Ham

I have you covered on the yak thing Pete. We have 5 yaks. I'm sure I have one you can use.

Those are good ideas and It's on my radar. I also have some riffles in mind that I want to swing a scud or sowbug thru as well. Just have to bide my time a bit. I want to do an all day trip in yaks from QP to the Confluence.i need a float buddy.

I frequently fish in weather that many would describe as horrible, but I generally see it as uncomfortable. I try to not fish on days where the weather is genuinely UNSAFE to be out in.

I continue to get geared up and mentally ready. I bought some 7X and 8X tippet today. I learned to tie the Davy knot. I've been practicing my Figure 8 knot and arbor knot. I bought some larger tippet rings and a doohickey to hold little tiny BS flys while tying them to tippet. Anxious to get out and use it.

Having seen the flood gates at Norfork open I can't believe any of them survive, but they do.

Happy New Year JD! I hope you stay healthy and have a lot of great trips this year.

Not a problem Marty. I'm looking forward to it.

I think you should be good to go IF the water has had a little to drop and pull debris to the shore rather than mid lake. Ripen a little slower and be super vigilant about floating wood. No clue on locations of the Walleye. Good Luck!

Lots of good advice given already. I'll merely echo that you don't have to know EVERYTHING before you get started actually fishing. Learn the Basic casting skills. Get comfortable with the basic knots for adding tippet to leader. Get a few more clouser minnows. I 100% recommend Boogle Bugs for panfish popping bugs. Very effective and incredibly durable. They can catch 100 fish and look brand new. Lots of other poppers look pretty beat up after a couple dozen fish. They are expensive, but cost effective in the long run.

I had a great 2015 and looking forward to 2016. I'm planning to play with Tenkara. I'm going to chase a lot of different species. I'm hoping to fish with a lot of friends and family and hopefully few OA members that I haven't met in person yet. I'm planning to fish the Bass Cat Owners Invitational in April on Bull Shoals. I'm planning on driving down to fish the White Bass run on the Sabine River with my Dad. I'm hoping to fish the marshes of southern Louisiana in the fall for Redfish and whatever else I can fool. I have a lot of other irons in the fire, but I still hope to make 80 fishing trips. I've got to get after it though. I'm behind already.

I'm good as long as I can get on the water.

Bull Shoals in up 19 plus foot. Norfork is up about 16 or so. I won't be complaining when they at least crest. It appears they are going to keep dropping Beaver and Table Rock until Bull Shoals is up to 684. 25 foot higher than the last time I fished it. After Bull hits 684, they will probably limit releases from Table Rock to no more than what Bull can release. It's going to be a Long, Long time before Bull Shoals is low enough to be easily accessed.

I would need an aggressive combination of cognitive therapy and psychotropic agents IF I was going to be limited to 1 day of fishing per month. I really don't think I would ever want to fish more than 250 days a year.

I was lucky enough to get to to fish 73 times. I got to fish in 4 states. I got to fish in salt water for the first time in a long time Thanks to Cody, Les, and Richard. I used the yak, canoe, Bass Cat, I was a guest in other folks boats, and made a few wade trips too. My last trip of the year was on 12/22 with Little Red Fisherman. We had an amazing day on the water. Right before the monsoon flooded everything in the area. I caught 3160 fish for the year. Some were monster and some were minnows. They all counted as 1 fish per. I got to fish with 18 different people through out the year. Some of which I had never fished with before, some of which I hadn't seen in a decade, some I don't see near often enough, and some I wish I lived next door to. I hope the folks I fished with know that I enjoyed it very much and hope we can fish together again in 2016.

Well, I did not catch a hybrid striper, black bullhead, brown bullhead, logperch, yellow perch, banded sculpin, ozark sculpin, gizzard shad, rainbow darter, Bowfin, American eel, or any of the other suckers besides the Northern Hogsucker and maybe a White Sucker. I only got as close as I did with a lot of water and a trip to salty water. 52 is a LOFTY goal.

Well, I ended up with 41 species for the year. Certainly, the best year for me in terms of species caught. I was so close to my long standing goal of 52 species, but in the end settleed for more trips catching smallies rather than a lot of driving here and there to chase some odd little fish. There's always 2016. I'll try to do better somehow.

I went the $30 route. I have a Bass Cat instead of a Ranger so I can afford it. Lol.

I disagree about not needing to add lead ocassionally, but a interesting read none the less.

I may have to venture ou ton the cold waters of Bull Shoals more this winter IF the White River stays jacked up.

The big two were smart enough to get away from the very dangerous shotgun starts at tournaments, but they have NOT figured out how to stop the insanity that occurs when they lock thru in a large group. I survived locking thru the Red River FLW event as a coangler. It was so bad and so unnecessary. I was holding on for dear life and trying to keep my rods from being broken or tossed overboard. I always ask the guys riding with me to let me know if the way I am operating my boat is uncomfortable to them. I want to provide them with a fun trip NOT a bad memory. Not everybody is comfortable running upper sixties/ lower 70's. I prefer 50-55 mph most of the time. Much more economical and plenty fast enough.

Not me man. I don't need to get beat up by a boat ride.

You can get hit by monster wakes that are so slow that the vessel that made the wake is out of sight before you start rocking and rolling. You really need to pay attention if you run the Mississippi in a fast boat that you don't hit that kind of wake

Ham would like it better if he was using Nanofil.

Not really. It depends on what time a year and how much flow was happening. I've been on the Mississippi when it was low and slow. Geravel bars were the biggest threat. And I've been on it when there big whirlpools and boiling water that were almost overpowering the boat. Big freaking logs randomly popping up from beneath the surface. Scary stuff.

I really think they are holding off on generation because of the huge amounts of water coming into the White from the Buffalo and Crooked Creek. There is a lot of water running into it from every little creek and drain, but the White is still getting great than 100K from the two main sources. Look for the BSL to be releasing MAX water for months straight once the other run off slows down.