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Phil made his forum change just in time for your gorgeous pictures. Awesome!

Good discussion going here. Thought I would throw in a couple of comments. First, LoweSTS175, there really isn't a wrong way to tie a worm harness, slow death or regular. Some work a little better than others, but all catch fish. I tie them bead, mack's smile blade, bead, float, smallest swivel, slow death hook. Second, I troll at an ever changing speed - 1.8 to 2.6. When I get hit, I narrow the range to something on both sides of the hit speed, but I still experiment. I remember one trip to Broken Bow in Oklahoma where people could have water skied at the speed the fish wanted. Third, my experience tells me speed does not affect depth until the speed causes the bait to kick out and lose traction. BTW, I posted an article on trolling for walleye on Phil's forum some years ago. You might want to take a peek. "Trolling for White River Walleye"

I went out this morning because I needed a dose of fishing before the kids show up in my classroom tomorrow. Caught one barely legal walleye early and then ran into an old acquaintance, Scott. Scott has never posted on this forum but I met him through the Missouri walleye forum. He was great friends with Tablerock and fished with him often before Tablerock passed last year. Powerdive also knows him. It looks like he has a new fishing buddy, Justice. Scott is the one holding the fish Justice caught. I wound up with two walleyes, 18 and 21 inches. I found them in brush and tree tops suspended at 25 feet in 30 to 40 foot water. I used a Mag Wart in Firetiger on 10/2 braid and had 150 feet of line out from the rod tip. I kept the boat speed between 1.8 and 2.6 mph.

I enjoy watching masters do what they do - golfers, rugby players, chefs - they waste no motion and make everything look easy.

This post will try the revamped forum capacity for posting. What you see in the pictures are a spatchcocked chicken with seasoning and broccoli/spinach/leeks in a cheese bechamel casserole. Both are headed for the oven at 375. The chicken takes an hour and the casserole about 45 minutes. More pictures later.

My mother, bless her heart (did you notice how I used that classic Southern phrase?), did not eat meat that had pink. She delighted in sending plates back to the kitchen. Even better was when crying chefs would come to the table to try and reason with her.

I thought I heard gnashing teeth and maybe a bit of muttering.

I like it, even though it seems to have a few kinks on some displays. The second article down on my new content page - the one about a big brown on Taney - sent me to a page overlapped with teaser paragraph messages. I am sure that will unravel.

I fish Tablerock, but I suggest looking 15 to 25 feet deep along edges (edges of channels, edges of brush or tree lines, bluff ends) At that depth you have pretty good odds of finding walleye, crappie, and/or big bluegill.

If I complete this year and next (15 years), when I retire I will be paid for each day in an amount equal to what they would pay a substitute. If I walk before then, I will donate them to the communal bank we maintain for teachers who have used their own and still need more. From time to time we run into one of those situations.

Can't compete with scallops, but this was my tonight. Left over and thawed ham in a stir fry. Ginger, garlic, tamarind accents.

At the same time No Child Left Behind became the law, teacher contract days were extended. In addition, rules on what counted as education days were changed with the net effect of lengthening the school calendar. I am obligated to work 190 days per year. To be fair, I will note I am allowed 5 paid sick days per year and 2 paid personal days per year. I rarely take these as the children are usually wild children after a day or two with subs. Right now I have over 100 sick days "in the bank."

Bill, this week is my teacher training week. Monday will be my first day with kids. Do not get me started on all the "life" things that got in the way of fishing this last summer. Let's just say I had to accomplish a lot with so little.

The best crab cake recipe I have found and used is that of Frank Stitts in his book The Southern Table. That book has several other killer recipes and I highly recommend it.

5bites: Trust me on this - there are many large large mouth on this end of the lake. More, I think, than Big M on down river. What we don't have are large small mouth. Am I saying this end could support a large tourney? No. There is way less water. On the other hand, give the time to learn the area that does exist, and you can go find big fish. I must add a disclaimer here: My first three years fishing the lake (2002 to 2005) were tough. And I lived on the lake and fished it far more often than presently get to fish. As for the side scan versus down scan utility, side scan is useful for brand new to you water (those first three years). Bill spent those long ago and does not need to explore anymore. I have it, but rarely discover anything I didn't know about.

Did you try a countdown or husky jerk?

Once every two or three years I stumble into multiple large bream looking for walleye and keep them. Every time, I regret the trouble they are to clean, and every time I wonder why I don't keep them more often as I eat them.

That kicker jumped #1 up, but the rest were still decent fish. Good job!

I have not fished in that stretch for over 15 years. Your post reminded me how much I enjoyed.

Wrench, it had stopped mooing. Actually that was on the edge of too rare for me, but I have always favored rare steaks - not rare burgers though.

I was missing posting about food. Fixed for myself only tonight as the wife will not return until tomorrow. Kept it simple. Baked a potato and mixed the insides with sauted broccoli and leeks, butter, and spices. Seared a rubbed steak.

This time of year, and in the deadest part of winter, the mouth of coves will sometimes hold fish. Although we may not see the break on a break on sonar, I think the cove water interaction with the lake water creates a water break line. Of course, I could be suffering from a bad case of over analyzing.

Next thing you know, he'll tell us he was once good looking.

For pictures, I have been using the free Google app called Picasa. I crop, contrast adjust, color adjust, and sometimes intensify light before I export. When I export I reduce the size to 800 by whatever. So far the results seem to please.

Thanks for reporting. I have given up on bass - drop shotting is just not my thing. I have yet to find a spoon bite. Hoping the thermocline sets that up soon.