rps

Started before daylight. Hadn't been on my first spot ten minutes when another boat comes up and stops about 60 yards from me and starts fishing TOWARDS me. I got disgusted, thanked him for his courtesy, yanked the troll motor up, and the big motor would not start. I had some trouble last week with the pin that allows starting only in neutral. I guess the mechanic and I need to visit again. I swear it seems like this spring has been one boat trouble after another. I used the troll motor to go back to the marina and fished Leatherwood untill 9:00. Finished with 8 topwater largemouth with two of them small keepers.

The keep and eat versus catch and release has been argued many, many times on this forum. Before it starts again, I'll summarize. Some are proud eaters of anything, some keep and eat X and Y fishes but release Z fishes. Some don't keep anything. All believe strongly that their choice is the only correct one and will SHOUT THEIR BELIEFS REPEATEDLY. Usually Phil lets it run on as long as no one cusses or villifies others. Then he steps in and cuts the thread. My comment: as long as you follow the laws and believe you are doing the right thing, you are.

Just a bump to bring the ad up to the front.

Sounds like you have been planning and researching. Your content area will mean you have no problem getting hired. Did you run across alternative licensure? Many states (Arkansas is one) have methods for acquiring a license without formal "education " degrees. I used the Arkansas program to change careers: lawyer to teacher. I am in my 7th year at Eureka Springs. I hold a standard 7-12 language arts and social studies license. I teach both to 8th graders. The program here required me to pass Praxis tests in my content areas, attend two summer training sessions, attend two years of monthly weekend training sessions, have a mentor, pass a comprehensive test on teaching methodology, and pass an additional Praxis in which I was observed teaching by a specially licensed, very experienced teacher. During the two years in the program I held a special license and taught every day at full pay rate. If any thing I have mentioned leads you to more questions, PM me. Good luck.

Thanks techo. The camera and not the operator is the key. One of the things drowned in last years rain was my digital Minolta. For Christmas my beautiful wife gave me a WATERPROOF Pentax Optio W10. It takes a great picture and uses a USB to link to my computer. To upload to the board I had to reduce the image 50%.

Fished from daylight to 1:30 PM. Put 35 in the boat, all on top water. Most were largemouth, one smallmouth, and a few spots. Most were small but not all. Best five would have weighed near 14 pounds. Best one is pictured below with the Top Dollar I used to catch them all.

I live on the lake (TR) and theoretically can be picky about when I fish or don't. With that in mind, I plan to fish this weekend. However, I will not fish long periods. I will be out before sunrise and quit well before noon. I find most of the party crowd are later risers. I don't know if it is life style or hangovers, but not many of the boat wake crowd are on the water early.

I will start the "Best Back Story" contest. Alberto bought the boat with ill gotten gains from his importation of Komodo Dragons that he rendered and then sold the essence as a "masculinity enhancer." Unfortunately, Alberto was killed in a shootout with a rival gang of Komodo trappers. The boat sat in an abandoned dock for years until last year's high water sank it and then sucked it toward the channel. Trey, Alberto's grandson, arranged for both the boat and trailer to be refloated, but then ran out of funds when the recession burst the speculation bubble in dragon essence. Next?

Fished from around 4:30 until dark today. The first two hours were spent looking for walleyes. I had an email that said they were on flats in 10 to 13 feet of water. They may be there, but I couldn't find them. Around 6:30 I pulled into Leatherwood. I tied on a new to me bait, the Norman Top Dollar. When I found it at Wally World, I noticed the label said you could/should walk the dog with it even though it looks like a splasher. Yes you can walk it, if not as easily as a spook. Yes it splashes as you do so. It throws well too. Caught 19 largemouth, mostly small. Did have one squeaker keeper and three more respectable keepers in the 2 to 3 pound range. I had maybe 10 to 12 blowups that did not hook up. I call that a fun evening.

I moved here seven years ago and faced similar difficulties. I was too stubborn to hire anyone. Another forum member, techo, hired Bill Babler for a teaching day and swears he learned a ton. PM him for details.

Last year, when I wrote of a day like yesterday - fish that didn't hook up or came off - Bill Babler reminded me to not set the hook. Just reel until you feel the fish then bow up. It has helped my percentage. Still, days like yesterday happen. For every fish I landed, I had more than that many more missed strikes. I cannot complain though. I had a marvelous time yesterday morning.

Fished this morning until shortly after noon. Early, while it was still raining, I spooked and caught 12 mixed LM and spots, as well as three huge white bass. One of the white bass was 19 inches long and weighed nearly four pounds on my Cabelas spring scale. She was slack bellied and spawned out. Probably would have been record size a few weeks ago. None of the blacks were anywhere near that size although two would have measured. I had several fish come unbuttoned and one of them was quite respectable. After the sun thinned the cloud cover and the wind picked up, I fished a fish doctor for a while and picked up three more shorts and a large bluegill. Couldn't seem to find the magic this trip with the plastics. I tired of being blown around and came in. I may well try again tomorrow, although the forecast is for post cold front sunny skies.

I agree with the immediate icing and the cut out the red meat. I use white bass as the white meat in the fishburger recipe I posted last year in the recipes threads.

With cloud cover this time of year, I keep a spook on one rod all day long.

Still have the motor for sale. Any offers?

I can remember, as a boy, reading articles about how bad the pollution was in Erie and how it had killed the fishery. Obviously, the changes made to reduce the pollution problem has had some success. Look at the number of boats in that picture. Despite that you had a fabulous trip. Fantastic.

They are also deadly on trout. They are one of the baits I always try below Bull Shoals.

Good point. I am still in learning mode on the motor and will insert a double check in my routine.

I recently bought a bow mount 24volt Minn Kota Riptide ST. As I have mentioned before, I am NOT handy with tools. I had a marine mechanic install the motor for me. He used the same method Xpress used to factory install my original trolling motor. He drilled holes in the aluminum deck and inserted a threaded sleeve which serves like the deforming sleeve in a molybolt. I am sure the things have a name, but I don't know it. Look at the base and plate design of the Riptide ST and Terrova. The base/plate is much smaller than the traditional scissor mounts. The motor end of the unit locks into a cradle that sits in the middle of that small base/plate. This means the shaft and head extend much farther from the end of the mounting plate. As I reported a little over a week ago, I was running down the lake, thankfully not at top speed, when my new trolling motor dismounted from the bow. It appears the bouncing of the longer shaft and head fulcrum popped the sleeves out of the deck when I crossed a wake. The new installation will be bolted through the deck. To make this install, we will cut a fist size hole in the interior side wall of the bow so that washers and nuts can be secured on the bolt ends. The hole will be covered with a removable plate. That way I can check/tighten the nuts. If you upgrade to the Terrova or Riptide St (and I really like the motor, especially the hand held steering fob) be sure you consider the extra force the design will place on you boat deck and think about bolting the unit on if the boat design permits. I was only travelling in the mid 20's when I had my experience. I don't want imagine what it would have been like if I had been in a boat that was going 40 or higher (not that my rig could ever go that fast).

Xcalibur makes a $10 wake bait I've been itching to use. I own one and will try it during the next several weeks. Look here: http://www.basspro.com/webapp/wcs/stores/s...__SearchResults

My opinion: Buy the ones with the clip and that say original series. The ones with the galvinized hooks are usually the Mag warts.

I love warts and have for years. Normark (owners of Rapala) bought out Dave Storm (originally from Norman, OK) some years ago and then changed the wart design to make manufacturing cheaper/easier. The resulting bait was not as good as the original. People began to hoard the old originals. I would buy what ever I found in gas station displays and drug stores. Eventually Normark realized they goofed and began to make the original series again, but not in all the colors. No white, no silver. March, April, May are prime months for daytime wart fishing. Low light conditions that move fish shallow are summer and fall success times. I am fussy about hooks - all my topwaters receive new trebles as do the rattle traps. However, the wart hooks, while ugly, are actually very good and I only change them if they rust. BTW, 165 feet of power pro 10 pound line puts a wart about 25 feet down. The wart is an outstanding walleye trolling lure.

I bought a couple frogs last year when the lake was in the trees. I did not catch anything with them, although I did not fish them much and I didn't catch much in the slop/trees on anything.

When the water was so very high last Spring many things were under water that were not intended to be. Trailer houses, docks, septic tanks. People had relied on the normal pool and had built/placed things below top of pool elevation. The 6000 number is an exaggeration but many many things were in our lake for a month or two.

Bill: Sad. rps