Learning' All I Can!

[Learnin' Keith]

Hi everybody! I am just learning the ins and outs of fishing and outdoors. I didn't really get the chance growing up so I'm making up for lost time. I'm 27 and I have a 14' flat bottom John and a 40 thrust troller (for now!). Fish mostly around Springfield but stretching out to Stockton and table rock this year I hope. Any suggestions (lures, secret places), and all help is welcome!! Thanks for having such a great website!!!

[Moswimb8slinger]

assuming you have your fishing basics figured out, if you fishing for bass try using a spinnerbait as a "search" bait to locate fish around cover such a riprap (rocks piled along banks to prevent erosion) and any wood cover, and the wood cover doesnt have to be a huge log, i've caught several 4lbs smallies and largemouth bass over 4lbs off of a single twig sticking out of the water, but dont shy away from big cover either, most of the time though you 'll just cast along the edges of the branches and see if anybody wants to come out and play. Try to vary the retrieve speed and depth to see if they want it fast/slow, deep/ or near the surface, but make sure to keep a steady retrieve fast enough that you can feel the blades turning. And for colors rule of thumb is clear water= natural, pearl or shiny colors, dark/ muddy water= bright/neon like, and darker colors. blades and size of spinnerbait... usually stay basic with a 1/4 or 3/8 oz with a long willow blade/ colorado blade combo or just a single willow or colorado blade in either chrome (clear water) or copper(dark/ muddy water) and sometimes painted blades that match the color of the skirt....

topwaters, rattlebaits, crankbaits, plastics, swimbaits, buzzbaits, jigs, jerkbaits... theres alot to it, and were the same age but i've been fishing for roughly 22 yrs. so if you need any tips, feel free to message me

[Learnin' Keith]

Richy, thanks for the tips!! Getting started this weekend out at stockton. Hope to limit out on crappie and catch a couple whopper bass to fry up too. Watch for an update on the stockton lake page Saturday or Sunday!

[eric1978]

Don't expect to get too much more info from people now that you told everyone you plan to fry a whopper bass if you catch one. Just sayin'. Kinda frowned on around here for the most part. People are much more likely to help you out if they know you catch and release. You should consider letting the bass go and just keeping the crappie.

[duckydoty]

Welcome to the forum Keith and thanks for joining us. You picked a good name "Learning Keith" and you picked a great place to do some of that learning. There are quite a few unwritten "rules" now-a-days in the fishing world. If those "rules" are broken, you can still be legally correct but some will judge you as morally wrong in the eyes of conservation. It is your right to do with as you please with what you catch,as long as it is within the law, but be warned, others may judge you harshly for some of those actions that are well within the law. For example, bass, especially small mouth, are sacrid fish to many on this forum. Fishing for them is fantastic, but eating is a no-no, Taboo so to speak. Others, the trophy brown trout and rainbow trout hold this status. If you spend some time reading the past threads on this forum, you can get a feel for some of these subjects, but most on this forum started as kids fishing, keeping and eating what they caught. These people have come to mature through the fishing ages realizing that they enjoy the catching way more than the eating.

Hope you spend plenty of time on the forum, learning as much as possible, sharing your experience and enjoying the comaradari here.

[tho1mas]

Good post - Ducky

[laker67]

Welcome and good luck Keith. I agree 100% with what ducky is telling you. Harvest is an important tool that mdc uses to insure that we "all" have quality fishing.

[Moswimb8slinger]

Thats one of my goals this year is to enter several MO Master Angler Awards (catch and release trophy program, Keith)

[MoSportsmen]

Keith,

Don't feel guilty about keeping some bass especially if you find some lakes with a slot limit. The bass under 12 inches are the ones to eat. You will probably find the ones over 15 inches are not as tasty anyway. The slot limit is set up so we can take some bass with out hurting anything. Some of those lakes need some of the smaller bass to come out for a healthier population.

There are many people in your age group and all the other age groups that don't know how to clean a fist to eat it. This is definately a skill that should be practiced. I do pitty the masses that don't have these skills.

[Moswimb8slinger]

dull fillet knifes don't help either...i've been cleaning fish for 10yrs, and a sharp knife is a must, just dont cut yourself cause the wound is usually deep