rps

Interesting ideas by many of you. First and foremost indicator for success in school is socioeconomic status. Second indicator is education level of the parents (two parents with college degrees versus one parent with a GED). The consequences of other factors are far less telling. Now, on top of this set of facts, layer in parental involvement. Study after study proves active involvement by many parents is one of the key indicators for school wide success. Add to the above the fact that NCLB is not science based and has at its heart a political desire for public education to fail. That is right, a desire to see schools fail. Why? Because when schools everywhere fail, then you can bust unions and you can pass laws authorizing school vouchers for use at parochial schools, two political beliefs near and dear to many people, but at odds with the concept of universally educated citizens. BTW, those that say "hold the students back" and/or "let them quit school" do not realize these are measures of failure under NCLB as well. Under the rules, schools get dinged for dropouts. Now stop and think this through - inner city schools are typically the oldest and need the most upkeep, heating and air conditioning costs, and are the least adaptable to the use of technology. Socioeconomic factors also create student bodies with the lowest predicted success rate. As these symptoms become more evident, caring parents move away if they can or go parochial if they can. This harshens the consequences for those left behind. The entire school district can become toxic and that leads to non-accreditation. That is when the courts rule the students MUST be afforded an equal opportunity for school success. Under the current political climate, state departments of education know they cannot force the suburban people who live in school successful districts (or already send their children to parochial schools and already resent paying school taxes) to pay more. Therefore the departments penalize the children of the poor district and penalize the tax base from that district as well, by making them pay for transport and enduring the transport. The department of education knows the result will be a strain on the recipient districts, and they know the penalized district will be unable to pay the tax burden, The department does not care. That's right. They know they will only cut the statewide finite pie of tax into to smaller dollars per child and then demand that the principals and teachers do more with less. My wife and I teach in a school district where well over half the students qualify for free or reduced lunch (poverty level) and many/most do not live with two parents. In fact, many live with neither parent. Thankfully, our non-unionized teachers have successfully kept the district out of the toxic state and performing as well as the "rich kids" districts in Bentonville and Fayetteville. Even so we realize we are doomed to fail because the law says we must show a 10% improvement annually. Did anyone with a lick of sense think we can show a 10% improvement every year when that number is based upon all students, including non native English speakers, and special education students? My daughter has devoted the last ten years to Citizen Schools, a NGO that provides supplemental education to inner city children affected by the factors I describe above. She recently agreed to become a principal for a charter school in Fall River, Mass. that is striving to create a good school in an inner city situation where the public school failed. I hope that all of the above will help those of you who can read because of teachers realize that simple slogans like "hold the teachers accountable" and "hold the parents accountable" and "get rid of teacher unions" are not answers. Instead they are talking point slogans for politicians. I will now conclude this rant without personal character attacks.

Also, I'm from Oklahoma where most of our lakes have really dirty water. I think I'm a pretty good Carolina rig fisherman but usually fish in less than 20 feet of water. With the clear, deep lake, my guess would be to use fluorocarbon line and to use a heavier weight, like 1/2 ounce or so. Is this correct? Thanks again guys. I moved over from Tulsa in 2002. I learned to fish differently. I use 10# and less line. I usually cannot reach the shoreline in a single cast and sometimes not in three casts. My spinner bait box has only 4 or 5 baits in it. My crank bait box is basically warts and trolling baits for walleye. I had to learn to present vertically. I fish jigs more than T-rigged worms. If I went back to fish Eufala or Oolagah, I would probably fare poorly. Of course, I have no desire to go fish those places anymore.

I fished Sunday and Tuesday morning. I found spotted bass and walleye on the edges of flats where the flat was 22 to 28 feet deep and the channel was 40 feet or deeper. Look for a break on the break (something different about the edge). Try crawdad jigs, finesse or shaky worms, or a vertical presentation such as drop shop or spoon. Time spent with electronics before you start fishing will be worth it.

If you use 10/2 braid like PowerPro Depthunter, you can reach 32 feet with big Reef Runners, magnum Wigglewarts, and DD22's. Anything below that in the summer is likely doomed due to air bladder problems. The real answer is to go vertical once they are 30 feet down. Rapala jig raps and War Eagle spoons.

I left HI marina early this morning and headed down lake. My first stop was a place up in the Roaring River arm where I've caught top water fish in late summer. Not today.I fished the big flat at the mouth of the Roaring River for a couple hours. I caught a number of fat belly spots and four sub legal walleye. I moved to the place I fished Sunday morning and found the same pattern working again. 24 to 28 feet on the drop off edge of the flat. I used up my last worm around 1:00 PM and headed for the house. On the way I had to go through stinging rain. I really need to get a face saver. Final tally was 10 walleye (three of which were legal) and roughly 15 spotted bass.

Bo, I post under the same name on walleye central and the Missouri walleye forum. Those forums have passionate threads about keeping and releasing walleye that are as interesting as those I see on this forum about trout and small mouth bass. I adhere to the daily limit and possession limit for walleye. I C and R all bass.

I recently bought some jigging spoons from Cabelas. The hooks were sharp ... but broke while I was jiggling them from a hang. More and more often I find I should replace the "comes with" hooks before I ever fish the bait. Daiichi Death Traps on everything!

I was surprised this morning. I arrived at the marina at 5:10. One boat had launched, another was backing to the water. I assumed this was a bad sign. Especially when a third boat pulled into line to launch. I wheeled my gear down to the boat and was gone before boats two and three cleared the buoys. I caught 4 or 5 small bass on a very early topwater bite that stopped almost before it started. In the mean time I had marked some shad schools at the channel break. I motored downstream to a soup bowl shaped inside bend flat. In the middle of the bowl the water is 32 - 33 feet deep. On the channel rim the bottom is 25 feet deep. I began dragging a bait roller crawler behind a Mack's smile blade and a bead. Before 1:00 PM, I caught 9 walleye and 20 plus spotted bass off the outside rim of the bowl. The fish were 25 to 28 feet deep and hanging in places where sunken timber or rocks broke up the edge. The bass were 12 to 17 inches and the walleye were 15 to 21 inches (3 keepers). If a person wanted to fish artificials, a c-rig with a Keitech Swing Impact would get bit.

Try one of the flat warts. http://www.basspro.com/STORM-Deep-Rattlin-Flat-Wart-Crankbaits/product/10225288/

Al and others, You know I respect you, so please view the following in kindly light. Brian, Your offense came only partially from the use of the "C" word. True, that alone would have been enough. However the aggressive, denigrating tone of voice, the easy demonizing of one political party, and the misogynistic attitude toward women were equally offensive. Being "bold" and "speaking your mind" are no virtue when you haven't thought things through first. I am a a fiscally conservative Democrat. I will readily admit some of the nationally known Democrats annoy me. Some of the politically correct follies irritate me. At times, I wonder if anyone understands a budget. On the other hand, I will never support a party that uses it power to benefit the rich at the expense of the hard working but poor and lower middle class. I will not support a party whose every policy demonstrates a belief that they hold the only answer to life and all the rest of us should shut up and live exactly as we are told to live. I cannot support any group that uses sex, race, and religion as manipulative tools to bait the electorate into to giving them another term in office. One of the great ironies of modern day politics are those who act as if they are entitled telling the masses that they should vote to reduce entitlements. Brian, the above is bold and outspoken. Hopefully, you can see and understand the difference between what I have written and what you posted originally and what you later posted in apologetic explanation. Phil, you know I do not contribute to many of the political discussions. I apologize for entering this one, and I promise to go back to bemused silence for a while. However, every once in a while we all need someone to remind others of a saying attributed to Abraham Lincoln and Mark Twain, "Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak and to remove all doubt." The original source for that proverb was probably Proverbs 17:28. We all should thank the gentleman for so ably demonstrating that truth.

Above Eagle Rock, maximum channel depth is much more shallow. While this does not change the developing thermocline, it does change the fish location. For example, the dock pattern requires you to throw into slips and fish the shady interior. Drop shotting to 20 or thirty feet means you need to look for outside bends with a "change" that causes the fish to hold. Old Fishing Facts terminology would be "a break on a break." If you need to visualize, run to the big flat at Stubblefield Branch. Sit on the flat and look at the outside bend. Jolmes Branch and another small creek break the steeper outside wall. Close to each, bass and walleye will suspend. Forgive for not saying exactly where, but they are there this time of year and will bite a drop shot or spoon. By the time you are above Holiday Island, the channel depth will be at or above thermocline by the middle or end of July. That changes the ball game to cover at or on the break into the channel from which shad schools can be ambushed. Above Eagle Rock, another summer factor that matters is the release from Beaver. While they release water temp drops and a noticeable current develops. Fish the downstream side of breaks in the flow. In other words, what Bill describes as the pattern remains true, but you must adapt that information to adjust for the shallower depth and the current.

Oneshot, all of us pray for her and her family.

While I think the law is silly, Brian B, you offend me. I rarely call people out, but that is way over the line. Learn to respect people, even if you disagree with their politics or their gender. Otherwise go away.

Sorry you were deleted. Does that mean you are going to be on one of the TV shows about dead people?

Bill is right. There are no fish above Eagle Rock. In fact, upriver of Big M is rather lean too.

Oh my!

Good report and I'm glad you scored. My tin boat has a 75 hp Etec and I troll cranks using it, but I have to go in and out of gear. Besides the very good suggestions for wiggle warts, Cabelas walleye runners, and Flickr Shads, try Bomber Fat Free Shad or Hot N Tots.

Today, 7/2, I went out again. Like Quillback, I did not find much of a topwater bite. I fished a slow death rig and a slow death with a Macks Smile blade. Two keeper walleye out of 24 feet of brushy water. I had to adjust the line length to run the bait just off the bottom to stay out of the brush. To give an idea of the number of bass, I used three boxes of nightcrawlers. Only about three were keepers, though.

I use a 1/0 Matzuo Bait Roller hook. The red doughnut is actually a red bead.

You are right, of course. Not all my pistons fire all the time.

I have realized many of you may not know what I am talking about when I talk about a slow death night crawler. this: + 4 feet of 10# line + this: + this: behind a weight (this: or a bottom bouncer) creates a lure/bait effect like this: Fish it at .7 to 1.0 mph Really, it is only an oddball C rig.

After an earlier suggestion by Bill, I used death traps on my Top Dollar modified baits. They are sticky and surprisingly strong for a light wire hook.

http://www.basspro.com/XCalibur-TX3-Dressed-Trebles/product/100171/ or http://www.basspro.com/Mustad-UltraPoint-Ultra-NP-Feather-Treble/product/52857/ or tie your own feathers and flash on Daiichi death traps

The bass hit both the slow death night crawler and a c rig keitech sudden impact 3.5. I was fishing the side of the long point at the mouth of Rock Creek and the points on the flat just upstream from there.