Mitch f

Thanks for the good discussion guys! I am on the 1- 20" fish side, but will travel very far to find the best holes. With a river like the Meramec in the winter, most of the big fish will only be in a couple of spots. It sometimes takes an adjustment for me to break out of the winter fishing mode though. One of my biggest enjoyments is taking someone out in my boat and having them catch a big fish. Makes me just as happy as if I caught it myself!

Nice fish Greasy, tell him congrats!!

I wanted to take a quick survey on which you would rather do... 1. Catch one 20" fish for a days fishing or catch 20 fish up tp 16"? 2. Are you more happy fishing at a slow pace of about 5-6 miles a day for a float or 10-15 miles a day and just use the "run and gun" approach? I realize if you are taking some young child it would be nice to catch the numbers, but on both of these questions I want to assume you are fishing alone.

I agree... I went fishing the other day not remembering my license had expired the day before at the end of Feb ( I bought a new one of course) ...if I would have caught the state record smallie that day, I might have been tempted to get the license just as he has done. I think calling him a poacher is a little harsh. If he is taking more than his limit I would call him a poacher, but who really knows what he does when no one was looking. You have to assume the guy fooled the fish into biting the lure or bait in a legal manner, him not paying $13 should exclude him from the record book, not the fish.

Guilty myself

For the most part, I agree on the conservation part of this statement......but when you say ALL else, I start to question your judgement.

It's just harder to catch any fish, especially bigger fish when it's very clear. We usually pray for rain so the river will be up a foot or two. I always watch the river levels on-line to try to determine the best time to go. Because of my job, I can plan around my fishing schedule so with a couple of good weather forecasts, I'm ready. Sometimes though, like yesterday, two people's schedules just come together and you have to live with it. When we got to the river, I was thinking to myself it was going to be tough when I saw the clarity of the water, probably 8-10 ft. Usually under these conditions I'm making long casts in the shade with smallish lures and working them pretty fast, but when the water temps are 52 like yesterday, you need to get lucky a little and maybe cast right on top of them and grab their attention more like a reaction strike. Typically when the sun is high, the fish tend to be right smack dab in the middle of cover, making it tough to put it on their dinner plate. I think the sun played a role in warming up the water enough that the fish were getting up to shallower water. Thats why they began to get active around noon, which is usual in the winter.I'll Let Al talk about his take on it and yesterdays all important lure selection and presentation.

LOL, All in a days work!

A guy that works for me part time owns Al's Lakeside Marine in Bethalto, IL, one of his mechanics was sent to Mercury school. While he was at school he was working on a Mercury starter and a 21 year old kid turned on the ignition after being warned not to. Here is the result....no photoshop, this was the cell phone pic. 28K to reattach

FYI ,The jerkait that was used was 3.5" long and was made to duplicate the exact color and size of a full grown Neosho.

Actually we did catch 1 with gig marks

one of the fish bled a little but was released healthy

Went fishing with Al today on the Meramec and had a fun day! ultra clear water, and very shallow! didn't matter... Al schooled me on the use of a jerkbait! He caught all the big ones and many more than I did. Oh well, it was fun to watch! last picture is a nice 18 plus, the big one was a pig of a 19.5 incher!!! The first picture is the big one taken on a different angle to show how fat it was. Way cool!

Hey Greasy, I'm getting my daughter started on a left handed baitcaster early, will save her endless years of wasted motion switching hands.

Nothing better than a dog! Thanks for posting Ron, this puts me in a good mood.

You guys got me beat, my first was a 1975 light blue colored Daiwa Millionaire.

Maybe we could call this the second annual OAF float, I'm in for the steaks again one night!

Still want to know how big it was Wheat? and what did you catch it on? no gig marks because you cant get a jet on the river prolly

That my friend is a toad! How long was it? Wrench, please forgive everyone of us who got it wrong.

Because I'm primarily a cold water fisherman, my biggest fish have always been caught in the lowest 1/3 of the water column. Like Al said, if you mostly fish smalller rivers in the summer, or do a lot of night fishing, topwater can be just as good or much better. Topwater tends to catch the most active fish, but when the fish are off slightly, a bottom banger will definately outperform topwater. So if I only had one lure to put the odds in my favor to catch a big fish, I would agree with Ron. The odds are on the rivers I fish (which are mostly bigger jetboatable rivers) the biggest are going to come near the bottom. Summer is for golfing anyway :have-a-nice-day:

Well, I'm screaming bloody murder right now, and if enough of us scream bloody murder louder than their screams the MDC will be put in a tough position where they might be forced to do something about it.

Podum, there is already a Missouri rig, it's a jig and pig with a 3 ft leader tied on the eye of the jig and a small plastic worm on a hook at the end. Kind of like a Carolina rig, except the weight is a jig and pig. Here is a discussion about it: http://www.wmi.org/bassfish/bassboard/fishing_tactics/message.html?message_id=118108

Agreed Mark, A deer can be full grown in 4 -5 years, it takes at least 10 years to grow a trophy smallmouth. Someone posted on here maybe one year ago or so about some Guys from Tennessee who got busted up in Lake Erie poaching bass and they threw the book at them, confiscated boats, huge fines, etc. Maybe that's what needs to happen. A well respected person on this forum told me suggested they could use aircraft at night to locate the giggers and do a sting operation, I think it's a good idea. What about infared game cams with video set up in the trees at certain holes? There's obviously much talk about the fact that it is not practcal to outlaw all gigging. I say we start by making a short list of new gigging restrictions instead of trying to eliminate gigging all together. Maybe no gigging in the Smallmouth management areas?, what about no gigging within 1/2 mile of a major spring? What about every gigger having to go thru a class before they are alllowed to get a license? hey, they forced out of state Deer hunters to do it. What about posting pictures of the violaters in the newspaper? What about heaping so much negative publicity their way that they might just think twice about poaching.

Eric, Don't worry, at least you don't have to deodorize and disinfect your "tool" after use. Not to mention multiple counseling sessions for your dog for having to witness.

I'm ready to pour tin or bismuth whenever I can find some