RandySBreth

I see a cross section of boats at weekend tournaments here on Table Rock. There are some semi-pro types with sponserships that run 20-21 ft boats but most guys run 18 ft fiberglass rigs, some (like me) on a more limited budget run 17' high hp. aluminum rigs. Lots of Trackers, Xpress, Lowe and War Eagle run by weekend guys. It really depends on your needs and the minimum length and hp. required by your tourney rules.

I know it is sometimes easier to get financed new vs used, but ad870 is right, you can get much better deal on a used boat only a couple of years old vs. new. I bought a 2003 17' Lowe 170 W w/ an Evinrude 90 hp for under 9k this past year because the original owner "had to have a new one". Less than 5 hours on the thing, no kidding. If you do buy new, follow the guys good advice and get the biggest outboard on it your budget allows. Better gas mileage at cruising speed, better resale, and you can grow into the boat you have instead of buying another.

Sorry to pile on but calling fishing a couple of times a month an "obsession" is dumb enough that if any of them have touched the distilled goods twice this past month they must be "alcoholics"! 1000 degrees and idiots on "personal watercrafts" and float streams overflowing with more of the drunken louts...... Aaauuurrghhh! This is the WORST time of year for most guys around here. I love winter. Hunting takes up some time, and I won't talk about 10 pound+ brown trout on the bass boards but I catch more large bass of all three species working the float and fly and suspending jerkbaits during winter than everything else throughout the year combined. Plus all the fair weather fools are at home watching football, waiting for spring so they can prove they forgot whatever they may have learned about launching a boat from last year, as I wait, for an eternity, for them to get said boat launched. Besides, to quote John Geirach: "Any jack@#$ can catch fish when it's nice out."

I grew up near Wichita, Ks. Fished ponds, lakes, streams for everything w/ my brothers, but bass were the main thing. Knew how to use spinning, casting and fly gear by my teen years. Traveled to Colorado and the White river tailwaters of Mo/Ark to trout fish often. Moved to the Ozarks in my early twenties mostly to fish and write, and have been here since. Fish smallmouth streams, Table Rock and Beaver (which my inlaws have a house on), and Taney and the White most often. Oh, and the reason I post all the time now is I am stuck home until my torn achilles tendon is healed up. A couple more weeks and I'm back out there.

How many and what kind of "watercraft" does everyone own? Just curious about how many guys run a big boat, small boat, canoe or no boat. I know lots of guys that own one bass boat and that's it. I'll start by saying I had to downsize a little, I'm down to two Bucks Bags float tubes, one Kayak, two tandem canoes and one solo canoe, and my 17' Lowe 170 W w/ 'rude 90 on it.

Skip the c-rig aound shallow cover like that. Try soft jerks, senkos, t-rigged worms or tubes. even a jig. And if you can see the fish, they can see you. They may have a pea size brain, but that doesn't meen you can't spook them. And spooked doesn't always mean swimming away, sometimes it just means shutting down and staring at you, laughing.

I'm sorry but if people put E85 in their outboards gas tank they are dumb enough to put diesel in it, too. ;D

I thought I got a steal on my baby, but that is awesome, hope it treats you good. So where did you take it for a test run, EL Dorado?

I saw Gerald whine about how "these guys are using all this tiny 2" worms and 2lb test..." something about wearing a skirt, etc. etc. If you are there to win, do what you need to win, whether it's a 8" swimbait in the Delta or dropshotting a 3' handpour on Barkley. Jeez. Gerald is funny, I remember him saying "you can put your shoes in the oven but that doesn't make them biscuits." Yeah, and whining and trash talking doesn't change the fact you got stomped, either. ;D I remember the troll thing with Zell, too. Right by the 86 bridge on Table Rock where that happened is hit by everyone, Gerald, even me.

My little smallmouth rivers here in the Ozarks aren't as hair raising as the striper fishing on those river systems can be, but the White under Bull Shoals is similar. And even if it is a 8$ jerkbait, safety of the boat and occupants is priority. Amazing how people sometimes have no respect for water, but having all 8 units come on line is the ultimate crash course in hydrodynamics!

Transition banks in late winter-prespawn for smallies.

I have a plastic gas tank and my outboard motors manual recommends 10% for normal use. Lucky me.

I guess some older hands have many other way of fishing FNF, but I just haven't seen anyone drift like that. But then again, I usually don't see anyone on the lake when I am most likely to use it-winter. On Table Rock and smaller lakes near where I live it works better to cast to where you have either seen fish on your electronics or know they use for winter. If the fish 15 ft. down I try to set the float so the lure is 12 ft or so. If they are 10ft set it for 8. Like crappie fishing, it works best to fish slightly above the fish. And I do cast and let it sit for a few minutes before pulling the float towards me 6-10 ft. and repeating all the way in. This may be in more open water but not too far from cover of somekind-usually trees or large boulders near deep water. Works best when there is some light chop on the water versus dead calm. And Tuxdad--you don't have to use the little "flies" either. I like using the 4" or 5" power minnows on a 1/16 jighead when the fish have been hitting suspending jerks the same size but a front has shut them down.

Not to split hairs but drifting isn't trolling. At least where I have asked. Some summer tournaments on Table Rock are won by dragging tubes behind the boat as the wind pushes you along. When asked about this tournament officials have said: If no motor is used(whether gas or electric) it's not trolling. It may be different where you guys live. Or did you meaning pulling it along w/your engine in low?

I have tried soft plastics(usually a wacky worm or power minnow) under a float pitched up in boat stalls and around bridges for spots during the summer, but it's kind of a last resort tactic. Most of my FNF fishing happens during cold water temps when a suspending jerk isn't working. I like the 8' (tournament legal) and 9'6" BPS Float N Fly microlite rods. Inexpensive and pretty nice. I use 4/10 Fireline or Spiderwire fusion tied to a swivel and short 8-10 lb. test flouro leader. The float is above the swivel on the superline. I live too close to Bass Pro so I wind up with a lot of BPS stuff, so remember that when it seems like everything I use is from there!

I have no idea how it could be considered trolling, since you cast it out and let it sit or reel back between pauses??? The only tourny trouble I could think of is some have rod length limits of 8' and my favorite float rod is 9'6" It does work well if you know where fish are, and play with it a bit. Works best in really clear water, like I have here at Table Rock and Beaver.

Lie. Lie Lie. Repeat as often as necessary to keep dillhole littering drunken bucketsitters from ruining a great little thing you have. Trust me, I live where if people find out about a place you can walk right up to, it will be ruined in short order.

Don't be afraid to use a bigger bait. If what most people use is a 6" worm I would try a 10". And instead of a baby b/hog maybe a 5" tube, big creature bait, or 6" senko.

I see guys like the first ones on Table Rock, but in new 20 ft Tritons. No kidding.

This may sound like sour grapes, but I am sitting here w/ my foot in a cast until mid august after getting my left achilles tendon repaired. I will try to get burned out when I get the o.k. to put weight on it, but I doubt that will happen. ;D Seriously, I lived in the Wichita, KS area and though the fishing wasn't bad, I moved to the Ozarks when I got old enough to make my own life. Big trout, smallies, spots, largemouths, crappie, walleyes, hybrids, whites and stripers in the lakes, and smallmouth float streams everywhere. Sorry, I'll stop now, but if you do get sick of where you are at, move.

3x zero or Ztoo (fluke type) lots of salt for weight and d**n near indestructable. Fat Ika is great, too.