crazy4fishin

Great story and I can relate - I have 3 girls with the youngest 22 now and a Mom. I loved to take them fishing and the memories are priceless. Now I have 2 grand daughters and I cant wait to take them. Thanks again for sharing

Here are a few pictures of the event - The one with Tim Horton was after we had worked our selves in some back water that I would have never even thought a 20' Bass Boat could go. We were bumping stumps, trees and there were many a time that he would pull the trolling motor up a bit to get over a log. The second one is Skeet Reese. The interesting thing is that most if not all of these guys were right out in the crowd after they finished weigh in. Maybe it was because of the smaller venue at Ft Madison and there were not as many people as there would be on some of the larger lakes. Either way it was great.

Well I was able to be a Marshall at the Elite event at Fort Madison Iowa.....I have to tell you that it was worth every penny of the $100 that I put down to be a Marshall. In essence you have a back stage pass to the event and you are rubbing elbows with all of the pros that you see on TV. Oddly enough they are regular guys........who knew! They treated each of us with respect and patience, I didn't see a single pro act like he was any better than a Marshall. One thing that was neat was the pros would let you either unload their boat or drive their truck and trailer to assist in the loading and unloading of the boats. The first day I Marshalled for John Murray from AZ. We were in the third wave and man the rush to go out with 20 other boats at the same time was incredible......thank goodness for the "o crap" handles. We went to a back water on the mighty miss and fished that area all day - and it was a slow day...the fish had lock jaw until noon....then they finally started to bite. John was throwing a Texas rigged sweet beaver running down a bank tossing it at every twig, branch and bump. we hit the same area 4 times before they started to bite. John did get the big bass of the day.....that won him $2500. The second day I was with Timmy Horton. He told me right out of the gate that he was a focused guy and might not talk much......he was right I bet we didn't share 20 words all day. But I have to tell you that it was worth every second of silence to watch him fish and see how he dissected the area. Unfortunately he didn't catch a single keeper fish until the last hour and he ended up with only one for the day. That wouldn't help him make the cut so he was headed home after Friday. If anyone gets the chance to Marshall I would say jump on it! I do have some pictures that I will post later on.

Congrats Phil - I kow that with you and Bill working the place it will be successful

Techo is right about the choices - I am down there late august or early sept. every year and they will be deep so I would recommend night crawlers on a drop shot around structure.....usually 20-30 foot deep. If you throw the jig I would recommend a football style and work the flats - I am sure that you will catch a few. Depending on your finances I would hire a guide for 1/2 day to give you the insight to what is happening on the water at that time. Best of luck!

Great vids - thanks for sharing

I just had to thow my $.01 in here. Thankfully my wife is a fisherperson, the good news, but she is stubborn, the bad news. She used to fish with a Zebco and had continual trouble with it. (truth be told it was more the operator than the reel) I kept trying to tell her to swtich to a spinning reel, but of course since I was recomending it that was obviously the wrong thing to use. Until we were with a guide on Table Rock and he only had bait casters and spinning reels.....she had to go with the spinning reel - he basically kidded her so much that she had no choice but to learn to use the spinning reel - now she wont use anything else. I ended up buying her one of the low end BPS models and it works great for her. The moral to the story - get a friend, relative or complete stranger to make the recommend to your wife or girlfriend. Then you should be good to go. Best of luck on your quest

Bill thanks for the fantastic report - I always enjoy reading what you ahve to say since I am only able to come down a couple of times a year. Starting sunday I am going to spend a few days up on Lake Mozingo - outside Maryville Mo.....now I wish I could have talked the wife into driving a few more hours south. O well........ Thanks again

John we will keep her in our prayers! Please let us know what happens

Thanks Doc, good advice. I was looking for something int he 6'6" MH but would consider a 7' - what would you need for your rod?

So Bill what rod would you recommend? I purchased a Johnny Morris signature on Ebay a couple of weeks ago and am in the market for the right rod. But I dont want to spend a trillion $$$$$ - my budget is in the $50 - $60 range; or should I say that my wifes allowance for me is in that range. Any comments appreciated.

ET84 - I have fished frogs before. Not necessarily around Springfield. There are many type but I prefer SPRO brand. I have a few colors depending on teh time of the year. I mainly fish them around vegetation pitching them to the shore line then erratically retrieving them. That seems to trigger a great reaction bite. As far as the jig-n-pig Uncle Josh makes a good "pig" and all I do is hook it through the flat part of the jig....not threading it through the body. If you would like more information I would recommend that you go to the BASS website and do a search. Good luck

A boat, a dock or the bank I think it is good to get away from the "busyness" and take in what the good Lord has blessed us with.