LittleRedFisherman

White was hot yesterday morning at the Dam, but olive and ginger turned out to my go to once again as the day wore on!

I"m thinking the weather Monday will be similar, except some sun which will be good. Nice Smallie!!

I remember the days this was covered live on ESPN 2, guess there be a recap next weekend on one of the outdoor networks?

Referring the Nano and leader, I to have been using nano on my spinning reels after watching Ham outcast me 20 feet with my CX premium on a comparable outfit. I started out using flouro as a leader, and on a lot of hangup, I seemed to break at the leader more than I liked. So on my Smallie fishing this winter, I've used 8 lb nano with an 8 pound cx premium mono leader. I have now used that on 4 fishing trips in a row, broke off several times, still that same leader, it's pretty short now, but maybe it just coincidence, but with that mono i'm not breaking off at the leader anymore (with an Alberto knot) and it's such a short piece of mono, it's still super sensitive which is cucial for dragging jigs and neds for winter bass. Just my obersavation so far! Going trout fishing next week, i'd think that the 6 pound nano to 6 pound mono leader would produce the same results as far as no breakoffs? We will see.. As to the original question, if I had to choose between the two, Mono on spinning, Fluro on casters..

Guess I'll play along to. The top pic is two of buddies from my college days, it was from the Mississippi River in the boot heel, I've caught one bigger but there's no pic I can find, i believe this one was around 50 pounds.

Ditto on the rod tray.

Looks like a great time guys!,

Same thing the other day, got good late!

Seth looks like a great day on the water. Was the wind as bad there as it was here?

Where I'm from especially growing up we ate what we caught usually, money was tight as a kid and a fish dinner caught was appreciated! folks round here think it's silly i drive an hour to catch fish I have to release. Lol, but they just don't understand the passion for ozark fishing I have, and the protection of it! Here it's all about crappie and catfish! I LOVE me some fish, but catch flathead and crappie for my fish frys. The last time I've actually cleaned and cooked a bass was in the early 90s, I wasn't a big fan of it then, but that fish the other day was awesome, but everything tastes better on a bank! Al that casserole thing sounds good to me!

No worries, folks that know me know my thoughts on catch and release, and my love for protecting our rivers, I'm a member of the MSA and live in Arkansas if that tells you anything, but a treat for a shore lunch that we rarely do, i'll make an exception. If I had caught that crappie before lunch, that thing of been in the grease probably, and we didn't cook that big largemouth, it's still swimming, caught a couple 13 inchers that were just right with some taters. Max actually mentioned trying a smallie, I said we go hungry first...lol. It was a great day, wish I was out there today!

Awesome can't wait for the report! If yesterday is any sign y'all will do good. I wish I had a thermomrtor, I'm guessing the water temp started in the upper 30s and got to 40 as the day warmed. We left them biting like it was springtime but needed daylight to navigate some shoals, but a slow bite first half of day! Water is getting low and clear here, had to back off and make some longer casts, many of the jerk bait bites were actually seen which was sweet!

You ever have one of those days, that things just come together, well I think today was one of them! My friend Max and I decided to fish today, he took off work, and I got enough stuff done earlier in the week to make a day of it. I was concerned that the cold day yesterday, and being 24 degrees when we hit the water this morning might hinder the bite. Well, at first it did, the bite started out slow, we fished for an hour and had one fish, but it was a dandy 17 inch Smallies. We continued to fish thoughout the morning with a few bite here and there, I was throwing mostly jerk baits and jigs! Max had brought some stuff for a shore lunch, and I brought my old Coleman cooker, so we decided to try to catch a couple Largemouth or Kentucky's for lunch! Before we did that we went to a spot that I thought might produce just that, we had to work for them at the same time our stomachs were growling, but finally scored a couple cookie cutter Largemouths for the shore lunch. On our way to take a break for lunch I made some more casts with my Megabass, and I saw huge flash in the water, set the hook, and bam, caught a largemouth double on the jerkbait. We got a kick out of that, and as we headed to shore, I made the comment that maybe that's a good sign for the afternoon. Folks i'm hear to tell ya, I actually have not eaten a bass of anykind in years, but a fresh largemouth out of that cold clear water, my goodness I think it's the best fish I've ever eaten, at this point I was a happy camper for how the day had went, but it wasn't over!! We hit the water after lunch and started picking up more bites, and big bites. Max scored a dandy Largemouth, I really couldn't believe it, as it was actually in smallmouth water. A few cast later, I landed a nice Smallie in basically the same area...very cool. We managed to fish till about 30 minutes before dark, and consistently had good bites with what I consider above average fish! There are days you catch 8 to 10 dinks for 2 or 3 good ones, today it seemed right the opposite! Max even scored a 22 inch Chain Pickeral, the first one caught in my boat all winter, and largest I've seen in person! Then when we thought that was something, I hooked into a large silver fish, and like MoSmallies story bout Smalliebigs shouting it's a drum, I did the same, but turned out to be a dandy 14 inch crappie, my PB crappie to boot, who would of thought! It was just a great day, and thankful to have the chance to go, I start working on the farm next week spreading chicken litter, so I will be remembering this day well next week.lol. I didn't keep count, or even measure many of the fish, just enjoyed a great day on the water, but here's a few pictures of some of the good ones. I didn't have a water thermomter with me today, but I think that water warmed up well from the morning, and the fish followed suit! Bret..

After those monsters you posted, I wouldn't change either, awesome fish!!

Great comments, and neat story Al! I know one old fella that lives at Doniphan that has consistently caught winter walleye for decades, I actually had the chance to fish with him once about 14 years ago. I got the idea how to do it, but didn't have any luck that day, but he would always rig another pole with a catfish worm with stink bait? At first I was thinking what the heck, but that day the walleye just didn't bite, but those holes we fished also had Channel cats in them, we caught 27 head of 1 to 3 pound channels that day, and even caught 8 to 10 of them on the "Creek Chubs" he brought with him from Doniphan. His grandson actually helps me on the farm, and he was gonna set up a date for us to go with him, but he's struggling with a battle with Lung Cancer so he's not got to fish this winter unfortunaly, but he's the real deal on those walleyes. He like to fish the Arkansas side of the Current river, my neighbor has been catching some on both sides of the line he says, but none with any size this year. It was mentioned above about waiting on a rain event, well that "old fella" I mentioned has elaborated on that in the past, when we was having the drought a couple years back, he was going on the white river somewhere to catch the big ones, he said a lot of those larger fish migragted up the Current river in the winter when we got some rain, I wasn't sure about that thinking, but his success catching them can't be denied. Anyhow, i'm looking forward to trying, i'm actually off tomorrow to go fish, but gonna try some more cold water bassing and maybe some crappie, thinking the water temps just took a nosedive, but we will see. Trying the walleye next week, I will post win lose or draw on how it goes!!

Wouldn't be caught dead fishing there!

Love my coosa! I just need to use it more! I saw where they came out with an updated coosa, the coosa HD.

I've only went once this winter fishing for strictly walleye with no luck, but plan on making time next week with a neighbor who can catch some. Jigging grubs and bottom fishing minnows are the game plan. The elusiveness of this fish interests me and love the challenge of hopefully catching one! Anybody been on any walleye yet? The next month is when there pursued here on the current usually!

Rick, your the man! I've put a few wounds on my supreme this winter bass fishing. Some of the shoals I gotta go over are shallow this year.

Sweet fish, Dandy!!! Congrats! White river rules!

Couple smallies we caught also!

Thanks guys! Yeah this pic really tells the tale to me to. I"m so used to catching largemouth out of ponds and dingy Delta water around here, that these river largemouths to me have more defined lines and strip. There is no Largemouth I've ever caught here at Home that is as pretty as these clear river ones, to me at least!! We left um biting, they didn't bite good till about 1030, had to leave at 12.. Great morning none the less, thankful to have the opportunity!!

Great morning this morning! Fished a stretch in AR that has a mix of fish, you never know what you might catch. I was afraid the cooler weather would affect the bite, I didn't take water temps, but the fish were active enough to catch several. I am second guessing the first picture here, from what I could tell from the the jaw, I called it a spot when I caught it, my friend Max also thought so. I'm second guessing now, but the jaw was above the eyes. Only reason i'm wondering so much is that this spot would be my PB! Max had good luck with his Jigs, and even nailed a sweet crappie We caught a few smallies as we'll!

Very cool indeed, and a sweet boat, congrats!!