top_dollar

I personally don't see a problem with it. Think about it like this...all of the fish in all of the coves they are "fishing" are just getting passed by. If everyone starts doing that, then they will quit fishing after one fish and pressure will plummet.

It depends on what your budget is. I am sure all of the major brands are pretty good if you're willing to spend about a 1000 bucks. Make sure to get the 12 footer, you will be happier. Also think about what you want most and what you will be doing most. I opted for a boat with a very open plan, and no dry storage, because i like to have multiple rods laid out in front of me. Its very wide and stable, but slow. Some boats have more of a cockpit type feel to them, and dry storage compartments. If you have a bunch of gear though, you may just opt for a small canoe.

Are you able to tell because it doesn't have the red ear flap? Was i correct on the striped shiner and redhorse?

These longear sunfish look like tropical aquarium fish. They are so brightly colored.

I think the bottom one is a redear minus the red ear.

I fished yesterday. Water was low with about 3 or 4 foot visibility. I primarily used a pan fish magnet with a 1/64th oz jig #8 hook. I caught a great variety of species. In addition to largemouth and smallmouth bass I caught bluegill, longear, redear, green sunfish, rock bass, white crappie, striped shiner?, golden redhorse? Someone can chime in and correct me if I am wrong. I brought my counter and totalled 88 fish. Mostly panfish, maybe about 10 or 12 bass. I did throw a jerkbait and a jig worm and caught some bass. Biggest was a 16 inch smallie on a jerkbait. I had a top water rigged up as well, but on my 4th or 5th cast my plug caught a tree limb behind me and blew up my reel worse than I've ever seen it. 🤣🤣 I should have taken a picture, it was hilarious. My buddy was throwing a tiny popper on a spinning rod though and was catching them really well.

As long as Ive owned a boat its been a tin boat with lead acid batteries. They will be just fine on TR or anywhere else in Missouri. Ive always bought cheap walmart batteries, and replaced them every year or two.

I love that little outboard!

Great report! I love fishing a little jerkbait on the rivers and creeks! I really like X-rap 8cm, and pointer 78's if your willing to spend a few extra bucks.

Next time I am out, if I remember, Ill bring a pan fish rig and get some better pics of what I catch.

I think you're correct. Lots of long ears in that stretch. They are incredible looking fish.

Got back on the river yesterday. 8 to tdl. Its been a while. Anyway, water was perfect, a tad up, and visibility was about 4 feet. I kept track today of all of the fish I caught. I caught 33 fish total, with 25 bass. Biggest was a 17 inch lm with one good eye. I caught a few fish on everything I threw...Jerkbait, top dollar, whopper plopper, wacky worm, and a jig worm. Not a great day though, and there were long stretches of no bites where there should have been.

Most amateur anglers of middle class means cannot justify spending that much on top of the line stuff like that. If you fish professionally than you'll be at a significant disadvantage without it, so any guide, or tournament angler has to justify it. Mr. Wenners was with his friend, and the boat they were on must have been 50K or more, it was the nicest boat id ever seen up close. He said they were playing with a new set up so he could point the trolling motor and the livescope in 2 different directions. He pointed it around under the boat slips showing everything 75ft in front of him. I probably could have seen his buddy jigging a spoon in the stall across from him if i looked hard enough lol. It was incredible to see the bottom contours under the dock stalls like that. That said, even though all that stuff is pretty great, there are plenty of fish to be caught for guys with crappy aluminum boats, paper maps, and a 2d graph. The ipilot trolling motor was 1000% worth it though.

We have also caught more walleye the last few years. In 40 years we haven't caught walleye, but the last few years were catching several. Oddly we also used to catch an occasional rainbow trout, but now we never do. Gotta love heading back for more crawlers. We typically go through about 2 dozen per person per morning.

Yeah wax worms may be tough to find. Extreme outdoors (I think is what its called) has loads of crickets. The feller said he gets 10000 every Wednesday. In fact when we went on wed he hadn't gotten his yet and gave us what he had left for free! Really nice guy! They're off hwy 13 in Kimberling. On another note...I'm assuming your bluegill fishing. We didn't notice much difference between crickets and crawlers. If you wanna keep the crawlers clean just rinse them off and put them in damp newspaper with a few ice cubes. (we dont care about cleanliness...its just a worm dirt catastrophe in out boat 🤣 lol)

The tube kind that break in half. I think they were actually minnow traps. We bought them at extreme outdoors.

Forgot to mention we caught the snot out of crawfish with the bluegill guts. Hanging traps in the boat slips. Most came in 15 to 20 fow.

Last morning to fish. 😫 more of the same. Worms, gravel, 25fow. Bass bluegill, and a walleye. No cats today. Until next summer when I'll be back doing the same thing in the same place. On a side note the spot lock trolling motor was a great investment. I think we probably doubled our catch this year due to not blowing off the school in the chaos of 4 kids all hooked up at once lol.

The upper big river around leadwood has a bunch of them. It seems to be to most common sunfish species in that stretch. Mounds access, leadwood access or anything around there.

That 3rd from the left looks huge! Any idea how long it was?

I also saw Mr. Wenners at the boat dock as he was riding out the storm with a friend. Very nice guy. He showed me all the electronics on the rig. It was a pretty impressive display! That live scope deal seems pretty cool.

Caught another 15 gills this morning. I'm tired of cutting fish! Took the kiddos out this morning. Same deal, 25 deep just off the bottom of a long gravel point. Caught several spots and snallnouths, another short walleye, and 5 catfish. The catfish is a good time on light power spinning gear and 4# line.

Been fishing this week with live crawlers. We have been finding bluegill on gravel runnouts at 25-30feet deep on the bottom. Catching about 30 per day. Nice big eaters too about 9 inches. Using whole live crawlers we're catching several keeper spots a day also. Mostly 15-16 inches. 2 catfish also, 1 at 27 inches and the other at 24 inches, and 2 short walleyes about 14 inches. I may go out trolling crankbaits and jigging spoons yet this week, but worms are working well and are easy. Wt is about 88 degrees, I havent been seeing or catching many suspended fish. A few around the bridge, but the gravel is much more productive. Havent seen any schooling fish or white bass either.