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Actually something I hadn't thought about but certainly worth giving a shot. I've also been considering getting a cast net and trying my hand at live bait fishing with shiners on this lake.

The guys at a resort I used to go to on LOZ used to fish around the resort on Thurs evening and Friday evening and sore lip as many fish around the place as possible if they knew a big tourney was going on on Sat. If nothing else they sure conditioned those fish to seeing a bunch of lures in a short period of time. As for the pre-fishing thing. If this is merely a fish for fun type tournament with a small cash payout it just isn't fair to the guys who can't get off on Friday. Make the lake Off limits for a couple days before, that should do the trick.

If you're fishing a lot of TM only lakes than a power drive would probably be a better bet since you're not having to manually steer the thing the whole time while making a long distance run. That would certainly offset the slow head turning speed issues. I owned one for around 6 years, the only reason was at the time the power drive MK's were the only TM's that had removable mounts. I needed that feature because we used my Bassboat for family camping in the summer with the kids and clearing the TM off the front deck made more sense. I didn't care for the motor the first time I had to move into the bank to unsnag a hung lure and had to make an emergency turn to keep from running the TM aground. Another thing. I remember seeing a motorguide power drive type motor at the boat show around 4-5 years ago. It had a much faster head turning speed than the power drives but I don't ever remember the motors ever making it to market. I'm guessing that may have been a prototype and perhaps they had too many problems with them. I still thing the concept is a good one if they could get the head turning speed up. I also like the MK Genesis motors that had the electric deploy/stow system. Very pricey TM's but the thought of shutting the big motor down, pushing a button of the dash and the TM being in the water by the time you got to the front deck seemed pretty 8-) to me.

For topwaters I suggest mono. I would not want line sinking into the water. Ulimately it will make it more difficult to impart action into the lure if I'm having to first get the line up out of the water along with trying to manipulate the lure. I'd stay away from braid for the same reasons. As for suspending jerkbaits, the same thing. The last thing I want is a line pulling my jerkbait down with it. I'd rather have a floating line like mono and manually adjust the weight of the jerkbait to counteract the line.

BPS Crankin sticks have been on sale for around $40. These rods have got a really great feel to them for throwing just about everything from Baby 1 minuses all the way to DD-22's. Match it with a Garcia 4600C3 or 5500 C3 at around $50-60.

I'm not too crazy about the Graphite series rods. I wouldn't go any lower in the BPS line than the Bionic Blades. I think the Extreme series rods are on sale for around $70 and the Bionics for either $50 or $60. Match either one of those with a citica and you've got a nice combo.

If you had the Storm hardbaits that were imported I can understand your dismay I had some they SUCKED but if you can some older American made ones there's a world of difference. Chow Yep, you've got to get the pre-Rapala buyout Storm crankbaits, especially the wiggle warts in order to get them that really catch fish. I've heard nothing good about the 1st generation Rapala wiggle warts nor the newer "original" wiggle warts. You can find them on Ebay NIB all the time. They can get pretty pricey.

The problem on this lake is finding the fish. With the aerators running as they've been all season the fish are all over the place. Basically, the aerators concentrate the baitfish into about 20 distinct spots on the lower half of the lake. The bass need only cruise to the aerators if they're hungry. When the fish aren't feeding, I'm finding them suspended throughout the water column. They're not holding on structure but just sitting out in the lake often with 100 yds of an aerator. I've attempted fishing for these fish w/o success. When the aerators don't run it forces the fish to move to more typical structure in order to seek food.

Somehow I doubt that bothers him. ...lol He's only been winning money fishing BASS tournaments since 1968 and has qualified for and fished the Classic 15 times. Now he's (probably) on the tail end of a great career and probably just fishing for fun and comraderie... I doubt he pays those entry fees. Besides he makes his salary with endorsemements and appearances. I'd be willing to bet he only fishes those tourneys to keep his name in there as it makes him worth more to sponsors even though he doesn't need to win anything. Really, so how did I miss YOUR TV SHOW?? Arnold Palmer and Jack Nicklaus aren't very competitive anymore but I think they still know what they are talking about. Right on Flech. Been making a lucrative living in the business since 1968, has his own show, Former Bass Angler of the year, multiple tournament winner and qualifier of 15 classics. Yeah, what the heck does he know anyway? ;D

http://www.bassresource.com/bass_fishing_forums/YaBB.pl?num=1161771875 Here's one for starters.

Another bait to try is a BPS Uncle Bucks buzzer. It's an in-line buzz bait that will stay on top of the junk if you keep the rod tip up and reel fast enough. The blade will turn every time it hits even the slightest bit of open water. Most standard buzzbaits are useless in that kind of junk.

Unless you spend the bulk of your time fishing in open water, away from shore and don't venture into shallow water often to fish I wouldn't buy any power drive Minn Kota. As has been discussed on this board several times by many past and present owners of the power drive TM's, the head turning speed is way too slow. Have to move in shallow to retrieve a snagged lure becomes a chore trying to steer away from shallow water, especially if the wind is blowing. Most of the time you wind up manually turning the head because it just turns to slowly. OTOH, if you spend most of your time fishing off the bank then the motor is just fine.

Around 52 last weekend. Water was pretty muddy from some really heavy downpours. I caught one dink and got some looks on a rat-l-trap but nothing else. I'm fishing next weekend with Mike on Sunday at Kinkaid. I may put the boat up for the season after that, I haven't decided.

By 2048 I'll be 90 years old, if I make it that long. I'll leave that problem for you guys to figure out.

How youthful?

I see the experts are out in full force on this thread. ;D My past expert experience has shown that even a lake loaded with stunted fish usually has one or two really large bass in it.

He doesn't use a magnet, but the local TV channel had a little thing on a guy that scuba dives on the bottom of "party cove" at Lake of the Ozarks. Amazing some of the stuff he finds. Besides tons on beads, he's found quite a bit of expensive jewelry, watches, lawn chairs, you name it. I would definitely drag that magnet around any and all swimming beaches, around public boat docks and boat ramp courtesy docks.

First the bad. 1. As much as I like fishing round reels my hands just can't comfortably hold onto them anymore. I sold off about a half dozen nearly brand new ones I had at the beginning of the year. 2. For the first time in a long time I didn't do a night trip to Lake of the Ozarks. I plan to change that in '07. 3. Have tried swim baits without much success. I'll try again next season. Now what I've learned. 1. chatterbaits. OK lures but I threw them too often when a spinnerbait probably would've been a better choice. I'll keep them in the box but I'm still not too sure what the best conditions are for their use. 2. I'm a late Senko fisherman. Pretty good bait. Not a catch all by any means. 3. Tried some Rapala finesse line. I really like the stuff, too bad I can't seem to find anyone carrying it. 4. Re-discovered Kinkaid lake in Illinois after not fishing it for about 20 years. Now I remember why we called it little Table Rock. Beautiful scenery and some amazing milfoil weed growth. I may even pick up some musky lures since that lake has some in it. 5. Met up with a fellow forum member here and have been fishing pretty regularly with him. It's been quite enjoyable. Fishing wise this has probably been my worst catch rate year ever, especially when talking about larger fish. I've only caught a couple over 5lbs. , that's way below par for me. Some of it I attribute to a big change in equipment, some to trying new lures and hanging with them too long and finally I've been spending too much time at a particular lake that has definitely had an off year.

Can't help you on removing the cover. On the fuel issue, first I'd suggest changing the bulb unless it's brand new. I usually put new ones on my boat every couple years.

Most clubs have some sort of website with contact phone numbers. Give them a call and talk to the guy(s) and get a feel for how the club operates, what their objectives are, etc. Some clubs are hot and heavily involved in affiliation with either FLW or BASS and their sole intent is getting a member or members into the regional finals. Other clubs are more fish for fun with tournaments set by their schedule, not the schedule of the affiliation organization. You have to decide which is most important to you. If you're just starting out I'd suggest a club more geared towards fun fishing.

Carplyle......err, I mean Carlyle lake is in Illinois about 60-70 miles east of St Louis.

1976

Stationary. BTW, boat speedo's are extremely inaccurate devices. I'd look around for a used handheld GPS if you're really interested in finding out your true boat speed.

I don't have a bait that I use most often. I'm pretty comfortable and enjoy fishing a bunch of different styles.

Hazelwood West until my junior and senior year and then I went to North County Tech to learn a trade (Radio & TV repair) The results of this survey were somewhat skewed. Since St. Louis is NOT in a county but it's own entity, they didn't include the crime results from the metro area in the overall results. Had they done that, St. Louis would've been much farther down the list.