Mitch f

Very nice! Those big ones sometimes fell like your hung up!!

You are correct my friend! except he only knocked them out of the way. LOL I could hardly blame him, as anyone knows who has fished with me, my boat is not exactly clean.

Not exactly spring but Feb 1st. one of the rare times I take a video. This is my brother catching the fish and I am filming, BTW I asked Eric to go that day but was playing Mr. Mom

Great Fish!

Don't worry Kirby, our forum moderator is on vacation and the kids are acting up. This is usually a great forum but some people always stir it up. IMO quality rods have really come down in price in the last 10 years, good quality reels are a different story.

Thanks

I always have one 6.5ft Med to Med Hvy baitcasting rig with 12lb line for flipping bigger jigs in brush and logs, jerk baits get 8-10, cranks get 8, small jigs get 8. Thats just me, it works well but might not be good for everyone. I think the partial fluoro hybrid lines might get me a little more depth from cranks too. But for topwater, it doesn't work so well.

All this technology in the world and you still fish an Ugly Stick?

Nice video and nice fish, great job guys. We need more movies like this on this forum!

This is the forth time I've heard about P-Line CX premium, is it a nylon/fluoro hybrid or just a copolymer? I've used the older CXXX P-line and P-Line fluoro clear but never the CX premium. The old CXXX was strong as heck but stretched like no line i've ever seen.

I have also caught smallies on a river with an ultralite back in the day, but IMO it's not the best fit for the application

I've never tried P-Line CX and should try it. Last year I switched over to Yozuri Hybrid after a recommendation and have never looked back. Awesome line too!

yep , the braid is a whole different ballgame

It seems when I talk with people I'm surprised they use ultralight rods and light line for river smallies. And of course they are surprised I use what they consider much too heavy of a line size. For me, I see no reason to use anything lighter than 8lb test, on an exceptional rare occasion maybe 6 pound, but that's the absolute lightest. Ultra light rods and light line make it easier to break off and possibly kill the fish, or work the fish to exhaustion in the summer when the water temps above 80. I once saw a guy with a fly rod at Cardiac hill below Meramec springs who told me his favorite tatic in the summer was to use a very light flyrod and fight the fish for a long time, "It just makes my day because it's more fun to fight the fish for a long time". Didnt want to burst his bubble but should've said something. My biggest smallmouth in Missouri came on 15 lb test in the middle of the winter, but I admit that was overkill becuase I was fishing a larger jig. Actually I can't think of one reason on the river fishing for smallmouth where an ultralight rig is appropriate. Yes, if you're fishing a lake in the winter for suspended fish with a float and fly, light line would be ok, but a river is something completely different.

War Eagles are fantastic spinner baits, Bass Pro had these on sale last week for $2.99!

Not a classic film but good indeed, incredible lyrics

Sounds like a blast!

Not in Polk county but I'm attaching a pic of a close encounter in Ontario with a bear. My brother and I were fishing in Rough Rock Lake near Minaki, ON when we heard a splash. We looked over and saw that a black bear had jumped off a 6 ft ldge into the water to swim to a big island. My brother started the motor to go get a better look. When we got close the bear panicked and started turning around to go back where he came from. The only problem was my brother had got in between the bear and where he was headed. We were able to snap 1 shot before we got the heck out of there. Notice the blurred rod and line in the picture, he was less than 10 ft from us!! He was not a happy bear! Actually it ended well, 30 minutes later I caught a nice Musky when we were jigging for walleye.

Nice fish Steve!

Yep, you're right Gavin, 25" would be close to a state record. I'm usually pretty skeptical of any Smallie over 23" in Missouri, but I think I actually saw one last year. Stood right next to Joe Thomas from the Outdoor Channel as he held a 24" Smallie from the Detroit river as it was being weighed in at 7.09 lbs in 2003, biggest Smallie I've ever seen.

Way to go Joe!!! Makes you glad the Meramec dam project never happened.

Well, this is the second tagged fish caught in the area and I doubt someone would want to give up $75, so I think that is unlikely.

Must be Rick Bruder

I hear ya man, in 60 years everyone who is on this forum will be worm food, sad as it is to think about. So seize the moment! I'm giving everyone reading this permission to take off work and go fishing this week.

That fish was tagged in the Courtois