merc1997 Bo

linda is at the point that i am going to start letting here learn to run the trolling motor and the boat. never know when, at least, running the boat might be needed. if they get too darn good, we could always leave them at home, not. bo

no telling what donna could catch from the front of the boat. very nice trip! bo

well, i will correct you about who bought battlefield wire's bending equipment. it was purchased by a company by the name of hagens. the reason that i know is i had to chase down where battlefields equipment and records went. i designed the SpinJig wire, and jim sparkman figured out how to bend it. after i chased down this company and after they did a whole lot of looking, sure enough they discovered the records for this particular wire and exactly how in the world it was produced. glad jim kept that kind of records because i had been through a whole lot of wire benders that did not have a clue how to make this wire, and that included hagens until they found the old records. i will add that i am pretty certain that cast did end up with the spoon molds for the jigging spoons and possibly the buzz blades. i deal with cast all the time, and they could not make the wire frames that i need. bo

i have a stash of them somewhere that i made long ago, and still use. just hardly ever lose one. bo

i believe just as with any other fishing tool, spinner baits have a time and place anywhere. there are times here on table rock during the summer, that you can wear out the bass on a spinner bait, and even once in a while it will be a shallow bite, but more often a deep one. you have to use a spinner bait to fit the situation, and that means weight and blade size and style of blade. this one of the reasons that i designed the SpinJig. i can quickly change out the head to find the right weight to be able to fish whatever depth with enough speed to trigger bites, and i also put a bunch of different blades in my pocket and can quickly start changing blades until i find the right one that will trigger bites. i have found that when fishing for deep bass that i have had way more success on a colorado blade over willow leafs. spinners are great fishing tools and should always be in the boat. most of the bass we catch, that same bass can be caught with multiple fishing tools. you just have to figure out the correct depth and speed to get them to bite. of course, you have to be throwing in front of a bass to begin with. being able to locate the bass is the most important part of the process, and then figure out which fishing tool you can use to catch them. bo

exactly why we need term limits and get rid of lobbyists. bo

my favorite size is the one they will bite. bo

head weight is something that needs to be used in variable sizes. when catching bass 15ft. or deeper, i often use a 1 oz. head on the SpinJig. remember that speed is a key factor in triggering bites. even in really skinny water and that blade needs to be burned at the speed of light, you might need to use at least a 3/8 if not a 1/2 oz. head. needed speed, type of blades being used, and depth you are fishing a spinner bait all factor into how much weight the head needs. bo

well, right here would be a good time to start with a group effort to get some answers. one voice will not do it, but many voices united together has much more volume. i am guessing that we would need to begin with our local state legislatures. bo

well, according to corp officials that i peeled down, at a meeting for bull shoals, about the constant flooding issue, they said that congress is at fault. the reason being is that the official capacity of the white river chain of lakes is no longer flood control first, but power generation and that is why we no longer get to what is need for winter pools to accommodate late winter and early spring heavy rains. example is winter draw down on table rock was right around 15 feet below power pool, which would be 900. bull shoals was pulled down 15 to 20 feet. starting this year early bull was down only 6 feet, and table rock had crept back up to 913. so, deduct 12 feet of water off of the 934 we got to, and deduct 12 feet off of bull shoals tally, and you can see, we would be at more acceptable levels. the only way for this issue to ever get resolved is by a very large group effort starting with our congress people. those same corp officials at the bull shoals meeting also told me that the power pool level at bull shoals was to be raised to a level that most launching and parking areas would not be too usable. they do have plans for building new ramps and parking at higher levels, but will not be done anytime soon, but they are still planning on raising the water levels anyway before higher facilities are built. kind of doing things backwards as usual. bo

i understand wanting to get a good price, but the fact is the better the carpet on the bunks, the longer it will last. also, properly installing the carpet is essential to how it wears. bunk carpet needs to be glued tightly to at least the top surface of the bunk. if not, then the carpet will wear pre-maturely because it is constantly scooting. bunk carpet is like the carpet in your boat, and will not wear any better than the combination of grade and installation. i do not know what boat brand you might have, but many of the manufactures will sell you pre-cut pieces for the bunks. the best price that i found on a quality glue was at home depot. you will need one that is suitable for indoor/outdoor. this will keep the carpet tight to the wood and help the carpet last. hope this might help. bo

wonder what is wrong with cow creek? it has a parking lot as high or higher than any others. bo

ben i think you are learning some valuable info about water temps in the lake and how water movement and volume changes water temps. i think you also discover to not put too much emphasis on surface temps when it comes to bass spawning. pay attention to how the changes affect changes in the whereabouts of not only the bass, but the food chain. bass are going to where the food is. i have no doubt this will help anyone's fish catching. bo

thank you for that beneficial info, which backs up what i had previously stated. the only times that the mdc has ever released shocking info, they always do it in the same "honey holes" and then claim how good the lake is. bo

this really reflects water volume, and water clarity. thanks for sharing. bo

so, explain how sampling the same area of a lake tells what is going on lake wide???? that would be like having 10 ponds on a 100 acre tract and only sample one and base the other nine's health off of that one pond. that is just a lazy way to do business, and a bad one. that is like saying that your car can not be running badly because i just checked one yesterday just like it, and it was running fine. you need to do a lake wide sampling at basically the same time for a number of years in a row to tell what the real pulse of the lake is. also doing creel surveys at different times of the year lake wide tells lots of info. i can tell you that the fish population in the james river arm is a far different survey that the eagle rock area would reveal. i can tell you that table rock does not have any where near the bass in it as it did pre-fish kill. it has taken over 20 years to get to where we are at now, and the fact is, with stocking, we could have been at this level in 5 years. since we are the subject of how thin the mdc personnel is, where is all the tax dollars being spent they collect off of sales tax??? they have bought up a lot of land that is no longer on the tax rolls, and then scream they have no money. since personnel is as thin as you say, they are not spending money there. they do spend some money around the city areas, but never down this way. kind of like stocking quail up north, but not in this area. we like to quail hunt here too. bo

do you actually have any data on when and where the mdc did any actual shocking studies on table rock? what little they have done in the last 20 years is always on the james river arm and that can not tell you what is actually going on lake wide. next, you hardly ever see a conservation officer working the lake, and not a creel checker either which is important in information gathering. so, how is it that you manage any lake without first hand knowledge about what is going on? bo

very nice ben. you are learning quickly that most of the time the bass are not either shallow or on the bank. very great job. bo

thought i might throw this out there, and maybe someone might know of anyone that would be interested in hand tying jigs for me. don iovino's person that does his tying is in bad health and don will most likely not be in the hand tied jig business because of this. our market area will not only be Tackle Warehouse, but also our on-line website and dealers. we are going to try to fill that market need if we can find a local tier. will appreciate heading me in the right direction. bo

i would like to debate him on his viewpoint of the how well the mdc is managing the fishery on table rock. does not doing anything qualify as managing the fish population of a lake? bo

looks like the problem might be "pot metal". sometimes in casting that stuff, it gets something in the mix that can cause a spot to not connect with the rest of the material or can have a air bubble in the mix, or sometimes it just is not strong. a friend of mine has broken two reel seats on brand new lews bait casters. do not know what model they were. pot metal is not often too strong. bo

just get the tag number of the car. best place to start. bo

really nice! bo

break-in can seem to take forever. and it actually does. we really, most of the time never have the big engine running that much. bo

long way to run for 5 hours of fishing, but the woods are really pretty right now. good time to just be out and enjoy all there is to see. bo