rps

Not to confuse you by bringing up different water, but look at John Berry's report on the Norfolk. Usually (not always but usually) a good day on one river means a good day on both.

Kind words, guys. Thanks, but I believe I did nothing more than what you all would have done. I just happened to be there at the right time with another person there to jump in and do the hard job. Maybe all of us balance those people we all have been writing about in those other threads about stupid people and dock thiefs.

Went by Houseman yesterday. It is in good shape to launch and has ample parking next to the ramp.

All of you are correct, of course, but I just have to say this: Wait for it. Topwater bites are the best. It doesn't matter if its the silent disappear, the trashcan lid suction move, or the jump clear out of the water to inhale on the way down. It's all good.

I believe there are fewer boats and PWC's this year. I don't know if this is because of the gas, because of the high water, or because I avoid the hours they are prone to operate. I think the first and second are the key as I had a memorable morning not long ago where I saw no one on the lake until around 10:00 AM. I was sure it was a Twilight Zone movie. The ones I do see are not going slower, though. Just me. I am making a real effort to use speeds other than full and idle.

The day started early and simple. Two dinks on the spook with a couple of slap ats. Just as I was thinking topwater time was over, a good fish crushed my bait at the mouth of Haddock Creek. We argued for a minute or two, and I was beginning to think I might win when the line broke. The drag had already proved its worth in the fight, so I have to think a nick just decided to give up. I didn't see more than a side flash, but I know the fish was larger than the 5 pound fish I caught Saturday. Switched to a football jig with a Berkley sabertail in pumpkinseed and caught one nice 16 incher and missed two other bumps. Then I decided to engage in a guilty pleasure. I took a boat ride upriver, ducked under the Beaver bridge, and ran up to the 62 bridge. The water is brown, 70 degrees, and has about one foot of visibility. I trolled a couple of flats in the 14 to 18 foot range on the way back. A reliable local had told me the walleyes were on the flats at that depth. He was right. Caught three. All together they might have weighed two and a half pounds. As I came around the Holiday Island point on the way to the marina, I spotted what appeared to be a capsized canoe in the water next to the flooded trees. Another boat saw it as well. We converged on it a found it was a small kayak and a elderly woman was in the water. What with the cross wind, the trees, and the inability of the woman to help herself, we were having a devil of a time trying to figure how to help her. The other boat driver went over the side and swam into the trees for the lady. I rigged a cushion to a rope and threw it in to them so I could pull him out as he held her up. The two of us were able to get her up my emergency ladder. About that time her elderly husband came barreling across the lake in his boat. He had seen her go over and had been calling 911. There was no way we could put her in his boat safely - he was understandably rattled and not handling the boat well. We convinced him to go back to the other side where he beaches his boat and we carried her back to her yard. Just as we got her feet on land, the EMT boat arrived. She was disoriented and bruised but otherwise ok when we left. I took the guy back to his boat. I think the guy that went in the water for her deserves some recognition, but I never got his name. He drives a white and aqua runabout. Maybe I can track him down and get his name in the paper. I'm tired. It's time for a nap.

If you are going to use braid, use the same Palomar knot but pass the loop through the overhand knot twice before you put the hook or bait through the loop. Unbelieveable holding power even on slick braid.

A rod with slow action can be bent in a U - the flex at the butt is nearly equal to the flex near the tip. Extra fast is the other end of the scale. 95% of the flex will be in the last 12 to 18 inches. Fast action means the flex is in the last third of the rod. Moderate means the rod flex starts near the mid point. The "best" action depends on the bait to be thrown, the line test you will be using, the fishing style, and the personal preference of the user. I tend to prefer moderate and fast to extra fast, but I own extra fast rods as well.

4:30 comes very early on the 5th of July, but I was on the water by 5:00. Started very slow - two dinks in an hour. Then I had to hide in my slip while the shower and lightning passed. Pulled out of the slip once the front was through and caught three nice fish in the next half hour. The largest was 20" and 5 pounds +/-. Then another front came in and I decided to call it quits for the morning. This part is an edit. When I wrote this morning I had no idea how brief and unhelpful my post would be. Sorry guys and gals. I was spooking with a full size silver/blue with red neck and feather tail. The good fish were on the edge of a now submerged road bed in the drowning brush at a depth of four or five feet. The fish were all largemouth.

I get it. You bite your tongue to make a blood bait, right?

Great comments from everyone. Don's description of rod length and power fitted to task is very helpful, although I am forced to disagree with him a bit. The 7' MH is right. The third rod is also correct, although I am building a casting rod with the length and power he describes to use a Shimano Curado 100D. Unless I am going down to 4# line, I prefer baitcasting. The middle rod is where I differ. I am tall only in my own mind and a 7' rod is too long for me to stand on my deck and walk a dog comfortable. I use a 6' rod instead. That rod is also my choice when I must accurately cast (docks, openings in trees, etc.) as I have learned the hard way to avoid 7' rods when accuracy counts more than distance. Store bought rods: Falcon offers the best combination of quality and value. I just wish I could buy their blanks for the rods I am working on. rps

Solid advice. I appreciate it. I am already using relatively soft action 7 foot rods; I learned that stiff meant bad some time ago. I will begin to implement your sugestions. Thanks again.

I've been out three times since Thursday. Maybe a total of 10 hours. Only one of the trips included my favorite time - can't see until skidoo. That was Thursday and I only caught three top water fish, all short. Spent an hour after sunlight fishing points with a PBJ beaver on a football jig head. Two small fish that way. Switched to walleye trolling and caught two more spots before I hooked up with a good walleye that shook off on the way to the boat. Sunday I went out at noon and trolled three hours. Two solid strikes and one stayed on all the way to where I could see him. Looked like a mid 20 inch walleye. When he gave the traditional "I see the boat" lunge, the hook pulled loose. Today I was out for two hours between 1 and 3. One solid strike while trolling. Pulled off before I ever saw the fish. I have lost more fish in the last two months than I usually lose in a year. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy the fact I am getting bites, but I sure want to know what I did to make my karma turn sour. The walleye were in 27 to 35 feet of water on the edge of a flat that dropped into a channel. The edge line of the flat has trees scattered but it isn't a forest. The bait was traveling at 25 feet.

The theme of several posts lately has been how different this year has been. At the upper end you can count on whites coming to the surface after shad on warm afternoons from mid june on. You can also find them feeding on flats early in the morning. I catch a bunch of them while fishing my Spook. NOT THIS YEAR. I have yet to see a school feeding on top up here and the only ones I have caught have been while trolling for Walleye. Wish I could be more helpful.

I'll echo everyone else. My topwater success has been limited this year. I know that a part of it is that several of my best places are now 18 feet deep and the shallow water is tough to fish what with all the trees. I haven't adapted well. BTW, the few reports of good topwater this year seem to include good fin reports. Personally, I haven't caught fish on a fin or the Mikey Jr. I bought. I have tried bluff ends, channel swings, and pole timber, as well as the places I fish Spooks and Chug Bugs. I am beginning the suspect an elaborate joke like the time I was sent looking for a left hand hole beveler.

great pictures! I'll bet no one cuts off those big brown fishermen.

Awesome!

More than three, less than four inches here at Holiday Island. We had been in an official drought before this year. Five of the last six years were well below normal. Aquifers were way down. Little did we know the plan was to make up the difference all in one year.

Re: picture How odd. No women going to Alaska? No implication intended toward you, but what is this picture telling us? Only fishermen and those looking for oil jobs go north? Everyone in Alaska except you is fleeing a process server about their divorce? While you are there, consider and respond with your best explanation.

Sorry Wesley. I answered that question in the other thread about the same time you started this thread. BTW, if you mean by car, it is North of Eureka Springs on Highway 23. Turn at the golf course and follow the signs to the marina. If you look at the map you might see it is also accesible by 187, but the bridge at Beaver is closed until the state checks for damage from its recent submersion in the flood of '08.

"stinking ferry wand dropshot"? Bill, I'm surpised at you. Real men LIKE dangling bitty worms straight down on line so thin I can't see to tie it.

When the water temp is 80+ my live well keeps fish alive for maybe a minute. Besides, like you, I've been drinking from fishy cans for a very long time. A quick rinse in the lake and I pretend I don't care. I am sure many others remember back in the day when fish, beer, and vienna sausage tins all shared the same cooler. Ponder this: what's the best combination and what's the worst? For worst I say flatheads and Narragansett beer. When you look up swill in the dictionary, Narragansett beer is the picture. Makes Pearl, Brown Derby, and Carling Black Death seem good.

Dear DTF: Medium light spinning gear. 4# Maxima or fluoro line (I use Yozuri fluoro/mono blend) Suspending Rogues, Rapalas, cleo spoons, size 1 in line spinners. For bait instruction hire Cliff Chisum. For bait or lure instruction hire David Capps. I've fished with both and been happy every time. State Park to Ranchette is a big stretch of water to learn in a short time. Pick a section: State Park to White Hole, White Hole to Wildcat, Wildcat to Cotter, Cotter to Ranchette and learn it first. Add the others after you are accustomed to the river. BTW, the sections I named are all good for a one day intensive fish. And all have huge fish in them. Good luck and have fun.

Holiday Island is about 6 river miles upstream from the Highway 86 bridge that crosses the lake at Eagle Rock, Mo. Holiday Island is roughly 60 river miles from the TR dam. Another way to say it is that it is the first marina down stream from the Beaver Lake dam and the last boat ramp before the river/lake crosses North into Mo. Right now, the river channel in front of the marina is 42 or 43 feet deep. At the dam it is over 200 feet above the level of Tanneycomo below it. Roughly 6 miles upstream from here you find the Highway 62 bridge. Above there the trout are definitely the predominate fish.

Yes, that is a diet coke. It was the last of the six pack I put in early this morning. And yes, I do lose lures in trees. That's one of the reasons I buy the Cabela knockoffs on sale in the winter time. However, I don't lose as many as you would think. When I hang, I back up carefully to the other side of the hang, put on a glove to avoid braid line cuts, and pull steadily. Most of the time, the bait comes free or the hook opens before the line breaks.