Valascus

I am going to be pretty realistic for the state of MO as far as the area I fish are concerned. I am going to saty on my 5 lb goal I never even got a whiff of last year. Pretty hard to find the pig from the bank, so I think I am going to be trying to get more boat time...even if that means I am paddling. I'll have a good chance in April at Little Dixie I think. As far as smallmouth go, I would be content just to catch one. Never even hooked one of the little brown scrappers. I have found a section of the Big River in MO that is not far from here that hold Smallmouth...and wouldn't ya know my cousin lives right on that section of river with a boat. I think I will start pretty modest for the smallies. 2 lb smallie in '07 sounds good to me.

My goal was a 5 lber...but I fell short by about 1 1/2 lbs. I was the polar opposite of LBH last year though. I spent a lot less time on the water than I was expecting to last year. I also spent an absolute ton of prime fishing time laid up from late May through half of September.

I have a hard time narrowing it down to any one song...though I will say ANYTIME I hear Soundgarden - "Blackhole Sun" I have to listen...man I love that song. A list of all the artists and bands I like would take a lot of time to construct since I like so many...but pretty much all of them are some form of rock. Classic Rock, Southern Rock, Alternative Rock, Metal, Heavy Rock, Blues Rock, etc. etc. I will say that I just can't get into rap or country...I can tolerate country...but rap makes me wanna jam a sharpened pencil in my eye.

Absolute silence for me. Although sometimes I will talk to myself.

Awesome! That didn't take very long at all for you to catch one "worthy" of posting a pic for! Boy I wish I could find a nice smallie fishery somewhere close by where I am at...

I have never used one, but my general opinion on it is as such. A good analogy I like to use is a car. When I buy a car I like to get one that is closer to the base model. I don't like a lot of extra do-dads and thingy-ma-jigs. Just more stuff to go wrong in my opinion that could end up causing a headache if it goes out. The same thing with a reel. I am not opposed to spendng some coin on a reel as evidenced by my recent Stella purchase. BUT...I think when you start putting little "digital" or "electrical" controls on a reel that you may be asking for trouble. What happens if it goes out? I am sure it will be covered under the warranty of the reel, but like a car...warranties only last so long...and when it runs out and if the problem occurs again you are gonna pay for it. You would probably end up paying a good chunk of change cuz I would imagine their are very few reel mechanics that deal with digital controls. Just my two cents.

I agre with that assessment Natural. I don't know how big that bait is, but it is probably definately too big for the majority of bass in MO. Swimbaiting is just one of those techniques I just can't get into. 1) I don't have the right equipment...the heaviest set up I have is a H action BPS Extreme paired up with Shimano Citica Dl200D. That may handle a MattLures Baby Bass, but barely. 2) I just can't see such large baits like the one in Raul posted being effective in waters I fish normally. I think the biggest baits I would ever see myself throwing are MattLures baits...any larger or more expensive than that and it would be overkill for any reasonable uses in my area.

I don't think fishing would be as *** for me if I had a computer to figure out everything for me. To me that takes away all the fun. That's oe of the reasons I enjoy going fishing...the challenge of YOU vs. fish, not computer vs. fish. I would be one of those old farts doing it the "way it was done in my day". ;D

Yep...that definately beats any fish, animal, or object I have caught...by a looooooooooongshot. Though I would have been more impressed if he would have done it with pole and line. I am sure those folks who dredge those deep waters come up with some pretty weird stuff like that on occassion.

There are generally 6 different types of lures that I will generally use when the water gets cold. 1) Jigs - By far one of the best winter producers. Refer to Ain't Texan' and GMAN's jig threads for techniques. 2) Lipless Cranks - Great winter time search bait. Use it to find the fish. I would recommend Yo-Zuri Hardcore Drums, SPRO Aruka Shad, or Rat-L-Traps. Once you locate the fish use a slower presentation to pick apart the area until you hit the motherload. Colors that work well in the winter time are shades of red, red/brown, orange...crawfish colors essentially. These baits also do well when trying to illicit a reation strike from lethargic fish 3) Hard Jerkbaits - Another great winter bait. I recommend suspending jerkbaits. Lucky Craft Pointers, sizes 78, 100, or 128 will top many peoples list for best jerkbaits. Rapala X-Raps are also excellent, less expensive options. Any size of those are also excellent fish catchers. Fish jerkbaits with slow jerk, jerk, long pause, quick jerk, jerk, jerk, long pause. I get the majority of my strikes on that quick jerk as soon as I move the bait. Another efective wintertime technique if you know there are fish in the spot you are fishing is deadsticking the jerkbait. 4)Tubes - Tubes are another great winter time bait. Again stick with more natural craw lookin' colors. I like to fish them on an inserted jig head and fish them by dragging them along the bottom and over and around structure very very slowly. Very small hops can alos be used here. Use smaller weighted jigheads to slow down decent to the bottom, but use enough weight to keep good contact with the bait. Be sure to refer to bassleo's thread on tubes for more techniques. 5) Jigging Spoons - This is by far one of my least favorite lures and techniques to use. However in the winter time it can be very effective if you know what depth fish are holding at. Simply count down the bait to the depth the fish ar holding at and jig it back to you as slowly as you can taking care to try to keep it as close to the target depthas possible. Spoons can also be used vertically in the same fashion. This bait and any technique used with it is my absolute last resort though. 6) Senkos - Senkos are one of the greatest year round producers and still produce well in the winter time. I normally fish the 5" senkos. If the fish are being finicky and don't wanna bite, I will go down to the 4" size and try to finesse 'em into biting. If I am fishing for hawgs, I will go for the 6" size...you don't catch many fish on this size, but when you do they are normally quality fish. I always fish these weightless, on Gamakatsu 3/0 Wide Gap hooks for the 4", 4/0 for the 5", and 5/0 for the 6". If I want to slow down the fall speed then I will use one size smaller hook on each size senko respectively. Fishing these in the wintertime will make you redefine the meaning of slow. I normally cast them out and let them sink on semi slack line. when they hit bottom I will slighty tighten up the line then deadstick it for as long as I can stand it. Then I will lift it off the bottom and let it sink again and repeat the whole process. If you are fishng an area that isn't horrifiyingly snaggy, then wacky rigged senkos could be a good bet. I use a Gamakatsu 1/0 Finesse hook for this application. Those are all pretty good winter baits and what I would focus on getting on you BPS trip.

In all honesty, I think there are two things that will happen in 2007 as far as lures go. One I hope doesn't happen and the other probably will but I could care less. I agree with Randall on swimbaits. A lot of people are starting to realize that swimbaits are big fish baits. And as he said with a lot of companies taking strides to produce cheaper, productive swimbaits that everyone can afford, they will probably take off in 2007. This is the one I could honestly care less about...seeing as I have very little interest in swimbaits for some odd reason...maybe I should have some interest. The other one is the eventual discovery of the Fat Ika. I hope this one doesn't happen. Heck they are hard enough to find in stores as it is now. If word ever gets out on how good a fish catcher they are then you may as well just start ordering them online...and even online stocks may start drying up if it's popularity skyrockets.

Nice job. it is indeed a great feeling when you ahve figured 'em out and fall upon a producing pattern.

I never get tired of seeing people have success during the winter time months...or any season for that matter. If you keep catching, keep postin' 'em.

If it turns out you can make it to the Missouri Members Tournament, one of my combos I'm bringing is definately my new St. Croix Legend Elite ES70MF that's got a Shimano Stella 2500FB on it. If ya wanna take it for a spin, be my guest!

Hmmmm....if these are suspending fish, they are tough to catch. Slightly subsurface lures could be the ticket here. For crankbaits I would recommend a Manns 1-. I would try a variety of different retrieves with it such as burning the bait, jerking it, starting and stopping, jumping it out of the water slightly (looks like a fleeing baitfish), or a zig zagging style retrieve. Another good way is using a good suspending jerkbait that runs shallow, close to the depth the fish is suspending at, get it within his view and just deadstick the sucker.

I never fish my senkos with a weight...ever. Like RW stated, fishing a senko weightless FORCES you to slow down. This slow, do nothing action is exactly how the bait was designed to be used for. It puts fish in the boat. I have no problem fishing a sow technique if it catches fish.

I finally got my new Shimano Stella 2500FB and St. Croix Legend Elite ES70MF rod to pair it with in the mail. Man...this thing is smooth as silk...and it feels like (to me anyway) that I am gonna be able to feel the fish breath with this rod. Feels like an awesome combo. Now to go try it out this Saturday.

I will echo RW saying that I have never seen anyone in MO fishing GYCB Fat Ikas or Kinami Palm Trees. I know that some of our MO members do fish them, but outside them I know of no one else that does. Good thing too. Generally when I get a tough bite, that's what I'll go to. I can usually get something on a backwards rigged, weightless Fat Ika.

To each their own I guess, but I can't stand wrestling...its nothing more than a soap opera for dudes...and there is just something about watching two (or more) overgrown, sweaty men in tights hugging and touching all over each other that I find...hmmmmm...whats the word...disgusting.

I have both a Bionic Blade and an Extreme rod. They have both served me very well and for the price you just can't beat 'em. They are indeed good rods and they usually offer them as rod and reel combos that are very reasonably priced. I got a H action Extreme that came paired with a new Shimano Citica for $120 on sale last year. Great combo. The Bionic Blade is a MH and came with a Shimano Spirex...though I will say I am not really impressed with the reel (it has worked well enough...but I think it could have cost me a few fish), the rod has done well.

Let's see if I can try to shed some more light on ths subject for you. First of all if you want to start bas fishing right away TBP is right on the money with starting out with spinning gear. It is easy to learn and will help you hit the ground running to start off with. Baitcasting gear is great gear, but does take a lot of practice to learn to use it well. Now...as far as what each is used for, this is how I break it down. You can use any bait for either, but sometimes one will definately outperform the other. An good example is using lighter lures. It takes a decent amount of skill to throw an 1/4oz. bait with a baitcaster, whereas a spinning reel will handle it with greater ease. I usually use my spinning gear for lighter lures...anything from 1/8oz. to about 7/16oz. I'll throw on my spinning gear. As far as my baitcasting gear goes I will throw lures from 3/8oz. to 1 1/2oz. on it. Generally speaking spinning gear is better at throwing lighter baits whereas baitcasting gear handles the heavier artillery better. One thing to remember when choosing the size lure you want to throw, regardless of type of reel you are using, is to pay attention to the maximum amount of weight that s recommended for use on your rod. If your rod says the max weight is 1/2oz then do not try to cast more than 1/2oz on it. Casting a lure that weighs more than the max recommended could overstress the rod causing it to snap towards the end.

Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmm...beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeer.

I have used Carolina Lunker Sauce in the garlic scent. Whooooooooweeeeee...that stuff stinks to high heaven. Your lures will stink of it for quite sometime. However...I PREFER Megastrike. It is easily applied to ANY bait, requires very little to be effective, comes in a convenient tube like toothpaste, and since it is a gel stays on baits longer in the water than any other scent. Now...I will say that I believe the term "fish attractant" is a misnomer for these types of products. None of these products are gonna attract fish to you...you still have to locate the fish and coax them into biting. They are really used for scent masking as The_Natural pointed out. BUT, with Megastrike being a gel, it creates a coating over the lure which the bass MAY hold on to a second or so longer giving you a little wee bit more time to set the hook. Here is a link to their website that has more info. (PS to Mods: if it isn't OK for me to post that website then I apologize and will remove it accordingly.) http://www.megastrike.com/

Glad to hear from you soldier. We're all glad to hear you are still safe and sound. Thanks for your service to our country and know that we are always behind you guys and gals over there. Oh yeah...and thanks for the great jig article. Between you, GMAN, earthworm77, and many other jig afficianados we have some great material here on jig fishin'.

Waaaaaaaah Waaaaaaaah!! :