Ham

You the Man rainbow! I'd dearly love to catch a Tarpon , Mahi Mahi, and Ahi tuna. I'm not sure why Marlin and fish of that ilk don't appeal to me, but I think I'd have more fun fishing for the bait for the marlin fishermen. I've never heard of an ono, but I''ll look into them.

I'm going to try to make the time to put on the diving mask and take a look around under water when I'm on my creek trips in 2014. I'm going to keep up with the numbers I catch, but I'm not going to fret over it near so much. Less worrying about numbers should = more time to be goofy.

Hey Wrench, I'm thinking I'll have to make specific trips trying to catch certain fish. I'll get 15 species or so with just normal fishing, but I'm going to have to make road trips for fish that at the very least aren't really common here. I'll definitely make some creek trips with flyrod only using tiny midges and stuff swung thru looking for stuff that won't strike smallie stuff. Some guys talk about catching log perch on inline spinners so I might swing the mallest inline spinners I own on a 5 weight with sink tip line

I'm not against live bait / natural.bait fishing. I will also fish tiny flies on a creek with a 3 wt and a 4 wt to see what I can catch. I'm caught almost everything I'm hoping to catch at one time or another. The tough part is catching them all again this year. I think I caught 27 species in 2013. Most years I'll stumble across at least 20 species with my normal fishing.

I totally down with some ditch fishing!

There are three species of bullhead. At least 5 species of sucker. Two species of stone roller. A few species of chubs. Two species of sculpin. Gizzard shad will hit a crappie jig. skipjack shad. Cutt bows. Really stretching it I can come up with about 60 possible species and I have to get 52 of those. Unlikely at best.

I was hoping this was a bass fishing thread.

According to a guy that dives, he's seen large groups of yellow perch roaming the Sister Breek area of BSL. I've read reports here of yellow perch in the Shoal Creek area. I've caught yellow perch in West Sugar Loaf and Big Creek and Theodosia area AND the White River itself below BSL. I am thinking hard about the Arkansas River and the Mississippi River for sauger. A few trips down south for yellow bass, Spotted Sunfish, Bowfin, Spotted Gar, Short nose gar, Warmouth, a better shot at Pumpkinseeds and Redear Sunfish.

That's pretty cool Old Plug. Big Cats on light line. And you're whipping my butt with bigger bass for sure. I've tangled with some BIG long nose gar on Bull Shoals, but usually they are targets of oppurtuntity not the reason for the trip.

I picked 52 because that would be one species for each week of the year. Kinda random and likely to hang me. I think I could get to 40 species without too much trouble. Beyond 40 is going to be rough. There will be a lot of fish on that list that more folks would consider trash than treasure, but I like em all. Smallmouth bass are my favorite fish, but I love catching other fish too. Please understand all the begging for help will be for information or trips to the Bella Viata Lakes (hint) or Elk River (hint, hint). I have some standing offers that I'll try real hard to employ. One thing for sure, I will not be able to catch 52 species unless I burn some gasoline rolling down the Highway.

I had a lengthy list of fishing goals in 2013. Not everybody understands why I set goals for myself or maybe they do, but don't approve of fishing goals in general. I've succeeded in most of them including catching >3000 fish for the year. Not bad for a guy that works full time. The other thing I was really happy with was not zeroing on any trip this year. I'll end up fishing ~ 90 trips this year and every trip I caught at least a fish. My biggest fail was not catching at least 100 fish every month. I failed to catch 100 fish in March 2013. Weather screwed me over. I wasn't able to get out in the trout boat. It was often Too windy or too cold to really get it done. In 2014, it's gonna be a lot more simple. I have one goal . I want to catch 52 species of fish on a hook and line. I'll try to get a photo of each species I catch. It's a pretty goofy idea that should be a lot of fun for me. Without fishing saltwater, that's almost impossible, but I'm gonna try my best. I may be begging some of you to help a brother out so that I can chase some fish not locally available. I hope 2014 is a happy and successful year for you all. God Bless and Good Fishing!

You the man! That's great fishing! BSL has been bitch slapping me lately.

Good Job Brett!

I might not have posted a photo with GPS coordinates, but that's just me I guess. I do appreciate the report. I'd love to make the trip you made.

Shoot, I'll have to wait about 12 hours before I get to watch it. The anticipation is killing me.

There are so many great rods available these days. I really shy away from being too critical of anyone's choices. IF I've tried that rod and disliked it, about the most I'll say is that it wasn't my cup of tea.

Heck with the fishing Brett, I'm getting the popcorn ready for your video. My next trip will likely be Bull Shoals. Depending on how things shake out, I might get to make another White river trip prior to the New Year. It depends on the arrival of I law's and the weather. I only like to fish when it's warm and sunny.

It's a great name. I always kinda wanted one too, but I've moved away from where I was comfortable Carolina rigging.

Oh there's pics, but they're sooo bad that I guessed he had Helen Keller take them for him.

A buddy made a trip today. He had a 22 inch hen Brown on a Zig Jig and a little later a 24 1/2 Brown on a jerk bait. I was @ work.

Far too often my jerkbaits ARE bottom contacting lures. I throw them a "little" to shallow a lot.

I'm a fluro guy with jerkbaits. I prefer the Berkley 100 % in 10 lb. InVis X doesn't have enough abrasion resistence for my taste. I feel more bites when using fluro on cranks, but I don't catch more fish using it for cranks. I do use more of it up having to re-tie more often so I'm back to mono on crankbaits. I don't think it is the water absorption that makes fluro line sink. Water wouldn't sink in water right? I think I read that fluro is more dense than water. I like it because it was minimal stretch when under light loads and I can feel bites better, BUT I'm cool with folks throwing their jerkbaits on mono.

I love my Supreme, but I would hate to operate it under the conditions you describe as routine. Your clients are likely going to take a pounding when there are whitecaps. The 20-30 mph with push you around a lot. The lengtof a Supreme would help bridge the waves from crest to crest. I'm not sure if it would be safe, but I'm fairly sure it would not be comfortable.

I'm in the dark on who the best jerkbait fishermen on the White River lakes are.maybe I would know who you're talking about if I fished local tournaments. I don't fish many tournaments, but I'm certainly not against them. I'll have to add a that Cara Jerkbait rod to my wish list.

What happened to it's nose / mouth? Is it supposed to look that way?