ozarkgunner

I fished with a couple buddies at Cooper Creek. We landed 9 rainbows in 1.5 hours. All were caught on power bait eggs with a 2oz. weight tossed in the main current. The fishing was slow. Tight lines.

For LOZ I would catch shad below Bagnell and then go up and throw the jugs out on LOZ with lines from 2 -20 feet. It's amazing how many times the shallow lines over deep water catch the cats. Also, Wal-Mart sells jug lines prerigged. Remember to write your name on them and they have to be personally attended if not anchored.

Got down around PM today and fished until dark. All of the flood gates were open. The fishing was hot...... landed 5 black bass and over 20 whites. Fishing from the bank tossing minnows upstream and following them down. Got spooled twice!!!!!!!!!!!!!

What lake are you going to fish on?

I'm not trying to turn this into a catch and release debate. However, most of the smallmouth are south of the Missouri River which is generally the legal line. Additionally, it seems very wasteful to keep killing bass full of worms unless you like to eat worm filled fillets. I wish he would names these streams, so the legal debate would not exist. See 3-CSR-10-6.505.

Sorry, I am assuming you are in Missouri. If you are in Arkansas it maybe legal but is still looked down upon during the spawn.

What rivers are you fishing? Are you speaking of this year? The last time I checked most of the rivers are CLOSED for killing black bass until memorial day weekend (May 23). It is hard to get a good look at the fillets without killing them. I may be jumping the gun here so please correct me if I am wrong, but otherwise you need to follow the law.

Nothing wrong with wet wading that time of year. Just keep the water level below the man parts and you will be fine. A good pair of wading shoes is a must when wet wading.

Abu Garcia Cardinal. It's a great value for the money.

I picked up a St. Croix avid crank bait rod on Friday so naturally I needed to put a reel on it. I went into Bass Pro only to discover my favorite reel the Curado D had been discounted. However, the new model the E is the most amazing reel I have ever held. WOW. The best part is that it actually came down in price! Its sitting on my rod and I am loving life!

Thanks!

No joke! I hope we never elect a president who is a member of PETA................... people would start hording rapals and spinner-baits!

Bump. Anything new?

I vote for a Spook or a super spook if you can't use a red fin.

YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Now if they can only get the bas#$rds that are killing the black bass in the streams during the closed season!

Ps. If anyone can tell me how to upload camera phone pictures I will upload some neat before and after pictures.

LMAO! I think I can replace the hooks on the old baits. However, I have a pile of old lures including several warts I took out of my dads boat when it caught fire years ago, most of them have jig/ spinnerbait skirts "melted" onto them. I salvaged most of what I could, but want to use but several of them still need to be restored. Any thoughts on restoring old baits? I spent almost $40 on hooks in the last month fixing old spooks, rebels, smithwicks, rapals, bombers, and anything else that had a body and paint that was still in 90% or better condition. The stuff I saved was great, but it almost made me cry when I looked at the pile of what I was trashing. I pitched at least $300 worth of old, warn out, rusty, or worthless baits (mostly old rusty spinnerbaits). The biggest issue is the old hooks that simply rusted. I "saved" 6 zara spooks simply by replacing the old hooks with red bleeding bait hooks. I even saved a spook that was in the old fashion yellow with red eyes pattern. Too bad I loose a spook once every 3 or 4 years! At this rate I will we in good shape for the next 25 years! Tight lines. PS. The old warts I have were lucky in thier orginal boxes!

It looks like I should keep the hooks then. The odd thing is that the ones I just purchased have normal bronze hooks while the older ones I have left all have chrome (stainless hooks). Additionally, the new warts don't have a split ring front (line tie), rather they have an odd looking clip. Normally, I put black nickle hooks on everything I have, but it sounds like the factory hooks are fine.

I started reading up on this and the ones I just purchased are the "classic series" which are modeled after the orginals. Its nice to know the old ones still work! I have a pile of them laying around in the shed at the lake house. I figured it would cost more time and money (I only use high dollar hooks) to replace the hooks than to buy new ones. It looks like I need to dig the old guys out and get to work. The only problem is the uv damage and rust stains that builds up over time.

Were they smaller bass or just a differnt type (spots)? I agree with you if you are saying most of the fish are no longer Largemouth, but I don't know how a slot would help this issue.

Thanks!

Are you after fatheads or channels? I have got a few up in the James river arm, but overall it is hard with a rod and reel. Trotlines work well.

Guys, I just stopped by the local Wal-mart up here in Columbia and they had storm Wiggle warts in crawdad color for $2 each. Since I am moving back to Ozark in 2 months and have a place down DD, I purchased all of them (6) for use on TRL. Questions 1. Is this a good deal? ( I figured it was, but I haven't purchased a wart in ten+ years). 2. How/ when/where (lower lake? rocks?) do I fish them? 3. Do you replaced the orginal hooks? I have been fishing for a long time on Table Rock (15+ years) and sometimes fish cranksbaits (shadraps), but I have no clue about the wiggle wart other than hearing they work. Keep in mind most of my fishing for the last 7 years has been during the summer (night fishing) or during X-mas (stickbait/spoon) so I might be missing the prime time to fish them. Lastly, I have one in my tackle box from years ago and it looks a little differnt did they change them? Thanks and I look forward to hearing from you!

LMAO!