Strothman

Awesome, so could you explain heat stabilizer a little bit? Is it to maintain heat in the plastic while still hot? And is it best for me to get a small injector due to the fact I'll only have a few molds at once?

Just my two cents instead of telling you about how economical rod building isnt, I will tell you, I do it as a hobby, not to save money. I buy good components, and good blanks. But the best decision I made, was for first rod, I bought a MHX kit from mudhole. Reasonably priced, has everything with it including the guide spacing chart. I bought the X-Glass crankbait kit and I use the rod regularly

Played around with making a few hand pour molds last night to see If I really want to dive off into the world of pouring my own. Does price affect the quality of plastisol? I've seen ranges from $29 a gallon to $75. I melted down some old plastics for last night, but i think I'm ready to try it for real. Any opinions on good or bad plastisol? And one website sells different plastisol for hand pouring and injecting. Any input helps!

Scratch that comment, I found out for myself tonight,made one single sided hand pour mold, going to try and make a two sided one tomoro. I made one over a ribbet frog and there pretty cool I'd say. Next thing I'll know I'll have 5 injection molds and a corner in the shop designated to soft plastics

our club has insurance and the whole nine yards. Our TNT (Tuesday night tourneys) is just a couple guys pitchin in $10 like jhoffman said, and under 6 boats or less is just a gentlemens agreement, the dnr cannot take that away, but with over 6 boats, it is considered a tournament here I'm iowa. Check your local laws 1st and see how many boats is considered a tournament in your state

This might be a dumb question, but if you get a mold for hand pouring "senkos," they will have have a flat side on them correct?

I increased my hookups with these hooks, but also increased hookups in the veggies

Lake Cooper Anglers Assn. is out of Fort Madison, but we fish a lot out your way like at Sugema and Wapello. Good group of guys to get started with.

Under 18 for our club needs a parental waiver. Under 16 needs a parent "sponsor", in other words a parent or direct relative must be a part of every tourney the person fishes

As a co angler, and now slowly converting into angler. I always give a reasonable offer to the boater based on distance to the lake and if it's a no wake lake or the river. Most guys politely decline the money for a smaller offer or take nothing, then usually I'll pick up the lunch tab on the way home. As a boater, I appreciate offers but usually decline, mostly because most of our tourneys are within 20 miles of my home band idle only lakes. I do appreciate lunch though!

Also, in response to the unorganized tourneys. Here in Iowa, our rule is under six boats and you're okay. We have our Tuesday night tourneys that are usually around six. If it is over that, we break up into our "major" and "minor" anglers, and have two separate tourneys. Moneys are held by two separate hands. We're all prety easy going, so it's not about the money, but this way, younger anglers like myself get a shot at some gas money!

The club I'm a part of is a very tight knit group. There are advantages and disadvantages of our club, but we have 5 fish limit Bump-and-Dump tourneys. But that takes great trust of your anglers, and means your co-anglers can't be afraid to remind their partner for the day that the fish need to be accurately measured (and the anglers). We are a small town group of around 30 guys, with an average 10 boat turnout. It takes lots of trust, but our club has done it for 35 years, with only two incidents, and they resulted in a forfeit of year end points. Like I said, it might not work for everybody, but out local club has gave myself, a few big money BFL contenders, and other area big dogs their start. Good Luck!

Thanks everybody, so what I have got out of this conversation, is if the water is a touch higher, keep a frozen water bottle or something to bring the water temp down a touch. I always have my livewell on the whole time, and circulating constantly, is that the right thing to do?

There were a couple guys at the last tourney I was in that yacking about fish dying in the livewell last time they fished that tourney. First of all I don't think that that needs to be broadcast across the whole group, because I would like to think the guys I fish with are a little more cautious than that. I overheard one of the more experienced guts mention that he had an ice pack in his livewell to help out. So what I ask, does the water get too hot in the well? And what addetives work best to keep fish from loosing weight, and having a good coating of slime? Also, I'm in Southeast Iowa, the lake we fish isn't that warm yet, but it gets very green with algae

Thanks everybody, I returned to that location today at about 10:00, with a bit of shade on it and backed way up. We ended up catching about 5 15in legals. I spent some time on the electronics and found there is a 3 foot ledge just out from where i was at. Dropped a shakey head and pulled a crank bait over it and found some better fish

Good morning everyone, my name is Shawn Strothman. I've been tournament fishing for 4 years now. My main waters are Lake Geode and Pool 19 Mississippi. I've took a lot of advice from this site and figured why not go ahead and join. Lookin forward to getting good to know everybody. Tight Lines, Shawn

Hello everyone, my names Shawn and I'm from the Southeast corner of Iowa. I've been tournament fishing for 4 years now and finally got a boat bought that is actually built for bass fishing. I keep telling myself that I can't find fish. During our Tuesday night tourney last night, I found a spot and I was swamped with 13 inch fish. And all night long too. Are the big ones near? FYI they were super shallow, on laterall laydowns, and all they wanted was a watermelon weightless senko. Thanks everyone.