basska

Can't wait to see the post on the Big Brown that was caught today....

Found one of those Lone Star bastards burrowed into my sack Monday evening - No I am not talking about a bag of morels. That will definitely be a temporary quell for craving the woods...

I tried Wyandotte Co. Lake Park for them yesterday. No finds. So much foliage to contend with. Should've just got a kayak and fished it!

Thanks for the news. I've noticed an increase of them in the guide service's posts online. I'll be down in 2 weeks. Should be fun. Hopefully get at least 3 species.

My simplest way to *roughly* explain the difference to friends who don't know is to think of a Spot as a Largemouth body with a Smallie jaw.

My biggest Smallmouth ever (out of 6) is 14 inches. This year my goal would be catching 100 fish and an 18 incher in 6-8 Smallmouth trips. Sometimes I feel a little imposter guilt knowing so much about Smallmouth but not having any real experience with them. It just took one Ozark float trip for me to KNOW I had found my favorite sport fish. I am an obsessive type, have always been, but usually my obsessions don't last. I get really into something, learn a bunch about it in a month's time, and then it just flares out. My obsession with fishing has held strong for about 1 year now, and I think that can be attributed to the never-ending rabbit holes of the sport. You never know what will come next, and every fishing trip is a learning experience, no matter your skill level. There's no limit to what you can learn when fishing. As for the fish, though insignificant, I might as well share the story. Lower Jack's Fork August 2024. First Smallmouth Float of my life. Everyone was doing fair but me. Near Two Rivers, I caught my first respectable Smallmouth (over 12 inches). It was that moment I realized that Smallies fighting harder than Largemouth was NOT a myth. It did feel light, and I knew it wasn't a huge fish, but the way it ran.... It was just different. Faster, more endurance... and the beauty.... Another thing - that trip, for some reason, the Smallies we all caught were darker than what I normally observe in Ozark Streams. Whether that is due to genetics or habitat, I will not speculate. Needless to say, I don't have my story yet, but I'll be darn if I don't post an 18 by the end of this summer. I love these fish and our region. Makes me feel like a truly obsessed child.

Welcome. Treasure trove of information here. I'm fairly new and have learned more about fishing our local waters here than anywhere else BY FAR.

Old topic - but WOW. This fish had to run within a pound of the state record. Got to be close to 2 feet, 7 lbs. The fish we all aspire to.

Looks like Beaver Lake getting hit fairly hard. The Laclede co. area and LOZ region seems to be getting the brunt of it in Missouri. Will be interesting to read the gauges.

I get most of contemporary music in the form of Billy Strings. Seeing him live a couple times this summer.

Well - went down to this area on Sunday with a buddy of mine. We waded at Fiery Fork. Didn't see many fish and ended up skunked for our couple hours of effort. It is a beautiful river. More scenic than the rivers in McDonald County, IMO. I lost one fish in some deeper slack water near this eddy looking formation by a downed tree. We drove down to Bannister Hollow and parked at Cedar Camp and waded just upstream the bridge for 30 minutes or so. No luck there but great looking water. The people at CC were awful kind so I have definitely made a note to come back and float the river this summer. Beautiful place. They seem like they would offer a shuttle...

Well, I would consider if I didn't have the exact same rod as my primary!

Love the Slavic names running through your family lol

Really can't get much better than that. Cranks and swimbaits seem to be what I'm hearing the most positives about. In a couple weeks I will try some small Osage tribs to see if they have moved back up there...