Ham

Awesome!

Let me preface this by saying Small Samole Size error most likely BUT IME, hydrilla did not hurt larger fish numbers. Maybe it would if it took over the lake totally, but with the water depths we have, Nope. you might not be able to eliminate hydrilla with normal amounts of water fluctuations, but you certainly can control it. If you drop the lake 5 foot over the winter and a hard freeze occurs (we get a couple of those a year) all the exposed hydrilla dies and you get an inside edge (I love fishing that) AND if you put > 30 FOW on top of it, hydrilla dies back. Bull often sees Plus 20 above the old 654 number. So, if we ever got enough stability for hydrilla to get established, I still think it would be limited to a thinner band of water with a clean inside edge at 8 foot or and an outside edge at 15 FOW. Then we would have a 690 year and kill all of it.

Lake levels very so Greatly in Beaver, TR, and Bull Shoals that vegetation like coon tail and hydrilla are not likely to get much of a foothold. Drawing down lakes is a method of vegetation control. Just guessing I would say Bull varies 20 foot in surface level on average with some years being MUCH more than 20 foot. I enjoy fishing lakes with vegetation, but we have to look elsewhere for that.

Nice !

72) Northern Pike (Esox Lucius) one of the focal fish on my trip to Nebraska. I sure was relived when I got it in the net.

Oh definitely Pre-Covid

Dude, I’m old. Everything seems like it was recent, but maybe not.

What the heck Man? I loved that store. They were always busy.

You don’t realize the amount of gas you threw on certain fires.

I’m never on Taney when the weather is nice. It’s always absolute crap weather when I fish there so boat traffic isn’t a huge issue for me.

71) Channel Cat ( Ictalurus punctatus) I guess I just like doing things the hard way. I get that I should be able to take a little while and soak natural baits in the right place and catch a channel cat. I did not do that. I caught mine on a Chatter Bait on Portia Bay. He really whacked it and put up a Good fight.

Good Job under tough conditions!

70) Common Carp ( Cyprinella carpio ) these fish can be fun to catch, but they can also be really destructive to small impoundments. Nebraska spends a lot of time and money to keep them from over populating in the Sand Hill lakes. this was an AR Creek fish that I sight fished

69) Red Spot Chub (Nocomis asper) You have to go where they live. It gets a lot easier to catch them after that.

I’m not gonna lie, I had a pretty non productive 3 day trip on Big Piney as far as Lifers especially and new for the year fish. it was a very good trip for camaraderie, food, and decompressing. I just did not catch the fish species I was hoping for. I think I caught 10 specie and 104 fish total, but only on new fir the year. I am currently sitting at 78 species caught for the year so I have a few more days worth to post and some edits to do. my hopes for 100 species are starting to fade barring some extreme efforts and Luck. a trip to NC is in the works. I’m hoping for some catches over there and I have a 1/2 dozen hard targets here that I need to get done.

I like this picture better

68) Cardinal Shiner (Luxilus Cardinalis) after my trip at that special Rainbow Creek, I went up the road a bit. The locals were gearing up for a Lawnmower race, but I was not swayed. I fished at a Super sketchy access @Johnsfollyshowed me. I caught the fish I was after and Lived !

I love the Sauger!

67) McCloud Rainbow I am kinda ambivalent about counting different sub species of trout, but this one has a neat back story and minimal chance of being a hatchery mutt. i caught larger ones that day, but this was my first one and on 2 lb line and a micro jig. I saw lots and lots in the creek that day. They sure are spooky though.

Do you know what the ranged beast was? so many weird fish swimming in salt. Even the tough days yield treasures ; I hope y’all had a good trip.

66) Southern Red Bellied Dace (Chrosomus erythrogaster)

Y’all catch a break for a few days. I’ll be trying to get a few more species over the next few days. i will be pretty bummed if I don’t add 5 to the count by Tuesday night.

65) Ozark Minnow (Notropis nublis)

Super Dave Swears by 6 lb. My Happy place with a Ned is 8 lb.

You be you, but I see no need for 4 lb line while Ned fishing. You might be happiest at 6 lb, but they bite it just fine on 8 and 10 lb.