Brian Jones

You described my younger days of jet boating to a "T" wrench. Used to be about how fast I could get to where I was going and how shallow could I run it. Now, after 15 years of being a jet boat owner, it's more about getting there and back in one piece. Rarely do I run our boat at WOT. Dents cost more to get fixed nowadays, bumps and bruises take longer to get over, and pushing the boat off a gravel bar or digging it off a shallow shoal isn't as much fun.

You'll see them early summer when the water levels are higher and on the bigger rivers such as the lower Gasconade and Osage. I've even saw one or two on the middle Meramec below Sand ford. Common sense and a little courtesy by both the jet boaters and the floaters would go a LONG way in curtailing most of the disputes over who has the "right of way" on the river and who should yield to who. Unfortunately the pride and egos of both parties will probably never allow the disdain between the two to diminish.

Awesome pic and grin.

I've been itching to try it out as well.

Scenic Rivers Boats and Motors. Jim Elders is a top notch OMC mechanic. (573)358-7040

Well I wasn't able to watch the show last night, so I recorded and watched it this evening. Pretty much a waste. Seemed like a cross between The Dukes of Hazard, Road House, and the Shepard of the Hills. 60 minutes of my life I'll never get back. It is a shame that producers cannot come up with anything better than these corny reality shows depicting all who live outside suburbia as simple backwoods hicks. But I guess these kinds of shows are what's attracting viewers.

Wonder if crowbar will show his technique for filleting trophy smallmouths?

Interesting. I would have said the exact opposite. I've had nothing but good luck with the shimano spinning reels that I've owned and I've only bought the middle of the road ones; mainly the Sonoras. I haven't bought a shimano baitcaster however since they re-made and jacked the price up on the Curado a few years ago. My BIL has a couple of the new Curados and IMO they aren't near the reel that the old Curado is/was. It should be noted that my stuff isn't getting the miles put on it in a year that your (Al) stuff does. So maybe that has something to do with why I can get several seasons out of their spinning reels.

Any spinning reel is good as long as it says Shimano on it somewhere.

I'm by no means a jerk bait expert but I've had my best luck on a 78 Pointer and a 65 Pointer in American Shad and Original Tennessee Shad. Though I've caught some decent smallies on them, I don't have much confidence throwing them and am generally not as patient with them as I am soft plastics.

About 20 years ago, my vehicle was vandalized at F. Since then, we've just had someone drop us off when we have floated it. Have never had any trouble at 47 and have never used the Kingston Access.

Not trying to take business away from anyone but I think Huzzah Valley could probably accommodate your family as well.

Haven't found many since this one Seth...............................

Got more dents in the bottom of our boat from that stretch of water than all the other water I've ran. Seems like every time I get used to running it, a rock gets pushed into the "channel" and I find it...............

Not sure this is my biggest but it is in the top 3 or 4. I caught it in May out of the Meramec. It was 20 1/4 inches long. Caught one in 2001 about 200 yards downstream from where I caught this one that was 20 inches long and weighed 3.74 lbs. I caught two on the Gasconade in 2006 that weighed 3.62 lbs. and 3.80 respectively but didn't get length measurements on them.

I use pretty much one buzzbait. It is made by a friend of mine who lives in Belle. Not sure what he does to them, but they have a squeal that for some reason just cannot be duplicated. He isn't stingy with them, but he doesn't advertise either.

One thing for certain, this WILL change the recreational floating industry in our state.

Looking to have a replica made of a smallie done for my dad. Where would be a good place to have this done? Not looking for name droppers; but actual experiences with taxidermists. Thanks Brian

The only thing I'm surprised about is that everyone is surprised that this ACTUALLY happens and that LAW ENFORCEMENT officials do NOTHING about it. Can you imagine if this dude was posing with an illegally harvested B&C buck? SWAT would already be at his house and have everything he owns confiscated.

We caught two one night almost 20 years ago from Big River at Thornton Bluff. We had some limb lines set and were tight lining with our rods and reels with minnows when we caught them. Most people we've told that story to think we are full of bologna.

Not sure that I would agree that fall is better for big smallies, but would definitely agree that fall is the best time to catch bunches of smallies.

Don't know if they're considered a major distributor but I buy a lot of stuff from tackle warehouse.

I've been fishing out of Mammoth on the lower part some. It has been hit or miss. Had a good trip about a month ago. However, I've been back a couple times since and struggled to catch fish.

There's not a nicer guy in professional fishing than Timmy Horton and back in 2006 he had an accident at LOZ where his hit a wake wrong and injured his co-angler. http://www.flwoutdoors.com/fishing-articles/press-release/145113/williams-recovering-from-day-one-accident/#.UUh6aBc3vZg I personally was ejected from a Charger while fishing a tournament at LOZ in March 2001. The guy I was with hit a wake and the boat bow hooked ejecting us both into the 40 ish degree water. Haven't been able to ride in a lake boat since.

Caught this one on a Pointer this weekend out of Big River. It measured 18 1/4".