2 in a boat

Well, thx for all the optimism guys. lol After reading the replies I'm just hoping the house is still there this weekend when we come down. Thx for the tip on the lock Skeeter! I'm going that route and hoping someone else will be an easier hit than them taking the lower unit.

I have a very nice SS prop that when my boat is on the lift shines right out onto the open lake, you can see it 1/4 mile away, makes me nervous. Is there some way to replace the regular nut with some type of keyed nut? Like you see on a lug nut on high dollar chrome wheels? I'm not sure I want to take it on and off every time we come home as I will fish as long as the water isn't freezing in the eyelets. lol I know, wuss.

Nice job, nice fish! But wait, "just about all the fishing we can take." That's like that song, no such thing as too much fun. But you did say ALMOST. lol

Ditto. If you can't beat them, join them. But that would make you a Jayhawk abkeenan. You know it's your pic, I can't lay off it. lol

All the talk of "the fin" on here so I picked a couple up at Marks there off old hwy 13 a couple weeks ago. I think I paid 6.99 a piece, which I believe to be about $1 more than at Cabela's et all. I spent about 50 bucks in there, probably could have saved 5-7 bucks at the big stores, but; I had a great conversation with Mark, got some hot tips, talked to 3 other guys in there, spent about 45 minutes in there having a great time and met some fellow TRL fishermen. As opposed to asking some kid in the big store which colors for "the fin" are good for TRL when he has no idea what it even is. And waiting 10 minutes in a check out line to talk to another kid that gets confused when I say "hi, how are you this fine day". And in my truck 5-7 dollars worth of gas would get me to about Reeds Spring. You want to know what a fin is, or what the ned rig is, or how to drop shot and what to use, go talk to Mark, he usually has all the hottest stuff in stock with info on how, where, and when to use it. It will be the best 7 extra bucks you'll ever spend. Just my opinion, that a dollar now days will get you a cup of coffee.

PM'd ya, and thank you so much!

NICE!!!! Oh ya, that's making this afternoon in the office go by real fast, not!!!!

Reward is granted to those that persevere to allow opportunity to arrive. Just made that up, not bad. Mr. Babler is on the water A LOT, in all kinds of weather I wont fish, it pays off. That or he has some secret weapon that calls them whites up to him, maybe an old stash of Skin Bracer??? Headed down tonight, home dock is Hoot Owl Hollow, black Lund walk through, 200 merc, 9.9 pk kicker, love to meet any of y'all on here, wave me down. If you have an OAF sticker on ya, love to have a couple for the boat.

Well kyled, I'm guessing you don't know anything about a silver saddle as well then. lol Farmer's Daughters joke.

I know that out of the 100 or better blacks we caught over Memeorial Day weekend, 50% of them were 14.5 -14.75" long. I wandered if that was just a great hatch class 2-3 years ago, or is that just because they get thinned down to that length because to many people keep them if they are 15 or better? Or a third more likely answer is I suck at catching the big ones. lol

Being a KU fan I'll pass on the college football, for obvious reasons, and wait until hoops season. Talk about reloading! Is Chumming/Baiting channel cats on TRL legal?

As if it's not bad enough sitting here in KS at the office wishing I was at TR, you're killing me. lol Great morning, congrats!

That's a good question Sam and one I can not find a definitive answer on that I would want to gamble a ticket with MO conservation on. But from what I've read that IS still legal for catfish. I believe chumming/baiting is legal in MO. but would like a "FOR SURE" on that.

Shaker, I know, we all are. This whole college sports thing is just out of hand. Basically what we are telling our young people is tradition doesn't matter, history doesn't matter, camaraderie doesn't matter, unity doesn't matter, what matters is MONEY! Oopps, thought I was on ESPN, now back to fishen!

That's what I'm talken bout, just like we cook Tigers out here, but we add dumplings. You know abkeenan, your avatar pic depicting the desecration of the sacred bird who is the anointed one representing the temple which resides in the holy land of Lawrance KS is statistically incorrect. lol Man, why did you guys have to go to the SEC, I sure miss haten on Mizzu Tigers. lol

Ya I saw those traps up at Marks, man they look like crawdad catching machines. I think I'm going to get me one. Don't know if you guys are talking about bait, but I'm thinking more along the lines of straight to the table, by pass the fish.

Good to hear Mr Babler, if it ain't broke don't fix it.

Wow, thx so much for all the responses; Jason thx for the welcome. Believe me I've been out at times when you could put a piece of straw on a hook, wiggle it, and catch fish. Other times you through your tackle box at them, your buddy's tackle box, and borrow a couple lures from the boat you met and still can't get a fish. It was a great weekend of steady weather patterns, fish hungry just off the spawn, and I got lucky and found the pattern the first evening out. By no means do I think it's the norm, you take it when you can get it and hope it's enough to get you through the next 3-4 bad trips. lol I brought the goggleyes up with my neighbor and he also said they were great eating. He also told me that they do not fall in the same 15" limit as the black bass, which I did not know, and there was no limit. The first couple I caught I'm thinking, a 15" Rock Bass would be pretty hard to come by. I'll give them a try on the table. Powerdive, well from a professional that's quite a compliment, thank you. On the walleye that's the info I'm looking for. I've fished them enough that I think I can find them I'm just not sure where in the cycle they are on the Rock. I'm guessing with water temps at or above 70 they have pretty much spread out evenly on the main lake points and getting into their summer pattern. Do they slowly stage their way out away from the rivers until they are dispersed on the main lake? Like out of the rivers for the spawn, concentrate on the closest feeding locations and then slowly disperse over the entire lake? I know around here they are just finishing their spawn. And the closest deep points are not only the closest to the river, they are the only two gravel points on the lake, our lakes are small. On the Rock thee are a lot of feeding spots between the river and the dam. Do they move out over a 4-6 week period, or once the spawn is done they head towards the dam and everywhere in between in a matter of a couple hours and set up for the summer? eyedabassman, I have to add to your comment. Through this whole process, and anyone that has ever bought real estate knows what I'm talking about, the people we dealt with in the KC area were absolutely the best people to deal with I believe I have ever encountered. From the Title/Escrow people, cable TV, electric, Insurance, even the tax office and county seat, didn't matter, I was so pleasantly surprised at how nice and helpful everyone was down there. And you can tell the difference when someone is giving you the canned "hi how are you" speech and don't really give a crap if you're drawing your last breath, and someone who is actually in a good mood and WANTS to help you. Heck we had a little mix up between the tag office and county seat and didn't have the right paper work to register our boat on a Friday afternoon and were headed back Sunday, and the county seat had already closed for the day. I left a blank signed check with the lady at the tag office and she promised come Monday she would call the county seat, get everything squared away, fill out the check and finish the paper work and send us our paper work with a copy of the completed check. I'll be darn come Wednesday it was all there in our mail box, from a bureaucratic organization, are you kidding me, unheard of. So you guys that live down there should really be proud of how accommodating and nice everyone is, reflects well on the community, I was very impressed and wanted to give them people a shout out. Champ, I rarely keep more than a couple fish, usually walleyes, or a mess of whites or crappie if I get on them, and I usually have a couple messes of cat fish in the freezer. Occasionally we'll have a mess of bass and I agree they are renewable as long as we don't get greedy. Nothing upsets me more than a guy that shows me his freezer and brags on the 50 lbs. of 1-5 year old freezer burnt fish they'll never eat, what a waste of any fish even carp. But usually the bass are keepers that got hooked deep and are hurt and bleeding. This past weekend I kept two keepers like that, both LMs. The smallies would just suck it in their mouth and try and run off with it, but them LMs, dang they just inhaled that little swimming minnow all the way to the exit chute. But why not smallies, do they that not reproduce in the Rock like the LMs or spots? Just curious. Ranger Z22, I hear you loud and clear and believe me my ego does not get in the way of me asking for help when I don't know what the heck I'm doing, I don't care what the wife says. lol I don't ask for directions because I have a map and I'm not lost, I know where I am I just don't know how to get to where I want to go from where I'm at, that's different than lost. But Mr. Babler and Champ, maybe a new market for you and maybe you already do this. I would pay full fair for a couple hours, what you charge when it's your boat, your equipment, your gas, to have you go out in my boat with me and my HB 998 and show me how to work/read the darn thing. You bring some appropriate lures, rods, etc. maybe, but my boat. We'll go out a couple hours and you can school this ole country boy. And I know of several other guys that feel the same way. Ya, take me out with your fish finder, boat, lures, and I'd learn a lot. Take me out in my boat with my gear and show me how to use this stuff I spent too much money on, and buddy I'm grinnen like a wild pig under a persimmon tree in September. Ron I hear you on Bull Shoals. But the Rock kinda gets an unfair bad rap for walleyes in my opinion, and I established earlier what my opinion's worth, because you have Stockton, Bull Shoals and Greers Ferry what, an hour away in different directions. Not many lakes will stack up to them. Compared to most if not all Kansas/Oklahoma lakes, the Rock is an absolute phenomenal walleye fishery. My dad grew up in Cedar Creek MO and on the white river long before TRL was built. I have a bunch of Aunts/Uncles/Cousins still down there and we would go down when I was a kid to visit them and that's how I got turned on to the Ozarks. I had one uncle a stones through from the water on TRL and one the same distance on Beaver. I brought my soon to be wife down for the first time about 2 months before I proposed, (too many years ago so don't ask lol) it was love at first sight. Not with me, with the lake, I had to work on her a bit before she was convinced I deserved a second look. lol She fell in love with TRL and that was it, if we were going to retire on a body of water it was TRL, period. So even though I thought about some other lakes, wouldn't have mattered, what she wants I want her to have it just takes me some time and a few knots on the head to realize it. And since I'm new I better make one thing clear right off the bat, I kid around a lot about the misses, but I want to go on record right now and state that she was the best thing to happen to this ole Mississippi leg hound, period. Put me on the straighter and narrower, gave me beautiful children and a wonderful home full of love, and put up with my sorry butt for a good number of years, which ain't easy. So don't take my failed attempts at humor to serious.

Nice Fish!! I have mixed emotions about introducing those hawgs to the Rock, but mostly I don't think it's a good idea. On a brighter note, love seeing that Power Cat in AL. lol

Hello Everyone, About us, getting ready to retire here in about 8 years I hope, Wife and I looked at my 201K (it used to be a 401K) and the dollars them smarty pants sharks on Wall Street were earning us probably weren't matching the housing appreciation on the Rock so we invested in a little piece of MO. as our gamble on the nest egg, safer bet in our opinion. So I joined this forum to try and get some insight into fishing this absolutely beautiful body of water. And you guys are just the best at helping us once or twice a month guys get some fish and I can not thank you enough for the information you share. We closed on the house first week of Feb. and the few times we've made it down, well, snow the end of April, really! So up until this weekend I got about 1 hour on the lake due to weather and a longer than usual honey-do list. And other than some trees (ok a LOT) and the trolling motor prop twice, caught one smallie. Finally this week I got some time on the lake. And I know you guys that live full time on this lake know this but maybe need to be reminded now and then, back in a cove as that sun's just starting to cast some light, water like glass, a fox and some deer coming down for that last drink before bed, those rock bluffs and oaks and sycamores towering overhead, it is absolutely so amazing I can not even put it into words, and I'm a talker. lol Well, it's why we drive hours to go there for only hours on the water. The Rock in my opinion is the Garden of Eden in SW MO., if what we experienced this weekend doesn't move a person then they are just a godless creature with no soul. Which is just my opinion, that and a dollar will buy you a cup of coffee. By the time I got a bunch of crapola done Saturday it was about 6:30 PM when we pulled away from the dock. My future son in law and I headed across the lake to the Mill Creek area. It was a little breezy but soon we settled down on a west facing bank where the sun was still hitting it and started to fish. I set him up with an ultra lite Shakespeare pole with an ultra light shamano spinning real, I fished the same rig except for a Browning ultra light pole. 4 lb. fluoro, 1/8 oz. bullet shaped jig head, not a big hook, don't know the size and a purple or smoke/glitter swimming minnow from Mark's shop. Cast up shallow, slow erratic retrieve (twitch), bump and bounce it off the bottom every few feet, all the way out to about 30 fow. And guys, we smoked them. In a couple hours we had about 30-35 fish, 5 keepers, smalls, spots, and LMs. The LM/s were up shallow, bank to 15-20 fow, smallies & spots out about 15-30 fow. And on that ultra light a 17" SM is what it's all about in my opinion. If my rod is bent double and that drag is singing I'm grinning. We caught almost all of them where the bank transitioned from big or chunk rock to gravel. The smallies and spots seemed to like the gravel to larger rock transitions and the LMs were more on the gravel to chunk/large gravel spots. And timber improved the size and number when it was just off the bank out to 30-40 fow. Sunday morning we headed right back to the same spot. Same rigs, same bait, same tactics. A couple taps in 30 minutes and that was it. So we switched over to the sunny side of Mill creek, and it was back on. Fished for 3 more hours, 35-40 fish, only 3 keepers all LMs, same pattern as the night before. Another thing I noticed was that the LMs were further back in the coves, the SMs and spots started picking up about mid way back from the main lake. I surmised it was because the smallies/spot's diets consist more of shad and the LMs will eat anything that moves. We did see a lot of the fish, especially the smallies, tossing gizzard(?) shad as we brought them to the boat. Never seen bass up chuck their breakfast like that. Monday morning, that cove I mentioned, up by point 8, just wow on the scenery!!! Same rigs, same bait, same everything, slower bite but the fish were better. Fished the west side all the way out to the island. Same set up, chunk or big rock to gravel/pea gravel was where they were at, but about 5' deeper on Monday. First of a life time for me, a Rock Bass, (I've heard you guys call it goggleyes like the eye protection or googleyes like the internet search engine so I don't know what to say so I'll just call them a Rock bass lol). That's a big what the heck is this bass! If I tried to explain it to someone out here in Kansas I don't know where I'd start. "It's like a LM but with a REALLY big head and a mouth like a small mouth, and speckled like a crappie, it's an odd darn fish". lol They were suspended on a rock drop cut, in about 30 fow. Caught 4 or 5 real quick like. Man what a fighter, pound for pound maybe a better fight than a smallie. Monday evening about 7:30PM I took my 2 youngest daughters out (before you ask, I have 4 children, all daughters, and I know right lol). We headed over to Mill creek since the bite had been so good there in the evenings. Fished for about 30 minutes (3 smallies about 14.5"-14.875") and I paid the price for ripping so many lips this weekend, jig hook right through the left ear lobe. The girls thought it was funny teasing me that I could get my ear pierced at the mall with an actual tool made just for that. Anyway, headed back to the dock to see if the neighbor could push it through, barb as already in and deep. He couldn't so we headed over to Branson to the ER to get it pulled out. Tuesday morning the other half of "2 in a boat" finally got to come out and do some fishing since the oldest with their others and the grand daughter headed home Monday. Back over by point 8 for the morning bite. Overcast, stormy looking, slower bite but even better fish. We only fished for about 45 minutes until the wife heard thunder and that was it, close the tackle box pull up the anchor mamma's headed to the house. Same rigs, same bait, same tactics. Caught 12-15 fish, 8 keepers including a nice LM pushing 3.5 lbs. Again, on ultra light and 4 lb. fluoro, ya the sport of fishing. So again I want to thank all you guys for your info, with out it I would have probably been skunked. I grew up on a ranch in the flint hills of Kansas and we have some absolute dynamite watershed fishing out there. But fishing a big farm pond and the Rock ain't exactly the same, or maybe it is. I fished the Rock like a whole butt-load of ponds tied together by a big water interstate behind the dams. And you know what, it's pretty close to that. I can honestly say I have never had a better 4 days of fishing in my life, I have had as good as on the farm ponds, but not better. But all the fish aside, I spent some time with my future son in law, getting to have "the talk" with him as the girls call it, he's a great guy and I'll be proud to call him family. I spent time with my daughters on the lake, we fished, we laughed, they laughed at the hook in my ear and posted it on face space or what ever it is. We had family meals all around one table, with out the TV on, with out them on their darn cell phones, we talked, and laughed, and loved. My 3 year old granddaughter gave me a squeeze around the neck and whispered in my ear "I love you Papa and I love the lake". The fish you put in the boat will go back in the drink in a minute, the fillets in the freezer will only last until the next fish fry, the memories we made this weekend I hope they talk about long after I'm gone. I tried to up load some pics, but it says they are too big, I'll have to work on that. P.S. I'm a walleye fisherman at heart, and I swear to god if I don't get a couple tips to get me headed towards them by the next trip down June 14th-16th I'm gonna keep/eat me a mess of bass. I'll do it, I will, I don't want to, but I'm craving some fish. So Mr. Babler and Champ, I know you guys are Pro Bass guys, but I'm gonna hold them hostage, I know you can point me towards the walleyes. And I would be keenly interested in what dtrs5kprs and Feathers & Fins have to say about walleyes on TRL. With all the family down this past weekend I had to put them on some fish so I put them on them stupid ole bass cause they're easy to catch, unlike those wiley walleyes. Just messing with ya guys

I know this is an old thread but I wanted to chime in on it. I took getnby's advise and called Tom along with 3 others. 2 never got back to me, and the other was about 2800 bucks higher than Tom. So he got the work. And what a nice job he did. He moved one lift from one slip to another and installed a new 6500 lbs. lift in the original slip. What an outstanding job he did. He even replaced the nylon bumpers that were missing. Went by and looked at it BEFORE he just shot a quote, was there when he said he would be and it was about 45 degrees and raining. It's nice to deal with someone that treats you right. I would recommend Tom to anyone. I wont even get quotes if the need arises again, I'll just call Tom.

Also, just a suggestion do what you want, the thing about the rock is one hour you want to anchor in 8 fow and the next hour in 180 fow. I have my anchor rope in about 50' sections looped on the end and attach them as length requires with carabina hooks Nothing like fighting 300' of anchor rope in 8 fow, pain in the &%*$ and a good way to take a dip in the drink.

here's a link, not sure on the link policy on here. Mine's not that fancy, but works well. http://www.basspro.com/Tie-Down-Engineering-Hooker-Quik-Set-Anchor/product/18091/?URL=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.basspro.com%2FTie-Down-Engineering-Hooker-Quik-Set-Anchor%2Fproduct%2F18091%2F

Ummmm,,,, a bigger anchor?? JK I like the variation on the Danforth with the ring that slips down to the head. You can hook a rock and stay a 40' boat in 40 mph wind. Then you can drive back over and reverse the direction of the ring and almost always unhang them. Almost always