Mitch f

I think Napolean Dynamite would disagree

Many sad parts to this story; one, is that it was only 2 weeks ago, another is that his attitude was about himself only, yet another is that there was no one there to enforce the law, the last is it wasn't the first time this year the he gigged bass. And remember this is only ONE story in ONE river. I feel sorry for the legal giggers who are abiding the law because all it takes is one guy to ruin it for everyone, but as I said, he is only the tip of the iceberg

Fun to Watch! great video and nice Browns!

I'm in total agreement with you on this! I remember my outrage a couple of years ago finding good wintering holes cleaned out of bass. The MDC can't effectively police this problem, no one is going to stay up all night to enforce this. I know a guy who spoke up one time and woke up to a mafia type message on his doorstep (dead filleted smallmouth). The economy doesn't help the situation either I agree, some people are gigging for food for the year. I've been told they kill all the fish they can and put them in pickling jars to eat months later. I understand gigging is fun, but apparently the temptation is too great for some people to break the law. The MDC goes into the defensive mode when someone brings this to their attention. I think Kathy Etling (?) from the Post Dispatch wrote an article a couple of years ago about the illegal gigging problem and kind of stirred things up for the moment. I have personally called them and had them give the "sound bite" answers to illegal gigging. Their statement was as follows; "We have no evidence that illegal gigging is causing a decline in the numbers of bass on our rivers". Either they are in denial or have no idea what to do about the situation, or possibly they haven't done their homework...I think it's a little of all three. So I don't want to hear the comment "You people stop posting pics of trophy bass and tell me there is a gigging problem!" Has nothing to do with the potential of our rivers. Sorry to get off of the original post but....Man, don't even get me started!

The question remains: Which would Paul Dallas rather eat? I think I know

I do fish current quite often, I like going when the water is up a little after a rain. The bigger motors are more expensive and require a second battery though. You might want to take your boat to a reputable river boat dealer like Troutt and Sons in St. James and ask for their advice.

Yes I do have a front deck

Agree with Dutch totally, it's like the pentium computer...once you have a speedy processor the others seem inadequate. For your reference, I have a 1650 Xpress jon boat with .100 guage aluminum thickness. I run a 74LB thrust Min Kota Maxxum trolling motor. When you have to run upstream to get unsnagged, it's much faster= more fishing time BTW, I don't know the set up height of your boat but that shaft seems 10" too long.

23 fish, that's a good day!! Glad you got to go out Did you try any crankbaits or were all the fish on jigs and jerkbaits? I'm glad Mary is feeling better, back pain can be the worst pain anyone can endure. I remember my back went out right before we were carrying our newborn baby out of the hospital.... what great timing. Turned the joyous occasion into a stressful situation. We will try to go fishing again sometime soon!

Smallmouth fishing the Meramec in Fenton is a lesson in futility even in the summer. You will catch more spotted bass and rough fish than smallmouth bass. You can though catch walleye and white bass if you hit it just right. If your going to fish around Fenton, I suggest a crankait to cover a bunch of water quickly. I agree with Ozark Trout Fisher, go way up stream on the Meramec....your fishing will improve dramatically.

Don't know if I can mass produce them but I will give you a few for free

Here is an interesting sound bite regarding the debris ball coming at us...as big as the state of California. This is a scary scenario! What the heck are we going to do with it? http://www.breitbart.tv/japans-tsunami-debris-begins-to-hit-us-coast/

Good call Wrench! I've got an iphone app that is great as well.

Here is a clip my brother and I filmed while fishing in my boat...I hooked this fish and then handed the rod to my brothers son to reel it in. As you can see, he needs a little more instruction on the proper handling of a fish! ha ha. He is a brainiac kid who scored a 30 on his ACT test when he was 13 years old. He hasn't quite developed the enthusiasm for fishing but that's ok. He is a great kid and is fun to do things with him and watch him experience the outdoors. This video doesnt quite rival NFOW 2011 video, I'm not David Lean

Reminds me of the movie "Waiting for Guffman" .......Blaine, Missouri

Like Bismuth and Heavy Shot, it will cost you up the kazoo

If smallmouth then find the best spring water.

Looks good! I had a jon boat set up with a blind all thru the 1990's finally went to the layout boats. Those layout boats are unbelievable for close shots. After the flood of '93, many of the acorn producing trees were gone, the mississippi flyway was a mere shadow of what it once was. Ted Shanks used to be so full of ducks that you could hear a constant roar of ducks, an absolute wall of sound... would have made Phil Spector jealous. Then the central flyway took over (Grand Pass). Kind of got out of it then. Our favorite river tactic was to buzz up the Mississippi and position ourselves on a sand bar island next to whatever private club was hot that day, based on the wind and weather. Wasn't as easy as the club hunts but a LOT cheaper and killed as many birds. Now all they do at the clubs is turn on the robo ducks and watch em head for the corn, no calling necessary. Actually if you and your son are out together in a boat and you can catch smallmouth at the same time, who needs to kill greenheads! if you get a duck that's just icing on the cake!

I'm sure this topic has been posted before, but I have been wondering this for years. I know most scents are good masking agents but do they really attract? Do they really make a fish hold on to the lure longer? Does salt help? I read an article about the fact that most scents are suspended in oil which has a molecule too big to be taken in by the fish. Kind of like trying to jam a tennis ball in the end of a coke bottle. Do any of you have some feedback on which scents you use?

very strange fish behavior indeed! I guess we will never know the truth about the mystery for a long time. Maybe Chief is right, lets wait for the results of the chip tracking. But wait...is there a visable mark on the fish to tell if it has a chip? A river fishing tourney guy might throw it in the live well and travel 20 miles for the weigh in. Just joking

Totally an opinion but I think the high water events we have had this year might just throw any hard and fast rules out the window. I mean how much of a change of habitat does it take for a smallmouth to leave an area that it has been staying in for the last 2 years? A flood can change everything, some stretches are completely different from one year to the next.

Well, apparently thats 2 fish that aint heard the news!

Thanks Jeremy

Another thing to mention is be careful not to over rev the engine because of cavitation. I blew up my engine going thru a shallow riffle with the throttle wide open and the small amount of time I was airborn caused the engine to rev to 7000 rpm according to the comptuer chip. Actually broke the crankshaft in half! As others have mentioned, going the slowest you can and remaining on plane is the best practice, Especially on a river with hair pin turns. Too fast and you simply don't have time to react. One way to accomplish this is get a whale tail for your lower unit. It might cut down your top speed 1 or 2 miles per hour but the benefit you get outweighs the negatives. It gets up on plane quicker which means you don't need a 100 yard head start before running thru a riffle, it also helps you stay on plane at slower speeds making it a safer way to run.

LMAO