mixermarkb

If it was me, I probably wouldn't do it. My main fishing buddy is also off work, and I'd love to go fishing with him, but if we do it, it's gonna be in separate boats. I'm just not gonna be in confined spaces, or sitting next to someone in a bass boat for that matter, with anyone who doesn't live in my house until case counts start heading downward. There is just too much risk for me to bring home something and make someone sick.

Hey guys- Got down this week for a couple days. Fished a couple hours Thursday evening, and caught 2 keepers and a few short LMB in the backs of pockets on a spinnerbait, with water temps in the low 60's. I had my older boy with me though, and he's not a super accurate caster yet, so Friday, I decided to bail on the shallow, dirty water bite, and try for some smallies down the lake. We started about 9am at the Spring Creek ramp. Ramp is flooded of course, but the road is fine, good angle, and even has the courtesy dock in place. I got Sid going on a Ned rig, on what I know to be a pea gravel bank. Boat in about 30', fishing 15-20ish, under a heavy cloud cover and occasional rain drops, it didn't take long. He hooked up with a good fish, and I played net man. 10 minutes later, he hooked an absolute toad, 19" and fat!!! He caught a few more there, I caught 4 keepers, but he beat me for big bass for sure. The rain went away and the sun came out, and that bite seemed to slow a bit. I went off down lake with the general idea of working towards Big Creek, but never made it past Music. I caught a few more on a jerkbait, including a pretty meanmouth (I think). Sid caught a few more smallmouths on the Ned, but missed a bunch that were just picking it up by the tail. I stayed away from the Ned, fished a jerkbait and a 3.3 keitech, as well as a big swimbait. We quit about 3pm, with a couple or three shy of 20 bass in the boat. I had hoped to fish today, but Sid was having none of the cold. Main lake temps around 57.

No reason at all to close ramps, though it wouldn't surprise me if the COE started doing it as well. You would think someone would co-ordinate this though, because the Missouri Department of Conservation is promoting fishing as social distancing, and has even suspended the need for fishing permits.

Nice work- I've had that happen on two Loomis casting rods. I used a penetrating epoxy from West Marine, designed to wick into rotted wood on a boat. I just dropped it into the reel seat from the blank finger contact hole at the trigger, and it was runny enough to wick around and fill up the reel seat. Handy stuff to have, bought it to fix a couple spots on the boat where people had driven screws with no sealant. It can be messy since it's so liquid, but works pretty well.

Walmart is going to be limiting the number of people in their stores, with a one out, one in policy once the limit is reached. I think the tape and cones is part of the setting up for that.

I doubt the iron county order would hold up in court as well, but I think the reason they made it so tough was a reaction to the crowds at Elephant Rocks. I guess folks were packed into there like sardines, using the shelters and Bbq pits in large groups, etc etc. I don't blame them a bit for trying to squash that. I still plan on making solo trips to the lake, avoiding humans, bringing my own food and drink, and paying for fuel at the pump. I'm taking the stay at home order seriously, but I don't see how fishing a couple times in the next few weeks isn't isolation. I can do it without interacting with another human all day. As a matter of fact, I kinda prefer it that way anyhow...

double post, sorry

Not just at LOZ, Bull Shoals had a ton of those Rich Lines, still does really. My Dad and I inherited an old (69 if I remember right) 14' rich line tri-hull glass boat from my Uncle when he passed away. 75 horse Chrysler pushed it pretty well, even without power trim. Never mind the fact that I had to crawl up on the front deck to get it to plane off. We darn near rattled it apart trying to get in from a storm on Mark Twain Lake. Dad finally gave in and bought our first Champion that February. I'm pretty sure he did it just for safety, because that old Rich Line didn't inspire a lot of confidence... LOL

Sam (age 5) loves to fish, and will stick at it pretty darn hard, for a 5 year old. He's good for about 3, maybe 4 hours, especially if there is a fish or two in the well to play with when he's bored. The big problem with Sam is that he wants to fish the exact same bait as I am, or he wants to fish everything under a bobber like we do at Busch Wildlife for gills. He better be getting bites, or he's mad that I'm doing it wrong...lol Sid (13) has been fishing with me since he was about 4, which is when I met his mom. I really burned him out on it, didn't have enough patience with him, and he didn't care for it for several years. He's coming back around now, since a middle school field trip to Busch Wildlife last year. Apparently, he knew more about fishing than he thought he did, and a bunch of the girls were impressed that he could tie their hooks on.. LOL now- I just gotta get him up to speed on a baitcaster, and maybe teach him how to drive the boat and run the troller- I think for me, the big key is divide and conquer. I can manage either one of them ok, and still catch some myself, but you get the two of them in the boat together, all bets are off. At that point I call it a win if everyone gets back to the bank with no new holes in them!!!

trying to get down this week- hoping to just get out alone, but the wife isn't sold on me not taking the boys. Don't get me wrong, I love taking the boys, but id like a day or so of real hard fishing, and I cant do that with a five year old lol

But my Lowrance HDS-7 non touch gen1 at the console is doing some odd stuff, and I (maybe) can squeeze out just a bit of tax refund money to spend on a toy myself, depending on lots of things, not the least of which is COVID. I have never had the side imaging option, just 2d sonor. If you were on a budget, but wanted to move up a couple steps to side imaging and maybe bigger screens, what would you be looking for on the used market? Probably want to stay Lowrance, although if there is a way to ease into the Garmin world on the cheap, I'm all ears- where is the bang for the buck in electronics? Thanks- Mark Burris

I had a long response typed, and deleted it. Bottom line, you think TMR "sucks", and I think it meets my expectations just fine for a place to stay and eat. I can't fix any of your issues, and you didn't talk to the only people who could before bashing their business on a widely read public forum. I'm not gonna use up anymore of Phil's bandwidth to drag this out farther. I hope you at least enjoyed your time on the water and caught some fish.

Sam, the little guy, is a heck of a fisherman. He catches bluegills all by himself all summer at Busch Wildlife, using Berkley power bait and a bobber. He was mad at me for making him throw that Ned without a bobber, convinced I was doing it wrong lol- hopefully I can get him out in the boat on a day when the smallies are biting it and let him have some fun with it. Taking kids and grandparents fishing makes ya realize just how hard a job guides like Bill have. The self Imposed pressure to get them bit was enormous. I did my best to not fish, but had to cast a little to get some bites to find fish, since I was starting cold. I can't imagine how that pressure multiplies with cash on the line, as well as folks literally depending on you for a trip of a lifetime!!! hats off to the guides who do this day in and day out-

Hey Guys- Came down for my annual spring break trip last week. I don't have a lot concrete to report, because fishing was fairly tough for us. I had my boys, 5 and 12 with me, as well as my father in law. Fishing 4 folks in the boat changed what I would normally do quite a bit, so I stuck with Ned, Keitechs and Yamamoto grubs for the most part, stayed away from Arigs and anything treble hooked, mostly fished steeper channel swing banks and didn't run around looking for fish nearly as much as I would by myself or with an experienced back seater. Got the boat in the water Tuesday in Spring Creek around 11, after everyone slept in and ate a big breakfast. Water pressure was low, so we just fished fairly close to the ramp, and Elmo, my father in law caught a nice crappie on a steep bank with the smoke grub. We pulled out and took the boat to Theodosia Marine Repair. After lunch and with some dirt daubers nests cleaned out, we went back out again. Grubs and the Ned caught Elmo a couple more fish, I caught three or four, and both boys zeroed. Wednesday we again slept in a bit, and got back at it around 10a. Same baits, only today it was the boys chance to put it on their grandpa, who had been REALLLL mouthy to them about having skunked them the day before. Sam (5 year old) caught himself a nice smallie (with just a tiny bit of help from me). Sid caught a nice smallie and a keeper LMB, and I caught a few shorts and a squeaker LMB. The boys had had enough fishing, so Elmo and I went out after lunch for an hour or so while they went to the playground at the corps park. I picked up a megabass 110, and promptly caught 4 very fat spots on a bluff end. Elmo was getting bites but not hooking up on the grub. We went back in after an hour or so, to make sure my boys hadn't burned down the resort. We loaded up and came home Thursday morning due to the rain and cold weather incoming. I'm reasonably sure there would have been a good A-rig bite on the bluff ends, and water temps 48-52 and clarity (slight stain) were perfect for a wart bite, I caught one short on a wart waiting on my father in law to back the trailer in, so I'm sure if someone got out there and worked, there would be fish to be caught. All in all, it was a good trip. Boys and Grandpa had fun, and nobody got any new holes in them from hooks. I'll call that a win, and hopefully I can get back down soon to beat up on the fish a little harder for a day or two, if it looks like COVID allows. Otherwise, it's boat repair time, with carpet and seats to do in two rigs, and compounding and buffing to do on one.

Good goin! How bad is the mud and debris?

Did you talk to the owners Brett and Melanie before posting online? Yes, I’ll agree that TV sucked, I missed having local TV news, and I’ll give you that most hotels these days have a lot more channels. I get most of my entertainment and news these days online though, and if it’s a trade off between better TV and free WiFi, I’ll take the WiFi all day every day. I was happy with my room, room 101, last week, and I’m not sure what you are eating at Cookie’s, but myself, father in law, and my two boys all had really good food, including some exceptional catfish on special. I’m sorry your group had a bad stay, but I hope you at least gave the owners a chance to address your concerns. Mark Burris

Bull Shoals is the primary lake I use, and there has been several high water ramp improvements in the last few years. TRL Is sort of the golden child, and that is what it is. Bull has the most storage, and if I recall right, the most hydropower capacity. It's gonna be the catch all, by design. I still think there has been a shift in the last decade or so in the amount of water being held for power reasons. Maybe it's just the minimum flow regs, but I suspect more. I don't even think it's bad, I just think the folks who are getting flooded by Taneycomo and the folks who don't have the same income in high water years as "normal" years should get a slice of the hydroelectric pie.

I don't have a problem fishing high water in the lakes. Flood control is what they are there for, and I also don't have a problem with them making as much hydropower as possible. My problems are first, the flows on Taney. There seems to me no reason to not pull water through the chain early enough to avoid flooding downtown Branson. Get that water into Bull if that's where it's gonna go, early enough where it's not a panic release. The second, and related problem is, those who operate the COE leases that were negotiated based on the old style of flood control having big winter drawdowns and somewhat "normal" summer season lake levels, lose a whole lot of money when their lake is in flood pool all summer and folks stay away. There needs to be a mechanism built into that COE lease to help those businesses when the lake is flooded. I suspect that the additional hydropower $$ would be more than enough to take care of giving the small businesses a break on their leases in flood years. In other words, fill those suckers up if that's the new normal, but be transparent about it, and take care of the people who have property damaged and business damaged by the results of no winter drawdown and floods every other year.

Anywhere in print that the lakes are now power generation first, flood control second? I totally believe this to be the case, but id like to see it in print. It seems as if that would change some things as far as insurance for folks in the floodplain areas, as well as along taneycomo...

ding ding ding, we have a winner The COE still claim flood control as their mission, but they sure do hang onto the water more than they used to since those electrons the dams make became more valuable...

I haven't stayed at Lakewoods, although it looks nice. I do have to say though, even though the location at the upper end of the Little North Fork arm isn't always ideal for fishing, that Theodosia Marina Resort offers a better combination of space, restaurant, hotel rooms, and housekeeping cabins than any other place on the lake, IMHO. I've been tempted to stay other places given that my favorite area of the lake to fish is the midsection, from say Shoal Creek to Oakland, but in 30 plus years of staying there somewhere between 15 and 30+ nights a year, I've never had a less than clean, comfortable room and good food at Cookie's. For me, that is worth the gas and time to boat ride to the areas I like to fish. p.s. I know of more that one derby out of Buck Creek and Bull Shoals Boat Dock that have been won within sight of Theodosia Marina. Yes, the Little North Fork arm kinda gets hammered at times, but it still has plenty of quality fish within a reasonable boat ride from TMR. Bull Shoals is BIG. Plenty of lake to swallow 18 boats and not be on top of each other, even just between the 160 bridge area and the Arkansas border.

A ranger owner calling someone else's tub heavy??? Didn't they use cast iron for the stringers in a ranger up until Johhny Morris bought them?????? lol

I'm not making any claims about temps, I'm pretty sure this isn't going to die out from heat, but UV light does help kill viruses, and the sun makes UV light-

In all seriousness, sunlight seems to be bad for the virus. Practice social distancing, but don't be afraid to be outside. It's not airborne, it's spread from droplets from coughs and sneezing. I plan on fishing as much as I can while I'm not working, as long as travel to the lake and back is legal and gas stations are open.

I was in the "have three, one runs" boat as well, until the brakes on the old truck left the building like Elvis right before time to renew tags. Then it was either put brakes on a truck with 350K that also had the AC compressor die in a puff of smoke last summer, or bite the bullet and go buy something. After talking it over with the wife, and going back and forth between buying a older half ton truck and a smaller 3rd row suv, or buying the truck I really wanted and dropping a reman motor in the 08 hybrid Yukon, lack of common sense won out and my credit union now owns a low miles 2014 GMC 2500HD Denali. I signed the papers on the 6th, despite being worried about the effect of the coronavirus on the live event industry. Again, I'm a knucklehead... Company I work at lost every event on the calendar for the next 60+ days, in the range of 2 million dollars worth of shows, gone in a week. Roughly 80 full time staff left with no work. Doors are still open, but hours and salary cut back by 30 percent, across the board, with more cuts to follow depending on how long this lasts, with all of us encouraged to take as much unpaid time off as we can. I'm still thinking things will come back, but the next couple or three months is gonna be a little painful for sure. As of right now, the church I work at on Sundays is looking at doing online services, so I'll have that income. As of now, I'm taking my boys fishing next week. It's spring, I have a full stock of baits, and gas is cheap. Whatever comes next, will come. Coronavirus is gonna have to work its way past fish slime to get on my hands lol.