Feathers and Fins

A trophy area would be a great idea . Also it would be nice to have an area for the tournaments to place there fish where they could be treated with care for release. But i think more so would be to stop the practice of lipping the bass for the photo ops at tournaments, I would love to see a survey done on how many of those fish are the ones found floating up. They take so much care in making sure they live to the weigh in, the same care should be given after. I hate seeing them jerk big bass out of the bag and fling it around for the photo op I know that has to do damage. Closed seasons are not the answer Fish are caught and released daily, some live some die for certain. But we could place better handling and care restriction on tournament anglers to try and help negate some of the loss. Fish are a resource and it is not for me or anyone else to say people cant keep a fish to eat. But a tournaments goals are to release and if thats the goal then better handling practices only seem reasonable. I wonder though if this conversation would happen if tournaments went to catch and keep?

Marty the spread looks fine. Take it for what its worth about blocking, I have seen geese land in heavily blocked areas many times in most cases they go there as its the mass concentration. I defeat them critters doing that by stringing my land set past me 30 yards and the water birds just making it to shore. Thar way the geese either set in the water in front of me or they try to land on me to get with their buddies already on shore feeding. As fun as that is I must caution doing that for snow geese may get you a Meadow Muffin in your eye!!!! Snows are greedy little monsters and try to land ahead of the group on shore. And the other draw back is sometimes you sit under this. My decoys are somplace in that mess lol... stupid wind changed on me and they came in from over me. My layout got a new paint job that day.

The larger fish between the bouys are probably Carp, they tend to hang out there for some reason. The amount of shad is really amazing and one of the reasons stripers do so well. I also would bet there are some monster walley in the lake because of it as well.

This was a special day for this eight year old man, you see today was the first day he was with his father to participate in the hunt. They had gotten up at Two AM to drive out to the field his mother was so careful to pack him a breakfast and juices before he left with his father. On the way out they stopped off at an all night gas station where is dad bought him some coffee and crumb cakes for the morning as well. They arrived in the field going on Three Thirty and opened up the trailer holding the layout blinds and decoys. The boy was so anxious to start setting them out when he had a couple in his hand he turned to run and fell face first in the mud. His dad laughing under his breath and the boy looking so shocked, but in true fashion of a survivor he picked up and carried on. This went on for a over anhour transporting decoys and layout blinds in to the field. When the last load was being hauled out his dad sat on the back of the truck reflecting. You see my friends this was a very special hunt. One that he thought may never happen. The young man running that cold field in the early morning light was born with a heart defect, his prognosis was grim and he wasn’t even supposed to be alive today. His father sat there thinking how many nights he and his wife sat there in that cold dreary hospital, treatment after treatment watch their beloved young man fighting just for a breath of air even with oxygen tubes running in to his nose. He thought about all the surgeries and the doctors trying everything to give this wonderful young man a chance. He and his lovely wife suffer financially greatly during this time, yet always had an unwavering love. Their family spent many nights praying for this young man and hoping for miracles. Then one day the doctor came in not with the usual look of we are trying but! This time he walked in with a great smile on his face and told the parents it looked like his heart had healed. All those years in hospitals all the pain and medications. He sat on the truck watching his son running around the headlamp bobbing on his head occasionally bending down as he placed a stake and decoy on it. A smile came across his face and calm in his heart knowing that today was a triumph and was meant to happen and a day he thought that only by a miracle would happen had happened. He bowed his head and simply said thank you God. As the young man ran back to the truck another set of lights came bouncing down that old dirt road, his grandfather truck was making the journey that morning to be with his young grandson. This was a day that nothing would stop and no armies could prevent. He got out and started walking up with an ole Stanley thermos in his hand one that he had carried many years for work. He poured that first cup and gave it to his grandson and said if you’re old enough to be a man and hunt your old enough to be drinking coffee. Something’s are a rite of passage you know them when they happen and this boy being given coffee was one of those rights. They sat there drinking the coffee and eating crumb cake talking about the hunt to come as they still had well over an hour before it was shooting time. Those of us who know that quiet time before a hunt sitting there just talking can appreciate how much it means. The young boy had crawled back up in the truck and laid down next to his father’s lab and fallen back to sleep his arms around the dogs neck and its head laying on his chest. His grandfather saw this and smiled the most loving smile. He looked at his son and simply said all those years of worry are gone and all you have now is that. He turned and saw the young man and dog and a tear fell from his face. He looked at his dad and simply said worth every minute! They sat there talking for awhile longer when a noise so familiar happened. It was the sound of Canadian Geese on the pond starting to wake up. The sun’s rays had just started turning the sky purple and you could make out the red underlining of the clouds. Though neither wanted to they gently woke the boy and dog and made their way in the dew covered soy beans to the layout blinds. Shortly thereafter the first birds could be heard in the air and the young man’s father started calling. He would occasionally look over at his boy and see eyes as big as dinner plates looking all around. The first flight came in over the trees to the south heading right in. They dropped their feet down and the young man’s father said take um. The boys sat up and fired one shot from his little Remington 870 20 gauge and as he did this big brown bird fell. Neither his father nor his grandfather fired a shot, they just watched the young man take his first shot and with it his first goose. The young man came flying out of the blind and ran toward the big bird. His dad had held back the lab to allow the boy to make this retrieve. He was so small that the big goose was a task it seemed. He dragged it by the neck back to the blind and when he got there hugged smiling say look daddy look grandpa I got a goose I got a goose. No two prouder men could have been on this wonderful earth that day then those two men. Like many children before him the since of joy and happiness over that first bird shown shining on his face. Today a triumph was had and the long road to it made it even that much sweeter. Two generations of waterfowlers were now officially three. Dedicated to my good friend Mark and his wonderful son

LOL one of my favorite lakes to hunt is Flight Lake, bone dry this year but a good place at times. Here is a way I cook both ducks and geese if you want to give it a shot. First Fillet the breast Place in a ziplock bag and add 1 bottle of McCormicks Original Chicken spice Soak 24 hours in the fridge. Pull them out and rinse off the meat Set oven at 350 Place the breast in Aluminum foil and cover them with McCormicks Roitisary<sp> Chicken and sprinkle some Accent on them Fold the foil into a pouch and place 1 breast per pouch, place in the center of the oven for 1 hour When the timer is up unfold the pouch and cook for 15 more minutes While the birds are cooking make some mash taters Remove the breast and add the juices to a brown gravy mix till its the way you like it thickness Get a can of green beans and drain the juice, add the remaining duck juice to the beans and cook 2 minutes 30 seconds in the microwave. You will swear you are eating roast.

Duck numbers down for November LITTLE ROCK – There were fewer ducks for hunters to pursue during the opening weekend of duck season this year, with aerial waterfowl surveys revealing a 26 percent decline in the three-year average for November surveys. Arkansas Game and Fish Commission biologists took to the air Nov. 14-18, the week prior to the state’s Nov. 19 season opener, and counted an estimated 627,481 ducks in the Mississippi Alluvial Valley, commonly known as the Delta. The count revealed an estimated population of roughly 132,000 mallards. The first segment of the state’s duck season ended Nov. 27. The season reopens Dec. 8 for the season’s second segment and runs through Dec. 23. The final portion of duck season opens Dec. 26 and ends Jan. 29, 2012. This year’s November count represented a significant decline from last year’s November count of more than 1.1 million ducks. "It’s kind of what we expected," said Luke Naylor, AGFC waterfowl program coordinator. "This survey was conducted during a period of rapidly changing conditions. It started out very dry, but there was a huge increase in available habitat during the survey period because of heavy rainfall. "Unfortunately, there wasn’t a lot of immediate response to the flooding events. But we did see most ducks where we might expect to see them this time of year, including areas of the Cache, lower White and the Bayou Meto-lower Arkansas River watersheds. In all likelihood those areas had some managed water available, and a reasonable conclusion to draw is that many of the ducks that migrated early had settled into those habitats before the rainfall made more areas available." More rainfall has hit the state since the week leading up to the season opener. And just this week, much colder temperatures have gripped the state. "We fully expect to see significant changes when we conduct the next aerial survey the week of Dec. 12," Naylor said. "We surely have had more migration events since this habitat has become available."

Troy go to the back of prairie creek, stay on the left side of the creek, you will see a cave, go past it the water is shallow on the right deeper on left the shad are easy to net in there. Also Academy Outdoors in Rogers has nets. After you get the shad when you are leacing prairie creek on the left side you will see a cove "tini one" go past it and you will have a big boat dock. start fishing there and work your way slowly along till you hit a rock shelf bank about 3/4 mile at most. turn around and work your way back to the cove. Good luck.

Where you located Billet? I get up as far as 4rivers some times.

Ok thats pretty dang cool. Ive kept reptiles for over 30 years and to see a success story like this makes me smile.

6ft is all I use its simple to store on the boat and easy to throw. I do own a 14footer but havent used it since Florida and it would catch way more bait then you need for a day fishing. Also stumps and rocks will trash a net and 6ft nets are cheap in compare.

Hmm snows now where is that. GPS and nearest motel please LOL.. you know I like doing evil things to them!

3 BATTERIES for a cheap ryobi skill saw and you will be ice free in no time

Nice ringer he has the bill features im looking for, for my next mount. been slow here as well tons of stupid geese but not the duck numbers i was hoping for. Maybe this Canadian front comming will finally push in the birds. My taxidermist needs to be kept busy, i just droped off a lesser scaulp to him and I need a ringer, redhead and canvasback for my diver collection to be finished off. Thinking its almost time to go start looking for wood ducks for late season mount potential as well lol.

I use to fish tournaments and understand the mentality ofthe non-tournament participants toward them. First off it is the goal oftournament anglers to bring the fish to the scale alive or face penalties thatin the pro-level can be worth 10’s of thousands of dollars. Hence now we havebetter live well systems and additives to help insure fish survival. Large fish at the end of their life cycle are not the bestbreeding range/age class to have. That has been well studied and documented.Slot limits for maximum production have been done for years and based off theinformation MDC seems to follow in-line or within reason with other lakesaround the country. Many of which produce fish in the “trophy class” The management practices seem to be very well thought outand provide for a very good fishery. Remember you are not dealing with FloridaStrain which grows to the enormous proportions people think of when they thinkof black bass. And as for Small mouth I have fished northern lakes anddependant on the day Tablerock produces as good as or better than them. Your Slot limit severely limits the general public’s abilityto have fish for the frying pan and the fish are there for everyone to use notjust people in tournaments or those wanting catch n release only but also as afood source. Your Trophy keep restriction is Horrible! Say a personcatches a fish they know is a potential state or world record and because ofyour rule can not certify it! That rule just disallowed a person from potentialmonetary gain from a record as well as the record and all it stands for. Wrongon all counts. 4-1 to 6-1 closure would cost Millions if not more inrevenue for the areas surrounding the lake. Do you want to explain that to allthe business’s around the area. How about the justification for it because itis sure not harming the resource. That argument was proven out years ago. I fish for pleasure as well so add me to the list. And Ilike to keep fish to eat as well and share with people. Been awhile since Ikept a Bass as I much prefer Striper and Walleye over bass, but if I decided tokeep one I sure wouldn’t want your rules and seasons to have to worry about. I HOPE you were talking only bass in this post and assumeyou were because most walleye and catfish I like to eat are above your 21inchlimit and I can promise the stripers I catch are all way above that limit andthat includes the ones I pry out of the Rock. I respect your intentions but there is more to the fish thenjust the fish anymore it is also about the communities that rely on the incomegenerated by those fishermen. When I go to Tablerock for the day I spend about80$ on gas another 30$ on food and drinks and I live close to it for 110$ atrip. If I go to Taneycomo I spend 100$ on gas 70$ motel room 50$ on a show 80$on food easily 20$ on flies and at least another 50$ on misc stuff. Then tackon the 2 to 300$ my wife spends at the outlet stores 500 to 600 easily! Thereason for the trip was fishing but you can see it quickly adds up for aweekend trip. Multiply that by how many thousands of anglers go each year. If anyone doesn’t think a DNR Agency doesn’t take thatimpact into considerations they are fooling themselves.

Part 1: <strong>The Fish</strong> Striped bass are “true bass” if you want to ever have fun with a dedicated black bass angler just tell them they are fishing for bluegill, which is actually more truth than bass fishing. Black Bass are actually members of the sunfish family where as stripers are members of the true bass family. <strong>Morone Saxatilis (Striped Bass)</strong> are members of the family Percichthyidae, the temperate basses! <strong><em>Morone</em></strong> is a <a title="External link" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genus" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">genus</a> oftemperate basses (family <a title="External link" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moronidae" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Moronidae</a>), consisting of fourspecies. <em>1. </em><a title="External link" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morone_americana" rel="nofollow"><em>Moroneamericana</em></a> (<a title="External link" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_perch" rel="nofollow">whiteperch</a>) <em>2. </em><a title="External link" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_bass" rel="nofollow"><em>Moronechrysops</em></a> (<a title="External link" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_bass" rel="nofollow">whitebass</a>) <em>3. </em><a title="External link" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morone_mississippiensis" rel="nofollow"><em>Morone mississippiensis</em></a> (<a title="External link" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yellow_bass" rel="nofollow">yellow bass</a>) <em>4. </em><a title="External link" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morone_saxatilis" rel="nofollow"><em>Moronesaxatilis</em></a> (<a title="External link" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Striped_bass" rel="nofollow">stripedbass</a>) The word Saxatilis tells you a lot about the Striped bass. Saxatilis is Latin meaning "<strong>dwelling among rocks</strong>." Which is avery accurate description of where you can often find them at certain times, insalt-water but in freshwater the have adapted to different habitats. <strong>Max.Recorded Length:</strong> 78 3/4 inches <strong>Max.Recorded Weight:</strong> 125 Lbs "commercial netting" <strong>Climate:</strong> 45 - 77 degrees - preferred water temperature range is 65 to 70 degrees. Part 2: <strong>The Biology</strong> Striped BassInhabits coastal waters and are commonly found in bays and enter rivers in the spring to spawn. Stripers are native to the Atlantic coast, from the St. Lawrence River, Canada, to the St. John's River, Florida. This is something fishermen need to be mindful of when targeting stripers. Note they are in ornear rivers which means they want current. Even in the Atlantic Ocean they are commonly found near inlets and in oceanic current areas. This is where the food is congregated as well. Female stripers release their eggs to be fertilized by any pursuing males. The semi-buoyant eggs then need to drift in currents for several days until they hatch. There is a lot of controversy as to if Landlocked stripers truly do have successful spawning. There is evidence to it in numerous reservoirs but to my knowledge not in Beaver lake as of yet. Eggs hatch in approximately 2-3 days, Spawning occurs when water temperatures reach 60-70°F. The semi-buoyant eggs are released in flowing water as many as 3,000,000 eggs may be released by one female. Eggs require a flow adequate to prevent their settling to the bottom during the incubation period. Hatching occurs after 48 to 50 hours. The best survival rates occur with a salinity of 9-9.5parts per thousand. The optimum temperature for egg maturation is about 63°F. Optimal hatching temperature appears to be at 68°F. I mention these facts as it appears that in landlocked populations lakes that are in areas with salt deposits in the ground creating the salinity levels in the water column appear to be the same ones with reproduction. Though I am not a biologist this does seem to have a correlation. <strong>Life Span:</strong> Striped bass are a long-lived species; they can live roughly 30 years. <strong>Growth Rate: </strong>Growth rates are variable, depending on a combination of season,location, age, sex, and competition. Growth is more rapid during the second and third years of life, before striped bass reach sexual maturity, than during later years. After age four, growth may be 2.5 to 3 inches a year until age eight. Starting at age four, females grow faster than males. Growth occurs between April and October. Part 3: <strong>Discussion and Speculation</strong> I have added this section as the topic always seems to come up. Though for our region it is just the speculation it is a good discussion topic at any lodge or garage. There is evidence of spawning in land-locked Stripers in numerous reservoirs but to my knowledge not in Beaver lake as of yet. Remember: Eggs require a flow adequate to prevent their settling to the bottom during the incubation period. Hatching occurs after 48 to 50 hours. The best survival rates occur with a salinity of 9-9.5parts per thousand. The optimum temperature for egg maturation is about 63°F.Optimal hatching temperature appears to be at 68°F. I have taken water samples of Beaver Lake and have found this salinity level, and Beaver certainly does support the current needed and it certainly has the water temperature needed. So the question beckons, is it possible? To date I have found no studies done on Beaver or had reports of successful breeding. Yet many people catch white bass each year and most could not identify a juvenile striper from a white of the same size. Fun to think about and maybe in time we will have an answer. But then comes the next question: If they did breed in beaver and we had heavy spring storms and if the gates were opened could stripers get into Table Rock? We already know for fact they are in the tail waters of Beaver, the state record came from it. I have caught many stripers from the tail waters. So is Table Rock the next BIG STRIPER LAKE? Think about it Table Rock has two rivers that flow into it with heavy trout stocking programs, The White River and Roaring River. We know from waters with stripers as close as The Lower Illinois below Lake Tenkiller in Oklahoma to as far asLake Silverwood in California those lakes with Trout the Stripers reach gigantic sizes. A lot of speculations yes! But it has happened in other lakes. PART 4: <strong>Striper Food</strong> The most common food source in freshwater is shad gizzard and threadfin. Yet I must say I have seen stripers go crazy over a school of suckers. In fact when over schools of Stripers I have dropped down both a Shad and a Sucker and hands down the sucker will out catch the shad 20 to 1. Perch also are a staple for stripers as well as crayfish, hands down where legal though nothing will beat a trout. You don’t get big without protein and Stripers I have found are the champions at any eating contest and have a high metabolic rate. They eat a lot and will not be found far from the table. Unlike Largemouth bass Stripers are not an ambush predator, waiting for food to come to them, they go to the food. Find the food find the fish. This is an interesting and frustrating thing for most anglers. You see a Shad Ball on sonar but no stripers! Why? Again this is speculation, but over the years I have noticed something about Stripers and Bait schools but not until the last 5 years and people posting pictures of their graphs has it started to come together for me. I would see a single striper on my old flasher or graph and even when diving I would see maybe 1 or two stripers hanging around large bait pods; by large I mean one that is over 20ft round. Yet when I would come across smaller pods 10ft or less it would be shadowed by large schools of stripers. The smaller the pod the more active the fish seemed to be. That got me to thinking about what I had seen so often in salt water dives. Smaller bait balls had more active fish. This confuses people as they see large areas of“boils” where fish seem to be exploding on huge schools of bait in lakes. In most cases where I have metered and been diving and witnessed this what is actually occurring is the fish have herded many schools over flats and are actually picking off individual small schools over the flat. It gives the appearance of them busting a super bait ball when in truth it is smaller balls they actually forced together. When they do this it is an interesting thing to watch as they start attacking with from what the surface appears to be wreck lace abandon, just attacking any bait near them. But underwater this is a very different picture. Some hold under the attack picking off stunned bait and others actually form a wall in front of the bait. You can see videos like this where sailfish and marlin circle bait balls while others slash through them. It may look like chaos and certainly puts anglers into chaos but in reality it is a very methodical feeding ritual. There is of course an occasions when they do have large bait schools pinned and watching them in this situation shows an intelligence to the fish or as a biologist once told me “they are hard wired for life and just do it from millenniums of wiring” they tend to hang on the fringes and when another species crashes the ball it scatters. Then the stripers start attacking the individual bait left out of the protection of the bait ball. PART 5: <strong>Habitat</strong> There is plenty of research done on Oceanic Striped Bass but very little information on Landlocked or Lakes Stocked Striped Bass. This is a frustration to many anglers trying to learn about these fish. My belief as to why we have little research on this vital part of the fishes life is simple! They are a “Put N Take”species, in other words they are stocked for the purpose of anglers taking and keeping them thus little to no need for the research, and the research is mostly on the growth rates and environmental needs to survive.. With little to no “Scientific studies or evidence” to back my findings, I am always open to input from other anglers, but the following is based on years of Diving with them, Marking them on Graphs, Catching them and then correlating my findings to lake maps and where they were caught. Using my logs for the last 23 years from the following lakes, 1. Silverwood Lake, California 2. Pyramid Lake, California 3. Skinner Lake, California 4. Castaic Lake, California 5. <a title="External link" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Powell" rel="nofollow">Lake Powell</a>, Arizona 6. <a title="External link" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Havasu" rel="nofollow">Lake Havasu</a>, Arizona 7. <a title="External link" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Mead" rel="nofollow">Lake Mead</a>, Nevada 8. Texoma, Texas 9. Beaver Lake, Arkansas 10. Lake Ouachita, Arkansa 11. Cumberland Lake, Kentucky I have seen distinct patterns of landlocked Striped Bass that I use each time I fish for them, though some of these lakes are separated by thousands of miles patterns are the exact same, which tells me landlocked stripers do have habitat they prefer and being migratory have stop off points they traditionally use each year just like migratory birds. PART 6: <strong>First is Summer Patterns</strong> Understanding the Striped Bass preferred Temperature range is vital. Stripers want water in the 55 to 70 degree range. Water Temperatures in summer near the surface can range as high as 90 degree’s which is far too hot for them. The other thing to understand is the Dissolved Oxygen content Stripers prefer which is 8.1 to 10.1. On all the above lakes one thing that was clear and present was Stripers moving to the deepest sections of the lakes in summer, you can go on the internet and search for fish reports from all of them and the same story unfolds, “STRIPERS AT THE DAM”! The dam is the deepest section of most lakes and makes perfect since that a species preferring cooler water temperature would be there. But more so the BAIT the striper eats prefers cooler water temperature. Again we have the symbiotic relationship between the fish and the food, which is a vital part of understanding the fish. Everything eats and if you can find the food source you can find the game animal a fact as old as history. This is also an exact attribute of the oceanic Striper, They are in the open ocean during the summer months fattening up on food sources in cool Atlantic’s Northern waters but in fall they migrate south. Same holds true in lakes. PART 7: <strong>Fall</strong> This transition time of year for stripers is when they are migrating and can be difficult to pattern for many people. But the simple truth is just as with other migratory species they have key resting/hold over spots. This is when stripers truly show their oceanic origins. In the fall they start leaving the deep water home and start moving up lake. It is this time of year to pay close attention to water temperature and bait movement! As the water cools they will work up lake toward the river mouths. Remember shallow water retains its heat longer and this will be the contributing factor to where you find the fish. As they move up they will start keying in long main lake points with adjacent flats, also they key in on main lake humps and rock piles. Fall is also the time leading up to the winter gorging to get weight up for the spring breeding time. Smaller stripers move up to the traditional feeding grounds first. I have watched many times in creek areas that first the small fish arrive and as the months go on they get larger and larger in size till you max out a specific range. The big females always seem to be last. This characteristic behavior of stripers is exactly duplicated in the Oceanic Striper. PART 8: <strong>Winter</strong> This is a tricky time of year to locate striper! Habitat to look for is of course the creek mouth flowing water constantly. A mud flat as this is where shad feed and a flat bottom with points with that hook I mentioned earlier. Key is to find the Shad on your fish finder and target the outside of the schools of bait. In the absence of For some reason I have never seen stripers under docks or in structure during the winter, they are always in open water or set-up in a funneling area for bait. They also run up the creeks in the mornings and evenings. PART 9: <strong>Spring</strong> This time of year they can move fast from the winter ground up river to try and spawn! But it only last a couple weeks then they start heading back to the deep water. A striper can cover a lot of water in a short time, some reports show them moving 100 miles in 24 hours and speculation of more. So when they want to move they move. Like fall points are a good place to look, trolling is a very productive method this time of year as you are trying to intercept fast moving schools. The water is still cool so surface activity is common; I see it on points and open lake mounds where they stop off and feed. Striped bass are originally and Oceanic fish for certain, but have adapted to freshwater life. Understanding they relate to a lake much like they do the ocean is the key to catching them but more important understanding how close the relationship is between them and the bait the feed on. PART 10: <strong>Fun Information</strong> Everyone knows the start of the land-locked story began in 1941 when striped bass were accidentally landlocked in the process of building the Santee Cooper reservoir in South Carolina. The true first stocking or land locking of striped bass could be much earlier than that even, In 1879, 132 fingerling striped bass were introduced into the San Francisco Bay, from the Navesink River in NJ. An additional 300 fingerling were stocked 3 years later. Captain John Smith wrote in 1614: that the fish seemed so plentiful that one might walk “dryshod”across their backs over the river. In 1670,Plymouth Colony established a free school with income from coastal striped bass fisheries. Greg Myerson's , striped bass caught on August 4 2011 that weighed 81 pounds, 14 ounces and beat the 29-year-old previous world record of 78.8 pounds caught in 1982 by Albert McReynolds. Has been certified by the International Game Fish Association. Land-LOCKED World Record (67 lb 8 oz) O'Neill Forebay, Los Banos, California , 5/7/1992 by Hank Ferguson.

Yupper see them from Nevada south each year and more and more each year. Now open the season on them lol.

Its been a strange start to the season. I have spoke to people from Ks to southeast Ar and everyone is having a hard time this year. We need some serious cold fronts and freeze out up north. Reports North are saying some of the best ever. Figures La Nina year on one of the biggest fall flight years ever lol oh well thats hunting.

Doubt the flyrods will be much use today with the wind. Just had a report from my brother who is out on beaver hunting and he said good numbers of birds came in with the storm but all are high and moving twoard the dam area from Beaver Shores. As to the set-up I will get pictures later this year but the basics is start with a 8oz to 1pnd weight tie it to a line { 400pnd rated) pull off 30 ft of line and tie a knot in it with a swivel attached 3/0 then pull off 6 ft and repeat till you have done this 12 times. Pull off another 30ft and tie on another weight. Take the first weight and wrap it around something and put it in a 12 slot decoy bag and clip on the first decoy and place it in that slot. Take the remaining line between that decoy and the next clip and put it in the next slot clip on a decoy and place it in the slot repeat all 12. This allows you to set your decoys in almost any water on beaver. FOR DEPLOY I like to hook the lead weight to a branch onshore and then let the boat slowly pull offshore to deploy the lines depending on wind. if the wind is right ill run them offshore in lines parelleling shore so basically no matter what the wind is i hunt where i want not having to worry about wind conditions. Ill try to make some drawing later today.

SPEARFISHING - Spearfishing season for game fish is open from June 15 until March 15, sunrise to sunset,. Spearfishing for largemouth, spotted or smallmouth basses is not allowed in Lakes Beaver. Spearfishing season for flathead catfish is open from July 15 until March 15. Buffalo, carp, suckers, or drum may be taken by spearfishing all year on any waters mentioned above. Only catfish and rough fish may be taken from June 15 until March 15, sunrise to sunset, When spearfishing, you are limited to one-half the game fish daily limit (or the lesser number nearest one-half when the limit is an odd number). You must abide by length and slot limits. You may not have a spear gun in public waters other than those specified above. You must display a standard diver's flag and you may not spearfish more than 300 feet from it. You may not clean or dress fish before you finish spearfishing and leave the body of water where the fish were taken. http://www.swl.usace...oebeavermap.pdf Map of Beaver$4.00 daily vechicle fee or$ 30.00 Annual Vechicle fee, the $annual fee is good at all Army Corps parks

LOL couldnt find the birds today but managed a 23 in Walley 3 stripers 1 channel cat and a 3pnd small mouth... weather sucked bad and was dangerous on the main lake.

Area Specific Regulations Largemouth and smallmouth bass must be 15 inches or longer to keep. Spotted bass must be at least 12 inches long to keep. Largemouth, smallmouth and spotted bass combined daily limit is six. Smallmouth bass daily limit is six. Crappie shorter than 10 inches must be released immediately to the water. Crappie (black and white) combined daily limit is 15. Striped and hybrid striped bass combined daily limit is three Striped bass must be at least 20 inches long to keep. Walleye daily limit for Beaver Lake and its tributaries is four Walleye must be at least 18 inches long to keep. No limit on white bass for Beaver Lake and its tributaries including Lake Sequoyah. Legal to take game fish (except largemouth, smallmouth and spotted bass) with spear guns during season. Handicapped-accessible fishing piers are available at Hickory Creek and Prairie Creek. Game fish may be snagged from the bank below Beaver Dam, from the Corps of Engineers “No fishing beyond this point” sign, downstream to the first Corps of Engineers boat ramp on the left descending bank from April 15-June 15.

Not a bad day infact great day. 2 Honkers 2 Scaulp 1 Wooduck Drake wood and Drake Scaulp both not in picture already sent to taxidermist the picture was taken tonight. 18 Stripers 12 Hybrids 9 whites 3 LMB 2 Kentuckys Prairie Creek was the scene of the fishing crime and a secret cove for the ducks and geese, Should have limited on ducks but the weatherman believe it or not got the wind direction wrong I set up for SSW and it was North i was busy resetting decoys when i should have been shooting. Great Mix of birds scene today and I probably should have stayed on them but I heard stripers calling lol.

Beaver Lake, Sequoyah National Wildlife Refuge and the family farm.

I run the Lorance HDS-5 on my bow and HDS-7 on the console. No way would I ever think of using another system! The up and down is fantastic and easy to use the side scan is very affective and finding structure and bait and after a little time you can start picking up on fish on it in the side scan mode. Yes its a very expensive sytem but well worth it. The lake insight and gps are valuable safety features.

My problem with Taney is I get trout blinders on and would be cutting the hunt short, same problem with beaver only stripers but i usually limit on ducks by 9am so it doesnt hurt.