Feathers and Fins

Lately they have been all over the lake. just troll at the depth Terry said and have fun,

You mean you have the Wife pull the decoy trailer and I so hope she comes on here to corrects you lol. Ness, ask away but the old school tactics from when you were growing up will work just fine today, probably better as most people have forgot how to ( HUNT ) and rely on gadgets and electronics and would be lost actually trying to hunt. As for blinds look up Tablerock Pillbox to see one of the best I have seen in a long time thanks to Ducky.

John just drop a nightcrawler down on a bottom bouncer they will find you! You do not need to find them, though it would be nice if they were slightly larger most are 9 to 14 inches, they hit 18'' about a pound and half I WILL keep a few I love cat and they are simple to clean to me. I just fillet them like anything else.

Nice going Terry, leave docs catfish alone though

There is some great info here, If there is an OA North hunt coming count me in and Marty better bring BBQ sauce, I got Salsa and something says a few birds might get told come back later we are eating. Ness, I have shot Geese over old tires and diapers, Take what Birdwatcher is saying as gospel truth ( Decoys are for hunters ) If they are close enough to tell the brand I bought I better be killing them. Concealment is more important than any camo pattern this or that, I have shot more ducks and geese wearing jeans and a Columbia shirt than I can count so long as im hidden well and keep movement to a minimum. Lord I wish I remembered where I put it but I have a video from the 40's maybe 50;s of old guys in Plaid red shirts, Brown dress pants and Filson plaid hats. Your gun is a killing gun A5's have been knocking ducks dead before most of us were borne. just be sure its plugged. A good decoy bag and a cart isn't a bad idea if you have to walk any distance.

Terry if you are getting in the tub with your crawlers that is true devotion lol. They have been generating like Hogs at a buffet with Huskie served as the main course. Plus the rain has been a cold fall not typical warm summer rain and we never really had a good thermocline set-up like normal and I believe that is due to the very late spring cold temps. I have noticed a bunch of sediment in the lake the last week now that shouldn't be there till typically in late October when the lake normally has a turnover. I do not think the lake is having a normal turnover this year as the thermocline never seemed to set-up well but its having a definite mixing of the water columns. Normally when this happens fishing is very tough the reason I believe is all that sediment is actually nutrition for the fry and baitfish and where it is concentrated is where we like to fish. Well we not only target it but those fry and baitfish being there bring in the predatory fish and they are gorging themselves on the bait. Unless you can find cleaner water or moving water it is going to be very tough. The best option is to bang the bottom and make a ton of noise or use jigging spoons and hit the fish on the nose so to speak. If you think about it we normally see this when the leaves start to fall we are just seeing this earlier IMO and I actually prefer it now then when a billion leaves to snag your lures are falling. The scary thing is its about 6 weeks early roughly as is all our weather which has me wondering how bad this winter will be. ( Breaking ice striper fishing anyone )?

I'm asking from the bottom of my heart on this one. We need prayers for our buddy Cole Croteau. he is fighting cystic fibrosis and needs some prayers.

Only Place I know right now is Hook line and Sinker in Rogers unless Dam Site store has got some in.

September 19, 2014 The weather has been keeping the reports slow but from what anglers that did get out the best Area appears to be Rocky Branch and Coppermine. White Bass, Stripers and Hybrids ; Jigging spoons seem to be the ticket for fish in the Rocky Branch / Coppermine area . A few larger stripers coming on Live Bait ( shad and brooder minnows ) Walleye; Spinner rigs in 20 to 40 ft are still picking up a few walleye along the channel edges as are Flicker Minnows and Flicker Shad. Crappie; Flicker shad in size #6 and 7 trolled 150ft behind the boat is producing a few crappie from pt12 to Rocky Branch. No reliable pattern for Bass or Catfish this week with the weather. We need the weather to stabilize a little and when it does I would suggest start looking for fish to begin moving the their fall patterns, Rocky Branch to Prairie Creek will be areas to start thinking about.

I would say my earliest "known understandable" situation was the Hostages in Iran, what still stands out to me is the Yellow ribbons on tree's everyplace, The feeling in the Nation of utter hatred for Iran and the wish to destroy them and the frustration with a President who seemed like a coward and had no answers. I remember the euphoria when they were freed and how it seemed that the New President was one the world did not want to mess with and that he would lead our country and make it great.

http://www.agfc.com/hunting/Pages/HuntingRegulations.aspx#Hunting

Ok now I hear this morning on the news that the Federal Government wants to revoke the NFL's tax exemption ( estimated 12 million in taxes ) and one of the politicians wants that money to be used for Domestic Violence awareness and diversion. It was only a matter of time till Uncle Tax Man, got involved somehow.

By rafts I am talking about the real birds not decoys. Honestly I probably put out the most decoys on the lake of the people I have seen with 14dz

Heavy rain and hail in Rogers

Great smile on her looking at it. We need about a week of stable weather then it will get really good. There is a ton of whites in that area right now with stripers, I have had more than a few reports this week of good catches of both but everyone saying its work with the weather and when they turn on its fast for about 30 minutes then just picking to dead for the next hour or two. But that area traditionally this time of year is a great place to fish especially for whites.

Maters still going strong here and the Anaheim's and Banana's just wont stop, I have the Carrots coming up and a couple of heads of lettuce plus the onions, If we don't get a freeze soon my watermelons have went crazy and should have them till that freeze.

Great pics as usual John and you got some dinner which is always good, I stayed home yesterday and caught up on Honey Do's and cleaned the boat up. I thought about going out again today but im going to hold off till weather stabilizes a bit so the fish turn on and I can get a good cast n blast in I really want some teal and crappie

We did not have sobriety checkpoints or cops in school, I did get pulled over so they can see my car ( Restored Ford Mustang Shelby GT350 1965 ). If you got busted you probably did it but we did not have the court of Social Media that convicted you before trial. But Glen is so right now everyone is a victim even if it was a aunts friends bridge partners nieces friend that it happened to. Growing up if someone bullied you your dad told you to kick their butt, you might get in trouble at school but not at home it was called standing up for yourself. And we seldom had a bully problem as typically he would meet a few people to deal with the problem and teachers and principles turned a blind eye but gently whispered not to hurt him to the point he had to go to the nurse. If you did get in a fight in school or any other trouble you saw the principle and he/she dished out the punishment based on the facts. We sure did not need a cop involved for kids being kids. BTW we carried knives to school from a young age and as we got older seeing a shotgun or rifle in the truck window during hunting season was never looked at twice ( unless it was new then everyone wanted to see it and check it out ) and never had a shooting or stabbing. Girls kept their legs crossed and you needed the jaws of life to pry them open and most times it also required 1. asking her dads permission 2. followed by a trip to the court house, 3.then a signing a paper followed by 4. a preacher mans blessing and Finally #5 ditching both your best friends somehow.

Terry it has been very very tough the last few days and looks like a few more fronts and more rain coming, I wont even think of fishing it again seriously till we get a week of stabilization. But it is making hunting nice, im swatting teal instead of mosquitos.

How did Al Gore find his way in to this conversation. BTW its 2014 and our polar cap is still here.

Chris , voting is always the answer it hear from people and truth is I don’t see voting as an answer as its just removing one corrupt person for another anymore. I listened to so many people when Barry was running for office the first time then elected stating they will stand behind the president and respect the office if nothing else and now those people are far more outspoken against him then any others. Americans should NEVER respect any politician the opposite is the truth though! The politicians should respect the people whom they took a oath to serve. I believe sooner or later there will either be a Major Natural Disaster, Attack on the US from terrorist or maybe some small minor local event like just happened in Mo that will be a catalyst for a Civil war of some sorts in this nation. History says it will happen sooner or later. How it will look or shape up I can’t tell you that either but if I had to guess politicians will be seen hanging from trees as will many others that people deem as the problem. I do not even know if it will happen in my lifetime but it will happen sooner or later. I’m a fan of history and knowing this country’s history I believe we will see it happen and out of it come a new government based on the same constitution, why not ever read the Confederate Constitution it was almost the same as the Republics. I do see additional amendments to it however severely limiting the government or more precisely spelling out the powers even more clearly than is in our current one that shouldn’t need clarifying. I see those amendments more clearly designed so lawyers and judges cannot alter the founder’s wishes. If the States took preemptive measures by way of adding those amendments before that time of civil war it could be avoided but I doubt most people under 30 probably even know the states have the power to do so. We the People could by that way actually put a stop to Federal Government intrusion in our lives and correct many problems and that might be the solution needed. But it would take people banding together to make it happen.

Social media is fun to watch sometimes it is a great barometer of this country. I don’t know how many posts on Facebook I have seen on Ray Rice and Adrian Peterson the last week. More than I have about the three beheadings for certain and certainly a lot more than about our Administrations plans to deal with the terrorist group. Today I hear about some Dr someplace I think TX who poisoned his wife WTH? I really think Jobs, Economy, Border security and Healthcare are far more important a news Item than some Doctor who poisoned his wife of two NFL Players and their domestic issues and creating a 4 woman panel to deal with it. I sure as hell know that terrorist and dealing with them is more important. What the two NFL Players did or did not do ( neither have been tried ) is really the business of the courts and the people involved. I often think how can people get fair trials when the media both News and Social convict people before trial? I think of the media to some degree as the fourth branch of government the one that is suppose to hold the other ones to task and to report on them doing their job or not. To inform We The People of what our leaders are doing. Do the 2 players and whatever happens affect any of us here? Does the NFL’s 4 women panel affect any of us here? Does a Dr poisoning his wife affect us? But Terrorism does affect us, the economy does affect us, Healthcare does affect us, The media at least News Media needs to get back to reporting what does affect us and hold the politicians to task! I really see a media bias and an undo amount of time reporting on events that to me have NO impact on our lives.

First thing don’t read anything on waterfowl hunting especially relating to decoy patterns or what birds are suppose to do it is all print for the magazines so they sell. Next don’t watch any of the waterfowl hunting shows, they do not always set-up in optimal conditions for a hunt but for filming light, again they want the video to sell and more so I cannot tell you the last time I saw a show on freelance hunting as again wanting the show to sell they seem to always get in with people with private properties and ideal hunting clubs. So here is my suggestion, You will need 3 licenses; Arkansas, Oklahoma and Missouri! You are blessed to be in an area that has access to so many different habitats and terrains and within 3 hours in any direction has more birds than you can believe. Stuttgart and the MAV gets the press but this area is the sleeper of all sleepers. Get Google Earth on your PC and go to each states DNR website and download the KMZ files ( might have to scout for it on the site ) for where to hunt! Then do the same for USFWS I think it’s already on Google Earth. When you map loads your eyes will bug out at all the places you can hunt. This is not news so im not giving a big secret away just one most people never use. Then you will need to get out and put the gas and miles on your vehicle and go to these areas and get the maps so you know where to hunt ( some are online ) but you will need to see them. Now if you are planning on hunting Beaver Lake my first words are BE VERY CAREFUL! She can be a killer in winter. The upper reaches are some days a mad house especially on weekends if it’s a nice day, ( Most waterfowlers today seem to like to hunt nice days ) but it’s on the ugly days she can be very good. You will want to find mudflats or areas where water is moving. The big water requires a lot of decoys as it’s primarily a roost area and you have to compete with rafts of birds and I have seen very large rafts on the lake. It is also deep so your lines on the decoys must be designed for that.

Ticks are easy to take care of, Spray your yard regular and if your walking in the woods spray your clothes with Nix before going out