Quillback

Hard thing is finding heads with a good 1/0 hook for those smaller baits. Tons of options out there with 3/0 hooks, but that is not what I want, unless I am going with bigger Keitechs. They will start eating 3.8's and 4.3's soon, maybe they are now, just haven't experimented much with bigger baits yet.

LOL, he insisted I take it. He's new to the Ozarkian bass scene, and even though I did explain to him the desirability of those old style WW's he didn't want it.

Forgot to mention, Mike snagged some line today, pulled about 40 of it in and son of a gun if it didn't have an original Wart tied on. One of those red craw/orange belly patterns. He didn't want it, so now it is mine.

Yep, I have always thought about why those bass stay deep all summer and I think Wrench has a good idea on that. Lot of pressure on obvious shallow spots too, those bass see a lot of baits.

Went back again today with a buddy, took two of us to catch around 50 today. Fish were a bit scattered today and they bite was slow until about 10 AM when they started showing up in sunny pockets and points. No really big fish, but we probably got a dozen of the 4 variations of Bass (Mean, smallies, spots and largies) that were over 15". Mike caught a smallie that was about 3 lbs. on a jig and that was our big fish. We caught some really nice, fat spots, some may have gone 2.5 lbs. Keitechs, in 3.3 and 2.8 were working and we got several Ned fish. Caught 2 nice crappie on a 2.8 on a 1/8 oz head, wish I could pattern those crappie but they are just random. Water temps were again in the 51-54 range. Saw 55 in one spot. A meanie and a smallie.

These - I like the 1/0 hook for smaller swim baits like the 2.8 and 3.3. Really sharp hook on these baits. Sold out for the most part, but I emailed Dirty Jigs and they said they just sent a big shipment to TW so they should show up soon. They say they can't keep up with demand. http://www.tacklewarehouse.com/Dirty_Jigs_Matt_Stefan_Guppy_Swimbait_Jig_Head_3pk/descpage-DJSGH.html

Welcome! Springfield is not a bad place to live for a fisherman.

Curious as to what that covers - I'll have to give Bob a call myself.

I get a kick out of watching loons, they've got some personality for a bird.

Mailbox was full, cleaned out some messages so you should be able to shoot me one now.

Nope, released it.

There are loons all over the place around Big M, most I have ever seen. The fishing was pretty darn good today, if you like numbers. I caught a little over 50 bass, mostly spots. Had 10-12 keepers, again mostly spots, but one LM and a couple of keeper sized smallies. Main bait was a 3.3 Keitech on a 1/4 oz head, and a few on a 2.8 Keitech on a 1/8 oz head. Best smallie came on the 2.8. Sunny, rocky banks with wind on them were best, fish were from 5 feet to 25 feet, sweet spot was around 10 FOW. Maybe 10 of my fish came on the Ned, the Keitech was just a better bait today. Ned fish were squirrely today, missed about a dozen that seemed to be hooked but would just get off after a second or two. Sometimes this happens with the Ned, it's aggravating. Slow rolling that Keitech just off the bottom. WT 51-54, water is murky, maybe 3 feet of viz. A couple of non-targeted species that liked the Keitech and the Ned. This post has been promoted to an article

Seems a bit high, I have Progressive, $320/year, $42K, $2500 gear, $500K liability, $250 deductible. I don't have lower unit coverage. That being said, I just saw a post on BBC where a guy said his Progressive policy jumped $250 this year, mine is due soon so I will see if it remains $320. Give this guy a call to see what you can get: Bob Luellen 517-627-8080

Well shoot.

I was humbled before I started playing.

Dang, $15 after the rebate. They have them online for $49. So $25 after rebate.

Grand Lake coming up, looking forward to it - going to try and catch some live coverage. Grand has been fishing a bit tough this year from what I hear.

I have lost two rods overboard - one of them was in 8 FOW and after spending about a 1/2 hour dragging the bottom with a spoon was able to snag it and get it back. The other one went down in 75 FOW on Table Rock and for all I know still sleeps with the fishes. On the flip side I have recovered three combos - found two of them bank fishing, both were covered in slime and gunk, weren't worth salvaging in my opinion, so gave both of them away. Snagged another set up while fishing, the $5 crank bait that was still attached was probably worth more than the price of the rod and reel. Left that one on a picnic table at the COE park, I'm sure someone picked it up.

Dirty Jigs Guppy heads - you can get them with a 1/0 hook which is great for the smaller Keitechs. Only place I can find them is Tackle Warehouse and they are about sold out of them, and are sold out of the colors I want, I don't know that color is that important, but the smallies did seem to like chartreuse. I used both 3.3 and 2.8.

Hmmm, voluntarily committing oneself to years of pain and suffering, not to mention the expense.

Hard to make the extra 30 minute drive to Big M with Beaver fishing like it is.

Yesterday I fished with my buddy Mike. With it being ridiculously cold for April 4 we did a delayed launch at 11 AM to let the temps get above freezing. It stayed chilly out on the water all day with a brisk wind blowing. However, it was sunny and I am learning that when the water is cold, smallies like sunny banks with some breeze. The fishing was pretty darned good, took us a bit to figure things out, we started throwing Neds but the fish were just not biting them, we got 2 Ned fish in the first hour, and I decided to throw a Keitech, been hearing a lot of good reports coming out of Table Rock on Keitechs so decided to throw one. Caught a 2 lb. smallie on my first cast with it, then a 2 lb. spot on the next cast. I think I caught about 10 in a half hour before Mike decided it might be a good idea to throw a Keitech himself. We had a good bite on them for the rest of the day, as always some banks held multiple fish, some banks not. We slow rolled them, keeping them close to the bottom and doing a lot of reeling and pausing to let the bait drop. Bites came on the retrieve and on the drop. Color didn't seem real important, Rainbow Shad, and Sexy Shad being two good colors and we got bit on 1/4 and 3/8 oz heads. Final score was 35 bass, 2 stripers (one was 10 lbs.) and 2 walleye. Had a bunch of keeper sized bass, maybe 10 smallies and 10 spots that were in that 2-3 lb. range. No really big ones, but some nice fish. Best day for bass I have ever had in Indian Creek. Today I went by myself. Launched early, morning was gray and calm. The fish didn't like it. Never got into them at all like yesterday, but the bite did pick up a bit around 11 AM when the sun poked through the clouds and the wind picked up. I caught 10 bass, mostly smallies, several in the 15-17 inch range, all on Keitechs. No Ned bites at all which surprised me. Had a bit of a multi-species thing going, caught a hybrid, a drum, and a walleye. WT's were 50-52. I could see down about 14 feet in the dam area, Indian Creek is stained green. Smallies are just footballs right now. This post has been promoted to an article This post has been promoted to an article

I'll be walking the banks in a few weeks, looking for that Tim Hughes bait. That's some good fishing, and I'm with you hoping the weather doesn't turn out as bad as predicted. I am ready for warm spring weather.