Ham

D*** global warming.

We get everybody all reveved up about River Smallie right about the time they move the site to another server. No one can get to the forums right now. Keep checking.

RS.com So, Al do you miss the religious and political debates on TAF?

Water temps still in the mid 40's ??? That's a full 20 degrees cooler than what I am seeing. Bummer. No wonnder you zeroed. Figure it out so you can teach me when I get up that way.

The numbers can get crazy when you really get into the White Bass. I broke down and bought a clicker because I could not keep an accurate count and I got tired of trying to guess. When you say around 100, people look at you funny. The first time I used it we caught 87. I thought that was a relatively slow day. I do envy your success with the flyrod though. I was catching a lot of White Bass, but I could not get the Whites to play along when I broke out the White Rod. I stuck with it until I caught one, but I watched my Dad catch about 20 while I stuggled to get bit. I love to see my Dad catch fish, but prefer doubles to watching his 20 singles. Thanks for the report. I'm not in range to act upon it though.

Hey Bobber, Did you go fishless on the Steel Creek to Kyles or the Woolem to Baker's ? Can't believe you zeroed though.

Well, I was sort of surprized when I was told on this board that my boat forcing some shad out of the mouth of a creek into a larger river was equivalent to shuffling. I would have thougt that the fact that it was inadvertant and a one time event would have been mitigating factors. They are put and take trout. There are WAY TOO MANY put in for them to prosper if people didn't take them out by the bucketful. I wonder if the ever higher stocking numbers could be impacting the overall size of the largest 1/3 of the trout population. People will decide for themselves what is sporting or non sporting within the wide area of what is legal. On the White river they used to herd trout. Guide boats would spook trout into large groups of fish in a confined deep hole then their clients could have a good time catching fish. This was later outlawed. Up until the time it was made illegal, it was fair game, but not exactly sporting in my mind. Waiting in line at an outlet may be the most productive thing to do, but it might not be my first choice.

Absolutely, there are fish and you should fish. Is it the best section of the Buffalo for fish? Not likely. Ponca to Steel Creek has so many rapids that when the river is at a decent level for floating, as soon as you geta rod out you have to put it down and grab a paddle. Steel Creek to Kyle's slows a bit, but you are still going to have to keep an eye on the prize. Good Luck Fishing and staying dry.

The wet Shimano binding issue affects "most" of their models. This is not a complaint about their lower end reels. The binding issue can occur in Shimano's high end stuff as well. It isn't bashing. Shimanos tend to bind when the spinning reel gets water inside of it. There is a bushing that apparently absorbs some water and swells. I've had it happen to me and I've seen it happen first hand to another guy I was fishing with.I have seen MANY people post about it happening to them. I use some Shimano baitcasters and I have a couple of Shimano rods that I love. Try a summer of wet wading/kayaking with a Shimano reel. I don't think you'll make it through the summer without it binding up. I enjoy fishing high dollar rods and reels. I just don't think it is necessary for throwing inline spinners for trout. Quite a few slow to moderate action spinning rods out there to chunk offerings to trout. My relatively limited amount of experience with trout has shown me that they sip dry flys, but knock the crap out of small jerkbaits and inline spinners. You really need hands of stone to miss a Rooster tail bite. I'm quite aware the BPS Microlite isn't the quality of a G Loomis. I won't cry so much if a have a stream side mishap though. I think I can buy another Microlight for the postage require to return the G Loomis or St Croix for warranty service. Lots of gear to choose from. No doubt the high dollar stuff will do the job also.

There is no need to go custom for the uses you are describing UNLESS you just want one. I have a 3 piece (L) action BPS Micro LIght. It does really well for trout. I paid $29.99 for mine. It is only a 6 ' rod though. MOST Shimano Spinning reels will bind when they get dunked. It might not happen the first time, it might not happen for years, but it will happen. I fish Daiwa Spinning reels for the most part. SS1300 or an SS700 will do the trick for trout and panfish. I'm going to try a BPS Pro Qualifier 1000 IF they ever come off backorder status. Think hard about UL vs L. All the trout you catch won't be less than 12 inches.

Bill: Go to the Lunker City Website. Lots of choices with their leadheads. I know for sure that they have football heads down to 1/16 oz. Gopher Tackle is another great option for jigheads to explore. Several unusual designs. www.bassdoser.com has a TON of useful links to fishing related sites.

Happy Birthday Wayne. Sorry I was late to the party so to speak. I did spend your Birthday in pursuit of fish at least. Have a Great 2007 fishing season.

I find crappie to be more particular about color than bass are. I agree in principle with you less colors can be a good thing. HOWEVER, if you are in an area that you know holds fish and you try your proven presentations, a color change is in order if you can't get bit.

If you have to get some fish might i suggest dynamite, a hoop net, scuba gear and a spear gun, a crank phone, or Rotenone. I have fished Table Rock a few times now and I find it a difficult lake to catch fish on. Spots that look so good give up soooo little. Culture shock for me. Very different from the mud holes I usually fish.

I've used a version of that bait before put out by Bobby Garland. It was really good for White Bass. It is a little larger than most of what I fish for crappies. That's a great price and good colors too.

I drove from Baton Rouge,La to north of Kingston,Ont to fish. I've also driven from Minden,La to Pembroke, Va to fish soooo I guess no distance is too far.

I own 3 St Croix flyrods, 2 St Croix baitcasters, and a handful of St Croix spinning rods. I say this not to brag, but to show that I like St Croix products. I had a less than stellar experience with an Avid spinning rod issue. I sent emails, made phone calls, and sent written instructions and comments. Eventually I got the problem dealt with. I wasn't thrilled with the service though. I've heard great stories aout their Customer service and horrible stories so it does seem to be hit or miss. St Croix plays the little guy as a marketing stratagy, but they must be large enough to have good employees and average at best employees working in customer service. I'd try the phone call route. Maybe that will work better for you.

I love catchin Redears. Kudos to those that selectively harvest fish. I think we as anglers go overboard on the Catch and Release thing sometimes. I am not going to advocate the taking of a native fish to protect the spawning of a non native fish though. I'd rather my water had more Redears than walleye anyway, but to each his own I suppose.

Yep those out of state SOB's really need to pay through the nose. Whatever. Most states would benefit more via sales taxes increases if they gave Out of State fishing licenses away. They run off a lot of sales tax dollars and potential guide clients by charging too much for fishing licenses. I don't mind paying to play, but why hit me for more money a year to make a handful of trips a year than an in state guy that fshes once a month? Who benefits more from the resource? Oh well, at least I don't try to come up there and kill a turkey. $175 bucks to try to kill an overgrown wild chicken. Geez.

Having hooked a approximately 10 lb Bluecat with a 6 wt flyrod using 3 X tippet, I can tell you that a 25 plus pound catfish would be all but impossible on trout gear. At some point, it might decide to go lay down on bottom and just wait you out. Without a lot of pull, nothing happens. My catfish buried up in a grassbed and could not be pulled loose with the tippet I was using. I broke off on 3 before I decided that I was not going to be successful. It would be fun to be sure. That first run when a big catfish figures out that it is hooked is amazing.

That's a fly designed to catch fishermen first and fish second. I'd much rather have flies that represent a lot of things well rather than one thing perfectly. It is a beautiful fly, but how does ikt look in the water and how does it move in the water?

Good Golly Ollie. You need a fishing partner just to take pictures of your fish. Great trip. I wish I could have been there.

I've been interested in this technique for quite awhile. It really doesn't get cold enough or rather stay cold enough for me to have a TR like situation occur. I have some questions regarding how weather relates to trying the susp jerkbait. Do ya'll prefer cloudy days over a bluebird day ? Do ya'll want some wind more than no wind? What weather conditions would make ya'll forget about even trying it if water temp and time of year were right?

FWIW, J.E. I appreciate your offer and hope to take you up on it sometime or another in 2007.

The unit I saw on TV has whats directly underneath you on the top half of the screen and on the bottom half it had the side scanning views. I agree that there would definitely be a learning curve with the side scanning technology and that it would take some time away from fishing. BUT I think that with a few passes through key areas, you would get a much better mental picture of whats down there. Hopefully that better understanding would translate to being able to determine the spot on the spot faster and make finding that needle in the haystack faster the next time you want to fish it. I think Lowrance is stil the name in freshwater depthfinders. I have a while before I will be making a change in my electronics. Right now, I fish water less than 10 foot deep the vast majority of the time. It is kind of overkill to buy an eight hundred dollar unit to fish that kind of water.