MOsmallies

No worries guys... It's a well known stream, but thanks anyways! And you're correct Andy... they are beautiful in that stream. Bright gold with bright white bellies and the bigger ones tend to get real nicely tiger striped,

My personal best smallmouth was caught 4 summers ago on my favorite Ozark stream. It went 20.5" and is still my only smallmouth over 20" to date. I think I've only caught 5 other smallmouth between 18"-19.5" and probably only another 30 between 16"-17". I don't catch as many big ones as most on here, but I don't get the chance to fish as much anymore either. Here's to a new PB this year! Paul MOsmallies

Brian - Your videos are killer.... Thanks for sharing!!!

Yes... they are definitely worth the money. Take good care of them and they will last you a long time. I will never buy another brand of sunglasses again!

Good to hear Jerry! Thanks for the update on one of my favorite streams!

Thanks for the input everyone... I think I will give the KVD trebles a shot and I might also check out those Daiichi Death Traps. I've heard good thinks before about those.

With the cold weather here, I'm beginning to get my winter gear ready. That means jigs and jerkbaits. I own quite a few LC Pointers and I know the success that the Megabass Ito Vision 110's have had but at their price point they're a little expensive for me. I've heard a lot of good reviews on the Lucky Strike RC STX Jerkbaits but of course the split rings and hooks are worthless. I've replaced the split rings, but I know how sensitive suspending jerkbaits can be to even the slightest adjustments, so I have yet to replace the hooks. I'd like to replace them with #6 Mustad KVD trebles but I'm afraid they'll be too heavy. Have any of you replaced the trebles on these Lucky Strike RC STX Jerkbaits? If so, what have you used and have they affected the action of the bait for better or worse?

Not sure when you were heading down, but I was just at the 25 mile marker this past weekend and did pretty good on Saturday (Nov. 24). I started out the day fishing for bass and couldn't find a consistent bite so I started targeting crappie. Found them suspended in, over, and around brush in 10 to 20 feet of water. My best spot was a rather isolated dock on a bluff bank that I knew had brushpiles right along the sides of the dock. We also caught fish off deeper brush that was not around docks, but the docks seemed to hold a few more fish. My father in law and I spent about 3 1/2 hours targeting crappie on Saturday and caught 25 with only 5 shorts. No big keepers... all were 9 1/2" - 11 1/2". I was throwing a 1/16 oz. chartreuse roadrunner jighead with a 2 1/4" Lake Fork Tackle Live Baby Shad in Pearl. I was also tipping my jigs with a chartreuse sparkle Berkley crappie nibble. My father in law was throwing a plain lead colored roadrunner with a blue and chartreuse minnow shaped plastic. Both of our trailers had pretty subtle action. We did not try anything with more action like a twister tail. We'd basically throw our jigs past the brush, let it sink on slack line to the depth the brush was at and then would slowly reel just fast enough to keep the jig moving towards us. Jigging it did not result in any strikes. They just seemed to want that consistent gliding action. Some bites were light and others took the jig well. Definitely pay attention for light bites. We did not try minnows or jigs fished vertically over the brush but we probably could have picked off a few more doing that. Let me also say that we fished a few new spots on Sunday and couldn't find the crappie. We were fishing a little shallower and I think we should have stayed out deep, but the wind was making it difficult. We did pick up 12 bass (10"-14") and a nice fat 15" white bass fishing more protected areas. Good luck and let us know how you end up doing. Paul MOsmallies

Dam.... Nice mess of slabs!!! I guess I should have been fishing Crappie instead of that stupid Big Bass Bash... Bass fishing was terrible at least for us. Paul MOsmallies

That Meanmouth is an unbelievable fish and the fish of a lifetime (or maybe only two week timeline)!!!!!!!!!! Congrats on releasing it and to the guy that caught it before you. That is one of the most impressive river fish I have ever seen. Welcome to the forum.... Looks like we've got another member with a wealth of information. Looking forward to more posts and pictures. Paul MOsmallies

Who would that "freak" happen to be?

For a beginner... Some of the best ways to fish for them is trolling crankbaits (Shad Raps) or vertical jigging spoons or grubs tipped with minnows. I've done both of these successfully, but in river systems not lakes. There's a lot of guys on here with a lot more knowledge that should give some helpful info. Good luck and report back once you give them a try. Paul MOsmallies

Awesome post and great pictures... Thanks for sharing!

LOL..... This is why I love floating with you! River Dribble can always help when the smallies ain't biting.

Good idea Phil.... We are very lucky to have world class guides like Bill Babler sharing priceless information with us on this forum. Bill never plugs for customers or tries to name drop his business. He just provides helpful information and asks for nothing in return. He's indirectly doing a great job of marketing himself though! I know if I ever make it to Table Rock one of these days and was looking for a guide, he'd be my only choice.

Check out Jack Uxa who owns Jacks Guide Service. I met him at the St. Louis Boat Show last year and he was extremely knowledgeable and friendly. I've heard quite a few good experiences and recommendations from people who have fished with him. He's posted some helpful reports in the past on here as well. FishinJack was his screenname, but I haven't seen anything from him in a while. Good Luck and let us know what you end up doing! Paul MOsmallies

I agree with you to an extent that we lose a lot of great in state talent to out of state schools, but you can't discount the fact that Mizzou just landed DGB who was not only the top recruit in the state, but the top recruit in the country. Imagine if they could have landed Montee Ball a few years ago! I think 8-4 is definitely possible, but 7-5 is more realistic in their first year. Being in the SEC will only help their recruiting in the future. Speaking of recruiting and landing in state talent... Could you imagine how good Mizzou Basketball could have been over the past 10-15 years if they could have landed these players... Larry Hughes Chris Carawell Loren Woods Ryan Robertson David Lee Tyler Hansbrough Ben Hansbrough Alec Burks Bradley Beal BJ Young Cameron Biedscheid

That's awesome! Gar are a highly underrated species to fish for. We've caught them on the Black River using spinning gear with wire leaders and big dead minnows. We would tie a strip of pantyhose (a little longer than the leader) to the top of the leader so it would hang down by the bait. The pantyhose got tangled in their teeth really well. You should see if you could incorporate it into your rope flies somehow for better hookups. Can't wait to see the video and more pics! Paul MOsmallies

Gotcha... Hope you find something that works for you! Let us know what you end up coming up with.

Hey Mitch... I very rarely peg my weights while fishing a Texas rig, but that's mainly because I'm not punching heavy, matted cover here in Missouri. The times I have done it is when fishing a split shot or finesse Carolina type rig. In these cases, I'll peg an egg sinker or finesse slip sinker about 12" to 18" above my hook. When doing this I have used the Top Brass Peg-It 2 Pegging System... http://www.tacklewarehouse.com/Top_Brass_Peg-It_2_Pegging_System/descpage-TBPI2.html Another cool option I would consider for "pegging" a Texas rig, would be the Parasite Worm Weights. I have used the Parasite clips for Senkos, Flukes, and Buzzing type Frogs and they have worked well... http://www.basspro.com/Parasite-Worm-Weights/product/93399/43476 One other option that I'm sure you already heard of is the Jig Rig (Jika Rig). I've been playing around with it a bit, but haven't given it enough of an audition yet. It'll keep the weight close to the hook at all times and allows for a greater range of motion than a regular Texas rig. I really like the idea of it and they are pretty easy and cheap to make on your own. http://www.tacklewarehouse.com/Owner_JigRig_Weighted_Hook_2pk/descpage-OJRH.html Paul MOsmallies

Beautiful creek SIU!!! I know a couple gems like that and they are special places. Congrats on the 18.5" Paul MOsmallies

It was a killer trip and I was glad to get you on some streams you hadn't been on before. It was definitely some of the fiercest topwater action I've experienced. You could see wakes from 10 feet away coming to crash your bait and as soon as they were hooked, they were jumping high and often. Just about every fish had another 2 to 4 following it and as you can see in the one photo, I had my first double. Neither were big, but still cool regardless! Also an observation... The KVD trebles definitely increased my hook ups on the Owner Cultiva Zip 'n Ziggy. The stock hooks sucked and I missed a lot of strikes on my last trip. I replaced the stocks with #6 (or size 6... I can't remember) Mustad KVD short shank trebles and I was able to hook and keep hooked a ton more hits. I will be replacing several more trebles in the near future. We'll need to do it again soon! Paul MOsmallies

There is a nice parking lot basically right on the downstream side of Highway K that you can safely park. There's a park and camping spots there. If you can have someone drop you off at the Yellow Smile early, you can basically start where the party-ers take out and not have to deal with them. Lesterville to Yellow Smile is about 5 miles, so Yellow Smile to K is about 10-11 miles. Let us know how you do, if you do go! Paul MOsmallies

I'm sure they'll work just fine, but are they $8 better than a wiggle wart? I'm a lure junky to an extent and have been known to pay higher prices for lures similar to ones I already have so I can't really say anything. I struggle paying that much for a lure that's going to be banging bottom and rooting around snags though. Most of my higher priced baits are topwaters or suspending baits. Wiggle Warts, Bandits, and Normans will probably do just as good at a 1/3 of the price. Let us know what you think if you decide to pick one up! Paul MOsmallies

If you're fishing a hollow bodied frog like a Spro Bronzeye or something similar, try bending the hooks up slightly so they're not pointing into the body of the bait. I also trim the skirted legs a little bit. Good luck and post some pics!