Seth

The fishing was slow for us, but the size was good. We ended up with 11 keepers, 1 short, 2 white bass, several nice bluegill and several small bass. All but two of the crappie were over 10" and five were 11-13". Tried several areas but the only places that produced were docks where the channel swung in close to the bank. The weird thing is that we could only seem to pull one fish off each dock. There was one dock that produced three fish for us and the rest only gave up a single crappie. Shooting the jig way up under the docks was key as well. My buddy couldn't shoot as well and only managed to catch one crappie.

Big crappie are fun to catch, but they are one species that I would prefer to have a limit of 10-12" versus a few big ones. I'm a meat hunter when it comes to crappie fishing unlike pretty well every other species I target.

BPS Pro Qualifier baitcasters are the best bang for your buck reel on the market when you can catch them on sale for $80. I stocked up on them last winter when they had them for $50. After fishing with them pretty hard for the past year, I was very impressed with them. I'm also fond of their Microlite graphite rods. BPS hunting gear leaves a lot to be desired though IMO. I recently picked up a Lew's Speed spool tournament pro and got to try it out this past Saturday. It out throws my PQ's by quite a bit and the drag is a lot nicer, but that's about the only thing I noticed to really mattered to me. The 2oz weight difference wasn't noticeable to me. Most of my fishing is in close quarters to cover so I don't use the casting distance very often. The Lew's will definitely be the reel of choice when it comes to jerkbaiting and WTD topwaters when I actually need the distance.

We caught 7 or 8 on crankbaits on Saturday evening in the last few hours of the day. The quality wasn't much though. Our biggest was only 14". Tried jigs and couldn't get a bite. Water was 50-52 degrees on the Gasconade.

They bit pretty well below Bagnell Saturday as well. The bite died off by 10am though and then it got tough so we switched over to bass and caught a bunch of spotted bass.

Have fun at that mess! We went down last Saturday and it was a freakin mad house! We got in early enough that it wasn't too bad for us, but my friend got a late start and it took him 3 hours to go from Fuddruckers in Branson to a parking spot at SDC. The last several times I have been down there were during the week so the crowds weren't nearly as bad. I got my boat cleaned up and ready to go for Satuday. I'm still undecided as to whether I want to go chase crappie on LoZ or hit the Gasconade for smallmouth. I'd rather catch smallmouth, but a mess of fried crappie sounds REALLY good!

Should work fine. I tie zonker hair jigs on 1/8oz stand up heads in black, olive, and brown colors. They caught plenty of fish for me last year. For the tails, I used rabbit last year and plan to try pine squirrel this year. I've ran the hook through the hide of my tails like you have in this picture, but I pull the tail farther up the hook and tie it in so it's not sliding down to the bend like in this picture.

I doubt we are fishing nearly as deep in the rivers as you are in the lake. The deepest hole I fish during the winter is 15' deep. The football head is just handy because it keeps the hook point riding up and is nice when you're slowly dragging across the bottom.

My rabbit, squirrel and jigheads came in the other day so I need to get started on tying myself. What size hooks do you use on your 1/8oz football heads Mitch?

I really want to come down and do this, but I also need to cut firewood while it isn't raining cats and dogs. Is this a per person or per boat tourney?

That sounds nearly identical to the fiasco my boss went through when buying some tires through Walmart a few months ago. The store said he had to take it up with the online store and then they would say they had to take it up with the service desk in the store. It took him weeks to get his tires and the money for the extra tires they charged him for.

I ordered one in 7.1:1. I'll probably be wishing I had ordered two at this price, but I really can't think of anything I would NEED another casting setup for so I'll just stick with one.

Cabela's has the Lew's Speed Spool Tournament Pro baitcaisters on sale for $120 and you also get a mail in rebate for a $35 Lew's tackle bag. These reels are normally $200. They also have the Speed Spool Tournament's marked down to $100 and they are normally $150. You don't get the tackle bag rebate with the cheaper reel though. The Tourney Pro reel is a much better deal. http://www.cabelas.com/product/lew-s-174-speed-spool-tournament-pro-baitcasting-reel/1158470.uts?Ntk=AllProducts&searchPath=%2Fcatalog%2Fsearch.cmd%3Fform_state%3DsearchForm%26N%3D0%26fsch%3Dtrue%26Ntk%3DAllProducts%26Ntt%3Dtournament%252Bpro%26x%3D10%26y%3D6%26WTz_l%3DHeader%253BSearch-All%252BProducts&Ntt=tournament+pro

I've been on it off and on over the past few hours. It has came up for me each time.

Scream and Fly doesn't have near the fishing chatter that BBC has though. I go to BBC for the fishing related stuff, not the lounge. The electronic sections have been one of the best assets to me for learning the ins and outs of my graphs. It's very helpful to read about others reviews when it comes to purchasing tackle. You get a pretty idea about what's good and what sucks. Just stay out of the lounge and the place becomes a lot more enjoyable. That goes for a most forums though in my experience.

My father in law has smoked a few button buck hams in the past and they always turn out great!

You would think it would be easy to understand, but it amazes me everyday just how greedy humans are. Give somebody and inch and they take a mile.....

I ordered black and olive materials last year. The olive was a bit lighter than I was hoping and didn't seem to produce quite as well as some of the dark olive hairs that smalliebigs gave me. Black pretty well for me as well.

Aren't we limited to using single hooked lures and flies during C&R season? I've always wanted to throw a jerkbait in there, but always figured it was illegal unless I replaced the trebles with some j-hooks.

Is dark olive rabbit the equivalent to green pumpkin?

I ran a 2008 115 Etec jet for four years and now a 2013 150 Etec jet. They have been good motors. I did have to get an injector replaced on my 2008 a few years after I got it. My 2013 also had to get a new fuel pump shortly after I got it, but both were covered under warranty. Aside from that, I just turn the key and run it like I stole it.

It's been a slow season for me as well. I've seen several fawns and little bucks. Yesterday evening was the first decent hunt I've had. I saw three does, a spike and no doubter. The big buck was with the does and came out at 300 yards. He noticed the spike messing around his women so he ended up chasing him off and never did come back for the does. I watched the does feed towards me till 5:15. They were about 120 yards away and I decided to take the biggest one. She made it about 20 yards inside the woods and piled up. With all of the rain we had, I couldn't drive around the field to get her so I had to drag her 600 yards back to the truck. A guy realizes just how out of shape he is when dragging a good sized deer that far! Needless to slay, I slept like a baby last night and I'm sure the muscles will be nice and sore for the next couple of days.

We put an 1860 Alumacraft with a 90hp 4 stroke Yamaha prop and made it up to the loch and fished a week and a half ago when the water was off and really low. We idled up through the middle between the gravel bars below the loch, but I think we could run it without a problem in a prop to be honest. Better safe than sorry. I know this doesn't mean much now after the deluge we just got and with Bagnell cranking, but at least you will know for the future.

I know several guys like that. It drives me freakin nuts! Of course it is never their fault and always the equipment. One guy has shot five or six deer this year with his bow and FINALLY recovered one a few days ago. He wasn't even going to look for it because he had assumed he blew his shot again, but wanted to find his arrow. He got lucky and walked up to the deer with his arrow still stuck in it. If you just assume you make a bad shot every time you let an arrow loose, you probably shouldn't be bow hunting. I've messed up a few times as well, but I probably kill 10-15 deer for every screw up I've had.

Cool! Nice buck too! I'd be happy if one like him came strolling by this weekend.