bfishn

Cool! 20 years old, but new to me. Something new to try when I visit some old freinds up there. Thank you!

My old rule of thumb was when the last dogwood bloom fell, the morels were done. This year's weather has been so non-typical, it may be an exception. I found a few today, but they were all old, just well preserved by the cool & wet.

Well, it wasn't grass, it was moss. The upper ends were choked with it out to 6-8 foot depths, at times it was a chore to get through it to the ramps. If you got into it with a hook, you brought in a gallon of the junk. It even had a distintive smell on a warm summer night. Real PITA, but an excellent nursery for 'gills, bass, and especially crawdads. I did a lot of catfishing then, and the monster hardshell craws were the ticket. I could stand on the whistle at Chelsea and get 2-3 dozen of those "fresh water lobsters" in a single toss of the net. I love crawdads, and at times was tempted to just take them to eat instead of using them for bait, but many nights I turned a pound or two of 'dads into 100+ lbs of catfish, so it was really a no-brainer. Best night I had was a limit of 10 for 160lbs... two 80lb stringers, all rod-n-reeled. I'll see if I can find a picture of that mess. I was wore plumb out. Back then the Centerton hatchery dumped their old brood channels in Windsor every year or two, it was rare to see one under 6-8lbs. But some residents whined about the moss, so the POA bought several loads of grass carp. That didn't work. Then they finally took the AGFC advice and began a fertilization program. That did the job, with fertility up, the resulting phytoplankton bloom reduced light penetration to where the moss couldn't grow, and fish production boomed as well. Then some residents whined some more because the water was no longer clear and pretty, and fertilization became spotty and poorly controlled. I knew some of the Lakes crew then, and as often as not, they'd dump half a boatload of fertilizer in one spot, then find a place to hide and drink. I think it's finally settled into some semblance of compromise now, and having a staff bio on board has to be a good thing. It's also a job I wouldn't take for any amount of money.

The steel structure of the old 12 bridge was removed for scrap prior to fill (as was anything else of value). There's still some concrete & stone though. There's a picture of what's left in The History of Benton County (Black). The numerous cemetaries were all relocated. How do you move a cemetary? With a backhoe. I can only imagine that was kind of a gruesome job. The stones are all gone, now high & dry in other places. The Rogers Historical Society has the best collection of pictures that I've seen. The UofA library has many more, but are far less accessable, with many stored in the Special Collections unit, and only viewable by appoinment and written request.

Cleared

Pony Express used to be decent all species. If you like flatheads, the Platte River should be getting good.

Old-timers used to call redear "shellcrackers" for their taste for small mollusks, shell & all. 20+ years ago, when Windsor and Avalon were pretty mossy, tiny crawdads (<1.5") were the ticket. When they got rid of the moss, crawdad populations nosedived (comparatively), and the redear seem to like mussels & snails just as well now. If you can find a live mussel shallow enough to grab it, do so, and you'll be in redear bait for the day. Cut the meat into pea-sized baits and fish right on the bottom, moving the bait every ~30 seconds in small twitches. Redear country is also stump country, so take plenty of hooks. Ralph Fourt claimed Avalon as the best redear lake, but I could never pin down locations there like I did on Windsor. On the latter, in the Tanyard arm, there's a barely-definable creek channel lined with short stumps, starting on the south bank, cutting to the north bank at about 9-10FOW, then returning to the south bank at about 14-15ft, where it stays almost to the fork. Where it's not on the bank, the creek is pretty hard to follow until you learn it, but worth the effort doing so. I used to make maps for folks long before I had a computer, using a pantograph to enlarge a pre-impoundment topo I had and copied on a blueprint machine, but I'm sure they're long gone, that was in the '80s. Until you've done it a lot, targeting BV redear isn't particularly suited to 30 minute "I'll try it for a little bit" strategies. Bluegill get nearly as big, are way more numerous and easier to find/catch. Oh... and don't be surprised if a big cat smokes your panfish rig. :-)

Is that the old Cooper tract?

HA! I've been asked to put my squat forward on the front of a gig boat! (First liar never stands a chance!) :-)

Nice! Buddy & I did some backroads out-the-window hunting in yesterday mornings cold rain. Only found one, but it was a monster. Top was wider than a laid-down Dew can, and the can vanished up the stalk.

+1 If we can be critical of MDC/AGFC policies in hopes they might take notice, for-profit enterprises should be fair game too. It seems the members here prefer to give the top-notch businesses an attaboy than to diss a substandard product or service anyway. If an undeserved dissing slips in, our readers are smart enough to see through it. Technology being what it is today, if you show your a$$, everyone's going to see it shine. :-)

Caution when pushing from the rear with the TM down... check the mounts often if you like your TM. Other than that, great trick, especially if you can view the TM xdcr from the drivers seat. For ssslllloooooowww trolling, use the TM only, and tilt the pusher up about 2/3. You need a little rudder action to keep the tail following the head

Whoa... Flashback... draggin' spoonplugs... the beginning of my conversion from an upstanding citizen to a glow in the dark fish fondler. And Lunkers still love Nightcrawlers!

Great boat! A Hurricane deck with a bit of fishing riggin' is the closest thing to an all-purpose rig I've ever run. I launched one airborne one night off a dead-center impact with a submerged tree at 35 mph. Other than minor scuffing on the keel, there was absolutely no damage, and we brought it in the shop to check it out. As for BPS.... meh... I never lost anything there, so no reason to return. Got a bad taste years ago from a rep that wouldn't take no for an answer when he asked me to donate my wooden lure collection to the museum.

All good ramps (kinda close quarters), easy launch, stable water levels. Lomond, Windsor and Ann are the "big" lakes, and the only ones you can get on plane on (or need to), and then only past the bouys. For bait/tackle, see Hook Line & Sinker on the east side of 71 across from Lowes (towards Bentonville). Turn east at the light at Benton County 40 (Jack Crabtree Rd), then an immediate right on the access road. A tube of crickets are good to take for the bream if the wigglers don't satisfy. If Nick's there you can get a good lowdown on current activity. Lots of good eats around, I recommend Flying Fish just off the Bentonville square. Good Luck!

You're welcome. That's good news. Sounds good to me. I've got lots of stories. When I do go, the "try"s still strong, it's just gettin' the ambition to go is less common. (I honestly belive my 14.9 was really a 15, but the rear treble hooked a gill and she was nearly bled out by the time I got her to a scale... which settled on 14.9 no matter how I bounced it... :-) )

++ what Quillback said. Loch Lomond used to kick out a 12 or 13 annually, but I'm out of touch with recent times. ++++ especially on the bream for entertainment & eatin' value, and add Avalon's redear to the list. Crappie's pretty much a waste of time anywhere.

Really sorry to hear that. Could you go with someone? Stockton's not completely out of my range, and I have a couple of vacation days left (have to give 30 days notice)... I don't fish anywhere near what I used to. My only excuse is fatt(er), old(er), and lazi(er). I think I've probably caught my "lifetime" 'eye (14.9), that doesn't help either.

Welcome! That's a good point, but how does one determine the specific local historical geographic conditions with no information? If it's too old to be in the written record, and too young to be in the fossil record, can we do any more than speculate? IOW, do we know that "elk were here for thousands of years under varying habitat conditions", or is that just wishful thinking? Maybe the glaciers pushed them here when they stopped short of the Mo. River. Maybe they were here before that. Maybe not till lonnng after. Just sayin'... I don't have a dog in this hunt either way, I just have a bad habit of trying to sift the facts from the fluff. ;-)

Sometimes, in order to get a clear picture of how things are, it helps to have a clear picture of how things were. With this topic in mind, one needs to go back to before the railroads needed timber, and the Ozarks became settled and 'improved'. In 1818 and 1819, Henry R. Schoolcraft made a circuitous journey from Potosi, Mo. to the White River, and south into Arkansas. His Journal of a Tour into the Interior of Missouri and Arkansaw tells that tale as many here might enjoy. Don't be surprised if the only things you recognize are river and place names... You can find the entire text online at; http://clio.missouristate.edu/FTMiller/LocalHistory/Schoolcraft/schcrftcomplete.htm

Great tribute piece, thanks Mr. Lilley! JD's a class act, one of the finest fishing gentlemen I've ever had the pleasure of meeting.

Right. Their range is limited to lowland rivers. Fishes of Arkansas notes no current or historical records from the White above Batesville. A 240 lber was caught by a commercial fisherman in the extreme lower White in '04.

I have shared your pain on that one, but a poorly communicated fact is that tenants can obtain long term "Renter Guest" priviledges simply by having the property owner request it (you'll still pay your fees); "Those who are “Renter Guests” by virtue of a written request from the property owner, and which verifies that the property will be occupied by the renter for 90 days or more, which request can be withdrawn by the property owner at any time. Such Renter Guests (and their resident family members) may have access to POA amenities upon presentation of a “Renter Guest” photo-ID card, valid until the termination date of the rental agreement or lease, obtainable from Member services. Renter guests will not have access to annual fee programs but will pay “Sponsored Guest” fees." Being a "non-typical" user in my younger years, I too had plenty of encounters with members who questioned my right to be there, often in an extremely rude way. I just bit my lip and offered a brief but polite explanation, and that was that. Nowdays I just fish the public waters, even though if I curled into a ball I could roll right off my deck, down the holler a piece, and into one of the lakes. It's just not good enough to be worth the hassle and the money, and I never get that "you don't belong" feeling on public waters.

Some of them end up in the bellys of the big channel cat that live there. Some of them end up in Little Sugar Creek, displacing the native smallmouth. Some of them live to be caught by a BV fisherman who bought a license and paid his dues. I fished there for a lot of years. Some times it's good and sometimes it sucks. Just like anywhere else.

Ummmm... your treasured document's latest listing is 15 years old... and if you'll look in the right hand column, it was the AGFC that did the stocking, not the MDC. Neither the AGFC nor the MDC sells fish to anyone. Using state funds to stock private waters is controversial, but since an Arkansas license is required to fish there, the argument that the large number of Arkansas licensed anglers that fish there deserve attention is valid too.