DoctaJ

nice, haha. I've had that happen one time to me, I was so disappointed. I think I'm going to buy one of those bps pond prowlers so I can fish the river. How do you catch the smallies this time of year, is it much slower? I've always fished for them when the river was down and it was mid summer.

Nice report. I have had a day like that (where my trailer tire blew). It was awesome to get to meet you at Bass Pro Shops last week.

Nice report Al, when you put into riverside access of of o, the first rapids you come to, that's my wife's family farm on the left side. Her farm is all along till the second set of rapids. It's a great place to smalie fish =)

Well, I had the chance to finally go. No pics though. River is down, it's down the most I have seen it since the big flood 2 years ago. Water is clear to slight tinge depending where you are. Fishing was slow for me, lots of small hits from google eye but not from big smallies. I'll admit, I'm out of practice though. I haven't got out a whole lot this summer. I did find one smallie on the fly rod with a clouser minnow (white and chart) and found a 13in spot on a jig. Might head back down today and see what's going on. Wish me LUCK!

Set that hook Bman, its not a fly rod =) You'll get em. Nice cat even though you weren't fishing for him.

Very nice Bman, wish we all could have seen it. I've seen them in there when the boys take me out at night gigg'n in the fall. I just laugh when people tell me there aren't big ones in the meremac. You'll get em next time! =)

The real is last years curado the 101D, it's left handed, new in the box. $120.00. The Rod is used but I've only used it probably 3-4 times. I've decided I don't like 7ft rods. It's a shimano compre which carries a lifetime warranty through shimano. Asking $60.00. Email me dr.heaberlin@gmail.com if your interested.

thanks for the report bman, I was down in cuba and almost went but I figured there would be people everywhere. An amateur fly caster like myself + lots of people = very dangerous.

Shoots the .22 mag. Simmons scope 4x32 200 or OBO. PM me or email me at doctaj@charter.net

Cody has it right. I use the exact same thing for the same line. Tieing braid to mono, I use an albright, have to wrap it 7-8 times. Tippet to leader, surgeon knot.

I fish tournaments from time to time. Most of the tournaments I fish are with friends though, you know nothing serious. But how often do you think people cheat? The reason I bring this up is b/c I witnessed someone cheating during a tournament. On May 2 I was with my friend down at lake of the Ozarks. These guys that were friends of his uncle stopped by and put 3 fish in his basket off the dock. I asked my buddy why there were doing that if he didn't fillet them and he told me they release them around the dock after a day and hopefully they hang around and increase the fishing around the dock. I believed him. So Sat. my buddy and I go out and catch 3 keepers and one huge crappie that hit my shaky head. Before I got back down to the dock from lunch, he had already put the bass in the basket. So around 2:30 these guys call and tell his uncle they have a 4lb bass they want to show. When they showed up, the didn't even dock, the pulled the basket up and emptied it into their live well and took off for a 3:30 weigh in. I asked my buddy about it, but he told me it was their business. I disagreed. My buddy said it was no big deal tournament for giggles with no money involved. I didn't believe him. From them talking back and forth and me trying to listen carefully I found out they were fishing a roofer tournament, got 8th place, and around a 200 check. I hate cheaters. If I catch somone cheating, next time I'll have video evidence and they will go to jail. That's why I posted in the Lake of the O section if someone had heard of the tourny. I looked up the Regada permit and there was the Roofers Mart Inc tourny. I've contacted them already. Of course, with no evidence nothing can be done. I'm watching for them to update their website though and show the results. I know one of the guys was named Steve but that's it. Even though nothing can be done to these guys now, we tournament fishermen need to put the fear of God in these guys. I'm sure we all remember the jones incident.

Are you serious? Yes they catch smallies =). I've got a pick of a 20incher from the meremac that I caught on my ultralight....it was a ride for sure. I use the smallest ones though.

Nevermind, I found what I was looking for.

Al, Working at BPS, I've never heard of that problem. This is a huge heads up for me. Shimano is one of the top sellers. I would either take it back to where you bought them or send them back to shimano for warranty work. These are the newley redesigned symetreys right? If it is the new shimano design, I don't know what to tell you but to get a different reel. Surely something could be done to fix them.

Anyone heard of this tournament? It was on May 2, 2009. I don't know where it took out of. I do know I was in the osage part of the ozarks, so it couldn't be too far off. No more than a 30 min boat ride. I need to get in contact with the tournament directors of this tourny. Thanks. PM me please.