Seth

I was just about to mention this also. When we catfish with cut bait for blue cats on the river, you rarely ever have a fish not hooked in the side of the mouth with a circle hook. You need a good rod holder though so that when the fish hits and turns the rod loads up and effectively hooks the fish. If you try to set the hook with a circle hook, you usually miss the fish. This has my curiosity going crazy. I might have to bring a few of my smaller circle hooks and give this a try when I come down the following weekend after this one. I've always heard stories of big browns being caught on chicken livers on Taneycomo. I guess they would enjoy them just as much as a dead shad also.

boat is sold

I was up there Friday evening and couldn't buy a shad. My parents went up earlier in the day though before they shut down the water flow and said they were thick along the wall by the look out. If there is good water flow you can usually get them easily.

My biggest is a 27" long rainbow that had a 16" girth and weighed right at 10 pounds. I caught it off the dock at Lazy Valley four or five years ago on 2# test. I hooked another one just like him that weekend, but he broke me off on the dock. We tried reviving it in the stock tank they have setup for big fish, but she kept going belly up. I tried for over an hour to revive that fish.

Kyle....was it Saturday you tried to get a room? There was a Snagmasters tournament that day (I fished in it) and every place in Warsaw and nearby towns is usually booked up that weekend. Last year we were able to get a room at the Parkfield Inn the night before Snagmasters, but it was also the most expensive place in Warsaw and cost us $82 for one night. Us poor snaggers were parked next to the 08+ trucks and boats in the parking lots. I felt inferior LOL.

Let them have it. I won't be able to get to it soon and I just talked to Dad and they are still at Hootentown. Thanks though.

My buddy has one and that was his only complaint as well. Are they for sale now? My dad is down on the James River arm of Tablerock snagging right now so I could give him a ring and see if he can swing by before he heads back home and buy one from you. Otherwise I will be down the last weekend of April snagging on the James myself and I could come by if there still available. I definitely want one for that price. The only bad part is I live 3.5 hours north east of you. My dad just got a new boat as well and he might even want BOTH of them. I will try calling him to see if he has service.

This is for a 24volt 70 pounder? That's a heck of a deal even if they are used.

Leonard caught a nice paddlefish on the fly rod a few years ago when water was super high. That fish had to of came over the dam unless there are paddlefish in Bull Shoals? There are plenty of them on Tablerock I know for sure.

Buddy snagged up by Delaware Town yesterday and only got one so apparently they aren't stacked in there like I had thought they would be. Are they still hitting them at Galena or do you think they are starting to head back down. They gotta be stacked up somewhere as thick as they were at Galena a few days ago.

Thanks for the update Jeff. Sounds like they should be piled up where we snagged in a few days, especially with the warm weather predicted this week. Hopefully we can get some good sows next time. Predator, I'm going to be there Thursday evening as well. If you are there we'll probably run into each other.

Is that what the fish in your picture weighed? We fished up river a ways and caught 7 today. The night before we fished around Walnut Springs and up close to the Blunk Hole and only caught one fish. All the fish ranged from 30-38 pounds with five being males and three being females. I'm heading back down Thursday evening so hopefully these 70 and 80 degree temps this week will make things even better. We thought about trying the hole where you caught your fish, but then decided against it. My buddies dad had a relative that was fishing there as well and he said they must of caught 100 fish Friday night, but the biggest was only about 60.

I'll be sure to give you guys a full report. I'm just praying the weather isn't too bad Saturday night. They are calling for scattered storms and wind so it might be fun......

I plan on heading down to snag this weekend and the next and was wondering if this high water will make the spoonbill run up to Nixa? I know it happened a few years ago but that was later in the season. It looks like the water has come up 8 foot so far over the past few days.

Nice job Don. I think we seen your boat heading under the bridge as we were leaving for home this morning. I only managed to catch three last night (5, 35, and 53) and my two buddies in the boat got zero. Slow night for us. My buddies boat got seven within the first hour and hit several others than got off. A cousin of a guy in my boat was down there and they ended up with five with four of them coming within the first hour of season in the same my buddy got their seven. Guy in my boat went back out crappie fishing at daylight and came back around 8am and said somebody hauled in an 83 just above the 76 bridge also. I'm probably going to hold off a few weeks for the weather to warm back up before I head back down. Good luck to everybody else.

I've heard of guys doing well snagging from the bank around the Schell Osage Conservation area later in the year. I'm not sure how well they do this early in the season up there. Here's a couple links for water levels up there.... Above Schell City http://waterdata.usgs.gov/mo/nwis/uv/?site_no=06918070&PARAmeter_cd=00065,63160,00060 near Schell City http://waterdata.usgs.gov/mo/nwis/uv/?site_no=06918080&PARAmeter_cd=00065,63160,00060

I'm going to try LoZ more this year. We fished the Snagmasters tourney last year and I don't think I've ever seen that manay boats on a river at once before. It was nuts! We did boat six fish which I figured wasn't bad for two guys never snagging it before. I want to try it out at night like we do on Tablerock. The fish seem to school up better at night due to less water traffic I'm guessing.

Worst opening day ever for me. I only caught two fish. Most of the fish I seen were scrawny looking just like last year.

Do you have a picture? Nothing showed up for me. Are they finally starting to run? We slayed them last year from November to March, but haven't caught hardly any this winter so far. I've heard reports they are starting to move in though and bite so hopefully they will be biting really well soon.

I haven't decided yet if I am gonna go or not. I've been opening day for several years now, but just don't have the urge to go this year like other years.

Sixteen of us went down this past weekend to Alabama to chase big blues. Our boat didn't catch squat, but there were some pigs landed by the others. Here's several pictures. These fish weighed 48-78 pounds. They were all caught on rod and reel with cut skipjack for bait. Each fish had it's picture taken, weighed, and released back into the lake for the next person to catch.

Are you referring to the bank at Miami park? Do they get fish up there this early in the year? I know that the spoonbill are being caught pretty well in the deep water by sailboat bridge right now.

Who else is ready to start ripping hooks for paddlefish. Last year was the best opening night ever for me. I boated 9 or 10 fish with the two biggest being 70 and 80 on the James. Hopefully it will be just as good this year. Just made a bunch of 4-5 oz banks and bought 72 10/0 trebles so I'm ready to rock and roll!!

I love that pic of the spoonbill Don. From what I have read about these SI units and the way the shadows work, do you think that fish was just suspended really high in the water column? Seems the shadow is a ways off to the side of the fish. Looking at examples of a bluffs on the SI units, it makes me think that fish is just high in the water column instead of down on the bottom. The ohter pictures you posted in that thread a few years ago when you first took that pic did not show near the shadows coming off the fish. Man I want one of these SI units so bad now. It sure would be funny to have a fish finder worth as much as my boat though LOL.

I've always fished two flies at the same time at Maramec and never had any troubles. Had other people ask me about it, but that was about it. Sounds like it's perfectly fine.