skeeter

I know exactly the points you are referring to and that is some of the most pristine, wild and untouched land you can still find. I wonder why in the world someone would do this ? Those trees sound like they were very large and they had to make a lot of racket doing this and also can't help but wonder how in the world they pulled the downed trees off the rocky points and out into the lake ? It would take something like a workboat to do that with a big engine and a prop pitched for pulling or pushing a lot of weight. Once they are in the water, Sycamores make lousy structure and don't really hold or attract fish. Crappiefisherman posted about the dead trees from the flood at Bull and we're seeing those on the shorelines around TR now too. Noticed a big and I mean a BIG old oak that had, somehow, leafed out this Spring and then died on the East bank just 1/4 mile South of Goose Cove point (15). It would be tempting for us to ask the Corps to drop those into the water for cover but they are very beneficial just leaving them alone as those "snags" will provide much needed habitat for woodpeckers and other birds and Woody needs food and a home.

As already posted by RPS, by all means turn the reel's handles up or vertical when you cast so your wrist is in the same plane as your forearm. It's somewhat akin to throwing a ball and your casts will be more on-target and your wrist will be less sore at the end of a long day and you should be able to develop more power. If I missed someone posting this I am not trying to give the same advice again but I was always taught to take the rod with the current bait attached and hold it horizontal, then push your free spool button and take your thumb off the spool. Observe how the bait falls to the water or ground and if the spool stops when the bait touches down. If the spool continues to spin, put more tension on the spool until the spool stops when the bait does, conversely, if the bait stops or doesn't move in free spool, loosen the tension. Do this every time you change baits and see if it doesn't help you get "dialed in".

There have been several anglers call for a lighted buoy at One Tree Island with no success. Imagine my surprise early last evening when I went up Big Indian ( Baxter ) and rounded the end of what is referred to as the " Devil's Backbone " and saw a light on the buoy marking the end of that rock formation. Have no idea if it turned on after dark or not and no idea how it got there. This is directly across the water from Camp Kanakuk and the light is on top of a short pole attached to the side of the buoy.

Don, Since you run the 1197SI and are certainly the recognized expert on the unit and log countless hours on the water with clients I wondered if you had tried the available weather option for the 1197SI that imports local weather data from XM satellite-Radio ? From what I have read in the Humminbird manual, it gives the boater access, on the water, to radar and lightning strike data and the distance to the nearest lightning strike. Would be most interested in reading your thoughts, opinion and experience on this option. Thanks.

In the State of Minnesota if you are caught violating fish and game laws, it used to be the State confiscated the vehicle you towed your boat with as well as the boat and trailer or guns. I don't know if that penalty still exists. However, when I made the suggestion about civil suit I was thinking along the same lines as Minnesota. Try to take everything this scum, and his accomplices, used to steal equipment with. Cars, trucks, homes.....whatever they own. Get a judgement against them and if they ever purchase something "legally".....take it. Since he and probably his pals are former and repeat offenders, make their lives a living hell. The other reason I suggested Civil Suit was the overly lenient sentencing by too many judges and local courts. Deals are regularly struck by P.A.'s in return for testimony and evidence or in an attempt to save the local jurisdiction costly jury trials. This clown believes he can successfully live a life of crime taking other's hard earned property so prove to him that is no longer going to be allowed. I can only hope the victims are mad enough to follow the progress of this case through the courts and continuously apply pressure to ensure prosecution to the fullest extent of the law. If mail fraud was involved that is great news as it will draw in the Feds. too.

This is probably "Wishful thinking" but I wonder if there is any chance of the owners of the stolen property filing a successful civil suit against this thief ? Could there be any basis for this like depriving the rightful owner of use of his property maybe ??? Are there any attorneys on here that could chime in on this with an opinion ? Make this guy's life a living hell and set an example for others considering the same type of theft. Take his vehicle used in transport to the theft sites, take anything of value he owns including real estate. Sell those items and use the proceeds to pay the legal fees for the suit. I can only hope that on the criminal charges Clark does not get an administrative hearing before just a judge and that there are lot's of anglers on the jury.

So that's who that is.... I've been "blinded" badly several times myself and you're correct in that you cannot see his nav. lights and you don't want to look at him too long or it takes even longer for your vision to recover. I applaud the guy for removing the carp from the lake and bowfishing for some of those "submarine" sized carp should be fun but hope someone can approach him in a friendly way about his continued use of those lights. He's in/on a pontoon or deck boat isn't he ?

8 lb. 11 oz LM, Bull Shoals on March 31, 1978 on a Wiggle Wart in a color Storm no longer makes on a very, very wind beaten bank ( Cow Pen Hollow I think ) followed on the next cast ( after my heart started again ) by a 9lb. 3 oz LM on the same bait. Both fish weighed on semi-official scales at Oakland Boat Dock back when Lenny ( Mr. Black Max ) owned it. Had several other fish ( 5 or 6 that I could do NOTHING with on heavy baitcasting tackle ) break me off or pull the hooks on that magical day. 6lb 13 oz SM, (already spawned out so can only imagine what she weighed with eggs in her), on a Black Spook on a very cloudy day in May 2004 on the flats across from Point 19 @ Table Rock. Weighed on a proven accurate digital scale at boatside and quickly and carefully released.

Fellas before you go and spend your hard earned bucks on automotive style lighting please read an inquiry I made of the Missouri Water Patrol just this morning and their quick and courteous reply. I could not locate this issue in the The Handbook of Missouri Boating Laws and Responsibilities but dredged it up from the recesses of what passes for my memory. Thanks Sgt. Callahan for clearing this up. REPLY:......................... You are correct regarding the night blinding problem headlights would cause. It would also make it difficult for other boaters to distinguish the prescribed lighting for vessels. State law prohibits lighting other than the prescribed lighting to be displayed continuously. Use of a spot light at night is recommended by our department. The proper way to use it would be to shine it intermittently to light up your course of travel. Scanning for 4-5 second would allow operators to see what is in front of them and then turn off the light. If there are other boats in front of you then you should not turn the light on as it would blind them. Sgt. Jerry Callahan Director of Public Information / Legislative Liaison Missouri State Water Patrol 573-751-3333 INQUIRY: ................... Hello, After the unfortunate recent fatality of the fisherman at Table Rock Lake who struck the tree on One Tree Island at night there is a lot of discussion among local boaters about installing and using automotive style headlights on vessels operated after sunset. I have searched the Handbook for specifics on this question and cannot find the answer but I seem to recall a prohibition against operating “headlights” while under way on a watercraft after sunset on Missouri waterways. Can you please advise whether this use of headlights on a boat while underway at night is prohibited or allowed ? Seems to me that if use of headlights is allowed while underway that would only succeed in “blinding” other boaters and ruin their night vision. Thank you.

Good idea about the reel seat. Maybe with the engraving pen though, I've seen sharpie ink come off with solvents like Goo Gone. Maybe a code of some sort so the thief wouldn't simply sand or file it off ? Thanks for your idea. I see where Governor Nixon even commented on this jerk's arrest and congratulated law enforcement who acted on an angler's tip. So if the Gov's office is aware of him maybe we can count on them throwing the book at him ? http://www.eclassifiedsnetwork.com/content...p;MemberID=1191

I got thru to my friend and the Sheriff has been in contact with him and this IS the thief who hit his boat on Baxter Dock. Unfortunately, the stolen items were not marked and there is going to be a problem proving ownership. He didn't say how they knew this was the guy but since Law Enforcement has been in touch there must have been some good matching descriptions. I suppose that is a lesson for anglers that we should mark our rods, reels and electronics ( record serial numbers probably ! ) but I have no idea how a person would mark a rod. I'm thinking engrave a Driver's License number somewhere on your reels with one of those inexpensive little engraving pens but any suggestions on marking rods would be appreciated. Supposedly, this pondscum was selling Thousands of Dollars of stolen equipment at flea markets, yard sales etc. and eBay. When they caught him in the act they discovered a "stash" of many thousands of dollars of stolen goods he had not been able to unload at sales yet.

Thanks much for posting that link. I'm forwarding to a buddy who got "cleaned out" really bad on Baxter Dock back in April. Maybe he can I.D. some things. Hope they put this scum away in the big house for a long, long time and his cellmates enjoy his company.....

I am nowhere near that part of the Lake and never go there or I would do it but how about this suggestion....... Maybe your Bass club members could get some reflective tape from Lowe's or Home Depot or where ever you can find it and strap it or staple it or nail it to that exposed tree trunk...... ? Surely, after the tragic loss of a life even the Corps wouldn't object to that ? Other submerged islands have buoy's like at the mouth of the James or Goat Island so what is their problem with this location ? We used to mark underwater, barely submerged, tree trunks in the back of Big Indian with empty gallon milk jugs tied to the trees with short pieces of trot line twine and they would show up pretty good at night and would float up with higher water and then simply hang by the handes when the water levels went down. People thought they were jug fishermen's abandoned sets but they were for safety and saved countless lower units.

I think I found the two pieces in the Automotive section. Pretty sure it was from the Berryville AR store. But that was about three/four years ago and you know how Wal Mart never carries the same thing twice !! You might try a Lowe's or Home Depot too or an Auto Parts store. This whole thing is just getting ridiculous and out of control with these thieves and the tournaments seem to really draw them.

Bluegill/sunfish like to peck at the bubbles on swimmer's legs or body where body hair traps the air. Those Brown or Painted water snakes are darn curious and will swim right up to you while you are in the water and scare the bejeesus out of you. They'll also approach your boat while fishing and I've had to splash the end of the rod in the water at them to shoo them off. I'm not seeing as many of them this year as in years previous. That pollution problem at Lake Ozark has probably been going on for years, especially in party cove. Hope they all don't start coming to TR instead, we are already seeing more of those enormous boats here over the past few years. That's one of the few good things about this lousy economy, the show-off's can't afford to buy them. I did read an on-line article in the Post-Dispatch that said business was way down at Lake Ozark even before the delayed e-coli information was released. http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/news/stor...E7?OpenDocument Makes you wonder about our "public servants" in Jeff. City.....

Absolutely ! Got mine three years ago at Wally World. It's a two part deal to make it long enough to a.) reach over and go around the dock framework and b.) to not stress the bow eye and glass if the boat lift get's "accidentally lowered". Both pieces are made of heavy steel cable covered in thick clear vinyl to protect boat finish. First half is an 8' long cable with swedged loops at both ends. Second half is also a heavy steel cable covered in vinyl that coils up when not stretched out and has the lock on it. The lock on the second part locks with a vending machine style key and that key cannot accidentally fall out when the lock is unlocked. Both the swedges on the looped ends and the lock are embedded in heavy plastic. Both halves have the "Brinks" name on them and seem well made. Cheap insurance to keep these scum from taking your boat out into the middle of the lake at night and stripping it.

Around ten days-two weeks ago, a neighbor and his Wife caught two coolers full of Whites/Wipers (?) in the Baxter area while jigging spoons in the early morning. He showed me the broken lines on them and thought sure they were Wipers. I had to agree as everything I've read says Whites have unbroken lines on their sides. They were big enough that I suggested he be aware of the MDC regulation that limits an angler to four fish over 18 inches. If they were Wipers they cannot reproduce due to Wipers being sterile Mules.

It's called a WEDGIE 'cause the crotch of the underwear get's stuck up somewhere where the sun doesn't shine ( wedged in tight ! ) I think Weggie is German for a person who eats nothing but vegetables Sorry, couldn't resist....

Gents, be grateful you live and fish in Missouri..... I have a Daughter who lives lake-front on one of the three major water supply Lakes for Indianapolis. The State of Indiana mandates IDLE SPEED ONLY ! after dark, and that means precisely between Sunset and official Sunrise, and brother do they enforce it.... !!! Talk about a funny sight..you should see the start of the night tournaments on the Lake she lives on. You guys would die laughing. My boat can idle faster than your boat is like watching one of those speed walking races in the Olympics.

I'm sure not a legal-beagle but aren't boat owners responsible for damage their boat wakes cause ? I know a local resort owner who went after a group that has multiple boats and used to water ski right in front of his dock which tore it up pretty bad. He did receive some compensation for the damage their daily activities caused.

We refer to those oversized boats on TR as " Battleships in a Bathtub" ! Either the owners are playing the same game they play at Lake of the Ozarks which is "out-do your neighbor" or they need those things to feel secure on the water. COE needs to establish boat length limits or TR will turn into another Lake of the Ozarks.

Yep, still have the LMS350A as I've been on another project and haven't had time to put it on EBay yet. Never experienced the screen fogging problem you refer to and the screen is as clear as the day I bought it.

ROTFLMAO !!! Thanks for posting.

Have a Lowrance LMS-350A that includes working transducer and GPS antenna ( that is impossible to find anymore ) plus all wiring owner's manual etc. $125.00 Also have a Lowrance LCX15-MT that includes working transducer and wiring plus owner's manual for $250.00. Unit is GPS capable with MMC card/chart reader in working order. No damage or scratches to either unit or their screens. Also have a brand new, in original packaging, Lowrance skimmer style transducer # HST-WSDX Transducer "Transom mount wide cone angle, 200 kHz skimmer transducer with temperature. Fits 2003 and newer Lowrance and Eagle 200 kHz sonar units with gray connections. 25' cable. $75.00 Free shipping via UPS included if you take all after your check clears.

I watched two Bobcats spread about 25 loads of topsoil around various Baxter campsites three weeks ago just before a big rain. That mud sat there, running into the lake every time it rained, for two weeks, untouched. Then on the morning of the 8th when the Ozark Frog Strangler hit, I had just made it into the dock and was locking up the boat when the heavens opened up trapping me on the dock. I looked across the water to the Baxter campground to see they had "hydroseeded" ( or whatever they call that green goop they shoot out of a truck onto new ground ) the night before and got to sit there and watch the mud, the seed and the green goop wash across the launch ramp parking lot and into the lake. Whatever moron at the COE planned this should be fired on the spot. Then, after all that expensive dirt and seed getting washed into the lake, a buddy from this board comes down and camps and tells me his party had to spend two hours cleaning up the trash and debris around their two campsites !! I guess they just covered the pre-existing trash at the other sites with their eroding mud.