bfishn

Thanks for the story Griz! It revived a memory from childhood. The farmer next door raised champion Blue Ticks and Red Bones. Invited me to go on the first hunt of the season in 1967, when I was nine. Cold, North Missouri night, 4 guys, 4 dogs, and a 30 acre woodlot full of crafty coons. What a rush! Good dogs are a wonder to behold. Thanks again!

I agree the treatment/monitoring seems to have been effective... for the stuff they're looking for; phosphates, nitrates, etc. What about the stuff they don't look for? Urban discharge is full of human and veterinarian drugs, from our own waste, and what gets flushed for disposal. Here's an interesting look at some of the effects of drugs in wastewater on fish; https://www.insidescience.org/news/psychiatric-drugs-changing-fish-behavior Maybe there's way more big fish than we think... they're just high...

To keep baits tangle-free and in the zone, you have to keep moving. Drifting counts as moving. Run your free lines straight back, and about 50 feet farther back than whatever you're running next, running deeper and wider with each successive pair as you move up the gunwales. The front rods are the deepest. Keep moving, plan your turns so they're loose, but you keep the baits in the zone. If you snag or hookup, clear the rods from the front to the back. Keep moving.

I don't have any theories, speculation, or psuedo-scientific facts to contribute to this thread, but I did run the Cajun red line (14 lb) on two of my four trolling rods for many years. I used it because it was cheap and tough, and only respooled new line when it got short due to breakoffs. Sometimes I ran the same line for over 2 years without issue. While I didn't take clicker counts or keep meticulous records of catch rates for it vs the various clear lines I ran on the other two rods, there was no noticeable difference that I could attribute to the choice of line other than lure depth vs line diameter. For what it's worth.

Yeah, baby!

...with a bad paint job...

Most every time Beaver dam does a spillway release a few go over the top. In years past, AGFC collected as many as they could with their shocking boat and put them back where they came from once levels returned to near normal. I don't know if they did that this year or not. Either way, the numbers are pretty slim to dedicate a trip for that purpose. On the other hand, it's hard to forget the 64+ lber Jeff Fletcher caught there 15-20 years ago...

When you login with the "remember me" box checked, a (good) cookie is placed on your device. That device will stay logged in until something happens to that cookie. You can be logged in simultaneously on as many devices as you want, as long as each one sets and saves the cookie. Clearing browsing history (usually) deletes the cookies on that device. If your browser is set to "clear history" on closing, the cookie will be deleted. In some cases, you can specify omission of certain domains (i.e. ozarkanglers.com) from cookie deletion.

Circle hooks should be fine under a float, just reel into the fish instead of setting the hook.

If it's got docks, it ain't no island! I think you're referring to the point at the entrance to Avoca Hollow. Don't remember ever catfishing right there, but if there's cover, there's potential. As long as you attend your holders and take them when you leave you'll have no problem. Cats and snaggy bottoms are like ice cream and cake, but you don't necessarily have to risk hangups. A lively 'gill or shad under a slip float or ~3" balloon will call them out where you can get your rig back with fish attached. I've done plenty well drifting live baits suspended at 5-10 feet deep, over 30' rock/brushpiles (at night). Think jugline with a person attached.

Cool! I'm not picturing the point you described in the previous post, or I'd have replied.

Even the kids that fished the pond inlet at my old Trout Farm had more sense (and manners) than that. Those guys need to trade their 'spensive gear in for an 8 foot cane pole with 7 feet of 8lb braid and a #6 Eagle Claw hook. Then instead of some other idiot's line getting wrapped around your legs, you could grab their fish when they flopped it in your face and head for the hills.

All 3 types of cats can be had where you're at with enough persistence thru the warm months. Monte Ne, Blue Springs, & Hwy 12 accesses can give a fair shot at any of the 3 thru the warm months also. Channels & flatheads are about done for the year, but you can find active blues most of the winter. Where you're at should be real good for blues as soon as surface temps get down around 48-52, when the stripers make daily runs to the back of PC. When the stripers pass by, there's often a good school of blues slightly behind and below them, cleaning up the leftovers. You'll only get about a 30 minute crack at them from your fixed location twice a day, but if you get the timing right it can be pretty awesome. They'll usually follow the old creek channel on their way in and back out, 20-40 ft is the typical target depth then. Forget about the store-bought stink baits, stick with shad (live or fresh cut) or the bluegill.

Full of something, for sure.

Yeah, if the outlet's hot and the smoker cord (assuming OEM) isn't noticeably warm, there's a high resistance (bad) connection at the outlet. Could be a poor plug fit, but most likely the feed wire connection. If the installer was lazy (or greedy), he used the quick pushin connection on the back instead of under the screws on the side. The pushin only has a contact area where just the edges of two spring tabs actually touch the service wire. They'll work fine with the common 2-3A loads they see, but make 'em earn their keep, and they lay down. If that's the case, just snip, strip, and use the screws. If the GFCI trips after that, it's probably heat damaged, and needs replaced. (Disclaimer: I was an electrician in a former life. If you dig up what killed me in that life, well, that's just fake news...)

Yeah, there was a velocity issue at first... then we employed a shop vac, a spray mister, and a propane torch. We were way outside the box that night.

"Had" being the telltale descriptor there... as in, I no longer have mine either.

Was that the one with the 1/4 lb rolling paper inside?

Yeah, a river tug with 6 barges gives new meaning to the term 'wake boat'.

You could swap "zebra mussels" from your 1st sentence for any of the following and still be correct: American eels, cottonmouths, and 90% of the fish species in Arkansas. Throw a net there enough, and you'll eventually haul in something you have no idea what it is. And if you're serious about live shad, there's no time to sort out the culls, you just dump the net in the tank, stowaways and all. I caught a lot of bait on the River, but I used it right there, never hauled any out. For the life of me, I can't imagine why anyone would rather fish Beaver than the Arkansas River anyway...

I have no experience and unsettled viewpoints. Comments I'm full of (among other stuff). American Rivers has a bundle of info to help in your quest, including a list of the hundreds (surprise to me) of US dams removed since '99. Good luck! https://s3.amazonaws.com/american-rivers-website/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/15104536/DamsRemoved_1999-2016.pdf

That's the title of a biology periodical. Other than that, it's not even a word.

non-carp-related trivia; Eastern whip-poor-wills don't fly around in the daytime.

MoCarp sez; "I can only go by what the guy claims.." No, you could be objective. Try it sometime. MoCarp sez: "if you were to go to that much trouble, why a carp????" Indeed.

Used to be married to a whole clan of leeches. Wish I'd have thought about using them for fishbait...