Seth

Since I started fishing Lilley's tourneys last year and now this year, the urge to go trout fish Maramec on the opener isn't quite what it used to be. It used to be the beginning of the fishing season for me, but now that I fish all winter long it just doesn't have the same "impact". I'll probably go regardless if anybody else tags along. It still beats sitting on my duff here at work. Lets follow up later next week as it gets closer and figure out if we are both for sure going and go from there.

Dang. That'st he arm I know the least. If you were going to be on the Glaize or Gravois, I have several spots that I could point out to you.

I'm trying to get a crew rounded up to take down for the opener. It doesn't matter to me if I go, but I always tell people they have to at least try it one time. It's really not as bad as people make it sound IF you avoid the main holes (bathroom and bridge holes in particular). There really isn't a reason to fight over those spots anyways that first day as there are so many fish in the stream that you can catch fish in far less crowded areas of the park.

@fishinwrench what is your opinion on this matter. You probably know more about all of this stuff than all of us on the forum combined.

Which part of the lake are you fishing?

I was kind of hoping you guys would get all of that rain so maybe they would run some water this Saturday on Taneycomo. I was digging through my jerkbait box in anticipation.

Better sell that Kubota and get you a new outboard. The good thing about a new motor is you won't have to worry about footing the bill for the next five years. If you can swing the payment, it's a great piece of mind. I know we all hate payments, but you can get in to a new motor for a fairly low monthly payment. I know it's not the most fiscally smart thing to do, but it sure beats not being able to go fishing when you want. Are you looking at a 150 or a 200? I forgot what you run on your boat.

Get in as tight to the swim decks as you can then. A lot of the time you can still pick some up. If it's cloudy, which it should be if we get the rain they are predicting, they won't be as locked under the docks anyways.

I always hit the main lake bluff docks with swim decks first. It's rare that I have to resort to anything else during the winter months to catch our limits of crappie. If you don't have side scan, all I can say is good luck! It seems this time of year we may spend an hour checking docks before we find one that is loaded with fish. If you have you stop and fish each one due to the lack of side scan, you may be in for a long day.

Good point.

My weight is fine but I am lacking in the exercise department and I sit all day at work. Once the days get longer, I will become more active again. Right now, cutting and splitting wood on the weekends is the most exercise that I get.

I've got 36 years to think on it so who knows. My main concern is staying the ours and retiring at 52 at this point.

Blood quill is what I typically buy for jigs. I guess it's just a matter of buying a bunch of it so I have a good stock of quality feathers then. I haven't tried palmering marabou before.

Is there a certain brand or "label" of marabou that you prefer to buy for tying jigs? The strung marabou that I always buy is very hit or miss as to the quality and how many decent plumes I get for tying with. Some packs are full of decent plumes and others are full of junk that I don't bother using. Most of what I buy is the strung marabou that Bass Pro sells.

Sounds like the ol Cabelas Guidewear will get a good workout Friday and Saturday!

Would anything past Bill's router even be aware of his devices MAC's though? I thought the MAC info was only available on the local network (layer 2 traffic) and then it was all IP based past the router once traffic reaches the internet. He has the same trouble on his mobile devices as well, right? Maybe Phil's server host can figure something out on his end. Would be nice if it was just a quick fix on his end.

Wow! That is an odd one. You pretty well covered the bases the way it sounds. Did you happen to run a nslookup on your machine and his to forums.ozarkanglers.com to verify that they are resolving the same IP address?

Where is the cut off that determines what is considered Tablerock Lake and what is considered an Ozark Stream for the James and Flat Creek? I'm trying to find this information, but I'm not having much luck. I sent an email to MDC to hear what they have to say about it.

Looking forward to the full report!

Doesn't surprise me. I'm sure they get tired of dealing with "patch pirates" that believe they are the second coming of KVD.

I try to get my fill of crappie fishing in during the winter months when the lake isn't a mad house. By the time the water warms up enough for the crappie to move to the banks, the fishing traffic is far worse and you start seeing the big cruisers starting to show back up again. I also don't fish 40' deep either. Most fish on docks are less than 10' deep. The only expensive thing I have on my boat is a side imaging fish finder and I utilize it for far more than just crappie. Crappie gear is also MUCH cheaper than bass gear.

I'm not sure how you crappie fish in the winter, but one of the funnest crappie trips I've been on was last winter when we had that "icepocalypse" roll through. The main roads were clear by Saturday so we loaded up four of us and headed to LoZ. We fished from the 2mm up to the toll bridge and brought back four limits of slabs and never saw another boat the entire day. Four adults in a boat is busy, but the fishing was ridiculous!

1) Use high viz line and learn to watch for your line to jump. You will feel the thump most of the time, but sometimes you will just see the line jump. The ones that make the line jump, but you don't feel tend to be better quality fish. I'm not sure why that is. 2) That's up to whatever you prefer. I use a 10' Sam Heaton super sensitive for that purpose and I love it. I held an 11 footer, but it felt considerably heavier where as the different between 9' and 10' wasn't as drastic, so I went with the 10'. 3) I haven't used minnows in years, but there is no denying that they aren't effective. There is nothing wrong with either one. 4) If fishing below a float, I tend to hook them through the back. When tipping a jig, I hook them through the lips. I'm not sure it really matters, but that is what I do. 5) Fluorocarbon sinks and mono floats. Most serious crappie anglers use the hi viz mono and braid. I use hi viz on my dock shooting setups and 15# Power Pro for dipping heavy brush. The braid is so I can straighten my hook and get more fishing time in instead of breaking off and retying all of the time.

You still have to be messed up mentally to take any games serious. Me and many of my friends grew up playing Mortal Kombat and many others games that involved killing, drugs, etc since probably 8 years old. We are all 31-32 now and turned out just fine.

1860 vbass