rps

Big brown stories from the Beaver tail waters? Well, one time at band camp ... Actually, big browns are there. I've seen one or two ghosting like they do. Not 40 pounds, but teens. A friend in my boat caught a six or seven pound brown while walleye fishing with me several years ago. If fish can live to that size, then they can live to much larger. The problem is numbers. Only one fish out of how many lives long enough and well enough to take advantage of a genetic tendency for size. There just are not that many browns in the Beaver tail water. Wait a minute, I forgot. All the browns below Beaver died. They're not there any more.

Fire bricks, check. Chamber size? Draft? Openings to clean? Racks? Talk to me. rps

Smoke - fish, pig, beef, or chicken.

I don't own a lawn mower. The two lots I own in Holiday Island are rocks, cedar, and more rocks. I think a two chamber stone BBQ pit would be cool. If anyone has advice on what and how to do, please get me started. TIA. rps

I enjoyed the joke. It prompted me to look up the spelling on sanctimonious.

I guess your place must be booked solid? Otherwise, your pointer seems like an ad for the competition? Do you suppose Babler and Beck need to schedule a do-over?

I do love TR. You just never know.

I just posted a story/essay to my OAF blog. Any suggestions to make a better story would be very welcome. rps

Here is the fish. Sorry for the poor quality of the photo. The camera is great, but the operator sucks. Especially in low light conditions. Techo: I was hoping everyone had forgotten the streak of good deeds last year. It's really hard to maintain a grumpy old man persona when people remember things like that.

Went out today, Sunday, a little after 6:00 am. The fog was heavy so I felt my way down to Haddock Creek. Caught 3 on a jig with twin tail and 4 on a black buzz bait. The jig fish were keepers, but only one was a good fish. None of the buzz bait fish were legal. The jig fish were shallow but near the drop off. I'll post a picture of the 20 inch fish later. Chased some early boils, but the only white bass I caught were 6 inches. Red Raider said he had found some nice whites on a spoon. Ran into a walleye regular near Stubblefield Branch. He reported three short walleye. I asked his depth and started trolling. I caught one 17.5 inch walleye, one large crappie, and six or seven near legal spots. No keeper walleye. By the time I came in, the boat traffic was amazing. One funny to relate. Saw a mature man (younger than me but not young) towing someone on a tube with his PWC. I waved him down and told him he needed a spotter to be legal and the patrol usually showed itself on Labor Day Weekend. He thanked me and drove over to the boat that was acting as a tender. He picked up a spotter, waved, and started going around in circles right in the path of my trolling pass. I asked myself what was I thinking. I should have kept my mouth shut and let Darwin take care of it. I have got to learn to let the grumpy old man out more often.

Awesome day!

Rats. I must be old and have a brain rotted from too much television. I got them all right.

I probably messed up by not going out this morning. I will fish tomorrow and maybe Monday morning. I put the butt on at 6:00 this morning, and it is on its second dose of smoke. Late this afternoon I'll pull it and rest it over night. Tomorrow I'll finish it after I come off the lake. I was asked my holiday plans yesterday and got strange looks when I said I was going to smoke butt. Then I remembered I was in Eureka and enunciated more clearly, butt not bud. My students looked relieved. Techo: I expect pictures this evening.

An old trick I learned at Texhoma while striper fishing: To avoid pulling your plug off course with the trailer, remove the FRONT hook and attach a swivel to the eyelet. Tie the dropper to the swivel and you erase line twist problems while acquiring the ability to use a smaller plug to reach the same depth. The advantage of the plug is that the baits either don't sink or sink more slowly if you stop or slow the boat.

The only times I have fished that section is when I drove a boat from the lake as far up river as I could and then got out. Worked great for white bass.

Brett: I prefer to use a tandem blade buzzbait like the Booyah Counterstrike. It is a safety pin style bait with two in line blades that rotate in opposite directions and click against each other. I fish black or white, but mostly black. I have had success on TR with these either post spawn, or in the fall when the fish begin to move from deep water to creeks and pockets. Like topwaters of all sorts, I have better luck in low light situations. However, the best single day string I ever caught was on a Labor Day weekend in 100 degree heat. I was fishing a buzzbait in a slough off the Verdigris River in Oklahoma and burning it past and over laydowns. The fish had no deepwater to find shelter and were laying in the shade of the timber. The best spots I have found for buzzbait fishing on TR also involve timber and laydowns. Near Shell Knob and in the Kings, there are several timber messes in the water that have given up fish to me on buzz bait. The best I've found is up here near Holiday Island, but I hope you'll forgive me if I don't say exactly where. I'll leave the spoon question for others. Good luck.

Boomer Sooner! How about that smallmouth advice?

what is odd - a year or two before the high water every thing was waaay low on TR. several of the pvc structures were planted up here during the low water always have wondered if they paid off for those who placed them?

Ingredients: 1 pound Italian suasage, mild 1 pound button mushrooms, diced 1 yellow onion, diced 7 cloves garlic, minced 1 teaspoon fresh oregano 1 teaspoon fresh thyme 1 tablespoon minced fresh basil 1 15 ounce can tomato sauce 1 15 ounce can crushed tomato 1 cup water 2 teaspoon sugar salt and pepper 1 package radiator pasta olive oil 2 handfulls 5 italian cheeses Method: heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil in the bottom of a dutch oven vessel add the italian sausage and brown on both sides break up the sausage and continue to cook until done remove the sausage from the pan and drain oil off gently saute the onions and mushrooms until soft add garlic and saute another 2 minutes add herbs and saute another minute add back sausage add tomato sauce and crushed tomatoes, water, and sugar, then simmer 20 minutes as sauce simmers, heat salted water to boil and add radiators cook pasta until firm but close to done when pasta is firm but getting close to done, drain and add back to the sauce mix well cover and bake at 350 for 25 minutes remove and sprinkle cheese over top cover and bake another 15 minutes serve cheap, fresh, good for you, and much better for you than store or eat out bought

Have you actually been to the doctor? If it is a rib, there is danger from several sources. If it is cartiledge, it is incredibly painful but far less life risk. Go see the man, or woman, and take care of yourself. As I have had one of each, I will tell you, I feel for you. rps

A very long time ago I heard someone ( won't say where or when as it would embarass people for whom I care) talk about the risk of "screaming yellow zonkers." It turned out to be the name of caramel corn. Sometimes the story is too "good" to be true.

Cold Bill. Very cold.

I fished the back end of creeks this morning in the overcast. I caught seven, three of which were keepers in the 2 to 2.5 range. I used a black twin blade (in line) buzz bait. The one I was sorry about was the near keeper small mouth. It would have been cool to have a keeper SM on a blade. I trolled for walleye for nearly five hours after that. Five more small Spots. The only walleye that ate my bait was 23 - 25 inches long and shook off after I had already picked up the net. The walleye was 27 feet deep and in tree tops. Good luck all. rps

Bleeding fish has merit if you are talking about strong tasting, oily ocean fish like mackerel. For fresh water fish, with the possible exception of very large catfish, the best thing you can do is ice them immediately. With trout, the largest single factor in their flavor is how long they have been in the river or stream. "Silver bullets" will never taste like anything but Purina fish chow. However, once the fish have been in the river long enough for the flesh to turn pink/red, the flavor improves. While I don't bleed white bass, if I keep them to eat, I remove the the red blood line down the center of the skin side of the filet. I also remove the brown blood line from the center of the skin side of salmon and large trout. If I prepare trout or salmon with skin on I advise my guests to only eat the brown flesh if they like very strong fish flavor. Hope this helps you enjoy your fish.

Look at my avatar. It speaks for me. Well done. rps