Jeff, appreciate the heads-up on the length limit, and the license.
Don,
Awesome, can't thank you enough. I am a MO resident, with a MO permit, but based on what you have said we may not even need to venture that far down. I have the soft plastics you mentioned, but I don't have any jointed top water stickbaits. Will pick up a couple before heading down.
When you say "Main lake points", I assume you are referring to points that are not located in/on one of the arms, correct? I've got a couple maps, including the Hot Spots East map, will make some notes on there tonight. I also have a Garmin eTrexC and I may key in some waypoints... assuming, of course, that I can pinpoint the spots right.
Again, thanks so much for your help, it is defintely appreciated. I'll keep an eye out for your red Skeeter. Unfortunately neither my brother in law nor I have a boat, so we're renting one. We are staying at Boomerang Resort, where the other guys we are fishing with have stayed for years. It's sort of a "friendly" tournament between 8 guys. We're the newbies, and want to make our presence felt!!!
All the best...
Tom