Ham

Sounds cool. PM me if you'd like my cell phone number

You should consider calling Cabela's customer service and politely explaining your problem. You could request them to exchange it for a 6'8" rod. You are using heavier line than I ever do with spinning. Maybe drop down to 10 lb mono?

If I was closer, I would for sure. The cost of shipping eats us alive though. I generally try to get about half my money back after I buy a rod that I turn out to not like, but that's just me. I'd offer you more than half, nut I'm in the Mpuntain Home area. Headed to Bull or Norfork any time soon?

Like I said before, I don't catch many her size, but I honestly thought she was going to be heavier than 7 lb. Great fish for me none the less.

I failed to measure her, but I can measure her by other stuff in photo. She was of course released no worse for wear.

Nice fish, but at a minimum, he should have split time btw Zig Jig and online spinner. Jigs catch big trout too

Nice work D.

. Here's my top water fish. Made me smile.

We stayed at SRA's Pleasure Point Park. Secure. Inexpensive. Nice shower and bathroom facilities. Good location for southern third of the lake. We like getting the shelter. Only one remains. Most ppl have RV's there.

I love catching Drum. It doesn't hurt my feelings at all. They crush a football jig. Or a wart. Or a jigging spoon. Or a tube. Good report. I'd be pleased with those trips. Thank you.

C and D are my preferences.

Cajun Angler and I choose Toledo Bend for our annual Spring fling. We'd both had our fill of this winter and hoped going south would bring warmer weather and lots of active fish. We both have history and experience at Toledo Bend. I love to fish there, but it can be as fickle as table Rock. Massive lake and each creek arm seems to be a whole different world. We took my boat and his truck for this trip. We decided to share time on the front of the boat in 3 hour shifts. We fished daylight until dark all four days. Got to bed around 11 pm each night and up at 0515 each morning. We prepared ALL of our meals at Toledo Bend. This saves time and money, but requires effort and planning. We ate very well. Kudos to Johnny on planning the meals. I ran the grill. We had pork chops one night, chicken breasts one night, and Rib eyes one night. He had frozen some soup which we reheated the first night, and we finished the trip with pasta and a meat sauce, We headed out early Saturday and made it down in time to actually get a little fishing in before dark. We launched at Pirates Cove and it was an unmitigated ZOO. We started off fishing 2 casts off shore from a point that we have wrecked them on in the past. while we were there five (5) boats ran between us and the bank we were actively casting towards. One point actually stopped and started fishing with their boat very close to where our baits were landing. Ahhh southern hospitality. I got the first fist of the trip on a Megabass 110. That was my one and only jerkbait fish. We finally headed towards a random section of bank that had not been pounded. I got a couple of Ned rig fish and CA got a TR lizard fish and a Squarebill fish. His last squarebill fish of the trip. We had hopes Sunday would be less busy. Not so much. Tons of boats. Tons of pressure on the shallow fish. We fished Indian Creek. The water is very clear for Toledo Bend. We really tried to find them off the bank, but mostly caught our fish junk fishing shallow. We caught Sluggo fish, Senko fish, Chatterbait fish, texas rigged lizard fish, and Ned rig fish. I broke a fairly new spinning rod I really liked lifting a 13 inch bass in the boat. Sucks. Monday we went to 6 Mile Creek on the Texas side. We trailered to save boat gas and to avoid crossing the lake in high winds. I caught a rattle trap fish off a secondary point on the first cast of the day. That was my last rattletrap fish of the trip. More junk fishing Sluggos, senkos, and lizards. Highlight of the day was my best fish of the trip. She weighed 6lb 4 oz on his Rapala Boga style scale. She looked bigger than that, but I don't catch many bass that size so. She ate a topwater a mile from the boat and jumped clear of the water twice. Awesome. Tuesday blue birded off on us. Toledo Bend when it turns blue bird in the spring is a very tough lake. We struggled. I got super finessy. I caught my first four Spybait fish. One small bass, two nice crappie, and a tiny bluegill. I also missed another 6 of 7 bites that I assume were crappie. More Ned rig fish. A swimbait fish. We caught some fish on a wacky w orm in a small section of well defined creek channel that I think fish pulled back to when the water temp dropped and skies cleared. Wednesday we headed back to 6 Mile. I had the front of the boat and really struggled. CA had his best day of the trip. He was able to get some active bites. Jerkbait, lizard, sluggo. I was not. He got me on numbers and especially quality. I Ned rigged a lot of get some bites. I had a little trouble with breakoffs. I broke off five fish. One wrapped me on a stump, I broke two off on the hookset, but two broke me off just powering away. All my breakoffs were on spinning which isn't shocking, but no less annoying. I don't breakoff a lot of fish usually. Maybe not 5 a year normally. A difficult trip as far as catching fish goes and four days of hard fishing on my aging body takes its toll. All in all a great trip with a great friend.

That's Louisana talk for Bowfin (Amia Calva)

I thought you might. Champ you're kit looks ready. I wonder if Donna will use it more than you do.

Super Dave, Do you know where Champ got those jig heads?

Yes it is. I need to catch one of those this year too.

I NEED to catch a choupique THIS year. I've freaking caught Long Ear Sunfish on them in creeks. I've got a cold so I'm playing the I'm not well card.

That's two I forgot about.

An Ozark Bass is very close to a Rock Bass, but they live in a limited number of drainages. Instead of the dark spots being arranged in rows like on a Rock Bass, they are scattered all over the fish's back.

Quick guesses about fish possible to catch on a Ned Rig Black Bass Smallmouth Bass Spotted Bass White Bass White Crappie Black Crappie Green Sunfish Rock Bass Ozark Bass Drum Carp Walleye Channel Catfish Flathead Catfish Yellow Perch Chain Pickeral Longnose Gar Bluegill Redear Sunfish Warmouth Maybe Rainbow Trout Brown Trout What am I not thinking about? Have various ppl caught most of these species?

I'll be glad to give whatever prototypes a through testing for you crafty types.

Good job, those are some pretty fish. This may turn out to be a year where there are more shorts than keepers. That's not a bad problem to have. I like seeing that there are young ones growing in to replace the keepers being removed. I'd love to catch 100 crappie and get me 10 good keepers over the course of the day.

NFOW is the only trout water in MO that I wade. I follow the law of the land to the letter and hope for no broken bones. I still think the banning of felt is unproven and overkill. The continued absence of Didymo in NFOW IS NOT a confirmation that banning felt soles works any more that it's proof that non felt soles prevent an elephant infestation.

That's cool. Any intell is good intell. It will likely be April before I get on Bull again. I'm heading to Toledo Bend Saturday to fish Sunday thru Wednesday. Looking for a few big ole Florida Bass in the southern section of the lake. IF, I get to fish for them in shorts and a tee shirt that'll be a bonus.