Seth

I was up there Sunday graphing around for the Bash between the 2-4mm. I've never really fished that area so needed to get familiar with it since we are staying with a buddy this weekend. We threw spinnerbaits around some wave breaks and some main lake dock ends and caught several 15-17" largemouth along with a few solid kentuckies. Seemed like the docks that were getting blasted the hardest were the ones that held fish. I got the tar beat out of me in my aluminum boat lol. I'd sure like to find one like your biggest one this weekend. This will be the 4th bash I've fished and I'm still looking for my first check fish.

It happens a lot during the Meramec Invitational. Several of us that fish it have asked why they don't just keep the spots separate and let people who want to eat them have at them. Somebody always keeps the dead ones so they don't go to waste so I don't see fresh fish going to waste.

Same here. I was having my best season so far too.

It could be a blade configuration thing too. The War Eagles I have use larger willow blades than the Booyahs and most other brands of spinnerbaits. E-factor is a brand I haven't tried yet, but they also run over sized willow blades. I want to give those E-factors a try sometime and see how the compare. One thing I will say about the War Eagles is that they are not very hardy. If you're in a tournament, you better have several because the wire starts getting loose in the head and they are prone to breaking after that if you get a nice fish on. Smallies really play hard on them. I was up on LoZ tossing a 1/2oz War Eagle around dock ends and wave breaks yesterday and had a 2 pound largemouth break my spinnerbait in half when he jumped. It was already worn out though before I started fishing. I'll save the worn ones for when I'm just out fun fishing since it doesn't matter if it breaks then.

Missouri Disabled Sportsmen I've had the pleasure of helping out with a deer hunt the past few years with this crew and they are top notch!

Iv'e tried the Booyahs and they have never held a candle to the War Eagles when it comes to putting fish in the boat for me and I throw a spinnerbait A LOT. 3/8-1/2oz white/chartreuse double willow with a small white swimbait puts more river bass in my boat for me than any other lure year after year. I've never caught a smallmouth over 16" on it though either. It's put more big largemouth in the boat for me than anything else though.

We have a really weedy lake near where I live and I ended up buying some 1oz tungsten to punch through it. Wonder if that would work on Taney?

That sucker sure would have been some good eatin!

I buy my reels either lightly used for half price or use my Cabelas/Bass Pro points and gift cards. There ain't no way I'm paying that out of pocket! I'm cheap! Besides, bass guys are notorious for blowing a bunch of money on something and then selling it without hardly using it.

I do it once a year for the fall bash which I've fished three times so I'd sure hope you could out skip me after 30 years! 😆 My roll skipping ain't terrible, but my back hand skip is a mess. What length rod do you use when skipping? I've been trying it with a 7'1, but ordered a 6'6" to try. I was messing around trying to skip a 5/16oz finesse jig on my jerkbait/topwater rod which is a 6'9" m/f and seemed to fair a lot better. I'm 6' tall so not super short or anything, but I do fish out of a jet boat which sits lower to the water so hoping maybe that shorter rod will help me out.

$200 is about the limit for me on reels. I've picked up some barely used Tourney Pros a few years ago and they have been great reels. The only issue I have experienced is the one I run my spinnerbaits on has sticky thumb button. It doesn't totally disengage when I make a cast. That reel has been used and abused though for several years. With that said, I just bought my first Daiwa reel, a Tatula SV TWS, and I think my Lew's days might be numbered. Maybe it's just becuase it a brand new reel and my Lews have been used hard for several years, but the Daiwa just feels a lot more solid in my hand. That SV deal is pretty slick too. I was practicing my jig skipping and never got a backlash and I can definitely not pull that off with my Tourney Pros.

Under a float and near the bottom, just like the pink power worm.

The scent would surely help, but they feed a lot by sight as well. Otherwise why would we ever catch trout on flies or jigs as they are unscented? Mega worms are unscented and they crush trout. Big ones too!

I've fished white mega worms in the same manner below Fall Creek and had pretty good luck. I don't know why you couldn't tie tie some pink ones up or even use some pink chenille. My intention was to imitate guts more so than the power worm. Works decent in the trout parks too.

Hunting groups are far worse than fishing groups. God forbird somebody shoot a buck that isn't 5.5+ years old. I swear those guys would be less angry if you slept with their wives/grilfriends.

Others have pretty well summed up my opinion. I'd try my best to keep it alive while jumping through the hoops to get it certified. If you CPR 100 or 1000 trophy class fish in your life time and end up killing the fish of a life time while getting it certified for a record, you have nothing to hang your head in shame about. Fish of that caliber are more than likely towards the end of their life cycle anyways.

Rod and reel fish or hunt during the day and then gig at night. Being able to gig after dark is the best thing about gigging as it leaves the rest of the daylight time open for other activities.

I guess I am lucky to be fairly close to the Gasconade and Meramec, but I couldn’t imagine not finding enough suckers for a meal. They are thicker than hair on a dogs back there. If you can see two foot or more, just go hang out in a riffle and stab away. Less chance of seeing game fish too. A stray channel cat or sauger/walleye might show up, but few if any bass.

I think this is the brand. Walmart carries them. If the water is off, I like the 3/4" size. When there is water running and I need to add a little more weight to get the pink power worm down, I will bump up to the 1" size.

@Bill Babler any reason why you don't use the round 3/4-1" round weighted floats? I always used the carrot floats in the past until Duane turned me on to those round weighted floats. I'm not sure I even own a carrot float now. The extra weight with the round weighted floats really helps with the casting distance if it's needed.

Possibly two line class world records broken on Taneycomo in less than two weeks!

If my internet research is right, that is the 4th largest brown ever caught!

I wonder what the largest trout @Bill Babler has had landed in his boat before today?

Those big fish sure are fickle. I have no doubt that the utmost care was taken to keep that fish alive by the parties involved too.