Winter Fishing

[Bigmagic]

One of our local guides here on LOZ is moving or has moved back to Oklahoma(Jeff Williams). Thus my planned winter trip with him is going to be hard to do. I plan on fishing this winter health permitting. Jeff gave me a couple of good spots. I'll fish them later this month and post my results. Larry, Jess, Robert and Dave I'm still alive just kind of limited in what I can do. My shad net thrower is off Deer hunting or I would have already tried. I can't toss that 20 footer right now. ONLY SEVEN TIMES have I even been out this year! Hopefully after January and my heart shock treatment I'll get back to it full time.

[spoonfish]

Ron, I saw your post on LOZ before I noticed this one. Hope to see you back out there full time soon. If you ever need a BaitCatcher just let me know. Best of luck to you this winter fishing.

[crazy]

That sucks that Jeff is moving back to OK. I fished with him this past spring he really knew how to catch them. He also was not afraid to share all the information he had about them blues either. Learned a lot by fishing with him.

[Burwell40]

I actually met Mr. Williams briefly while at Truman last week. We went with guide Steve Brown and had a grand time. I'm definitely going back down there from Iowa.

[smallriverrat]

It is good to know that you are doing better. If I knew how to cast net then I would offer me. All I knew how to catch is bluegill for bait. But I am more then willing to go down there and do what I can to help.

Dave

[Bigmagic]

Well I'm hoping to make my first fall foray tomorrow. I plan to go after some of those gorging bluecats. I'll let ya'll know my results thanks everyone and spoonfish if you every have the time and want to go sometime just shoot me an email with the title of CATFISH to . Tight Lines and bent rods.

Removed visible e-mail to keep spammers from targeting the community with e-mail harvestors : Paul

[Hannibal Mike]

It is nice to know that you are better. Best wishes and I look forward to hearing about your trip. The Missi up here at Hannibal is 48*, so most guys are after walleye now. Weather is iffy up here for Sat. Hannibal Mike

[fishingbuddy4]

So how did everyone do this weekend ,any big ones? I went down yesterday and looked at a 2070 lowe with 115 4stroke rear railing with driftmasters on it ,we are checking if we can afford it ,but i think i might go down and buy it next weekend, If i do ron the first warm day we can head out and try it out if your up to it

[Mr.T]

Is that the one at the dealer just west of Warsaw? Nice boat but sure seems huge...

I thought they told me that boat was built for the owner and he was going to use it as a demo model. Maybe I heard wrong or maybe they changed their mind...

[spoonfish]

If it's the one here T is was demoed by the owner. He's been trying to talk me into buying it but can't afford it right now. Robert it is a nice rig and you should have plenty of room for friends. Hint, Hint, LOL. Also anthony has his guide boat for sale the seaark 2070 w/cabin for about the same price, he's asking 14k, would probably deal some. There both nice, hope to see you in one!

[smallriverrat]

Well I couldn't get out this weekend. I am oncall and my job is not to understanding about that. But anyone catching any? I am trying to find places to fish and trying to get some bait ponds located again. I think I have one or two but I need to wet a line to find out if there worth anything or not.

[fishingbuddy4]

Yes thats the one i was looking at ,but mine will be coming from the factory in feb. and riged up like that one,yea spoon.well have to go drifting when i get it

[Mr.T]

Briefly considered going out this weekend, but there's something about the idea of being on the water when it's 25F and blowing that just sort of sounds like it wouldn't be much fun...

[Mr.T]

The water surface temp today on Truman is 48 degrees.

The weather is supposed to stay below freezing all week, then warm into the 40's on Saturday which would be my next chance to get out on the lake.

But by then, I'd expect the water temp to drop another 5 or 7 degrees or more, and I wonder whether it'd be worth the effort to go fishing?

[Mr.T]

Hey Robert

How much dealing was the boat dealer willing to do? Trying to get an idea of what to expect when I go down to haggle for a boat in the next couple of months.

Haven't talked to them in person, but on the phone, they prices they quote are pretty much MSRP I think, as I get the same prices from several dealers I've called.

Anyone know about how far to expect them to come off of those prices?

[spoonfish]

Marty I'm not sure how much he will come down but the owner told me 13 for his demo boat with a grayline tank included. Don't know if thats a good deal or not but the guys across the street want 20k for there 20 ft. boats. I.ve been looking at workskiff boats and they are the heavest made boats I've seen. Very impressive and would definetly last a guy a life time.
http://www.workskiff.com/boat-specs.php

[Mr.T]

Wow Troy -- sounds like a good price for a loaded 2070. Was that with the 115 2-stroke or just the boat?

They quoted me $10500 for a new 1860 center console with a 50 hp 2-stroke Johnson, so I know they'll come down a bit. That's the same price I got from the new Lowe dealer here in Lee's Summit.

[spoonfish]

That was his demo with a 115 2 stroke. He had another 20 ft. there (new) with a 90 4 stroke new and believe he wants more for it.

[fishingbuddy4]

the 4stroke is 16000 but looks like the deal might fall through,but i will have a new boat before spring

[beeheck]

Hey, Jess, Ron, Larry
I'm still here in the background just reading and laughing. Maybe this summer we can kidnap Ron, and get a few in the boat. April seems like a long way off when your sitting in Iowa with 8" of snow and below zero temps already, but the ice is thick enough to fish so it isn't all bad.

[Bigmagic]

Blues are biting find the bait catch the fish. I should have some pictures next week although I am working on a dvd of winter catfishing. Thanks to everyone and I hope to see you at the spring gathering. I WILL fish the USCATS tourney this spring at least one event. Wolf anytime you wanna go? I am going down to the mouth of the Niagua or up on Truman Sunday. Haven't made up my mind yet.

I haven't been posting much on this site mostly due to health reasons. Back in late Sept. I had an appointment to fish with Bill Heckart and was heading up to his place when I blew out a tire and had to change it. It liked to killed me. I headed home and was sick for two weeks and actually was forced to go on long term disability. It was a setback that I'm still not over. My doctor ripped me a new one over that and now mama is treating me like Wolf. I've had a million excuses and not many fishing trips. But to those of you that know me, if I'm gonna croak it might as well be at the end of a catfish rod. I may fish the USCATS tourney with my son-n-law or recruit someone to fish it with me but I am going to make a major effort at it this year. I may fish one or two other events if I can.

Diodeman(Roger) I am glad to see your posts and would love to share a trip with you one of these times. We have emailed and traded posts before and I look forward to coming across you on the water. The only thing is I primarily fish in the daytime now. It was a breakthru when I finally figured out some things about cattin that allowed me to increase my catch in both size and numbers. I've shared some of these methods with some of you and some finer points...well a mans got to keep some things to himself. Just kidding I want to educate as many as I can and share this great resource we have. Ya'll have read my catch and release policy(over twenty stays in the lake). I feel its a fair standard. We have an abundance of 20lb fish and fewer and fewer of the real giants.

Spoonfish I know I have seen you around maybe at the dam a couple of times and look forward to getting to know everyone this spring.

Larry,Robert,Jesse,Dave well I hope to see ya'll soon. Say I hear them whites are biting at Stockton...hmm cats ...whites....Hybrids....Cats of course! See ya on the water!

[Fastman]

One of our local guides here on LOZ is moving or has moved back to Oklahoma(Jeff Williams). Thus my planned winter trip with him is going to be hard to do. I plan on fishing this winter health permitting. Jeff gave me a couple of good spots. I'll fish them later this month and post my results.
I am sorry to hear that. I was looking forward to posibly booking him this year. I think he fished the area of LOZ I am now at, and I was going to use him for knowledge of the area. I have been hounding my wife about it, and I even bookmarked his site on her computer. :)

[Bigmagic]

I don't know if he has moved yet give him a call and check his plans. He's a fine guide. IF he isn't around Steve Brown is highly thought of. I would take you myself but my health hasn't been reliable enough to book anyone yet. Good luck.

[safetybass]

Beecheck? Is that you Bill?

I hope your ice hasn't thinned too much. It has been awful warm down here for the last few weeks. I've been drooling to go fishing of some kind, but my office projects are keeping me on a pretty short leash. I never made it anywhere to pheasant hunt this year, never bought a deer tag. If I go another year like this none of my hunting clothes are going to fit, and I'll forget how to catch a fish. Well, I guess I forgot that last year.

[Bigmagic]

Jess can you throw a twenty footer? I can have ya throwin it in a short time by watchin a couple of videos I downloaded from the web. Send me an email of your phone number or your email address and if I get down your way(I want to fish the mouth of the Big Niangua) I'l get ya a holler Saturday night. The large net with large 1/2inch mesh is crucial in the winter them shad tend to be down there aways.

[beeheck]

Ron, please send that website address to me also on net throwing, I can't throw a 20' net, nor a 14' net, nor a 8' net, nor a 5' net. But, I am great fun to watch trying to throw a net. I actually caught a couple shad last year and from my whooping you would of thought I had caught the biggest fish in the lake. Let's see, lots of throws, 3 shad caught.... I have to improve.
Ice has gone way down here,we are at 4.5" but cold weather is on the way again so it won't take long to re-ice.
I am looking at that May date and seeing if I can get away and come down. Won't camp out, too old, roughing it to me any more is staying at a Holiday Inn but I would like to meet you guys and do some fishing. Ron, just good to hear that your doing better and thinking about doing some fishing.
Wolfie, you going to do anything this summer? Last summer wasn't a good one for you as far as getting away, your going to have to plan on some fishing trips with Safetybass (and me) and come down and do it.

[beeheck]

I'll look and see if I can find it but I let the subscription run out so I don't know if it is usable any longer.
I know about that hanging around due to others illnesses and their needs coming first. Hard to plan anything and when you do it seems something comes up and shuts you down, bummer. Keep it in mind and if you can get down when we are there it would be fun to go fishing.
Hopefully Ron will get over what's ailing him and get back on track. Sounds like he's doing better and starting to think about fishing again so that shows that he's doing better. When he's up and going I'm going to have to go over there and do some fishing with him, not going to let him off this summer, but that assuming that he feels like it. Summer? Hmmm, let's see that's about 5 months away yet, no hurry.

[Bigmagic]

Bill just google "cast net video" and you should locate the same ones I have. If you have any trouble let me know and I'll burn ya a copy and send it to ya.

[smallriverrat]

Well I have never been spoonbill fishing/snaggin. Can't really call it fishing. But from all I heard you are swore and sunburn at the end. But one of this days I will be willin to give it a try.

Dave

[crazy]

Watching people snag for spoonies is like going to the circus. It reminds me of watching all the clowns getting out of that tiny car. You will see like a 16 foot boat with 5 people in it all doing there own snagging technique. Out of all the boats only a couple really look like they know what there doing. Although I would not mind hooking into a 50# spoonie!

[crazy]

It's a good laugh aint it though wolfman. With all the boat traffic I find it hard to imagin not tangling your lines with other fishermen in other boats.

[redneckdrum]

hope to meet the WOLFMAN on the OSAGE this summer,especially on the SAC.I'm ready to go down there now that I'm brave again.Had a little COPPERHEAD incident there 2 years ago under the HWY 82 bridge @ Osceola so I wasnt too crazy 'bout goin' down there anymore,but I'm alright now

[beeheck]

I'm sure you figured it out by now, beeheck is a new name for Chubwaster, when they turned out the New and improved Catfish website I was lost to the world and my password didn't work any longer. Sad day, one it took a while to get over, but without professional help I might add, sniff, sniff, poor willie.
Anyway, thanks Ron, I'll go and get the video, maybe it will help, can't hurt that's for sure. I would love to go spoonbill snagging and would be willing to run anything, except a mile... don't think i could run 10 feet unless there was a doughnut at the end.
Wolf, my subscription has run out on the map thing and I didn't use it that much so I let it slip, sorry about that. I looked at the members map and moved around in it a bit, put up my marker in Iowa and went to satellite button and it had images that might be helpful.

[Kutter]

LOL...im just a 'fairly normal' guy RD.

Too easy, where to begin, where to begin!

[jtrew]

Beeheck, here are a couple of tips on learning to throw a castnet. First, don't try to start out using one that's too large or too small. A big net is just too hard to learn on, and a small net doesn't even have to be thrown like a regular cast net. Second, practice in a spot where you don't have to worry about hanging up your net. Your lawn will work, if you have all the leaves and twigs removed; or, throw from a launching ramp where the net will always land on the relatively smooth concrete. Once you have the technique down reasonably well, you can move on to actually trying to catch fish. Incidentally, don't worry if you make an occasional bad throw; that's just part of the game.

[beeheck]

Thanks for the pointers jtrew will have to work on it when it warms up a bit. I did try the lawn a couple times last year and it worked pretty good, went to the lake and tried it while standing on a rocking boat, with all kinds of stuff around to snag on, I just have to figure out how to get the shad to school on my lawn and I'll have it made.lol Thanks again!

[Bigmagic]

Jess I was a little under the weather Sunday and didn't get out. I'm not sure about ramps in the Big Niangua area, any thoughts? If the weather's halfway decent I'll look to give ya a call this weekend.

[jeffjbeard]

Has anyone been doing any good latly went saturday caught 5 little ones

[timpndr20]

I have been catching lots of 3 to 10 pounders on the lower lake,with more than a few 15 to 20 poundres.the fish are on bottom in 30 to 50 ft of water on fresh shad.:rolleyes: