Ham

Sounds Great Ollie. The Norfork seems to always be In a state of flux. More stream alteration work being done upstream and I'm curious how long in will take for thing to get back to normal after the road work in Norfork. I really want to get some yak trips in on the Norfork while it was minimum flow running. That will likely be a flyrod trip. I tote jerkbaits. I throw jerkbaits. Most of mine sport barbless Gammies that I got at Reds Tackle in Lakeview.

Yes, the jig will catch fish with 5 running or 6 or 8. Not my favorite time to fish though. I carry jerkbaits and throw them from time to time. I've caught big trout on them too. I've also caught the 12 stockers you dismiss. I don't think they stock 12 inch fish BTW. Stockers are usually going to be < 10 inches I really don't like the damage those jerkbait do to the fish. I prefer one hook point to nine. I do own multiple McStiks in that LSU color.

Jewel Lures Hound Dog. I carry two of them. I do still lose some baits to rocks, but very rarely to wood.

Anyone know if any boat ramps are closed on Bull Shoals?

In case anyone is interested, the Ozark Mountain Rod I like is the 84UL model. They have another batch about to be wrapped up. They should be available in a couple of weeks. They will be $70 plus tax at Global Dorber in Flippin. It is a big,long lever to move line for sure hook sets. Soft enough to protect 4 lb line, but not near as dead a stick as my St Croix Pandish rod. I'll be getting a phone call from them when they are ready and I'll let y'all know when I have mine.

Rollin'

Good win for Mizzou. Vandy is a sure W anymore. Apparently, neither is Tennessee.

Is the fuel tank for that AFF boat way up front? That may be the same boat that Richard Cross runs. Very stable and very practical. It may cost a little more to operate with the bigger motor.

The fiberglass doesn't grab rocks as bad as aluminum. Fiberglass should be a little faster. Fiberglass is less noisy. My Supreme seems light, but maybe an aluminum boat of the same dimensions would be lighter. I think that a very practical aspect of it is that it is easier to start up a small company and make these boats out of fiberglass then the investment required to start up a metal boat manufacturing plant. I'm a big fan of the Blazer boats. I saw lots of them a little too up close on the Current river. They have a basic boat with a 40 jet that seemed to really perform well.

I'm gonna find out.

Couldn't a person easily make a standard Wart a suspending Wart with lead wire or lead dots?

Typical. Guys come on a beg for information which is freely shared. After their trip, we never hear boo from them. Nice.

I've used a bunch of different line for leader material, but I like the 6 lb CX Premium best so far. I used the uni to uni in the past. It is a perfectly fine knot. No problems. I currently used the Alberto knot. Once you get the hang of it, it is no more difficult than the uni to uni and you get a slimmer knot. I can't swear that makes a difference with casting, but I like the slimmer knot. The Crossfire rod is the rod Richard uses. It throws those jigs a ton and protects light line well. I've used more sensitive rods before and I've used lighter rods before, but I've caught 100's and 100's of fish on the Crossfire. I'm never done looking for a better rod, but the Crossfire rods are proven with this game. In my experience, Nanofil throws as well or better than mono or co-poly, It certainly throws a lot better than braid. Please let us know if you find a great blank for 1/32 to 1/8 oz jig fishing. I want a rod that I'd 7 foot long designed for 4-8 lb line that let's you feel a crappie bite really well and throws the previous jig weights well. It seems to be a rare bird indeed.

The White River Zig Jig is a VERY good cool or cold water smallie jig.

Tell you what LRF. Let's try to fish together on the White or the Eleven Point and you can fish my Crossfire Rod and know if you're gonna like it. I've caught literally 100's of fish on mine. I do throw braid on it. Lately 10/2 Power Pro, but also 15/4 Power Pro. It is a light action rod. It handles trout and panfish very well. I sometimes ask it to do a little much with larger smallmouth like a smallie just under 20 i nches from an overfished MO creek.

There is a WEALTH of information on fishing Warts here. There are some real Wart pros that post here. I would suggest using the search function on the Table Rock forum for "Wart" and then reading for hours and hours. I am not a wart expert by any means, but I have caught a few fish on them. They will work just fine on TR and the other area lakes.

in theory, you don't want any invasive species. When an invasive species hits, reports showing the worst case scenario are released. Sometimes those come true. I actually think another invasive species in the Great Lakes, the Goby, has offset some of the negatives from the Zebra mussel. I also think that the Zebra mussel unexpectedly helped with the organic and phosphate overload that the great lakes had at the time. I think I read that some people want more organic materials and phosphates released ionto the Great Lakes to stimulate MORE algae growth to support the food chain because they're worried about the Zebrqa mussels filtering too much of it out. I'd rather not have Zebra mussels in Bull Shoals or Norfork or Taneycomo, or Table Rock, but they are established in Bull Shoals and lower Taneycomo and I think that it is impossible to be rid of them.

Maybe it will help the Red Ear Sunfish population out. I rarely catch those on Bull Shoals.

They haven't been documented in Table Rock, but I bet they are in there. I KNOW they are in Bull, but I'd bet they are in Norfork. Has anyone confirmed Norfork?

Save your money and throw a Wart.

I have an Ozark Mountain Tradiiton rod (made by Dorber in Flippin), a Cross Fire Rod marketed by White River Zig Jig, and a 1 power custom spinning rod which I think was built on a Rain Shadow blank. I used a TFO light spinning rod, but it is too slow to feel the trout bites. It's an acceptable rod for light creek smallies stuff, but too dead for the delicate trout stuff. I love my old Shimano Aero spinning rods, but I now reserve them for crappie. The custom is really a little too heavy. It overpowers a lot of the fish so.... I want another OMT rod. I'd like the two OMT's and the Cross Fire rod to round things out. What I'm doing is not really all that difficult. I do excell at staying mad at em. I'm not satisfied with 5 or 25 or 50.

I fished falling water (3000 CFS down to 1100 CFS) with Larry Richards yesterday. We fished Zig Jigs exclusively and released over 200 fish over the eight hours we fished. ALL of our fish were released. We started off pretty slow, but we got on a pretty good afternoon bite and left them biting. They were biting pretty well, but the strong breeze up river was a pain. I absolutely hate being blown upriver and I hate a big slack bow in my line. Less wing and we would have caught more. Lots more. Lots of fish > 14 inches. I really think the minimum flow is leading to better fish and better fishing. We had one big Brown and saw several others running our jig and running away from us. We used 1/16 oz and 1/8 oz jigs. I used Brown/Orange, Triple Olive, and Olive/Ginger. We fished 4 lb P-Line CX Premium and 8 lb Nanofil. Both have their benefits. I'll probably keep fishing both. The White River Zig Jig website has a detailed description of how to fish these jigs. They work and that technique works. Learning to do this will make you a better bass fisherman as well.

Chiefs! Seldom has a 4-0 team faced as many doubters as this Chiefs team has. I believe ghey're a good team. Hard to se them getting past Denver though.

So how long does a boat that is trolling an area get to have dibs on that section of the lake?

How in the world do you keep the panfish off your bait long enough for a sucker to find it?