1969Larson

Maybe both. I love talking about fishing on here.

I don't doubt that. However, I am fairly certain that there are not many baby-daddy-hating girls on this fishing website. Many men and fathers, however are. So to that audience, I say again... Love their moms. Take 'em fishing.

Where in the world did that come from? As stated, I'm simply offering advice to new fathers. It is good advice. New fathers should follow it.

If Dads would follow the first part of that advice ... Love their Moms.... It wouldn't be 98.7% (and I question that statistic.).

What kids today need is ...... DADS! Words of advice to all new fathers... "Love their Mom. Take 'em fishing. "

Awesomeness!

Nice smallies!... Oh, and trolling motors don't like monofilament. Try that next time.

Caught some nice catfish there several years ago, but no luck last time I was there about a year ago. Not sure if it is still stocked or not.

Classic

Some of the local creeks (Osage Creek, Spring Creek, Big Sugar, Spavinaw, etc) are floatable in a kayak if you can find good access. Use Google Earth and explore a bit. Most of those hold some nice smallmouth once you get a little ways away from where the locals or not-so-locals swim, drink, bbq, and change diapers in the creek.

I have a 45-yr-old 55-HP Johnson - 3 cylinder. All it ever does is run like a champ. Every few years I disassemble and soak the carbs. That's about it. Oh, and 23 mph on GPS.

Only a few ounces less than Table Rock.

61 lbs - 9 oz

I didn't see any shad on the shallow flats and the sun was pretty bright most of the afternoon.

Fished Prairie Creek this afternoon from 4-6 PM and managed one striper on a sassy shad in pretty shallow water. The water was dingy and 52-degrees.

Walleye?

It always interests me how we create a hierarchy of living things that are not human and we don't even realize it. Food for thought, no pun intended: Why do we dislike cutting fillets from a live game fish, but we hook a shad through the nose/brain and drop him down to a fearful death without so much as a second thought? They're both fish, right? Fishermen (myself included) feel badly causing "pain" to certain vertebrates but not others. Groups exert all their energy protecting animal rights. Governments spend fortunes to find a tiny trace of a possible indication of bacterial life on a distant planet and it makes headlines. Meanwhile we destroy obvious human life when it is "inconvenient" and we call it our right to do so. What has happened to our perspective and values? (This is not directed at anyone in particular, rather just a sad and general observation of us as a whole.)

Just curious, is the pretext of this thread and some of the posts here that cleaning fish without giving them a merciful or quick death is unkind or not sportsmanlike?

I like to let my 7-yr-old carry them around and fly them through the air so they have a chance to experience new things before going on to fish heaven. Some have had a chance to swim in a bucket. Others have gotten to enjoy a kiddie pool with my 7-yr-old and 2-yr-old sons at the same time. Once a channel cat got put in the kiddie pool and was caught several times with hot dogs before finally finding his way into the frying pan.

There are some weekend warriors around here with some pretty elaborate shad tank setups. Multiple heated/cooled tanks, pumps, filters. Takes considerable effort and space in your garage or shed, but possible.

F&F, I love how there is a big gulp soda just sitting there on the deck in that second picture undisturbed... as if catching a striper on a fly rod is no big deal... cast the fly... reel him in... swig of coke. Repeat.

Rapala Shad Rap - Crawdad

$25 a year and a love for fishing

I am. Great group of guys... dedicated to catching fish and helping each other out. With little ones and a busy schedule, I don't get to make it to very many meetings or club outings, but when I do I always learn something and enjoy them. Topics each month range from tactics and techniques to tackle, boats, fishing spots, patterns, etc. Next meeting is Tuesday evening (Jan 14) at 6:30 at the conference room in Cabelas. Come on out. There will be a ton of knowledge and experience in that room and guys that don't mind sharing it.

Well said!