Ham

I'm starting to feel like I am over doing it on jerkbaits, but so far no Megabass yet. Hey Bill, since you have such an assortment of jerks (custom rouges, LC, McSticks, Megabass, etc), How do you decide which one to throw first? I'm sure you pick the color based on water color, amount of wind, and amount of sunlight BUT how do you decide on size and brand of jerk to throw?

If the water level cooperates, you'll have all the fishing you can handle at Rim Shoals. I get wanderlust as bad as anyone can, but I really think you'd be better served learning Rim as well as you can IF you get to fish there. QP is a great backup plan if the water level is too high in the White. I've had good luck at Ackerman as well, but the White may back up the Norfork so much that Ackerman is "flooded". Don't try to do it all this one trip. I sincerely doubt one person every really learns all of the White in all of its water levels and seasonal vairety. Learn a little something about Rim and have fun catching a bunch of fish.

Well Al, some folks paddle solo canoes and some prefer SOT's. Neither option is wrong, but I'd rather have a grilled t bone and corn on the cob wrapped in aluminum foil than a cold bucket of yard bird. Johnny does a real nice marinade. I've got to come up with a fireside warm dessert idea for later this month. I don't think a decent supper gets in the way of our fishing time. We fish until we just have enough time to get the tent upright in the twilight. We start our dinner fire and then we square the camp away. Maybe catch a few more fish from shore and cook dinner after the fire burns down a bit. Granted if it is unseen water we eventually settle on a campsight a little bit early to make sure we get an acceptable camp site. I'm certainly a rookie at this compared to Al, but I'm more than satisfied with our meals on the river.

It seems expensive to those of us that already own all that gear and have the knowledge base to make that trip on our own, but if someone doesn't have a lot of experience/ gear and they are in this area and want to make a trip like that, it is cheaper in the long run and they'll have a much better experience to boot. I need to look into fixing dessert on the river. We do a good job on the entree and drinks, but I got nothing that comes close to the apple dumplings. Wow.

Hey JBW : The crappie bite was on fire, but the last time I tried it had slowed a lot and then I got run off the lake by a thunderstorm. If you're looking for crappie, go back in the creek arms and look for shallow wood. I do not know the water temps post colder weather. A little stable weather would be nice.

I'm out of the mix as I am in my week on work cycle, bt the weather sure seemed to be crap. Good on ya for catching em.

Have Fun. You picked a good week to miss out on Ozark "spring" weather.

Kinda hard to find a shoreline that isn't wind swept here lately

Nice photos on the website Kyle. I'm gonna guess your camera is a little fancier than mine. The old school boat is pretty nice looking as well. Good Luck with the business, I hope you have more request for trips than you have time.

Ben Levins is a local guide who did a talk at the Fly Fishing Club about Carp on the Fly. There are numbers of pretty decent sized carp in Crooked Creek and others (Swan). He uses small crawfish (or similar) patterns. He suggested watching for feeding carp. Get the fly in front of them. Wait until the carp gets closer and then give the fly a little jump to get some attention. He maintains the hardest part is knowing when the carp has taken the fly. That basically the technique I used to get a biggish carp on a crappie jig the other day on BSL.

I knew I should have thrown a blade some.

Having been a co-angler in two BASS tourney's and one FLW tourney, I can tell you that the pros are not going out of there way for you to catch fish. They for the most part seemed happy enough for me to catch some fish (and I caught fish behind all of them), but they don't leave you anything on purpose. $100 isn't a lot of money anymore and you got some stuff in addition to the time on the water watching the pros do their thing. Having heard your take on it, it doesn't sound as bad as I first thought.

How was the Marshall experience for you? Did you feel it was worth your time and money? Was the free stuff you got worth something to you?

I'm certainly not good enough to detect the difference between a 4 piece or a 2 piece rod whilst casting them. I have both and I use both, but the 4 piece sure does pack easier.

Good Job winning that tourney CB. Nice problem to have trying to sell that boat. Don't rush, you'll find a buyer soon.

I want a $2 lifetime hunting and fishing license PLEASE!

I hate I missed it Larry. Are they going to re-play the episodes?

After 20 whatever years, I would have thought Cajun would know that I love catching just about anything. It'll be a cold day in Obamaland before Cajun has to tell me what kind of fish I just caught.

Yep, Suckers CAN be caught with a hook and line. They pull fairly well too.

Bull Shoals and Norfork are typically quiet. Never many fishing reports.

I had the pleasure of making a quick trip to Lake Norfork with Larry Richards yesterday. Larry was kind enough to help me with some of the finer points of throwing a jerkbait at Norfork bass. We only fished about 4 hours and caught about 20 bass between us with a lot of short strikes. The last 90 minutes or so was very slow. I'm confident we were on fish, but they just didn't want to play. There is a pretty heavy shad kill going on mid lake in the clearer water which I think gives the fish too many easy options to fool very many of then with junk. We found some stained water up lake and the bites were plentiful. I'm sure a Wart would have caught some of these same fish, but all we both threw jerkbaits only the whole time. Match the jerkbait color to water color and/or if you weren't getting bit, it's time to change. Larry knows his stuff and was a lot of fun to fish with as well. I hope we can go again soon. Thanks Larry!

Nah man, I'm saying that folks hate on people that they have a LOT in common with, but they jump to a wrong conclusion and then won't change their mind. Post your pics wrench. I'm sure they're cool. I really need to learn how to post pics. I've caught a nice fish or two. edited because I fail to proof read.

Too rough for me and my sit on top.

Folks really ought to keep in mind what a tiny snapshot of a person a single post on a forum is. Nice fish porn wackinbass. Is it smack if you have the photos to back it up? Some of those catfish were scary big.

Swing by Blue Ribbon Fly and get an up to the minute report of what's happening. Get a free map with other access points just in case. When I go to a new area, I like to ask the local flyshop for intell and usually buy about $20 worth of the reccomended flies to fish. Zebra midges, SJW, scuds, sowbugs, and WB almost always work.