Ham

Not me. I'm really happy with my Pro XS 250. I spend the majority of my time running 45-55 MPH and 4000 or so RPM's. I try to trailer close to my fish and most trips run < 10 gallons of gas thru the big motor.

Ned and the boys have played with all sorts of options and kept crazy amts of details in their notes. I'm not about re-inventing the wheel; I'm about catching the fool out of them

You should be hoping for clouds, but not rain. You should also be hoping for cool weather so they might generate a little bit. If you really want to HOPE for something. Hope they run 1500 CFS all day. The river only runs about 4 miles before it hits the White and the last mile or so IS NOT great water. You might end up floating it twice in one day. When water comes up, you'll quickly know it. Small river. Generation quickly increases depth and flow rate. The river sounds louder and the water line along the river is quite evident. You might also end up spending significant time on sections of the White as well. Twin River Fly Shop in Norfork and Steve Daly's fly shop in Cotter are two good sources of information with lots of streamer fanatics involved.

I think Richard Cross had to have that done. His surgery was in September 2013 and he first trip after the surgery was Jan 2014. I think he could have come back a little sooner, but you should seriously expect to be down for a few months. I would assume your doctor's would have some restrictions that they would educate you about.

And now i KNOW, you can anchor on a small area and fish it for hours without running out of fish IF it is the right spot.

You can go thru a crap ton of them providing jigs for four guys fishing them around oyster beds. Just sayin.

SO is the TuRD supposed to contain salt or not?

I'm just about there. I will precut, but I'm going to have to go second box soon.

There are definite advantages to both. I'm pretty close to fishinwrench on this. I really do prefer to fish with someone else for the experience, but I can concentrate better solo and work some things out.

Lol

I swear it looks like you're catching the same fish over and over and over. Have you gotten them all named yet. Glad you're getting out and catching them. We have some cooler weather coming. I expect you'll take a break about then.

Dorber OMT 84UL IF you can get one. They are sold in Flippin at the factory, but I don't know if they have any in stock. You would need to call them BEFORE you drive by there.

I wish I could buy it right now, but I can't I am calling a friend's attention to it though.

I tried my best.

Jeeeeeeeeeezzzzzzzz, I go 750 miles away from home and SOMEBODY calls me out for giving away a location with a hero shot. Lol. Just kidding Marty. Tell Richard how much I appreciated him hosting me in his boat and how much I enjoyed fishing with him. I invited him (and you by proxy) down for a fishing trip on the White for trout. I'd love to repay the favor. Thank goodness for that little area. I caught all but 2 of my fish right there. Talk about wringing out an area.

jigheads with the Mustad black nickle hooks do pretty well. The rust prevention strips did next to nothing to protect my skinny bear heads and the gopher heads. I'm not saying the rust prevention strips aren't worth trying, but don't expect miracles. I will not rig extra heads up before a trip

MY BassCat will NEVER be put in saltwater.

. Baby Black Drum

. We got a few flounder.

. 5 and some change

. Chomp

Local fishing conditions were MUCH less than ideal. Rains to the north a few days prior to our visit had caused most of the river systems to be blown out. We only had a couple of inches of visibility and maybe as importantly all that water lowered the salinity which can drive the specs out to the ocean. We talked to multiple local guys in high dollar boats that were scratching their heads trying to fiure out a way to catch a few fish. We were told that the fishing had been great prior to the muddy water. When you a working stiff, you have to plan ahead and go when you get a yard pass. I play the cards I'm given. So despite the dirty water, when the fish refused full size offerings, I fed then finesse. Because Dave suggested that I give the Ned a try, I had my Ned gear. I think about my third cast with the Ned I was hooked up. At one point, I dialed in on a kill zone and had fish hooked up four casts in a row. I was lucky enough to get to fish with Richard Button who is a buddy of Billethead. Richard is a very good fisherman and was willing to stay in a set location and continue to work the Ned with very determined retrieves. Fish are moving in and out of the small bayou we were set up in and every so often there would be a flurry of bites. After, I caught a few fish, Richard tied on the Ned rig that I was offering. I was able to set up Les and Cody with Ned offerings as well. As is often the case, I had decent numbers with minimal size. Henceforth, whenever you catch an undersized Red, feel free to refer to it as a "ham sized" Red instead of a Rat Red. I caught numerous fish that would have been legal in La, but not in Texas. All my flounder were too small to keep. I had a couple of decent Specks, some small Black Drum, and a croaker. Friday was cool, cloudy, and windy. Friday was much warmer, but still kind of windy. Sunday was WARM and windy. Thank God for the wind. The mosquitos would have carried us away and left our drained bodies for the crabs. Water temps climbed so rapidly. We saw 49 degree water in the afternoon of Friday. Water temp was all the way up to 69 degrees on Sunday afternoon. I am confident that if the water had been normal that we would have caught more and bigger fish, but I had a great time catching the fish I caught and a lot of laughs with the fellows. Round trip it was 1515 miles. It was as pleasent a 12 hour drive as you could ever have. I finished up catching 71 fish over the three days.