crazy4fishin

Has anyone thought about an OAF get together in 2018? Given all of the challenges last year I had a pretty darn good time! C4F

Yeah - looks like a smallie....Like Cheese...I am usually wrong unless I have my neighbor guy - or anyone else for that matter tell my wife C4F

I cant let me wife read this....as you have said it is only 15 or so degrees outside with a "light" breeze....I tell her it is 70 on Table Rock lake all the time C4F

Merry Christmas to all of my internet fishing friends - some I have met in person and many I have not but I appreciate all of the words and sometimes wisdom that is passed on this site ....I have been blessed beyond my worthiness...not much more to be said Champ is right when he said we are not ordinary

I was able to get on the lake for a few hours today...pink worm was the hot time for me....but I forgot my trout stuff and when I broke it off I started thrown the DNed with a watermelon Zinkers and while the bite slowed when I did catch one they were bigger! awesome day for sure C4F

I am going to tie one on tomorrow for sure and give it a try......fishing in the KC area for the forms time in many years.....but I did catch some nice ones on the DNed C4F

Amen to all of the comments....God is good....I am blessed beyond my worth that is for sure..... and I am blessed to know all of my internet OAF friends C4F

Bo - you are right...fishing up in the KC area and there are tons busting the surface but small ones...and a boat load of graph traffic!!!....I could not get any love on the spoon....maybe I am not doing it right. I will have to dig out my grass jig and 4'' swimmer!! And give it a try. guy fishing 100 yards from me was getting action on the jerk bait. going to be a nice day tomorrow and I will NOT be a black Friday guy C4F

At least you caught some fish....that is always a good thing and wearing a T-shirt in Nov aint all that bad....here in the cornhusker state the wind blew and so did our football team!! C4F

Quill - great fishing!! You what they say...when in doubt "Ned rig 'em out" Going to try to get down the week of Thanksgiving...good Lord willing....looks like the weather may be just right for late Nov. C4F

Both are nice fish that is for sure! I sometimes forget when I catch my big ones also C4F

Well heck! missed the rod deal...i didn't get my allowance until today....I kinda viewed those as my participation trophy! O well....still a good deal and fun times... C4F

OK - you are going to have to bear with me on this story.....you see as I went to get in the boat yesterday morning around 6 a.m. I noticed a possum with leaves in it's tail headed toward my boat.....not a good sign...... but to my relief he changed direction...only to go into the boat next to mine. As he crawled under the console I thought he would be there a few minutes then come out until I heard him under the top cap in the bow of these folks boat..making a nest I assume.....well what is a guy to do at 6 a.m.?? So I did what any one of us would do in this situation.....I sipped some coffee...pondering what I had just witnessed.... then went fishing! I mean it's 6 in the morning right?! Came in and the boat was still these so I thought I had better tell the office but nature was calling so I answered the call and when i came out the folks who owned the boat were getting ready to go out....so I ran down to the dock..."ummm you folks have a possum in your boat!" Now these folks are in there 80's....one had just fallen down a bunch of steps and the other just had a hip replacement and had hearing aids....so it took me a minute to convince them until we opened a rod locker and guess who came to dinner!?? Yep - there was the possum looking right at us... so the older fella had the idea that poking it with a paddle was going to make it come out...it didn't....log story sort I hollar at Phil and Paul..... Picture this - 4 men and one women (almost standing in a chair out of fear) trying to figure out how to get a 5 lb animal out of a boat.....we try the paddle again....nope.....Paul grabs the vacuum turns it on...what ensued was nothing short of hilarious.... Paul pushes the hose in one end and eventually the Possum comes out the other end....Phil does his best Jim Fowler (Mutual of Omaha Wild Kingdom) with a rope leash fashioned by Paul....but the animal would not cooperate....the critter tries to come back on my boat....no way little buddy....we didn't want to knock it off into the water so it heads back to the other boat but Phil stops that from happening.....eventually the little guy is released to terrorize innocent boaters another day O yeah - no pictures if you can believe it!! In this day and age no one thought to pull their camera out!! It was a funniest moments for sure. Another great vacation at Lilleys!! C4F

Started out a bit later - around 6:45 a.m. and boated up to the short creek area. There was a pontoon full of folks already having some fun! There were a few others in that area so I went up lake a bit and sat in 4' of water casting into the deeper area. Float set at 6' give or take and there was great action - just a bit slower than the past few mornings (see fishing report made simple for the rig used). Many were easily keepers with plenty of fight! One thing I did notice this morning was that you had to pay attention to the float as it truly was an indicator to what was happening - if you made it dance some it usually triggered the bite. If a float and pink worm is not your thing the next best thing is a night crawler on a drift rig - please note that when the water is not running you do not need much to get the bait down to fish level. Many times i noticed big rigs and the trout would do what they always do when they have time and that is to swallow the bait! Many small ones had to be kept because of that problem. If I was so inclined I would try the split shot route..... I will post pictures later - pic posted.... C4F AFTERNOON report: 4 Units running!!! Duane finally convinced me to go up to the cable.....crank bait bite......yeah.....I made a couple passes from look out down to Fall Creek and NADA.....of course the way the water was flowing that took all of thirty four seconds....not really but it was moving fast and I wasn't as sure in my own abilities as I needed to be to concentrate on where I was - how I should be fishing etc. etc. So the last pass I floated down and right across from Fall Creek Marina I hooked a nice 1.5 lb Rainbow on a spoon - I even weighed it on my scale! Fun times but sorry no pics of that guy Tried the spoon all the way back to Lilleys and had a couple of strikes but nothing to the boat. O and if you are docking your boat when the water is running at 4 units....and you haven't done it in a year or so.....you had better be darn good at hitting your target! Sorry to the poor folks on the dock as I pin balled a bit....nothing a little rubbing compound cant get out C4F

Went out around first light and cruzed up lake...didn't need to take my go fast pants as it was a little chilly!! But I had to wear normal pants.... that is how cold it felt. Went up to around short creek and used the rig in the post "Fishing report made simple" There is probably a 200 yard stretch that you could really catch them! Caught everything from super dinks to a lot of nice meaty ones.....and they were all fighters so I am not sure that the DO is really affecting them....that is my uneducated opinion. Then I came in and bought one of the Wally Marshall rods that Phil has in the shop.....8' was the length that I settled on - They have a 9 footer rigged up but man that thing seemed long - (insert joke here)!! WMPSR80ML ML M 8'0" 4-10 1/32-1/4 10+TIP This is the model - I rigged this up and man what a difference on the hook set using a float....just the snap of the wrist and it seemed that it is fish on!! I bet my fish catching improved 37.5% just using that rod! And they are crazy reasonable price wise. Oh and they are Wally Marshall & Duane approved actions!! - Not sure what that means but it sounds UPDATE: OK - So I head out for a nice evening of fishing...I run up to "the spot" and there sits THE Phil Lilley! I think he was there checking out my fishing claims! So I turn off the big motor and roll up near him..."hey" I say and he tells me that the fishing has been tough....Boy o boy.....I am sure he is thinking false news on the fishing - so after a few words of encouragement I trolled past him and had to really buckle down and fish.....I am happy to report 10 FIB (fish in boat) and 7 misses all in the space of about an hour...whew!

The fishing on Saturday and Sunday was out standing ....no water generation either day until 4 p.m. but the key was to get out early...about the time the Maxwell House coffee is just finishing. There were a couple of reasons for that with the main one being beating the crowds. I boated up to Short Creek area and had a hay day. You have to sit more on the south side and cast to the channel...or what used to be the channel anyway. Two key baits for me were a marabou jig and the Berkley pink worm.....both caught fish - 30+ both days. If they were tired of one I switched and so it went. By 9 a.m. they really shut down in that area and i think it had more to do with that area becoming busy - and it was busy.... - I was able to move down lake and pick up quite a few in the normal haunts! I will post pics later - and a shout out to the Iowa folks who were in the slip next to mine! I hope you caught many fish this weekend C4f

OK - lets get back to fishing and reporting....right now I am boat less so I figured I would come to work....not to productive as I am on many fishing sites and not really working ...so I thought about a quick survey. 1. Where did you fish - doesn't have to be TR 2. How did you fish? Boat / bank / Kayak? 3. Conditions i.e. air / water temp water clarity 4. Method that caught the most fish - of course pictures are most appreciated. Have fun! C4F

Vern - wait a minute.....OA is on the internet....I use Google Chrome to access it...and I have followed much of the advice given here related to fishing.....HOLY SMOKES you guys have shaped who I am!?!?! And here I thought it was me making all those bad fishing decisions....glad I can blame it on someone....whew..... Related to JM and his buying stuff - I don't think any of his purchases have been hostile takeovers have they? We just acquired a company that the only reason it was for sale is the previous owner drained it of cash....the only option if we didn't buy it was to close the entire thing down and folks would have been out of work. ....is it really different than good ol Warren Buffett buying a company? Living here in Omaha I can tell you that he is a demanding owner....looking for a return on his investment. There are other blogs that talk poor quality concerns - never underestimate the power of the thing that Vernon has mentioned....enough negative press and eventually something changes. Champ - you are right the Bible is the best owners manual there is!! Unfortunately I try to fix many things on my own instead of reading the manual! Thanks internet friends C4F

Thanks Mike - I called them today and they have not had a chance to look at it yet! I think it is a water pump or a bad thermostat - I would fix it myself except it is under warrenty C4F

I understand the confusion you all thought I was using the "Ned".....I am using the D*Ned...something completely different.....or is it? OK - Not a Table Rock report #2...got up early and wanted to get away from the no wake lakes...headed to Branched Oak...a 3k+ acre lake just west of here.....open to all motor size and no speed restrictions....good and bad... Beautiful morning...air temp mid 60's / water temp 75....sun coming up and water like glass - start idling away from the dock - just turned my hat backwards getting ready to drop the hammer and have the world pass by like the Start Trek Enterprise headed to Klingon country.....beeeeeeeppppppppp....WTH! That sound made me jump a bit ...couple of minutes later...beeeeeepppppp....are you kidding me! Figure what the heck so I idle to my first spot.....much fishing throwing many promising looking baits....to no avail....then I caught one worthy of MLF on the D*Ned (Major Little Fish) When the time was right call the Merc guy - "bring it in"...so I troll motor back to the dock....casting a Rick Clunn 1.5 square bill along the rocks....BAM! I thought I had a Hawg / swamp donkey / big mama...until it felt like I was bringing up a tree...yep you guessed it.....YUCK! It was a good 18-20# fish.....slimed the heck out of the carpet.... On to the next adventure! C4F

Dang that is a great deal......to bad I am a few years away from that age......

Lake lover - yes it was Wannaho....I cruised up the west side and was slow dragging the little guy from the shallow (2-3') to the drop off....it went to 8-12' That is when they would pick it up. The bite was soft. Yeah - I use the D*Ned at all of the local lakes....it is different enough, given the fishing pressure, that the fish really take to it. It also dominates at Prarie Queen. BTW I counted 30+ rigs in the Wannaho lot when I was there not to mention the kayak armada! C4F

As Mayo said to Sgt. Foley....."I got no where else to go" to give a fishing report. BTW I had to google the quotes as I have not watched the movie in a LONG time....and it was my wife's idea....but I digress. Around here there are mostly no wake NRD flood control lakes - one opened up a couple of years ago about 20 miles west of town ....so I dunk the 250HP boat Sunday afternoon and punch it...tapping 1000 RPMS =/- and go to my first spot ..... A little back ground - they stock these lakes with a variety of fish from Northern to perch and everything in between. Most guys are trying to catch crappie and walleye so that leaves the Bass alone to some extent. WT - 84 with over cast skies....... Average lake depth - 20' Thought I would be a bank beater.....tried a little flippin = nada.....shallow crank = nada....jig = nada so I drug out ole faithful....The D*NED (Dave Ned head) with a green pumpkin Z. Started catching about a doz the next hour with a surprise thrown in! There - I feel better - thanks internet friends C4F

OK - 12 days 17 hours and 4 minutes to go until the next tourney - I am NOT going to zero this time out ....hey maybe this is like golf and the lowest score wins!? ....man I need to go fishing. C4F