Ham

. Topwater smallie

It might make things more difficult for the fisherman, but it aint a bad thing for the fish.

Awww man, that would be a beatdown on the trout. I know I would catch a pile of them.

Which is sort of dumb since I saw debris WAY up on some banks which makes me think it gets some extra water in it from time to time.

I know some ramps that are NOT usable at that water level.

I'm looking forward to the full version.

I don't throw an A rig once water hits 60 degrees. Maybe I should but I do not. LMB are in brush and I did better way in the back of pockets. Top water baits, but SB's would work when there is wind on them. I really like points for the SMB. I like bluffs for Spots, but as I said my spotted bass numbers were very low. They were all good fish, but very small numbers. Every day is different, but I would look at > 20 FOW for the better smallies and <12 FOW for LMB. I always like Walk the Dog baits and I especially like pop rs and slow moving prop baits post spawn. I like a chunk of soft plastic on a jighead for smallies. Grub, tube, beetle spin without the spinner, etc.

Hey Scott I hear you. Lots of really nasty reptiles out there in the big wide world. I guess I'm overly impressed by the length of a King Cobra. 18 foot I think I read. That's a big snake.

Mark cheating on BSL huh. Karma is gonna bite you.

Cottonmouths usually aren't all that long. Go online and look at a few pictures. Once you actually see one or two in the wild, you won't have much doubt. Give Cottonmouths some room and it's all good. Their venom is not particularly deadly. If you do some searches online for deaths from Cottonmouths, you largely come up empty. I surely don't want to get bitten by one, but your life is not in danger every time you step out your front door. Just be happy we don't have King Cobras. Google them for an interesting read.

I don't have the gear to do it, but I'd love to have the larger end section made into 1inch slabs for cutting boards. I could sand them and seal them, but I can't cut them.

That's awesome yaknar. I imagine I would be even more obsessed with river fishing if I had got an early start like your grandson. I'm very happy for him that he has a loving family showing him the outdoors. The pictures captures the experience so well. In a very short period of time, he will be ready for his own yak. Great stuff.

That's the second time you've made me laugh out loud is this thread.

I hate to hear that. I thought of Wayne about a month ago. I checked and saw he had been active on the forum the day before. I forgot to follow up with him. Wayne and I fished together on War Eagle and on the King's. We had a mini Rodeo. Wayne, me, and Ozark Stream Hawk. We tent camped at the outfitter at Trigger Gap. It was a good time. Wayne was a good guy with a full lifetime of experiences. Rest In Peace. God Bless his family.

The crazy little thing catches everything. All species and all sizes. It catches more small fish than big fish BECAUSE there are more small fish than there are big fish. I've caught some pretty decent fish on it already and I KNOW that I will catch more nice fish on it in the future, but PLEASE DON'T FISH THE NED RIG EVER!

Coosa is making coolers to fit their yaks. I'm sure they will be inexpensive though.

By then, most of the spawn and post spawn funk will be over, they will have the feed bag firmly strapped on and will be in easy reach. I have some trips planned.

I took some pictures and I'm pretty sure I caught the same bass twice! It was an 18 inch fish that I caught once on a Sluggo and once on a topwater about an hour later when I worked back thru that area. Lol, dumb and dumber.

Guys, Fish24/7's reports are very accurate. This is information you can use.

Fish24/7 reports are always dead on. Kinda wish I had seen his latest one before my trip, Lol. The middle of the day was a real grind and it would be really easy to get discouraged and quit. Lots of stuff working a little bit. I had 11 rods out, Lol. I caught fish on 6 or 7 of them and had bites on every rod I fished with. I knew how to catch the LMB and they were ALL keepers (I caught 8 I think), but it was slower than I like.

Launched at daylight took out at dark. I wish the day could have lasted another 6 hours.. Water temps 66 warming to 70. Wind 5-15 from the south. A little gusty at times with front edges of T storms. Water clarity was awesome. 8 foot or so in pockets and 12 plus on main lake. Good topwater bite early. I think there are post spawn LMB shallow in the brush. I think we are in between waves of spawners. There are piles and piles of fish off shore. Channel your inner Babbler and go find a pile of them. I enjoyed the topwater bite early. I probably stayed with it too long. I got a couple on 18 inch smallies shallow which made be stick with that far too long. The middle day was a major junk fishing grind. I finally switched and stayed out > 20 FOW and dropped a hammer on them. I lost a monster Spotted Bass. I had no idea the fish was that large until she jumped clear of the water and spit my bait. I really think 19 plus inches. I had a handful of smallies over 18 and at least 3 LMB that I measured that were over 18. I only caught 3 spots all day and every one of them was an absolute football. I had one just under 17. All three over 15 inches. Lots of chunky smallies. I finished the day with one last topwater fish. I caught 72 fish. All bass. Vast majority were smallies. I love Bull Shoals Lake.

the salt in our water from the water softener will freeze drinks in my cooler. Just sayin.

Lol.

I fished today from just after daylight to right at dark. I caught 72 bass. Fishing top water as much as I did held my numbers down. I got fish on multiple Super Spook Jrs, a Sammy 100, Lucky Craft KJ, and Sluggos. I had a lot of blow ups where the fish seemed to miss on purpose. Some of the hits were savage though. It was great.

Smallies seem to be a lot worse about getting gut hooked than LMB and Spots. The crazy things are in a hurry to swallow. Most likely driven by concerns of have dinner stolen from them by a sibling or cousin. It is a lot worse if someone is not paying attention, but its going to happen sometimes not matter what. I hate it, but that doesn't change the facts.