top_dollar

I've never heard of anyone fishing for catfish with crankbaits.

I use spinning gear quite a bit and have a learned a thing or two, here is my 2 cents. 1.) Use larger sized reels than you're used to. I don't use anything less than a size 30, generally a 35, or 40. Pflueger used to make a wide spool reel called an Arbor, but they no longer make it. I still look for as wide a diameter spool as possible. 2.) You may be putting too much pressure on the line when you spool up. Just lay the spool so that it turns the same direction of the bail and let the line move through your fingers with only light pressure. 3.) After you secure/tie the line to the spool, make sure it has no twists in it. 4.) Use lighter line. I personally don't put anything on a spinning reel heavier than 6#. As mentioned, mono is the way to go. Huge fan of 4# S.O.S trout magnet. I have used 4# FC on my reels with no problems, but mono may be easier if twist has been an issue for you. If I have to use heavier than 6# line Ill use casting gear, or braided line. 5.) After I apply my line, I spray it with some silicone spray, and I also spray my eyelets with it. IDK if it does anything, but in my head it cuts down on friction during casting. 6.) Change your line out early and often. I generally change out my line after every couple of trips, and if I have any twist problems I take it off and respool. 7.) I also spool about half of the spool with cheap 10# line. Then I use a piece of tape (Not duct or electrical, they leave a gummy residue. 3M 401+ leaves no residue.) and a small drop of super glue to secure the tape permanently. Saves time respooling and uses less line. I add line until there is about there is just about 1/8" from the spool. Under spooling is better than over spooling, but you will lose casting distance.

You're fishing a 2.8 fat on a 1/4 oz (no underspin) head 10 feet down? That sucker must be haulin. Do you catch them better moving it fast? I'm thinking i fish keitechs too slow. For that range I'd choose a 2.8 fat with a 1/8oz jig and #2 hook. Or even a 3 inch easy shiner on a 1/16 oz #2. Maybe I need to try some heavier weights.

I still use all the old timey stuff and it still works!! I fish out of a 20 yr old aluminum can equipped with paper maps, a 2d graph and some marker buoys. I probably won't be winning any bass tournaments, but I can confirm you can still catch fish with it and it still is fun.

Eventually I guess we will all just wear a pair of 100$ sunglasses that just makes the water disappear around you, but the fish and structure is still clearly visible.

Give it a few years. Soon theyll be cheap enough for us live bait guys in our john boats. In 5 or 10 years they'll probably make a hand held portable one for 200$.

Of course. I remember several years ago, I was fishing at table rock once and Jacob Wheeler just kept following me around all over the lake after watching me catch an 11# smallmouth (I almost had a pic, but my phone was dead). He was practically begging me to teach him my secrets of bass fishing with a rattle trap. Of course I blew him off. That guy was never really on my level though. He and a few other bass fishing athletes were telling me how good I would do at the professional level. Of course I knew if I did that I would become such a dominant champion that it would ruin the sport of bass fishing worse than livescope. I graciously stuck to fishing recreationally.

I can also lie on the internet.

Whew, this kinda makes us meat fisherman with our tin boats, stringers and nightcrawlers not seem so bad huh? At this point they really should just allow live bait in bass tournaments. It sure seems like all bets are off anyway. I guess worm farms just don't shell out the kinda money that garmin does.

Busch is just fine. Generally people who say fishing up there isn't any good only go once or twice a year when conditions aren't great, don't catch much, and don't come back. If you spend more time up there you'll figure out how to catch em. I think the main problem with Busch wildlife is the lack of harvest. Most of those ponds have too many small fish that need to be harvested in my opinion. Although what I explain below flies in the face of that and leads me to believe that environmental factors are more important than any amount of angling pressure, at least with crappie. Conventional wisdom says that crappie will over populate a small pond and get stunted. That does happen at some of the lakes, but other lakes have a much smaller population of larger crappie. It seems that the clearer lakes have the bigger crappie generally, but not always. Some clear lakes are full of dinks, and other dirtier lakes have good eaters. Also, the size and number of the fish tends to change year to year in most lakes. Lake 33 is the most consistent lake up there IMO. It is perpetually stained and crazy overpopulated with 7 inch crappie.

Looks like crappie fishing up here is done for a few weeks as I'm sure everything is froze up. Fishing has been the same as it always is. Lots of dinks, with the occasional big one out of lake 33. All the lakes are low, but 33 is about 1/3 empty. I have never seen so many snagged bobbers on all the brush lol. I have a love/hate relationship with lake 33, but I did catch my personal best there just before Christmas, it was 16" inches at least. I caught it on a 1/32oz jig with about 1.5 inches of keitech tail. The other lakes have been a bit of a crap shoot, but when you find them they are generally eater sized fish. Jigs under a cork 1-5 feet deep. Generally muddier lakes have shallower fish, clearer lakes they will be a bit deeper. I haven't done any bass fishing, or any other species. I did have a successful managed crossbow hunt to add to my grocery haul. Real bow hunting takes too much skill for me, and I cant believe Missouri lets you use a crossbow during archery season, but they do, so I'm gonna use one. I shot that one at 60 yards through a scope 🤣. That is kind of how I feel about FFS, of course it is cheating, but since they are legal, as soon as they make one cheap enough for a bum like me, I'm gonna get one. Since I don't currently have one though, I do reserve the right to complain about how everyone currently using one is cheating.

I like that copper color. It's not something you see too often in a swimbait.

I just purchased a Falcon Cara spinning rod. Model CS-5-173. It is a 7'3 med heavy rod rated for 3/8 to 3/4 ounce baits. It arrived yesterday, still has the tags, and has never been used. I paid 200$ for it because of the tackle warehouse sale. I mistakenly thought it was a med light spinning rod, and it is too stiff and heavy of a rod and I will have little to no use for it. If anyone is in the saint louis area and wants it for what I paid for it let me know. You can come inspect the rod before buying it. Ill also accept a trade for a 7'3 to 7'6 med light spinning rod of equal value.

It was about 430 when I caught it, so it may have been moving shallow as it was getting dark.

I released the two that I caught. I know they are uncommon in the rivers. Stockton and table rock are the place for eater walleye!

I went again on Friday, different pool, same results. The air was cold, the water was cold. Didn't bring the graph or thermometer, i just look for water thats deep enough. Caught mostly smallies, with a few largemouth, another walleye and a mess of spots that came home for dinner. I caught them on a jig, a worm, a swimbait, and a jerkbait. The biggest were all on the jerkbait. The walleye was just ahort of 20" and i threw it back too. 2 walleye in 2 trips while bass fishing. Im thinking they may be worth targeting! Too bad they aren't 15# like the ones in days of yore.

This video should be titled "YouTube fisherman learns about corporate consolidation 40 years after the rest of the world". Basically every industry has been highly consolidated so that just a few companies own the majority of sales. It has been U.S government policy to incentivise mergers since the 80s. The niche products (bill norman top dollar) get nixed because they arent profitable enough. That's capitalism baby!

In paint we often use "microspheres" to decrease the density, and increase the strength of the final coating. These are tiny air filled glass balls. Fumed silica would also probably work, but the bulk density is way higher so the end product would probably still be fairly dense. https://www.amazon.com/Glass-Bubbles-Filler-Epoxy-Polyester/dp/B07KPL163Y/ref=asc_df_B07KPL163Y/?tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=475926715830&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=13863008283597289893&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9022858&hvtargid=pla-944164589678&psc=1&mcid=af6e37bc749f3be3b47b8f522356eaa3&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIocqLqtPVggMVWyCtBh1BVwcWEAQYASABEgJQefD_BwE

I have never actually been to the Coldwater access, just the sam baker, hwy 34, and greenville access's. But my favorite spots are way above sam baker, so I have to get there super early, and paddle a pretty long way up river to get to where I want to fish. I find that stretch of river to be great. Seems like I have caught em pretty good every time I have been down that way. Plenty of bass and crappie, and apparently there is still 1 walleye swimming in it. My son and I did a summer day trip on that stretch too, and they were biting pretty well in and around the current areas.

It was a long day, at least for November. Dark to Dark. I put in at Sam Baker and paddled up as far as I could get. Then paddled back down. Fishing was really good, but I paddled through quite a bit of fishless water and caught everything out of the same 2 holes.

Instead of deer hunting on opening day, I decided to go smallmouth fishing. I made the right decision as they were really biting well. I was between Coldwater and HWY 34. The river was low and clear and I caught all of my fish out of winter holes. I threw my usual jerkbait, jig/worm, swimbait, and the last year or so I've been having luck with a skirted jig. All 4 worked well for me. I didn't bother to count, but I had 5 fish in the boat in first 15 minutes of actual fishing. I probably ended the day somewhere in the 30 fish range, most were smallies between 12 and 15 inches, a handful of spots, 1 largemouth and 1 walleye. The biggest fish was a 19 inch largemouth, and a 22 inch walleye. It is nice to know there are still some walleyes swimming around in there, and I threw him back. Throwing back a keeper walleye should put me in good favor with the fish gods. He was pretty lucky that the crappie have been biting up at Busch though so I have fish in the freezer.

Lol you better stick to changing out impellers. 🤣 I'm not going to debate science with a boat mechanic that failed 7th grade math.

PV=nRT It is pretty simple and not flawed at all, you just don't want to understand it. I simple look at Wikipedia would tell you everything you need to know if you cared to.