cjensen

Well good luck down there, hopefully the weather is better than it was last year. Wont be able to make it down there this year but the opens and Mozingo aren't too far off.

Billy, Are you new to IA Bass Anglers this year? I've been in the club for the past 3 years, its a great small club. Craig

Des Moines here. Finally coming out of hibernation. No lake is too far away as far as I'm concerned. 3 mile, Brushy Creek, Green Valley, would fish the Mississippi everyday if it were a little closer. Recently have become a fan of the Des Moines River too...decent smallies in there.

This fish was caught in Pool 11 of the River, right around Guttenberg Iowa.

I like either Cavitron or Terminator buzzbaits. The Cavitron's are noisier and a little cheaper but the wire on the Terminators definately holds up better.

So far this year I've caught my PB largemouth (6.2 lbs), walleye (7.5 lbs) and now I get to add a smallie to the list. The local bass club I'm in had a two day tournament on the Mississippi River pool 10 last weekend. Caught this bruiser at 6:15 am while fishing a black buzzbait over wing dams. Nothing compares to catching smallmouth on topwater. When she hit the buzzbait she shot straight outta the water and was about 3-4 feet in the air. Ended up weighing 4.70 lbs at weigh in and was 20" long. She was the biggest smallie of the tournament by 2 pounds and only .08 ounces smaller than the heaviest largemouth.

Here's my input. Shallow: Lucky Craft RC 2.5 (throw in timber/stumps/riprap and hang on.) Middle: Rapala DT6,10 Deep: Rapala DT16, Bomber Fat Free Shad

I've got a couple SPRO frogs as well. There just OK in my opinion. They seem to be pretty inconsistent as far as softness goes. I've ended up going with either Bobby's Perfect Frog or the Boze Sumo Frog.

Thanks everyone...

Thanks Craw. I checked into a guided trip 2 or 3 years ago but it was gonna run about 250.00 for the day. I was the only one wanting to fish so I backed out. If there had been 2 or 3 others to split cost I would have been all over it.

LC Man, My wife warned me about that during a road trip there a couple years back. I thought she was joking when she told me to just go a couple mph UNDER the speed limit but she was dead serious. One I had never seen so many cops patrolling a small stretch of highway and second...I've never seen so many people being pulled over on that same stretch of road. There was a huge billboard as you came into town that read something along the lines of Welcome to Summersville...The Worlds Biggest Speed Trap...plus a few other choice words. Some local guy paid for the billboard and put it up. Thought that was kinda funny.

My wife is from Summersville WV which is about 10 minutes from the New River Gorge Bridge. I've read that the smallmouth fishing around there is awesome. Have you ever been in that area of the New River? We've been talking about taking a trip down there maybe sometime this fall. Southern musky look alot different than the muskie way up here in the upper midwest. Thanks.

That peacock torn that x-rap up! As much as I like Rapala's the split rings they use are total crap. I've lost a few decent fish because of split rings being straightened out either on the front of the lure or at the hook. For the most part I replace the split rings on all my Rapala lures with Lucky Craft split rings. I need to get down south and try my hand at some of those peacocks. Nice fish by the way.

Finally, finally, finally made out to my home lake today. Had made it to Truman Res. in MO a few weeks ago but too much working has kept me off the water for way too long. I guess I picked the right day to go. Found this beauty around some submerged trees in about 10-12 ft of water. Was throwing a chartreuse perch Lucky Craft RC 2.5. Didnt have my scale with, she was 19.5" long. I'm comfortable saying she weighed over 6 lbs... As a side note, I managed to accomplish my main goals...beating the 6 lb mark and setting a new personal best. So all in all it was a good day.

Just wondering if anybody has used the Ultimate Smartlink split rings. What are youre thoughts on these? I'm thinking about buying a handful of them but thought I'd see what ya'll thought of them. Thanks.

Forced disipline like RW said is the way to go if you want to learn new techniques. When I was learning crankbaits for example, the only thing I would take was a handful of cranks and 1 rod & reel. Wouldnt take anything else to fall back on. It was either fish what I brought with me or get off the water. Like the majority here, I'd rather cast all day and not catch a thing that spend time doing yardwork... In the past if I wanted to try something new and it didnt work out relatively quick, I would tie on a t-rig worm/senko and catch fish. I felt like I wasnt really learning anything new cuz I would always go to my safety net. I've done this almost every year, with a new lure/technique, for the past few years. I'm no expert by any means but I feel that it gives me at least some confidence to try different things when fishing is slow. I'm with ya when it comes to those Senko's though. By the way RW, becasue of youre post's, Im going to run the Fat Ika through it's paces this year. I'll let ya know how it goes. Craig

Throw crankbaits around cover (trees, stumps, rock piles...) I would use a crankbait where I would normally throw a spinnerbait. Like the previous post you want to deflect the crankbait off of the cover. Cast out, start youre retreive, once you feel the crankbait hit the cover pause for a moment and resume youre retreive. If you dont get a bite when you hit the cover, pausing momentarily will help the lure clear whatever cover you just hit. Another tactic I use is say youre fishing water that is 8 ft deep. Tie on a crankbait that runs 10-12 ft. Basically running the crank right into the bottom to stir things up. I'll use a crawdad colored crank when I do this. When I was learning how the fish crankbaits I would take one rod/reel and an assortment of cranks, forcing myself to fish only crankbaits. I had plenty of days where I caught nothing but water. Eventually I figured things out and now I fish them all the time.

I guess if you want to take a look, the website is http://www.jannsnetcraft.com/crankbait-bodies/?page=2

So I was wandering around some other forums and I came across a discussion about Janns Netcraft Springer 78 & 100 jerkbaits. Basically they are a LC Pointer knockoff. Mind you, I'm not looking to replace my beloved LC pointers, nor do I expect to get the same fishability or quality of lure. Whats got me interested is the price, basically they come in around $4-5 after you buy the hooks and split rings. Theyre cheap and I know...you get what you pay for, but has anybody tried these out?

Roadrunners are what my dad and grandpa taught me to fish with. It is hands down my number one confidence lure/bait. When fishing is slow and nothing seems to work I will always tie a roadrunner and a single tail grub (nothing fancy, a 4" grub in either white or black). Most times I can salvage a slow day with this setup.

Thats gotta be one of the best days fishing anyone's ever had!

Im going through this exact same issue jayhawk. That 176 is priced right, but that 50hp is way too skimpy of an engine IMO. If you max it out at 75hp I think it would be a sweet rig, but then the price would be somwhere in the 15-17000 range. I like the fact that the 640 can handle a 90hp motor, but for me 16' 4" is just a little too small. I'm kinda cramped in my 16' Lowe as it is. I bet that rig would be perfect if you fish smaller water. So now I'm looking at Nitro 750. It's on sale right now for 15995. 17'6", 90hp Merc (max of 135), 30 gallon fuel tank and able to store 7' rods. This whole boat buying thing is kind of nerve racking. There are things I like and dislike about all 3 of these boats. I want to make sure I make the right decision.

Another vote for the mighty Zara Spook. But my new favorite is the Cotton Cordell Crazy Shad, landed my PB smallmouth (6.20) on Rainy Lake Ontario last fall using the Crazy Shad.

9 times outta 10 I start off with a Husky Jerk (or an LC pointer) just to get a feel of what the fish are into. I f I think the fish are in a more aggressive mood I'll tie on an X-rap. Both lures, in my opinion, get the job done but theres something about an X-rap that really ticks off a bass. I've never had a bass slap at an x-rap like they will a husky jerk. When a bass goes after an x-rap, theyre simply trying to annihilate that lure.

So has anybody here tried these. The videos on the website are cool, and the lures action is pretty sweet but has anybody tried these things out? If so what's youre opinion. Thanks, Craig