LarrySTL

Thanks again folks. Yes, I'll be in the area that Al identifies as the "spots are problems" area. As far as ID-ing a spot compared to a smallmouth or a LM, a few decades on Table Rock have me pretty good at that. Chief and TroutRinger, I had been pretty sure the Code said that something I kill counts toward a limit, and I prowled through the code before I posted and found that memory to be correct. Thanks for pointing out to me that "kill and pitch" is a violation. I suppose it makes sense in the context of the areas where some folks used to kill deer just for the head, or just to piss off the law, and leave the carcass lying around for buzzards. Flip side is it seems a shame in this context, because I am not going to go wading with an icechest or tote spots around all day. It is, however, good to know the rules for sure.

Thanks for the tips everybody. I knew you'd have things that would not occur to me, like working both upstream and downstream so that its never too far back to the starting point. I'm continuing to thin down the tackle although I will probably leave some in the trunk of the car as a security blanket. I can't be out of town this weekend, but the week after that looks likely. I'v got a couple places I have done some scouting about. I agree with not killing smallmouth and its been probably 25 years since I kept a bass that was not clearly dying. I do have a question on the KY's and that is are the smallies better off if folks who catch KYs either keep or kill a legal limit of KYs rather than releasing them? I'll post my results, but not the locations. Thanks all

Hi everyone. I’m de-lurking here in St Louis. Gas prices are keeping me out of my bass boat and since I don’t own a canoe, I’m looking at wading some smallmouth streams. I won’t ask for your favorite places, and I don’t mind paying some dues by getting wet. I’ve read back through the Forums for tips, I own the MDC Canoeing Mo book, I have 200 Smallmouth Adventures from the library for a bit longer, and I have some places in mind to try. I assume (risky, I know) that I’d be better off far enough upstream that I am above most of the canoe traffic; is that right ? I am used to having about 8 rods and thousands of dollars worth of lures with me. Is what I need for wading as simple as grabbing a spinning rod with 6 or 8 lb line, or a medium casting rod with 10 or 12 lb, and a few lures, and just start fishing and exploring ? If I have a buzzbait, a jerk bait, a spinnerbait or two, a very few shallow or mid-depth cranks and a couple hands full of plastic ( tubes, craws, and a few jigs) will that cover what I need ? Suggestions are welcome. Thanks for the information so many of you make available here. Larry

I'm sure you'll hear from folks with much better credentials than I, including some real marine mechanics here, but I wouldnt do it. I think a 35 lb TM can pull over 20 amps and 12 gauge wont do that. If you fuse ( or circuit breaker) the 12 gauge at a low enough amperage to make sure you dont fry it, you wont be putting getting enough power to your TM to run it properly, that if you are running a locator and a TM on the same wire, you may lose the reading on your locator every time the TM is on or blow the internal fuse in the locator every time you hit the TM, and that by doing all this plus the electric start outboard on one battery, if your TM runs the battery down too low, you could find that you can't start your outboard. I'd get two batteries, one for the electric start outboard and the locator, and the other just for the TM. I'd put the starting battery somewhere in the back, run 6 gauge from it to the outboard, and then run 16 or 18 g ( memory fades) from the cranking battery to the locator, with a 3 amp fuse close to the battery. 3 amp will run an older locator just fine, the newer mapping ones may pull more amps, I'm not sure. I ran older locators including graphs wired that way for years without problems. Then I'd put the troller battery however far forward I needed for weight distribution, and run just the TM on it with 6 gauge. The extra cost this way would be the second battery and maybe $30 more for heavier wiring. If you were willing to risk the dead battery when you wanted to start the outboard, you could run all three off one battery, with three sets of wiring and see if you could get by without battery #2. If any of the mechanics chime in, please go by their recommendations, not mine.

Here are links, if I can figure out how to post them, of the Mo Highway Patrol "offenses requiring registration" page and Chapter 566 of the Mo Statutes; all of the 566 offenses must register. I don't see anything that would require registration for urinating from a boat although I think there may be some obscure Corps regulation about "discharging waste". Obviously the coffee can might be a good idea in a crowd. http://www.mshp.dps.mo.gov/MSHPWeb/PatrolDivisions/CRID/SOR/factsheet.html#offensesRequiringRegistration http://www.moga.mo.gov/STATUTES/C566.HTM

Depending on what size motor you have, the lower end of the James River is , guesstimating, 5 or 6 miles upstream from Kimberling City. From the mouth of the James at point 9 to that large creek with no fish in it is probably 5 more miles, and the middle part of the James is certainly within reach if you are have the horsepower behind you. The James in terms of water color and patterns will usually look a lot more familiar to you than the KC area. Think L of O, but subtract 98 % of the L of O boatdocks.

Boyd Duckett, one of the BASS Elite guys, got in a dispute with his rod company last year and has started his own rod company. His rods exclusively use the microguides and theres a discussion on that website about what he feels the pluses of those guides are. He says they actually cast farther and easier than traditional larger guides. See Duckettfishing.com

De-lurking, hi everybody ! Larry