WHARFRAT

That's Great!!!!

Don't knock Busch. You got to take it for what it is. It serves a purpose for all types of fishermen. It's not far from my house in St.L and I don't mind plucking down the 5 bucks for a leaky jonboat. People that frequent there know what to expect. Sure I wouldn't mind being able to put in my own jon boat, kayak or bellyboat. But those are the rules and I accept it. To say its now worth going,,,,, depends on your expectations. I know people that catch some really nice bass out there. Spring and Fall I can catch all the crappie I want. Seems like the majority of people catfish from the banks, and there are quite a few lakes that are stocked weekly. Yeah it does get a lot of pressure, but you can still have a good time.

Appears the 10 day forecast is showing some signs of improvement!

I also think they are trying to protect against "invasive" stuff!!!

you should be fine with the Sante Fe. I may be mistaken but I think the towing capacity is around 3500. You'll like towing with the GMC Sierra better. I had a small SUV with a 4.3litre back in the 90's and towed a Stratos 19.5 F&S. I think the towing capacity was 4000lbs for this vehicle. It did fine, but I knew it was always back there. When I got a full size Truck, it towed so much better. If you get the Sante Fe, I'd have them install a tranny cooler if there isn't one already.

I was down over the weekend, and our end was open. A little ice in back of coves, but the main channel was completely open. I drove over to Warsaw, and when I crossed the bridge there on hwy 7, Truman was completely froze over. So I guess it depends where you are.

I remember that, didn't realize it was that long ago. Used to go up in that area quite a bit in the 80's. It did get pretty territorial, if you catch my drift.

NSA They know all, hear all, see all.

actually, thats a pretty good question. Are you allowed in MO to target bass for catch and release while season is closed? I pretty sure in Minnesota you can not. But it's ok if you catch one while fishing for other species. You just can not specifically target them while season is closed.

I was told absolutely no boats of any kind on Prairie Lake, this was 4 - 5 yrs back, so not sure if anything has changed recently. It would be nice to have a small boat on the lake. It's big enough where you could use one. Its pretty rough walking on the other side of the lake. Lots of small crappie in there. Needs to be harvested. It did get pretty low a couple yrs ago, but then again, everything dried up. I think they worked on the dam area adjacent to hwy 94, so it must have had some issues.

Last year was the first time I saw Kayaks on one of the lakes. I wasn't sure if they changed any regulations or not. When I got back to the outpost, I asked if you could bring in a small kayak or float tube and they said no. I think the same thing holds true for Prairie Lake. No watercraft allowed. I have seen some people on Kayaks on the sloughs on the lower part of Weldon Springs where we dove hunt.

I'm just wondering what the trolling speed would be, between the etec 115 and the pro xs 115? I don't do a lot of trolling, but I do on occasion.

I'd like to hear more about etec and trolling speeds, if anyone would care to share.

A couple of years ago, I went up in my parents attic over their garage. Dad had a couple of spools of Mr. Crappie line. It said it was made in Germany. I was just wondering how old that line is. He's been gone over 10 yrs and wasn't able to get out a few years before that. He also had some RedHead Camo that was made in the USA, and it was the old style Camo too. Can't get much stuff now that isn't made in China.

As God is my witness, I thought turkeys could fly.

I just started using braid, so I can't really say much about that, only that for crappie fishing, it's the best thing going. I first only used mono for dock shooting, but have switched to braid this winter. Seems so much more sensitive, especially when the bite is real light. As far as mono goes, I agree with F and F, I'll change line almost on a schedule. So normally, I don't have a replacement spool of line much over a year old. Storing your equipment is important, I've seen a lot of people just leave their rods outside all the time. I think the heat is the worst enemy against line. As far as line butter or reel magic, I've tried it, don't really think it made a big difference. Get on the Braid Train. Big Difference!

There is a lot you can do with that style of boat. I do like how the longer tins are being made with the center rod storage. Do you find that more convenient, or is it just the flavor of the year. I wish the 2 storage compartments next to the rod storage were a bit larger. what size outboard are you running and also what TM are you running. I do like to pull cranks every now and then, and I'm hoping the 115 will go slow enough. I've heard from others that you might not be happy with the performance of a 90 on a 18.8' tin bass boat. I'm not that concerned about going 50mph, but I do want to have enough guts to make the boat perform as needed. The 50 that I have now is ok, but I wish it would troll a bit slower at times.

I've been looking pretty hard at the Ranger RT188 too. I do like the set up with the center rod storage. I looked at one at the Collinsville boat show a couple of weeks ago. They seem like they are very well constructed, real solid. Also wanted to look at Crestliners VT19. Seems similar, but there were no Crestliner dealers at this boat show. They had a Triton X17 up there, They said the Triton X18 is almost identical in set up as the Ranger RT188. They are nice and wide aluminum (92" beam) should help with the stability. I think my fisher is like 74". I figure the Triton and Ranger are comparable in price, b/c there wasn't much difference in the $ of the X17 and the RT178. The big question I had was the outboard. I want to be as low maintenence as possible, thats why I'll probably stick with the Merc Pro XS or Evinrude ETEC. Go on some of the other forums and you can really get confused. I've owned both before, so I don't really have a preference. But I will still probably stick with a 2 stroke.

Will there be that much significant savings between a 90 vs a 115?

Good job on the catchin part! I came down over the weekend, was going to get out on the lake, but didn't really want to fight the wind. I wound up setting out some structure around our docks. I thought they were in the process of dropping the lake, but it looked like little or no change from the first of the month. Talked to one of the ladies that was fishing the docks, she wasn't doing great, just a couple on minnows and no size. Won't be back down until the end of the month, hopefully back to decent weather by then.

Haven't fished it since mid 80's. Used to duck hunt there all the time. BTW this was before they levied it and put those pull-overs in. Anyway, one day while constructing a duck blind, I saw a couple of guys come motoring near us with some long poles. They started drowning minnows in the middle of the brush along the banks. While they were there, they caught quite a few crappie. My buddy and I went back the next couple weeks and finished our blind, but took some time to fish. We caught quite a few, nothing big, maybe up to 9" (maybe). Did it a couple of time in the spring, about the same results. After they put the levy around the island, we never went back. I haven't heard anybody crappie fishing there lately. Still looks like you could catch em.

He's usually hangin around all weekend.

With the temps coming in, looks like we can put on our blades for a while. We have quite a few ice eaters around our docks, hope they do their job. Sure hope this doesn't last long. Ready for above avg temps. I always remember my grandpa saying, we need a good long cold spell, it'll kill off the ticks and Mosquitos for next summer. Personally, I've never noticed any difference. But that's what I tell my kids and grand kids. Stay warm everybody!

www.letsgoshows.com/ Collinsville Illinois, just across the creek from St. Louis. This weekend Free Parking. $7 admission

Only have gone twice this year, but did ok both times. Once 2nd week of season, limited out on mallards, and today, fought the drizzle and rain. Shot these in an open ditch. For late season birds they were not call shy. But they were not "in yer face" shots. Probably last hunt this season.