bassassinator

Clint Barnes (V.P.)here with the St. Joe bass club in NW Missouri. We are looking to add new members, boaters and non-boaters alike. We are working guys looking to escape to tournament waters once a month. Were not out for blood. We are not a rude obnoxious group of guys. We are a bunch of guys who love to chase green fish. Visit our website! http://www.freewebs.com/sjbassclub See ya on the water!

We ordered our shirts from Cabelas fro $19.95 ea. Got a local guy to do the embroidery with our club logo on the left side of the chest and our names on the right for $10 per shirt. I will give you his number if you like. I would have posted it but dont have it handy.

Man, I miss those "bleeding thumb" days. It seems that I choose the worst times to go fishing. This has been a slow season for me. I have not had any of those "slayed em" days all year. My question is about fishing in the Osage Beach end of the lake in the fall. From what I read here, black and blue jigs, spinners, plastics, etc.. are the go to colors now. Will that still be the case in the fall? Or would brighter colors such as fire tiger or chartruse and green be the go to colors? I was at Pomme this past weekend and it seems that the bright colors were doing a good job close to the banks and I also caught several on a shad colored diver digging into the bottom of 4-6 ft of water.

WOW! Thanks for the info. I will look some of these up. "Sherwood resort. Right at the Grand Glaize bridge. Very cheap but the place is a dive. " How bad is it? None of us are snobby upper class but we like a good bed and a mostly clean room. Cheap is a + as we will be there 4 nights!

Whoa! :-? That is too far for me to go now but it really sounds like you are doing a fine job. I am a Missouri guy and my vacation time is runnin low as I take too many 3 day weekends for prefishing. I do look to broaden my horizens someday soon though. I wish you well!

Where are your tourneys.

I am not sure I came to the right place to post. :-/ I have been put in charge of motel reservations for the Federation tourney in October. They told me to get the reservations at Point Breeze Resort but they must be out of business so I am trying to find another motel close to PB2. I am not familier at all with the area. I cannot even find a map that has"PB2" listed. Can any of you LOZ folks please help me be a hero? :-[

Well, the article I refer to was recent in either B.A.S.S. or in BASS times but they had a camera under water in what looked to be lilly pads in 3-4 ft of water. You could see the boat and the fisherman plain as day. You could even read the lettering on the boat. They were talking about how well fish can see out under certain conditions and that we should avoid this type of approach (either sun in front or behind you). It is confusing to me because I think that if I were sitting in the shade looking out, I would see better into the light than if I were in the light looking into the shade. I think that if I am looking into the shade, I would also be looking into the sun which would hinder my vision. So, my thoughts are that if the sun is at my back, the fish are looking into the sun and could not see me very well. I think I will go with the sun to the back approach this afternoon and see what happens! I like the "I am going to watch waiding birds that stab at minows to see if they know. " statement posted by surfer.

Yes, most days it is all good and on others the pages all load real slow or not at all. I was under the assumtion there were problems with the server. I am on dsl in a University setting.

Thanks Guys for all your input! I have come to count on this forum for tough answers, and have not yet been let down.

I was fishing grass in the shade yesterday and I was looking right at the sun and was not getting bit at all. I told my buddy that I think we are spooking the fish because they see us. He says thay cannot but as I argued I couldn't prove my point. I can see trying not to cast a shadow into the water where casting so your point is well taken. I need help not only to finish an arguement (even if I am wrong)but also to help in my skills. I tried to cast along side the grass at longer distance but no help there either. Has anyone read the article I am referring to? :-[

Can the fish see you better if you are facing the sun or if they are? I seems to me that if the fish is in the shade and I am facing the sun, the fish will see me and the boat better than if they were looking into the sun. There has been a article written on this subject in B.A.S.S. but I cannot find it. There was also an underwater picture to prove the point but I cannot remember exactly which way the evidence points.

I think I have come to the conclusion that this lake is not a good place to take a friend who wants to catch fish, rather take a friend water skiing! That is much more productive. ;D

Thanks guys for all the input. I have learned form you and that is why I come here.

Thank you! I will be there again this afternoon and plan on spending time investigating points on the graph. I will go up by Camp Branch to check those too. What is a secondary point? :-[

I am trying to learn Smithville Lake and am learning where some of the quality fish are but still struggle. My personal best was a fat 18"er yesterday c-rigging a brush hog off a main point ( I think) but what exactly is a "secondary point"? and where is all the grass at on that lake? All help is greatly appreciated! :

"Another way to do it a little more work but well hidden get a electric engraver open up all of your reels sidecovers start putting your SS # or your initials or just your last name even >NO one can say it aint urs if u open it up like a pro and show um your name etc,,, " Good idea but never, never use your SSN for ID.

Congratulations !!!!! My hat is off to you! You are a good student! I have fished for several years and have a personal best of only 5 3/4 lb according to the deliar.

I happen to know a man who used to fish in the Pro Am with one of the pros who has a TV show(I will leave the names out). This was several years ago. He (my friend) told me of a time where they(the pro and his staff) were going to shoot a show in N. Missouri. When they were scheduled for the shoot the weather turned bad and it could not be done, so because of time constraints, my friend was hired to pre fish the lake, keep the fish alive for a day in order that the crew could just come out, put the boat in the water, do a fast shoot using the fish that were already in the livewell and get it produced. They actually would film a fake hook set, cut the camera, hook one of the pre caught fish and film it comming out of the water! That is TV magic!

"Are those spiny fins dangerous?" I forgot to elaborate on this. The spines are not dangerous but it would hurt to get poked by one. Always grab a bass by the lower lip while handling it. When you are holding it in this manner, it kind of puts the fish in "neutral". I dont know why but it will just hang there and let you do what you need to do. If you are dealing with a real small one where you cant even get you thumb in the mouth, wrap you hand around the fish gently toward the head and slowly move it down. The fins will fold back and keep from hurting you while you do what ya gotta do.

"The first one swallowed the hook pretty good, and I didn't have any pliers with me (live and learn--I won't be without them again). I put the still-hooked fish back in the water, ran to my house and got some pliers, ran back, and unhooked the fish as carefully as I possibly could. It was so small, less than 1 lb. I guess, that it was hard to get the pliers in it's mouth, and the hook was also in some soft tissue, but I managed. I got the hook out, there didn't seem to be any bleeding, and I released the fish. About 5 minutes later I saw the fish, floating belly up. " You are going to be good at this game! Remember this....if you hook one too deep in the gut or anywhere there it will risk the life of the fish to remove the hook, it is sometimes(usually) best to just cut your line as close to the hook as you can and leave the hook in the fish. The hook will rust out soon. The fish may live or die but it has a better chance than if you rip the hook out and cause even further damage to his guts. "Incidentally, how long will they live out of water, and what's the best way to release them? Are those spiny fins dangerous? Should I wear them down before I land them, or try to land them as quickly as possible, and then have to deal with unhooking a very lively fish?" A bass will be ok out of water for a couple of minutes but it is not breathing just like if you were under water holding your breath, its kind of distressing and too long will kill you. As far as the fight goes......... playing a fish is the best part of the catch and when I am going to relaease it right away, I feel it is ok to wear him out and get all the fight out of him you can but while fishing a tourney, it is best to get it in quickly because it will spend the rest of the day in the live well and that is pretty distressing on the fish. We want to keep those fish healthy so they will still be strong when we release the after the weigh in. Those are my opinions. Maybe someone else will want to elaborate. 8-)

Uh oh, Sounds to me you have joined the rest of us hopeless addicts. You must either quit now or you can never turn back. Welcome to the sport of Bassin! 8-)

I used to never wear a PFD until I joined a bass club. It is mandatory while the big motor is running and the kill switch must be hooked to it. I got in the habit of throwing it on when I sit down to start the motor. A PFD is like a seat belt. I never wore that until it became law and even then I refused to wear it for a long time but now I feel strange if I dont have it (seat belt or PFD) on. Even while fishing, sometimes we bump a log or something and if not paying attention, a guy could get thrown out pretty easy and hit his head on that log or a rock or even on the boat itself. I got to where I would wear it at all times while fishing alone but chuck it if with a partner figuring a partner could drag me out or get the throwable to me. Now I have 2 Stearnes auto inflatable PFDs (Wal Mart, $75) that I too forget I have on after a few minuts.

If you are patient, you can find a real good buy on a boat. A good buy could be determined in how bad you want it too. If you are not planning on selling it for profit anytime soon, and you really like a boat you see and pay a few hundred over its worth, big deal, its your boat and it is what you wanted. Here is what I did 3 years ago. I out grew my bass buggy and wanted a bigger boat. I looked and looked only to find the boats in my area cost more than I wanted to pay no matter what they were "worth". I went to look at a boat that the fella was asking $3500 for. It had ratty carpeting, a soft spot in the floor, rotten wood under the paddings, bad seats, crap electronics, and an underpowered trolling motor. But......it had a newly rebuilt 115 Mercury that runs like a champ, the transom was not bad at all, the live wells worked, all gauges worked and was overall mechanacally sound. I offered the guy the $2500 I could pay at the time. Used it that summer. Had all the bad wood, carpet, vinyl padding, troll motor, steering (anti feedback) and fishfinders replaced. I did everything myself that I could to save $$ and learned alot about the boat in the process. Now I have a great looking, great running 1988 fish and ski that I can afford to run because it is paid for!

As mentioned before..check the club rules. Our club has a 90hp minimum although I really have no idea why. I think it must be that we fish some of the larger waters and your safety in a smaller boat may be a factor. Just fish and have fun. You could join a club, go as the non boater and show up the guy with the $30,000 boat.