Ealy

Don't knock the jointed thunderchicken. It's better out of the box than any redfin.

My dad is moving from KC down to LOZ next week taking a new job. He's looking for a decent place to rent somewhere near Camdenton until he can get his house sold. If anyone knows of anything please let me know. Thanks in advance.

CMAC, I've been tearing them up on magic worms and helicopter lures. They've been banned in tournaments because of their deadliness.

Don't be afraid to come March, April, and May. Swim a grub, spinnerbait or throw a crankbait if it's windy, split shot rig, c-rig and football jig otherwise. Good topwater action in April and May also. Look for the flat gravel banks.

One of my top goals is to fish better under pressure. I always fish better when fun fishing because I'm not afraid to take chances and experiment a little. I seem to have my best trips by flying by the seat of my pants and fishing the current conditions instead of trying to duplicate what worked last time. I'm hoping more time spent fishing this way will build confidence in myself and making the right decision. It seems like in a tournament situation I'm afraid to fish somewhere I haven't fished or caught fish before even if what I'm doing isn't working. I need to get over that. As far as techniques I need to learn more about shallow fishing and power fishing on lakes like Truman, Stockton, Pomme i.e. squarebillin and deep cranking, and summertime offshore structure fishing. And last but not least, I'd like a year free of boat problems. Last year my outboard popped 3 times, problems with trolling motor, batteries, etc... It seems like every time I go out something else happens.

I've got an LCX 18c with a similar problem. After you turn the unit on, try opening the map drawer for a second (if it has a chip installed) and closing it back. I have to do that every time.

Sometimes the bass want to chase the lure up towards the surface. You'll know this when your bait has been down deep and you start reeling in pretty quick. Sometimes you'll have followers racing you to the top. In that case stop your bait right about the time he catches up to you and hang on. If those lines on your graph are thinner than usual, you might be dealing with crappie. They like to come out and watch, but they don't always play. Once you've caught a couple of these you're likely to be able to identify them by the way they act on the screen. Try dropping a grub down on them. If they won't eat that spoon there are a number of other good baits to drop down there this time of year.

The flouro doesn't have the stretch that mono has. If a fish picks up the jig at the end of your cast with a considerable amount of line out, you have a better chance of nailin' him with the flouro. With the tighter line you get a better feel of the bass trying to steal your bait.

As in every other technique take this information and play around with it. Find what works best for you. There are a lot of good brands out there. The favorite around here is obviously Jewel and Chompers. I was lucky enough in my first Central Pro Am event to draw Buster Loving in the old Titleist tournament around the time that the football jig craze started. With 25k on the line, he wasn't holding anything back. I had been fishing the football jig for about a year before that day dragging it like a carolina rig or strolling. Watching the way he worked the jig really opened my eyes on how to trigger strikes with the heavy jig. His casts were at specific pieces of cover and when he set the hook he meant business. At the time Buster was fishing the Jewel jig. The last I saw at a Bass Pro display, he's now with Chompers promoting their jig. A couple of years later I bought a boat from Bill Davenport. Bill has won countless tournaments at LOZ fishing a jig over the years. I worked a fishing trip into the deal and Bill took me on a milk run of brushpiles throwing football jigs. Bill's methods were very similar to Buster's when it came to working it in and around cover. Again another memorable experience for me. Bill is sponsored by Chompers and fishes their jigs exclusively. I personally don't believe that if he started fishing Jewel jigs that he would catch any more fish than he does now. Buy some of both and fish them with confidence. You won't go wrong with either one both are very durable and use quality materials. Both have quality hooks. Thankfully the fish don't take the time to make the same decisions we do.

For me it's usually a Jewel or Chompers 5/8 or 3/4. On the skirt vs. hula grub I'd prefer the skirt. When you're pumpin that jig back a silicone or live rubber skirt is gonna have more action than just the hula grub. Remember this is often a big fish bait. I throw mine on a BPS 7' med heavy Extreme rod with 12 lb XPS Fluoro. I've tried 14 and 17, but I seem to lose sensitivity with it. You're usually fishing this out a little deeper and the lighter line has a better feel to it. It also gets down to them quicker. PB&J, Brown/Purple Flash, Brown/Green Flash, Green Pumpkin Flash all work well on Ozarks lakes. Cinnamon Purple, Green Pumpkin, Rootbeer, Melon Pepper, Watermelon Red, and Smoke/Purple Zoom Fat Albert, Yamamoto, and Chompers twin tailed grubs all make good trailers. A lot of guys use the sweeping hookset and that works well in dragging to the side situations. When working over a point or isolated structure, I like working it straight back to me like a texas rig hopping it pretty violently sometimes. When I set the hook I reel up and set it as hard as I can. They're easier to get in the boat when they're crosseyed. Don't try to wear down the fish when you hook one on these. They love to jump up and pass the football back to you.

I did hear a rumor last year that any "private" ramp, i.e. resort ramps are open to the public due to the fact that they are on Corp. land. Anyone have anything to back that up with?

The ramp by State Park is Moonshine Beach. It's more protected than State Park's ramp but still catches the West and NW winds pretty good.

I think Mutton Creek Marina at Stockton has a heated crappie dock. Give them a call and let us know. There used to be 1 or 2 of 'em up at Pomme too. I think one was at or near 83 Marina. My dad took me to one at Pomme when I was a kid. He said we didn't stay long because of all the weirdos in the place! Pack some heat and you'll be all right.

I went both days the weekend before deer season. Sat. 3 of us took 32 keeps and Sun 30 keeps between 2 of us. We caught most of them from the larger coves in the Pomme arm on 1/16 and 1/32 oz jigs. The crappie on Pomme aren't afraid of boat docks either. Haven't heard anything since. I'd be looking for some deeper brushpiles. Look for the green signs on the bank. Better yet, look on the MDC website. They have a good interactive brushpile map with GPS coordinates.

While this ruling may not be the end of the world, it's another case of government imposing another regulation. Ten years from now the next generation will just assume that's how it's always been and accept it. The government cranks up the heat one degree at a time and you put up with it. What's next? No fishing 50' from a boat ramp or courtesy dock due to interference with ramp users.

I put in at Mutton Creek last Sat. My partner and I caught fish all day long on spinnerbaits jigs and crankbaits. Bright sun and not a cloud in the sky and the spinnerbait was the best thing goin'. We did have just the right amount of wind that day. We caught fish on every bank we hit that day. I heard that Friday they ate like pigs up there during the prefront conditions. I put in Sat. at Greenfield and only had a dozen or so shorts by noon so I packed it up. I couldn't figure anything out that day. Too much Tryptofan in the shad they ate on Friday. The water temps up there were pretty cool 56-58, post front, bluebird skies w/ little to no wind. When I left there were at least 30 rigs there with most people fishing within site of the ramp for whites and crappie. I spent a lot of time around there and saw maybe 3 or 4 dinks caught out of those boats.

Here's a link to a pretty good site for those interested. It has color charts from the old storm catalogs. http://www.vintagestormlures.com/page4.html

I've got a friend who claims to have caught a 30 lb drum while night fishing at Kimberling many years ago. I've fished all over Table Rock for years and have yet to catch drum on this lake. Are they really down there? I did catch a nice rainbow within site of the dam dropshotting a few summers back. I know trout were residents of the White River, but I'm assuming someone released the fish from Taneycomo. Roaring River's a pretty long haul to the dam.

I went to a great little place on Hwy 39 about 5 miles south of Aurora last week. It's an all you can eat buffet in what used to be a convenience store. Great catfish, fried shrimp, hush puppies, BBQ ribs and chicken, baked potatoes, salad bar, etc... Banana pudding for dessert. The place is nothing fancy. Styrofoam plates and plasticware, but that adds to the homestyle fish fry atmosphere. Oh yeah, they also had froglegs, the only thing there that I didn't care to finish. I wish I could remember the name of the place...

Thanks for the advice. I've got a buddy that runs a concrete crew and does flatwork. I'll let him do that part, but I want to make sure there is solid ground under it for good support.

I have a walkout basement home with a coi pond that the previous owner installed. The pond is about 4 feet at its deepest and lays right next to the corner of the walkout. The dimensions of the pond are about 4' x 8'. There is about 1 foot of space between the pond and the siding of the house. The sides of the pond are built up with cinder blocks and the liner lays over them with flat landscape rock resting on the liner. The pond isn't in good condition and I don't have time to maintain it. The water level tends to get too high and spill over, which in turn seeps into the corner of my basement. I'm wanting to get rid of the pond, fill it in and most likely pour a concrete pad to extend my existing patio. This seems like an airhead question, but what is the best way to fill the hole after removing the pond? I'm thinking gravel is going to be the best, but it is four foot deep and against the house. I want to make sure that I've got good drainage and that the concrete pad won't sink down.

Nice looking boat, I'll keep my ears open.

My new favorite pizza in Springfield is Rosati's. They're right behind the Heritage Cafeteria on Fremont and Battlefield. It's strictly takeout, they sell it by the slice for 2.75/slice. Huge takeout menu with pastas, pizza, pasta etc... I've got a friend from Chicago who grew up with this place and has been eating there a few times a week to catch up for the last few years. Now I understand why.

Great pics. Stockton has definately come back after a couple of tough years.

Hey James, I may be wrong, but with the trolling motor in the down position, loosen the knob that would adjust your vertical height for the motor. Now grab the head of the motor and turn it until your foot pedal is level. Retighten the knob and you should be ready to go.