Sam

I've still got two of the round orange stickers on my boat motor, they look fine. The one on the back window of my truck, though, faded out completely white. This tells me that if my truck is getting that much more sunshine than my boat - I NEED TO FISH MORE. I'll upgrade my truck to one of the new decals when there's a place to pick them up in the Ozark, Nixa, or Springfield area. Thanks.

Sac River Jim - That black stripe isn't something male crappie develop during the spawn. The ones that have it have it all their lives, and it shows up on both male and female crappie. Those are a sub-strain called Arkansas Blacknose Crappie, and they're my favorites. I can't find anything to back up my opinion, but I think they often grow bigger and fight harder than crappie without the black stripe. The Blacknose strain is native to the White River chain here in Southern Missouri / Northern Arkansas, but I've caught them as far away as Watts Bar Lake in Eastern Tennessee. The Blacknose strain only occurs in Black Crappie, never in White Crappie. As you know, the easy way to tell the difference between the two species is that the spots of White Crappie are grouped in vertical stripes on the sides of the fish while the spots of Black Crappie are evenly distributed with no pattern. The species' names don't have much to do with their color - White Crappie can be darker than Black Crappie or the other way around, and males of both species turn darker during the spawn. According to my catching, anyway, I think there are a lot more White Crappie in Tablerock than Black Crappie. All of duckydoty's pictures, above, are of Black Crappie. Beautiful fish! There's a lot more information about these if anyone's interested - just search for "Arkansas Blacknose Crappie" with Google or Yahoo.

Great fish. I don't follow the tournaments and don't know anything about any of the pros, but I met Keith Poche Tuesday afternoon while taking my boat out after crappie fishing. I had to ask him what those things were sticking up on each side of the motor on his and a bunch of other "wrapped" boats. Now I know - it's a shallow-water anchor rig that reaches as deep as 8 feet, and he showed me how it works. Pretty slick. I got home and looked him up on Yahoo, and he's a pretty big deal. He seems like a nice guy - friendly and willing to talk to a poor old raggedy crappie fisherman.

That's funny - I'll tell my partner we know where his fish came from. We couldn't catch a white bass all day except for one little dink up at Asher's. Your friend got us one, though.

I won't start a new thread with my fishing story since it happened at about the same place at the same time. We did a little better than that. You all got to talking about Flicker Shads here, which I didn't know about, so I picked a few up at Bass Pro a few days ago. Don't do that - they want $4.97 for them at the store! I'll order mine online, and from somewhere else, from now on. My partner and I fished from Bridgeport up to McCord Bend in all the spots I know from previous years and didn't find much. We finally settled on trolling a bluff bank in 30-35 feet of water where there's deep flooded timber, and we started picking up keeper crappie. They weren't biting too fast, just once in awhile - and my partner was trolling with roostertails, swimming minnows, and such, and wasn't getting any bites. Finally, I reluctantly loaned him one of my $5. Flicker Shads (he tends to troll right through brushpiles, and he breaks off a lot). Sure enough, first pass it's "Uh oh, I'm hung up!" - about what I figured. We decided he had enough line on his reel I could turn the boat around and go back bow-forward. I mentioned that he wouldn't have much chance of getting that plug back, what with it having two trebles and hung up on deep timber. We got back to where he was hung, and had good luck - he got the plug up to the top of the water and found that he had snagged a fishing line. I put the motor in neutral and went to the back deck to hold the line he had snagged, while he tried to untangle it from his lure. I grabbed ahold of the line and tried to pull it tight - and it pulled back! We got it in and got the tangle straightened out, and there was a big white bass hooked on a good chrome Rattletrap on the end of that line. So my partner caught the biggest fish of the day, but in a pretty unusual way. Did any of you guys lose such a rig, along with a bunch of bright PINK monofilament? If you did, well, thanks for the fish and the plug!

April (tomorrow) - got it, guys. Thanks. My wife and I drove over to Wilson's Creek Battlefield a few weeks ago, and I got my Geezer (Senior) Card. With that, the Corps will sell me an Annual Day Use Pass for $15. - which will be a WHOLE lot cheaper than all those times I paid them $4 to launch last year!

I've been trying to buy an Annual launch pass all month, with no success. Well, I haven't really been trying very hard - I've been launching at Bridgeport but driving over to Cape Fair first, trying to find the campground / launch ramp entry booth open. Even though it's been 9 a.m. or later each time, there's been no one there so I've driven back to Bridgeport and gone fishing. Sooner or later I'm going to want to put in at Mill Creek, Long Creek, Aunt's Creek, or some other ramp that requires a launch fee - and that will probably be early in the a.m. so the booth won't be open yet. I'm not gonna put 4 bucks in an envelope for the day, because I want an annual pass. Maybe a note left on my dashboard would work - WILL BUY AN ANNUAL LAUNCH PASS ON THE WAY OUT. I'm sure I could go to the visitors center at the Dam and buy the permit, but that would be a nuisance when I'm trailering my boat from Ozark to fish the James River Arm. I'm going again tomorrow and that will be in the new month of April - does anyone know if that booth at Cape Fair will be open? If not I'll quit driving over there just to find no one around.

I haven't been there for a week. On about March 23 we went crappie and white bass fishing in the Bridgeport / Point 15 area. We saw about 10 spoonbiller boats working - at least 3 of them had a legal fish tied up to the side, and we watched a guy who had ahold of a spoonbill trying to get it in. Water temp was 49 to 52 that day but they were getting some spoonbill action even then. Hope this helps.

I have most all the spinning reels recommended by others here, and I like a bunch of them - Daiwas and Pfleugers especially. But the reels I like best, by far, are Lew's - from here in Springfield, Mo. Every size and grade of Lew's spinning reels are of great quality and a pleasure to use, in my opinion, even the inexpensive ones. http://www.lews.com/spinning-reels

I caught a 16 pound blue cat several years ago just downstream from the first bend below K Dock Marina, on the steep chunk-rock side near the bank in 20 F.O.W. I was trolling a Bandit II plug for walleyes, and catching a big catfish that way happens so rarely you can see I'm still writing about it several years later. It was a good thing it stayed in open water, and I was able to chase it with the trolling motor. I only had ahold of that catfish with a medium spinning outfit and 8 lb. mono, and it took a good half hour and several hundred yards of chasing to get it in.

I read something this morning that's really disgusting - about how the National Park Service is playing the "shutdown". Most of us have probably been to Mt. Rushmore in South Dakota, I have. You'll recall that it's a big, carved MOUNTAIN and there's a parking lot with a good view, some buildings by the lot, and a trail for those who want to hike closer to the carvings. Years ago we had kids along and we just looked from the view points at the parking lot - I don't even remember whether we went in the building. So - that parking lot and the park buildings have been closed now by the rangers, of course. But, get this - they've closed all the pull-off spots along the highway for miles around so people can't stop and look at the mountain or take pictures from a distance! Ain't that something? They oughta fire every dam' "public servant" who's involved in that deal, and make sure they don't get a pension, too. So far as going around barriers to launch on Tablerock, I'm going about Wednesday and I guess I'll get launched some way. The trouble with that deal is that you've got to leave your truck and trailer parked while out fishing. What if you come back in and your rig has been towed? They're playing dirty enough to do that.

I think that's it - the frantic scenes at the ramps are caused by people not knowing what they're doing and embarrassing themselves. My partner and I had a temporary starting problem once and we beached my boat near a ramp and I sat in it for over an hour while he went for a part and came back. It all worked out fine for us, but it's worth hanging around a Tablerock launch ramp in the summertime just to watch the show! In that short time I saw several husbands yelling at their wives while trying to get a boat launched. After they got a boat floating, one wife drove backwards when she meant to go forwards and half-filled the inside of a Dodge SUV with water. LOTS of people couldn't get their outboards started so motor covers came off, tools came out, lots of cussing, etc. I saw the back end of one ski boat get pulled underwater because they forgot to take the rear trailer tie-downs off. Taking out a party boat, a big picnic cooler got knocked overboard but it floated, so a guy had to jump in and swim for it to get it back. One bunch with a bunch of kids drove off and left their 4 year old at the ramp, crying - but they missed him and came back just before I called the cops. Watching that ramp was a hoot. On another day at a different ramp I saw a guy launch by himself by backing down the ramp fast and hitting the brakes - with a long rope tied between the front of his boat and his trailer. That would have worked a lot better if his rope had actually been TIED to his trailer (chuckle). I gave him a ride out to his unoccupied boat. Makes me real glad I've got Bull Shoals to go to in the summer.

RSBreth, I didn't mean to criticize or give the wrong impression. I'm a retired law enforcement officer and I had to keep a handgun within reach 24/7 for many years. I'm a lifelong hunter, gun collector, and I've held Federal Firearms Licenses for both gun sales and commercial reloading. I used to teach those classes you think I need, at the college-credit level, in both armed and unarmed self defense. Believe me, I'm all for your gun rights including your right to legally carry a concealed handgun if that's your choice, and I respect your judgment in the use of a weapon. I still pack one myself anytime I feel there's a particular need to. I'm saying it's my personal decision to not carry a handgun, at least not outside my vehicle, at the lake. One reason is that as we've all observed, there are some drunken idiots out and about at times. I'm in my late 60's now, and what if a verbal situation should escalate into a physical situation? I think I could still give a good account of myself in a fight, but what if there are two or three of them and I take a whipping? Could I still keep control of a gun if I've got one on me, or do the bad guys get it away from me? If they get it, then real bad things could happen and it might make me the guy who brought the gun to the shooting. That's a situation I'm just not going to be in. But that's a decision for each of us to make, and I certainly respect whatever you decide for yourself. Hey, I like Fin and Feather's comment about shooting a video of bad behavior at the lake (including hull numbers) and showing that to the cops.

I run into a lot of nice people while fishing, and once in awhile some alcohol-fueled knuckleheads. A couple of times I've had words with some of those, and I hate that - it ruins a fishing trip for me. I'm glad it happens to me very seldom, not even once every couple of years. I could legally, but I'm not going to pack heat at the lake. I'm determined to never be the guy who brought the gun to a shooting - there are other ways to handle things and sometimes that means just plain backing down. Stupidity always catches up with stupid people in the long run, and anyone I'd feel like pointing a gun at has an attitude that's going to hurt them without any help from me. Just sayin'.

I wonder about the big new launch ramp, about two years old now, across from Snapp Holler. To get there by road you turn on MM Hwy. by the convenience store and wind around a little. I've never launched there but watched it being built and figured it was to replace the Highway K ramp after the plan to raise the permanent lake level took effect. That would make sense because the new ramp and road go straight up a ridge so even if the water is 20-30 feet above normal level you could launch there. It's not much good at the old 653' level though, as there's not much water around the new ramp then. I thought I had it all figured out, but then improvements were made to the Highway K launch area and someone told me the new MM ramp is private (I don't know if that's true). So if there's a master plan about the Bull Shoals water level and boat access in that area, I sure don't know what it is.

Oh, OK. I understand now - I thought you meant those trout that get washed over Powersite Dam and hang around the mouth of Swan Creek. I know that's quite a trout fishery in the White below B.S. Dam. I guess by storing extra water in Bull Shoals they'll be able to release more into the White River in dry times when it's needed to keep the river from dropping too much. That makes sense, I guess. For the rest of Bull Shoals, I actually like the lake level where it is now at 661' or so. It doesn't hurt that I've fished the upper part so much when the level was low and far below 653' that now I know what's down there that can't be seen.

Trout? You mean they changed the level of Bull Shoals for TROUT? I always thought Taneycomo was for trout. Dump the stockers in from a truck, let the tourists catch 4 of the little tame things with Powerbait in between Branson shows (good times, woo-hoo), and the ones that wash over the dam into Bull Shoals are for fattening walleyes and stripers. Works for me. Shows what I know, huh?

I've never actually caught a walleye using a bottom bouncer, though the walleye specialists here do. I'm more likely to slow-troll a 1/8 oz. chartreuse Roadrunner tipped with a live minnow or half a nightcrawler. Or troll a deep-diving plug like a Bandit II with your main motor at about 2.2 mph along the edge of flats. Both techniques are for very early morning or for cloudy/stormy days, though. Sunny bluebird days tend to shut the 'eyes down.

I agree with Wayne - get some local info and fish the dam area. You can save some driving by putting in at Shadow Rock or River Run. K Highway is almost un-launchable now as the ramp and parking lot are underwater and you can barely put in off the side of the road into a narrow gully. Crappie fishing may be tough right now but you ought to be able to find who-knows-what biting around that River Run area, especially on minnows. Check under the highway bridge - if small black bass are chasing shad on top then white bass are often hanging under them around those bridge pilings. In fact, you might find whites anywhere in that area and of course short black bass to catch and release. Downstream about a mile along that straight stretch just past the first 90 degree turn to the right (Barker Hole), you might try putting a split shot sinker about a foot up from a minnow and drifting that rig along the rough, rocky bottom for walleyes. If all else fails, work the chunk-rock banks for perch - I always figure catching something is more fun than catching nothing.

I always figured around 653/654 was "normal", then several years ago there was talk that a decision had been made to bring the permanent lake level up about 8 feet, which is where we are now. With that in mind, I couldn't figure why improvements were made afterward that would go underwater with the new plan. At the Highway K launch area potholes were fixed and both the "low road" and the "high road" were paved, half the parking lot was paved, and before that a courtesy dock was added. All those except the high road are now underwater and will stay that way while the lake is 661 and above. Makes me wonder if the left hand knew what the right hand was doing when they were spending money on improvements there.

Gee, I dunno. After all, I'm the one with a wheel bearing made from electrical tape. I may just haul and launch my boat from an 18' flat bed trailer with a couple of big yellow tie-down straps from now on. That worked out easy and it's got a certain style to it - individuality, ya might say.

I want to give a glowing report and recommendation to the owners of K Dock Marina, Scott and Judy Hansen. They really treated me right this past week. I went with a partner walleye fishing early Wednesday morning. The Highway K launch ramp is underwater and closed, so we intended to launch off the side of the now flooded "low road" that leads to the ramp. Arriving there, though, I found that my boat trailer had a smoking-hot wheel and that the wheel bearings and retaining nut were completely missing on that side. The axle spindle was torn up, and there was nothing holding that wheel on but the weight of the boat and trailer. I don't know why the wheel didn't come off and cause all kinds of damage. Lucky. Having watched MacGyver a few times, I made a wheel bearing of sorts out of a roll of black electrical tape from my tool box and a hose clamp I borrowed from the folks at K Dock Marina. That held well enough to launch the boat, and I wanted to get the boat off the trailer - I figured since we were there we might as well go fishing. We went ahead and had a short trip, we trolled and caught some walleyes and crappie though by that time we didn't get on the water early. We left the boat trailer there by the lake overnight. I rented a boat slip at K Dock Marina and left the boat there for three nights. They were about full up and had all their slips reserved for the upcoming holiday, but they were able move things around and find a slip for my boat to help me out. Since we were leaving the boat, they even loaned me a bucket to take our fish home! Next morning, I went there with my flatbed trailer and ramps and brought the boat trailer home. As things often work, that repair isn't going to be as easy as you'd think. My axle, and the spindles, are oddball sizes and absolutely not available anywhere except by having them custom-made. I've got an oversize spindle on order now out of Colorado and when it arrives it will have to be turned down on a lathe then welded onto the axle, so I won't be fishing for a few days. We'll get her fixed, though. Yesterday, two friends and I went back there with the flatbed trailer and brought my boat home. I returned the bucket and the hose clamps that had been loaned to me by K Dock Marina and, on their own, they gave me a big discount on the boat slip rental off their regular rate. They said they knew I was having some expense fixing my boat trailer so they knocked a bunch off the rent. I can't say enough good about the Hansens and the way they run K Dock Marina. They really helped me out when I had trouble, and that means a lot. I'm going to give them all the business I can, and last year when I got blown off the water by a storm I found out they put out a real good breakfast, too. K Dock Marina (417) 334-2880, www.kdockmarina.com. Oh, p.s. - yesterday a bank fisherman saw the three of us wading, pushing my bass boat onto a flat bed trailer. He came over grinning and asked "Are y'all from Arkansas?". Any friends from the Natural State reading this, I'm sorry for telling that story, but ...... you know.

I troll the Bandit 200 in the color Bry said - same lure, just one size different. I do a lot better kicking the trolling speed up to about 2.4 mph, which runs that plug 16 feet deep. Try to stay in 18-20 f.o.w. on the edge of big flats near the main channel. Thing is, I'm catching walleyes not crappie - though we usually catch a few crappie too when trolling that way. If you can go real early, or even better fish on a cloudy day with some wind, you'll catch more walleyes than crappie (plus a bunch of mostly-short bass). When I'm actually after crappie, I'll slow-troll a swimmin' minnow at .9 mph on a 3/16 oz. jighead along banks with flooded trees in, say, 12 to 24 f.o.w. Or, cast the same rig to brushpiles that show on the scope. In my experience anyway, that's a lot more productive for crappie on Upper B.S. than a plug.

Congrats on catching something different. I catch gar fairly often because I troll a lot. They often hit and don't get hooked, but when they do get stuck you can tell it's a gar by the weird kind of fight they put up. Your rod tip dips a foot or more at a time, yank, yank, yank - because gar fish shake their head from side to side and bow their whole body when hooked. My grandpa showed me how to catch gar on purpose in the James River before Tablerock Dam was built. Cut a piece of 1/2" white cotton rope about 2" long. Fray out one end so the fibers are all loose and tie your line tight around the other end. Get that "lure" wet to cast it, then throw out and work it along like a minnow just below the surface. There's no hook, but when a gar bites its' teeth will get tangled in the cotton fibers.

Yep, and I'd guess a short would be harder to find in an aluminum boat. Anywhere a bare wire touches my boat hull or frame, hidden under the front deck or wherever, it would short out. Not so with fiberglass. So far, so good, though - it hasn't happened again, yet. If this turns into a big deal I could do without those tilt controls up front. I didn't have a power tilt with the motor my boat came with. Power tilt came with the Suzuki 4-stroke I switched to about 4 years ago, and while I really like having it I usually forget I've got tilt control buttons up front. If I'm fishing along and get hung up on a stump, I'll be back to the driver's seat before I remember I could have raised the motor from up front.