Feathers and Fins

Bill, I have found tournament anglers are far more inconsiderate of the recreational fisherman durring tournaments than anything else and the money involved makes them more aggresive and pushy. NOT ALL of Them but a large number. I have even had them come fish points where I was duck hunting decoys out and shooting going on. I lost all respect for those guys years ago. They DO NOT own the lake and if im on fish I will not move if i see one of them coming. I see it all the way down to the local club level and with a tournament dam near every weekend anymore it seems you might as well give up fishing if you want to try and be polite and stay out of their ways. Its Public Lake and everyone has the right to be there even the dreaded Wake Boats and Jet Ski's. So enjoy the lake and fish when you are one them give people ALL PEOPLE respect and distance and if you get on fish and want to share it with others go for it I love getting others on fish, but tournaments IMO bring out some of the worse in people and if you want to not fish thats fine but dont be more concerned about them than you would any other angler.

LOL. If they do that MDC will shoot them, cant have them having fun or leaving the reservation.

gramps, it happens alot I have people trying to run right up my rear end when im fishing striper all the time and yes it pisses me off to no end. Here is the funny thing if they stayed off me when i finally found a good biting school I woudl call them over I do it often its the fun i get out of it, helping others catch fish. But the guys who have to be jerks and sit on me will never get that offer or call. Respect goes a long way with me. Man dont get me going on this subject or ill break the badword filter!

I actually got to play with some prototypes the other day and they felt very nice, Didnt get to use them on fish but put a few through my normal paces when looking them over, They felt as good as my St Croix's and had very good balance, no clue on the price's but very nice feeling rods. Then again I have played with Shimano prototypes in the past that felt very good and when they hit the stores did not even feel the same and when on fish didnt act like the prototype. So take what im posting for what they might be not what they are. Still IMHO the best rods ever made were Sabers, ( not the penn sabers those are junk ) I am talking Saber made by Leon Todd who now makes Cal-star. Thye are very pricey but if you want to feel what perfection is they are it.

Storms typically move West to East this one will come inland for a ways and then hook northeast as all do. It should have no impact on us. The storm track shows it doing exactly that.

Stuck bambi early, killed many geese on the early season, waiting on duck to open. Though this cold front has me really itiching to get out BUT its been a long week Im tired and need to pay attention to momma this weekend because with Duck Season opening next weekend time spent doing family things will be seriously curtailed.

7 & 9 cm pearl white, black silver and fire tiger. 7cm is doing great on the crappie and the 9cm is ticking the bottom and popping walleye nice.

Been flocks of Specks in NE AR for several weeks numbering near 50,000 or more, My buddy keeps posting it on FB and many mallards. This front will push a bunch in for sure I expect to here geese over hear within the next week for sure. I will be watching Nexrad Radar sites for sure its so cool to watch the radar and then see / hear them at night.

Oh no way do i run in on plane in the dark way to dangerous, Wont even do it right now in the day with the lake so low. I'm a little crazy but not insane lol

Jeb, I know Avoca very well even thought ( keyword) I had a clear path marked on my map, I do duck hunt the back of it on occassion and 0DARK30 is not a time to hit a tree. Last year I went in no problem but coming out I hit one I was only 5 ft at most off my mark. I agree with you and think often someone will DIE in there. I saw a waker in there saturday and just couldnt watch.

Think Avoca and trees lol... some of them old trees were looking like christmas trees with all the A-rigs decorating them. The one in front of the fire boat dock had 9 on it alone but only 3 were salvagable. Someone needs to just put some garland and lights on it and it would have been a great tree lol.

Fully agree on the A-rig time of year, Im guessing 3 maybe 4 more weeks looking over the coldfronts and temp swing predictions. Funny you brought up the A-rig I havent heard a thing about it for at least 8 or 9 months, Guess it wasnt the end all be all fishing bait people said it would be. But im betting it becomes the hot topic again this winter as people start throwing it again... BTW ive managed to collect about 20 or 25 of them with the lake dropping, they come in more shapes and sizes then womens shoes apparently

Jeb I think way to many people are fishing shallow when the most fish are deep, If this holds up I am thinking that we should have a wide open surface bite in a few weeks when the shad start going to the surface when it warms up in the afternoon. Whats your thoughts?

Yup, I was checking my Logs this morning and looks like still about 2 to 3 weeks before the shad will be in the coves, Shad are scattered bad right now like you said you have to keep up with them and that is where trolling outshines most anything else. I cant wait for the shad to get in the back of PC this year with water so low unless you know the channel and the obstacles its going to be fun watching guys try and get to them. But on the possitive side of that, there should be a great flyrod bite on them early and late as the flat is very large now and when they move onto it to feed backs will be out of water. I really hope to get out a few days when noone else is around and try and video it, I will bet it is a heck of a show.

No kietechs today just having fun trolling

There is 4B's in Mo. not wild birds persay but still fun and good for working dogs.

Went out to the lake at 07:00ish. Launched at PC and ran down to the dam doing some pre-season scouting for ducks. For you waterfowlers there were lots of smileys around a few redheads and cans blue wings still present but more greenwings now and even saw a couple swan's For the fishing report. Hit rocky branch and found some shad and tried them, mostly whites and hybrids so i left and ran to Beaver shores. I cant say I have ever been tired of catching bass but after 70 i stopped counting, most were 12 to 14 inches but did manage a few in the 18'' class. I was working 15 to 20fow trolling flicker shad. One of my passes took me into deeper water 25 to 30 fow and the graph lit up with shad and fish marks so I started working that depth on the troll. 18 Crappie from 9'' to 16 inches very nice thick backs on them kept a few for the fryer which I beleive my wife was very happy to see. Troll speed was 2.1 to 2.4 mph No stripers to speak of and only a few short walleye.

New HDS 5 with lake insight

He probably would erase them, I would

Let your line out 100ft and troll at 2 to 2.5 mph, its real simple I fished with Bob a few times for the stripers that way and normally outfished bait and other lure guys.

HDS5 on the front HDS7 on the console with structure scan. Love them, use to be a HB fan but no more.

When they are shallow or near the right structure, YES. You can also troll for them and stripers using sinking line ( started in Cali back in the late 90's by Bob Slammal <sp>) on Lake Skinner and has become very popular. White shad imitation flies.

Im moving all my stands this weekend to where deer crossings signs are http://youtu.be/CI8UPHMzZm8

Never thought about it, they are here for us to eat and what im thnking about is how im going to cook it. I normally put mine in a live well and keep them kicking till I get home then just pull them out and clean them, throw a couple right in the pan put some in a soaking bowl for the next night and the rest get froze for later. When I use to surf fish alot and would catch a flounder or halibut depending on the coast I was well known for throwing it right from the surf onto a grill as soon as i gutted it. Its food not the family dog.

Throwing FOF and some sculpin, I even trhew live bait and them they just didnt want to play nice.