npierceuark

Hey guys, I posted this in the "Buy - Sell - Trade" forum but thought it'd be of interest to duck hunters more than fisherman. See link below for the full listing.

Asking $11,000. I'm in Rogers, AR and can meet within a reasonable distance for serious offers. 2013 WC Custom (18’ long x 50” wide x 22” sides) 1/8” hull 2012 Gatortail 35 GTR (140hrs) 18’ Trailer w/ spare tire Boat: - 4’ front deck w/ pedestal seat base, storage hatch, 5 gal gas tank, battery. Minnkota 45 edge trolling motor, removable 20” light bar and LED pods - Multi position deck with pedestal seat base. Can be positioned rear or middle or removed completely - Rear hunt deck w/ dog ladder, fish finder attachment, LED pod - Removable grab bar w/ RAM mount - Bilge pump, running lights, interior lights Motor: 2012 Gatortail GTR 35 hp. 140 hrs Boat is ready to go for duck season, no trades, selling as a complete rig, will not sell boat, motor, or trailer separately

Floated a river in the far SW corner of MO last thursday and where there was calm water and clean gravel, there were beds. Feeding was slow and the typical lures that produce on that stretch weren't working. I sat over a few of the bedding areas and watched for awhile. Males were corralling the females, lots of action down there

Appreciate the advice Al. I have low expectations for fishing on this float unless you can convince me otherwise. This time of year has never treated me terribly well so I usually sit back and enjoy the scenery and save my fishing energy for a little later in the spring. We have set aside a couple hours before the float for shuttling our own cars / canoes. Doesn't look like the shortest shuttle route but it beats some of the other rivers I've done.

Trying to put together the logistics of an upcoming float, this will be my first 2 nighter on the Jack's and have heard some concerns on leaving cars overnight at a couple of the access points. I'm looking at the salvation army camp access downstream a few miles from Buck Hollow for the put in. Won't be getting on the water till 3pm Friday and would like to camp at Jam Up Cave so that stretch should be doable before dark. Saturday float from Jam up to Chalk bluff then finish the rest on sunday down to Bay Creek Access. So the question is, does anyone see reason for concern leaving cars at the Salvation Army Access or Bay Creek Access for a couple days? I would do Buck Hollow to Bay Creek but I feel like that may be too long of a haul to get to Jam Up Cave before dark the first night. Thanks for the help in advance and looking forward to the trip.

Good to hear, I've been itching to get on the river and was hoping it would pick up soon. Nice looking fish!

Vinsott, I do a fair share of night fishing during the summer and have fished the 12 bridge a few times. it is hit or miss some nights, still not really sure of the rhyme or rhythm but it sure beats getting toasted in the sun. I have a decent fishfinder and mine will do the same. After some discussion and experimenting I have concluded that the fishfinder is bottoming out on bait fish below the light. A fun trick that worked for me was to turn off my submerged light and watch the bottom magically reappear as the baitfish dispersed. It gave me fits for the longest time but I am almost positive that is what gives me a false reading. Now your situation may be different but it sounds real similar to what I went through. Good luck and keep at it, as the water cools try moving into the mouths of coves around pole timber and see if your luck improves.

From my recent experience both stretches provide quality fish, honestly could not say one was better than the other. Snow to Kelly's with this water level is a long float but doable in two days. Depends on how you like to fish: plastics on bottom and thoroughly working the holes I'd go with the shorter option; working buzzbaits, cranks or the like covering water quickly you could do the longer. Be careful with where you plan on camping, there are some really nice people out there and there are some really nasty ones as well. Good luck

I've fished it on the busy days and it is possible. You cast when you can and when you can't, sip on a cold one. fish slow and in the deeper holes. Also fast stretches where people can't park the rafts and canoes will hold some as well. Any small soft plastic should work and buzzbaits are fun if you get out early or late when things die down. Watermelon red plastics and chartreuse buzzes are my go to.

Nathan, I've tried to catch the whites before they move all the way up in the arms before the run and I can say that it has been slim pickings at best. Last year, we caught some from late feb to mid march from horseshoe to pt 12. They would be in very concentrated groups of a couple hundred or more and not biting very readily. We vertical jigged and ran cranks through the groups but they were moving so fast you could hardly stay on them. I think they go into move mode once they enter the arms and don't care as much about eating until they near their destination. This is an assumption but has been pretty true for me. Early march is so frustrating because it is the calm before the storm.

Well done Scott, hopefully the whites won't be too far behind, I'm sick of driving north for any decent fishing, scare em all this way!

That cold weather does a number on boats. I rode along with a buddy Sat AM and just about everything short of his motor exploding and sinking the boat happened. Frozen steering, shorted wires, snapped throttle cable, you name it. Still managed a few birds but was far more exhausting than we were hoping for. Hopefully the remainder of the season is a bit more accommodating haha.

I've got one priced and I will be getting my information to them shortly. She's going on the wall!

Nice fish Wilson!

Scott, you need to order some hula skirts from hobby lobby. made of raffia grass and give really good contrast. Would be a nice finishing touch on the blind.

Glad to hear you got into them. I floated sat night and did pretty well. It was tough with the cloud cover and half moon but managed to do some damage. Have to love the tranquility on that river during the night, beats the heck out of the redneck yacht club during the day, though we did pass by 4-5 fiestas on the bank. One even had a DJ booth and disco ball haha, no joke

awesome! great creek, maybe once you get to know that stretch we can do a night float. the smallies have been loving the black buzzbaits at night.

I'm bringing up a couple people Labor Day weekend for a non fishing float and was wondering if any of you guys knew a place near Noel that would televise college football that Saturday? Particularly the hog game on Saturday. Side note: Fished last weekend with the full moon and got into some quality fish. Black buzzbaits in the shallows was the ticket. Best fish was just under 18" and had at least 5 over 15", mostly smallies and a few largemouths. PM me for more details, I don't want to give out to much info to the lurkers. Any help for the football game would be greatly appreciated, thanks guys

Fishing was best right as the sun was setting and the first couple hours after the moon got over the trees (8:30-11:30) Fishing slowed down after 11 but we were also on the least desirable stretch of the float and we were getting tired. I think if we were on a different stretch the fishing would have remained constant. And honestly I don't think those river bass will pass up a meal at night if they can see it, regardless of the time of night, they really let their guard down.

Launched at pt 12 and ran up to eden's bluff stopping along the way to pick off schooling whites. Didn't have to run too far before we hit the first school and started tossing chug bugs and zara spook jrs. they hammered em, 15 fish in the boat before the action slowed. Fired up the engine and cruised a little further north, saw another school and got after them, another 10 in the boat. This went on until 8ish when things finally died down. Got into one school of small stripers and only had one boil that hinted at a large fish but no hook up, caught a few smaller stripes and blacks. Great topwater action, love evenings like that, highlight was a double hook up on a white bass and a black, pretty good fight when they worked in tandem. ended with 40+ whites, 3 stripes, and 4 blacks.

I fished the elk from 7pm-1am friday night and had some great fishing. Black buzzbaits and finesse jigs were the ticket. Quite a few 15" + fish with a 18" smallie taking the big fish trophy home. about 50/50 SM to LM. Moon was plenty bright to navigate the river and the fish really liked the shallow water that was hit by the moon. I'll be doing it again in august!

Nice fish, they sure are a blast to fight.

Brinkmann Starfire II is my favorite. There are some nice LED versions out but they are proud of them. I will usually run one pole with a live minnow and the other with a bobby G artificial until I find which they prefer that night. find a spot with bait and fish like F&F said and make sure you anchor securely. I try to run an anchor line off the bow and stern to make sure I'm good and motionless. If you sit for an hour or so and you don't have minnows swimming around your light and haven't caught a fish move to another spot. cliffs and mouths of coves near a channel are my favorite spots to start with. Good luck!

launched at the slab saturday morning around 7am. Water was moving right along (200 cfs) and dropping. went from there to yellville and completed the float in 4.5 hours. Fished pretty heavily but this was the worst of the past 3 weekends out there. Had 3 fish over 15" and 2 just under. Largest being a 16.5" largemouth, the rest smallies. Caught them on finesse worms and spinnerbaits. I think from here on out I will try and float with a little less water, makes it tough to fish when you're cruising along at mach 3 through every pool and riffle. I really liked the convenience of that stretch but I can see that portion getting a lot more traffic than most of the other floats.