ozarkgunner

Cool beans! That's a great looking rod! I wish I had time to build one for myself.

Over the years I have noticed that I catch more trout in the dark rather than around the lights. I think this might be because trout (except for the big ones) don't eat bait fish as a steady part of their diet. Thus, the rational for the light is limited to the trout feeding on fish.

BTW, sorry to all you fly guys if I just let the cat out of the bag on this night fishing thing.

Thanks. I have been fishing the suspending baits for a while, and I also love the fact you can pause them ( The only thing I don't like is that they are harder to recover when you get stuck). Regarding night fishing in low water while wading, do you run the bait off the bottom like in bass fishing? When I lived in Colorado I fly fished a lot, but sometimes I had to break out my baitcaster and throw some shad raps. Some of the biggest trout I have ever seen were caught on a shad rap out of the South Platte. It seems this nontraditional method is deadly on large unpressured fish. The water was always flowing so my lure never hit the bottom. In Tanney, I would imagine that I would accidentally snag a lot of trout while running a hard bait on the bottom. Any thoughts? Of course I will bring my fly rod and jig rods, but there is something cool about smashing a monster brown on a casting rod.

Cool story. I'm glad nothing bad happened.

I give up. You are right!! Lets repeal the night time speed limit law! Additionally, lets also repeal the BUI law so we can get good and drunk before we run our bass boats 60+ m.p.h. at night. We don't want to live in a padded room now do we! 30 m.p.h. is arbitrary and capricious indeed!... how dare they!

Do you use floaters at night? I'm assuming no current ( I don't have the stones to run a boat at night in the trophy zones while they are running water at night.. especially in the fog).

Cool. Sounds like they still work. I use my bass rod and section of 6 or 8 lb. vansih as a leader. I like gold/black but have also got some large trout on clown colors.

By the way, if you guys don't think 3-5 mph over the speed limit matters you should look up the concept of negligence per se. Simply put, if there is a law aimed at public safety (i.e. the boat speed limit law is to keep people from hitting each other) and you violate it it doesn't matter if you were acting cautiously. For example, if you hit a log at night and your fishing buddy flies out of the boat and drowns and you are going 35 at night. You are SOL when his wife sues you for your boat, truck, house,etc.. even if you were keeping a careful look out.

You are going to kill someone. It's that simple.

Boys, I need a recent report................! I always post, so help me out. I want to have a good time this weekend. Thanks in advance! (especially to some of you guys who I regularly trade PMS with on the river).

I hate the crankbait "flip off"! I feel your pain. Some guys run single hooks on their baits for this exact reason. I still use trebles, but I am much easier on the fish (compared to fishing a soft plastic worm) when they get close to the boat. Sorry to hear you lost him, but as with life.... you will learn from the experience. I hope the next one you land is 12 lbs.!!!!!!!!!!!! Tight Lines!

I'm not trying to piss off the fly fishermen (I've been a fly fisherman for 15 years and was a guide out West.. however, I was raised on Table Rock bass fishing), but has anyone tried throwing large bass stick baits up by the dam when the water is running? In years past, we use to throw a Shad-Rap or a gold and black rapala and just murder the large browns (note: all released). I'm hoping to go in couple weeks and my favorite thing to do is to throw a countdown from the cable to KOA and then motor back up. Any input would help.

My boat planes at about 25ish...........! I think it is Wack'em who has the trim issues. Thanks for the advice, I certainly would get my jack plate changed if I could not plane out before I broke the speed limit. LOL.... You are right about not catching fish at 70 miles per hour! I love to fish, but safety on the water is critically important. Table Rock has more boats than ever on it and you simply can't run wide open in the night due to the higher crowds. Hence the reason the law was changed.

Did you have a good float?

If all of the tourney guys repeatedly break the law, then something needs to be done. Maybe we are not serious enough fishermen because we follow the law (which is generally a rule in MOST bass tournaments), but your comments make all of the tournament fisherman sound like a bunch of hot shot outlaws. This is far from the case for most of them, however money can make people do some stupid things. Some people would consider it cheating to go over the speed limit in a bass tournament. I fish out of a Ranger and it has no problem getting on plain at 30 mph. If your a "serious" night fisherman and your boat doesn't allow you to conform to the law, you should buy one that does. My BMW doesn't like to be driven 20 mph in a school zone, (In fact the RPM range is bad on my motor!), but I don't get to tell that excuse to the police officers (or the parents of the kid might I run over). You feel you are free to do whatever you wish, but I won't have any mercy on you if you ever run over someone at night, nor do I think your argument would go over very well with a Stone County jury. Do what you wish, but you have just told the whole world forever: 1. You break tournament rules by exceeding the night time speed limit. 2. You break the light law. 3. You think to be a serious night fishermen you MUST break the law. 4. You think tournament fishermen are the final voice on whether or not to follow the law. If you wanted to make an argument that the night time speed limit law is ineffective (i.e. it doesn't saves lives, or that nobody follows it) that is one thing. However, all your comments have done so far is make tournament fishermen look like a bunch of hot shots who are above the law. (Have you noticed how nobody else has joined you in advocating for breaking the law?) Everyone is entitled to safely use the lake at night, not just those who are running around fishing tournaments. Before you write back some arrogant comment, without getting into details I will personally ensure you get a visit from the "man" during your next night tournament in Missouri if you don't change your reckless attitude. I love to fish, but I love my family and friends who use the lake more.

Fishing is like surgery, you can't just read about it......... It has to be done to learn from it. Just my two cents.

I do the same thing. I have a surefire 120 lumen flashlight in my pocket. It has a small clip on it like most knives do now. A couple flashes always gets their attention.

bump

Great story and fish!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Maybe he is thinking in km/hour? I'm on plane below 30 mph every time in a bass boat (unless I missed something the 500+ times I have been out on the water at night). Heck, I'm even on plane below 30 in a 26ft. Cobalt!.............must be a joke. (It would be funnier if he said the boat drove better after a couple of beers!) Sorry Wack 'em, I didn't realize you were joking.

No joke!

You guys are confusing the definition of waters subject to the Clean Water Act "navigable waters of the US" See Rapanos v. United States, 547 U.S. 715 (2006) with waters subject to The Rivers and Harbors Act (Waters that are in FACT navigable) and then further trying to apply all of this to Missouri trespassing law. Remember, Federal admiralty co-current jurisdiction applies on truly navigable waters (In Missouri this is only the Mississippi, Missouri, and Grand Rivers). This is a simple state criminal law case and the rule of lenity (if the statute is ambiguous, it is read in the light most favorable to the defendant) is applicable to defendant. This area of the law appears very complicated at first glance, but this is only because of the apparent over lap of federal and state laws to the creek for a lay person. In reality, this case is rather simple.

Throw a red pork rind on that black spinner bait and you will catch more fish.

If you are new to the lake, take it slow and watch out for the floating logs and the no wake / shallow point buoys. There are some spots that will jump out at you at night if you are going much over 30 mph. I remember the lake before the speed limit, and it got plain dangerous on the fourth of July weekend when all the ski boats were out at night (going 50 mph) watching the fireworks and the fishermen were fishing out on the long main lake points without their lights on. Follow the law, take it slow, and the let the hotshots pay their tickets and tear up their boats and/or bodies.