Seth

I film and post a video of every tournament we fish. All of my buddies I fish against watch them and see exactly what I am doing. A lot of people are secretive about there fishing and can't understand why I would do that. My main reason is that if I could keep going to the same spot and consistently catch winning bags of fish, then I may think twice. Rarely is that the case though. It seems I have to do something different every time I fish in the summer months so I quit worrying about it. As Gavin said, there are no secret spots so timing and presentation play a big role in getting the right bites. It's always nice to hear somebody says "Man I fished that same area before you that day and didn't catch squat!". 😁 I wish my editing skills were even half as good as some these fishing channels. I'm not even close to many of them. My videos show the meat and potatoes, but they aren't nearly as pretty. It's fun to share your experiences with others too. Last weekend I caught a 4.05# largemouth on a Whopper Plopper 130 on the Gasconade in a tournament and I got all sorts of fired up once it hit the net. Being able to go back and rewatch moments like that is awesome!

I don’t even wanna know what I blow on the boat and fishing. I’d probably be sick.....

Hmmm..... fishing a tournament or going to work. Yea I would rather go fishing......😂 That’s an easy choice. Winning enough to fish for free and then some is just a bonus. 😉

Electronics play a big role. Wheeler doesn't have an electronics sponsor so he can run all three brands of graphs on his boat. Giving up that sponsorship to be able to do so has definitely been the right move for him. With that said, you can still compete without all of the electronics. Jon Cox was #2 on money earned for the year before this tournament and he fishes shallow water in an aluminum boat everywhere he goes. Wheeler will surpass him by quite a bit after today though. Cox was in 6th place today before today started so he should get a decent pay day as well. Kyle Welcher is another one who shines at the shallow water deal. He can catch them on a frog or pitching bait everywhere. http://www.bassfan.com/rankings_money.asp

Being a hammer/stick/etc and versatile aren't the same thing. Look at how many guys did well on the 5 fish format, but sucked it up in the MLF style. Two come to mind and those are Greg Hackney and KVD. KVD is a power fishing master and Hack is the modern day Denny Brauer with his flipping/pitching. Now look at Wheeler, Martens, Thrift, Defoe and other guys who are more well rounded. They produce results in both formats. The two exceptions to that rule, and maybe they are more versatile than I give them credit for, are Edwin Evers and Jordan Lee. Those two don't seem as well rounded at different methods and techniques, but they have done well in both formats. You're right though. They have ball been called <insert term for good angler> many times over the years.

I could see it happening. Aaron Martens was always up there near the top and was one of the most versatile guys fishing. He finally hit a skid the past couple of years. Wheeler has better closing power than Martens though. It seems like if he is in the hunt, he is winning where as Martens had the second place curse. Jordan Lee is a hammer, but just doesn't seem as versatile as Wheeler in my opinion, but I could be wrong.

If I'm not fishing a bass tournament or off hunting, I'll definitely be there!

Wheeler is always in the hunt no matter the location or the format. The guy is a machine!

I've always had a tough time getting bit after they go from 0-2 units up to 4 units above Cooper Creek. The only way I've been able to get bit during those times is to run down lake and fish around Monkey Island or the Landing. After 1-2 hours, I can usually go back up and start catching them again.

You are gonna have to go way up the Gasconade to be able to wade fish it. Paydown access is in the middle of a deep hole.

It stunk at Sappington yesterday. We caught 9-10 fish and only one keep. Pretty well the story for everybody. Just came down to how luck you were on getting the keeper bites. BB was 2.65 largemouth and I think that was the only green bass weighed in.

I wish I had a mask last yesterday evening on the Meramec to protest the stinkin bass not biting worth a flip!

I would have bought one of those CI4's for that price. Earlier this year I bought a Stradic FL 1000 to pair up with my Mike Riffle custom built trout rod. That reel is amazing! The Daiwa Tatula spinning reel is another one I would like to try out sometime.

I picked up that exact same reel last year on sale and I love it! My Lews tourney pros have been good reels and I still use them a lot, but I think my future reels will continue to be these Tatula SV reels.

I never really understood the deal with trout parks and Bosnians. I'm not sure I ever see them anywhere besides Maramec. Are the other parks like this or is it just due to being the closest park to STL?

What are we lying about? I don't lie about park trout that get replenished every day. 😁

That's correct. No hatching goes on at Maramec. They have several rearing pools to hold fish and I'm assuming they just move the fish between the pools as they mature and as more fish are delivered.

I did that last year. The worst part about it was I was having the best year I've ever had in fantasy fishing.

Not sure to be honest. We walked the hatchery and there are a lot of nice stockers in the pools ready to go. I've not had a problem catching quality fish for the past couple of years, even in to the fall. There was a spell leading up to a few years ago where the fish ran extremely small and I actually stopped going down after the first month because it sucked so much.

Yep. All other parks are still a limit of four though. Kind of odd, but I like it. I can keep four like before and then just catch and release fish.

Got down about 9am and landed four decent sized fish in the first 30 minutes on the orange wacky power worm and a white trout magnet. Those fish were cleaned and put on ice in a cooler and then I went and walked around the hatchery for a bit with the fiance. After that was done, I went down to the bathroom hole. White trout magnet was getting lots of interested again. I caught 4 or 5 more and then let the fiance catch one (free fishing weekend so no tag required) and then we headed out. I thought the fish bite was decent, but saw very few trout caught by others. You had to keep the bait near the bottom or you didn't get bit. Water had just enough stain that it was hard to see the fish tight to the bottom, but they were there just ahead of the dumps. People asked me if I was being forced to wear a mask due to Covid-19. Nope, I'm just a white boy who burns easily and sheds like a snake!

Wheeler is #1 without a doubt and I'd probably go with Thrift after him. After that, I'd have a hard time choosing between several anglers. Edwin Evers, Jordan Lee, Aaron Martens, Andy Morgan and Ott Defoe all come to mind. Amart hasn't been as solid the past few years as he had been. Morgan was always the FLW version of Amart IMO. Both guys were consistently in the hunt, but always seemed to fall just short of the W. Evers, Lee and Defore are all hammers, but I'd give versatility to Defore between those three. Jordan and Edwin have won some serious $$$ in recent years though.

We were at Rileys in Buffalo City. The furthest up I ran was to Rim Shoals, which I think was about 10 miles if I recall. Waters were definitely raging, but we still caught fish in the eddy pockets and creeks. It was no different than fishing Taneycomo when it gets high IMO. On the last day, we went and hit Norfork and had an absolute blast. The water over there was about like 2 units on Taneycomo. I was glad to have a 60" wide rig for that trip for sure.

Wasn't it 30-35k during Jigfest in December?

I'd be curious to see how many hours my 2013 150 Etec has on it at low RPM's from all of the trolling I do during snagging and gigging season. No issues at all so far. With XD100 set on the 100:1 ratio, it sips oil.