Keith Hatter

Aesome! We had a blast last year. We still need volunteer boaters anyone else got the day free sign up and meet some of those that fight for our peace of mind.

2011 F3 Volunteer Boaters, We are only 7 weeks away from this years event and the planning committee is working hard making final preparations. Thanks to our tremendous sponsor and donor support, this years event will be bigger and even more exciting than last year. At this point, I have no doubt that we will have over 125 warriors attend this fall. A couple weeks ago some of the planning committee and I where able to spend a few hours with the wounded warriors at Ft Riley, and I can tell you they are excited as well. Ft Riley will be sending a very large contingent to the event this year. Just spending a few hours with those heroes re-energized us and reaffirmed why this event is the right thing to do for these heroes. Even with all the successes we have had with sponsorship this year, there is one area that I could use your help. As of today, we are still approximately 35 volunteer boaters short of being able to have a backseat available for every warrior participant. I have little doubt that with your help we can muster the boats over the next several weeks. I you would please share the attached flier with fellow anglers and have them visit our website http://fishingforfreedom.us Thank you again for your volunteerism and willingness to take the time to make this event special for these heroes. If something comes up and you are unable to attend please let us know as soon as possible, so we can make the appropriate arrangements as to not disappoint one of these warriors. Sincerely, Larry W. Stoafer 35571 187th Street Leavenworth, KS 66048 Cell 913-240-5254 Hm 913-758-1199 Wk 913-684-3452 Email lsto19@yahoo.com http://larrystoafer.com/ http://bassprosites.com/ http://secretweaponlures.com/ http://724outdoors.com/ http://blackwaterfishingline.com/ http://smithvillemarine.com/

I figured I would post this to see if anyone was interested in hosting a warrior / veteran this year. Last year was my first year and we had a blast. I couldn't pass it up again. Thanks Keith Hatter 2011 F3 Volunteer Boaters, We are only 7 weeks away from this years event and the planning committee is working hard making final preparations. Thanks to our tremendous sponsor and donor support, this years event will be bigger and even more exciting than last year. At this point, I have no doubt that we will have over 125 warriors attend this fall. A couple weeks ago some of the planning committee and I where able to spend a few hours with the wounded warriors at Ft Riley, and I can tell you they are excited as well. Ft Riley will be sending a very large contingent to the event this year. Just spending a few hours with those heroes re-energized us and reaffirmed why this event is the right thing to do for these heroes. Even with all the successes we have had with sponsorship this year, there is one area that I could use your help. As of today, we are still approximately 35 volunteer boaters short of being able to have a backseat available for every warrior participant. I have little doubt that with your help we can muster the boats over the next several weeks. I you would please share the attached flier with fellow anglers and have them visit our website http://fishingforfreedom.us Thank you again for your volunteerism and willingness to take the time to make this event special for these heroes. If something comes up and you are unable to attend please let us know as soon as possible, so we can make the appropriate arrangements as to not disappoint one of these warriors. Sincerely, Larry W. Stoafer 35571 187th Street Leavenworth, KS 66048 Cell 913-240-5254 Hm 913-758-1199 Wk 913-684-3452 Email lsto19@yahoo.com http://larrystoafer.com/ http://bassprosites.com/ http://secretweaponlures.com/ http://724outdoors.com/ http://blackwaterfishingline.com/ http://smithvillemarine.com/

I bass fished saturday and caught 2 nice crappie on a crank bait in 2 fow. Surprised me for sure. I say hang around and the bite will definitely pick back up. The weather had everything messed up, it was COLD out there sat. Wed, I was wearing shorts, t-shirt and no shoes and sat, I had all of my winter gear on... Not cool, LOL

Fished from noon till 530 and limited, but, was bass fishing 70 % of that time. I actually caught a very nice 12 inch crappie on a crank bait. When targeting crappie, All I caught were in a range of 2 foot to 15 foot. I used a white / blue grub on a 1/16 oz plain jighead. NOT A SINGLE BITE ON MINNOWS... I talked to a few guys that were getting hammered on minnows, and they said that they were doing good as long as you could keep the catfish from taking the minnow. That is all I know about cats right now. Their boat was sitting in the back of a cove in 4 foot of water and they were casting under a float in maybe 2 fow. You will need to give some people more time than 8 hours to reply. Happy fishing.

Anyone have a recent water temp from the glaze? Thanks!

CRAP!

Again, I must repeat that I never mentioned anything about eggs... You did. "The spawing will begin with the right combination of day length, temperature, and water level in the lake." Surely you know that day length progresses in the spring and diminishes in the fall. So, at what point in the fall does the day length match that of spring? Temperatures also have to meet that magic point twice a year. Water levels the same story. Now I know the "Why don't other species do this then?", is due to surface. Well, most species empty out their egg supply in the spring and don't carry them year round. So, they can't because they don't have that portion of the puzzle to work with. But, I will agree to disagree with you if you want to accept the same for me.

I never said a thing about eggs... The color of the males, their weight and the tail conditions are what I was observing... Female crappie carry eggs year round so that is not what to look for. Female crappie come in and drop a portion of their eggs and ditch... The males prepare and fertilize the beds. All species do not carry eggs year round by the way...

LOL I don't have to argue with you. Believe what you will, but, I know what I saw. I didn't believe it the first time I learned this about crappie either.

Bass fishing is great. Overall fishing right now is great imo. I threw a buzzer in a few coves and along some docks with pretty good outcome. Nothing to bragg about but, a day of going through short bass keeps things interesting. Nothing over 15" but still fun. A 2 bladed buzzer seems to be too fast of a retrieve for them at times though. As always colors depend on the weather and water conditions but red and chart seemed to be the common denominator for me.

Man oh man! That is all I have to say about the crappie this weekend. I fished Fri, Sat, and Sun. When the sun was out, fish brush and rock riprap and when the sun went away beat down the docks. Basically follow the bait fish. That was my pattern and didn't sort through many shorts. From about 8 am to about noon on sunday I started out fishing with 4 poles (tightline with minnows of course) I had to put two of them up because I couldn't keep up but as soon as the sun went away I had to go on the search. The bite I was getting was tap, tap goodbye! LOL They were just hammering them minnows. Jigs did produce some very nice crappie for LOZ. I had the same effect comparing the 1/8 oz to the 1/16 oz jigs. I even went to a 1/32oz jig and had even better results if you could keep the darn warmouth and bluegill off the line. Color didn't matter and they were wanting feathers not plastic... I even caught a 3 lb drum on the 1/32oz jig. That was fun on a 5'6" glass UL with 6lb test line... Interestingly enough, some crappie I ran through just finished their 2nd spawn. I don't know if anyone else has noticed it or not.

Yea, that was a pretty decent size sow he pulled out of there. Definitely have to try that out next trip. LOL

I went out Sunday and had a blast. I ran up the main lake a bit and only fished about 300 yards of docks and had to leave. I had a limit in about 3 hours. Surprisingly I didn't even have to do the normal sort through the shorts to get a limit either. Can't wait to get back out. I had 3 that went over 11".

I was just wondering if anyone has had any luck with the crappie lately. I am planning on coming out to try and catch some dinner one night this weekend or next week. Thanks!