Old plug

That is true. But i do not use anything over 10 lb test anymore. Maybe 12 on one bait caster. The only heavier thing I use is a 20 or30 lb 9" steel leader I use on Gar and deep jigging where i might run into a large catfish. I might not ever catch one if i didn't. Down deep they shoud be afraid of the fly rod people. The fly rod is much more versatile than gear. The big difference i think between most people I see on here is there is a joy in fishing. Most tournament types are engaged in something else. I think they have lost touch with what fishing all about. I say this in spite of having friends that do it

Well now they got high priced casting rids 8 ft long. I still think it is connected to B A S S and al the sponsors if this stuff. I bet you a good fisherman with a fly rod might really surprise a lot if people and that would not sell bait casting and spinning reels and all the other stuff they push.i still do nit think its fair and it should be challenged.

I never knew that. That is nit fair. It probably has to do with big business and the shoving if their products down the throats if fishermen. I would love to see that challenged. That would never stand up to a test. myself Ido not fish a fly rod because because of arthritis.

I just sent a private msg to wrench about fly rod poppers. I think that the poppers and fly rod fishing is going to show up one of these days on the big tournament trails. There is nothing except pitching that can saturate a area with less disturbance than a fly rod. The only thing that comes even close is pitching. But Pitching is a get in there face type approach. Where a fly rod s a stand off thing. It would maybe take salt water fly rods and flys to do it but I think it could.

I do not mind revealing a technique. But I do not reveal much else including where and when I will be fishing including a description of my boat. I have been there and done that. There are good spot,better spots and hot spots. All you have to do is match that with the proper technique and proper time and conditions. Real simple isn't it.

I tell you what. There is a recent thread on here called looking for a guide. You should read it because it gives some valuable information about a few fishing systems(tactics) that would be of help. . Only advice I would give you about bass fishing is do not get caught up in the tackle buying mania. something like a jig can be something you could write a book about using it. Yes I am on the Gravois when I am here.

I had a owl try to steel a wake bait from me this past spring. I was retrieving it along a bank in a wooded area. All of a sudden there was a big flash by my head and this owl was taking aim at my wake bait. I hollered and she broke away and flee back to a limb about 15 ft from me and sat there and stared at me. As soon a I casted again she was right on it. But again I yelled and she broke off and went back and sat there looking at me. This was repeated several times. When i told someone on here about it he had to make some disparaging remarks about me being to old to mess with hooters. and

Well you might run into a couple of people have in here have some experience on the Gravois. What side of the Gravois are you on. North shore or Lake West.

That brings back memories. I have fished a lot above St Louis. One if my choices for retirement was Clarksville. I wanted a dock however with my boat there no more driving, launch ramps etc. I will tell anyone who ask though that LOZ in spite of its reputation as a fishing hot spot will never in a million years hold a candle to the Mississippi. There are also walleye,sauger, white and yellow bass. And even a good largemouth and small mouth fishery if you can find the place. I have seen the river in the winter around Clarksville nearly blue. I and a friend caught 62 Walleye and sauger one day at clarksville. Most were sauger but there us not really a whole lot of difference except size. I have not had one of those taste little yellow bass in years either. To me they were as good as crappie. Well as far as crappie go the stringers in the Mississippi can sure turn a few heads. It is a wonder that there has not been a crappie up there.

I started try a white spinner bait when I was up the lake the other day. Maybe i should have. The water color was about perfect for it.

Wellnow you got a partial point there Mr Wrench. But considering that you will be reaching a milestone in a few days of being 1/2 century old you will be dealing with these things before long.

Yeah wrench I went out there. It is deep one I mentioned to you. There were suspended fish. They were mostly shad. The fish that were suspending looked more like drum and other rough fish to me because they were not not in schools. This paticular hump is 30 ft right now. I have been watching for trollers both here and down on on Gibson. I have not seen but one person on either one this week in the evenings. And have not seen but one are two in a long time. I did not try try to any of them. There has also been a big drop off in schooling shad back in the coves and even the gar are not rolling. So something has changed. Very still dead feeling to it out there. I think we are in for a slow few days maybe. I am going to use the period to get stared on grounding my dock and putting in some of the things they are raving about. I have GFI protection allready and I test for electricsl leakage regularly. But i do want to install that cut off post, grounding rod,breaker and ground the dock frame to it.

Personally i hope they stay out there. I fished deep this evening because I had a poor evening last evening. I never got one decent hit in over 2 hrs. We are in some kind of funk here everywhere. I think it has to do with the weather. They are just not in the mood to play. They know the difference between forage and any lure you throw out there. They are playing are they are not and sometimes you can goat them into it. If this all started because your testing what i said about the other evening. I do not really care who believes it. I enjoyed it one way ot the other. I have had evening far better evenings.

I have lived on LOZ for over 20 years. 20 yrs. it is about the worst place I can think off for boat traffic and disputation. And itis gifting worse. Wr are cansidering moving ourselves to be closer to our families. TABLE ROCK FOR SURE.

Everyone goes through the lure craze i think some time or another. I have i guess 400 worms all count in my locker. Boxes of all sizes of worm weight plus split shot. Those and jigs take upa lot of space. The only thing is that are nearly all in some natural color. Even though i tend to specialize i still cannot get out if these places without buying more.

I have a few old humpbacks. Why would any old lure become in ineffective. Someone comes out with something suppose to be better and everyone flocks to it. Reminds me of feeding white bass during the jumps period. I have always felt you could have a few baits and if you really understand what those baits can do and all the variations of working them you better off.

I will have to check my deep hump maybe this evening and see if there is any activity down there i use spoons to catch my catfish.

The picture did not post for some reason sorry

That pattern might change. So do not fall in love with it it. Certainly has up in the gravois arm in most areas. There seems to be a very short effective period. Then the rest is the pits. I msg all the time with wrench and he had the same experience yesterday. I do not fish for long periods anymore because I have a lot of arthritis in both shoulders. Myself I am using very large plastic worms lightly weighted. You can kind of dance them around a bit and sometimes it excites them and they grab it. I have been fishing fairly shallow for a couple weeks. Wrench is almost entirely a shallow water fisherman. I have a picture here of a bass I caught on a 11" plastic worm on the back in a shallow cove on the back corner of a dock. The water I was in was about 6 ft and he could not have been in more than 3 ft. I do not take pictures are carry a camera but this one I took to send to wrench because we had been talking about some of this shallow stuff. But really they are where you find them and whatever works fir you cannot be wrong.

I have always used hand control. I do not like ll she stuff on the floor. And i have known people to have a lot more trouble with their trollers caused by foot control. I cannot remember who makes mine but i can turn it 360 degrees without leaving the seat because it has a swivel type joint in the handle.

Well I am gritting ready to come up that way or into Indian in about a hour and see if it does. Bringing my Gar gear as well.

Hmmmmmmm I can see some benefit maybe in some ways with a stiff little fish parked there. I think there are fish enough to hurt you around here if you handle one wrong. I was taking a small channel cat off a hook a year or so ago and he caught me with a good jab in my hand. Within seconds It made my arm useless and real painful. I have also got scraped up hands from the teeth in a catfishes mouth. I thin though the worst one is a gar. Th have 4 rows if teeth on those jaws the inner stick straight up and the outer or angled outward. I have had a couple tiny pricks through a glove and it was painful so i imagine there is something on those teeth that nature put there to immobilize prey like a northern pike has. At any rate when they get between 31/2 and 4 feet they make me nervous handling them.

Geezzzzz Wayne. I just looked at your home page on here. your as ancient as me.

We have had a couple dumped in here by summer people.they cannot survive the winter temperatures of LOZ.

Thanks a million. I am not to understanding of a lot of this computer stuff. But I got the apps and it works fine. Now I need to go out and double up on 5 lbers again. It could happen. Conditions are very good right now for the big boys.