rps

Old guy talking here. Charlie Brewers "Do Nothing" slider heads and worms made bait around 5 inches long when rigged. The largest non-Canadian small mouth I ever had had on the line broke me off. He or she still owns a slider head worm.

Highway 187 in Arkansas. It runs from Highway 23 North (from Eureka Springs north to 86) to and through Beaver and then winds to connect with Highway 62 about 6 miles West of Eureka Springs. We use it as the backdoor into Holiday Island. The road was originally built as a horse drawn wagon road to haul the stone they quarried down by the White River back to Eureka to build the Crescent Hotel. At Beaver it features the world's longest wooden suspension bridge over the White River. It too is one lane. Around here one must learn the etiquette of one land bridges.

A gentleman who lived near the bridge, we call it the Elk Ranch area, was driving home and drove into water deep and striong enough to sweep his SUV off the bridge. They found the SUV when the water went down, but they are still looking for him.

I went over the one lane bridge myself shortly before 4:00 PM. They yanked the buckled pavement in front of the bridge, graded it and laid some gravel. They temp filled potholes in the bridge itself. Good to go (SLOW) for cars, pickups, and boat trailers. Personally I wouldn't drive anything heavier than a step van over it until fully tested and repaired. But that is just me. They have waders and divers in the creek downstream from the bridge still looking.

http://www.nwahomepage.com/fulltext-news/d/story/carroll-county-authorities-still-searching-for-mis/67084/CNAOGPGPI0-zCpRf0A8Ghw

The bridge on 187 @ Elk Ranch will be some time before repaired. The one @ Beaver is fine. To reach HI marina from 23, turn into HI at the golf course and follow the road through the course and beyond until you come to a stop sign. Turn left (downhill) and then turn right @ the next stop sign. You will recognize the road to the marina. Oh, I haven't heard about the SUV driver.

Everything flowing into Table Rock and Bull Shoals from the Arkansas side will look like my pictures. Some of the Missouri side may also. That means we are looking at murky water and debris for some number of days. If we get another significant rain we are looking at high water.

I know. I came out to 23 via the golf course this morning, instead of 187. One of my former students is engaged to a young man whose family lives between me and the Elk Ranch. She posted pictures showing the extent of damage to the bridge. I hope it is repaired soon. I drove through town to go south on 23. The worst damage there seemed to be at the intersection of north 23 and the Passion Play Road. I understand several shops along Main had water damage.

I'm on it, Scott. What's a frog?

I have been bachelor living and cooking this week. The wife is visiting her 94 year old mother in New Hampshire. When she leaves, my cooking changes. My solo meal tonight will be a sausage, mushroom, onion, sun dried tomato, and cheese fittata. One pan, one course, one fork. Tons of flavor.

I live on Table Rock Drive, but not on the bluff side. The waste treatment plant does not let off odor. In the years I have lived here I have never smelled it. I am told the sun on the bluff side homes can be strong at times. Those homes that do not have sufficient roof overhang have curtains they draw in the late afternoons.

I had planned to take my boat off the lift at the marina today and drag it to Rogers for the 300 hour maintenance needed to keep my warranty intact. When I arrived there this morning, I had to make a new plan. I backed the trailer into the water at the gravel swim beach on the point. I walked the quarter mile back to the marina for the boat. I only had to "icebreaker" about 30 feet of debris to reach open water where I could motor around to the trailer. The main channel is not as muddy as the Leatherwood runoff in the marina cove. The debris was packed solid by the North wind.

If the kids are small and bluegill your target, the flat point right at the mouth of the marina cove always has hand size and larger bluegill. From time to time a walleye will be there as well. Start at the carved tree (eagle) and work back toward the cove opening very slowly dragging a split shot rig. Near the mouth the point hooks out toward the channel for quite a way.

I really like the rod. Really like it. I would like it even more if I could get on the fish with the bait it was designed to fish.

My wife and I indulge ourselves. We buy our bacon, brats, and wieners from Nueskes. Google them. They make incredible meats.

The wrong type. Primarily pea gravel and where I can find it pea gravel with scattered chunk rock. Monday I fished it on secondary points in Roaring River as well.

I went out for three hours this morning. I found 50 to 52 degree water. The day started with no wind and by the time I came off it was beginning to blow. Third trip in a row no action on the Ned. I am puzzled. I caught a nice keeper and a short small mouth on the Rockcrawler. I also had a large walleye follow it to the boat, but he flared of when I paused the bait. Tomorrow I pull the boat out of the water and take it in for preventive maintenance. I'll be beached until I get it back.

I cannot remember, but if an earlier thread you started did not cover this, you should visit Hook Line and Sinker in Rogers and introduce yourself. The owners, their staff - including Feathers and Fins (Scott) - and their customers represent an excellent Beaver resource. If someone has already told you that forgive me. I looked at your earlier posting and did not see the outright high praise they have earned.

Drat! I was nearly finished with an informative paragraph on lake levels when I touched the wrong key and made it all disappear. For the second time: The four major White River lakes, Beaver, Tablerock, Bull Shoals, and Norfork are federal projects run under a Congressional mandate. That legislation specifies the lakes are first and primarily flood control lakes. The four lakes are run as a unit based upon water levels, historic rainfall tables, and the water levels down stream in the Delta. The only public opinion in that decision process is that of the farmers. Subject to that priority, the second purpose is the production of hydroelectric power. SWPA is a federal quasi commercial entity established by Congress to manage the second priority. My good friend Larry Yadon is the general counsel for them. SWPA has contracts with the electric coops that serve Arkansas and Missouri, as well as other providers "on the grid." Essentially all discharges are governed by supply and demand for electric power. That is the reason you are most likely to see generation during peak electric use hours in the morning and especially the evening. The contracts do have limits on the electric dictating lake level. Above certain levels for each of the lakes, generation control ceases. For Tablerock that level is in the 920's. Below certain lake levels also triggers generation limits. For Tablerock that level is somewhere near 908 or 910. I apologize for not remembering the exact number. There is really no third priority or public input in the process. If priority 1 or 2 dictates that homes below Beaver be flooded, history shows they will make that happen. If priority 1 or 2 dictates that marinas sit on mud flats, history shows they will mke that happen. The only exception to this of which I am aware are the "minimum flow" standards that apply to the areas below Bull Shoals and Norfolk. Those are not law, but the COE has agreed to mostly follow those guidelines to get TU off their back. Bottom line - if anyone wants to change the way things occur, one must muster political clout which outweighs the farmers plus the electric coops plus the entrenched bureaucrats at COE and SWPA. That is a formidable task, as TU found.

Tragic.

I have often wondered about those. They got great reviews by tech tyes but sold very few. Were they a great idea that was just too diffenrent or a gimmick that was merely average?

Well he sure whacked it good. I hope he was not hurt.

This is personal opinion rather than fact. No one has to agree with me. 1. A spinning rig twists the line, even if you didn't twist it putting it on. That sometimes leads to nasty messes. 2. You cannot be as accurate with a spinning rod as you can with a baitcaster. Accurate applies not only to direction, but also to distance. (one exception-> skipping under docks) 3. Line control is superior with a baitcaster as it runs in a straight line from where you can touch it to the bait. 4. Unless you buy a spinning reel in the upper price range, the drag on a bait caster is superior.

I do not think the take is aggressive. I had three fish pull off a crankbit bite today. I think they are playing with their food and we are not connecting.

I wish you could have been there to see my face when I finally figured out why the boat looked so strange. Then I had to try and figure out why it was on the lift with the motor still on and the gear still in. Were they going back out later? Finally, I decided I neeed to share this with all of you.