Seth

I don't bait fish a lot, but a jar of powerbait usually lasts a while anyways. Spending a little more to support the small business isn't a bad thing. Not many can compete with Walmart's prices anyways. It was probably still cheaper than if you bought it from Bass Pro or Cabela's anyways.

I'd wear a tux if it was camo and said I caught a MO paddlefish on it.

You serious Clark? We've caught tagged spoons and received at least a half dozen of those shirts over the years and have never had to pay any postage. My buddy just got a black hoody with the "I caught a MO paddlefish" on it. He's turned in several tags over the years and I think they keep upgrading his shirts. His last one was a camo t-shirt. The other guy caught his first tagged fish the same day as the one who got the hoody this year and he just got the grey t-shirt. Neither paid any postage.

I've seen some Walmarts that had a really nice selection of hunting and fishing gear. Our Walmart is definitely NOT one of them though.

As fried fish go, I'd much rather eat crappie, white bass, walleye, etc. Most guys I know who really like them grill or smoke them. I've not tried it yet, but I have heard that cubing them up in to 1/4-1/2" cubes and boiling in a cajun seafood boil is pretty good as well. We've had fish fries where people actually preferred the spoonbill over everything else that we had, which was crappie, suckers, white bass and blue catfish. They are a lot of work to get cleaned up and it's just not worth it to me since I fish nearly every weekend. If you don't get the chance to fish very often and want to stock the freezer, they are perfect for that.

Walmart sucks. That's what.

Mother nature is doing her best to keep you in the shop working lately. Looks like we get a few nice days this week and then back to the 40's for highs this weekend.

1) Graph docks, find fish, shoot docks 2) If that doesn't work, then graph for brush in 14-20' of water close to spawning pockets. There should be crappie hanging nearby. If you don't have a decent graph or can't read it, then just drive around and look for docks that have brush tied off or rod holders. I'd be lost without my graph for crappie fishing.

Also, I think Duane is yanking our legs with this crankbait thing. When I try it, I only catch stuff that his cranking fish would eat for a snack! I'm starting to think all those big trout are actually just his pets!

It's just them boring on crappie anyways. Now get back to work!

I'm just glad I know somebody who is as mad at the trout as me! Actually, I think he is a little more mad at them than me, but I will definitely be giving that night fishing stuff a try when I go back down there. I've done it a few times in the past before I had my own boat, but now I usually just go out on the boat. It's a different deal hooking fish at night.

These were some of the better fish. The first one wasn't picture because I had to wait for my windshield to thaw out before the goPro would actually stick to it. I think I caught five over 15", but nothing over 17.5". Four were caught between Short Creek to just above Fall Creek and one just below the island near the dam. I lost another one that looked to be in that 17-18" range just below Fall Creek on the south bank. I'd sure like to have those fish during one of the winter tournaments when weight counts! Everything was caught on black/yellow and white/grey 1/8oz jigs.

Fishing that high water without a good shad kill was much more challenging that I thought it would be. I only managed to put 23 in the boat, but I did catch several good quality fish and a couple of them were between Fall and Short Creek. It was a pleasure sharing the boat with @jdmidwest and his buddy Brandon. If he ever talks you in to go trout fishing with him on Taneycomo, you better be truly at those trout because he logs some serious hours chasing them when he is down. We logged between 18-20 hours between when we arrived around 8:40am on Friday till just before dark on Saturday. We woke up to this Saturday morning before the tournament. It also felt like 15 degrees.

Our Walmart carries it next to the Louisiana and the Andy's.

I know the holes pretty well where I run these now so I don't get hung up much at all. If the fish are suspended or if there is quite a bit of trash on the water surface, I will run them up off of the bottom 5-10' or just put lead on and save the diver.

I honestly think it is about as versatile of a rig that you can possibly have for Missouri. It handles rivers like a champ, but the slight V and 1860 sized hull give you enough weight to handle choppy lake water fairly well. It won't handle a lake as well as a glass bass boat of course, but you also can't run that bass boat in 4" of water like this one can either. It sees Lake of the Ozarks fairly regularly for crappie and I have fished the Big Bass Bash out of it a few times as well.

I will get one done eventually. They are pretty neat looking. This is the bucket of scraps I got from cleaning these fish. It was an overflowing 5 gallon bucket worth. The amount of waste on them is ridiculous and they bleed like no other. They are my least favorite fish to clean.

I don't get it either. Either allow catch and release OR make people keep all of them. Those smaller fish are more at risk of being mortally wounded than those big ones, but you are not allowed to release a legal sized paddlefish and forced to put back anything less than 34".

I was able to snag a few fish before I got a good graph as well further up the river. I just used the bent rod pattern and then snagged around the outside edges of everybody else. Down in the big water where I was snagging in this video, the lake can get up to a 1/2 mile wide. I'd be lost without a good sonar unit down there. I try to stay around 4.5mph.

I will use Andy's for stronger tasting fish like spoonbill, but I am pretty partial to Zatarains Crispy Southern for just about everything else these days.

Yep!

That's a good point about the cooking. It's kind of like rolling something in Andy's and deep frying it. You could do that with a dog turd and it would probably taste pretty good. I think the biggest appeal to snagging is that paddlefish grow so big. It's your best chance at catching a fish that could possibly weigh over the century mark. Putting others on paddlefish and seeing them get a kick out of catching their biggest fish is more exciting to me than actually catching them myself. I'd rather go trout or crappie fishing this time of year, which is on the complete opposite end of the spectrum.

the first I fished Tablerock was two years ago in the Cops for Kids tournament in late May. I fished a big cove near the dam area the day before and day of the tourney and we caught fourteen keepers. Most of those were shallow fish that came on a pink trick worm so yes, it will definitely produce on the Rock.

A weightless trick worm is my go to lure when the water is really clear. Flukes and senkos are definitely better when the water has a little color to it though. I've out fished my buddies who were throwing flukes with that weightless trick worm too many times for it to be a "fluke" in clear water. The best part about it is that it has not only been a good numbers bait, but has also produced a lot of my biggest fish.