cjensen

Well good luck down there, hopefully the weather is better than it was last year. Wont be able to make it down there this year but the opens and Mozingo aren't too far off.

Billy, Are you new to IA Bass Anglers this year? I've been in the club for the past 3 years, its a great small club. Craig

Des Moines here. Finally coming out of hibernation. No lake is too far away as far as I'm concerned. 3 mile, Brushy Creek, Green Valley, would fish the Mississippi everyday if it were a little closer. Recently have become a fan of the Des Moines River too...decent smallies in there.

This fish was caught in Pool 11 of the River, right around Guttenberg Iowa.

I like either Cavitron or Terminator buzzbaits. The Cavitron's are noisier and a little cheaper but the wire on the Terminators definately holds up better.

So far this year I've caught my PB largemouth (6.2 lbs), walleye (7.5 lbs) and now I get to add a smallie to the list. The local bass club I'm in had a two day tournament on the Mississippi River pool 10 last weekend. Caught this bruiser at 6:15 am while fishing a black buzzbait over wing dams. Nothing compares to catching smallmouth on topwater. When she hit the buzzbait she shot straight outta the water and was about 3-4 feet in the air. Ended up weighing 4.70 lbs at weigh in and was 20" long. She was the biggest smallie of the tournament by 2 pounds and only .08 ounces smaller than the heaviest largemouth.

Here's my input. Shallow: Lucky Craft RC 2.5 (throw in timber/stumps/riprap and hang on.) Middle: Rapala DT6,10 Deep: Rapala DT16, Bomber Fat Free Shad

I've got a couple SPRO frogs as well. There just OK in my opinion. They seem to be pretty inconsistent as far as softness goes. I've ended up going with either Bobby's Perfect Frog or the Boze Sumo Frog.

Thanks everyone...

Thanks Craw. I checked into a guided trip 2 or 3 years ago but it was gonna run about 250.00 for the day. I was the only one wanting to fish so I backed out. If there had been 2 or 3 others to split cost I would have been all over it.

LC Man, My wife warned me about that during a road trip there a couple years back. I thought she was joking when she told me to just go a couple mph UNDER the speed limit but she was dead serious. One I had never seen so many cops patrolling a small stretch of highway and second...I've never seen so many people being pulled over on that same stretch of road. There was a huge billboard as you came into town that read something along the lines of Welcome to Summersville...The Worlds Biggest Speed Trap...plus a few other choice words. Some local guy paid for the billboard and put it up. Thought that was kinda funny.

My wife is from Summersville WV which is about 10 minutes from the New River Gorge Bridge. I've read that the smallmouth fishing around there is awesome. Have you ever been in that area of the New River? We've been talking about taking a trip down there maybe sometime this fall. Southern musky look alot different than the muskie way up here in the upper midwest. Thanks.

That peacock torn that x-rap up! As much as I like Rapala's the split rings they use are total crap. I've lost a few decent fish because of split rings being straightened out either on the front of the lure or at the hook. For the most part I replace the split rings on all my Rapala lures with Lucky Craft split rings. I need to get down south and try my hand at some of those peacocks. Nice fish by the way.

Finally, finally, finally made out to my home lake today. Had made it to Truman Res. in MO a few weeks ago but too much working has kept me off the water for way too long. I guess I picked the right day to go. Found this beauty around some submerged trees in about 10-12 ft of water. Was throwing a chartreuse perch Lucky Craft RC 2.5. Didnt have my scale with, she was 19.5" long. I'm comfortable saying she weighed over 6 lbs... As a side note, I managed to accomplish my main goals...beating the 6 lb mark and setting a new personal best. So all in all it was a good day.

Just wondering if anybody has used the Ultimate Smartlink split rings. What are youre thoughts on these? I'm thinking about buying a handful of them but thought I'd see what ya'll thought of them. Thanks.