JohnP

Going to stick it out till about 9:30 or so myself maybe soon if the boat that's about 300 plus yds away moves much closer . Got a few deer stands I need to take down today so maybe a good reason to pack it up before to long .

Well I'm not skunked although I have nothing to show for it at this time Had a lone drake gaddie circle over the dekes locked up feet down. First shot clean miss, trying to shoot thru and around brush. Second shot connected and put him on the water. Thought he was hit good enough to not waste another shot. Man was I wrong, bird didn't move with its head down until the dawg was about a foot from it and he decided to regain life and get up and fly away. Sometimes the will to survive surprises. Also had 3 hoodies buzz the dekes and before I could get the gun em they were outta range. The seagulls also have been tormenting the poor dawg this morning. Hasn't been too bad, but thought I'd see a few more than what I have.

Good reports and congrats on the fox bet that was interesting. Watched a coyote one year put the sneak on our dekes and I thought it was pretty cool till when we shot and it took off running and yelping from 2 guys shooting at it with #2's and missing half it's fur on its right side. Until I realized that my yella dawg was running after it for the retrieve. Just glad I was able to get her stopped and back before she entered the thickets :eek:

Hunted it I'd say a dozen or so times this year and so far we've had 2 maybe 3 hunts that were good hunts as far as the number of birds go as all hunts that we walked away from without loss and/or injury are good hunts. It's definately nothing like the past couple season down here tho, atleast for us.

Congrats, way to pile em up.

Sitting on a mud flat point between Beaver and Snapps. Truck gauge said 51 when pulled in, feels like Teal season and the sun isn't up yet, waiting for the mesquitos . Awfully quiet to start. Calm water and other than a few crows haven't seen or heard a bird. Haven't even heard any distant shots. Thought I'd have my 2 17 year old boys with me but I guess their at the stage they'd rather hunt with friend instead of ol' dad . Just the black dawg Hailey and I. Have to say tho that I'm impressed with the stick blind they built together. Hoping that the birds just decided to sleep in and will start flying anytime now. Not holding my breath tho .

Excellent post FandF

Don't say it to loud . I know there's a ton of divers up on the Rock but I just never make it up there, keep saying I'm going to and just never do. Guess it could be because I can be on BS at 4 different ramps (River Run, Swan, Beaver, and K-dock) in 5 to 15 min's and Taneycomo at 3 different ramps in 10-15 min's (Empire, Rockaway, and Branson). Main reason I don't hunt Taney anymore is the number of people hunting it, fisherman both bass and trout, and houses. Hunted several day on BS that you may never hear or see another boat. I go hunting/fishing to relax and get away from the all the hustle and bustle, not to stare at a house, or try to beat others to a spot and then have them set up down wind of you and shoot your swing birds, or have a guy troll thru your deke spread (happened on taney not once but twice and both times scared the you know what out of the guys in the boat when we stepped out from the tree we were sitting next to with guns in hands and hollered at them. Said they didn't know they were decoy's??? yea right, the one that was hovering 4 ft over the water with its wings spinning must of hynotized them). Mojo's work on fisherman as well . Yesterday we saw 3 boats, 2 fishing and 1 hunting. The other hunters we heard hunting wereh in drive in spots. Biggest problem with BS other than no crop to hold birds is the ever fluctuating water levels. Last season it was just a mud hole with no cover within 20 to 30 yards from the water, the year before that everything we normally hunt was 10 to 15 foot under water, this year it's back to around normal but with the past spring flooding there's no vegitation and all the brush is thin. Either way we're still seeing birds so not complaining as I'll adapt to what the good Lord gives us.

As far as type of birds, we're pretty normal except for the lack of greenheads the last couple years. Been seeing quite a few greenheads on farm ponds so I know there's some around. I can honestly say on the end of Bull Shoals I'm hunting that I've seen probably 80 percent gadwall, 15 percent greenwing, and 5 percent others including mallets this year. last season was probably the best year I can remember as far as number of birds but never shot at a mallard, lots of gadwall and teal. The past 15 years prior I'd say it was pretty equall between the mallards and gadwall. Last red head I've seen was 3 years ago, and have never seen a canvas back over here.

We've had a couple good days over here but alot more not so good days as far as the birds go. Crazy weather patterns haven't helped none and it's not looking like it's going to get any better the last week of the season .

Tri-lakes Rod and Reel across from the court house is still there, he was open this afternoon. As stated the Tackle Shack that was across from Primetime went out of business acouple of months ago and the building still has the for sale sign up.

Also went for a boat ride down to Snapps afterwards and didn't see a single duck on the water in any of the coves or Cedar Creek between there and Beaver?????

Hunted Bull Shoals, upper end around Beaver, with a couple other buddies. Seen quite a few birds early, mostly gaddies, a few gwt, couple good groups of sawbills, and one greenhead, one group of geese. Got to the ramp alil after 6 and there was another boat there putting in, talked to them and found out where they were going, which is where I was originally planning on going, so went with plan B. Right at shooting time, nobody ready of course , had 20 plus gaddies pitch into the dekes. Thought that was going to be a good sign for the morning, wasn't as good as I thought it might of been with this last cold front. Hunted till alil after noon and the 3 of us managed to scratch out 12 gaddies and 1 greenhead, missed 3 gwt and atleast another limits worth of gaddies due to some fine shooting skillz. Couldn't get the sawbills to swing into the cove we were in. Only saw the 1 greenhead and he came in with a pair gaddies. Heard quite a bit of shooting early till about 8 or so from about 3 to 4 different groups but after that it got quiet quick. The geese didn't show up till after we got most everything picked up. Talked the guys at the ramp that were there in the morning and they had only managed a couple gwt and a hooded merganser, said they never saw the gaddies???? All in all had a good hunt but thought we would of seen more however the birds we did see all decoyed and finished well.

Know what you mean. Thought for sure that we'd have seen more birds than we did this morning with all the ponds iced up but thankful for what we did. Of course the ponds didn't stay iced for long, thawed back out this afternoon.

Sounds pretty good. Just had some duck kabobs the other night that were the tastiest I've had. Nothing special, just soaked the cubbed up duck meat in a italian dressing marinade for a few hours in the fridge, skewered the meat with red onion, bell peppers (green and yellow), and mushrooms, then while the kabobs where on the bbq I added some brown sugar to the marinade and brushed it on the kabobs while it was cooking turning regularly. The sugar carmelized and gave it a sweet taste.

Heard some good reviews about Brads Birds and have seen some of his work, pretty impressive work.

Congrats. Hopeing this cold front will push some new birds down and that they'll stick around for the next week . Been actually having a pretty decent season down on Bull Shoals considering the weather, alot better than a few buddies that hunt the Como religiously. Mostly gads and some greenwing, only a couple greenheads. Nothing like last year when we were stacked thick with gaddies, only have had a couple limit days but only one skunk day.

Cool pic. Haven't seen very many around here, upper Bull Shoals, in the last few years. Did shoot a few up around Golden City about a month ago.

Thanks again Phil for helping to make this tournament a success for the Brason Police and Fire Associations. Our team (Pate/Miller) finished 4th with 9.56. All of the fish I caught were on 1/16th oz. jigs (Sculpin pattern and olive), mine were all tight lined working on the bottom as well as slow retrieving at different depths and Millers were under the float. Started out just below Short Creek and fished down to Riverlake Resort only putting 2 fish in the boat and hooking maybe 3 more (all smaller fish). Most of the fish caught were down below Cooper Creek and a few from under the Hwy 65 bridge. Didn't have a hit around the powerline/Monkey Island area. Looking forward to next year to defend the title for the Police Dept. vs. the Fire Dept.

Fished K-dock cove again this evenin' and again the bite was on from about 6:45 to 7:30pm. After 8pm it shut down till we finally gave it up at 10:30 without another fish on. Most fish caught on a white slider, but also caught a good number of fish on the smoke colored swimmin' minnows. Ended the evenin' with 28 whites in the livewell and released another 10 or so, also caught 4 short LM, 2 short smallies, and a 12 inch walleye. Talked to a guy that fished Yandell and Deer Lane coves and said the fish were there as well but hard to fish with the wind white cappin' the water in those coves.

Very well could be. I noticed the boats sittin' in the mouth of Roark this afternoon as well and thought the same thing. One of my boys caught 15 whites at Empire Park on tuesday but only caught one trout on wednesday walking the bank.

Phil, that would be the rock bluffs/edges at the end of Sanders Road. Not really much of a bluff, but it's still a decent drop if one were to fall off of it. Fished the k-dock area this evenin' and from 6:45 to 7:30 it was on. Didn't have a bite from 6:15 to 6:45 and then it was fish on on just about every cast in the backs of the coves that the sun had been shinning on. Shaded banks = no fish. but as soon as it got dark the bite seemed to end or atleast slow way down. Ended up with 20 fish kept, all in the 1 pound to 2 pound range and released another 10 to 15 smaller fish. 95% of the fish caught were on a smoke, red metal flake smoke, and/or purple metal flake smoke color swimmin' minnow, one of my boys did manage to catch a couple on small white single blade crappie spinner bait. Water temp was 52 degrees. Talked to another boat that had very similar results but caught all theirs on white sliders.

Fished Beaver last friday night from 9:30 to 2am in the drizzle. fished from the first bend up to maiden bottoms and the only spot we had any bites was in the sanders bluff hole area. Ended up with 7 total all in the 1 1/2 to 2 pound range and all were released to be caught again. All caught swimming minnows on smoke-red metal flake and smoke-purple metal flake on the bottom. That was only bait that was getting any hits, fished sliders, twisters, maribu's, crankbaits and rattle traps with nothing. The fish we did catch were all on or near the bottom draggin' the swimmin' minnows.