45acp

Ditch pickle = largemouth bass = green trout = ol bucketmouth = etc., etc... All this chit-chat and only one response to my question of where to start fishing. Do ya'll ever fish the lake, or do you just float around drinking cocktails and ogling the bikini girls? lol The wife has decided to join me tomorrow, so there won't be any ogling happening in my boat.

I don't mind holes in the ground if they're full of water and fish. Tourist traps full of slimy rock formations, on the other hand, aren't really my thing.

Interesting that you mention Bridal Cave. My Great Grampa Wilkerson was one of the original developers of the cave. My Great Gramma owned some cabins and a bottle museum in Camdenton. Their house sat on the corner of Hwy 54 and 3rd St. The museum and cabins were across the highway from their house. Great Gramma passed in '67 or '68. The bottle collection was packed up and trucked to some big auction house in Boston to be sold. House/museum/cabins property was sold off. Now there's a Taco Bell where her house used to set. My Grandparents both got sick with cancer in the early 80's and had to sell their share of the cave business to cover medical expenses.

I know zip about fishing the lower part the lake. Never done it. Not even once. Springtime I go catfishing on the upper section at Warsaw. 90% of my fishing is on the Missouri, Osage, and Gasconade. So, my question is simple, do I fish the Glaize arm, or the Gravois arm? Coffman and PB1 are about the same drive time for me. I care nothing for ditch pickles. I consider them a fish of last resort, only to be targeted when more desirable species can't be located. I don't care much for crappie fishing either. I can catch whopper panfish without leaving my yard. Catfish and hybrids are what I'm interested in pursuing. Point me in the right direction. I can figure it out from there.

It doesn't take many 17" hybrids to make a fish fry.

YP is closely related to walleye. Very good eating.

The Yuengling came from sunny Florida. Wife and I spent the last week of September in Pensacola Beach. I bring a few cases home every time we're down there. Yuengling has hooked up with Molson Coors to begin distribution in our neck of the woods. Covid delayed the execution of that, but it is going to happen. The Texicans will be the first to see it. https://www.yuengling.com/news/yuengling-begins-westward-expansion-with-distribution-into-texas/

That's how I do it. Leaves the index finger free to pick up the line while maintaining a secure grip on the rod.

I prefer filets, but my 79yo Dad likes it better when I butcher them the farmer way. And it's hard to say no to crispy fins. I suppose the tails could be saved and made into chips all on their own. The next batch I'm going to filet, chop, and use in a crab cake recipe.

I'm a catch-n-release kind of guy. Some are released back into the water, some are released to the grease. And you are correct, it don't get much better than the crispy fins. I think there's a good chance of having a handful of 2lb redear by this time next year.

Looks like they're getting plenty of groceries. Some of the bluegill were invited to a fish fry.

We stayed up top the whole time. Caught fish on every gravel bank between the Hwy 54 bridge and Wilcox Bend.

Interesting you mention that. We put in at Bagnell and went downstream from there on Sunday. We caught a handful of largemouth, a handful of spots, and more smallmouth than we'd ever seen in one day on the Osage.

My daughter finished her undergrad work at William Woods in May. Biology degree. She wasn't quite ready to join the rat race so she got a summer gig with MODoC. She's on a crew doing water quality surveys, mostly in the bootheel area. They tromp through those field drains with portable shock packs collecting/identifying/quantifying the various aquatic critters that they dip up after zapping the water. Bowfin are one of the species that they collect in most of those ditches.

Fancy... you will love it. I've got ~5800 miles on my '21 model 2500 now. Still can't come up with anything not to like about it.

All ya gotta do is get your wallet out. https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/products/security/firepower-management-center/index.html There's loads of em on ebay in the $500 range.

I get no ads on this forum. You guys are doing it wrong.

My GrandPap used to say that a horse woke up every morning with just one thought in his mind - "who can I hurt today?"

Cummins engines are heavy. The extra weight causes everything in the front suspension to wear faster than it would on a truck with a gas engine.

^^^^^THIS^^^^^ $150 oil change vs. $50 oil change $2k ball joints every 50k miles vs. maybe never ball joints Steering components, brakes more $$$ and more often with the diesel. Tires! DEF fluid, fuel gelling in cold weather. Not to mention the $11k premium when you buy the truck. All reasons I went back to a gasser after 11 years with the Cummins.

Aside from the indicator on the dash panel, I don't notice anything happening when the 6.4 Hemi switches between eco and normal mode. The only time I punch the tow/haul button is when I'm taking off with a heavy load (camper is ~10k), or towing through town where there's a bunch of stop-n-go traffic. I find tow/haul mode to be completely unnecessary, even downright obnoxious, when towing at highway speeds. It raises the shift points way too high, and takes away the top two gears. I'd be lucky to get 4mpg if I ran it like that all the time. Your '13 model has, I think, a six speed transmission and a bit, but not much, less hp and torque compared to the 6.4. I would think that the highway performance would be more than adequate in normal mode, especially pulling a light load like a fishing boat.

One more thing... demand is outrunning supply right now. You will be lucky to find what you want in stock, at any dealer in the state, and you'll probably have to pay through the nose for whatever you buy. I got lucky this time. Capitol Chrysler had 16 of them on the lot, and a President's Day sale going on when I needed a new truck. A month after I got mine they had zero 2500 RAM trucks on the lot. Today it looks like they have two in stock, and two in transit. So I guess what I'm getting at is if/when you find the one you want, don't fiddle around thinking about it. Go to the dealership and bite the bullet asap or it will be gone.

I bought a '21 model RAM 2500 4x4 back in February. The performance of the 6.4 Hemi is amazing. This truck makes a mockery of my G2 5.9 Cummins turbo diesel. Fuel mileage for the first 500 miles was appalling, but once past that it has steadily improved. Took the camper from Columbia to Montauk and back last month and averaged just over 12mpg for the trip. The 8 speed automagic transmission is super smooth. Shifting is no-doubt, no hesitation. Unloaded on the highway it's getting very close to 20mpg, if not a bit over. Unloaded around town driving it gets 15-16mpg range, depending on how how I use the throttle. Fit and finish is good, ride is good, seats are comfortable, sound system is good, and the performance is simply incredible. At 3750 miles I can't find anything not to like about this truck.

Taking the boat down there tomorrow. Just need to decide where we want to fish. Truman, or upper LOz?

Level of brutality depends on the condition of the hull. You really want one that's been in the water for a long time and has a nice crusty layer of barnacles.