rps

I fished both the classics, V37 and V38 - brown and green crawdad.

I fished Haddock Creek, Stubblefield Bluff and Branch, and Leatherwood today. Water temps 52 - 54. No jig fish, no jerk fish. Found a modest wart pattern - 45 degree chunk rock banks with the wind blowing on them. I threw the wart parallel to the bank trying to run it at its maximum depth and still nick bottom. 12 spots in the boat, one 2.5 pound keeper and four more that nearly measured. Big fish of the day was a white so full of eggs she looked deformed. Seemed like much boat traffic for a Wednesday in March. I guess the good weather gave Cooter and Scooter cabin fever.

Time for someone to PM Trav and ask for his dead horse picture.

Monday: Not a productive day for me. One dink and one good bite that I missed. I fished the entireity of Leatherwood. The water temp was 54 there and I found neither whites nor walleye. Saw three other boats in there and they were not catching. Then I jigged and jerked the mouth of Haddock and the rock bank opposite Fletchers. Water temp 53 and that's where I had the one decent bite on the jig. Two positive reports from fellow slip owners at Holiday Island. One caught eight large white bass from the flat opposite Cedar creek. I watched another clean six white sows. He said his came from the submerged island on the south side of the lake between Leatherwood and Cedar Creek. Hope that information helps. Tuesday: Better than yesterday, but that wouldn't be hard. I fished the rip rap at the Holiday Island marina this morning with two shorts on a jig. I headed up river to walleye and white bass hunt. Water temp was 52 up river nearly to Houseman. Very slow for everyone. I saw maybe 15 boats and those I talked to were only catching trout. I did find one keeper walleye on a wind drifted powerbait nightcrawler. I also caught a keeper spot on the same rig. Both fish were on a rocky shoal in 8 to 10 feet of water. Coming back downriver I passed Butler Creek, the one with the wooden, abandoned railroad bridge at the mouth. I saw seven boats in there. Looked like a picture of Spring Break at Lake Havasu except they appeared to be fishing and not drinking. Other boats were fishing the flats I wrote about above. I suspect the Whites are active. I don't know because I didn't catch them.

Eureka has many options, all minutes from the Kings River.

Holiday Island 48 - 50 Houseman 46-48 Many boats up at Houseman. Not much catching, other than trout. I saw one non trout caught by others, a crappie. Personally, I had a 6 inch bass, a 16.5 inch walleye, and a fat, beautifully colored 19 inch rainbow. I will go out again today and hope to find fewer people and more fish.

I'm headed way up river for walleye. Fewer boats up there than down river. Wave if you go that direction.

I have replaced my 12V, 54 pound thrust, hand control, bow mount Motor Guide trolling motor with a 24V system. The motor is two years old and has the gator flex style mount. The shaft is 54". The motor is for sale here at Holiday Island and I am asking $130. Make me an offer.

I, too, prefer the EWG Gamakatsu for crank baits. For topwaters I use roundbends. If you've read some of my other comments, you know I tinker with many baits. Oddly, I don't mess with the warts. The hooks that come on the original series just need a touchup with a file and work very well.

Haven't been in 40 years, but ... Clear water with a light tannic brown tint. Typical glacial lake combination of boulders and weeds. Underwater structure is not based on channels of rivers and tributaries as much as you are accustomed to at TR. The lake has catchable populations of smallmouth, walleye, northerns, and perch with some crappie and a few muskie. In August, of course, the fish will not be on the bank. One pattern will be underwater humps. Jigs and fish doctors for the smallmouth. Walleyes will want minnow tipped jigs or crawlers on blade harnesses. Hope someone with more recent knowledge chips in. Good luck.

the folks at the dam store will help you www.beaverdamstore.com

Up here at my end of the lake, a kayak would work very well above Beaver town. There are many good fish between there and the Highway 62 bridge where the river begins.

I made a rod from the St. Croix 6'9" blank with the ex fast tip. The blank was rated for 6 to 14 lb. test and 1/8 to 1/2 oz. lures. Great rod for open hook grubs, tubes, etc. Good rod for throwing twitch baits and for vertical spoon jigging. Hope that helps.

Mudhole sells supplies, materials, tools and their website has tutorials for free. Their service is excellent. The wrapping of the guides is the easy part, and handle building with kits is fairly straight forward. Decorative wraps and the epoxy finish can be tricky. I have never lathed or machined my own handle from scratch. The part I like is being able to customize the rod. For example, I add weight inside the blank at the base of the handle. The rod weighs more, but the casting and fishing seem like less work because of the fulcrum factor. Good luck.

Do a search of articles on upper Bull Shoals below the powersite dam. Do another on upper Kings River walleyes. There aren't any in the upper White, though.

I hadn't realized timsfly was born on opening day. Do you suppose his father was upset at missing the opening? Or did Dad go anyway? Happy Birthday, sir!

If you add Oklahoma lakes, Tenkiller is a natural because many who fish below it (trout and striper) also fish in the lake. Same is true of Broken Bow, a true highlands lake in the Kiamichi Mountains - the ones that in Arkansas are called the Ouchita Mountains. Many don't know it, but it has a trout fishery below it that holds some giants. These two lakes are regulars on the competition circuits as well.

Phil You and the other moderators should take as big a bite as you think you can swallow. Having said that, remember that what makes this forum strong are the interested and knowledgeable forum administrators. If you expand, be sure you add solid administrators.

wise man stays warm

I have nearly finished revising the original Family and Friends. I cleaned up two double entries, I added the stray recipes written after the original book, and added a bit of commentary. I put it in rtf format so those running macs and open office could open the file. I couldn't get it to upload. Next I saved it a XML file. That didn't work either. Sorry. When I finish the Table of Contents revisions, I will paste it on my blog at this site. Does anyone have a recipe they think should be added?

Once the weather is warm, I try to be at my third or fourth stop by the time the sun rises. You are right that being on the lake at the rise is magical.

Unlike many of you, I do not often fish between the end of October and Spring break. School duties, basketball games, chaperoning dances, holidays, and cold weather conspire to keep me off the lake. As a result, by the time Spring break comes, I am nearly frantic with cabin fever. Over the winter, I have mentally rigged and re-rigged my equipment in hundreds of ways. I have resolved to learn the patterns that worked for others last season. I have read articles and decided to learn the new techniques discussed in the articles. Most years, Bass Pro and Cabela’s base their first quarter financial forecasts on my business. This all may sound familiar to some of you. I think it might be interesting to hear from others: What are you planning to do different this year? What new things have you bought for the upcoming season? I am too embarrassed to give my complete answer to those questions here in this first post. However, to start, I will admit I removed a perfectly good two year old trolling motor and replaced it with a new 24 volt Minn Kota with co-pilot. I hope I do not have to reinforce the boat bow to handle it. Anyone need a 12volt 50 pound hand control Motorguide? Don't leave me hanging here. Tell it, brother.

I have owned and fished an Xpress 18' center console on Table Rock for two years. Very stable, dry boat with much room. It has a lining similar to the Rhino truck bed liner and hoses clean. Nothing but good to say about the boat, but there are several things I would change as far as setting it up. If you want to take a drive, I will show you how mine is rigged and what I would change. I live and store my boat at Holiday Island. G3 also makes a high quality aluminum center console. Either will cost you less than a Mako and give you more value. I would suggest you visit a dealer for each and ask about setup tips.

well done! With those measurements, the fish was assuredly over 6 and actually closer to 7. Most guys would "round" to 7.

I must look like a St. Patrick's Day float. I am deeply envious. Not of the fish but of the trip with dad. Good on you both.