought a house by Linn creek and now the Blazer is sitting on the lift there. I have also hauled my boat to many of the smaller MCD lakes where it is trolling motor only, like Little Dixie. And also to the Quiver river state park and the lake there. I got the Blazer I did because I knew I could use it on the river and also on area lakes. I think many people do not realize how versatile a modified V on the front of a jet boat is. I have had no issues with my boat on rivers running shallow and also had no issues using it on big lakes. I use it on LOTO, and have been to Tablerock, Bull Shoals, and hauled it to Rainy lake in Canada for two different week long trips. I also haul it to the White river below Bull Shoals every year. Like any other fishing boat, there are times I do not run the main channel at LOTO. But for almost 8 months of the year I can go about anywhere I want as long as I use common sense.

My wife caught this one out of the Meramec a few years ago and it is still the biggest smallmouth i have ever seen . We didn't weight it but is was 22".

I know in my own experience my electronics have helped me a lot. I am an old river fisherman that has moved to LOTO. I have two nice Garmin's on my boats that I did not use much on the river. Once I started fishing the lake, I have learned to look for brush and depth changes, and channels swings and anything else that will hold fish. I am now catching bass and crappie I probably would not even of known were there before. It is really cool to be to see a brush pile on the graph and then make a cast to it with a bass or crappie jig, and then feel the tap as the bait gets to the brush. And then set the hook and have a fish on. I have also fished to the dots on the screen many times now and caught them. And again I would not have known they were there before. I am in no way saying I am ready to compete on any tournament circuit, but it sure has been fun learning how to use them.

Plus, at the check out you don't get asked 17 questions about wanted to help out the starving kids in Ethiopia or donating to an organization to help some spotted zebra that needs saving.

I have posted before about catching crappie on zig jigs and last time i got into some the ginger color in the 1/16 size was out fishing all our other plastic jigs about 4-1. And this was about 4 weeks ago in some really cold water. And they are always great under a bobber.

Our condo at LOTO is right by the Grand Glaize bridge. One spring while we were crappie fishing in my boat not far from the condo the sky start looking pretty dark to the southwest and I said to my buddy, looks like we might get some rain. Not a minute later the storm sirens went off and a loud speaker on the bridge announced a that a tornado warning had been issued for our area. I did not know they did that and we heeded the warning and headed to the dock. Once we got there and tied up in our slip the wind started kicking up and the rain started but we were under cover so I dropped a crappie jig in one of the slips and it got bit by a crappie before it had sunk 12 inches. And it was a nice one. So I threw it in the live well and dropped the jig again. And got another one right away. Told my buddy to drop his jig in and he had one just as fast. So we ended up staying on that dock and the whole time the storm was blasted the area with the wind and rain going sideways and lightning crashing all over. We kept looking for a tornado but never did see one so we kept fishing and had two real nice limits of crappie in probably 30 minutes.

i brought the Blazer although they were running water pretty much the whole time so no one had any issues going anywhere.

We had our annual trip last week through Sunday and had a blast like usual. Caught some good ones, biggest being a 4.1 brown. Also this year the walleye showed up, the guys had 8 total with the biggest being 7.1. This was our 30 year and the best part like always is the food and fellowship. The guys that put it on do an amazing job with all the meals and every year gets better. How they manage to bring and cook enough food for like 24 to 30 guys is mind boggling. This year i brought my son for the first time and he had a blast. That is him holding the brown. Also the last pic of the fish in the net, looks like a rainbow but has spots like a brown. Anybody know what it is?

in the past i would instantly say smallmouth in an Ozark stream. But after catching some nice hybrids this year i was amazed at how hard they hit and fight. Makes me want to catch a bunch more.

They are saying single digits on Sunday. i think if i had tickets i would be selling them quick and finding a nice bar to watch the game at.

you thinking week days or weekends? i cannot do week days unless it is after work like Snagged was saying.

Even after you get to be an old pro and run the rivers all the time you will still have mishaps. Ask any old river runner and they will tell you it is not a question of if only when it will happen. Most of them have many stories about the times they have crashed or ended up high and dry. The rivers change after every flood and things move around a lot. Like everyone is saying boulders are the worse and logs and stump can do damage so try to avoid them. Running shallow many times means you will beach or at least suck some gravel so get use to that. Only way to learn is to get out there and do it. I would say take it slow, but you normally want to stay on plain to run shallow so slowing down is not the best option in most cases. Good luck.

These are the pics he was trying to post

Funny you should say that. I spent yesterday evening powder coating a bunch of jigs heads. They are nice and bright and real pretty. Will do a couple more colors tonight to be ready for this weekend.

This guy knows what he is talking about. He has crappie catching dialed in and consistently catches them most every time out. These were from yesterday morning. (Thanks for taking me Ed). We fished with jigs and did not use any crappie nibbles. Some were under docks and some were near trees and brush near the bank.

After reading this thread I realize I have been very lucky dealing with thrashing whites and hybrids after dark using a crank bait with two treble hooks. Seems like they never stop fighting and thrashing while trying to unhook them. I am now going to make sure I have a new pair of side cutters and a first aid kit in my boat. One thing I have noticed though is I have hooked my paints leg or shorts a few different times while carrying my rods down to the boat because of the hook keepers hooked on the rod. It seems it always results in a torn article of clothing getting the hook back out when that happens.

i did get out for a while last evening at dark. I did not go after green bass as i thought the wind might fire up the white bass. I was right

I am in and i will come by and see my old river buddies for sure. My condo is 5 minutes from PB2 by land or by water so i will stop by for sure.