Quillback

On the point at 0515, fish started biting soon after that, c-rig Zoom Ol Monster and a Megabug fished on a Biffle head both worked well for about 45 minutes. It's a bite almost every cast for a while then it shuts off completely. Caught some decent LM's and Spots on that early bite then went looking for more fish. Fished some brush with the Jika and only had one hook-up, after doing that for a while and doing some c-rigging and not getting a bite, I moved to a drop shot point and picked up spotted bass here and there on the drop shot. Not a great DS bite, but managed to put a dozen or so DS fish in the boat. Wind started blowing pretty hard, wake boats were appearing so by noon I was on the trailer. Seems to me the spots are a bit bigger on average this year than last year, good percentage of the spots I caught on the DS were around that magic 15" mark. Lots of fun on a light DS spinning rod. Water temp 84.

Excellent, glad to hear you had a good trip!

Thanks for the report, pretty much been my experience lately, a great early bite, then things get tough until you go to the drop-shot.

I think I'd skip the buttermilk soak, but the rest looks good!

Excellent!

Welcome!

Ol' Tommy Biffle pulls it off. Aaron Martens is 2nd (this is the 10th time he's finished second in an Elite or Classic). http://www.bassmaster.com/tournaments/2013-elite-series-mississippi-river-rumble/leaderboard

Great fishing, quality fish once again! I'm itching to get back out there.

Thanks for the report Josh. I've been getting some on the OL Monster early, but haven't fished it later in the day. Sounds like I'll have to keep tossing it.

Read an article a couple of days ago where the local pols, up to US Senator level are having doubts about this Blueway designation. Lots of apprehension concerning federal control.

Some pre-tournament thievery. Another reminder to not leave gear in your boat. http://bassfan.com/docktalk.asp?id=10057#10057

Aaron Martens is leading after three days, but Tommy Biffle is only 7 OZ behind.

So the two "mean" queens are still on the loose? I'm also curious how much honey you get?

Tubing at night? You gotta be kidding... Nice mess of fish BTW.

Congrats on the 1 year anniversary!

She said the word in the past and admitted to it in a legal document, I'd bet at least 95% of the US population, including African Americans, have used the word at some point in their life.

I like Zoom Finesse worms in Old Purple and Plum.

Excellent!

We had a recent thread on tourney cheating, Palaniuk did not knowingly cheat, but he did break the rules and got DQ'd. He would have been leading after 2 days with a 6 lb. margin. LA CROSSE, Wis. — The Day Two weight of Brandon Palaniuk of Rathdrum, Idaho, has been disqualified in the Bassmaster Elite Series event on the Mississippi River out of La Crosse, Wis. Palaniuk had been the leader for the first two days of the event. Friday evening after the day’s results had been published, an official, written protest presented to B.A.S.S. officials stated that Palaniuk may have been culling in Minnesota waters. Minnesota law prohibits culling from a limit of bass in state waters, or any culling in Wisconsin-Minnesota border waters. The fishery for the event includes Pools 7, 8 and 9 of the Mississippi River, including all rivers, creeks and canals connecting to the Mississippi River. “We discussed the protest with Brandon Palaniuk, and we determined that he did in fact cull from a five-fish limit while he was in Minnesota,” said Chris Bowes, B.A.S.S. senior tournament manager. “We recognize that he did not realize he was in Minnesota waters, and his error was completely inadvertent. In dealing with a river system like the Mississippi and its numerous channels, it’s easy to become confused about the state lines on the water.” Bowes added, “When his mistake was pointed out to Brandon, and he was referred to a map, he acknowledged that he must have culled in Minnesota, but was not aware of it at the time.” The penalty imposed was loss of his Day Two weight. With Palaniuk’s second-day weight of 19 pounds, 3 ounces disqualified, he fell out of the Top 50 cut. Bill Lowen, formerly in 51st place, moved up into 50th place, and will advance to Day Three. Aaron Martens, in second place after Friday’s weigh-in, was declared the leader of the event with 31 pounds, 7 ounces. Palaniuk gave this statement: “I had no idea today that I ever broke a rule. I signed off on the rule sheet. One hundred percent in my mind, I believed that south of the I-90 bridge, the main river channel was the state boundary between Minnesota and Wisconsin, until we went south of the take-off and went into the West Channel. I knew one of my areas was in Minnesota and I could not go back to that when I caught five. “I made one cull today — just one — in Minnesota, in an area that I believed was in Wisconsin. It was only in Minnesota waters by less than 100 yards. I had 18 1/2 pounds before I made that one cull that just cost me, possibly, $100 grand and a Classic berth,” Palaniuk said.

Here's a video to watch: http://www.bassresource.com/bass-fishing-videos/how-to-cast-baitcast.html

Very nice!

That's funny, guys go to all that trouble to plant food plots and so on to attract deer to their property for deer season, heck just do some nice landscaping, put in expensive shrubs and you'll bring in all the deer you want.

Wow, where's a cop when you need one?

I hear you on that Jason R. Part of the plan is to widen 540 to 3 lanes each way from Fayetteville to somewhere, Bella Vista maybe. Several years of construction for sure, dunno if having three lanes in each directon is worth the pain the construction will cause.

Missouri does do a good job on it's roads, compared to Arkansas that is. And I think that Arkansas roads are in better shape than Oklahoma's. We just had a sales tax increase here in Arkansas with the added money being directed at roads, so maybe we'll come up to Missouri standards.