Fishing Doug

Looking good is a must. I never know who I am going to run into before I get to the lake, while I am at the lake, or after a day of fishing. As others have mentioned, I have a few old pictures of fish that I am proud of, however, I don't show them very often due to the fact that I am looking rough in all of them. Usually for me it is kakhi shorts or pants (depending on weather), button down or other nice cotton shirt and Cole Haan or ecco moc's. FD

No way I would want to be a professional fisherman. That would take out a lot of the things I enjoy about fishing-relaxing, taking my time, going when the weather is nice, etc.

Sad, Sad news. Rest in Peace, my friend.

Cool. I will be in KC for 4 days next week. If it fits in the schedule, I will give it a shot. I'm a big fan of BBQ.

I was at the Strikeforce fights last night. Pretty decent night of fights (Being on the 3rd row made it pretty exciting as well). This was the first MMA event I have ever attended. Biggest surprise of the night was Arlovski getting knocked out in 22 seconds..Brett Rogers may be for real. ETA: It was cool to meet a couple of the bigger names in the sport. Tim Sylvia was in the front row right in front of us. Fedor Emelianenko was to the right of us about 20 seats. Fedor rocks-he looks like he is physically out of shape, but when he looks at you, he has this stare that just says "I can beat the crap out of most people on this planet". ;D We got introduced to both of them, unfortunately, we forgot a camera so no pics.

I think the fights are on "VS" tonight @ 8pm Central.

Cards. Heading to the game tonight. Hopefully we can get a little redemption from the butt beating we took last night. Sidenote: Of course I am biased, but Pujols is one of the most exciting players in the game. Not only that, he is a class act. I have had an opportunity to play in his Celebrity Golf Classic two times. His Foundation raises a singnificant amount of money to help those with Down Syndrome and their families. FD

I use an X-tools and like it a lot. Very accurate and can take a beating-I have accidently dropped mine twice but have checked afterwards both times for accuracy. So far, so good.

Coffeen has been horrible. We have been out twice this year with no success and have also heard bad reports from others. We fished that lake in '07 and '08 with some really great fishing days, however, it is as if someone flipped a switch and turned them off. The limits now are you can keep 2 UNDER 15" and 1 over 15". To me, this new limit would imply that they are trying to thin out the dinks, however, we have had a hard time even getting a dink to the boat.... As Cart7t mentioned, that lake gets a TON of pressure in the winter from both tournaments and weekenders like me. I think we are going to check out some other lakes this year until I hear some positive reports on Coffeen.

Schlafly Pale Ale for me.

Nice Hawg!

For me, it depends: 1. If I am fishing lakes around St. Louis with the boat, always fishing with my partner, Jared. Sometimes we have a 3rd person with us. 2. If I am at the family farm and taking some time for myself, I fish my ponds by myself. 3. If my niece wants to go fishing, she joins me on the pond banks. Wouldn't change a thing. FD

I have a lot of success with 'clear' cranks in clear water. Specifically, The Yo Zuri Rattlin Vibe in Ghost.

Welcome aboard. Unfortunately, you are right. Good bass fishing in the immediate area is hard to find. FD

Quinn, I will be interested to hear how you do. I may give it a shot a couple times this year. Getting my 6 yr old niece into fishing this year and may take her out there a couple times for 'gills while I try for a bass or two. Our family farm is not too far from there. We are just north of 70 & 65. FD

Timely topic. I just picked up some match grade ammo in 308 and 338 Lapua. Yeah-that will set ya back. Long range shooting has become veeerrrryy expensive.

Front.

Keep me posted if you find out anything on Blind Pony and I will do the same. And you got it-if I am down and our schedules match up lets get together. FD

Nice fish Rottman! I grew up south of Marshall and we still have the family farm there. I visit fairly often and am in Sedalia every once in a while visiting friends. I heard Blind Pony lake near Sweet Springs is now re-opened. Not sure what the fishing is like now, but before it closed (2004??) we had a few great fishing days up there. Just thought I would throw that out there in case you were looking for another place to fish and was unaware of it. FD

Very true. When this one hit I thought I was fighting a new PB largemouth. Thanks for the link in the other hybrid striper thread. May have to gear up to target these when we head back to this lake.

Power plant lake in Illinois.

Well, we were out yesterday and the largemouth bite was super slow. We had boated a bunch of dinks and that was it. So, I switched to a spinning rig with 4 lb line and a 1/8th ounce rattle trap hoping to maybe get an aggressive crappie or panfish to bite. Couple casts later the fight was on. She weighed 4 lb 6 oz and put up a great fight. I am assuming it is a hybrid striped bass due to the 'disconnected' lateral lines. Can you guys confirm this? FD

Dink, Really?! You disappear and then come back and tell me that my favorite lake is a lot tougher?? That is just mean! Have you been out to Baldwin recently or know anyone who has? Just wondering how it is fishing... FD

Doesn't sound too plain vanilla to me. In fact seems like it might be overwhelming. Here is what I learned from Mike Iaconelli three years ago and hopefully this will help. I limited myself to learning one lure per year. I started with the jig and fished it about 90% of the time in 2007. I got real comfortable and familiar with it. I now have my selection down to a few colors and I am familiar with when to use what head and which trailer to use. I had a lot of success with the jig and I now have a ton of confidence in it. I caught my 8.3#er with a jig and won several tournament with it. In '08 I wanted to get familiar with crankbaits so I used them most of the time. Since I limited myself to CB's, I now know which CBs deflect off of wood best, off of the bottom the best, and which ones go through rip-rap the best. I also know how deep they usually run on various line diameters. I also know the wiggles and wobbles of them as well. I have about 3 or 4 brands I use and 3 or 4 colors I use. I again had a lot of success with them and I have confidence in them. This year I am going to learn swimbaits. I have big plastic Castaics, Sebiles, hollow bellies, Mattlures Bluegill, Storms and some others. They range in size from 3" to 8". I am also going to learn finesse tactics and I am going to learn how to catch the suspended bass as well. I figure there will be times when the swimbait will work, finesse will work and there will be times where I will have to go after the suspenders. Following Ikes plan has really helped me. I had never really had success with the jig until 07. I never had any confidence with CBs till last year. And I don't have a lot of confidence that I will be successful with swimbaits, finesse or catching suspenders. But since I forced myself to fish jigs and CBs, I learned how to have success with them. In 07 when I determined that a jig was non-effective, I switched to something else. The same last year with the CB. There were times last year where I tried to force a CB bite, but couldn't do it. So i went to the jig and caught fish. Hope this gives you some ideas. Needemp, I like your plan and I actually do something similar. My first post only described my fishing I do from St. Louis and on the boat(I should have clarified that). We have a family farm in Mid MO with a few ponds/lakes. When I fish these (head back to the farm about once a month) I focus on one technique. Last year I fished the trick worm on a split shot rig. Now, I have a ton of confidence in that rig. Haven't decided what my 'technique to master' will be this year. So, on the boat, I am limiting myself to 5-6, from the bank, 1 technique. Yeah, I know, sounds a bit crazy but that makes it the most fun for me and that is my main concern when fishing. I am curious to hear how you do with the swimbaits. What finesse techniques are you going to focus on? FD

ESPN just announced TO signed a 1 yr deal with the Bills...didn't take long for someone to take a chance on him...