Seth

We got out for the last few hours before dark and it was slower than I expected. We only boated 15 fish. My best was only 16”, but my buddy caught three that were 17-18”. He had two 20-22” class rainbows follow his jerkbait but they never committed to biting. I think half came from trophy area and the others came in the last 30 minutes near Short Creek. Most came on jigs but ye got a few on the jerkbait. I think we may go back up to the Narrows and toss jerkbaits around after eat. Depends how bad our food coma is.

I typically throw 1/16oz but will have 1/8oz ready for the deeper holes. A lot of guys like 1/32oz, but I just can’t get a feel for that one. It’s too light for my tastes.

Are you going to be down Tuesday and Wednesday of this week? Me and a buddy are coming down mid day Tuesday and coming back Thursday morning. Lilleys was full so we are staying at Lazy Valley. We'll be in a black Legend SS with orange decals and a 150 Etec outboard jet so you can't miss us.

You likely answered your own question in the first paragraph. Getting the jig down to the bottom is key unless it's cloudy and they are midging heavily. Keeping the jig down in heavy generation is really hard for those not used to it. They definitely scatter more when it's off, but you can typically see schools of them swimming around. Find an area with fish and just cast everywhere until you get bit and then fish that area for a bit before the school moves on. Rainbows in still water can be anywhere. Areas where you have a shallow flat next to deeper water is where I start. Fish shallow and deep and figure out where the active fish are relating. Cooper Creek Flats and Lilley's up to the first row of docks on the left are good areas for that.

I've never had an issue with it on the Flatland heads and the light wire 2/0 EWGs. Once you catch a few fish, they start to bend out a little bit anyways. You definitely wouldn't want to throw them on tackle much heavier than what I mentioned above. I'm sure somebody makes a version with a stouter hook if needed though. When I'm bit, I just reel down and pull in to the fish and they are pinned. Those light wire hooks are like a need through their jaws.

We're staying there in one of the small kitchenettes Tuesday and Wednesday night so surely we'll bump in to each other Wednesday. My buddy had an aunt pass away and the funeral is Thursday so we have to head out pretty early that morning to get back in time for that. I've got the big swimbaits and a rod to throw them in the rod box in case we do end up making it down lake.

A 3/16oz EWG NED head with a 2/0 hook paired up with a Z-man Big TRD is one of my go to lures when fishing gets tough . Smallies love it. It's more of a shakey head presentation than a true NED rig to me though. Regardless, it definitely works and I can throw in a lot of places I wouldn't dare throw a true NED rig. I've won more $$$ in tournaments on that little lure this year than anything else now that I think about it. Throw it on a 7' medium fast action spinning rod with 10# braid and an 8-10# fluorocarbon leader. I use this rig when it's warmer and go back to a true NED rig in 1/8oz or lighter when the water gets cold. The brand that I've used the most is Flatlands Custom Tackle, but it looks like there are several brands making the same style of jighead now. This is the Flatlands Custom Tackle head.

That last one is a unit!

Everything we caught was about 25-35 miles down river from the dam too. Crazy how the entire river seemed to follow the same pattern that day. I just finished up the video of the tournament and uploaded it to YouTube if you want to check it out. There's one decent largemouth at the beginning and the big smallie at the end. Everything in between was pretty slow.

Me and a buddy are going down Tuesday-Thurday of next week. I'm going to try and make myself actually attempt to bass fish but I'm sure we'll just end up wasting our time trying to catch a big brown up river. 😆

Says the guy that had a 27 pound limit last month in that moss. 😁

We hammered on some nice spots earlier this year when the Osage was running bank full. Golly are they fun! I keep hoping I'll find one of those Osage 4 pounders that I have heard about, but 3 pounds is about the best I can muster. They became a lot more elusive as soon as the water shut off though. Only a few over 2# were caught on the Osage last weekend. There were more smallmouth caught than I can ever recall for an Osage tournament though. Found this one that went 19.5" long on my very last cast of the day.

I'm a tight wad, but topwaters are one lure I don't mind spending more $$$ on since I rarely ever lose them. Breaking off $2-4 jigs, burning through $8 bags of senkos and hanging up crankbait adds up in a hurry though.

Welcome back @oneshot! We were worried about ya!

Does this mean we no longer have to worry about CWD then? 😁

I just remember walking in to the locker room and one of my classmates mentioning something about it and turning on the radio so we could listen to the broadcast. We were all huddled around listening and thought "holy crap!". That's all I really remember from that day. It would have been my sophomore year so I was 15 at the time.

It may different on LoZ, but I can typically go behind the people that can't cast worth a flip and still catch fish on the rivers. There are certain guys that I don't bother fishing behind because they can put a bait where the sun doesn't shine and will have all of the good stuff picked apart.

@Al Agnew do you experience a lot of blow ups on topwater from smallmouth that don't hook up? I love seeing them explode on a topwater, but it seems like I miss the majority of them. They will knock the bait plum out of the water like a shark attacking a seal, but never get stuck. It's like they are bum rushing it with their mouth closed instead of actually trying to eat it. I don't really have that issue with spots and largemouths. **edit** I just finished reading the rest of your post and saw where you said they would miss it several times before getting hooked up so I guess that answers my question.

I have avoided golf my entire life because I know I'd enjoy it and I don't need another expensive addiction to go along with hunting and fishing. 😆

I never gripe about too many fishermen. I guess all those openers at Maramec Springs and fishing around Short Creek on Taneycomo over the years have made me numb to crowds. Most really aren't that good at fishing anyways so they aren't hurting much.😁

I hope they show their buddies and it gets more of them interested in fishing. That’s the goal anyways.

I took a couple middle schoolers fishing in a youth bass tournament on the Gasconade this past weekend. They both popped their smallmouth cherries. The one had only caught 4 fish in his entire life (four trout that he caught with me on a youth day at Maramec Springs a few years ago). All of the untangling and retying was worth it to see these boys getting pumped up after catching those smallies.

The best Wheeler posts are over on Bass Boat Central. People REALLY hate winners over there. 🤣

You couldn’t ignore this one so what makes you think you can refrain from future posts?

You pretty well summed up tournament river fishing. Once you learn the water and where the good spots are, it then turns in to knowing how to manage water while you have a bunch of other boats fighting for the same areas. That's what separates the better tournament guys. There are several guys who do well fishing with certain people, but struggle on their own. They already know the right areas to fish, but they lack the decision making skills. Catching a good limit of fish when you have the whole river to yourself is easy. Doing it when you have 20-40 other boats trying to do the same thing is a whole different deal. You have a fantastic ability to understand things so it's not surprising that you get it even though you don't fish any tournaments.