bfishn

I've had the same dream since the 70's. Buy a functional sternwheeler, at least 80'. Invite all my drinkin' and fishin' buddies to accompany me on an adventure up the Mississippi as fur as we could go, then float 'er down to the Gulf before winter hit. We'd have a bus load of hoors chasing our groceries and sundries on shore at our beck and call. They could, like, meet us in Memphis with 50lb of iced gulf shrimp, come aboard and eat with us and such, swap us some clean laundry for dirty, and be gone in the morning to fetch more vittles and leave the men to more important business. Haven't met a man yet that didn't want to go.

Just do a Google Scholar search. You'll get nothing but scientific papers as results (many of which you'll have to pay for to read more than a preview of). Here's the results page for 'smallmouth bass hybrid'; http://scholar.google.com/scholar?sourceid=navclient&ie=UTF-8&rlz=1T4GGHP_enUS669US669&q=smallmouth+bass+hybrid You can tweak your search terms to suit from that page. You'll not get many results for the lay term "meanmouth", which has no meaning of value to a biologist. One that you may find will differ from the cross as commonly identified on this forum. But hey, they're just highly trained folks with an exceptional interest in the subject matter... what would they know... :-)

Bet the big cats are accessible from the road shoulder where Tanyard Creek feeds Windsor. They've been known to do that anyway... :-)

The 3 best (all species) years out of the last 30 on Table Rock, as I recall, all had heavy December/January flows followed by stronger than normal flows thru March. The river arms acted like rivers again. This 40-50 degree inflow is saturated with oxygen... all the O2 it will hold in fact, around 10-12 ppm. Martha would call it a "good thing". It can make the whole lake habitable again. After the stressful summer a lot of TR fish had this year they need a breather.

" In 2013, Americans generated about 254 million tons of trash and recycled and composted about 87 million tons of this material, equivalent to a 34.3 percent recycling rate. On average, we recycled and composted 1.51 pounds of our individual waste generation of 4.40 pounds per person per day." (EPA) That's 87 million tons that didn't go to US landfills in one year. That's significant. Now we just need some modern day Edison to figure out a profitable way to turn the other 65.8 per cent into a viable product without throwing out the baby in the process. I'd give ten fresh Trumps for one good Edison about now. :-)

I had a real problem focusing on my job today.. what awesome freakin weather! Hope somebody got to enjoy it.

MmmHmmm... Try some Chorizo & habaneros on them sometime. And a little crispy bacon. Can't 'er go wrong with crispy bacon...

That'd be them. I knew Larry "Hey Goob!" better of the 2. Quite the characters.

"Shad is my friend". I used to make anybody that fished with me repeat that phrase 3 times before we went. There were several resulting funny stories there, but I digress... The best setup I've seen was near Hot Springs, AR. A 250x100' metal shop right on the highway. It was originally built for a bait distributor, where the farmers sent their minnows for grading and distribution. It had 12 - 500 gal concrete tanks , fully plumbed for circulation, fill, and drain. The place sits on a shallow well that can continuously yield 200 gpm of 58 degree spring water. No need for chemicals. There was a 12' aisle down the middle with shop doors on both ends for drive-thru loading and unloading. They built their own bait rig and ran it to the AR river 3 or 4 days a week for bait. Made from 1/4" aluminum plate, 9x22 with two 400 gallon plumbed & aerated wells. It was a load for even the 1 ton truck they pulled it with when it was full. The bait crew were all gorillas straight out of Deliverance and had to be paid daily in cash, but they delivered the goods, rain or shine. The guy ran 4-5 striper guide boats from there. You could park 2 full rigs inside and work out of the weather and leave them in overnight. They caught a lot of big fish with a lot of lucky people. I've told this in the past tense, but they may still be in business, I don't know.

Maybe in Canada... It's actually closer to half that (3-4 yrs) in the WR chain. Except for the spawn run, you'll seldom find a 4+lb eye running with the cigar packs. Even with the attrition rate being what it is there are still decent numbers of ~big eyes in Beaver. They're just not as easy to come by. Much of the year they stay suspended in open water like (and occasionally with) the stripers. You can increase your odds at those times by trolling your BBs and cranks in the same zone across open water when moving from one point or flat to another instead of picking up to relocate. Same goes for working a point or flat, instead of making tight turns to stay on a contour, try long circle turns over open water before returning to the contour. With the occasional exception of Great Lakes charters, big eyes are rarely a numbers game.

Horse Hockey. Missouri's gigging law aligns well with all the surrounding states: Kansas SPEARFISHING & GIGGING Unless otherwise posted, spearguns, without explosive charge, may be used to take nonsport fish in waters posted “open to scuba and skin diving.” Spears must be attached to speargun or person by a line. Nonsport fish may also be taken by gigging in waters not posted as closed to gigging. Arkansas Gigging is defined as taking fish with a three- or four-pronged, barbed device on a shaft. Only rough fish [gar, bowfin, common carp, Asian carp (grass carp, bighead carp, silver carp), suckers (including buffalo), bullhead and drum] may be taken with a gig. Statewide gigging season is 10 a.m.-midnight, from Sept. 15-Feb. 15. An Alligator Gar Permit is required to take alligator gar. Only one alligator gar may be taken per 24 hour period. The daily limit of suckers taken by gigging is 20, the possession limit is 40. Gigging is not allowed in areas where fishing is limited to rod or pole. Illinois Legal Methods of Taking Carp, buffalo, suckers, gar, shad, drum and bowfin may be taken by means of a pitchfork, underwater spear gun, bow and arrow or bow and arrow device, spear or gig. Each person taking fish by these means shall possess a valid sport fishing license. Fish taken by these means shall not be sold or bartered. No other fish may be taken in this State by these means. Oklahoma Gig, Grabhook, Spear and Speargun: Gigs and spears are legal for taking nongame fish and white bass only… Gigs, spears and spearguns shall: • not contain more than three points with no more than two barbs on each point; • be lawful in all rivers and streams from Dec. 1 through March 31, and year-round in all reservoirs, unless restricted under “Special Area Regulations;” • Gigs shall be lawful year-round in rivers and streams in Delaware and Mayes counties, unless restricted under “Special Area Regulations.” Tennessee GIGGING, GRABBLING, GRAB HOOKING, SNAGGING, TUBBING, ARCHERY, SPEAR-GUN FISHING, DIPPING, AND CAST NETTING. A. Season open year-round except as noted below. B. All waters open except: 1. Within 100 yards below dams except at Pickwick the closed area will extend downstream to the first moorage cell located across from the boat launching ramp. At John Sevier Steam Plant the discharge channel is also closed. Dipping and cast netting are excluded from this restriction. 2. Those areas closed to fishing listed in Section II. … Iowa BOW FISHING & SPEARING A valid sport fishing license allows you to take rough fish (p.13) and frogs by bow and arrow and spear. Bow fishing and spearing are allowed on public lakes, reservoirs and rivers, private ponds with permission, and border waters described on p. 16. Additional regulations specific to bow fishing and spearing may exist in some state parks, federal refuges, and lakes controlled by city and county governments. Kentucky GIGGING AND SNAGGING FISH Gigging means spearing or impaling fish on any pronged or barbed instrument attached to the end of any rigid object. The statewide season for gigging and/or snagging rough fish is from February 1 through May 10. It is illegal to possess a gig on a stream or lake or in a boat from November 1 through January 31. A person may gig or snag fish from the bank of a stream during the day or night. Gigging and snagging is not legal from a platform, except that gigging is legal from a boat on lakes 500 surface acres or larger and only during daylight hours… Persons may gig rough fish through the ice any time the surface is frozen thick enough to stand upon. The gigger must gig while supported by the ice. Gigging and snagging are prohibited in the following waters or areas:… ADDED (forgot to include NE in "surrounding states") Nebraska SEASONS FOR 2015 ...Surface Spearfishing: Year-round for nongame fish only...

Many moons ago there was an article in In-Fisherman detailing a procedure to smooth out the gear/bearing feel on the older Abus. Basically it involved using toothpaste as a mild abrasive along with some high speed drive time on a cordless drill. I never had the guts to try it... like Mr B says, I just ain't that mad at them.

Just guessing 'cause I never go there, but I imagine BPS on Turkey Thursday or Black Friday might be like Roaring River on opening day... concentrated, competitive lunacy. On the other hand, watching football on TV doesn't make much sense either. I lump it all in the same category as golf... never do it, but I'm thankful that it keeps so many others occupied (and off the lake).

Wow, there really is one born every minute.

Longtime meatloaf conniesewer here. I challenge any of you goobs to top the green chile meat loaf they serve at Twin Peaks It's a package deal though, it must be accompanied by 29 degree draws and abundant scenery... Right next door to Cabelas in Rogers. Tell 'em Mr Fish sent you.

Hyperpigmented melanosis (sounds worse than it is).

...an important consideration likely overlooked by the panic attack prone... AG&FC has spent lots of time & money in the last 30 years removing displaced stripers from Table Rock to protect the Beaver tailwater trout fishery. A 180 degree policy flip would take a pretty good stretch of the imagination. Then again, considering the takeover of the Know Nothing political class, maybe it's not such an imaginitive stretch after all...

That guy really gets around. Must be a fairly affable fellow, liking a little of everything as he does. We could use more of that. :-)

About now, the back half of any creek arm where the shad are piled up. Good daytime bite from 5-30 ft. Anyplace the whites, hybrids or stripers are tearing up the shad, there will be cats underneath, living the good life. Also flatheads shallow at night near ~20' timber. They're not quite on their fall feed yet, but it won't be long.

Every time I looked at the icon it said "1".... there's gotta be a joke or two for that... ;-) Maybe there's only room for one in there. (Would that make it a chat closet?) One word. Skype

You can't buy that kinda fun. Yet I wonder... what would Hunter Thompson have done in that scene... Fear & Loathing indeed. You'll remember that trip long after many 3 lbers are forgotten.

(spoken in my best Church Lady manner); Oh My! Could it be... Ned larvae???????

As much as I've tried to predict where the current is, I'm constantly surprised that it's not where I think it should be. I long thought it should generally follow the channel, but I've concluded instead that it takes the straightest path from one bend to the next. That leaves the bulk of it in open water, but at those inside points on each bend where it sweeps swallower, any fish already there seem to take notice. It's not such a big thing that I plan a trip around it. I just place the call to see if they're generating when I hit the water and act accordingly.

I have zero input on LOZ bass, but I've spent some serious time observing main lake generation current, and now I take advantage of it at every opportunity. The "imperceptible" current becomes very perceptible when you fish deep, baited slip bobbers from anchor. In some spots you can let your rig drift away at as much as 20ft/min. If they're blowing water from both ends it's even stronger. There are even times when the surface water doesn't move, but the deeper, cooler water slips by underneath at a decent clip. Presenting with the generation current has been good to me. Drift with it. Troll with it. If I casted, I'd cast with it. On my best TR kitty spot I love to smash up an onion bag full of gizzard shad and sink it under my boat anchored up current from the timber they hang out in. Quite often in 15-20 minutes, you'll have to throw down to a single rod. When the generation current stops, so does the feed. I know it matters to cats, walleye, & stripers, don't know (or care ) about bass.

Sometimes reality just bites the big one... I've tried really hard to rod 'n reel a flattie like that for ~45 years, and this guy gets one by complete accident. Oh well, good for him.