Tom Spence

I fished Heartland and BASS weekend series as a co-angler and am moving to the front of the boat this year. I never considered CPA at the time due to their two day format and me rarely having the time off to fish them. Heartland is a great series with alot of very good fishermen. I got some really good draws last year (Wayne Fowler, Buster Loving, Steve Lackey and several others) and enjoyed fishing with all of them. I know several of the same guys who fish the Heartland will also be fishing the CPA this year. I know I'm thinking about it. It will be interesting to see if CPA starts drawing more boats since they changed their format to the one day events. They both have the same payouts and entry fees. I can't say if one is better than the other. I just know the quality of anglers on each is very good.

I don't pretend to be an expert at anything, but I do love throwing a skirted football jig. I haven't messed around much with a jig head and plastics though. I prefer the Jewells but throw a Chompers as well. For me, the Jewells seem to come through rocky cover better. I like PB+J, green pumpkin, brown and purple flash, and the the hot cinnamon. I've had several people tell me to use the sweeping hookset and it has worked well. I think part of the reason being is that when I'm throwing one, its usually on a long cast and I have alot of line out. I've been throwing mine on a 7' Falcon original rod in med/heavy with a medium action tip. I recently switched to a 7.5' All Star in med/heavy with a little stiffer action. The stiffer action has let me feel the bottom better. I usually throw them on 14lb flourocarbon. Like I said, I'm no expert by any stretch of the imagination, but its worked for me.

Appreciate the info. Thanks.

I'll do that Don. Thanks for the offer and I look forward to it.

Saw their video. They really got into some nice ones. I've got a few deep brush piles on Pomme I'll go hit and see what happens.

I hate to put his on the Table Rock forum, but the Pomme forum doesn't get much action and I was hoping somebody here has been up there lately. Was thinking of going up there and trying to catch a crappie (or 15) tommorow. Anybody been there or heard anything about that little pond lately?

I've always and still do use Lowrance. However I can tell you this. I just bought a new Champion 198 and when I ordered it I came very close to switching to the Humminbird side imaging units. But cost was a factor for me. If I hadn't had to work within a pretty strick budget I would have gone with the Humminbird. Now don't get me wrong. I'm very happy with Lowrance. I've got a 520C at the console and a 27C on the bow and don't feel like I had to "settle" for 2nd best. The 520 is my second one and I've been very happy with the mapping and sonar. So far I'm really happy with the 27C. A few months ago I went to a meeting at Center City in which a Humminbird rep was present and showing off the side imaging units. I was very impressed. I've talked to several people who are running the side imagers and they are all very happy. The technology is amazing and I feel that if a guy gets profficient with it, it will reveal things in the water that alot of other people miss. But I guess that can be said for any brand of sonar. Like I said, I had to work within a budget and stayed with Lowrance because of it. I won't say anything bad about either brand because to me, the bottom line is learning how to use and interpret the images. But if I hit the lotto you'll more than likely see Humminbirds on my boat (and a scheduled trip with Don to teach me how to use them)!

Haven't been on Pomme for several months. Was wondering how the crappie bite is right now.

Yeah Ham. When I say too warm I meant for the spoon bite. Like Don said, very soon you'll be able to get right in the middle of the creek arms and jig the spoon vertically.

Well, heres all I can say about my first Champion boat...awesome! The boat ran great. I bundled up and put in at Cape Fair with a full tank and did my break in run to the 86 bridge on Long Creek and back to Cape. Fished from 12:30-4:30 in the longer creek arms between Cape and Aunts Creek. Only caught one short fish on the wiggle wart. Had a few slap at it but they wouldn't hook up. Didn't get touched on a blade. Caught 4 or 5 shorts and just one keeper on a brown and purple flash fb jig w/watermelon candy paca chunk. My bites were 25-30 feet on chunk rock 2ndary points. I was probably spending too much time on each point and should have been runnin and gunnin a bit more. Dropped a white war eagle spoon to fish I saw on the graph but no takers. Water temp in the afternoon was 54-55 in the creeks. Still a bit warm. Did catch two keeper (barely) spots in deep dock stalls on the spoon. They were suspended about 10 feet off the bottom in 30-35 ft. It was good to be back on the water. Hope to be back out there soon.

Going out tomorrow to break in the new rig. It finally got delivered last week. I'll take a nice and easy tour de Table Rock and start fishing wherever I end up after the mandatory 2-3 hours of running. Hopefully I'll be able to post a good report tomorrow night!

Phil you beat me to it. I got the email from Fin and Feather yesterday and was going to put it on here tonight. We need to get involved in this. I've already sent emails to Blunt and Bond. This takes away alot more water than the Corps would like us to think, and has the potential to take away alot more. We pay taxes, ramp fees, annual pass fees, etc. to have access to these waters. Guys we have to make ourselves heard about this. This site gets alot of traffic from alot of good people. Theres alot of potential from this website to fill up Blunt and Bond's email box. Lets do it.

My fear is that there are alot more "commercial" docks than the Corps would like us to think. Does this ruling include any dock owned by a resort? It not only takes away the docks, but sections of these lakes. In smaller pockets of water this 50 foot zone can easily take up a whole cove or pocket of water that is not near the dock. Marina owners will be able to buoy off areas that were legal before and now nowhere near the docks but still off limits. How will docks be posted so we know which are commercial and which are not? I've never had a problem with not fishing near concession docks, but this is going to take away alot more water than they want us believe. Fin and Feather in Springfield sent out emails to everyone on their list explaining the new rule and included Senator Bond and Congressman Blunt's phone numbers (Bond 417-864-8258 and Blunt 417-889-1800) in an effort to get people to contact their offices about this. According to the email, this new amendment was made behind closed doors with only the marina owners and the Corps was represented. Good grief, we as fishermen (and women) give alot of money to the Corps with annual passes, ramp fees, etc. Our voice needs to be heard in this.

I've been on their pro staff for about a year. They've been very good to me and are a great bunch of guys. I think they sprayed the hull today so delivery should be the week of the 17th. t is for tom and 1365 is my badge number.

Acutally I went to Champion. Getting a 198 CX with a 225 Pro XS. It will be my first Champion but I've fished and driven a bunch and was impressed. That ZX was impressive though. It handled that rough water at Lake of the Ozarks pretty good.

Hey Don, Was that the gray and white ZX with the black bottom? If so they loaned it to me for the Heartland kickoff at Lake of the Ozarks cause my boat hasn't come in yet. That thing was a rocket!

I'll do that JE. I'm right outside Clever and will soon be pulling a black white and gray Champion. Give me a yell.

Eric, great show on Monday when you talked to Jeff Combs. It was good to hear him addressing the recent issues. I fished the Heartland last weekend at Lake o' the O' and the topic came up alot among people. On a lighter note, when Kory did the "FLIP IT GOOD!!!" on the show a couple weeks ago I laughed so hard the glass of sweet tea I was drinking came out my nose.

Thats good news to me cause I'm ordering a new Champ 198 and switching to Motorguide.

Its time to upgrade. I'm dropping the price to $18,500 so you need to buy it.

Doug I sent u a message with details on the boat. I had posted it in the boat review section and I have it listed on boat trader.com. I have a flyer up and Center City Marine and Fin and Feather too, but I dropped the price thats on those to try to move it. I need to get it sold so I can get my new one ordered.

I've always been told the white bass fishing is good on Table Rock. Though I don't fish for them on purpose and dont know much about it. I know in the Spring I get into them from Kimberling to the dam on grubs and topwater. The James is supposed to be very good for whites. I saw people trolling for them yesterday

Fished the James from Cape Fair marina to Piney Creek. Didn't get on the water till about 1PM cause I had to take the truck to the shop. I hadn't been on Table Rock in a month and couldn't believe how much the water had cooled off. Started off points with FB jig and Carolina Rig. Had a couple bites but nothing was really happening. When I saw bait fish on the graph I dropped a spoon and caught some short spots. Also worked the spoon in deep (30+) dock stalls. More shorts but one keeper spot. About 3PM I finally made myself go to the bank and start flipping buck brush and laydowns around Carney Hollow. PB+J flipping jig with Paca Chunk. Caught three keeper LM in four to six feet and several shorts. There was some boat traffic and the waves were beating the bank making a really definate mud line. The ones I caught were on the edge of the mud line and out from the bushes a little. Tried a square bill when I had wind and they hit it now and then but weren't hooking up. Like Capt Don said, you really had to watch your line with the jig. I wasn't feeling the bite at all, they just picked it up and ran. Kind of wishing I'd ran up Flat Creek now but maybe next week. Not sure how much I'll get out till the Heartland kick off. I'm trying to sell my boat and am about afraid to take it out for fear of breaking something.

I've been on Table Rock quite a bit this year and haven't had any fish like that. If you keep catching them with the sores you might give the Conservation Dept a yell and see what they think. Sounds like you had a great day though with 9/14 keepers.

2005 Skeeter TZX 190 powered by 2005 Yamaha 175 HPDI. Minn Kota Maxxum 74 lb 24 volt trolling motor with recessed foot pedal. Lowrance X-125 at bow and Lowrance 520C color fishfinder/GPS at console. Hot foot throttle with slide plate, keel guard, independent livewells with auto fill and aerators. Auto bilge pump, 36 gallon fuel capacity. Clean boat. Its been stored inside when not on the water. Asking $18,995. Email me at T_H_Spence@msn.com and I'll send you pictures of it.