MOsmallies

Nice one Wrench!

I hate you

Well I made it back down this past weekend with Mitch F and Pat Magee in tow. I drove down Thursday night with my father-in-law. Mitch drove down early Friday morning with his Jetboat and I met him at the ramp for a full day on the Osage river. We had a great day catching probably 50-60 fish with just about every species you could think of. Mitch caught a nice 18" largemouth early and lost a 4-5 lber on a topwater bait shortly there after. Never got into any other bigger bass but the numbers were good. One dink smallmouth, one walleye, some really nice slab crappie, a big drum, and some whites/hybrids to end the day... One being a giant over 28" that we both estimated around 15 lbs! Crankbaits, Jerkbaits, Topwater, Mitch's Craw, and a Jig all caught fish! Great weather and some great fishing. Pat made it down that evening. We ate some tacos, drank some beers, and made plans for the next morning. I fished with my father-in-law and Mitch and Pat fished together on Saturday morning. The bite was pretty slow for us... 5 or 6 fish with the biggest two only being 14.5". Caught those two skipping a Jig behind docks. I had two keepers on a WP early but they both pulled off. Mitch and Pat had better luck with 10-12 fish and a little better size. They lost a few keepers as well. They caught theirs on Mitch's Craw, a Wiggle Wart, and a Jerkbait. The dock corner pattern just wasn't on like last weekend. Met back at the house around noon for lunch.... And we had the pleasure of meeting FishinWrench. He was fishing our area of the lake and dropped by our dock. We shot the bull for an hour or so. It was great to meet him as he's been kind enough to share information and advice with me for the last couple years. Another good dude from OAF that I've had the pleasure to meet! That afternoon I fished with Mitch while Pat and my father-in-law fished together. It was even tougher that afternoon but Mitch nailed one about 3 lbs on his craw. We caught a couple dinks on topwater right before dark but that was it. Went back to the house for some killer Ribeyes and some cold beers! That night we had the pleasure of meeting Old Plug. He went through hell and high water to find our lake house, which is a little off the beaten path, but he did! We swapped stories and baits for a couple hours and just had a great time. Another great guy that I can now call a friend! Sunday morning Mitch had to hit the road, so after helping get his boat on the trailer, Pat and I fished for a couple hours... Caught 5 or 6 on Topwater but again no real size. Missed a really nice Kentucky on a dock corner that chased a fluke out and hit it twice but I just couldn't hook him. At that point we called it a weekend! This November weekend has become kind of a tradition for me. The guys and quality of fishing may change from year to year but the good times are always consistent! Thank you to Mitch and Pat for making it down and to Wrench and Old Plug for taking time out of your day to meet us! Another successful Fall Guys Weekend! Enjoy the pics (As you'll see Mitch caught pretty much all the big ones )...

Nice one!!! Congrats!!!!!

Yep... Keeping non-native spots out of the Meramec, Big, and Gasconade watersheds is not the same as keeping spots out of Table Rock.

Nice Brian!

Midlake Area around Tan Tar A

I would've guessed 2.5 lbs... The one I lost at the boat would've been 3+... I should've given the Spinnerbait and Squarebill more of a try. Had em tied on all day but never really threw them.

Had a decent day on LOZ today. Not a ton of bites but enough to keep it interesting. Not much size but a couple that were decent and I could've had a limit around 11-12 lbs had I landed everything... Buzzbait bite wasn't quite on. A few blow ups and a couple hooked that came off after a few seconds. But I made some perfect casts in textbook spots without a look. Missed two nice blowups on the WP. Lost a real nice Kentucky at the boat who had crushed a wtd topwater on a dock corner and just pulled off as I went to lip her. I resorted to the dock corner pattern cause they just weren't cooperating on the big black rocks. The two pictured below came on a fluke off a dock corner and a jig skipped behind a dock. Will be back down next weekend with the big guns (Mitch F, Smalliebigs, and Pat Magee... Hopefully Wrench can make an appearance as well). We'll keep you posted!

Here's a few threads that show pics of Mitch's Craw... I know how much research and time Mitch has put into perfecting this craw. It's legit. If you see his next to the savage craw, there's no comparison in my opinion. The profile on the savage craw is too thin and their color selection is awful for the Ozarks... http://forums.ozarkanglers.com/topic/51019-friends-in-the-right-places/ http://forums.ozarkanglers.com/topic/46829-winter-smallie-fishing-take-2-tactics-techniques-and-tackle-january-20-2015/ http://forums.ozarkanglers.com/topic/41115-big-bass-bash-today-and-tomorrow/?page=1 http://forums.ozarkanglers.com/topic/50944-fun-float-turned-into-a-great-fishing-trip/#comment-414124

Nice Fish Andy! The Mitch Craw strikes again!

Smalliebigs uses a few I believe... One is an eBay store called ShimReels Tackle... I think Ichiban Tackle is another one.

Whoops sorry for giving it away

Was in Van Hooks (Camdenton) last Friday and they had Lucky Craft baits for $12 a piece

Congrats! Well deserved

Beautiful pic Ron

It sounds like quite a few of the FLW guys had to resort to catching small kentuckies off the main lake dock corners but I guess even those weren't a guarantee based on the number of 1-4 fish bags. Its tough when you see a guy like Marcus Sykora not able to catch a limit 2 days in a row.

Careful Al and Dan... We don't want to piss off any highly educated scientists with advanced degrees.

Mitch I will be disappointed if I don't see you throwing this on the Meramec next year... http://www.tacklewarehouse.com/Strike_King_10XD_Crankbait/descpage-SK10XD.html

Good point... Migration may not be the right word we should use for our smallmouth here in Missouri. What distance constitutes a true "migration" like the paddlefish example you gave, or birds, whales, sharks, etc.? Our river smallmouth definitely travel whether its 100 yds or 40 miles. Not all of them do it and it depends on the stream. Some streams have several suitable wintering holes so mass migrations aren't necessary and the population can stay spread out. Other streams may not have the depth, cover, and clarity necessary to harbor large groups of wintering fish, and those are the streams where we see large portions of the population "travel" long distances to more suitable water.

I need to stop arguing this because I'm not going to change anyone's mind. It's pretty simple... In 13 pages, we've established that... - SpoonDog and a few others don't think regulation changes, less illegal gigging, less harvest, and/or more enforcement will have any bearing on Missouri's Smallmouth numbers or size. For someone who doesn't even live in this state I'm not surprised. - Myself and I think many other's on this forum (who I respect greatly) believe that Missouri's Smallmouth numbers and size are not reaching their potential. Current regulations and enforcement are not increasing the numbers and size to what we believe they can be... And we are wanting to see some changes to regulations, gigging, harvest, and enforcement to see if that greater potential is possible again. Our opinions are based off of decades of floating and fishing streams across Missouri during every season. We've seen the good, bad, and ugly with our own eyes. We've seen streams in their hay days and we've seen streams ruined buy pressure and harvest. I don't need to change SpoonDog's mind. The MDC is who we need to convince of our concerns. They asked for public input and I'm grateful for that. Will they actually listen to us and make changes based on public opinion? Maybe not but maybe they will...They have given us an opportunity and a forum to voice our thoughts and concerns. So I will continue to share mine with them until they stop accepting them. I care deeply about Smallmouth in our state and I'm not willing to concede that Smallmouth fishing cannot and will not improve in Missouri!

The MDC biologists I spoke with at the open house at Powder Valley all acknowledged that some Smallmouth migrate in the winter and again in the spring. Now some may migrate less than a mile to a nearby wintering hole. Some may migrate several miles to a spring. Some may migrate more miles than you can fathom. Now not all fish will migrate and every stream is different. I think the MDC's tagging study proved this. The two tagged fish we caught on the Black River in June 2011 were tagged in March of that year 15 and 13 miles downstream. If I also recall correctly, someone on here caught a tagged fish on the Meramec in the winter that was tagged 30 some odd miles up on the Huzzah or Courtois. Not every stream has suitable wintering habitat. And if they have the ability to get to suitable wintering habitat, then why wouldn't they go to a place where they can be comfortable during the colder months?

Why do you think every stream system within our state functions the exact same way? Not every stream is the same. Habitat is different. Climate is different. Populations are different. Human interference is different. Management is different. You can't just make the assumption that the fish in the Black River do the exact same thing as the fish in the North Fork or the Gasconade or the Meramec or the Jacks Fork. Just as the MDC shouldn't assume that the way the population responded to C&R only on the Courtois in the 60's may not be the same way the population responds to C&R on the Meramec in the 2000's. It's not that the science is wrong... It's that it doesn't give a true representation of every stream and every stream's smallmouth population.... In this day and age! Again Al brings up some great points. The Black River/Clearwater relationship is unlike any other stream/lake relationship in our state. Those fish need protection. I have voiced this to the MDC as I know several others have as well. All we can do is hope is that they take our concerns seriously and make some changes.

cut shad

25" long... Just an unreal specimen