Ham

Thin wire equals maximum vibration, but it comes at the price of durability. I have an Uncle that used to fish a locally made bait on Lake Fork. He was catching BIG largemouth pre spawn on them. After each fish than say 7 lbs, he didn't trust that bait enough to keep fishing them. The bait may break on the next BIG one and he wasn't willing to take a chance on that. He weight in over 28 lbs in a 3 fish bass tournament on Lake Fork using the "Hill Billy spinner bait". I used the mand caught fish on them, but honestly I never thought they were all that. BUT freaking hook failure.

PLEASE ! Somebody buy it before I do.

Desperate to fish?

THAT'S AWESOME! I CANT WAIT FOR THE NEXT REPORT.

I started out with high hopes for a big numbers day and an ever hopeful shot at the slam. I for Two River Flyshop to shuttle me. I start started at 0800. In the morning, in my Jackson Coosa Floating down with an eye out for rising water. After the high water came on, I would run home and grab the jet. Should be awesome, epic, Field and Stream worthy. Ehhhhhh, no. I paid some dues. I learned some lessons the hard way, and just had some tough luck. 4 hours seems like enough time, but I have not done the Norfork at the new minimum flow. There have also been some changes with each low water event. I was not prepared for the number of bait fisherman below the first big pool down into Long Hole. And it seems that any skill I have obtained with the Zig Jig was bought at the expense of whatever fly rod skill I had. So, I was constantly re-rigging. There was nothing I do could do to avoid incredible tangles. I re-learned how important it is to check your rig frequently and make sure your depth is right. I'm always, always, always going to have a net with me. Trout took several flys from me by taking a hard run after I had caught them and was trying to take a pic or untangle them or slip the barbless fly out. So frustrating. I did get a little flurry of fish to hand as the rise hit. I had some real thumpers in high current. As the water maxed out, the water got really trashy. So, I paddled out and loaded the boat in 97 degree sunshine. I got a Brook Trout on the fly so a Slam was in play. got home and got cooled off. Loaded the jet boat and after cooling down again, I took off for Quarry Park. Mid day heat had run a few folks off. Motor started on second pull and then slowly died out while I was letting it run to warm up. I suspect I have a piece of trash our something that stops fuel flow. It would not re-start. It did this when I was with Stein and Dave, but it eventually re-started. No problem. I have a trolling motor, I'll stay in this top pool. Trolling motor could slowly make it back upstream to ramp. I was getting bites and catching fish. I was missing too many hits though. Might have been the fish and it might have been me. Working my way down through the docks. Well guess what. The flow in the lower third of that pool was much faster than the upper third. I could not go upstream. Bummer. I pulled on the Merc. A lot. The good folks of Gene's trout docked towed me back up to the ramp. Grrrrr. once I had the boat on the trailer, pulled on the Merc and it fired up. I started and stopped it a half dozen times without issue. So what to do? I went fishing again. I Caught a few more fish including a nice Brown. Never caught my Cutt. I fished a total of 6 hours. I got 22 to hand. Pretty sad. it was a frustrating day. I'll post a few pics later.

I measuring board is a lot easier. Less moving parts and no batteries. Look at the Golden Rule Boards. They have a built in guestimate for weight. It was a nice fish. I understand being curious about how much it weighed, but in the end it doesn't matter all that much.

I'll wait and go in October or November when everyone is busy hunting and cant be bothered with the fishing.

Nanofil is like braid is a lot of ways. I use a leader to avoid wasting the nanofil with re-ties. I also like having a weak point to break when you get in a bind. It throws really well and it has not stretch so I get easy hooksets from any distance and improved sensitivity over mono. The white and chartreuse lines are really easy to watch for visible strikes. You can see your line jump or ease off to one side or the other . I feel like we will run into each other one of these days. I have a (mostly) white Supreme with a red stripe. I have a Merc 20 jet so I'm really loud and really slow.

Glad to hear you're enjoying Zig Jigs. That's a lovely area to live in with lots of Bald Eagles flying around. Plenty of deer in the area if you have the inclination to hunt them. Close to a boat ramp too! I use several different rods, but what is quickly becoming a favorite is the 7 foot Browning Air Stream. it is a two piece rod that is listed as a UL, but fishes more like a L to me. It appears they are a Bass Pro Exclusive product. It comes in a variety of lengths. I have only fished the 7 footer, but I know folks that are happy with the 6'6" model. It lists at $60 which is not a lot of money and they will be on sale a couple times of the year. It loads well and throws the 1/16 oz and 1/8 oz really well and the 1/32oz are doable. It lets you enjoy the trout, but can handle the bigger fish too. I like the cosmetics of it and they are light weight. I have a lot of different spinning reels, but one I'm pretty happy with is the Pflueger President. It's only $60 and will last for years even when you fish a lot and neglect to clean and oil it. I think I like the 6930 size. The Pflueger Supreme are $100 and are a better reel. The Pflueger Patriarch is really nice, but more expensive. I use Nanofil 6 lb in White or Chartreuse with 4 lb and 6 lb leader that I tie on with an Alberto knot. I like P Line CX Premium in Moss Green, but any skinny green line will do. I bass fish a lot and IF I use anything less than 4 pound and I'll break off on hooksets. I'm better off to use 6 lb if I can and usually the fish don't mind too much. Not the only way to skin this cat, but it's what I use. I hope this helps.

Babbler has me wanting a Head Turner as well, but I can't seem to catch a gap and get to Springfield. I'm not going to pass on a fishing trip to buy a fishing rod.

That's a nice set of top waters. Pretty good Ozark creek starter kit.

Nope, not me. I never targeted a male bass guarding fry, but I had it happen. I cast up the bank in a small pocket. I noticed the ball of fry first which is always a good thing, signs of spawning success. Then I saw the bass moving towards the fry, I figured it was about to get ugly. The bass swam past all the fry and ate my floating worm which was headed towards the ball of fry one twitch at a time. I don't sight fish bedding bass, but I'm not going to stop bass fishing from Feb to July which I would have to do to eliminate any chance of catching a fish that is spawning. Others can rant and rave if they want to do so. I'm not going to beat that dead horse anymore.

I always considered them a post spawn tool. very effective when males are guarding fry. ( I feel the flames getting closer)

I've had so much fun with floating worms. I can still remember lots of my floating worms bites. Seeing a 3 pounder roll up and engulf the worm as it settled. My first lights out bite where I'm watching my worm work across a grass flat and them the worm just disappeared like some one had turned off a switch. Seeing a huge boil on the surface of Lake DeGray late, late one day and realizing that was a fish getting my floating worm. I still have them, but rarely find myself in a place with flats to fish them on.

I choose to use a leader with my Nanofil or braid because I want a weak spot that can be broken if needed. I use a alberto. The uni/uni works fine, but bangs along thru the guides. The alberto is longer and skinny and flys thru the guides. I have also used a surgeon's knot where you go thru a third time. That works, but seems a little weaker than the other two knots. It will fail quicker on a snag, but none of those connecting knots have failed on fish. My knot failures seem limited to a snag that I do a dead pull on trying to free or bend hook out. Line failure to zebra mussels is a whole different animal. I have zero interest in Nanofil on a bait caster. I do use some braid on bait casters. I am throwing braid on my topwaters right now.

I have fished PP and 832. I saw no real advantages to 832. I have used the low diameter stuff like 4 lb, 6 lb, 8, lb diameter. I have not used the 832 in 50 plus break strength. I didn't see the 832 as being any worse than Power Pro either. I had to try it for myself, but I didn't gain anything for my expenditure.

Hey Al, I did just fine with 8 lb. I should have had 2 rods with 8 lb. I don't go below 6 lb. any more. I have not found it to be necessary to go below 6 lb, but you live and learn.

Probably a 9 foot 4 weight.

Dang Jason, you want to fish even more than I do. I would not have done that, but maybe I would have at 25.

This!

Those numbers certainly seem low. That stinks because we had a really good trip last fall and I was hoping to hit that section again later this year. Our numbers were not White River numbers, but the fish were all nice and healthy and we caught somewhere in that 20 fish a day range .

I was thinking the other day on the way home from the river how blessed we are in the amount of fishing opportunities that exist in this country. I'm sure that a few other countries may have it better, but not many.

Mitch makes a very good point about overall line diameter and abrasion resistance. I learned that first hand when I made a trip with Kelly Watson to fish Texas Hill Country rivers. The water was impossibly clear and Kelly preached 4 lb line and long casts. It was a multiday trip on the Llano. I had carried 3 rods. A light with 4 lb, a ML with 8 lb, and a medium baitcaster with 10 lb. So first day in and I'm throwing some small soft plastics on a jighead. I was using Tectan 4.4 lb. Very small diameter stuff. Fishing down and across bumping along the bottom when I get that wonderful thump. Typical sweep set and I break off when the fish comes tight. Hmmm, not a good start. Re-rig. Next bite. I broke off again. Third fish and I broke off again this time way up the line from the bait. The hard bed rock bottom with lots of exposed edges had weakened my line from the bait almost back to my reel. That skinny soft line was a no go on the Llano. I put that rod away and force fed them weighless 4 inch senkos on 8 lb and top water lures on the bait caster. Very frustrating way to learn that lesson, but so it goes.

So buy a line you like in a diameter you like and don't worry about listed break strength. I continue to be very satisfied with a nanofil main line with a P-Line CX Premium leader for spinning. I like Seaguar Abraz X for bait casting, but I also use Silver Thread CoPoly in 10-20 lb.

I'm a cut stick guy. I'm not looking for a better option. I'm just looking for more chances to throw the cut stick. The panfish abuse the little tube would get would drive you crazy once the water got above 60 degrees. The little crabby thing gets absolutely gnawed on by panfish. I think the tube will be just as bad or worse. Meh. I'll pass.