Dinkslayer

All you guys with A-rig envy should see a doctor.

Here's a little tip to save you the trouble of re-baiting and extracting swallowed hooks. Use those jigs tipped with a crappie nibble. Trout love them too. I have buddies that have used powerbait for years and I laugh at the troubles they go through catching 12-14 inch trout. They are re-tying and re-baiting so much that they lose a lot of their fishing time. Not to mention how often those poor trout swallow that tiny hook covered in dough. There are days when you can work that jig fast and erratic and days when they want it slower and deep. Try a few different techniques and you will figure out what works for you and the fish. Good luck!

There was talk of a black bear spotted near a trailer park in Pevely, Missouri on the local news last night. We had one in Desoto, Missouri a couple of years ago. I've never seen one and spend a month a year in the woods. I'm excited for the comeback!

If you ask nicely at the park, they will usually work with you. I've rented canoes from them and floated from 21 bridge to Mammoth and they let me bring the canoes back. I had a buddy float that area on Sunday and they seemed to have some good luck with the smallies!

Good on you wrench.

The bass made and moved to the beds this past Friday/Saturday in my subdivision lakes.

Took my dad, brother, and nephew down to TR and stayed at Lunker Landing(great place for us) Thursday through Sunday. Had a great long weekend of fishing and family. Dad and I got on the lake Thursday by 1 pm and it didn't take us long to start catching fish. He was able to catch one of our biggest of the weekend which was right at 3lbs on a Keitech swimbait in black shad in the first 20 minutes. I know 3lbs isn't that big, but to my dad it is! So, the old man is catching some fish on the swimbait and the ned rig while I chucked the A-Rig. Found two transition banks in the wind and we had a blast catching 14 1/2 inch spots on light spinning rods with the swimbaits. We caught the occasional 15-16 inch fish throughout the day and ended with 4 keepers and about 35 fish. My brother and nephew joined us on Friday and we made it out after breakfast around 8 am and caught fish off and on all day until 7 pm. Again we caught several shorts but we still had a blast and everyone got in on the action. My nephew caught the biggest of the day and of his life with about a 2 3/4lb spot on a road runner while he was crappie fishing. We ended up with 9 keepers Saturday and also 1 14 inch crappie with about 30-40 shorts throughout the day. Caught most fish on one of the transition banks from the day before and also caught some of our keepers all the way back in the coves. Main lures were ned rig, A-rig, and every different type of plastic craw I had in the boat. Fish seemed to nip at the swimbait and A-rig a lot on Friday. I had a pile of keitechs in the bottom of my boat with the tails bit off when I cleaned it that night. Saturday got a little more difficult for us with fewer fish but better ones. We maybe caught 15-20 fish all day but ended with 7 keepers. Mostly on the A-rig and a few on a spinnerbait. We ended our day early and had a fish fry and never made it back out. All in all it was a good weekend. Everyone got to catch some fish and make fun of each other like we were all kids again. Found a few beds but no fish on them yet where we were. I know there were several tourneys on TR this past weekend and I'm sure most of those guys were respectful. I had two incidents with tournament guys that give them all a bad name. Whoever runs the Friday night tourney has a guy in a blue Nitro 18 with a 175 merc on it that rolled into our cove around 11:30pm and proceeded to cast 5 feet in front of us while we were crappie fishing on the dock. You just don't do that. No excuses in my opinion. I bit my lip because my nephew was sitting in the boat behind me. The next day as we idled to a point to begin fishing, I had two guys in a ranger pull right in front of me as we were dropping the trolling motor. I simply told them that I thought that was a BS move and they stated that they thought I was fishing out deep. I believe they knew better but maybe they didn't. To their credit, they apologized and said they would leave. I told them to go ahead and fish, don't worry about it and then they proceeded to drive between me and the bank, right over the brush that we were both there to fish. Just want to thank all the other tournament anglers we spoke to that were kind and respectful of other fishermen. I guess when you are playing for money and trophies some of them think they can walk over a boat with a family in it. Sad. I've fished tournaments for years and have nothing against them. Just witnessed things that I would never do and I would never want my nephew to think it was okay to do that to someone or let someone do it to you. Good luck and be careful.

I guess everyone that predicted the spawn slaughter during the BBB this year was one-upped by mama nature! Still had water temps in the low 50's last Sunday and Monday. Good Luck, it only takes one cast!

I'm planning on taking my dad, brother, and nephew around the Shell Knob area and was hoping to hear some good news on the fishing around those parts. Anyone been fishing those areas??? I'm feeling the pressure to get my ol man on a few fish as it doesn't get out as much as he used to. Any info is much appreciated and I will share our report when we get home Sunday. As always thank you and be safe!

Well done gentlemen!

All these lure retrievers are worth their weight in gold! My fishing partner and I have saved thousands of dollars since lure prices got so high. I used to think these were a gimmick, now I'm a believer and a promoter of them all. Have mine rigged to an old reel and it seldom lets me down. Save 10 megabass = $200!!!!!!

Friday was by far our best day with 20 keeper crappie and bass were biting the jig with some aggression. Everything went silent for us after the storms Friday. Caught one bass at 4lbs Saturday in the painter's tournament out of Alhonna and followed that up with a big fat zero on Sunday. Only 4 five fish limits out of 44 boats Saturday. We only fished until noon on Sunday and I believe one bag of 5 came in that day. Should have kept chasing crappie. On a side note, the drum bite is on! The painters district put on a great tourney minus the sub-par fishing for most of us.

We had 44-46 degrees temps from morning to afternoon

Side imaging is a big help. Not always a necessity until they stack up under docks in late fall. It isn't needed now although, it will reduce the time spent looking for them.