Smithvillesteve

Just got back from fishing O.H. Ivie lake in west Texas. The hottest big bass lake in the country. The week before we got there some dude caught a 17 lb bass. In the middle of a nasty cold front. We were blessed with great weather. Anywhere from the 60's to 80 degrees when we left. Mostly sunny days and little to no wind. Water temps were low 50's when we started on tuesday and saw 62 when we left sat. Beautiful lake. Table Rock clear. Lake is basically flooded brush. You cant cast to a bank. Flooded bushes out to 15 feet. A flippers paradise. My buddy's boat and he is a bank beater. I caught two fish casting into the flooded brush. One on a spinnerbait and one on a swimbait. My other fish came on the outside of the brush on a jig in 15 to 20 fow. My buddy had a 5 lber and several 3's to kick my butt! He loves throwing a weighted wacky. I talked to 3 young guys on the ramp thursday that had an 11, 9 and an 8. All on A-Rigs!! And about every boat we saw were throwing A rigs. An older guy on the ramp told me they throw A rigs at fish they locate on Livescope in the deep trees. I threw a Yum Umbrella Jr rig everyday for a little while. No luck. I'm 70 yrs old and i just cant throw that thing for very long. Its a beautiful lake out in the middle of nowhere!! The day we left i read where some dude had a 13 lber. I'll go back next year to chase that holy grail, a 10 lber!!

I was hoping Jaybill was not going to be there after beating me last year by 2 oz. Do i sound bitter? Just kidding Jay. Want to let everyone know that KBillb's son Austin Blais will be fishing in this tournament out of his Dad's boat in honor of his late father. He is a member here. Looking forward to the event and seeing you boys.

When we going Dock?

Beautiful fish Snagged. Congrats.

Nice fish Targa98. I dont target the LM bass very often at Stockton. But i know there are some nice ones in there. Couple of years ago i heard there were a couple of 9 lbers weighed in in a tournament. But somebody brought in a 7 lb smallie that stole the headlines! I go there and target walleyes or smallies most of the time. Its getting that time!!!

Mike McClelland had a great video on Youtube, i think, about early spring prespawn baits. One was the RockCrawler. And he talked glowingly about that Falcon cranking rod. If i was going to buy a new cranking rod i think i would be contacting Mr Babler. Just sayin.

Thanks Phil for posting this info. I was just down there for 4 days with 3 other guys. We really struggled with the numbers. Catching maybe 8 trout a day. But we had some really nice trout caught. I personally caught my 3 biggest trout ever on this trip. An 18.5 inch brown, a 20 inch rainbow and a 21.5 inch rainbow that went 3 lbs 4 oz. My co angler had 2 18 inch trout and another buddy won our mini tournament with a 3 lb 10 oz rainbow. We appreciate your info Phil. Thanks a lot. Hope to see you over at the OA annual tournament on Table Rock.

I was backing down my boat a few years back at Stockton. Crabtree ramp. A guy on the dock started waving at me frantically to stop. He pointed out several nails and screws were in the water on the ramp i was going to use. Thank goodness he was there. I just assumed it was some dumb teenagers. Never thought about dock workers. There are 4 ramps at Crabtree and the ramp i was using was right next to the dock. Maybe i need to apologize to all the dumb teenagers!!

Really appreciate you guys putting all this together. I hope to attend again this spring. Its always nice to talk to some of you guys and put a face to a name. It will be sad not having my fishing partner, Kbillb, with me. He really enjoyed this event. He will be with me in spirit.

You and Dock In It are killing me!!!!!

Next we will see players opting out during the regular season if their team has no chance to reach the playoffs. The only option in my opinion is to expand the playoffs to 16 teams. But get ready for a lot of blowouts. See the semis. That will put it at 14 bowl sites to use. Get rid of all the rest of the bowls. Nobody cares anymore. Empty seats and tv ratings are way down. If you are that worried about too many games for these players get rid of two noncon games that are usually played v directional schools. Division 2 has a 16 team playoff. I guess thats ok for those players? I am a closet K St fan. My youngest son went there. My dad loved Jack Hartman. So i tried to watch that bowl game last night. What a waste of time. LSU played their JV last night. No qb to play. Their entire defense was missing. Congrats K St but come on man!!!

Question for you graph boys. I bought a used Crestliner this past spring that has a small 5" Lowrance graph on it. Trolling motor is a 24v Minnkota Terrova with the transducer in the head. There is a cable that allows one to use a Lowrance. I went to Bass Pro the other day to possibly upgrade my bow graph to a Hummingbird, which Minnkota is tied to i guess. Wanted a bigger screen with downscan and sidescan. Guy told me i couldnt do it. All i could use with that trolling motor was 2HD using a Hummingbird or a Lowrance. Unless i wanted to mount a transducer to the trolling motor but highly recommended NOT to do that with spot lock. Wires get all messed up i guess. He said my only option would be to upgrade the trolling motor. Is this correct info? Guy sounded very knowledgeable but i am a 69 yr old clueless tech guy. Thanks boys and have a Happy New Year.

Hang tough buddy! You're my Pomme man!!!

Hi Kjackson, I have just sent the photos of my boat to this site. Please let me know if you can view them. If not, I can send to your email address if you want to provide it. Thanks.

I'll try Kjackson. I'm 69 yrs old and computer challenged. I see if my younger wife can help me.

A sincere thank you to RPS, Dutch, Fowlthing, Zulu, FishnDoug, Champ188, Bill Babler and MixermarkB for responding to my question. I will try and do some research on the rods you boys mentioned and i am sure they are all fine rods. Once again thanks for your input.

Looking to sell my old boat. A 2002 Lund Rebel w/40 hp Yamaha. Asking 4500 dollars. Would be a great starter boat for somebody. That 40 hp Yamaha has been a great motor. Boat has been stored until a couple of months ago when i upgraded. Thought i would put it on here but if anybody has advice as where to put it up for sale please let me know.

Hope all you boys had a great Thanksgiving. Every year i get myself a Christmas present. Hey, i deserve it! This year I'm looking for a new crankbait rod. I would also like to throw the occassional chatterbait or spinnerbait with it. But primarily a crankbait. My son in law fishes quite a bit down in Texas and he has the St Croix glass 7' 4" Med Hvy. He loves it. TW is out of stock until Dec 21 but thats ok. It sells for 149 dollars which is right around as high as I would go. Any suggestions from you boys? I've always appeciated any input you boys have given me on gear!! Thanks.

Thanks to all you guys for your kind remarks. And i agree RPS. I had to watch my dad die a slow death of dementia. It was not a pleasant experience. Cherish your moments with your friends and family. His family wants to have him cremated and his ashes spread over some of his fishing spots down at Table Rock. He loved that place!! Thanks for posting that pic Quill even tho it brought tears to my eyes. Still hard to grasp losing one of my best friends. A fishing buddy!! And no you boys can not follow us tossing his ashes on his spots!!!

I was on my way down to Table Rock yesterday morning. Just outside of Joplin I got a call that they found my buddy Keith Blais dead on his porch. His place was up the White river. His handle on here was KBilb. He won our annual OA tournament twice. He was a heckuva good guy and a really good fisherman. He really loved his place down at Table Rock and maybe there is some solace that he passed at the place he loved. He didnt post on here much but he read all the posts on here. If there is a lake in heaven, and i sure hope there is, he is casting that Rock Crawler all day!!

How about adding Bo's name and perhaps image on the plaque for the annual OA tourney in March when there are more participants.?

yea unbelievable. same bag size that Fieder won up at Mille Lacs a couple of years ago. These guys are culling 5 lb smallies!! I watched the video of Yokamuri, is that his name? Good guy. He said, "i got a school of 100 plus 5 lbers right under my boat! Smallmouth easy!!

Just got back yesterday from fishing 5 days up at Mille Lacs. Targeting big smallies. We struggled but caught a few 3.5 lbers and several 2.5 lbers. Beautiful fish. Tiger stripes so pronounced! Beautiful country. And good to get out of the heat. Had to put my fleece on a couple of times. 62 when we left. 95 by the time we hit Des Moines.!! I do love the brown fish!!

I've never experienced any doubles. But i was with KBillb one time he caught like a 6 lb and a 3 lb on a jerkbait i think. Maybe he will see this and send in the pic. Amazing pic!! He's a lucky sob!!!!

Hey Happy Birthday Wrench!!!