Seth

If a gigger is targetting smallmouth, the problem isn't gigging but the guys purposely breaking the laws. I love gigging just as much as catching smallmouth and I can think of only one little smallmouth that got gigged in my boat over the years by a newbie gigger. I guarantee I've gill hooked and killed more smallies then that fishing the regular way over the same amount of time. If somebody in my boat purposely gigged a smallmouth, they would never set foot in my boat again! If I see another boat gigging smallmouth, I'm gonna give them a piece of mind and let MDC know about it because it pisses me off just as much as you guys who think ALL giggers are the same. Not everybody that gigs is a redneck idiot who feels the need to kill everything like some of you guys believe. My rail is going on the boat after Saturday bass tournament. I'm ready to go fill the boat with some suckers. I'd put freshly gigged suckers fried up on the river bank up there with crappie and walleye. If you guys haven't tried it you don't know what you are missing. I invite any of you guys who are anti gigging to come hop in my boat and enjoy a fun night on the river followed by some awesome eating.

I expect to plan on fishing more this fall but end up bowhunting and leaving the gigging rail on the boat for stabbing suckers the majority of the time. Who knows though. Once I get it setup so I can add or remove the trolling motor easier maybe I will do some more fishing. I'd love to try and best my current PB smally of 18" or at least catch some more nice ones before the year is over with.

They are just doing what it takes to win. These same guys are usually the ones who are taking every bodies money during the normal tourneys no matter if it is on the Meramec, Gasconade or Osage. You could look at the results of a few of the bass clubs and figure out pretty quick a few of the names because they are in the top few spots most of the time. It's several different clubs not just one. Some guys fish several clubs, especially the really good anglers. They usually try to work around each clubs schedule so the same areas of the river don't get hammered over a short amount of time but sometimes it happens and camping the ramps becomes an issue. I am not a fan of it either personally but it is what it is.

I do know that there was five or six weeks where there were tournaments out of the Jerome and Bell Chutes accesses on the Gasconade. The first Jerome tournament produced a 5 pound and a 4 pound largemouth. The following weekend there was a tournament out of Bell Chutes and the guy that won it ran up to Jerome and camped out at the access all day and ended up catching that 5 pounder and says he lost another one that would push 4 so most likely it was those same two fish. The five pounder was then dumped back in at the Bell Chutes ramp and I believe was also caught within two weeks of that tournament by somebody camping out at the Bell Chutes access during a tournament. I'm sure it was the same fish since a five pounder isn't exactly common for the Gasconade. I fished a tournament out of Bell Chutes not long after that and ended up catching a 4.59 pound largemouth about a mile down river from the Bell Chutes access. It had been caught recently by the marks on it's mouth but the other guys didn't think it was the 5 pounder. It was pretty skinny when I caught it so I think it could have been the same 5 pounder everybody else had caught multiple times but it had just moved down river a ways and I I was lucky enough to catch right away in the morning. Fish start feeding pretty soon after being caught I do know. Last Saturday we had a tournament out of Bell Chutes. I went back the next day to take a buddy fishing and he caught a 13" smallmouth down from the ramp a few hundred yards that was caught the day before judging by the marks on it's mouth. There was a tournament out of Rollins Ferry Sunday and it took right at 12 pounds to win it. I'm sure a guy could go back this weekend and fish the boulders and wood nearest to the access and catch some a bunch of those tournament fish after giving them a week of rest. The worst thing about having tournaments at the same ramp that often are that whoever has the most patience to stay near the ramp and fish all day will most likely win. Those fish may not bite right away but eventually they will turn on. There are a few guys that are masters at doing that. Most of us don't have the patience.

Can't see where tournaments are hurting anything. The guys who fish a lot of them have really good live well systems and the fish are as feisty as can be at the end of the day when it is time to weigh in. Once in a great while somebody has live well trouble and a few fish die but that has only happened one time to my knowledge in a few years of my tournament fishing experience. You won't see any of the guys in our club keeping any nice river bass for the fryer. I agree 100% that the problem is the hoosiers who kill everything. It's an issue that plagues hunters as well. People just feel the need to take everything they possibly can and rape a resource until the effects are felt by everybody. At least with hunting you can manage private land to try and hold deer/turkey/etc on your property and keep the others from shooting them. With fishing, it's fair game for everybody. Catfishing is even worst because everybody just trot lines for them. I know of people who are too lazy to go get a job but go out and catch hundreds of pounds of big catfish every weekend from the rivers, clean them, and then stuffs it in their freezer or illegally sells it.

I expect I will talk about doing more fishing this fall but will end up leaving the gigging rail on the entire time and spend my time bowhunting during the day and killing suckers at night. Stabbing suckers and frying them on the bank is something I look forward to every fall. Most giggers are good about not killing game fish but there's always a few knuckleheads that think everything that swims needs gigged. My blood boils when I see a big smally laying dead on the bottom of the river. The good thing about the Gasconade at least is that the majority of gigging takes place close to the accesses and there's a ton of water that they don't get bothered.

The fish are looking really healthy since the high water. Nice smally.

I just started fishing the one club last year. It's a lot of fun and my river bass skills have improved quite a bit by competing, listening, and talking to the other anglers I'm fishing against. Most of the time there is only 10-15 boats and everybody spreads out over a pretty big area so the fish don't get pounded nearly as bad as you would think for one area. Pointers Creek on down doesn't get hit hard at all even with the few tournies that are held out of that access. The Bell Chutes and Jerome stretches get hit the hardest in my opinion but they are also my favorite stretches to fish even with the extra pressure. My biggest problem now is that I am turning in to more of a smallmouth fishermen and the largemouths are usually what wins. Those smallmouth are so much fun and are the main reason I enjoy bass fishing the Gasconade. Everybody gets lucky though as the one tourney I won this year was thanks to hitting a spot where we caught a few smallies the weekend before and I lucked in to a 4.59 largemouth so you just never know!

If you just like to catch fish, a week or two after a tournament a guy can catch some really nice fish at those release sites. The worst part about it is the live bait fishermen probably catch several of them as well and they most likely get cleaned.

My buddy was pretty bummed out about. He ended up leaving early since there wasn't any point in trying to keep more fish in there. He has never had it happen before. Im surprised you guys didnt realize there were tourneys on the Gasconade. Theres several bass clubs that fish tournaments from Pointers Creek all the way to Jerome. At one point this summer there was five tourneys at Belle Chutes within three weekends. That place got pounded but there were still nice fish caught every tournament.

We listened to that stuff too but called as oldies and not current smash hits.

Gascosage Buddy Bassmasters. Here's a copy of the results from the website. My buddy didn't weigh in because his livewell pump quit working and his fish died before they realized it. He said he had 10-11lbs as well. These were the best weights of the year so far. August 23, 2013@ Pointers Creek 1st Place: Jeff Schultz & Chris Barylski; 11lb. .75oz 2nd Place: Jeff Feeler & Marlin Malone; 10lb. .29oz 3rd Place: Mike Warren & Kurt Helm: 8lb. .15oz Big LargeMouth: Tim Reeves; 3lb. .25oz Big SmallMouth: Marlin Malone; 4lb. .14oz

Tourney was out of Pointers Creek between Rich Fountain and Mount Sterling. It was just a small bass club tournament.

I wish I had snapped a pic. She was a 20.25" 4.14 pound beauty! Fishing was tough for most but the few guys that had it figured out weighed in some really nice sacks of fish. Most were largemouths but a few guys had some smallies.

I went fishing out of Tollins Ferry yesterday evening and caught several but nothing big. There is a tourney tomorrow out of Pointers Creek and if what Im hearing is true, there should be some decent weights brought in.

I came across one in an old tackle box one time and managed to catch one bass on it while messing around off of Bridgeports dock on Tablerock.

Steven Kennedy is about the closest you will find. He fishes the BASS Elites with a Nitro Z8 with a 225hp Mercury on the back and a Minnkota Maxxum and no electronics on the bow. It's a boat he won in a PAA touranment. As far as I know, his only sponsor is Kinami baits.

That's about how I am anymore. Buzzbaits haven't produced that well for me this year but I just can't help but throw one in hopes that I get a big blow up from a lunker bass!

Ive vowed to try amd fish some this fall. Im sure I miss out some really good fishing but it is awful hard to get me to put down the bow and arrow long enough to pick up the rod and reel.

I didnt realize they made jerkbaits now. When I hear trout magnet I still think of the little rubber bodies on a darter head.

Id be one sad panda if I could t go stick a bunch of suckers this fall!

Only spoonbill I eat myself are the small ones we get below Bagnell on the lower Osage. The big ones from the James arent that great. Loz fish are a little better but still not that great. My favorite is fry them in beer batter.

That's the same way I'm feeling right now also. Got plenty of things to do in the deer woods to keep me occupied until the rivers aren't a mess.

So you were throwing a rubber trout magnet in the trophy area? That's a no-no since it's rubber right? I had good luck on pink trout magnets when we were down in July around Monkey Island but I didn't fish them above the cable thinking they were illegal.

I swear I seen one near point royale last month when we were down there. It was a huge fish slowly swimming up the river. When I ran back up to try and find it again I couldn't though. I've seen enough of them swimming though and I was 99.9% sure that it was a spoonbill in the 30-40 pound range. That one pictured above is a biggun!