rps

I owned and fished out of a Supreme 2000 for three years. Excellent boat. My only complaint, and the reason I sold it, was that it had low sides and no flotation. On the rivers, these facts mean nothing. On TR, where I was swamped twice in one year, I chose to buy a boat for the lake and go back to renting a boat when I went to the river.

Started at 5:40 this morning out of Holiday Island. It was still dark and the fog was beginning to form. First two fish came on finesse Jewels with twin tail trailers. They were shallow on points in the dark. The first was a barely keeper largemouth. The second was a "almost" K. As it lightened I motored to the back of Leatherwood creek. Lots of baitfish in the shallow end of the creek. Fished my way out using a chug bug. Six more fish in the boat, although none would have measured. Had three or four others on, including one good fish that broke me off on the log he had been hiding under. Topwater bite went away around 8:30 when the fog was gone and the sun reached the water, even on the shady side. Next, I trolled a wooded flat for walleye starting at 20 feet and working down. I finally took one 21" fish at 26 feet down on a white Norman Deep Little N. Two more passes cost me that bait and netted nothing so I decided to move. While looking for a second walleye, my bait, a magnum wart in firetiger, bounced some brush at 25 feet on a hump on a channel side slope. As soon as the fish hit, I knew it wasn't a walleye. The largemouth thought she was a smallmouth. She was in the air four times on the way to the boat. 20.5 inches long and the scale, which mostly tells the truth, said 5.5 pounds. She went back in the lake, and I decided that was a good point to call it a day. I cleaned the walleye and went home to finish fixing the pulled pork and horseradish cole slaw for the wife. The lake wasn't empty by any means, but it seemed there were fewer boats and skidoos than last year. Don't know if this was a Monday hangover factor, a gas is too expensive factor, or some barometric pressure factor caused by Gustav. Whatever the cause, I liked the effect. I'm calling this Labor Day a winner. :-)

C and R all Browns. C and R all rainbows over 18". If they make it to that size, let them breed.

Today, Tuesday, was my 7th day with students. Unless the snows cause me to lose days, I can fish midweek for a week in March and then again as of June. I am waiting already.

I realize that fishing up lake the odds of a meanmouth are reduced. Having said that, I hope to catch one someday soon, just to see what they are like in person. Does anyone have good photos of an example?

Troy Up here at Holiday Island they are not uncommon, especially in the Spring. They drift down and feed while the lake is cooler. I catch several every year, usually on jerk baits or slow moving cranks. Once they change from silver bullet stockers to highly colored real fish, they taste like salmon. Although I rarely go upriver to hunt for them (once every three years?) I always buy a trout stamp in case I am stopped with one in my ice box. Any stripers in TR are refugees from Beaver. They all think they are in heaven and feed heavily on the silver bullets I was talking about.

Yes. What people want is very important. However, indulge me an anecdote. The best ribs I ever ate are not my own. They were made by Al Saab, a Lebanese gentleman from Tulsa. He owned and ran Al's Steakhouse at 81st and Memorial from the early 50's when it was out in the country until the mid 80's when he sold it for development as a shopping center. There was no sign on the place. It was a speakeasy located in a white clapboard house on five acres, but a high class one. The federal judges went there and Al was bullet proof from the law. My father represented him in other matters and we ate there often. Al's brother was Pierre who owned and ran Pierre's. Al's nephew, Tony, had the best Q joint in Tulsa during the 80's, but invested unwisely in oil and lost it all.The guys who opened Eddy's and Jamil's in Tulsa were also Lebanese and learned from the Saabs. He knew food, cried alot, and you entered his place through the backdoor and into the kitchen. If he didn't know you and like you, you never got any further. Al taught me ribs. He had a brick two chamber he built himself. He used only hickory and repeated his mantra: 180 to 200 degrees, low and slow. He dry brined and seasoned but never sauced. Until I build a brick two chamber and use it for 30 years, I'll never get his flavor. Because of him, ribs are near and dear. The unfortunate consequence is that I rarely eat at Q places and never at chains. When Emeril steams his ribs, I turn him off. In your place I would make the ribs the people want, and also make them "the right way." Once they taste how much meatier, juicier, and less fatty a dry rib is, they will sing your praises and convert. If not, tell them to go eat at a chain.

Please realize I state personal preference and do not judge. Never, ever, not once, ever again buy or use baby back ribs. Not enough meat or fat. They are neat and cute, but we all know that neat and cute aren't BBQ words. I have already written about smoking butt and most of what I wrote applies to ribs. Brine with sorghum before you begin. Pat dry and rub. Use SMALL handfulls of lump charcoal. I use a chimney to start the charcoal but I do not fill the chimney. BTW lump burns hotter and faster than manmade charcoal, but the manmade has additives we do not want in our food. Use foil packets of hickory nuts or chips. Be patient. I do 4 to 6 hours of smoke for ribs and more for butt. If you choose to use the oven, and I do often, leave the meat unwrapped and set the temp below 200. I am lucky and have a JennAir that can really hold 190. After the ribs are fully cooked, wrap them in foil and put the packet in a brown paper bag for at least an hour. Trust me, the brown paper bag is important. Ribs are a total gestalt/ambiance experience and grease stained brown paper bags are important. Serve with sauce but never, ever, not once, ever use sauce before service.

“I refuse to join any club that would have me as a member.” Groucho Marx

Saturday morning I went out for the first time in two weeks. A nice man had called me at the suggestion of Alan, the marina operator at Holiday Island.He recently moved here from Chicago and TR had been abusing him. He asked me if I could show him a few places and tricks. I reluctantly agreed because I knew it meant an almost guaranteed skunk. We took his boat - a brand new tracker - and fished 5:30 to 11:00. We had 11 fish on, but many self released. One of the 11 was a solid keeper. The rest were 10 to 14 inches. All hit brown/green jigs in shallow water on points near channels. All were before 8:30. At least we avoided the skunk. Late August and I'm catching fish on jigs in less than 10 feet of water. Toto, I've a feeling we're not in Kansas anymore.

Even in the Land of Oz (LOZ - get it?) beautiful things happen. And you were ready with the camera. Well done!

Sam: This may help. Use the Power Pro 10# and tie on with a double Palomar (the overhand loop goes through twice before you pass the bait through) then figure the feet back - reel winds backwards is valid for spinning reels. Until you buy the trolling book: Cordell Wally Minnow: 35'=13 feet, 105'=19 feet, 220'=23 feet Shad Rap size 7: 60'=15 feet deep, 100'=17 feet, 180'=19 feet 3/8 oz original wiggle wart: 40'=12 feet, 80'=18 feet, 135'=22 feet, 165'=25 feet (the Bandit 300 series is nearly the same) 1/2 oz. original Hot N Tot: 100'= 23 feet, 200'=29 feet Good luck.

Glad you liked it and thanks for saying so.

Good improv. I always have buttermilk in the fridge, and that's what I use to bind the meal/flour/mix to the okra.

I use a Weber and what I wrote above does work. The key is to keep the number of lump charcoal down to a double handful for each dose of smoke. Be sure the coals are on one side and the meat on the other. The foil pouch for the nuts or wood chips serves as a direct heat baffle. When done with the first day (4 doses of 2 hours +/- each), refrigerate the meat until the second day. Good Luck

Glad you enjoyed your visit. Hopefully the family enjoyed all their activities as well. That way you can plan another trip here soon. By the way, beating the skunk on your first trip in the late summer is an accomplishment.

Sorry guys. I may live here, but I was raised in the land of crimson and cream. Hogs are good eating, provided you cook them low and slow. Pig sooey only means the pork butt is done. BTW, the Kings is every bit as good as the James for size - just not for numbers of large. My largest TR bass came from the Kings where it joins the White. Solid 8.5. By now it is dead or 10.5.

This year I have twice allowed fish to flop hooks into my fingers past the barb. Last year I had to have a doctor remove a spook. See "How was your fishing trip?" in the Table Rock archives. Sunday was the most recent and it hurt to remove the hook. I will not become better coordinated or quicker or stronger as I hit 60, so I am looking at alternatives. I researched the Boga grip and looked at some alternatives. The Boga is $120! Bless me, that seems like a lot. However, my digits are screaming for relief. Anyone out there own one, or one of the substitutes? Are they worth that kind of money? Please allow me to learn what you may have learned.

Several years ago, the guys at precisionangling.com published a book called the troller's bible. It began with the dive curve for popular baits using 10 pound monofilament line. Later editions added the dive curves for 10 pound fireline as well as some different size lines. If you use a lure in the book and use a line counter or marked line to know how much line is out, then you can look up at what depth your bait is travelling. 25 feet is near the limit you can reach with an original 3/8 oz. wiggle wart before you have to switch to another bait. For every bait I have tried, the dive curves are accurate. If anything, the baits run a hair deeper than stated. It is a great tool. The newest edition, Precision Trolling Pro, is printed on Tyvek and water proof. Unfortunately it contains far fewer baits than the old 8th edition and costs twice as much. I ruined my old 8th edition by leaving it in the boat during last spring's monsoon. (Waterpoof compartments aren't waterproof if the boat fills up.) I ordered the new edition because the 8th is shown as out of print. When I found out about the changes, I wrote Mark an email stating my dis-satisfaction. He wrote back a very nice reply and promised to ship me a copy of the 8th edition so I can laminate the pages I want to add to the newest edition. Anyone interested in the book should try and find an 8th edition if they can. That or stick to the lures in the newest edition.

Yesterday morning, I waited for the rain to end before going out. When you live on the lake, you can choose whether you fish in the rain or not. I fished the back end of Leatherwood Creek for two hours. Many shad, brown water runoff from the creek itself, and a number of freshets spilling in from the hills and bluffs. Caught four largemouth, two on a jig, two on a spook. Three of them were keepers, but none were large. Then I went walleye hunting. Because of the cloud cover and chop, I started with shallower baits. No luck until I switched to baits running 25 feet+/-. Once I started at that depth, I began to have action. I caught one keeper walleye, one keeper crappie, two short spotted bass, hooked two good fish that pulled off unseen, and brought a second keeper walleye to the boat where I knocked it off with the net. Method: 165 feet of 10 pound Power Pro pulling a firetiger original wiggle wart at 1.5 to 2.5 mph.

Some suggestions: 1. Rim Shoals - above it (Redbud), in the C and R, and below it to Crooked Creek 2. White Hole and Sportsmans Hole (they are back to back) 3. Bull Shoals state park, the C and R down to the shoal below the state park - but remember the special regs begin November 1. All three are large enough to fish an entire weekend, all three are easy access, and all three hold good numbers and size. Good luck.

I have several of that type of bait. I use them in the fall to walk down points. They are also very good baits when bass - white or black - are chopping shad near the surface. You can throw them a mile, retrieve them to the area where the fish are active and then kill them. Most of the hits come on the drop.

Others may disagree, but if I were going to fish on foot that time of year, I would be down on the river.

I was in school building up "in service" hours. Wish I had been out to be run off. Glad you caught a few nice bass and I hope you enjoy the bluegill.

You are way down lake from me, but check the maps of TR on this site. They are already marked with some locations. I have found the markings at this end accurate. More important, once you see what the marked areas look like you can scout for similar locations. Have a great trip!