405z06

That's not a goggle eye. At least not in Missouri. Here is what we call a goggle eye:

I doubt that most of the fish your catching at LOZ are spots. They are definitely there, but unless you are talking about just a recent weekend where it a was a fluke, my guess is that you are still getting the 2 species confused. I have fished LOZ quite a bit over the last 25 years and I would guess that approx 1 in 10 bass is a spot, if that. Some people just have a hard time distinguishing them. Heck, my dad is that way, and he taught me how to fish, so it isn't necessarily a reflection on your skill or tenure as a fisherman.

Definately the Big Piney for beautiful scenery and pig smallmouth. I wish I lived closer so I could float it more often.

I have fished the Piney a couple of times out of Rich's Last Resort near Duke, Mo. And frankly, I don't worry about largemouth too much when there are brown fish in the area to be caught. I'm trying to think back to remember if I caught any largemouth and I don't remember any. Also, here is a list of outfitters on the Piney: Devil's Elbow Route 66 Canoe Rental, LLC 573-336-2730 Route 2 Box 10630, Hwy Z Devil's Elbow, MO 65457 Dixon Boiling Spring Campground, LLC 573-759-7294 18700 Cliff Road Dixon, MO 65459 Duke Richco, LLC 573-435-6555 10980 Western Road Duke, MO 65461 Rich's Last Resort, LLC 1-888-427-2408 573-435-6669 33401 Windsor Lane Duke, MO 65461 Wilderness Ridge Resort 573-435-6767 33850 Windsor Lane Duke, MO 65461 Licking Boiling Springs Resort & Canoe Rental, LLC 573-674-3488 Reservations: 1-800-564-3285 15750 Hwy BB Licking, MO 65542 St. Robert Lay Z Day Canoes & Camping, LLC 573-336-8639 23417 Teak Lane St. Robert, MO 65584

yeah, once you go brown, you never go back. Welcome to the obsessive world of smallmouth.

Are you crazy? all smallmouth are beautiful. And this one is better than average with strong, dark markings.

those fish are ridiculous

From a recent trip to PA with my pops. The photo of the biggest fish of the trip didn't come out too good, but here a few others. The bottom pic is my father with a fish that only went a hair over 3lbs, but was one of the fattest fish I have ever seen.

I could spend the entire day fishing right there within eyesight of PB2 or the Glaize bridge. Great points, brushpiles, docks, good coves, etc...it has it all right there. If I were putting in at PB2 today I would tie on a Wiggle Wart and hit every main lake point in that area up to Robin's and re-evaluate after that. Unless you have some secret spot or some good, current info about the Dam area, I don't know why you would be in a hurry to get to the dam.

lolerskates Im in Fenton, MO btw

2 words: Flying Lure

I'm no expert by any stretch, but I don't think that is the main barrier to 20lbs Florida fish. How many thousands of private lakes are there in Fla, or golf course lakes, or pits, that receive almost no fishing pressure (and literally no shiner fishing). They are everywhere. Even places like stick marsh are strictly catch and release only. My guess is that it is a mixture of climate and food sources.

Ditto. Zona always kinda irritated me on Bassmasters for some reason, but with his own show he shows his true colors and I find him absolutely hilarious now. The alligator gar show had me LOL'ing the whole time. I DVR his show and I actually had to rewind it a couple of times I was laughing so hard. I also like "Day on The Lake" and Hank Parker. It also doesn't hurt that all 3 are broadcast in HD.

Yeah, awesome weather here in the midwest. I am heading out in the morn for some smallmouth action on a crystal clear ozark stream called the Courtois. Actually I will start in the Courtois, flow into the Huzzah, then end up in the Meramec. I cant wait! Cheers! ;D

The last 2 pics definitely look like spots. The first one looks like a smallie or a meanmouth hybrid.

Awesome! God, I Love smallmouth! ;D

I just got back for a week long trip at LOZ. We stayed at Robin's Resort near the Grand Glaize bridge. Here is a summary: Sunday 5/4: Couldn't keep the bass off our Wiggle Warts. Many, many, quality fish. If we had been fishing a tournament, we would have been culling after about 2 hours. Started near PB2 and later fished some points and coves near Tan-Tar-A. One of the best days of fishing I've had in a long time. Monday 5/5: Same exact weather conditions as day before, but didn't get a single keeper all day!!!! Bizarre.... Tuesday 5/6: Started off poor but stumbled upon a bite using a 5" SwimSenko texas-rigged with 1/8 oz bullet. Caught a few nice fish in the Glaize in coves. Later in the week we got some reports that the bite was very strong on secondary points with worms and jigs, but I had no luck. The last few days of our trip all we really caught were short, 13 inch largemouth and kamikaze 10-inch kentuckys. Kind of disappointing, especially considering how strong our first day of fishing was. The crappie fishing was universally reported to be spectacular, though I did not partake. 90% of the boats you would see on the water were crappie fishing.

There is a state park in south Ft Myers called "Lakes Park" off Gladiolous rd. It is beautiful and full of big bass. I never had much luck with artificials, but would get shiners from a place in Bonita Springs at HWY 41 at the Estero river, just north of Corkscrew Rd. Also, a lot of the canals in the Cape are freshwater and have ample supply of largemouth.

A once in a lifetime opportunity has come along and I am curious about general monthly costs re: bass boat insurance. Can someone throw out some numbers on what I might expect to pay on a 2002 Allison XB-2003 with a Merc 225 on it?

My Mother and her husband have a place at the lake and their dock sunk. He had a brand new Charger bass boat (purchased this past spring) plus a pleasure/ski boat go down. They are heading down from St Louis this morning to check out the damage.

This was about 10 years ago on Okeechobee. My Dad and I were shiner fishing on the south end of the lake and he catches a nice 7+lbs bass. We forgot the camera, so we stick the fish in the livewell while planning to release it later after taking some pics when we are done with the spot. Im in the back of the boat and periodically check the livewell to make sure the fish is doing OK. Every time I peek in the livewell the water gets dingier and nastier. At this point I have no idea what is going on. Eventually, when I look one more time, there is something floating in the tank with the bass. The fish had eaten a full-sized adult red wing blackbird and had regurgitated it in the livewell. Gotta repsect the predator that is the LMB

As everyone on this board knows, bass are very hardy! The first LMB I ever caught over 7lbs was blind in one eye. I don't know what caused it, obviously, but she grew to a nice size and lived a healthy life with one eye. Also, I used to do quite a bit of live bait fishing on a smallish subdivision lake where my buddy lived. He enjoyed fishing, but wasn't always quick, so he would gut-hook quite a few fish. I can't tell you how many times that I have caught fish with hooks in their gut. On one occasion when I lived in Florida, I gut-hooked a bass, cut the line at the hook, and caught the same fish later the same day! I'm sure there is a high mortalilty rate for this, but maybe not as high as one would think

If it appears to be an easy meal and will fit in the bass' mouth, it will eat it. That's how they roll.

Ray Scott's private home lake Love the Stick Marsh Some place with really hungry and p**sed-off 5 lbs smallmouth