Tom Spence

I insure my rig through travelers and my gear, tackle, elctronics, etc are covered up to $5000. It came with the policy and I had to choose the amount of coverage for that stuff.

Just got off the phone with Jeff at Ahoys. He said the upper roads by the Inn are ok but the lower road going to the ramp is pretty nasty. They've been grading it and he hopes it'll clear up tomorrow. Good news is he says no limbs or trees are down, just ice on the road.

I'm looking at going Sunday so I'm not too worried about the ramp. I think its supposed to be in the 50's on Sat and mid 40's on Sunday so we should see some pretty good melting. I know though that some places on those back roads never see the sun in the low lying and shaded areas. Hopefully they'll melt off by then.

Anybody been down to the ramps at Aunts Creek, Cape Fair, Ahoys, or Mill Creek yesterday or today? Wondering if the smaller roads to the ramps have melted off yet.

Last year I started using a flipping stick for deep cranks. Specifically a Johnny Morris 7'6" med heavy with a somewhat fast tip. I got the idea after watching a couple guys I know throwing deep cranks on 7'6" rods. They told me they can cast further and keep the bait deeper longer. I found it to be true and started using them.

I use a Falson Original 6'6" in med light. Really sensitive, good back bone and lots of tip. Also pretty cheap!

I've been very happy with the green BPS Extreme reels. I have several and for cranks I've used the 5:2:1 reels. I think they sell new for around $70

Prior to the cold snap (Sun and Mon) I had 47-48 degree water at Mill Creek, Kimberling area, and Indian Creek.

Sunday and Monday Kimberling Area it was 47-48

I'm fishing the Heartland. Yup, it'll be a nuthouse out there. I hadn't even looked at the FLW schedule and didn't realize all this until you said something. I WAS looking forward to fishing this event.

Coyote it wasn't me in Indian. I think I headed back toward Kimberling at around 1pm or so. As for the cold, I won't be back out there this week. I can't hardly stand it if its below 35 degrees. I don't think I'll be able to fish this weekend either. My sister in law is gonna have a baby any day now and I'll have to go to KC and see my new nephew.

Tried it again today. Caught 3 nice Kentuckies on a spoon in Fisher Creek early while it was overcast and calm. Found baitfish where the gulls were. Ran to Indian Creek and dropped the spoon and drop shot some more but no luck. The wind came up hard in the afternoon so I tried to fish a jerkbait and grub with no luck.

Went out today. My fear of cold didn't allow me on the water till around 10am. Put in at Aunts but didn't fish it. Went down to Joe Bald area and threw stickbaits, wart, and FB jig with nothing to show for it. Went to Mill Creek and still nothing on the stickbait and wart. Went to an 7/16 Eakins in brown and purple flash with a watermelon candy paca chunk. Started getting bit on that but nothing wanted to eat it. Finally hit some fish on chunk rock in about 5 feet of water. In on short strecth hit one short and 2 four pounders in about five minutes. Went back through there and fished it hard but nothing else. I didn't look too hard for them, but did not see much for bait fish. Water was 47-48 degrees. Talked to a buddy who fished up by the dam. He caught several shorts and a limit of keepers on grubs and stickbaits. Said he found baitfish by following the gulls. Not a great day by any means but I didn't get skunked. Gonna go back out tomorrow as soon as I get the kids off to school. Hopefully will have a better report.

My bad. I just noticed you said "without elctronics." You can still do anything I mentioned without using them. For the split shot, it helps to know how deep you are just to save time and eliminate water.

Post spawn on Table Rock from around mid May to mid June. Pea gravel points next to spawning coves. I like to drag a split shot rig with a green pumpkin centipede or finesse worm. The depth depends on where I get bit, but I start at around 15' and move out from there. Just drg it behind the boat and use your fishfinder and stay at the depth you want as you make your way around the point. Its also a good time to throw a grub on a 1/4 oz jig head and zara spooks. The split shot is great for numbers of fish. I throw it on 6lb line with the heaviest split shot I can find on a spinning rod. Its a great method for kids to. I bring my son and just sit him on the back deck dragging the split shot rig. He has a blast. If you're into white bass, I've gotten into bunches of them schooling off the main lake points that time of year. If you catch them schooling throw a topwater bait or a grub in among'em.

I was curious so I gave it a try. It wasn't an overly cold day (about 40) but my feet get cold pretty easy. Anyway, I think it worked. I didn't notice my feet getting cold all day and they didn't sweat.

Glad this got brought up cause its frankly something I've needed to sit down and think about. I finished 52 in points last year in the Heartland as a co-angler. Moved to the front o' the boat this year not so much cause I thought I was ready to compete with those guys, but because the things I need to learn now revolved around decision making and time management. I don't think those are things you learn on the back deck. So with that said: 1: Finish in the top 50 in the field in the Heartland. I know, "Why not top 40 for the championship?" Well, I like to keep things realistic and within reach. Anything else is a bonus. 2: Finish at least one event in the top 20 3: Get my co-angler a fish in every event 4: Win the Make a Wish Take a Kid tourney this year with my son. Took 4th in it 2 years ago and he had a blast doing it. 5: Get more confident with deep cranks 6: Keep having fun

No, I just have to wait a while to get it down there . When I was out there it seemed like you could not fish the jig slow enough, so the light jig was to their liking. I tried some 1/8 oz, but had trouble getting hung up in the brush and the slower fall seemed to be working good. I got hit on the 1/8 when it was sitting still but never got hit on the fall. With the lighter jig I didn't get hung up as much and some fish hit it on the fall.

Techo, you've seen my dad crappie fish. He's definately the best in the family. Don George said they'd look at it this morning and sounded confident they could fix it. I plan on being at Center City Saturday afternoon. Look forward to meeting ya.

Well, I'll post this and let you guys laugh at me and maybe...eventually...I'll join you in your laughter. Met my dad at Pomme today to catch some crappie. First things first, 20 keepers between us. They weren't on fire by any means but we caught enough that each of us brought home a good mess. Anyway, I got there early so I put in and shot across the lake from Nemo ramp to throw a jerkbait on a point. I fish for a few minutes and am retying (how do you spell retying?) when I look across the lake and see dad on the courtesy dock waiting for me. I put down the rod, strap it down, fire up the big motor, and head for the dock. As soon as the boat is on plane water starts hitting me in the face. I quickly realize I left the trolling motor down. I get it up and pick up dad. He says, "I saw that." I say, "You always do." We get to our first spot and I find the trolling motor is steering pretty hard in one spot. Turns out I bent the shaft . It was barely enough to see without really looking at it, but bent it was. Got it home and tugged on it. Pulled the shaft bearing it looked ok. It still has a rough spot and it appears the bend is up between the top housing and the bottom of the tube the shaft sits in. Anybody think a Motor Guide shaft can be bent back to shape? I'll call George at Marine repair tommorow and see what he thinks. Hopefully, those 10 crappie won't be too expensive. Put a more detailed report on the fishing on the Pomme page.

Fished from 10:30 to about dark in the Nemo bridge area. Caught 20 keepers and about 12-15 shorts. Fish were in deep brush. I couldn't get bit in water less than 25 feet deep. Used several color combinations, but majority came on red/chart or black/chart 1/16 and 1/32 oz tube jigs.

I really got my hopes up when I read this cause I only live about 10 minutes away from Wilsons Creek. I called them and they only do the Golden Age passes and not the annual passes.

You're not kidding. Its a whole new world of fun when you can watch the fish go after your bait on the graph. The boat is great. Have only had it out twice but I hope to be out this weekend. Maybe Friday but I have a pretty early curfew that day. Might go Saturday too.

Sounds like a great day. I've been hoping the spoon would turn on soon. I hope to get out there this weekend.

Now your just being silly Techo. Thanks though, I appreciate it.