Seth

They definitely don't mind the Glaize and Niangua arms in the winter. You see several weighed in during winter tournaments out of those areas.

Fish will be on the move this time of year and things will change a lot in a weeks time. One thing that surprised me when I started smallmouth fishing is just how much and how far they will move when they start moving in the fall. We've had days this time of year like you mentioned where we crush them in an area and then not even get a bite a week later. This is on the Gasconade where they have plenty of water to roam in.

There ain't much to it really. Green/white rubber leg jig, white trout magnet and orange wacky rigged trout worm always work for me. Check the first hole I caught most of the fish in my video and just above and below the water fall/dumps. The swift water below the dumps can be good and that is the one area where I do better drifting bait (rainbow or yellow powerbait paste is all I carry). A super duper is another lure that I am going to spend more time trying. The fish were all over it in the video. I'm betting it would be a bit more effective in swifter water where they don't get as good of a look at the lure.

It's about 40 minutes away for me so I go there to scratch my trout itch from time to time while I dream of being on Taneycomo. I've been to Montauk a few times and while it is a nicer park, I didn't feel like the fishing was any better than Maramec for me personaly. A lot of people seem to struggle at Maramec Springs compared to the other parks though.

I've found that it's usually easier to catch numbers below the trophy area than above. It really just depends what you're going for. Hard to be the flat just above the narrows. It's chock full fish and great if you want to try your hand at sight fishing.

There are a lot of people that aren't happy unless they have something to gripe about.

The winners, Jaime and Nathan, are tough cookies to beat this time of year. The two best anglers in my river bass club both fished it. One finished 4th and the other finished 14th.

What bait/lure are you using and where are you fishing? Sculping/ginger and black jigs are my go to. A pink power worm under a float will wreck stockers as well. The flats between Fall and Short Creek, just above Lilleys Landing and just below Cooper Creek access, head of Monkey Island and flat between Scotty's and the powerlines just below the 65 bridge are usually full of fish.

Sounds like they are some crappy chiropractors. I've only been to a couple and there is only one I'd recommend. My lower right back has given me issues for years. After finding the good one, he treated me a few weeks apart and then stretched them out until my back pain was gone. He offered exercises to help permanently fix the issue and avoid having to come back again. My back hasn't felt this good in years. The other chiros never did anything like that. They'd crack you and head on to the next patient with no advice on how to permanently fix the issue.

Wacky tobacky. You ever hear about Snoop Dogg or Willy Nelson complaining about body pains? 😁

Yes. I believe it's also called the Lacy Hole by some old timers. Not sure why but I have heard that term used before.

I do this when dipping brush. Use the light wire non-sickle hooks so they straighten out. Sickle hooks and bright mono get the nod for dock shooting though.

That was the worst thing we did. We'd build up a stock pile of Amazon boxes in the garage and the recluses loved it. I made sure to wear gloves and long sleeves when cleaning up that cardboard because the recluses were all over it!

That would be nice for open water crappie fishing where you don't have to worry about losing baits. You shouldn't ever have to change one out. Problem is lose jigs to docks and brush way too often.

Sticky traps and just keeping things picked up are about the only thing I've seen that reduces how often we see them. I'm sure they are still around, but it's one of those "out sight, out of mind" deals.

Green pumpkin baby brush with the tail dyed chartreuse. Texas or carolina rig it with a 3/0 EWG light wire hook and go fishing. I use the texas rig around cover and the c-rig on points, riffles and current seams.

The only snakes and spiders that I don't care for are those of the poisonous variety. We find brown recluses fairly regularly in our basement and in the tub and sinks once in a while. They get killed on site. If I see a black widow, it would get the same treatment. Wolf spiders and just about any other spider is left alone. In the fall when it start cooling off, I can go out in my yard at night, shine a light acrosst he grass and it will light up like the Las Vegas strip. It's all from the glow of wolf spider eyes. I think it's neat, but I'm sure it would give an arachnophobic a heart attack.

Same here. If I was being indoctrinated, I must have missed it because I was too busy doing actual school work.

I missed this but I was going to suggest crawlers and staying with in 100 yards of the trophy zone. Good way to watch some nice fish. If you want numbers, the flat in front of the dark grey house about halfway between Short Creek and Fall Creek tends to always hold stockers.

Fished 11:45-4:15pm. I landed 11, had 5-6 or come unbuttoned during the fight and miss plenty. Caught most in the first hole but circled the park and picked a few up in scattered areas. No real concentrations of fish besides in the first hole that I saw. There was 20-22" rainbow hanging around just above the bathroom riffle about 75 yards. Spent 20 minutes trying to get him to eat a jig, but it wasn't interested. There are were quite a few 15"+ fish in the stream, but I only managed to land one and lose another. The rest were under 15". White trout magnet, green/white rubber legged jig and a wacky orange trout worm did the damage like always.

I live within 15 minutes of the area you're talking about and haven't fished it in years. One of these days I need to get a kayak and start taking advantage of it again. Used to catch some surprisingly decent bass off of that river. The summer time "float 100 yards, drag 100 yards" got old pretty quick though.

We tore up an old clover plot and planted turnips a few weeks ago. It has had a couple good rains on it since so I imagine it's doing decent. I've not been back to actually check on it yet though. I need to go pick up some rye, oats, radishes and red clover for a couple more plots that we're going to do this weekend. Hopefully I can find the rye. Seems like some coops don't get it until after Labor Day some years. I discovered this mix a few years ago and it's my favorite by far. The oats and radishes provide a good early season food source while the rye takes its time getting established. Red clover doesn't do much this fall, but I've had my best luck with letting it get a head start in the fall and then it takes off in the spring. It gets worked under when we replant next year to help build up the organic matter levels in the soil. The oats and radishes will die off once it starts frosting and you're left with the rye to provide food for the winter.

@fishinwrench Cook's Boats and Motors has been strapping Zuke 4 strokes on to SeaArks for catfishermen for a long time too. LSK and Cooks are where pretty well every big catfish rig I've seen has come from. Maybe they are the only two around. I'm not sure.

I bought a pair of Ampere Time 12v 100ah lithiums last month for $740 shipped to my door. I've used them several times now and my only regret is not doing it sooner. My jet boat hops up on plane noticably better with the reduced weight in the bilge. Having full power to the trolling motor at the end of the day is nice too since I've mainly been fishing current for smallmouth. I cheaped out and didn't get the heated version since they were $200 more per battery. I'll have to bring them inside to charge during the winter. Since you can buy 20 and 40amp chargers for them, it won't take long to recharge as needed. It's not a burden to remove them either since they are so light in weight. It would be convenient to have a battery with the bluetooth BMS so you can check how much juice you have left, but I figured I wouldn't come close to running them down that it wouldn't matter anyways.