Donna G

I'll give it a whirl. BTW. I was getting bit more than Champ on the Ned yesterday afternoon and then he noticed he had given me a 1/16th head and he had the bigger one.

They have dinner items on the menu and there were cars out front around 5 yesterday, but dark when we came back through at 8:30

Huh. Just throw it in the middle of 'em and let it sink?

Ah, I know where that is. May have to make a run before I hook the trailer back up to get Champ after weigh-in.

QB, I've caught a few doing that exact thing. Pretty handy when you're not fishing vertically on a given day, but run across some bottom huggers on your graph.

Flea market? Old fishing baits? Where? Where?? . Thanks. I think he'll do well.

Thanks for the tip.

Works on 10-lb flatheads, too. Bed fish like it, as do walleyes.

Haven't been to Ma's since the remodel. Didn't recognize it when I walked in. You have to wait to be seated and it is packed with tourists at 9:30 a.m. I was counting on my usual spot in the smoking section near the grizzled local fishermen who were done for the day or waiting for all them tourn-e-mint boys to get off the water. I like to listen in. There's even new slick Denny's-looking menus, but the breakfast items seem the same, thank goodness. Champ's fishing BFL today. I skipped this one. Done with the whole co-angler thing. Enjoyed the derbies I fished, but rather stick to team stuff now. He can't handle the smell of cooked eggs, so I told him I was planning to splurge - an omelet with a side of scrambled eggs and one over easy on top. Lol I'll report back later if I think the food is still as good. Off to Harter House after breakfast to stock up on meat and ANOTHER Styrofoam cooler since I can't remember to bring one. Then I'm swinging by True Value for long nose side cutters for my fish first-aid kit. If Champ's lucky I'll get the trailer back on the truck in time to get him.

I had a problem deep-hooking them for awhile with the Ned, but made a change in tecnique and haven't had much trouble since. When dead-sticking I would leave slack in my line for long periods of time without checking periodically. I caught fish, but several were hooked deeply which I hate. Upsets me highly to hurt a creature I get some much pleasure out of catching. I like the tips on holding your breath and hand-landing. I'll have to remember those. At any rate, now I check frequently by taking in my slack slightly and have had less trouble while still catching plenty.

Pretty smallmouth.

No room in the ice chest and Champ wouldn't want to mess up the Ranger carpet cleaning an ol' cat.

Lots of fun on 6lb line. We didn't want to mess with cleaning it.

I haven't worn Costas in a few years. Been tinkering around with Typhoons and other brands. Champ188 has stuck with the Costas. We had a couple that needed repairs and I just kept putting it off. However, Champ could see things in the water that I couldn't and when I'd put his Costas on I was always amazed at the difference. Finally sent two pair in to get fixed up. One was under warranty, so it cost a mere $12.95. Now I'm back to Costas only on the water. Boy, what a difference. Sorry yours ended up MIA. Hope you get your new specs in soon.

Champ188 just corrected me. He said best 5 weighed 15 pounds, not 13 pounds. I'm in charge of keeping up with how many we caught and he's in charge of the weight.

Hey, we're trying to wake up and get going. Quit posting. You're distracting us. Lol Coffee's on and think we'll head to Ma's for some grub and a refill shortly. Caught the heck out of 'em Baxter to Big Creek Saturday 9 a.m. to 6:30, but nothing big. 7-8 keepers out of close to 60 fish for 13lbs - LM, spots, brownies and meanies. Caught a bunch on beds. How fun was that? Used a variety of baits - Ned, trick worm, blade, top water.

Oh, my, she is SO cute! Way to go Dad -good job taking your little girl fishing. Some of my fondest memories are those of me, my Daddy and brothers crammed into a little flat bottom fishing with live bait and feasting on "viennies, hoop cheese and saltines."

I've caught several fish on the Ned when I stuck my rod in the bottom of the boat while piddling around doing something else. Was wigged out each time I realized I had a fish on because I just knew it was deep hooked. However, I have never caught a Ned fish that was hooked anywhere except the top of the mouth. I'm a believer. Not saying you can't deep hook one, but that setup seems pretty resistant to it.

Hmm. I'm thinking Reaction Innovations Sweet Beaver in blue/black laminate.

Makes me weak in the knees thinking about running a blade across the top of a flooded picnic table. Bam!

Love those red/black Culprits. Wow, it's like TBT. I don't think I've thrown any of those since the last time I was at Dardanelle in Arkansas. I'm originally from Texas and big plastic worms were always part of the arsenal. Got away from it fishing clear highland reservoirs. We flipped and dragged them, but you can also swim the Culprit worm weightless through grass. Tail has great action.

Griz, now that's funny, I don't care who you are. Lol

Glad you liked it, Bo. Champ spent his lunch time gabbing and missed out. He has to ride home with the empty bowl. Fun outing. Enjoyed meeting folks and getting to visit a spell.

Sure everyone's on the water and won't see this, but I texted Bill that I dipped up a couple of jars of my homemade 'pink stuff' lotion for hard-fishing hands as a little drawing giveaway. It's not much of a donation, but the five pounds of tater salad will hopefully raise my stock.

Tough two days for us. The worst this year. Launched at Baxter Marina yesterday and went up as far as Campbell Point. Water temp 42. Started late. Caught two keeper spots from noon to 4:30. One on JB and one on Ned. Sunny with some wind. Went out of Shell Knob today and went down as far as Millcreek. Water temp 40.7-41.2. Three short LM all on JB. Cloudy all day with very little wind until late. Ugh. Ready for the bite to get better. I know there were some good bags in Central Pro, but there were quite a few anglers that struggled, too. We stayed at our favorite place - Harpers Valley Resort in Fisher Creek at Kimberling City and some of the derby boys were bunked there.