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When our Christmas lights came on last night the snow gave them a pretty cool effect.

8:40 PM on Day 7. Power on. Stoking fire and light and tv came on. Just got done with a roast and fixins in instant pot. Cresent rolls in the Coleman Oven on the camp stove. And fireplace warming house to 72 degrees. Shut lights out, too warm for furnace to kick on, and Dish Tv has too much snow on dish. So, antenna where we was when ice storm. Beat it down pretty good.

https://bbc.com/future/article/20250109-bigmouth-buffalo-the-mysterious-fish-that-lives-for-a-century-and-doesnt-decline-with-age?utm_source=join1440&utm_medium=email&utm_placement=newsletter

Next door neighbor reports 7" and I didn't even bother to check, nursing a head cold and don't really care- 2" or 10" are about the same. And, with a couple 40F days upcoming, I see no reason to look for a shovel or to start the tractor. I hate to see snow but it's better than drought or flood. It does give me an excuse to stay at home.

I didn’t even get the snow blower out. I didn’t put it there and I am not going to get it off. It’s bound to melt sometime.

The weather finally warmed up a bit, so I was able to get out and do some fishing. SWPA schedule showed 1 unit all day. Fishing was good with lots of rainbows on a size 16 Y2K under an indicator. I also had good luck on bigger fish using a 1/32 oz olive and brown jig. Got this pretty brown on the jig.

The prediction today is for 45 for a high with a breeze out of the south. The snow is going to get spanked.

Billethead and fishinwrench, do not worry I will not judge you or waste a shell on you. Never shoot the messenger because the next time he may have something you should know. Wrench sometimes people just do not understand that not all people think like them. I hate to say this, But sometimes and I mean sometimes, I do agree with you. You can work on my boat anytime I am in your area and need help for sure. I hold nothing against anyone's views. Even If You Were Wrong. 🤣🤪🤪🤩

Scud pattern I've had some luck with.

I have had to stop voicing my personal opinion on Livescope fishing because once you say anything negative about it, a large portion of the fishing community immediately determines that you are an asshole and that you belong in the Randy Blauket category.....and they avoid speaking to you, or bringing their boats in to you for repairs. 🙄 The whole issue has gone political.

Of those I fish with, a couple are seeing the problems and backing off fishing the tournaments somewhat, while a couple others are adamantly unconvinced. Heck, I might be smart, but not everybody thinks I'm a genius😁...they don't listen to me. Besides, I'm getting too old to fight more battles.

Not every wintering hole is straightforward as to where the fish in it are located at any given time. Sure, some of the holes I fish, the whole pool isn't very big and the fish-holding spots are few and small, or else one little stretch of bank is good and everything else is too shallow to hold fish in normal clear winter water. But there are plenty of them that are a half mile long, deep from bank to bank and from head to tail. These are pools that I might spend a half day just trying to find the fish when you have to fish slowly and carefully in the winter, because they won't be everywhere. It is in these pools, seems to me, that FFS would speed the process up considerably; just cruise it looking for fish, make some casts when you find some to see if they are bass and interested. Successful fishing, whether tournament or not, is all about efficiency. The less time you spend making casts to places where there aren't any fish, the more efficient you are at catching fish. Are these winter river tournaments impacting the populations of bigger fish? Who knows? But seems to me that it's a bit of an arms race. As anglers get more efficient with better equipment and knowledge, they catch a greater PERCENTAGE of the bigger fish. So it could very well be that there are just as many fish being caught now as there were 20 years ago, but those numbers are a greater percentage of a smaller total number of big fish. And as efficiency continues to increase, at some point the numbers of big ones caught will start declining because the available pool of big ones from which to catch them gets too small.

Lake Fork has a slot limit, the Elites were on it last year, so the argument that the big boys won't come if there is a slot limit is not a good one. What kind of surprised me is that director of the Bama trail, said that they had a 20-25% mortality rate. That's still pretty darned high.

It's pretty, but I will be happy to see it gone.

I don’t know but I’ve called in a couple people the past year or so. There’s a friend of a friend who brags about how many crappie he poaches. I will call him if I’m ever sure he is in possession.

Is that because fish and game departments allow it or because friends and neighbors encourage it? https://mdc.mo.gov/about-us/about-regulations/operation-game-thief Is stealing fish any better than armed robbery or burglary or other theft? a thief is a thief by any other name?

can't be more than 60 each, 'cause more than that someone would have turned them in as poachers, right? “Those caught and released immediately had 1.3% mortality, bass caught, held and culled had 14.9% mortality, and fish brought to weigh-in had 39.1% mortality. The researcher in charge stated that bass mortality due to tournaments can be much higher than many fishermen believe.” https://usangler.com/bass-mortality-post-tournament/

That’s my big complaint. Haul/culling. 👎

I watched a fishing show several years ago where they were fishing for them during their spawn. They mentioned how old they can get which surprised me. It would be a shame to kill one.

BilletHead and @fishinwrench in the same sentence? Wow looks like I'm running in a tough crowd. Then to think a shell is involved gives me the creeps 😬.

Yep, hell I learned how political Mountain Lions were a couple weeks ago.....And I learned it right here on OAF. 😅 Those bastards should run for state office !

Good looking scum bug.

That would be boring as hell, sitting there all day.

Looks like about 4 inches here. Tomorrow I get to have fun on the tractor blading it off our quarter mile super steep lane.

Alabama news alert!

The road through the park is closed. Ranger Rick is posted at reeds cabins. The other three entrances are barricaded. They have finished removing sand and debris from the campground and are getting the electric up and running. The goal is still to be open on 03/01/2025. The fishing below the park has been very good.

I don't see it making much of a difference. There ain't a wintering hole on those rivers that most of the avid winter bass anglers don't already know about. Those guys don't even have FFS on their river rigs. I'm sure you could use it to see a fish eat your lure, but it's not making a difference in who is winning a river tournament. Ya'll act like this is a new phenomenon, but a lot of the guys I know have been fishing these river tourneys for 30+ years now. If they were going to destroy the bass fishing, it would have happened a long time ago. A lot of the guys that fished the rivers when I started aren't even doing it anymore. I'd bet the tournament pressure is lower now that it was when I first started fishing them in 2012. That's not a bad thing either because it was a bit ridiculous at one point when there were a good 4-5 clubs running at the same time. There's really only one that draws good numbers and a few smaller ones now. As for crappie, side imaging helped increase my crappie catching ability FAR more than FFS ever has. I went from rarely getting limits to rarely not limiting when I got side imaging. Side imaging has been on for over two decades and yet there are still plenty of crappie to be caught. If that didn't wipe them out then I don't see FFS doing that job any better. The only thing FFS has really done in regards to crappie is allow anglers to target the larger fish. That matters in a tournament, but your average weekend Joe isn't going to pass on a bunch of 10 inch fish to try and catch a 14 incher. He's just looking for some fish to eat. I'm not sure how Truman , TRL, Pomme and other reservoirs are fishing these days since I mainly fish LoZ, but the average size for crappie is the best that I can ever recall on LoZ in my 15-20 years of chasing crappie on it. I do have FFS, but I am not using it to single out larger fish when I'm out fishing for food. If it's a tournament then I'd be out in the middle of a cove single poling for the bigger fish. Dock shooting and fishing brush is going to put a limit of 10-11" fish in my boat quicker than single poling would though so I do that the majority of the time. Of course this is all just my opinion based on what I've seen first hand as somebody who fishes river tournaments and owns a Garmin Livescope. I don't do the winter tournaments since those are typically won by whoever can get to a certain spot first and my boat is way too slow for that stuff. Plus I'd rather go fish for something else in the winter like crappie or trout than a bass. I'll save them stinkin bass for the warmer months where I can get out and swim if they are being stubborn. 😁

About 1 heavy inch here on top of what have. I’m not shoveling it! I’m protesting.

We got about an inch or two on top of what's left of the 11 inches + ice we got last weekend. It was handled easily with the leaf blower. My poor MIL lives in a senior living facility near here that is dealing with a major water infiltration. According to her there's three inches of water inside her apartment, water into the electrical that has the fire alarms going off, and the fire department in there. Sounds like an absolute disaster. Luckily we'll be able to have her here until this is figured out.

The deep bite was really good in December and January is starting on a good note. The weather is about to go into an extreme cold spell so I got this morning while the weather permits. I had several nice LM (about 10) but it was mainly a Kentucky bite. Fast vertical presentations have been key for triggering bites. Too many fish will ignore the bait if they get a good look at it. Some days a swimbait will work for fish postured high in the water column (1-15 ft below surface). The shad are less than 2" so a small bite has worked best. A 1/2 and 7/8 oz spoon, 5/8 and 7/8 oz ice jig, and Damiki style baits. I have been keeping the boat in 35 to 70 FOW. The fish closer to the bottom are easier to catch and the majority of bites come from closely grouped up fish. The deep water fish are moving at a steady pace. You do not need a ton of shad to hold fish in an area. Most mornings the shad are in numerous small pods. Trees are a plus but most fish will be caught in the general area because they are normally moving vs setting up in trees.

Just got back in the house from clearing the walkway and driveway with the lift and throw manual snowblower. I'm guessing 6-8 inches here. A few days ago they were saying maybe 2 inches at the most. HA!

I call this one nopocolypse here. Called for 1 1/2 to 2 inches. 5 1/2 when I measured still snowing. 6 about now and snow about done. I cleared the hive entrances that needed it. Pat cleaned off the bird feeders. Bummer I won't be wearing my crocks to the woodshop today.. lol Glad the ice pretty well went off the trees yesterday snow was sticking if it was added to the ice it could of added to the ice storm mess.

Well Al, put some skin in the game and push your river tourney friends to go to catch, photo, release. You know them all. You fish with them.

I could certainly see it having an impact on winter fishing on the larger Ozark rivers. Other than that, I don't think it could have much impact on warm weather fishing where the fish are more scattered and easier to find. I'm especially concerned when it comes to the winter tournaments that have cropped up on streams like the Current, Meramec, and Gasconade, where the anglers carry their fish to a weigh in point and release them all there. Moving more and bigger bass out of their wintering habitat and releasing them in a spot where they are going to have to disperse to get back to wintering habitat seems to me to be a recipe for disaster...it's happening already, and FFS will probably make it a lot worse. I really wish that these tournaments would be required to go to a format where the fish are photographed, measured, and released immediately.

It is sickening. Practically every boat that comes in for repairs is equipped with FFS. Even little old tin boats with 15-30hp motors, on trailers that I wouldn't trust to go 2 miles down the road with. The only positive side for me is that it lets me know that I can give myself another healthy raise this year without hurting anyone's bank account too bad.

Other then a trout (rainbow or brown)... What has been some of the wierdest things (fish) you all have caught out of Taneycomo... Explain!! I remember these.. a walleye this pass summer (24 inches on a fly rod) in the run between the rebar and the big hole... a smallmouth a few years back (22 inches on a Matzou Minnow) Downtown branson by the old gravel bar in the campground. They had 4 generators going (the island was completely covered).. a sucker on a fly rod useing a jig 2 suckers at the same time.. but useing only 1 (single point) hook... I was fishing one the docks by the Lake Queen with night crawlers.. and as I was setting the hook.. one sucker got wrap around the fishing line.. and I hooked the other in the mouth.. Anybody else do any thing weird??

I fished bass in Taney guite a bit, back in the mid 90s. Lots of bass when the conditions are right, great in the summer heat.

2 pound test line class world record carp. Unfortunately, not weighed or certified but it had to be 15 pounds. Downlake near Powersite.

In middle of November 2019, up by the cable eddy, bluff blank, caught Whites, Crappie, Kentucky, and Smallmouth on this trip in the same place, spill gates where open, believe they where all coming over the top and hanging around the eddy. All caught stripping a streamer with a fly rod, caught trout too, incredibly fun, never new what you where going to get next.

You proved there is at least one little largemouth hanging out by the White River Fish House the other day too.

Blake proved to me this summer that from Roark Creek down there's bass. So 4 miles...

Was doing a little research on bass in Taney and came across this almost 20 year old thread. Might be an interesting option at Taneyfest to fish lower lake for bass and trout with jerkbaits. Hor far is it from Phil's place to the bass waters?

What a mess at the MIL’s place. Apparently they got a new roof last summer. This snow/ice combo exposed the shoddy work. She started getting drips from the ceiling Thursday. When she got back from breakfast Friday a portion of the ceiling had collapsed and she had a couple inches of water in the floor. Fortunately they got a crew on it immediately and got her stuff moved out of the room and into an open room. So she’s in relatively good shape but there’s a lot to sort out. Lots of damaged furniture, etc.