LittleRedFisherman

Great trip!!

Never give up on the crappie bite, that's what i'd try if I wanted to fish. I know a guy here, that busted ice on a backwater spot on Black river, and jigged through floating ice and filled up a cooler. I've caught some in some pretty cold weather on minnows! Good luck. if that don't work, riding and and shooting stuff is at least a great option!!

Last year, there were a lot of small males caught, but with the good flows this winter, the bigger ones have moved in. Supposedly a 12 pounder was caught recently. When the river falls off into the delta, there's some big holes scoured out. Its kinda neat, for a few miles there characteristics of a delta river, with Ozark quality water, with smallmouth also being caught occasionally..

I caught one this summer while bass fishing on the EP, but there's some serious winter guys that fish around here. I'm an hour away from good walleye fishing, I need to try it more often.

Try again Andy, posted on my phone, but wanted to type on computer...lol

Been planning when the weather and roads get better to try my hand at some Winter River Walleye. This picture is from a friend of mine that got into some last week. There starting to catch some now in the Current River here in Arkansas, where it starts to run deeper. He also showed me a pick of a ligitamate 5 pound smallie a walleye angler caught on the Current river down here while jigging a grub for walleye, i'll try to get that pic.. He passed them as they hung it. I have tried this before, but haven't had much luck, last year the rivers were so low, the walleye didn't make there "move" up in the Current river. A walleye was caught here that was tagged his said, it was released in the Eleven Point river in Missouri, but caught in the Current river near the Ar/Mo border. So it went down the EP, into the Spring, then up the Black, into the Current and went another 60 miles, pretty neat! I've got some Grubs ready, and hope to go next week! The challenge of catching this elusive fish has my interest!!

Sweet, your good to go now!! Hope we can go next week Ham, gonna have to watch the weather sounds like.

Yes, his very first Smallie after begging him to go that day, he's ruined for life obvioiusly....

Andy and Ham, been playing with photobucket, lets see if this works on a picture of my dad's smallmouth... I think this is how guys have been posting pics, then typing after the picture, always wondered how they did that..lol. Thanks for the tip, pretty easy Ham, plus it has an option to back up all your pictures on your computer!!

5 years ago today, was the start of 24 days without electricity here at home from 2 to 3 inches of accumulated Ice. It was an experience for sure, especially having a 2 month old baby. I got in line that night at a parking lot as word was out some guys were coming with a semi truck full of generators, as there were none to be found, not even extention cords. It was an eery feeling that night, as we were lined up to get one, as the mood of folks there was different. No one, would dare cut in line, after it was told there was not enough to go around, i'll never forget that, could of been a riot. If it were not for Ozark Border coming from up north, and a bunch of lineman from down south, they would still be working on our power grid today.

Thanks Andy for the photobucket tip, I may do that as well. I get tired or resizing pics.. And yes, well handled Ham!!

Probably should stay out of this one, but I've fished with Ham this winter, and let me tell ya believe him on his trout numbers caught. The most effective jig fisherman I've ever fished with, witnessed him catch 74 when I caught like 50 something, plus he was running the boat, all I had to do was fish! He is without doubt a fishing machine!! He post reports on the White River forum frequently..

When is this tournament this year?

Great report Ham. 117 fish on the same marabou jig is insane, in a good way. That a testament to the quality of the zigjig!! After fishing with you on the OAF trip, I know about where you were fishing, I've been thinking of doing the same thing, just working that area, good looking water there! I bet the road leading down there was a bit safer this time... The Largemouth bass, was that surprising, or common. I"d think you'd have a better chance of hooking a smallie that close to Crooked Creek? Enjoyed the report!

I really do think we do have some Coyote/Dog hybrids mixed in. Because you'll see the scraggly looking coyotes from time to time, then you'll see these large healthy looking ones. We have some here that were as large as my Golden Retriever. I know a lot of guys that hunt them here, i'll try to come up with some pics if I can!

Here's another pic of the Pickeral, it really put on a good fight to. They absolutely hammer jerkbaits!!

I almost did, but knew how sick you was like 2 days ago, I had your best interests in mind... It was a really short trip, going to try to get with Ham early next month, we should all go!

Who ever wrote the article has never seen coyotes in the Bootheel, there's coyotes here that are much larger than 30 pounds, i'd say some get close to 80. Had two shot on my farm a few years ago that were approaching that weight. I don't have much experience seeing coyotes in the Ozarks, but here it would be easy to mistaken the identity IMO, especially if it is a long shot with a rifle. Coyotes have killed dozen of my family pets, including my prize rabbit dog years ago, so I don't hesitate to shoot them here. That being said, I hate that wolf was shot, but if that guy is used to seeing the coyotes I see here, I could see where it could be mistaken.

Gavin, I don't doubt it, after reading your posts for a few years now, you knowledge of rivers is impressive!! I saw the write up in the MSA report, from the fall bronze thread a while back, loved that one! Jerry, it was pretty rough, but there would be breaks where you got 5 or 10 minutes of the wind letting up. I think it was swirling and was getting a wind break at times.

This may be a bit boring after the last report put on here but got out today for about 4 hours of fishing. Went to a place on the Eleven Point I haven't been in about a year, and have very little experience in this spot. I was prepared to work for the fish, and that I did. The water is really clearing up since the lack of rain the past few weeks, the green water the EP is known for is getting clear fast, but the less flow than what we've had made for easier boat handling, at least until the 30 mph gusts showed up.... With little time, I decided to cover area "Al style" efficiently with jerkbaits. I went to a stretch that looked good, and after an hour, came up with nothing, I even did a little jig and float technique with no luck. I then went further upstream from there to a good looking hole, with wood and big rocks scattered around. Thats when I started having a little luck. After about 10 minutes of slinging my DD pointer, Bam, got a great hit and the fight was on. For about a minute, I thought I had a really nice smallie, but turned up to be a Chain Pickerel, had never caught one this far downstream before, it measured 19 inches. I continued to fish that area and had a couple more bites, at 11 and 12 inch Smallie, both on the pointer. I had lost track of the time, and as I wanted to work this area again with a jig or tube, I decided to head back down to that good looking stretch that I had struck out on earlier. By this time, the wind was pushing me upstream at times against the current, so my patience was being tested....lol As I got to the other stretch again, I noticed with the swirling wind, I had somewhat of a wind break, so for about 5 minutes I could maneuver my boat perfectly and get on a good drift using my trolling moter to monitor the speed, and utilizing my hand control I added to my remote motor. This stretch had some nice deep green water, with some wood mixed in. As I saw this tree coming up, I made the perfect cast with the baitcaster, and after a couple twitches the pointer got to the right depth. At this point I just let is suspend and drift nearly under the tree, then there was the strike I was waiting on. The plan worked perfectly and landed a decent 14 inch Smallie. Right on Cue after thinking I had something figured out, the wind switched again, and it was difficult to keep the boat on the drift I needed, plus working the lure currectly. After fighting the wind for another 20 minutes, I decided it was time to go, as time flies when your fishing it seems. I had to get back to meet someone at my farm shop this afternoon, so decided to call it a day. It's not a glamous report like i'd liked, but It sure felt good to get a tug on the line, and catch some fish in less than ideal conditions. Also having worked on my water pump system on my Jet, this was the main reason I made this trip initially. It was a quick trip, but one worth taking, because when i'm on a river, life is good!!

It's for sure the least talked about river on this forum probably. But i'm here to tell ya, its a great trout river, especially Brown trout. I caught a 22 incher on a trout magnet a couple years ago. I have not ever caught it like those guys were fishing it, and that time of year. I think the timing is important as with any river, don't think you'll slay them like that on every shoal every time, i'm sure that was planned and timed, but still impressive!!

Actually I didn't recoginize that place, I have only fished down in the Lobo Landing area. I have caught some browns on some moss beds that that river has a lot off. I've never fished like they did there, but gonna have to do that someday!!

What a great read on Jig fishing, from one of the best!!

This might help. or hurt the cabin fever of this cold winter if you haven't been out in awhile. However thought I'd post this video from the show Talkin' Outdoors did on the Little Red, very good segment they did catching some brown trout! The last 5 minutes is really cool! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6pyTOHtuNEc

Yeah, I've been there a time or two, but never bought anything there. They will have all the popular flies you need in there!