Smithvillesteve

Thanks Quillback and Mike and everybody that does all the legwork for this event. Looking forward to it again.

Merry Christmas to my Pomme friends!!

Merry Christmas to all you good Ol boys!!!!

My Dad was a minister. He told me one time: "Son, I'd rather live my life believing there is a God and finding out there isnt one, than living my life NOT believing in God and finding out there is!!" That kinda stuck with me!!

Paddle faster!!! I hear banjos!!!

I've caught a lot of fish listening to LaGrange!!

That is impressive!! Especially this time of year.

That is a nice report. A buddy and I were down there fishing all of last week also. We really struggled. Now, we dont get to fish Table Rock very often so it is a big learning curve for us. We realize we cant go down there and beat the bank. Especially this time of year. We went point hopping for the most part and focused on 25-30 fow. We threw our boxes at em! Jig, spoon, crankbait, top water, carolina rig, shakey head, ned and drop shots. No love. Now, we also only fished once in the early morning, 6 to 10, and i had 7 bass with a nice 3.2 smallie and missed another keeper. My buddy had 5. We are kinda on a vacation so we are up late at night enjoying ourselves. But we thought with the decent temps, 82-85, some cloud cover and a new moon it was time to go!! Very interesting reading 196Champ's report. I bought a new Lowrance Elite Ti and i am still trying to figure it out. I did find some fish on my screen that looked a lot like the screen shot he posted. 50 fow in the mouths of coves/cuts with fish suspended down around 25-30 feet. We counted down with our drop shots but didnt catch anything. But we didnt stay with it very long! In conclusion: 1) I HAVE TO learn this graph! 2) I HAVE TO learn how to fish for suspended bass down there. Thanks for the report 196Champ and the screenshot. And let me add that we still had a great time down there at that beautiful lake!!

JCreek: Yes, Smithville lake up here north of KC. Been down at Table Rock all week. Tough sledding. Did catch one nice 3.2 lb smallie.

I'm retired JCreek. I fish during the week only! I fished the main lake last thursday and it wasnt too bad. A lot of pontoons. A few tubers. Didnt see very many fisherman. We struggled. Fished for walleye for about 4 hrs and caught 1 small one. Trolled crankbaits, bottom bouncers and casted and drifted jig/crawler combos. Bass fished the last 3 hrs. Lot of small bass up shallow.

Crabtree ramp is open and the courtesy dock is in the water!!

Good friend of mine bought a new Ford truck. Was out in west Kansas pheasant hunting. In the middle of nowhere. Had a flat tire. got the tire tool out and it wouldnt fit the lug nuts! When he called the dealership they told him some of the Fords had expanding lug nuts!! When i called him out on it he got all pissy and demanded that i call the dealership. I didnt but i drive a relatively new Ford F-150 myself so i carry a four way. Especially pulling a boat trailer around.

You win with us Bill!! I have had the pleasure of meeting you at the annual OA tournament and you are a good man. If i get the chance i will be sending people you and Becky's way. And i always appreciate all your fishing knowledge that you so willingly share with us.

Thanks for the info Oghtm. I fish for crappies in late winter and early spring at LOZ. And i"ll continue to fish for them thru the spawn at Pomme, Truman and up here at Smithville lake. After that i dont fish for them much. Like to bass fish Table Rock, Stockton and again up here at Smithville. Love to chase some eyes around Stockton and i am beginning to learn the bottom bouncing technique some from Lmtout and others on this website. From the sound of things on here the walleye bite has been very difficult down there and some guys have posted they have been catching crappies trolling deep water. So i appreciate your advice very much and will give it a try.

oghfm: What depth of water are you targeting? Are you trolling in the middle cuts of the coves? I am taking a buddy down there next week and he doesnt fish much. I try to put him on some walleyes trolling a crankbait. But last year i did finally get him to try bottom bouncing a jig/crawler or drifting one if the winds were right. With the walleye bite difficult right now i thought maybe i could try and put him on some crappies. Any advice would be deeply appreciated. thanks.

And Bam!! 5 inches of rain!!

Hard to say in my opinion. I heard they could get as much as 5 inches this week down there. And there is nowhere for this water to go!! Until they start releasing water out of Bagnell, and i heard they were, then start releasing water out of Truman, Pomme could be extremely high all summer and into the winter. I was down there middle of last week and it was a mess. Roads closed, camp grounds closed, some ramps closed.

My buddy and i left the pomme area friday and drove over to Stockton to chase some eyes. When we got up around 8 it was a beautiful "walleye day". Cloudy, a little light rain periodically and light winds. By the time we ate breakfast, cleaned up, got organized, we arrived at Mutton Creek at noon to sunny skies and 25 mph winds! Mutton Creek north was closed so we drove around to Mutton south. One trailer there. But no way was i going to try and launch there! So we drove over to Roarks Bluff and it was usable. With the strong south winds we decided to stay in Son's Creek. Unbelievable how much water is there. We drifted jigs with night crawlers from noon to 6. We caught 2 smalls. 1 nice bass, 1 white bass, 1 big bluegill, 3 drums. Pretty tough sledding. Did not try trolling any crankbaits or any bottom bouncing. Probably should have.

Oh come on Bill!! There is guys on here that think all the pressure on this lake isnt hurting a dang thing!!

139 boats x 5 fish taken off beds = 695 bass if my math is correct. Keep up the effort BrowningCollector and congrats to your club Likenmo!! Change is hard.

Let me ask you boys a question. Why are people so down on the spots? I too love catching those 13-15 inch spots that fight their fannies off. People at Stockton claim, "we dont want this lake to turn into another Table Rock"! I see they even reduced the keeper size to 12 inches there. Will the spots overtake a lake? Do they compete with the largemouth for food and keep the largemouth size down? Same with smallmouth?

Great time boys! Thanks to all who did all the work to put it together. Phil: I didnt have any cash to donate to Christian Ministries. If you will PM your address i will send a donation for me and my pardner. I'm going to pull a Joe Namath. I guarantee i win next year!!!

Farmed my yard backing into the garage as well. 2 weeks ago. Thought ground was frozen but it wasnt on top!! One OA guy cant prefish. darn the luck!!! Need about 20 more OA guys to get stuck!!!!

I read on my BassBlaster that Tenn is trying to pass a bill that outlaws all tournament fishing in the months of June, July and August. Claimed that as much as 80% of the fish caught in these tournaments dont survive. Kumar, and i like him, claimed that was nonsense and that Tenn should put its attention to Asian carp. They are causing more damage than any tournaments. I dont fish tournaments so i dont have any skin in the game. However, I do appreciate the immediate catch and release of fish that the MLF has employed. We have to do better and thats a start!

No neds allowed in the OA tournament is the word on the street!!!