Ham

Former SEC bigwigs set up the BCS so I could see some strings being pulled to get a SEC team in the mix.

I suspect a lot of back room shananagans to try to get Alabama to the Title game. I wish LSU could have sealed the deal, but hats off to Texas A&M. That genius Saban couldn't get it done despite LSU having given them a blueprint on how to defend against Texas A&M.

Those are all good choices LRF. I fish Triple Olive, Olive/Ginger, and Brown/Orange more than anything else. I need to order some jigs sooner rather than later. I plan on trying a couple more colors, but sometimes more colors = more confusion.

I have a normal spot? I fish the river from the BSL dam down to Reds landing. I'm looking at doing a a trip down below Calico Rock maybe to Round Bottom access to check out smallies, but I'll probably wait on doing that until next year when the water would be warmer.

I checked the generation schedule and the real time water data and planned a trip. I ran my jet up river in some REALLY skinny water and floated back down. I found some areas that were BOTH really packed with trout and somewhat protected from the wind. Some higher water hit late and helped me run back down river which was nice. It also sparked a late bite. I fished from 9 AM until 3 PM and landed 131 fish. I had one Brown trout. I guessing they moved up river from where I fished. Oddly enough, I caught 6 trout with lamprey attached. I also caught a lamprey by itself. I had a bite and snap set the jig and got the lamprey instead of the trout. I caught the VAST majority of these fish on 1/8 oz Zig Jigs. I broke one off on a fish and lost one more to a snag, so fairly inexpensive in terms of jig use. I caught a handful of trout on a variety oof in lie spinners. I'm trying to develope some other methods for folks that fish with me that are NOT able to fish a jig effectively. No really big fish. I did had a few in the 16 inch range. Lots of nice fat ones though. My best day for numbers so far. I left them biting. I don't know if I could have gotten to 200, but I could have gotten 175 before dark easy. I did see one trout smack the crap out of a leaf floating down river. Oh great down we have vegan trout.

Tell me again why we are still subsidizing tobacco farmers?

You haven't fished with me.

As an LSU fan, that really hurt. They played well enough to win, but we're done in by failed gimmick plays and a prevent defense. Great effort and a big Stl forward for Mettenberger.

Thanks for the article. I'm still jelly that you saw one while fishing.

Just hoppers or other stuff too?

Between the otters and the elk, pretty soon Missouri won't have any fish at all.

I feel like I just have to get there early, but I could have started 2 hours later and caught almost as many fish. Concentrate on deeper water with minimal flow. Light line and finessey stuff IF you have low and very clear water like I did.

I'm fishing some OLD school Shimano Aero spinning rods 6'6" 2 piece rods with SS 1300's. I'm throwing my jigs on 6 lb P Line CX premium, but I will likely be getting some 4 lb as well. I'd love to have some Loomis 720 GLX or GL3 SJR, but I haven't spent the money yet. I bought one of the new St Croix Panfish 7 foot "Fast" action spinning rods and it is a DEAD noodle. I like it fine for finesse cranks and jerkbaits for trout, but it has ABSOLUTELY no place for crappie jig fishing. Of course it would also fish minnows like a champ, but most rods will. I was also pretty darn disappointed with a St Croix Avid that they claimed was a lLight rid with fast action. NOT HARDLY.

48 degrees when I launched the yak. Swim trunks and a long sleeve shirt, I'm all good. The fish were colder than I was though. Very slow until afternoon really. The creek had come up a little bit from last weeks rains, but the water was ultra clear. Until late in the day, the fish were all in the deeper water with a little slow moving current. Deeper water with a high current held no fish. The bite increased as the day went along and they were biting pretty good as the sun dropped below the trees. Wind kicked up with the increasing temps and dumped a ton of leaves on the water. I mostly threw single hook stuff, but LATE in the day did throw a crank. I would pick and alley in the leaves and get most of a ccast before it fouled. I loaded the yak back into the truck as the daylight dropped out and the headlights kicked on about the time I got out to the black top. All in all aother great day on the creek. Real good size and pretty fair numbers.

I'm super jealous of you seeing the Hellbender. I didn't know NFOW had them. I'll spend more timelooking that fishing now.

yes. Lots of folks using Power Pro in the 10lb, 15 lb, or 20 lb strength on spinning. I would use a bit of mono attached with an Alberto or Uni to uni knot. EASY hooksets from a distance. In my experience, you DO NOT want to overspool your reel. You will not need just a whole lot of extra line. You will likely only go thru a little braid when you add leader. I don't put more than 50 yards of braid on at a time. I do have it on top of a little filler line.

Falcon has a saltwater topwater rod that is 6'9" with a shorter straight handle. I think that is their Coastal series. You can still get two hands on it IF you like that style casting. I've been real happy with mine. I like it for LONG casts in open water. It is a good WTD rod. I also like ths Browning Medallion GT rods. I like the 6' short straight handle for topwaters to 1/2 oz and crankbaits up to 3/8. Loads easy and throws a ton. The shorter length seems to help with accuracy around cover. I liked it a lot better when they were $39.99. They have raised the price on them pretty often (like evey year or evey other year) so that now they aren't a true bargin anymore, but a good stick none the less.

I think turnover is usually a lot later than what we think and I think we worry about it far more than we should. The Bull Shoals Walleye club does periodic water temp readings at different depths and that might be your best chance at getting accurate information, but they take readings pretty close to the dam (I think). In the shallower creek arms that are getting ocassional shots of fresh water coming in, they may not have as well developed thermocline. I generally fish shallower than 30 foot anyway so I doubt I'll be fishing below the thermocline.

They work so well. It can be crazy. Seriously, a bite nearly every cast for an hour is VERY possible. I've caught hundreds of trout on them and I'm still learning. The jig head design is important and the hook is GREAT! I won't spin fish for trout without these.

I like the skunk colored ones for a very cloudy day or very late in the day. I like white with a silver blade on sunny days and yellow with a gold blade on cloudy days. I reach for the 1/8 oz size most often but carry 1/16 thru 1/4 oz.

Maybe some rooster tails.

We saw a family of otters playing on a recent float I did with Cajunangler. Our numbers were way down too. We only got 202 fish (mostly smallies) to hand that day.

I like that river. I've been there twice on solo camping trips. Caught the fish pretty good as well.

i quit buying Shimano spinning reels about 1996 for that reason. I'm amazed that a product designed to be used near water can't tolerate water. Lots of guys swear it never happens, until it happens to them.

Catch and release trout. Selectively harvest crappie. I wish I liked trout. I have no trouble catching a limit.