Seth

If they start dumping at Bagnell, I may have to break out the cattin gear and go try to catch a few blues! The Gasconade may be too high to fish anyways.

Awesome trip, Al! I love throwing a spinnerbait, but I rarely have one tied on if the water is clear. I'll opt for a swimbait in that case. If it's really windy and there is a good surface chop then I may give the spinnerbait at try. Anybody that knows me though will know I am a bit of a one trick pony when it comes to fishing clear water. There's a 99% chance I'll have a spinning rod in hand with a pink trick worm tied on to the end.

You didn't miss much. It was a brutal day of fishing in that muddy water. We squeaked out 3rd with 6.10 after not having a fish in the boat until noon. Luckily we squeaked out a limit up around Short Creek where the water was a little cleaner.

I'm guessing it's a typo as there was an 8 pound brown weighed in during last years Elfrink tournament.

That is one of the best looking browns I've seen!

Dad and I fished 2-7pm yesterday. Fishing was pretty good starting out in the first hole, but it got tougher as the day went on. I probably caught 20-25 and dad had 10-15. Early on, an orange trout worm fished really slow along the bottom was the only way I could get bit. Later in the day we moved down towards the bathroom. There were a lot of fish, but they were being finicky. Dad had lots of bites on brown DoubleD bait beneath a float, but had a hard time hooking fish. I was using jigs and worms and having the same problem. There are some nice fish in the stream, but you still have to weed through some dinks. The 8 fish that we cleaned were 13.5-15.75". I put back several others that were 14"+ because I didn't want to keep my fourth fish that soon.

Are you going to be down either of those weekends? I think there will be three of us in the boat that second to last weekend and we plan on throwing jerkbaits strictly for big browns and fishing hard. I'll probably be playing more of a "guide" role that following weekend and putting the family on some fish. I'm going to try and get out there early and late without them and target some brownies again though.

Sounds like I will be down the last two weekends this month. Taking a buddy who has never been down there before on the second to last weekend and then with the parents that following weekend. Hope some browns are running by then. I need to break that 20" brown curse!

Woohoo! I can’t wait!

Since I can’t add grease to the hub without having a new Vault cap, can I temporarily replace the cap with a bearing buddy style and shoot regular grease in to the hub until I get the proper Vault cap and seal to fix it right? I don’t want to run the hub dry and smoke the bearings or damage the spindle. I’m pretty sure the system is warrantied for 5 years so I am hoping to get the parts for free. The trailer was bought new in June 2014. Labor Day will slow down how fast i can get the parts though.

Everybody knows you need new women's panties to wear when you are trying out a new lure for the first time!

Not that I condone marking fish at all, but I could see the hole punch through a thin part of the tail being MUCH less intrusive and harmful to the fish than cutting half the freakin tail fan off! What the hell goes through peoples minds?

I've always used the 6.6 footer and love it. My other rod that I fish with is a 6' Falcon original ultralight. Both rods see a lot of use, but I tend to gravitate to the Air Stream the most, especially if I am throwing 1/8oz jigs. I've not tried a 6 foot Air Stream yet. The Falcon gets the nod for park fishing though.

It's been pouring here where I live since 5am. We actually have flood warning for our county. First time that has happened in forever! The rivers need the rain as do my food plots though so I'm not complaining!

Just going back on page of this thread would have produced big brown pic.

I definitely won't be dropping any money on one until I hold the 6' and 6.5' in my hands. Like you said, the feel between a 6 and 7 footer is drastically different between a lot of rods with the same action ratings.

They were out of stock in Springfield in late July when I was last down. I broke my newest one at Taneycomo that trip and went to exchange it on the way back home and they gave me a gift card. I'm thinking about just putting that money towards a St Croix Premier or possibly even an Avid in 6'6" light fast action. Those Air Streams sure fish awfully nice for a $60. I've not convinced myself that the extra $$$ for the St Croix's would be worth it.

These things look almost identical. The only difference is the TFO is $20-25 more than the Browning and you can get them in a one piece rod instead of just two. Has anybody fished both and have an opinion on whether the TFO brand rods are any better or whether the one piece makes much difference over the two piece?

Anybody who doesn't take you up on that offer needs smacked around a little bit.

That is wild. We are lucky to see more than just a couple of rainbows over 3# in the four winter tourneys. Were any of the big fish browns or was it all rainbows?

I'd be killing it in this tournament if I hadn't dropped Rick Morris for Bernie Schultz. Morris is in 5th and Schultz was basically last. I could have had four guys fishing tomorrow.

08/15/18 03:45 PM - Bernie Schultz was added. 08/15/18 03:45 PM - Rick Morris was dropped. 08/15/18 03:45 PM - Dave Lefebre was added. 08/15/18 03:45 PM - Mike McClelland was dropped. Well that decision is biting me in the butt! McClelland is sitting in 7th and Lefebre is in 14th. That's not too bad. However. Rick Morris is sitting in 8th and Bernie Schultz is in the 93rd spot! That's the kind of crap I've been doing all year long.

Mine is good now as well.

After thinking about it, maybe I should just roll with it. The way I've been picking them this year, I might be better of going with the "wrong" line up.

Did everybody else's line up revert back to their Chesapeake Bay picks? My transaction log shows where I made the changes too. The guys in bold are who I should have. 08/15/18 03:45 PM - Bernie Schultz was added. 08/15/18 03:45 PM - Rick Morris was dropped. 08/15/18 03:45 PM - Dave Lefebre was added. 08/15/18 03:45 PM - Mike McClelland was dropped. 08/15/18 03:42 PM - Rick Morris was added. 08/15/18 03:42 PM - Mike McClelland was added. 08/15/18 03:41 PM - Keith Combs was added. 08/15/18 03:40 PM - Seth Feider was added. 08/15/18 03:40 PM - Brandon Palaniuk was added. 08/15/18 03:40 PM - Bernie Schultz was dropped. 08/15/18 03:40 PM - Brandon Card was dropped. 08/15/18 03:40 PM - Bill Lowen was dropped. 08/15/18 03:40 PM - Brett Hite was dropped. 08/15/18 03:40 PM - Aaron Martens was dropped.