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Happy to say I bypassed that experimentation phase. Getting older has its advantages, like accepting that you don't have to come up with your own answer for everything. Dave knows the Ned Rig, therefore I am perfectly happy to use his jighead. In fact, I'm honored to use it.

Mitch gave me a couple at the MSA meeting last week. I realized I had left them in my coat pocket and I decided to have a little fun with some co-workers. I had two of them running out of the office in pure fear because they thought they were real! I can't wait to drop them in some water and use them to catch something other than laughs.

I'm a nanofil believer now too. Thanks to our mutual friend Ham. I've figured out that Alberto knot is a lot easier to tie with four hands when you have eyes as old as mine. P.S. Hope your daughter's team won!

Glad to hear it is feeling better. Need to keep you around to teach old dogs new tricks.

Is that you, duckydoty? If true, then the annual crappie convention is starting pretty early this year. Thanks for the report, SRJ.

Keep in mind that all th NSAIDs increase your relative risk for heart attack. Most irritate your stomach and pile on the damage if you are taking other meds that can damage your stomach. Naproxen is great, but it really increases your risk for bleeding. Relative risk that is. I am currently taking naproxen twice a day. Same dose as recommended by the podiatrist when my achillies tendon got inflammed. I try to have food onboard when I do and I have an end date in mind. I'm not recommending anyone take 800 mg of ibuprofen three times a day. That amount is prescription only. My arm is feeling lots better. Still stretching, still icing at times, NSAIDs, and looking at some exercises.

WT low 40's 10:30-2:30 10' visibility It's been 25 days since my last fishing trip. This one was long overdue ! Fished the Pontiac/Spring creek areas. Game plan was to catch them with a perfect 10 rogue , and I did. Bites came in about 5-10' over 50+ fow. deadsticking the bait. Boat was sitting in 3-5' up near the bank all day while casting out to deeper water. Had 10 bites that I know of, ended up catching 8. 7 decent lmb's,and 1 kentucky , No short fish today. All released.

Just returned from a trip to Xcalak, Mexico. Flew in to Cancun, rented a car and drove about 5 hours south to a little town near the Belize border. Amy and I had a guide lined up for one day ($275 for a full day), then I tried some fishing on my own several other days. We had a good day with the guide although Amy struggled a little in the wind. We managed 8 bones between us with 5 of them being what I would consider nice sized. Quite a bit of time was spent trying to get Amy into a comfortable casting distance in the wind so that number could have been higher with a little more casting practice. Every fish was caught on flies that I tied which was fun for me. Much like when I tie for trout I can't stick to tying the same thing time after time, so I added a lot of flash and rubberlegs to the common patterns such as the crazy Charlie and gotcha. I tied on a gotcha with bright orange rubberlegs before the guide arrived and fully expected him to switch the fly. He didn't and I caught 3 bones on it before it got torn up and we changed flies. The day following our guide trip was very windy so we didn't fish, but enjoyed some great snorkeling via kayak just a quarter mile from the beach. The next evening the wind switched and although cloudy, me and a fellow fisherman I had met drove up the beach to a place that had some good wade fishing. Since it was cloudy, spotting fish was difficult so we hoped to find some fish tailing in the turtle grass. No fish were tailing, but as we slowly made our way up the beach we spotted a nice school of bones nearly running over us. Standing perfectly still with dozens of fish just feet away I attempted a roll cast out in front of the school, no luck but the school did not spook. A few fish swam passed us I laid another cast out in front of them to no avail. The rest of the school then circled around and I laid a cast in front of them. This time as I began to strip one fish began to follow, as I sped up my strip this fish pounced on the fly and I was hooked up to a beautiful bonefish that quickly took me into my backing. Like most bones after that first big run he came right at me and once at my feet he took off again. I finally was able to bring this fish to hand, my biggest fish of the trip and the first bonefish I have caught on my own. We had a great trip, caught some great fish, and are ready to go back again.

A look at some of the various jighead options for the little rig. Apologies for the camera work. My little Kodak is great for fish and action sports videos, not so much up close. There is a phase just about everyone goes through when they first try the little rig. You try to make a different kind of head work, either because you have some, or because you can't see why the suggested heads are better. I certainly did it at first. Tried all sorts of little heads because they looked right. Some worked, some didn't, some were epically bad. There are a few heads I did not have available, and those are not included. Those would be the Zman Finesse ShroomZ, VMC Half Moon, a head from Northland, the Arkie head, and the PJ's head. Of those, only the Zman head has a hook in the right size range. No doubt there are other heads that could work. This was about heads I have used personally, and will work to one degree or another. If it seems pretty nuanced, it is. So is finding the right rod to throw something like a 6XD. Lots of rods could work, some just work better, and maximize the design of the bait. Same concept applies with the heads.

Now that would be worth a selfie! C4F

I would but I'm still waiting on a PDF of your company logo so I can include it on my jersey. Since I bought some Ned heads and like them, I'm now sponsored by you. Right?

You just need to wear an extra sublimated jersey or two...

Last Saturday, right before dark, I was throwing the FB jig in about 40-45' on a creek roll-off. caught one good one and marked several others, but had to get back to the house for some of Mama's pot roast. And anyone who has seen me knows I don't miss many meals. Fishing is fun, but very unreliable. Pot Roast is a slam-dunk sure thing keeper every time! Was planning on hitting that same spot again on Sunday, but between the crappy weather change and several projects around the house, I never got to it. Heard from several others about marking fish, but not getting them to bite on spoon,grub or drop shot. Sometimes draggin that FB jig right through them will get em stirred up?

Heckuva lot better, it will still bug me a bit, especially after 2 straight days of fishing.

I know. I am pretty deflated about it.

he(Russ) has some pretty wild ideas for sure when I fished T's fishing for bass on beds i could see, aka sight fishing, was sometimes a must do in order to get a check many times if I'd set the hook on a bedding fish immediately after the strike , they would rocket into the air and spit the bait because they are hooked in the lips,and lost fish wont get you a trophy at the end of the day once I figured this out when a fish would grab the bait off the bed I would never set the hook right away I would always wait until the fish either moved with the bait in it's mouth, or made a second "chomp" down on the lure, making sure his mouth (tongue) was on the bait. It sounds weird , but it worked well for me. a vast majority of those fish would be hooked IN the tongue or deep in the roof of the mouth and could not spit it out if they jumped

Now I'm just confused.

Brett...what, no jika rig? I know we can agree on one thing. Best thing that ever happened to Lawrence was when Quantrill burned it.

Clearly Don has not been informed that none of those creeks have fish in them.

Daughter had a ballgame tonight, and saw Mike there, he said he's getting some new line..lol We had fished this place earlier that day and caught very few, I think the bite really turned out bout then, talked another fellow that fished another river, that same time, and he said the same thing that the bite got hot. I really like the Nano, didn't think I would, but got used to tying the leader now, it's a non issue now...

Maybe Mike Anderson wasn't morally corrupt like both Haith and Snyder but he is still a total scumbag for the way he departed MU and left them hanging. I am not sorry to say it give me extreme pleasure to see Mike Anderson lose. But one thing I will not envy is watching his style of basketball. He calls it 40 minutes of hell.....more like 40 minutes of hell for the fans to watch. He will never be able to have a true big man at center when his teams are in better condition and do more running than the Razorback cross country team. Back to the subject at hand. As far at brands go it's really whatever you like or think you would have confidence in. My brother and I throw a lot of the same type of baits but he likes things that may be just a little different or a different brand. Jigs - Only 3 brands in my box are NuTech, BassX and Jewel. When I lose all the BassX and Jewel I will probably go exclusively to Nutech. Jig Trailer - small to medium profile I use 90% Netbait Paca Chunks. I like their profile, action, color selection and price. If I want to go big I throw a full size Zoom Brushhog on there. Topwater - Heddon/Excalibur Spit'n Image, Heddon Super Spook, Jackal Mikey Spinnerbait - War Eagle or Booyah. I like 1/2oz. Cranks - Shallow Crank - Strike King KVD Squarebills Mid Cranks - Wiggle Warts, Poe's Cedars Deep - Norman DD22s Wobble Heads - Swing Oil Baits Trailers - Missile Baits D-Bomb, Zoom Brush Hog Grubs - Kalins Senko Style Baits - Yum Dinger Big Worms - Zoom Ol' Monster, Culprit, YUM MightEE Worm Spoons - Mostly blanks I got from LurePartsOnline and completed the components myself and also War Eagle and Cotton Cordell Drop Shot Worms - Robo Worm or Chompers A-Rigs - KC School'em (from Ebay) - loaded with Storm Wild Eye shads that come pre-rigged with hooks Jerk Bait - SPRO McStick about 95% of the time. Have Rogues, LC Pointers, Rapala X Raps and Luck E Strike RC STX but they ride the pine. As far as colors I try to mimic whatever forage I am trying to impersonate with the bait. Jigs, soft plastics, bottom contact baits, etc I want to mimic crawdads so shades of browns and greens with hints of orange or purple at times. If trying to mimc shad or bluegill I will throw those types of color patterns (smokes, salt n pepper, sexy shad, chrome, pearl, etc) in grubs, swimbaits, cranks (except Wiggle Warts as they look like craws shooting along the bottom through the rocks), spoons, topwater, jerkbaits, etc.

I floated Rush to Norfork once. Quite the little float trip. Highly recommended. Other places? I'm doing a four day deal on the Eleven Point in May with two of my grandsons and their dad. Hwy 19 to Myrtle. Its about 32 miles which is my idea of about right for a four day deal. No hurrying and plenty of time to fish, camp and enjoy yourself.

LOL, don't be "duckydotying" us Jim. No head fakes or tall tales. People's hard earned gas money is at stake. Seriously though. We caught some up there this weekend. 25-30' up Sons creek. 40' in Hartley for us. They were biting well once you found them if you could stay on top of them

Sounds like the shad ball bite is starting to get better. Nice job and thanks for the report! I fished up north today (launched at RB). Caught a limit this morning on jigs with most of them coming near deeper brush. Did catch a few chasing shad. The fish were anywhere from 24-34 feet down in 28-48 feet of water. Tried for some walleye with a bottom bouncer early this afternoon but failed miserably. You all go wear them out over the next few weeks! It's back to night shifts for me. Jason

This.......

The White is kind of a bittersweet experience for me. The scenery would be spectacular if it wasn't for the development along the banks in so many places and the bathtub rings from the river jumping up and down all the time from power generation. Stair Bluff on the White just above the mouth of the Buffalo is a magnificent sight, and there are several big bluffs between the Buffalo and the North Fork. The Buffalo will have plenty of water in May, and although that lower end is about as good a "wilderness" camping experience as you can get, I might opt to go a lot farther upstream in May. Carver to Tyler Bend, maybe; 31 miles, or Mount Hershey to Tyler Bend, 24 miles. Big bluffs, big gravel bars, the Narrows and Skull Bluff, and isn't quite as often floated as downstream and upstream sections.

sharpen the hook?

Happy birthday Bill, glad to see there is someone on here older than me!

anybody else get salt in their eyes while stretching out zinkers,lol ?

The reason they need to stock the stream is because the river otters are eating more than their share .

I'm struggling to imagine a scenario where I would camp on the river for two nights in the same spot.

for what it's worth here's a tip Greg Hackney shared with me about fishing jigs , finesse or heavy . "If you're NOT using offset or kirbed hooks you're not catching as many fish as you should be". I make my finesse heads with offset Eagle Claw lil nasty hooks. They are 90 degree hooks and I have NO trouble hooking up. you can make about any hook "offset" reversed or kirbed by bending the hook point 3 degrees to the side, left or right kirbed hooks have better hook up ratio because the point does not get deflected by the hook shank

If it's catch and release only why would they need to stock any more fish?????

Thursday is was 39 degrees

I believed the report, re-scheduled some stuff to clear a day for fishing next week, got my boat ready, and my partner lined up a babysitter because his wife is out of town. The Barker / Pothole area wouldn't have been my choice of places to go right now - but we sure would have if I hadn't checked back on this thread and found the report was an intentional hoax. No harm done - I needed to get my boat and tackle ready and I'm anxious to go fishing, so we'll go somewhere else. I've got a pretty good idea where we can do some wintertime catching but I'm sure not going to say where we're going, now. I seldom post fishing reports here, but when I do I'm real careful to make them dead accurate with the idea of sharing some good thing I've got going to be helpful to others. I've had some good trips at times by following reports others have posted on this Forum, and I sure appreciate those. There are no 'catching' guarantees in fishing, but I'd never, ever intentionally cause people to waste their money and scarce recreational time chasing a bad report. I'm sorry to learn that someone here would do that. Two things come out of this for me: (1) From now on, I'll figure anything duckydoty posts is absolute BS and not even read it. (2) I'll be pretty reluctant to post fishing reports on OAF now when I get something good going. Better to send PM's to those on here I know and trust than to post good information in a place where I can't believe what I read. ------------------------------ Edited to add: duckydoty sent me a PM this morning in which he apologized, told me how he's actually catching some walleyes in the K Dock area, and he promised to never post a fake fishing report here again. Fair enough - I don't hold grudges and I'm here for fun, not to argue with anybody. Thanks, those who put a "like" on my comments - it's good to know I'm not the only one who felt that way. To end this on a more positive note I'll share some info that won't be anything new to you bass guys. I'm not going walleye fishing this week - if there's a fairly calm day I'll go after lunker bass out of State Park on Tablerock. Staying in 50 feet of water I like to work a 3" grub (salt and pepper or light green) on a 3/8 oz. jighead, straight down, REAL slow, just tapping the rocky bottom all around the islands, the edges of the humps connecting those islands to points on the west bank, past the dam in "powerline cove" where they built the Chateau, and on around toward Indian Point. That's it - late January into February, tap along the rocky bottoms in 50 feet, straight down. This is smallmouth country as well as big LM's, and I throw 'em back - my best ever was a 24" SM, once. It's rare for me to fish for bass. I try to get in a couple of night trips in mid-summer and a couple trips doing this grub thing in 50' in Jan/Feb. The trouble with my wintertime deep grub fishing is that it requires a calm day - in a wind, my boat can scoot backwards and sideways a lot faster than it ever goes forward with the motor running. LOL

Buster Loving, guide on several lakes in the Tri-Lakes area, spoke in Springfield on Friday evening, February 7th on mainly walleye fishing on Bull Shoals but touched on crappie, bass, white bass and even striper fishing on that lake. Here's the mp3 player- http://forums.ozarkanglers.com/seminar/buster_seminar_2014.mp3 Bill Babler acted a moderator and added to the discussion. I did my best to edit the audio. The mic was stationary and when Buster moved around the room and other spoke, the audio had to be enhanced. Hope it turns out ok for everyone.