Ham

Good for you GM. I don't eat Redfish, but that's cool if you do. So glad they didn't allow them to be commercially harvested to extinction.

Heck of a deal you made him Bill.

Love TW! Great prices. Incredible selection. Great customer service. I'm spoiled.

under 16 only. no license needed. Barbless artifical lures only. no scented plastics Power Bait poo. jigs should be OK. It isn't fly only.

Thanks for the report. I fished a little further up lake earlier this week and it was MUCH slower than it had been for me a couple of weeks ago. Maybe I need to head more down lake.

Aggravating when you find a BIG group of fish like that and can't get em to bite. Sounds like you tried some good lures, but sometimes they just won't bite. I might have tried a deep running jerk bait, but a spoon would have been my first choice.

BSL being 8 foot lower and Norfork being 12 foot lower is definitely affecting crappie locations from what I have found. They are biting, but it is taking some time to find them. I've had several pretty productive trips and have caught exactly 3 short crappie. The lack of short fish is starting to concern me a bit, but there's not a lot I can do about it.

Heck of a deal!

Good Luck with the new rod. I'm sure it will do the job for you.

Base layer of Cabela's MTP (I think). Fleece lined jeanes / heavy shirt. polar fleece jacket. Cabela's Goretex Guidewear Bibs (insulated) and a jacket (not insulated). Polar fleece fingerless glooves for fishing and ski gloves for running down lake. Motorcycle helmet for running. Insulated polar fleece beanie or wool blend beanie or insulated hat. Layers and windproof. Spare clothing on board and towels on board just in case someone falls in the water.

I'm a Bass Cat guy, but there's nothing wrong with that boat. I hope y'all have many happy years of fishing in it.

I like the St Croix Premiers line just fine. I have fished with my Dad's 6' Light. It was very sensitive, but I really think it would struggle to throw the 1/32 oz stuff. I apparently have a moral aversion to rods listed as UL and rods under 6 foot. I had a couple of St Croix Premier UL rods in 5 foot and 5'6". They just felt like stubby little toy rods.I sold them to a friend and he is quite happy witht hem for trout. I enjoy my 6'6" ML Premier a lot. It is a constant on my creek smallie trips. I had a medium and sold it. I just wasn't using it much.

I have two Shimano Aero rods that are decades old that are the best I've ever fished. They 6'6" and will throw jings from 1/32 oz to 1/4 oz really well and I can feel tiny little bites with it, BUT I've decided to save them for my lake crappie fishing only. I usually carry three spinning rods when trout fishing I am using one of the Ozark Mountain Traditions rod. It is a 7 foot light action rod. I'm able to feel about 2/3's of the bites that I can with my old Shimanos. Nice long lever. Protects my 6 lb line and let's me really lean on the trout. Very happy with it. I also use a Crossfire rod. The Zig Jig crossfire rod is better at throwing the lightest jigs, but in all candor is not as sensitive as the OMT which drives me crazy, but doesn't really keep me from catching trout. I've caught 100's of trout on it at this point. And I carry my St Croix Panfish rod for spoons, in line spinners, and cranks. Dead stick, but slings those baits a mile and protects the lightest line. I'm incredibly disappointed that that rod is sooooo bad for jigs, but I am finding a use for it. I would love to try a Loomis GL3 SJR 720, kinda short for my taste, but might be sensitive enough to please me.

IT AIN'T a jig rod. I bought one. It is light. It is pretty, but it's dead. I bought it for the exact same reason as you are considering one. I took it out on the light and strung it up with a Zig Jig and proceeded to NOT FEEL anything and lose lot of trout that tried to impale themselves for me. I have used it sucessfully for smallish rapalas, spoons, trout crankbaits, and li line spinners. It would likely be a hell of a rod for live bait fishing if you're into that. So, I dropped $120 USD on a dead stick and you can too IF you really want to do so. There is a local guy making Ozark Mountain Tradition rods that work for a trout jig rod and Richard Cross sells his Crossfire rods that suit his style of jig fishing and I can catch em on those as well.

I've been very bullish on NFOW. I'll still fish the White below BSL most often because of ease and less expense, but I'll plan on more trips on NFOW for 2013 than I made in 2012.

Beaver Dam flyshop ought to work. Stop at the fly shop and buy $20 worth of the midges they suggest.

Not trying to rip you off jeb. If you have baits you weren't using, I'd like to swap for baits you like better. I'm pretty sure we both not how much the Megabass and the RC STX cost. Regardless, Good Fishing!

to each his own, but I do not and will not use the ewg style treble hooks. I use the round bend hooks. Yes, the Megabass hooks are wimpy. Big walleye destroy them. Replacements of the factory Megabass hooks are available. Red's in Lakeveiw carries them. Jeb, I'll trade you two STX for each of the MegaBass you want to get rid of. Got Muddy, I've got a pile of Triple Grips that I took off of cranks that came with them. Never fished. I'd love to sell them to you.

OSU and Notre Dame would NOT be undeated in the SEC this year. ND may win the National Championship, but IF they played a full SEC schedule, they would NOT have a win loss record that would allow them to be in that game.

I add lead to almost all my jerkbaits during the cold water period so I don't worry about the hooks being too heavy. But then again, I don't worry about the original hooks and split rings on that bait. they seem sharo to me and the rings have not failed me yet. FWIW, I have NOT had any luck with the RC STX. I've given them a pretty good try as well. I threw Megabass last time out and caught them pretty good though.

I'm sorry to hear that. Mine doesn't get used much from June thru October, But I try to use her November thr Jan and then March thru June. Feb is just a little too slow to be worth the gas money getting her to and from the lake. I'm OK with the amount of gas I burn on the water. I launch close to the water I'm planning of fishing and keep her under 5000 RPM.

i give em a break until next Spring. I catch my winter smallies on one of our wonderful lakes in 15-45 FOW on football jigs.

That's a good price on a great boat. It needs to be listed on BCB website as well. I'm running an 09 Cougar with that same motor and it is pretty economical IF you don't have to run WOT to be happy.

I sure hope I'm not steering you wrong. We have had a little bit of a warming trend, but I am done fishing river smallies until next March or so. I sure hate it because that is my favorite type of fishing. Good Luck if you try, Ham

Look at the USGS gauges. The one for the Buffalo river at Pruitt has a temp reading. The water is getting pretty chilly overnight. Smallies have mostly moved to deeper water and bites are harder to come by. A decent day in the summer is >50 fish most of them < 10 inches long. A decent day in the winter is <20 fish, but they are a little larger. To effectively fish this time a year, you likely need a boat. Sorry to be a bummer, but that's what I believe to be the deal. Great hiking at Round Top mountain just south of Jasper. You might also look at King's Bluff for hiking.