Grandpa Tom

Just for your information, I tried to buy minnows at K-dock marina day before yesterday and was told they wouldn't have minnows again until fall. She said the water was too warm to keep minnows. You'd think they could do better than that.

Taxi, try this forum - http://www.dslreports.com/forum/sat. It might scare you off Hughes or Wild Blue, but most of those griping and complaining are those who try to use it like it was a super highway to the Internet. It is not. But, picking through the noise, you can find out a lot about satellite ISP's. For general surfing and occasional large downloads, it's about twice as fast for uploads as the better dial-up connections (which I doubt you have) and 10 times faster for downloads. But, speeds are variable depending on how many users are using it at any given time. Just do your homework and I think you'll find it much better than dial-up. My dial-up is about 24.5kbs at best. I'd probably find another mode of communication if I had to use that.

Taxi, if you're serious about faster Internet service, you might try www.hughes.com. It's a bit pricey, but if you have no other choice, it's a bunch better than dial-up. Just be sure to read and understand what you are getting. In the meantime, I'm retired and living on Bull Shoals. I may not hit it that hard anymore, but I get in my fair share of fishing. And as for handling the truth, I'm waiting for pictures...

Nothing to do with carp, but it does have to do with grandkids and fishing. My 3 granddaughters live in upstate NY. Their backyard is a 1-acre lake fed by a larger lake above. What a sweet spot to raise kids! Anyway, last week the youngest was fishing with an ancient Zebco 303 and an even older rod. She had on some kind of multi-treble hook plug. She caught a fish and as she was reeling in the fish seemed to get bigger. She got it in and "it" turned out to be “them”. She had caught two 12” line-sides on the same lure. A few minutes later she caught a 15” largemouth even though the lake has not been stocked in years. My son thought maybe she deserved a new rod and reel as it was obvious he had a fisherwoman on his hands.

I certainly agree, Wayne. If it's fun to catch, I consider it a "sport fish". Catching a good sized bluegill on a flyrod is a good example. And, I spent many a day as a kid on the banks of McDaniel Lake watchin' rod tips and rollin' Wheaties dough balls. Interestingly, I've heard several fishermen in other parts of the country call trout "trash fish". Guess it's whatever floats your boat.

As one might surmise, I didn’t “think that one up”. It was on an old plaque my dad had years and years ago. That’s why it’s within quotes. Live and kickin’ fishermen are obviously not the first to tell about fishing (better known as fish stories). But, that’s part of the fun of fishing, isn’t it?

"All fishermen are liars 'cept you and me and I'm not so sure about you..."

What happened, Sam? Didn't you ever get to 'K' Dock? Or was your 'K' Dock trip like my recent trips - too embarassing to talk about?

I suspect it's more the seemingly lack of other species rather than "full of carp and gar now". I can remember as a kid visiting Powersite dam in the mid 50's when the water level was so high Powersite looked like a 6 ft. riffle. Water was backed up in the stairwell on the north side and it was literally full of huge gar sufacing periodically like submarines blowing their tanks. There were several guys bow fishing and some gar looked to be as much as 6 ft. long laying on the shore. As for carp, there were probably a lot of them around back then, too. It's all relative.

Just got the Taney County Times and there's a front page article that seems to indicate the Forsyth-Taneyville road project is not associated with Bull Shoals Lake level changes - at least not openly. There is no mention of the lake issue in the entire article, only that the project had to be re-submitted to COE due to method of stump and tree removal. Of course, TCT isn't always known for thorough reporting. As for County Road & Bridge employees, I have no complaints. I used to live in Springfield where CU caught the brunt of similar fun pokin'. Seems most all public "servants" get shot at, spit on or in some way put down whether they deserve it or not. I think it goes with the territory.

Actually, I haven't heard concerning raising Slough Hollow Road. It would make some sense, at least to those of us who use it. But, "sense" has not always dictated County or COE projects. And, I'm not 100% sure the engineering would support raising the roadbed over Tin Whistles. They may have to totally redo that area. Otherwise, I'd say raising the roadbed was economically feasible. (Rev.) I just emailed County Road & Bridge and posed the question to them. We'll see...

Here's the COE website covering this matter. http://www.swl.usace.army.mil/planning/wrminflow.html The most recent information can be found in the link to "Draft EIS White River Minimum Flow Reallocation Study" Here's the Arkansas Game & Fish Commission posting. http://www.agfc.com/fishing/resources-fishing/minimum-flow-fish.aspx As to what impact this may have, it's difficult to predict. Mainly, I believe it will mean more frequent flooding of currently accessible areas. Shadowrock Park and Slough Hollow Road (Tin Whistles) are a couple I am familiar with. I know that Slough Hollow Road becomes impassible at about 659.5 ft. This typically happens 2-3 times a year for brief periods. The increased lake levels will likely cause flooding here more like 4-5 time a year and for longer periods of time. As for Shadowrock Park, I can foresee the park becoming virtually unusable during the spring. River Run boat ramp may be okay most of the time, just less ramp out of the water. Many current non-maintained lake accesses may become unusable (Current turn-arounds, boat launches, etc.) The ramps at K-Dock and, for sure, Moore Bend across from K-Dock may just about disappear much of the year. At the current level of 657 ft., the ramps at Moore Bend are totally submerged. Another almost hidden impact is on Taneycomo and Powersite dam as Taneycomo is not a COE managed lake. Power generation capacity will decrease as the water fall between Taneycomo and Bull Shoals is decreased (Taneycomo will not/can not increase lake level). Times are a changin'.