Table Rocks decline.

[mosebass]

The 700 boats OLY tournament And all the other buddy tournaments in that timeframe or good times for sure.

 

if you weren’t around back, then you could not imagine the convoy of hundred boats going south on 160 to table rock

[waterpossum]

2 hours ago, mosebass said:

The 700 boats OLY tournament And all the other buddy tournaments in that timeframe or good times for sure.

 

if you weren’t around back, then you could not imagine the convoy of hundred boats going south on 160 to table rock

The OLY Tournament (Olympia beer) I think was one of the sponsors. It was quite a spectacular event. Guys would start putting in at 4;30 am. The cove at highway 13 bridge was aglow with boat lights. Of course there were plenty of side stories, blown motors, lost and broken tackle, trailer mishaps, flats to name a few. But the one mishap I rember vividly was the guy with a jerk bait embedded in the top of his skull. There was two guys working on him. Someone handed him a bottle of whiskey to quell the pain. They shaved his head. Someone poured mercurechrome on the wound. A large crowd cheered him on. A side note; beer was free and flowing among the mongrel hoard. 

 

 

 

[waterpossum]

I failed to mention about a mile out of take off I shelled my Mercury inline motor. Our day was spent fishing a bank back to the ramp. I guess we tied for last place.

[Mitch f]

The proof is in the pudding…when’s the last time an over 6 pound smallmouth has been caught at TR?

2 fish that size have been caught on the Meramec and the Gasconade in the last 2 years. 
 

obviously reservoirs should have more potential for bigger smallmouth. 6 pound smallmouth used to be pretty common place at TR. 

[willyfish]

1 hour ago, Mitch f said:

6 pound smallmouth used to be pretty common place at TR. 

Really? When? Up north I would agree.

[dtrs5kprs]

59 minutes ago, willyfish said:

Really? When? Up north I would agree.

Actually thought the average quality was up on the brown fish last year, and numbers maybe down a touch. Weather played a part in that (negatively), no doubt.

[Macsimus]

10 hours ago, waterpossum said:

The OLY Tournament (Olympia beer) I think was one of the sponsors. It was quite a spectacular event. Guys would start putting in at 4;30 am. The cove at highway 13 bridge was aglow with boat lights. Of course there were plenty of side stories, blown motors, lost and broken tackle, trailer mishaps, flats to name a few. But the one mishap I rember vividly was the guy with a jerk bait embedded in the top of his skull. There was two guys working on him. Someone handed him a bottle of whiskey to quell the pain. They shaved his head. Someone poured mercurechrome on the wound. A large crowd cheered him on. A side note; beer was free and flowing among the mongrel hoard. 

😄

 

 

 

[Champ188]

I think the bottom line is this ... nature alone cannot keep pace with not only the amount of pressure we are putting on our fish, but the quality and intensity of that pressure.

It is MY OPINION that our great sport is headed toward over-running the resources that provide us with so much enjoyment. The technology we use to locate and capture fish has improved to a Star Wars level but it SEEMS TO ME that conservation efforts have not kept pace. I'll never be convinced that fishing pressure in the 70s and 80s was anywhere near what it is today --- neither in terms of number of anglers or the quality of equipment.

The old Central Pro-Am circuit, the annual Olympia or Champion owners tournaments and the Heartland derbies had far greater numbers than today's tournaments for a single reason ... there were not half a dozen shootouts to pick from on any given weekend. We paid higher entry fees because the choice was to pay them or not fish a tournament that weekend. So many anglers these days are willing to fish a 10-boat derby just to have better odds of saying "I won!" than if they were fishing against top-caliber competition.

I'd be willing to bet that the Corps doesn't turn down half a dozen regatta applications during the year, so the system is not there to police itself by limiting the pressure on the resource ... it's there only to collect permit money. 

I'm not anti-tech by any means. I don't have Livescope but I do have three sonar units --- two are brand new and top-notch --- on my boat that will do everything else for me. I also don't believe that the "catch and kill" folks are our biggest enemy. What I do believe is that we will not see any improvement in catch rates (numbers OR average size) until some steps are taken to reduce the amount of pressure on the fish and to study and/or supplementally stock these little green (and brown) creatures that we all love to chase around.

[Mitch f]

10 hours ago, willyfish said:

Really? When? Up north I would agree.

Back in the 80’s and 90’s

[Mitch f]

9 hours ago, dtrs5kprs said:

Actually thought the average quality was up on the brown fish last year, and numbers maybe down a touch. Weather played a part in that (negatively), no doubt.

Up compared to when? I spoke with Bo over the years before he passed about this very subject. He seemed to believe the big ones could mostly be caught at night, which is why he always fished at night. 
You would think someone would weigh in a 6 pounder in a tournament down there but it ain’t happening anymore…so sad