Ham

I was thrilled to catch her, but truth be told, That Big fish did not pull all that well. It was exciting seeing how large she was, but lots of the 14 inch fish we caught pulled better and jumped instead of just big head shakes and rolling round in one spot.

Smallies are notorious for swallowing tubes. I have been fishing them on tight line and set the hook immediately on the strike and they have STILL managed to take it deep. SUCKS. I am way too tender hearted with smallmouth. I simply love them and I hate it when I kill one, The one guide trip I had we used tubes. That guide WILL NOT use tubes once the water had fully warmed up in spring because of smallies swallowing the tubes. He switched to a finesse skirted jig once the water got > 55 degrees. I have had less trouble with deep takes on the Ned than I expected. It has happened a couple of times, but they seem a little slower to swallow it than they do the tube. I fish my Ned on a tighter line than recommended. I constantly feel for the bite. Barbless hooks would make it better. They would cost you a few fish in hand along the way though. You can also look online for various try this hook removal techniques.

It is ALWAYS a pleasure to fish with Rick. Rick is very modest about his skill level. He is very proficient with the Zig Jig and educated me on a new location. I can barely keep up with the fish I catch so there is no way I can keep count on mine and his. I would love to know how many Rick caught. though, It seemed like he was catching PLENTY. This trip is likely to cost me some money down the road though. Rick showed me a superlight Pflueger Patriarch reel and I will likely have to have one in a year or two. I really appreciate the invite. I so needed a nice successful and NOT stressful trip. This trip was both of those things in spades. I was really impressed byu the number of 14 inch Rainbows we had as well. We had a lot of doubles and if I had not long distance released so many fish, we would have had a lot more. I kind of got spoiled not having to run the boat at all. I worked around the house on Friday so I missed out and then I attended church and ran a chain saw on Sunday and so I missed out on that fishing trip as well. I don't know how Sunday could have been better than Saturday, but I would have been glad to try. People act like trout are tough to catch at minimum flow. Buy some 1/32 oz jigs Zig jigs and swing them down and across in areas with some flow. you will catch fish. It took a beatdown from Richard Cross to teach me the improtance of having the 1/32 oz jigs, but it was so worth it. This past week was another reminder that things can change in a heartbeat. Take the time to spend time with friends and loved ones. You can not count on doing it next year. We are not here all that long and no one gets out alive.

I usually wait a little later for the Buffalo to warm up some before I start fishing it.

I saw a few coming off. The trout were really biting today, but I don't think it was Caddis driven.

How many fish tomorrow? Is it the Top 30?

I thought I read where MM said if he had an hour that's all the time he needed. By running that far, he doesn't have 20 other guys pounding the same fish, but I bet that's a wild ride. Those waterways are TIGHT with tidal flows subject to moving logs in the way and with the real chance of hitting a gator while on plane. It would be a white knuckle deal for 2 solid hours.

It's more of a creeks and rivers deal around here. Still more land than people around here. Enjoy the solitude. My family owns four kayaks and they get used a fair amount each year.

I have got to get me one of those Faux Pro cameras.

Other than trying to feel the bite and setting the hook "too Hard" it looked like they have the technique down. Lol

I'd be real careful about when and where I anchored on the White River, but I understand that White River jons are used lots of other places.

IF you have a smart phone, you really should download the FREE app that covers releases for the area lakes. It can be found by searching for LIttle Rock District COE. Get it and play with it a little bit before you arrive. It makes planning you fishing for the day so much easier Keep in mind that the real time data is a couple of hours old before it is posted and that projected generation is not at all a sure thing. It may be more or it may be a lot less. The next days projection is usually post by 4 pm, but sometimes they are doing the projections for the whole weekend on the Friday afternoon. One of the reasons I prefer to fish >20 miles downstream from BSL dam is that I have a know what is coming for the next "x" amount of hours. Usually, no surprizes, BUT I am still learning.

Yes, IMO Brown trout of equal size fight better than Rainbows. You will get that occassional Rainbow that will really dig in and fight, but most want to roll and thrash in place vs pull hard against you.

I agree with the thoughts Andy. We need to do our part to protect the resources we enjoy AND that is a LOT more than just grabbing up beer cans and plastic bottles. Garbage like that is ugly, but does minimal damage to the ecosystem as a whiole. I didn't agree with the written feature in the link at all. I don't remember any of the folks against the MASSIVE pig farm being built in the Buffalo River drainage being marginalized with the label of "radical". I KNOW that rivers have been heavily damaged by careless mining locations and techniques. I wouldn't label people opposing wilderness areas in Alaska as radicals I'd like to think their can be use of the resources in ways that minimize damage IF it is done properly and in physical locations that allow for it. We should push for that. It seemed strange to see a piece spend so much time labeling and attacking people that have other priorities complain about being attacked and labeled for their priorities.

Lol. Alaska is cold but they have mosquitoes every year. It's a moisture thing not a temp thing. Rare, to have mosquitoes in MH. Not enough flat stuff

[quote name="dtrs5kprs" post="381467" timestamp="1426630978 It goes beyond the durability. The Elaztech has tremendous advantages in terms of flotation, buoyancy (more applied to how it swims), and how long fish will hold it. Can't say I didn't warn him about the grub deal...

I would assume its thousands. A bass over 5 lbs is never gonna be a dime a dozen in my book. Once a bass hits that 18 inch mark, they are a special fish to me.

Dean's Canvas in Mtn Home, but they aren't going to be cheap.

Dang, I wish I was fishing today.

I'd love to know how many bass > 6 lb have been caught out of Toledo Bend in the last 12 months.

It all depends on generation. There are ALWAYS places you can wade fish at ANY level of generation, but lots of them may only be accesible by boat. Let me think about it a while and I'll PM you a list of where you can try and wade fish, but keep in mind the possibliity of renting a boat and using it to run to areas to wade fish.

Its crazy as close as BSL is to Table Roxk that TR is 916 and BSL is 654

I'm sure he did too. 200 foot of "extra" water would make things a little tough.

Yeah, that kind of crap influences where I will fish at times. I am all for avoiding that if at all possible. The worst I ever had was at Lake Chico of all places. It is another Shallow flat lake on the alluvial flood plain. The ramp was nasty flat as well. I had that 3-4 foot rollers breaking over my trailer. I was solo too so I had to tie to a dock and climb onto a dock not meant for it (thru the railing around the dock) while the boat is rising and falling 3 feet. Guess where to back in the boat (only time I had ever used that ramp) and then cilmb down again and try to time a swell to get it on the trailer. If I hit a trough, the boat would have grounded on the ramp and not made it onto the trailer. Just Nasty.

Gosh, I hope not. Normal pool is 654?