Ham

It still surprizes me how many people want to kill every snake they see. Just leave the snake alone. Snakes are no more evil than a turtle or a lizard and pose no more risk to people than a turtle or lizard if left alone. I figure God put snakes here for a reason and I doubt that reason was to be killed by people too afraid and ignorant to leave them alone.

Dang Bobber, you're like Dom Delouise talking about food to the Ethiopians. I want to be up there so badly. I'm glad you caught some.

I used to think the Red River was big enough too. When I started getting emails from Florida asking for updated information based on previous fising trip reports I had posted, I learned my lesson. Once again, nice report. I'm glad you had a good trip.

That looks like a grass carp to me. How in the world did you get it to bite a fly?

Nice photos and a good report. I'm not sure I would share that much detailed information. If you share that much information about a hot crappie bite on the Red River, you can't get to your spot for other boats the next day.

Good report. I'd just about rather catch a fish on a Spook type bait than any other technique. An off topic question: Why are sooooo many homes in Holiday Island up for sale?

I'm skipping an afternoon fishing trip today because of fuel prices. I just don't think I would have enough hours on the lake to justify the expense. I think we asa nation will finally start conseving energy because we are forced to by our wallet.

I'll be one of those guys driving a Chevy to catch a Smallie I guess. I really enjoy the White bass as well, but it is PURELY catch and release for me. So I basically don't need to ever fish TR except in May. OK I can do that. I imagine I'll be fishing TR next May. I'll have my 6WT and 8WT along if the Whites decide they want to bust the surface within 60 foot of the boat.

Hey Terry, I live in Minden, La. I have plans to move northward. If it was just me, I'd be up there already. I'm leaning towards the Harrison area. I make a fair number of trips up to your neck of the woods. Expect to see me at Taney his fall unless of course someone blows the dam.

I'm not wild about any of the GOP canidates. I don't know too much about them at this point. Rudy has done good stuff in New York City. I don't know that makes him ready to lead the Nation. He has had a relatively messy personal life. Maybe he manages work better, but it is cause to wonder. McCaine is not my man. I appreciate his service. I marvel at his years in captivity. I groan at his fawning for big media to like him. I need to learn more about Romney (sic) and Thompson If the dems run the best canidate in a race, I could vote for them. I don't expect it to happen this , but who knows. I know that I have reduced my personal gasoline use. I have skipped fishing trips. I have not driven to Shreveport or Bossier because of the gasoline prices. I have waited and made multiple stops on one trip rather than spread errands out over several days. IF (and I wonder sometimes)it is a free market, reduced use should lead to reduced prices. Are other folks not reducing their driving? I would think that if all other things stay the same and your gasoline expense goes up, you would drive less or eat less and I sure as heck don't see folks getting any less obese arouind here.

jd We've got the best country in the world, but seemingly no one fit to run it. I fear the fix is in. I don't think it matters who the dem is that they run in the big race, I get a feeling that the nation wants to let the dems have a turn at the wheel. THAT IS NOT AT ALL WHAT I WANT. Senators in general should not run for president. They spend years learning how to tax,spend, and talk. They often do not have a lot of real world management skills. Obama is unproven at every level. I don't hear him saying anything new. Hilliary is what she is. I wouldn't give her the keys to my car let alone the keys to the white house. Biden is a self agrandizing A-hole that would drive me from the room every time he spoke. As for John Edwards, do you want to let a guy run the nation that can't figure out how to get a 20 dollar haircut. If he spends 20 times too much on his hair with "his money", how do you think he'll behave when it is our money? I'm sorry his wife is ill. Why in the world would they waste some of the remaining time she has on him running for President? The higher gas prices are also culling some fishing trips for me. I often have a few hours, but don[t want to burn the gas to get there for just a couple of hours.

I own a CFO123 for a 7 1/2 3 WT flyrod that was made for me by a friend. Special rod so I bought a special reel to go on it. I own Okuma Sierras for my everyday rods. Inexpensive by IMHO all the reel I need for smallies, trout, and panfish. Not too heavy. Decent balance when I have to let a fish run. No problems. I don't use my fly fishing gear nearly as much as most of you guys. If fly fishing were the only way I fished, I'd probabl own "better". One thing to keep in mind, a heavier reel behind your hand doesn't wear on me as much as a rod that is heavy out to the tip. That lesser weight on a long lever gets to me. A light well balanced combo is the cats pjs.

$2.89 Be careful what you wish for. I'm not sure that gas prices will be any better with a demonrat in the White House.

I've been looking at different regs to try to see how most states handle the bass regs. It seems most states do not try to make people responsible for telling one bass from another. I've had Wildlife and Fisheries guys tell me that ideally you would have different regs for each lake and fish species, but that it would be too confusing for most anglers so they pick a happy medium. It seems like many states that have all three species lump them all together under one regulation reguarding length. Some states have no minimum length on any of the black bass species. In doing this search,I noted that Lake of the Ozarks has a 12 inch minimum on Spots as does the Missouri portion of Bull Shoals and Norfork. Slow growth of spots lead to a population shift at Lake of The Ozarks. Spots represented 50% of the total bass population, but only 20% of the bass kept were spots. I'm not sure if that study mentioned forage issues or not. I could not find a date on that press release so I'll acknowledge the regs may have changed back. What are the regs for spots on Beaver Lake in Arkansas? I was thinking they had a 12 inch minimum, but I'm really not certain. I know every lake is different, but I see Beaver, Bull Shoals, TR, LOZ, and Norfork as being close geographically and similar in that they are Highland Res. If the regs I read about are still in play, I'm confused why the 12 inch spot reg works in 4 of the 5 lakes, but would decimate TR's bass population. I wonder what percentage of the total black bass population are spots. I'll guess I'll look for that data later.

If MDC has done studies and determined that the legal minimum for spots needs to be 15 inches, then so be it. Spots are indeed slow growing. I'd bet they would have spawned at least 3 years BEFORE they reached 12 inches. It is interesting to see the way different areas manage the Spotted Bass. Louisiana has decided that there are too many spots in Toledo Bend. There are a lot of fishermen that think that spots eat more than their fair share of the forage fish on Toledo Bend. There is currently no minimum length limit for spots on TB. Remember that I LOVE SPOTS and I LOVE SMALLIES. I am total catch and release on both those species in every location. So not legal change would impact the fish I keep. I have a hard time believeing the bass population in TR would crater if 12 inch spots became legal keepers. There are probably a bajillion spotted bass out there on offshore structure that rarely see a bait. I would imagine those fish would act as a reserve to resupply spots pulled off of shorelines.

Crappie tend to be a little more difficult to manage because natural predation and the success or failure of any given years spawn affect them more than fishermen. Illegal netters can wipe them out of course. Crappie populations are typically cyclic regardless of what fishermen do. As an outsider looking in, I think reducing minimum length of a keeper Spot to 12 inches would let folks keep a few bass w/o negatively affecting the LM or SMB population. Let the presence of a toothy patch on the tongue be the legal definition of a Spot. That's not perfect test, but I think it would be good enough. For the folks that still couldn't tell the difference between a LMB bass or SMB and a Spot, a ticket could be a good education or maybe they just aren't meant to be bass fishermen. If fishing for bass during the spawn is a threat to the lake, The MDC should be able to show that with data from a scientific studies and should enact laws to protect the lake for all the user groups. If any fisherman is following the current law to the letter, who am I to harrass them? I don't plan on being hungry enough to kill a smallie and I love Spots almost as much as Smallies. I will keep LMB when I want some fish, but I prefer crappie. Remember THEY ARE JUST A FISH. They aren't pets. How much guilt to you think a bass has when they eat shad until they vomit them up? We can get so tender hearted about it that we quit using a renewable resource. I find that the real hardcore crappie fishermen are every bit as serious about crappie fishing as anyone could be about bass fishing. I find crappie fishermen to be much more tight lipped about locations and techniques than bass fishermen are as well. The real hardcore guys will fish year round in any weather. I prefer to crappie fish summer through early spring.

You mean like a 14lb 10 oz Striper on a Sammy?

Sounds like you had a better day fishing than I did at work. What about crappie? Catch any of those? Spoonbills? White Bass? Carp? Catfish? And no Largemouth either? You're turning into one of those Smallmouth snobs aren't you.

Any good that comes from dealing with the COE is a fortunaye accident. I like the IRS better than the COE ; and I ain't a big fan of the IRS. I have a hard time thinking of a govt agency that impacts fisherman as much as the COE does that has as little regard for fishery needs as the COE. Terrible.

D*** global warming.

We get everybody all reveved up about River Smallie right about the time they move the site to another server. No one can get to the forums right now. Keep checking.

RS.com So, Al do you miss the religious and political debates on TAF?

Water temps still in the mid 40's ??? That's a full 20 degrees cooler than what I am seeing. Bummer. No wonnder you zeroed. Figure it out so you can teach me when I get up that way.

The numbers can get crazy when you really get into the White Bass. I broke down and bought a clicker because I could not keep an accurate count and I got tired of trying to guess. When you say around 100, people look at you funny. The first time I used it we caught 87. I thought that was a relatively slow day. I do envy your success with the flyrod though. I was catching a lot of White Bass, but I could not get the Whites to play along when I broke out the White Rod. I stuck with it until I caught one, but I watched my Dad catch about 20 while I stuggled to get bit. I love to see my Dad catch fish, but prefer doubles to watching his 20 singles. Thanks for the report. I'm not in range to act upon it though.

Hey Bobber, Did you go fishless on the Steel Creek to Kyles or the Woolem to Baker's ? Can't believe you zeroed though.