Buzz

You have know idea how true that statement is. It's attached to a '98 Ford F-150 Tan over Black. We'll meet you by the Murphy's gas station on the northeast end of the parking lot. Don't forget your beverages.

I drove over the creek today and it is looking better. It's still a little high but is clearing up nicely. I think this weekend it would be pretty good if not fast. Don't you guys miss the good old days of the drought???

Hey Ollie, have you heard if they are going to stock for the 4th of July like last year???? I had a blast.

I was wondering what a trespassing ticket runs these days???? I bet if your boys went to court they might be able to get that agent to show up and put this whole thing to rest. Did they say what the agents name was? We met one Sunday morning near Shoal Creek and he was based in Jasper County, but is helping out in Newton until the new guy gets here in October. He gave me his number and I won't hesitate to call him. I guess the new guy for Newton County is young and pretty aggressive, which will be good for us and bad for lawbreakers. It really is amazing to me how many landowners don't know the laws and yet the cops don't bother to know them either. I would think if this guy was making so many calls, someone ( the Police ) would look into it and save the courts a lot of wasted time.

I was just asking Chief the other day if he had heard anything from you. Sounds like my luck. I think I have an easy one day job and it never fails to turn into a week long ordeal. I hope you make it down later this summer. KC, I spoke to Chief today about some possibilites. I'm like you I don't really care. I do like to float and wade fish the better looking spots. We sometimes spend too long fishing the good ones though.

Thanks for the kind words Chief. That little hole of water has always produced fish for me and I knew one of us would catch some fish if we just stayed at it a little longer. As is usual, Chief will throw everything in his tackle box until he finds the right bait, as you can see he caught the two biggest fish again.

That's what us S.W. Missouri guys callem'. I have refered to smallmouth as brownies since forever. I do sometimes refrain from that name sometimes because of the confusion it sometimes causes. Nope, but I did take a few. I honestly couldn't get away from the old trusty crawdad. I do think they will be getting on it soon though. I really want to try some grasshopper patterns later this summer. Fishin' I will PM you soon. Buzz

This little creek has become my favorite smallmouth spots.The water is crystal clear and the fish are plentiful. Crawdads are the only bait you need to catch fish in this stream, at least as far as I'm concerned. One of the nice fish that Chief caught. My personal favorite. Yeah, we got bluffs too. This was Dylan's best. He caught it on a big old jig from under the bluff.

Bushwhacker is another favorite of mine. I need to get back there too.

This parasite thing seems to be inherent in smallmouth. I don't think it's a regional thing. We've seen this for many years, it's the reason I quit keeping them more than 20 years ago. Before I became aware

Great pics Phil. Looks like a fun family outing.

Some people are just idiots. You should have written him a ticket and made him show up for the next stream team cleanup. I'm glad you set him straight. Maybe, just maybe, he'll think about it next time he goes to the creek. I have been there a couple of times over the last two weeks and haven't seen anything as blatant as that. I have seen the usual candy wrapper and worm box but, nothing too bad. I did catch a few fish before they were mostly taken out. One day I managed 5 fish the next time 16 fish, all released, then the next two times nothing at all. It's amazing how fast they can clean out a stream of fish and yet not lift a finger to pick up their own trash.

I haven't been to Lamar yet this year, but I took my granddaughter last year in june and we caught some nice perch and some really big redears. I'd be interested in knowing if they are on the beds too, she's ready to go again.

I would like to try and make the next one. This would be my first. Sounds like fun. The smallie stream idea sounds good too.

Just curious Al. Would it be possible to sort of help populate the area above the falls? Maybe catch a fish below and transfer it above? After reading your report this sort of stuck in my mind. That was a very visual report, I can picture it in my mind. Thanks.

Earlier this year while floating we saw several eagles around the creek and in the trees. I made the comment: " Wouldn't it be a hoot to find a nest and a nesting pair of eagles?" I guess we at least found the nest. I didn't see any birds flying anywhere this time, maybe they were in the nest. I will be interested in seeing it throughout this year and next. One thing we noticed on this particular float was how clean the water and the banks were. It didn't look like it gets a lot of pressure like some of the other floats we've done. No beer cans or Wal-Mart bags in the water or on the banks. It should be a great place to raise a couple of young eagles.

We are looking forward fishing with you.

The wind was ridiculous for sure. That is a great stretch of the creek. Lots of bluffs, some great runs, and a lot of fish. It was nice to be out of the old waders finally. The water felt great. We also saw something rather unique. It appeared to be an eagles nest in the top of a Sycamore tree. It was huge. Probably about 4 to 5 feet across. I have never seen one other than photos and documentaries and it looked very similar.

That sounds like one of those days that you won't ever forget. They don't happen often enough.

I too have a vanity that takes 4 bulbs and I still use the old style clear bulbs. They make bulbs to fit it but, I don't like the looks of them for that fixture and they cost about five bucks each. Besides, being in the master bath, the lights last long enough. All of my other fixtures have a globe or some kind of cover around them, so I can mostly cover up the not too attractive corkscrew look of the bulbs. The initial cost of changing a house over to CFL's is somewhat expensive, but if done over the course of a couple of weeks or even a month it doesn't hurt too bad. I now only buy light bulbs about once every 12 to 18 months.

All of that is true, and no different than any other fluorescent lights, 2,4,6, and 8 foot. Although there may be a certain amount of hazard to the disposal of these bulbs, the benefits far out way the dangers,IMO. I have never broken one ( yet ), I have dropped a few and they are far more unbreakable than the old bulbs. I have been using them for several years now and the cost of the bulbs are more than made up for in the savings on electricity. I have some bulbs that I just replaced last month that I had bought five years ago.

Sorry Yakfisher I didn't see your post. I haven't fished it since I was a kid but, had good luck fishing from the bank throwing spinner baits after dark. We caught several nice bass. Most were about 15", but for a 7 Th grader they were the biggest and most I had ever caught. I went with a friend and his dad. I've wanted to get back there but haven't been able to. I hope the lake is still as good as it was.

I'm sure we can work that out KC. Chief and I are going to fish somewhere this Sunday if the water doesn't get muddied up. We had talked about Indian. If we do float, I'm sure there will be a report.

That makes sense. After I sarted this topic I got hit with another 12 of those returned e-mails then my spamm filter started to pick them out. I haven't had any since.

Nice pics Fishin'. Looks like some good fish were caught. I wish I'd been able to join you guys. Wader, Shoal Creek has a good supply of all of the fish that you mentioned but, we do catch more largemouth and spots most of the time. It's my favorite creek for both numbers and size. The smallmouth are there and we do catch quite a few of them also. Last year we caught a lot of them with a few that were really nice fish. If you are wanting to target mainly smallmouth Big Sugar and Indian are both great creeks. We floated Indian a couple of times last year and once so far this year I was not disappointed with any of the floats. Big Sugar is on our list for this year, since we didn't make it down there last year. Buzz