Mobasser

I can brag about Missouri's bass fishing. Our state has the White River system in southern Missouri. Many great lakes and rivers for both LM and small mouth bass. Like many bass lakes, theyve had ups and downs over the years, but most still produce well. Some legendary Missouri lakes: Table Rock, Bull Shoals, Pomme De Terre, and Lake Of the Ozarks. Too many rivers run through this area to name here. It's a beautiful part of our state, that offers good fishing. I love it down there.

This is true. Missouri's Ozarks have some excellent fishing.

Over the years, I've made several orders from this company. I usually call and place my order. Each time I've called, they've always been courteous, prompt, and friendly. Some really nice folks running this company. They've been in business now for 50 years, and pride themselves on friendly service and very fast shipping. Excellent service can be hard to come by these days. Just thought I might give a shout out to these folks for a job well done, and a thank you for the good service. The nice folks down in Tennessee.

Even though weve got some more time to fish this season, it's always a little sad when things start to wind down. I'll wake up one of these mornings, and the lakes will be frozen over. And, it always seems like winter takes forever to finish. It's a bummer. Anyone else agree?.

"Never take council of your fears." General Thomas " Stonewall" Jackson.

Chiefs are not looking great. Barely squeezed past the Raiders last night. Mahomes sacked three times. They need to perk up if they're going to keep winning.

Pretty cool youve still got this photo

The year was 1985. I was 28 years old then, and belonged to a bass club, which had just a handful of good anglers. Our club had been invited to compete in a big tournament on Missouri's Truman lake, with other clubs from the four state area. My partner was my age, and we'd both been bass fishing about ten years at that point. For two weeks prior to the event, we got together many evenings and studied maps of the lake. We practiced casting, and spooled fresh line. We organized our tackle, sharpened hooks, and did everything we possibly could to be ready. We arrived the night before, checked into our rooms and did more preparation. We thought we were pretty good, and, stood a good chance of winning this event, or at least placing in the top. Our plans didn't work out. No matter what we tried, it just wasn't working. We caught one fish, which was barely legal size, to bring to the weigh in. It was a humbling, almost embarrassing experience. The man who won that event came with his small club from Iowa, and, had never fished Truman lake before. On the drive home, we kicked ourselves, and made excuses why we didn't do better. Looking back, we were out fished and outclassed by much better anglers, who knew the importance of having a good back up plan. Later, I did better in a few events thanks to an older man, who taught me about tournament fishing. Now I'm 65, and I haven't fished a tournament for a long time. I enjoy leisurely fishing, at my place. Tournament bass fishing is not for everyone. The competition is fierce. How did it go for you in your early tournaments? Did you do well?

I learned how to cast with a practice plug years ago.

If you look back on your time bass fishing, would you say you've caught more fish with a slow, or fast retrieve? For me, it's been a slow retrieve. Like many of us, I've had days when fishing faster was better, but through the years, a slow retrieve has worked the best. What has worked best for you? A slow, or fast retrieve?

That's fine with me

Use a razor knife and thin them out. I cut a little at a time, then check them. I like to trim from the bottom.

I would move to TN, to a cabin close to Dale Hollow, and become a small mouth bass guy.

Charlie Brewer based his Slider approach on watching bait fish and how they move. If not threatened, they move slowly, a little at a time. I've watched small bluegills in the shallows doing this. If I don't see any bait fish, they've gone deep for some reason. Weather, temps, sun, or the presence of bass.

I use a mix of stuff. Zoom, Slider, Yamamoto, Roboworm. Zoom is always available so I use them the most.

In one of the lakes I fish, I target vertical objects. Examples are dock post, standing timber,( with the tree tops rotted and gone), and in shallow water, stumps, along with weed edges. I'm always trying to get a straight, vertical fall next to these things. The water is too clear for me to move close and pitch, so, I'm always casting here, from a good distance to not spook any fish. I often cast several feet past these objects, reel slowly up to them, then kill the retrieve so my bait falls as straight down next to these things as possible. In a past thread on fishing t rigs, Catt mentioned making your cast, then immediately stripping an arms length of line from the spool, to get a straight, vertical fall. I did this for the first time recently, and, there was no doubt that I got a straight vertical fall.I cast, then with light thumb pressure on the spool, let the line feed through the guides until my bait hit bottom. It works well, and holding the line this way is a great strike indicator also. The longer rods along with high speed reels we have now are good for many things. But, there's still a good chance you've moved your bait away from your target with this tackle. In this case, your banking on the fish moving away from the cover to hit your bait, and, this doesn't always happen. You might want to try this if your fishing these vertical things. And of course, thanks Catt. Another good tip, and one more reason I like BR. Always learning something here. You'll need some slack line to make it happen. But as Ive learned here, fishing these t rigs is all about slack/ tension with your line, and learning how to control it.

There should be a warning A-Jay. Made from only the finest river gar available. We have warnings on some larger lakes here in Missouri also. These lakes are flooded farm land. The farm fields were sprayed with chemicals for years before they were flooded. Around here, most of the warnings are for catfish.Bass and crappie not so much.

I have one just like yours Catt except has a gut hook. I'm guessing 50 yrs old? The older Old Timer knives were very good quality, and hold an edge very well. I'm not sure about the new ones.

Shimano Clarus casting. Mine is an older full cork handle model. One of the best rods I've ever bought over the years.

I bought 20 packs in assorted colors for .25 per pack on clearance. I still have some, and gave some away. Here's a fix for these: put a pan of water on the stove, and bring to a boil. Drop the worms in the boiling water for a few seconds. Then lay them out straight on a paper towel. This will soften them up. Add a shot of your favourite scent spray before you fish them to make them slick and shiny.

I don't know if walleye guys, trout guys, or catfish guys are like bass fisherman. We always like to be prepared for whatever they try to throw at us. So, we convince ourselves that we need so many rods and reels. Plus, we just like all this stuff.

I've been fishing some inlines this summer. I don't use a swivel. You won't get very much line twist if you can retrieve them just fast enough to make the blade spin. Most of mine are Mepps, but the slow retrieve speed seems to apply to all these baits.

One lake I fish weekly is 20min from home. Sometimes make a fall trip to the Ozarks, about 4 to 6 hrs away, depending on where we go.

Zoom Finesse Worm. Several colors. 20 per bag, and a good value for around four dollars

Catt, I think it's a young John Wayne.