Riverwhy

I made a trip to the Bourbon Trail last fall and I've been hooked on Knob Creek single barrel over a single ice cube.

I think the economy is just uneven at this point. Some business owners and real estate investors are doing very well right now. Most white and blue collar W-2 earners have jobs but have not seen wage growth or starting wages that provide enough discretionary income to spend on fishing right now.

I would prefer the companies had remained as competitors but once the growth of Cabela's sales stalled and the private equity guys took a stake it was only a matter of time until they were sold off or restructured. I personally thought that each company had their own strengths and weaknesses. Maybe it will open up an opportunity for another competitor to step in.

XP 590, My apologies for being technology impaired. I read the news on Rueter's this morning concerning the $5.5 billion acquisition.

Well, it looks like the Bass Pro expansion will continue with the purchase of Cabela's.

I was up last weekend. The river arms are muddy but the main lake is in good shape. Crappie are pretty small. We each caught a limit of nine inch or longer fish by 10:00 AM Sunday morning.

I'm good with those dates and I will have a boat and a second person.

I also have a second person interested if a spot is open.

Blackburns resort is a great and inexpensive place to stay. I'm thinking next spring sounds great.

I would love to see the dam removed and I would love to see the river returned to sportsmen and not limited to catering to the 1%. The North Fork once supported much greater number of smallmouth and goggle-eye before the stream was turned into a huge man made aquarium for trout. I do believe the Dawt owners should be held to account for the dam. They sure had no problem cutting off access to folks wanting to enter or exit the river so now they need to fix their issue.

I'm thinking the milkweed might be important in the life cycle of certain butterfly.

I would be interested.

Excellent report and I appreciate your post. I hope to hit the lake in the middle of July and would be happy if I can equal your success.

I wonder if the rocks were a function of the fish feeding on recently laid eggs and they got sucked up in the process.

Great looking fish. I would have relocated the snake to meet his maker.

My advice is similar . Look for rocky wind blown points both early morning and late evening . They are feeding on shad right now . Rogues and any other stick baits worked slowly are a good choice . I hooked a nice one Saturday morning using a megabass but he came off near the boat.

I personally love the upper end Shimano reels. Pricey and worth every penny.

I am very glad we have you starting up this thread. I do think a lot of the striper guys are pretty secretive because they believe the big stripers have been effected by increased pressure. At the boat dock last week a group of striper trollers were lamenting the impact of the increased pressure. Since I am new to the scene I don't have much perspective. I prefer the cast to the bank and then slow roll a stick bait back to the boat method. The umbrella rig trollers and live bait drifters are certainly effective based on the pictures I see but I do not have a good trolling setup for the boat. I have a lot to learn. The hybrid striper is the greatest fighting fish I have ever caught. My personal best was an eight pounder hooked on a spook. It felt like I had a submarine on the end of my line.

I targeted stripers a bit last week on Lake Norfork. New moon made it tough at night but did manage a seven pounder. (I know that is small for some guys but it was my personal best.) Slow rolling a megabass on windblown points.

I fished last week around the 101 bridge area. This was our fifth time going early in April and we have always caught a ton of fish. Not this year. The cool water temperatures, high winds, cold fronts, and evidently my inability to adjust made for a tough week of fishing. My best fish were all caught on the Megabass 110 jerk bait. A seven pound striper, a handful of hybrids, and a couple of walleye were the highlight of the trip. Black bass and white bass were pretty tough. We caught four whites at the mud line Saturday afternoon and then only a single here and there the rest of the week. Caught a few black bass on windy rocky points. The best bite was on rubber worm in about 10 feet of water. (I did not figure this out until a fellow OA member took pity on me and told me what to do.) We saw very few surfacing fish outside of carp early in the mornings. Water temperatures were around 55 to 56 degrees. A bit warmer in the late afternoons back in the coves. Water clarity was generally good. Just enough green and not too gin clear. Wind was high and switched directions daily. Not much of a report but it's all I got.

Fished Saturday from 7;30 A:M to 2:45 P:M. Windy and cool with water temperatures between 48 degrees and 50 degrees. Water was pretty muddy but typical of Mark Twain. We caught around 45 crappie with only 12 keepers. (Somewhere close to 10 inches). Fish were about 6 feet deep against the stickups in about 10 to 15 feet of water. Bite was better on dark colored jigs. All keepers came after noon and was just getting hot when we had to leave. (family duties). Bite was more consistent 3/4 way back into the creeks. Tough day but still fun.

Great job. You are obviously three times better at fishing than I am. I will look into the A rig you mentioned.

Fished mid lake area on Saturday from 9:30 to 4:30. Water temperature was 53 degrees. We caught 14 short bass and two keepers. A sixteen inch fish came on a crank bait near the back of a creek. A nineteen in fish hit on a lipless crank bait on a wind blown secondary point. It was windy and cold. We threw a variety of lures including the Ned, spinner baits. A-rigs, and jerk baits. Tough day.

Thank you for allowing for the input and actually responding.

I just read that AGFC might be reconsidering its decision to stop stocking hybrids. I sure hope it is true.