RSBreth

I made one like Gavin's but it runs the length of a garage wall for all of the rods I don't use all the time but rotate in when the season for them is on. It's not pretty but works. I do have couple of these in my office/tackle shop:http://www.cabelas.com/product/Berkley-Horizontal-Rod-Racks/700061.uts?productVariantId=1191566&WT.tsrc=CSE&WT.mc_id=GoogleProductAds&WT.z_mc_id1=00007192&rid=40&channel=GoogleBaseUSA&mr:trackingCode=705284C8-958E-DF11-A0C8-002219318F67&mr:referralID=NA&mr:device=c&mr:adType=pla&mr:ad=38095789871&mr:keyword&mr:match&mr:filter=57964760591&gclid=CPWo-Pe72rsCFaxr7Aod12IAag&gclsrc=aw.ds But I mount them both side by side to the wall to hold 8 rods vertically with the butts on the floor instead of 4 horizontally. I have two so I have 16 stored like that - I need another one now after Christmas - ran out of room.

I've caught plenty of them out of little Noblett Lake on the Bryant Creek tributary Spring Creek. I don't know how it is now after the jacka@#es drained it a couple of years ago. Upper Jacks Fork is another place I've caught them - fun guys but watch your fingers.

I have only used a 13 brand rod once and it was borrowed casting rod so I can't say personally how their spinning rods are - but I did buy a Garcia Vendetta this year - the 7' 4" medium spinning - very nice for a 75 buck workhorse rod. Now it's my favorite 1/8-ounce finesse jig rod.

Impending flood:http://bullshoals.uslakes.info/Level.asp It is going up, but why? If you need generation let it out it Bull Shoals Dam. But that makes too much sense, I guess.

Suspending Jerkbaits.

I've caught a couple of Yellow Perch Walleye fishing upper Bull - probably the best bet for that. I think my best for numbers of different fish was one day on the Finley I caught all of the most common sunfish species - all three Black Bass (although a Spot above the mill dam in the park at Ozark is rare) Crappie, Rock Bass, Bluegill, Green Sunfish, and Long-ear Sunfish. Kind of like getting Brown, Rainbow, Brook and Cutthroat on the White, I guess. My goal is a double digit Walleye, and just more time on the water in the big boat, and more wade fishing with my son in summer - just a couple of spinning rods and a few snacks in the vest - all the time in the world and no big deal if you catch the big ones or not.

Finally the excuse I need to get that 45/70 lever gun I've always wanted.

Yeah, the new higher water level has taken most of the rise and fall out of things - and made it a little harder to finger out the new hot spots.

When I get a chance to go to Colorado I usually go to the South Park plateau - South Platte river there between Eleven Mile Canyon and Spinney Mtn. is epic but can be crowded on weekends - the upper South Platte above Spinney is beautiful, and miles of public water with a good run of Browns in the Fall - usually you have miles of stream to yourself. http://www.coloradodirectory.com/fishing/fishing_southpark.html If you get there don't skip the Eleven Mile Canyon stretch below the lake - lot's of jumbly pocket water with boulders everywhere - and where I caught my biggest Colorado Brown. 2 miles of public catch and release water down there. I usually camp at Eleven Mile Canyon campground - http://www.parks.state.co.us/Parks/ElevenMile/Camping/Pages/ElevenMileCamping.aspx

Exactly right. I missed what I think was my biggest "Eye" ever because of a little lapse in concentration back a few weeks ago. Definitely have to bring your "A" game down there.

I guess someone was never was a member of Riversmallies.com We already hashed this one out as far as it could be done - most Shim-bindo's spinner's don't like water. Ironic, but true.

Upper Bull has been tough for the cast and pray crowd - but if you have all the details down and are willing to focus on every second of every looooonnnngggg retrieve, it's really been great for me, too. I can't wait for a little more stable weather although tomorrow could be "the day" for this week... and I have to work.

I've never had trouble with any superline on a President - I have several spooled with NanoFil, Fireline, and the the old Stren Superbraid - no issues. Another couple to through out there - I've been using a 30 size Abu Garcia Orra S on my new 1/8-ounce finesse jig spinning rod since this summer - very nice reel without having to shell out the bucks for a Revo. Maybe I'll buy another this year, it's just super smooth and well made for the price. Another thing is the wide spool thing Al mentioned - I've used one of the wide spool Pro Qualifiers since they came out and I'd recommend one like that (the new Pflueger Arbor is similar) if you still use mono - less tangling from fewer, but bigger loops - but they handle superlines extremely well, too.

And I was stuck here in Ozark with family stuff the weekend before I go on call for work after hours. AAARRRRGGGHHHH! Maybe next week.

I really liked the Luck "E" Strike roundhead jighead you used to be able to get at Wally World - Gamakatsu long shank light wire hook, and they came in 1/16-ounce which I used a lot. I'm not sure if Spotsticker has them that light on their website but they used to. Anyway I like a good 90 degree hook, and weights from 1/16 through 5/16. Spot removers are nice, but I loose more jigheads doing the shaky than anything else - I gotta get them in bulk and cheap. I might have to start making them myself like I did finesse jigs.

I'd rather buy a Zell Pop at regular retail. Best popper I've ever used - ( well, except my own flyrod poppers, which are better).

I get the hair jig bite going sometimes in Winter but the slowly swimming grub/float and something/suspending jerkbait bite is more reliable and usually has a bigger fish on the other end, too. I was going to add more last night but had to take care of something else - plenty of info about hair jigs, but the suspending jerkbait thing - that's really my thing, and I've done really well on them. Here I'll plagiarize myself with an excerpt from an old article - I don't have the time to type it out so cut and paste with an edit: Like the original post and question, finding winter fish after poking around a river for a year or two shouldn’t be very hard. Big, deep, slow pools, mostly. Now the trick. After several days of warmer weather and/or bright sunlight and/or a warm rain that didn’t muddy up the water fish can be a little more active. Sometimes. Maybe. It’s not exact. Bass in our Ozark rivers like mixed rock and wood cover in winter, and little current. Not totally still water necessarily, but very little current. The ideal way to present a suspending lure to fish hanging around submerged wood cover in current is to anchor on the inside (shallower side) of the pool and make casts across the pool about 90-degrees to the flow of water. If you’re familiar with “swinging” streamers on a fly rod, or doing the same with spinners or spoons for trout, it’s about the same. The difference is the current will be very slow, and the natural buoyancy of the lure will keep it place in the water column instead of the force of current. You want the lure to slowly drift right past or over a submerged log or rock, and keep your line almost tight to the lure the entire time. You may have to feed a little line sometimes to keep it drifting along a more or less straight line, or let the line pull tight and then drop the rod tip, repeating every so often to effect a “swing” type retrieve. Either can work. I use high visibility (yellow) superline with a fluorocarbon leader to help with strike detection, but a long (8-foot or so) leader so the bright main line isn't close to the fish. A Bass will often swim out of cover and stare at a lure, drifting along with the current for some distance before deciding to take swipe at it. I’ve seen the line do everything from the obvious twitch and start peeling away quickly to slowly come tight after 3 or 4 seconds, so you never know how fish will hit the lure. I like the smaller (two hook) suspenders when specifically targeting Smallies, but in rivers where bigger fish are common or there's also a chance at Largemouths (like the James and Finley) I'll use the bigger three hook size lures. I like the older Rogues and Husky Jerks, but also use XRaps, and Spro Mcsticks, a favorite was the old XCalibur XS4, but the new EEratic Shad is good, too. I like Clown or brighter colored lures on sunny days, and the more translucent colors for cloudy days. I'll try the three Rapala colors of Silver, Silver Blue, or Tennessee Shad any time, I've caught a lot of fish the past couple of years on the Tennessee Shad when they weren't hitting some of the more "modern" lures in more realistic colors.

Sorry LittleRedFisherman - I totally drove this thread off a different direction. But since I did... "There's seven kinds of meat on a turtle..." http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gn8EQ0azXpQ

I know - If I didn't have to take care of rentals with tenants named "Sue slip and fall brad bradshaw on speed-dial Sally" I would have pointed the Jeep south and headed down.

You've seen "The Turtle Man"?

It would be except for the creep-out factor "Got me sum turtle shells I'm be surprised if'n you'n seen the likes of before, uh-huh".

I like a plain hair jig like the old Rock-A-Roo style with a leech trailer - deadly on Smallies.

Sometimes I run into an OzarkAnglers member who recognizes me, but mostly when I'm fishing some remote spot it's Slingblade who desperately wants me to come see his collection of turtle shells. Don't know why.

It's all in your head, I still catch fish like crazy on a couple that have the paint worn off for a year. One is on it's third skirt the fish like to chew it so much. But it's your paintbrush, so if it's a hard finish you want you just have to make sure the jig maker cures the heads if it's powder painted, then uses an epoxy finish over that. I don't do that for my jigs for personal use.

If I didn't have to deal with the fresh snow I was going to try to get down there yesterday. Nice fish.