tpierce

Thanks guys for the positive feedback. There is so much technical info on this site which is so helpful to all of us in which I rarely contribute. I figured this year I would mix it up a bit, especially since this is Tristan's first year to give club fishing a try. I hope to continue to post on our father son adventures in the future.

3 anglers had 12-13 lbs. There were 3 fish in the 4+ lb range. I didn't have heavy stringer but Tristan and I had heavy boat. Good day for most all around.

Our bass club fished out of the dam area on Sunday, February 15 from 7-3. Temperature at take off was 20 degrees, and it was 31 degrees when the boat came out of the water. Winds were pretty high most of the day, around 15-20 mph. The fish catching was pretty good out of our boat today. My 11 year old son and I had 12 keepers between us on the day, all on the grub. Fish were on the bottom and pretty finicky. Depth was anywhere from 30-55 ft for us. Water temp was 44-45 degrees. Our fish were just keeper size with nothing to brag about weight wise. The day was truly a challenge we were looking forward to. I've talked a lot with Tristan about having to work for things in life and that it doesn't always come easy, but he wanted to give it a try....he would be put to the test. He stood on the front deck with me all morning using the same equipment and set up and watched fish after fish pass his grub on the graph and hit mine. At 10:30 I had 8 keepers and he had one short. Frustration was starting to set in. I kept asking if he wanted his mom to come get him since we live close by and he adamantly said no. At 10:30 he took a 15 minute break in my truck to warm up and then got back in the boat with a new determination to catch a keeper. I asked him about goals and suggested that 1-2 keepers would be a nice aiming point and he responded he was shooting for 3 keepers. After another 2 hours of pretty slow fishing I asked where he wanted to go and he gave me his location. It is a spot he caught a few fish on back in December, and I reminded him of that, we took off to that location anyway. Well, I must say that every frozen guide we had to clear and every missed fish was worth it. At 12:45 Tristan put his first keeper of the day in the boat, a chunky 15.25 inch Kentucky. It would probably be pretty strange to see two anglers giving each other a hug on the water but that is what this father and son did. I told him, "you never ever give up... ever." He knew I meant that from the heart and that I was talking much more about life than fishing. He would go on to catch two more keepers before weigh in, a 16.75 inch meanmouth and another 15.25 inch Kentucky. After weigh in and all the focus and work we put in, all we could talk about was what mom might be cooking for dinner... Another priceless day. Thank you Lord!

I've been pretty lucky with him and his focus. He fishes Mill Creek night tournaments with me sometimes and is happy with 7-8 fish on a jig. FYI, that is not his biggest fish. If you can believe it, he fished his first tournament at age 7 and was throwing a 3/8 oz. jig at night during a Mill Creek tournament and caught a 5.27 oz largemouth which was second big bass! And most here know the talent of those guys fishing out of Mill Creek... pretty stout bunch.

Water temp was 44 at the start and 45 degrees when we finished. And yes to all the responses about memories... I can't tell you the number of times we stopped what we were doing and watched the eagles or loons. The loons are a special animal when they start talking. We even talked about the ice along the bluff walls. All I know is life goes by fast and you never get time back... I hope everyone remembers that moving forward.

I rarely post but decided since I advertised our club last week and had great interest, I would post a report so those guys would know how we did at our first event. We fished Sunday, January 11th out of Moonshine Beach from 7-3. The weather held off and wasn't bad at all. Air temps were above freezing all day. We did have some very light rain here and there but not a problem. I say this since my partner was my 11 year old son, Tristan. He fished all day, just taking one break and that was to pop his back. You guys know how it is with all of those clothes on... Anyway, it was overcast with a slight breeze. Water temps were 44-45 degrees. My son and I fished a grub 95% of the day and had 13 keepers between us. We fished the middle of cuts over trees typically in the 40 foot range. The 11 year old had big bass at 21 inches which papers out to 5.3 lbs. He also had heavy stringer at 17.3 lbs (6 fish limit). We had heavy boat at 31+ lbs (12 fish). We don't allow the A-rig to be thrown so I was very proud of his almost 3 lb. average. His best 5 would have gone over 15 lbs. There were 2 other six fish limits at 13+ lbs. for a total of 4 six fish limits. 95% of the fish were caught deep with some jig fish being caught. I did catch one keeper largemouth on a stick bait (mega bass). FYI half of the fish caught were largemouth which was good to see. Everyone fished within a few miles of the dam. As a father teaching a child to fish it was a wonderful day... My son's words when I netted his big fish were, "No way did I just catch that fish! No way did I just catch that fish!"

I want to say thanks to those who emailed me with interest in our club. I had 7 guys get back with me with probably 5 of those being serious about joining. We have our first event this weekend, but if you can't make it I will definitely email you all about our upcoming February meeting. Keep chucking and winding...

We have at least one per month. We do have 2 in April and May. Our members fish when they can. A couple of years back I really started enjoying fishing our club more than money tournaments. It is so much more fun fishing against friends for bragging rights vs strangers for money which can get a little cut throat for some. I can email you our 2015 schedule if you will pm your email address if you would like, and I will send it as an attachment.

Champ you don't have to be from Missouri. Also, two wive's of members have recently joined as we'll. Jeremy you can email me to my school account if you want: piercet@branson.k12.mo.us. Take care!

Don't want to mislead on achievement at the state tournament on Table Rock. We qualified 4 to the 12 man team in 09' and 2 to the 12 man team in 12'. It has now rotated back to the Rock for 15'. Table Rock is on a 3 year rotation with Lake of the Ozarks and Truman. I'm very proud of those results and those guys!

The White River Elite bass club is starting their second season. Anyone interested in joining our club can message me. When I moved to the Branson area 11 years ago I joined a local club and enjoyed it immensely and still do. We are a catch, measure and release club (paper). We don't fish for money, just bragging rights and year end awards. We are a Bass Federation club and the state tournament is on Table Rock this year. The last 2 times the State tournament has been on the Rock we have had 6 guys make the 12 man team to represent Missouri which is quite a feat considering 200 plus anglers will compete in the state tournament each year. Our yearly dues are $80.... The breakdown of those dues are as follows: $30 MO Bass, $30 Bass Nation, $20 for year end awards. Take care! Tucker

They are catching them big time right now according to my brother who is a camera boat.... Will be interesting.

Maybe, but according to my math a 100 lbs over 4 days is a 25 lb per day average. I do think we will see at least 1 bag that goes 25 lbs. Should be fun to watch.

Great bunch of guys at the Sunday cape fair tourneys. I agree the pros will sack them up this week. I will be a camera boat Saturday and Sunday which will be fun. I'm most interested in Saturday morning and how they adjust to a projected 30 deg night and if that affects the fish. Thanks Old Mill Road and Fat Boy for the positive improvement updates. I faired well Sunday as we'll.

I guess other people can catch them after all...

Vanish was the first flouro I used when fluorocarbon lines started gaining popularity years ago.... Lets just say there are several other brands out there that outperform Vanish. I use Seaguar and feel its one of the best lines available. It is more expensive than Vanish but in my opinion worth it.

Fished a little jackpot out of cape fair. 12 boats, we drew a small check w 3rd place.... Paid 4. 1st place had a limit of 4 that went 13+ lbs., he said he had 12 keepers. 2nd had 4 fish that went 10+ lbs. We had 3 that went 9.3lbs. 4th was Pete Wenners at 7+ lbs. only 4 boats weighed in fish. James river was 38-39 deg... We got out of there quick and ran to the mid lake area where the water was 41-42deg and threw rigs. Only caught 6 fish all day with 4.5 being the biggest. She came out of 40-50 ft of water near the bottom. The other fish came closer to shore around 20-30 and suspended. Did throw a stick bait w no luck. Probably should have tried the jig to round out the limit but stuck w the rig. Not a big fan of it but it works.

I was extremely surprised by the water temp. I figured I would see temps closer to 40 deg. I would say the average temp I fished was 45 deg. The near 48 deg. water was around point 5 around 2:30pm. I quit at 3pm. Forgot to report on size of the stickbait fish. All were largemouth. Biggest was a 3.5lber. Had one that was probably 2.5lbs and two 15 inchers. Those were my first stickbait fish of the year and the good thing was I didn't have to pause long between twitches.

Fishable

Since I cherry pick valuable info from this sight and not much was reported for yesterday, I'll post what I found. Started just after 7 am in the dam area. Caught 6 keepers on small tubes fishing vertically in creek arms over 40 ft of water just off the bottom. Mixed bag with one of those being a 3.5 brownie and 3.5 lb black. Had probably another 6 shorts. Bite died around 10 or so. From there ran around and threw a megabass stick and caught 4 more keepers, all spread out but up near the bank. Even though it was windy you could still find fish able water. Water up Long Creek got down to 43 deg. Found water near 48 deg. on the main lake.

Do you know where the results are posted? We left early and weighed in 10.21.... didn't think it had a chance because of several bigger bags weighed in. Thanks

Weight distribution is the same. The wear is on the ends of the blades so that is what I'm thinking.

Thanks everyone for the responses. Troy I messages you back, thanks.

I'm running a Tempest 26 pitch. I think I've lost some RPM's and it doesnt really respond to the throttle like it did. Still sounds good, and runs 65mph or so at 5800rpms but she isnt the same. It definately didn't try to chine at 65 mph like it does now. I don't think my jack plate has moved on me either. I got into some gravel and sand and scuffed the prop as I said but also sucked up some gravel into the intake and had to replace the water pump ect. After all that, that is when I've noticed a difference.

I've got a 2011 Merck 250 pro xs that has lost approx 5-7 mph. I did get into some gravel / sand which visibly scuffed my 3 blade prop last October. Hole shot / acceleration also not as strong. Even though the prop doesn't look too bad could that be my issue? Boat is running 69 mph when it was running 75. Also starting to want to chine at 65 mph vs 73 mph.