abkeenan

Yep. Located in Cassville, Missouri also which is another plus.

What size and brand of split rings is good for switching the STX stock rings out?

Thanks for the votes and opinions guys keepem' coming.

Wow. That is NOT impressive and glad I didn't buy any of them. I hope the STX's don't have the same issue.

Thanks Gavin. That is exactly the kind of response I am looking for...someone who has owned, used and compared brands and models. I am looking really hard at the ABU Orra SX.

Im assuming burning the blade Terry?

Updating my old quantum energy combo that has seen better days (reel finally bit it after 10+ years of service) and am looking to buy a new spinning reel. I am going to be putting the reel a Falcon Clark Wendlandt Cara T7 7'M (which seems like a steal at TW for $99. All it is a Cara blank with BuCoo handle). Anyways all input welcome and maybe an comment or two about your choice would be nice. Thanks. -Brett

Awesome fish Jeb! Best fish of the year? Umm my best fish ever is barely half of that! Good to hear that the STX is a good $8 alternative option that works compared to buying the $25 vision 110's. I just got 5 STX from tacklewarehouse last week in the black friday sale. 2 Pro Blue, 2 Stealth Flash and 1 French Pearl. Went to BPS here in STL last week to see if they had any Luck E Strike Warthogs on the shelves yet because they show them available online (sold out immediately) and wanted to buy a few just to check them out as they are only $4. The BPS store didnt have them in yet but had the Clunn STX and they only had 1 Pro Blue left compared to the other colors completely stocked. I guess the Pro Blue is the hot color.

Champ you may be onto something there. Exercise while fishing! The latest workout trend sweeping the country. Could make a workout DVD and sell millions.......the way bass fisherman buy into "the next greatest thing" we will be having lunch on Bill Gate's yacht before you know it.

I agree with this "I have seen a couple of largemouth over Ten in the past seven or eight years. I've caught a smallie over five, as well as a spotted bass over five. Just saying you have the chance. Plus we live in an area of the country that doesn't promote a long growing season for the fish. Plus they are northern strain largemouths which rarely reach double digits." and this

Thanks for the offer sore thumbs thats really nice of you to be willing to help someone out like that but I went ahead and placed an order with Tacklewarehouse. Hard to beat the Black Friday 20% off nearly everything they have. Got the Lew's Speed Spool for $72 bucks with no tax and no shipping cost. Don't think that can be beat by any other place. Since I didn't spend $100 I figured I'd throw in 5 of the new Luck E Strike RC Sticks in there just for good measure Now I can tonight knowing I will have them. The sickness has struck again and I am already off the wagon.

Nice report. Hope you guys used Andy's Cajun Fish Breading on those slabs. Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.

No mechanic either but I was thinking the same as Jerry. If your gas lines/hoses are old and have any sort of hole, crack, leak, etc. it does the sort of things you describe. Quick and cheap fix. All I got.

I have the past few years model green curado now and love it. Had it for two years and its the best reel I've ever owned. But I paid $180 or $190 for it as compared to these other two in the $100 or under range. These two reels would be more specific presentation set ups and not my true work horse outfits so I don't really justify spending the money as I would for my jig, c-rig and crank stuff. TW only has LH models left in the 50 model curado so that isnt a possibilty. Then Shimano really just switched the names around between their citica, curado and chronarch. The chronarch is actually the last model curado per specs of the reel. Then they down graded the curado and dropped the price like 20-30 bucks and then upped the citica by 10 bucks. Don't really know what Shimano was thinking but thats why I'm sure they pay there merchandizing, marketing, etc. people the big bucks and know what they are doing to sell reels and make profits. Anywho thanks for the advice.

Planning on trying out some new reels next year and am planning on getting a Lew's Speed Spool which is $89.99 at TW and supposedly a nice reel for that sort of price point. Going to use it as my jerkbait chucker on a 6'2"M rod. Should I go with the 6.4 or 7.1 Lew's for jerkbait and maybe topwater? I also want a higher speed reel for burning blades and the Okuma Krios @ $104.99 looks pretty cool and is a 7.3:1 gear reel. So anyone have any experience with the Krios or Okuma baitcasters in general?

I told you I have a sickness. I already have the river2sea suspend88's and the mcrip. I am going to need a lot more than 12 steps to rid myself of having to have "IT".

Those 2 bald eagles have a nest on the point just north of 86 state park where that flat transitions to rock ledge/bluff wall. Saw the two of them everyday at that same location when I was down last weekend. Always cool to see those birds in the wild.

Hahahahahahahahaha. That last sentence said a mouth full. darn you Bass Pro darn you!

Collecting and buying lures is a disease. To me its like women with shoes. You can't just have one pair or one color. I have rogues, x-raps, pointers and mcsticks currently. Im too cheap to pay the $30 for the vision 110s and now I see that I MUST have the Luck E Strike Rick Clunn stick. My life wouldn't be complete if I didn't. If my fiance didn't here the term "wiggle wart" for the rest of her life she would be a very happy lady. I guess being addicted to tackle is better than being addicted to something else. That's the story I'm sticking too anyways.

I only saw a handful of boats all weekend which was GREAT. I was in a older navy with red/silver trim Nitro with 2 guys fishing out of it. (3 guys on Friday) I saw a guy trolling all over the dam area but never saw him land anything. Friday ran into a guy in a pro wrapped ranger wrapped in Luck E Strike in the back of Brushy Creek and said that he was having a heck of a time catching any sort of numbers and even worse for size. One here one there type of deal with no pattern. On Saturday I think me and a guy in a red and white basscat were on the same pattern as we always seemed to run into each other or I'd run past him seeing him fishing the same type rock ledge/bluff banks I was targeting.

Fished Fri-Sun on Lake Erie....ut hum I mean Table Rock. Wow what a blow we had down there ALLLLLLL weekend. Fished dam area all weekend. Anywho put our head down and fished with decent success. Friday - couldn't get anything going on the war eagle blade or wart and after wasting a few hours throwing them to no avail we waved the white flag and slowed down with the shakey head paired with a 5" ozark smoke or green pumpkin YUM dinger and picked up some nice fish. A real tanker 19", 3.2lb smallie in 25fow on the end of a dock and another football 2.2lb kentucky 2 slips down on the next cast. Pretty slow friday but 4 fish and all keepers, although one SM was 16 inches and was anorexic or maybe its cause he only had one eye and can only find 1/2 the food. Skinniest bass I've ever seen. Sat - was much better with cloud cover all day and the fish moved up shallow and wanted the McStick. Best locations were bluff walls/shelf rock banks with deep water near by on the mainlake. Had boat sitting in around 35-40 feet and throwing up to the ledges and twitching and jerking back with barely any pause, just pausing to reel up the slack. Most strikes happening when the stick was in around 15-20 fow. Nothing huge but good numbers and some keepers mixed in. Managing the boat in the gail was the handicap and had to leave some productive locations knowing fish were to be had but just couldnt do it with the waves and wind. Just too much. Sun - didnt get a bite all day. Tried same locations with same baits and different baits at different depths.... nada. Wart, mcstick, DD22, shakeyhead....weren't havin it. Saw fish on the graph and probably should tried jigging a spoon vertical into them but was just too stubborn and I guess I paid for my thickheadedness as I didnt land a fish. No cloud cover and super warm weather screwed up our Sat pattern. Wind really limited where we could fish as fishing the wind was just not gonna happen as the trolling motor couldnt fight off the Bering Sea. All in All had a great time and completed the grand slam landing a SM, LM and Kentucky. All fish still swimming and healthy as can be. The plus one is the fact that while all you deer hunters where out there in the woods I didn't even have to leave the boat or fire a round to tag a nice buck. Answer to Bablers question about seeing Fish Habitat signs put up by MDC. Found one: Same deer that was found in the water Friday afternoon and dad wanted the antlers so we went and got them before leaving today. Deer appeared to have a gut shot and died in the water at some point.

Same story here and then some GoneFishing. Made a customer for life here with me.

McSticks rock. Good colors, action and top notch customer service from SPRO. They are my go to jerkbait.

There are QUITE a few reports already posted.

Do tell Bill.