Ham

It's a lot easier to do that than to have a BIG L tattooed on your forehead. Racist morons.

If you're just fishing, I'd look at Rim Shoals. If you want to keep fish to eat, Norfork or Buffalo City.

I'd use it on low water ONLY. Way downriver so that you KNEW you had a safe window to operate. Rim Shoals and below. I'll PM you some ideas.

That upper stretch would be fine IF I lived local, but it just isn't worth the drive for that size fish. Using the same methods, I catch better fish EVERYWHERE ELSE I fish. I do catch better fish from Hammonds to Sunburst. (fixed a couple typos).

Lots of guns on the market these days for CC that just aren't going to be very accurate. I'm actually OK with that because if you extend your arm until the barrel hits the target MOST guns with then hit the target. I was given a Tarus 380 for that kind of stuff. Even I get pretty decent results with my Glock 17 and Kimber Pro Carry II.

I love to grub fish. I should have spend a few hours doing that. I have tremedous confidence in a grub, but decided to give a full effort of a few other presentations. I'm glad you got a couple.

I live pretty close to the rivers. A river trip is much easier for me. Less time and less money AND a whole lot more bites. A full day on the river when conditions are right = > 100 trout. I prefer to bass fish, but I'd rather catch fish than NOT catch fish.

The upper river (above Twin Bridges) is loaded with smallmouth, but the size was terrible. I did a day trip where we caught about 180 smallies and not a one of them was longer than 12 inches. I won't fish that again. I usually fish Hammonds to Sunburst. I follow the law. I switch to all hard baits and Zig Jigs at Rainbow Springs. Smallies eat the Zig Jigs and jerkbaits pretty well. It's a good trip. I wouldn't do that float on a weekend during the summer and expect solitude, but during the week is just fine. I try to make that float a couple of times a year.

I "fished" out of Oakland for 4 hours on Monday. I never had a bite. I'm not sure a fish ever saw any of my lures. I fished transion areas with a jerkbait. Bluffs with a football jig. I looked for deep shad to drop a spoon around and saw very little of them and none less than 60 foot deep. I also tried a SR5 on points and transition areas. Water temps 42 something to 43 something. Water clarity was decent, but still had a little color to it. Think 5-7 foot of visibility. I also fished some deeper brush (25 foot) with a jig and a boat dock r two. Nothing. Nada. Zero. too slow for me. I'm going to take a break for 30 days or so.

I don't think you need to use a swivel, but I don't think you sure be worried about swivel bothering the fish.

AGFC has usually stocked 30,000 in Jimmy Creek in March. The Rainbowa don't all stay there as I caught one on a crappie jig way up in the Gooley Creek. I've also caught them 7 miles away from the lake up Beaver Creek.

Have you called Hummin Bird and talked to them? Very likely, something is wrong with the unit or the transducer. You should be seeing something. Does the regular sonar give you decent information? DI is not my favorite, but it is another functional way of looking at structure. My DI and SI seem to show HARD objects much better that soft stuff like fish or thin brush, but I might need a new transducer myself. Don House and J.E.Van Natta are two guys that are local and know the Hummin Bird stuff inside and out. Maybe one of them will see this thread and chime in on it.

And the Walleye are very appreciative.

Maybe I'm missing something. I've tied a surgeon's loop and then cut the loop 1/3 down and tie a hook there. And tie the bell sinker on the 2/3 length. I've used it with 6 lb mono catching Magnum White Bass with live crawfish on the Sabine. It's a simple knot that is very easy to tie and works very well.

What's the bottom width?

Good local made trailer too. Are the lights incandescent or LED? Either way, nice trailer.

All those boats are spartan, but extremely functional. They'll last forever with a minimum of care.

Pretty awesome bite you were on.

Good looking boat. Shawnee handrails with a Supreme bottom? Ought a work great.

We may get a chance sooner rather than later Phil if you come down in early Feb. You guys know Taneycomo and it may very well be different, but I do ok with 6 lb mono on the White below BSL and Norfork.I'll use 4 lb to help throw light jigs, but I'm never going to 2 lb. Never.

Phil is an excellent jig fisherman. I haven't gotten to fish with him yet to compare jig fishing techniques. i

He was looking good and fishing great. He actually talked about catching Char Sunday. I'll try to remember.

Oh , it ain't the knot tying. My little loop knot is easy to tie and all day strong. The problem is I'll break off every time I set the hook with 2 lb line. I break off a fair amount on the hookset with 4 lb line. I just pull too freaking hard. It's a flaw ingrained from years of bass fishing with old school fiberglass rods and rubber band mono using the dull hooks of yesteryear. When better stuff came along, we bought it, but that's what I grew up on. I look forward to sharing a boat with you again whenever you get the ok.

It would be easier if I just threw my jigs in the trash rather than tie them on 2 lb mono. I'm going to lose them all anyway, but at least I wouldn't spend time tying them on to that skinny line. I don't own any 2 lb line and I hope to keep it that way. IF you can deal with 2 lb line, I'm 100% in agreement that it would throw the 1/32 oz jig better.

That little 1/32 oz jig has a smaller hook on it that the 1/16oz. A lighter rod might help keep from pulling as many hooks out, but there was plenty of user error on my part as well. I'm used to leaning on them with the 1/8 oz hook and nanofil and ruling the day fairly quickly. It is important to check your hook after a couple of missed strikes or lost fish. I broke the hook on a jig and didn't notice right away. I mised a lot of bites on about three casts in a row before checking. I also had a hook get bent beyond recognition that cost me some fish because of my inattention. it is also very important to have a hook sharpener along for every trip to keep your hooks very sharp. A dull hook will cost you a lot of fish.