WaterDawg

Today, we were rained out in Joplin. So we went out to do some more exploring...couldn't resist. We drove to West Mineral and saw Brutus, the massive shovel machine that dug many of the pits. It is one impressive piece of machinery. Its worth the drive if you haven't seen it. From there, we drove to Area 30 to check out Trout Lake. It's a beautiful lake with good gravel roads to and from. There are even a couple of cabin shelters w/ AC that you can rent. This lake is apparently heavily stocked with brown and rainbow trout. Fished it for about 1-1/2 hrs with nothing more than a few hits. Just wanted to check it out. There are many other lakes that we saw, but didn't have time to explore. We had to be back in Joplin for a ballgame. Anyhow, if I learn how to fish for trout we may go back tomorrow. Donnie

Thanks KB, We went out to the pits W of Pittsburg this evening. Fortunately Travis from John's Sports Center in PBurg left us some maps outside their store to p/u (they closed at 5:30 today). We were able to locate a few areas to fish pretty quickly (about 4-5 miles) out Hwy 126 W of PBurg. If using the MLWA maps, we were at area's #5&6 to the N of 126 and areas #7&8 to the S of 126 on CR 180. The signage got us started. Nothing serious in the way of a catch, but this looks like some serious bass terrain. Hundreds of acres of fishable water. What stood out to me most after spending several hours out there today was the necessity to have some type of small boat to fish these lakes. Although there are quite a few areas to bank fish from, you really have limited access to the water. Many of these banks are straight-down steep, as one might expect, and most banks are fully overgrown with brush. **I would recommend using the buddy system when fishing these lakes. It would be very easy to fall in due to the steep and congested nature of the banks. As dark as the water is, I would estimate some of these pits to be 10-20' deep at the sides. I know some can be as deep as 50-75' deep.** If one has a fishing kayak, canoe or jon boat you could really do a lot of fishing here. I think Friday, we're going to check out the area's in the West Mineral and Scammon Units. Those lakes appears to be a little larger. Thanks again for all the input, and I'll post a re-cap with photos of the areas for anyone who may be interested. All in all, this part of the country is a very interesting place to explore with an amazing ecological history. This was my first trip to Kansas. You folks have a beautiful state and much to be proud of. Now if we could just get on the fish!! Donnie

Thanks ring fry...I posted a follow up on this topic. We're up in Joplin now and looks like we will have significant time between games this week...therefore, WE SHALL FISH!!! Posted a couple of ??'s regarding access and info on the pits. Hope you can help a brother out. Thanks in advance, Donnie

I'm in Joplin, MO this week for my son's baseball tourney. Several of us dad's are avid anglers and are looking for a fishing hookup around Joplin between games. I posted a couple of weeks ago and was told about the reclaimed strip mine pits around Pittsburg, KS, which is about 30 mins away. We'd like to give it a try, but have a few questions: What is the best way to find info on these pits? Are they on private or public land? How do you obtain access? Are their any maps of the area? BTW, none of us have boats with us, so we'll need walkable banks. Also, I'd take any other recommendations around the Joplin area. Thanks in advance... Donnie

Thanks for all the great replies. Will definitely check into the Pro Qualifier. Sounds like some very positive experiences. FWIW, I went by Cabelas today and visited with the reel counter dude. He was very well informed and an avid angler. I spent about an hour with him and got some great advice. Didn't try to sway me to one brand over another. He showed me the ABU Garcia Orra ($99). The Orra appears to be of the Revo mold. Very similar look/feel. I think its new for '10, and feels very well made. He highly recommended it. His second vote was for the Cabela's Prodigy (which appears to be a Daiwa Excelor) and third the Cabelas Tournament ZX. Their house brand stuff is made by Daiwa. I'm a 2hr drive from BPS, so I won't be able to check the Pro Qualifier out til later. Thanks again for all the input. Donnie

Goose, I played around with that reel last weekend @ BPS in San Antonio. Liked it, but didn't know a thing about it and the salesman was a weirdo. I'll take the field-tested opinion of an angler over a salesman any day of the week...and it's not even close. Thanks

Thanks buzz, I read your previous post about the Procasters along with a few reviews and I'm definitely going to check them out.

I've worn out the search feature and google on this topic and decided to start a new thread before my next purchase. Sorry if this topic has been beaten to death. I'm sure it has. I'm recently back into bass fishing after a 15 yr hiatus due to college, marriage, kiddos, building a business etc. My kiddos are now teens and I'm having to start over on my gear (and gear for them) and I'm unfamiliar with many of the current offerings/features/technologies in today's baitcasters. I believe in good rods, so I've invested my first chunk into a selection of mid-priced falcons and all-stars $49-$89 each to get us going. Mainly 6'6's and 7' meds to med/hvys. Figured I'm setting up 4 of us to fish and teaching 3 noobs. Didn't need to go all out on rods for beginners not knowing if they're going to stick with it. I've been down the $39 Wal Mart disposable rod/reel combo route plenty before. This time, I'm just not going to waste my money. I figure if I at least buy them decent gear and they don't enjoy fishing, I've still got good gear to use. I'm starting my younger boys out on spinning gear (6'6" all star classic or falcon w/ Shimano Sedona reels). I've found the Sedona to be a great, durable reel for the money @ $59 FWIW. So I was able to set these two up for around $100 +/-. My older boy (14 yo) is my most promising candidate and a very quick learn. He's already into baitcasters and insisted on the 7' Skeet Reese med/fast tip rod, which I think is actually a great rod for $89. He just thinks the color is cool and he likes the tip action. Works for me. I'm set up with $89 falcon 7' med hvy/fast which I'm quite happy with. Now to my question, I need to step up the baitcasters from the original Shimano Callisto's I bought (I know I shouldn't have, but I figured I'd take a chance $49). Not at all crazy with these reels. I would like to step up to better casters. Can't quite afford Curado's, which would be my choice, so I'd like to stay in the sub $100 if possible. I DO NOT want to buy junk however and I'm very open to different brands including the house brands @ Cabelas and BPS. In this price range ($70-$100), are there some decent options or do I need to step up to the $120 range and look at the Shimano Citica/Daiwa Tierra type stuff. We will be using this gear for weekend use, not tourney type stuff. I'm looking for good quality, dependable reels with reliable braking systems that I'm not going to have to fight. These Callisto's blow. Can you help a brother out?? Thanks in advance. Donnie

IMHO, buying a higher-end rod is akin to buying a $400 bat for a young baseball player. It's not going to make him hit the ball if he's not a hitter. It can, however, make a difference to the kid that knows how to hit by offering a little increased distance per hit and a little more control and feel at the plate. Not to mention a little boost between the ears, which is important in hitting. You could also make the same analogy to a golfer using low-end vs. high end gear. Buying a higher end rod, while it may not make a novice catch more fish, it can make someone who knows how to fish catch more of them due to increased sensitivity and feel. My 2cents.

My son and I will be in Joplin, MO next month for about a week for a Premier League Baseball national tourney. We are avid small-lake anglers from Central, TX and would like to find some decent fishing to take in during our slack time between games. We'll mostly be looking to bank fish, but may bring kayaks if needed. I've found some somewhat guarded info online about a lot of reclaimed strip mine lakes or something in that area?? Any info would be helpful. Thanks in advance, Donnie from TX

HB, Thanks for the info on the Allison. I've never heard of them down here in Tx. Sounds like they're made up in TN. Looks like a great boat. I'll check them out. Donnie

I really appreciate all of the input here guys. I would have to believe I'm not the first one on the board to go through this. I do realize that most days out would most likely not require room for all (3) boys, just wanted to be able to accommodate when needed. When I first started looking into this, I did think that a center console 18-20' shallow draft, open-water bay-type rig might be the ticket. Being down here in South Central Texas, just a few hrs from the Gulf Coast, there's no shortage of used bay boats for sale. I've found several 18-22'er center console's for sale for a reasonable price. These boats have plenty of motor for our use (120-185 hp) and plenty of deck to work from, albeit not much hidden storage like a bass rig. You'll have to forgive my lack of boating knowledge, but is there any reason I couldn't use a saltwater rig like this in freshwater? I know you have to really be careful taking a freshwater boat to saltwater. I've seen a lot of people use these type boats for fishing stripers on Lake Buchanan, which is a large open freshwater body. I like the fact that I wouldn't be limited to small bodies of water. Again, thanks for the input. Donnie

All, Noob here. I have been a lifelong bass angler and I'm finally in a position in life where I can afford to buy a good fishing boat. I have been blessed with (3) boys who are now 14, 12 and 10 and they've gotten the bass fishing bug...bigtime. We're in the market for a new or used fishing boat that we can all enjoy. The issue is that I want to have room for all of us to fish together. As you know, most bass boats are set up for (2) to cast comfortably. What are my options? I'd rather not go the pontoon route, for reasons other than I just hate them and don't think they're really suitable for up-the-creek fishin', but their functionality really has me thinking. Any thoughts here...please tell me there are other options. Thanks in advance, Donnie