edwin

1/4oz shaky is fine. BB - quite generous of you, sir.

I don't fish it much at TR as I find the football head shaky head get stuck much less often than the bullet shaped TX rig weight.

I third the folks at Ulrich. Brian knows the Mercs inside and out...great folks.

well done!

Haven't found any either

7.48lb edwin

I took the kids with me for the day. They tossed the grub around for a bit with just a couple shorts. It was pretty windy today....challenging for a 7 and 11 year old to control the bait. If I had a dollar for every time I heard "Dad, I'm stuck" On the plus side, we got to see some folks catching spoon bills...the real goal for the day. We also saw a good sized spoon bill being weighed in at Cape Fair. Couldn't imagine that nasty beast in my clean boat!!! Lots of fisherfolks up that way...

KIngs river it is...gonna have to hit the Mule this eve and load up the boat. Tnx for the insight folks, will report my finding tomorrow eve. FWIW, water was 52-54 up at Cape Fair today, 50-51 degs in Aunts Creek area.

Tnx for the input folks. I think the cold weather on Sunday, Monday moved those fish out a bit deeper. Add to that the flat calm we had on Tues and Weds till 2pm...tough go. The water temp seems to have finally come back a bit. Hoping for a little wind today tnx edwin

I've been on the water at least a few hours each day since Sunday, mostly fishing between Baxter to Aunts Creek to Hideaway Harbor. Monday's snow and sleet made for a miserable day on the water. I've been focusing on all the normal suggested locations / techniques w/o much luck. I've only had one keeper LM, rest have been 13-14" spots...10 fish total for trip so far. Only place I've been able to consistently find fish has been tight, tight to cedar trees. Even when I find em, there's not an aggressive bone in their body. They'll come check out a dropshot for a bit, but it's rare that one will take it. One wiggle wart fish in the wind, but mostly it's just been a fish here, fish there...no real pattern. Was hoping for the wind to blow today but it was flat calm all morning today. Thinking of making the run on up the James or Kings river to the dirty (and warmer) water. Water temps in my areas has been 46-48.5 degs...closer to 50 up the James a bit. I'm open to any suggestions edwin

Guess the driver of the white Tacoma isn't gonna raise his hand and say "hey, that was me!". For what it's worth, the sighting of this guy started as an @sshole move as he cut in and out of heavy traffic. I was mo fo'ing the guy...only to show the family that he's a fellow Ozark Angler. Whoever you are in the white Taco'....slow the F down and get to your destination in one piece. Too many vehicles with valuable, never to be replaced property in it for you to be driving like you do.

Great job, Capt Don!!! Looking fwd to the warmer weather over the next few days...my kids are really wanting to make the run on up to see the folks snagging the 'bills. Maybe we'll see you in the new G3 later this week. I'll be in my red/ silver Bass Cat. Well done!

So who was the Ozark Angler heading south on Hwy 65 this evening about 6pm, on the south side of Springfield? White Toyota Tacoma, two O.A. bumper stickers on the tailgate, along with some other stickers loading up the back window? I've seen some orange O.A. stickers on the water, but this was a first time I've seen O.A. stickers on the road.

Was able to get out for a couple hours yesterday morning to take a co-worker who had never fished from a boat. I spent most of the time showing him the electronics but we did manage to fish for a few hours. He did snag a shad on a spoon so he was pleased. We could find some fish but no active ones...none.

I would expect the dropshot to still be a good option if the cold weather remains for a couple more weeks.

This story makes me cringe, especially due to the funky hooks on the MegaBass lure. There's more to the story about the lost trolling motor....do tell!!!

Fantastic additions!

I recall seeing it at 890 when I was a teenager...totally diff't lake!

To add to Martin's comments (concur 100% BTW). I have two boats that I use on my lift, and they couldn't be any more different. I've adjusted my bunks to be a good compromise between both setups. The Bass Cat gets pulled in the stall, a single rope tied to the front cross bar of the dock is hooked on the bow eye, start the lift, and push the boat back somewhat in the center. The angle of the hull does the rest of the work to center the boat on the lift. For my inboard ski boat (flat bottom in the back half of the boat, I use two ropes tied off at apprx 45 degree angles to the back of the boat. Pull into the stall, hook the ropes on the cleats, begin raising the lift, slide the boat back against the ropes (centering it). Been doing this since my dad first got his first Boat Floater in 1977. Not to be a commercial, but he's had three diff't Boat Floaters over the years as his boats got bigger. I bought mine 13 yrs ago. All of them have been fantisic...great product for sure.

I wouldn't even waste my time dropshot and spoon fishing without my electronics. Once I spent the time with some guides on TR, I really was unhappy with myself as it became apparent that I had been fishing blind all this time. IMHO, the Humminbird units are more user friendly. I prefer the Lowrance unit on the bow as it has a better zoom capability than the HB. This is especially helpful when dropshotting in deep water. My set up on my Bass Cat is a Lowrance LCX 37c on the bow, HB 997si in the dash, and a Lowrance flasher in the dash that never gets turned on. Only downside I have with my mixed Lowrance / HB setup is that GPS waypoints are not shared between the dash and bow. I'd highly suggest spending the cash on the units if you fish deep.

Well done, sir. I love that fishing in the wind!

Water temps have been pretty consistent at 47-48

Got out the last two days on the James between Joe Bald and Hideaway Harbor with some success. As much as I'd love to have broken in my new super cool jerkbait combo, only way I've been able to catch fish has been on the dropshot. Surprisingly, all my fish have been caught between 20' and 35'. I can find the bait balls deeper but nothing has been active in those areas. Most fish have been coming from the back 2/3rd's of a creek close to cedars. No idea why, but they went crazy today between 10 and 11:30 with 27 spots and 1 LM, nearly all of them being 1.5 to 2.5 lbs (only a couple dinks). Once 11:30 rolled around, it cooled off to the couple fish an hour I found yesterday. The sole LM happened to be a solid one at 5lb, 8oz..great way to start the year. Tight lines, edwin

are you certain the transducer was aligned correctly? I've found that they're pretty sensitive to the direction they're shooting...ie, you need to ensure that your spoon is in the same place the transducer is shooting. I would also lighten up the sensitivity...no need for it to be that high IMHO when it's set up right (at least with my LCX 37c)

Well done, especially after the fight it put up!