Ham

well, the good news is that I didn't break the rod first time out. The place we were fishing is so small that I was actually kind of handcuffed by the length of the rod. I was using 7X tippet. It was hard to see and got irrevocably tangled really often. Not the most fun I've ever had fishing. Do a lot of research before you pull the trigger on a tenkara rod purchase.

7 or so. My Dad and I caught 13 species over 2 days at Venice, La. I hope to do a trip with John soon and maybe one of us can get double digit species.

I appreciate that you spent so much time with him and cared for him. I hate hearing of his sudden death, but he didn't suffer a lengthy decline. There's value in that.

It's a good thing you have such a good sense of humor. I don't know how you could handle living in Kansas otherwise. I hope I can catch a gizzard shad this year. Take a nice picture and then mail it to you as slowly as possible.

Busted out the Tenkara for the first time today. I caught a handful of tiny guys from the skinniest water imaginable. Not great water, but nice enough for me to add Dusty Striped Shiner to my life list. My boy went with me and used UL spinning. He got a chub and LE sunfish.

Look, I say over and over that I want to catch every fish in the lake, but if a fish gets off boat side, it's not really a big deal to me. I don't swing a fish into the bottom of boat to flop around ever. I rarely swing fish at all unless I am planning on keeping them to eat. I want to release my fish in as good a shape as possible.

I can see me getting trolled every time someone else catches a gizzard shad.

I think it is a little early for Wacky, but throw it and see what the bass think. It is not too early for other soft plastics though.

I wish BASS and MLF would just wise up and require them to get fish friendly nets and USE them. Like it or not their behavior drives weekend angler behavior. If they treated their fish better, it would become the norm to not mishandle your fish.

I've caught fish on every color I own. I change color based on available light and the clarity of the water.

I applaud the steps people take to treat the fish they are going to release properly. The fish should not suffer for your vanity.

Sitting at 13 species so far. The ball should get rolling a lot faster once it warms up a bit. I'll likely get stuck around 35 species again. we'll see.

Cajunangler and I put in a full day (12 plus hours) in less than pleasant weather on upper Bull SHoals. Wind was miserable, but not bad enough to prevent us from fishing. Wind chill was considerably lower than the thermometer, but for whatever foolish reason I let the 50 degree temp dissuade me from bring enough cool weather. I suffered for my sins, but again, I fished thru it. We fished water that was mild to moderately stained. Water temps from 51.6 to 56. wind was omnipresent and blew from crazy bad to "when will this crap ever end" bad. We were never able to get out of the wind, bit we enjoyed any slight break in the wind we could find. We put roughly 50 fish in the boat. Only 4 of which where not bass. Lots and lots and lots of keepers. Cajunangler had the best fish of the day. A 20 inch LMB that weighed in at 5 lbs 1 oz on a digital scale. cajunangler also caught the one walleye put in the boat and the one smallmouth bass of the day. Mostly spots and largemouth. Fish were cooperative, but particular. Location, location, location. We didn't run out of fish or places to fish them. We ran out of time. The fish seemed grouped in small areas and required fairly precise presentation to get bit. It wasn't really fast fishing, but it sure was fun when you got on a group of them. I need to get better at eliminating water without fishing thru it. I caught my first few RK fish and lost my first RK. I also lost a new Wart that had never even gotten a bite. I love Zebra mussels. We caught most of our fish on soft plastics on jigheads. Ned rig caught very few fish. I did force fed a few with it, but a very few. I caught more on a RK than on a NED. Pains me to say it, but its true. Bull Shoals is showing the full effects of high water years and the resulting high recruitment. I love this lake.

It's a lot easier to change out water pumps on smaller boats. The lower unit on a 150 or greater makes me want to phone a friend to help deal with the weight of the lower unit and help get it lined back up correctly. Lots of great videos on You tube to help you see how these "easy" jobs are done. Watch those and carefully consider if you think you could do it correctly.

QB, take 8 jugs up there and get oil. Should cover you for a year or two. That makes it local enough. You can hit up a good lunch spot afterwards and Fin and Feather and the Lew's Store.

Been there tried that. Same results.

I grew up fishing the cypress swamps of central and southern Louisiana. Good times.

Good way to break a paddle.

I was fishing at Grand Bayou near Coushatta, La. Someone had tossed a Choupique (Bowfin) up on the bank to rot. It had dried into an hard, stinky U. I kicked it into the water (kind of hurt my foot a little) because I'd rather the crawfish ate it than flies. To my utter amazement in the time it took for me to put my boat on the trailer and pull out of the way, that sucker had re-hydrated. I was watched him flip and flop at the water's surface a time or two and then gather himself up and swim away. I would have struggled to believe it had I not seen it myself.

Did someone say Road Trip?

I have fished a lot of days where I didn't have 14 fish. Weather was iffy. You made the most of it. Doesn't sound like a bad day to me.

Man, you must be the Bernie Sanders of bass fishing. You want all your baits to get an equal chance to catch a fish. Good Deal on the where's waldo fishing trip. You made a bad call, but you had the sense to quickly call BS on it and re-re-locate.

Bowfin. "Calva amia" That's not a very large one really. A buddy of mine caught an 18.8, but I wouldn't bet my life on the quality of the scale. Kinda tough on fishing tacjkle. the can really destroy a spinnerbait and roll over hook points when worm fishing. I'd love to catch another one.

Maybe mojo rig can chime in, but best I was able to determine only 20-35 % of our walleye are natural spawn in Bull Shoals. Plenty hatch, but Green Sunfish and Longear Sunfish feast on the just hatched fish because of the lack of vegetation for the fry to hide amongst. They do better on high water years, but without the stockings numbers of fish would plummet. I'm not sure if this is a better argument to release the fish you catch or keep them anyway. I do know that I'm more likely to release the accidental crappie than I am the accidental walleye. One walleye of 22 inches can feed my wife and I a delicious meal. One 12 inch crappie is a good start.

Well Heck, I think it was warmer than Omaha (P.Manning) and they caught fish. Mission accomplished.