Forsythian

So far this winter I've been getting out on Bull Shoals a little here and a little there, fishing mostly from Barker to Powersite. I caught a few bass and crappie in December, but I've not been fishing this water with confidence. The water's been a bit low, and stagnant, and I've not hit it hard (fishing upper Taneycomo and Table rock instead). Well, that's about to change! The lake level's come up, and significant generation at TR dam has translated into "fresh" moving water on upper BS. I had a chance to get out and scout a bit this morning... fishing from sunup to about 9:00. Conditions for walleye fishing are just about perfect. The ramp at River Run is in good shape, and there's plenty of water to run a bass boat from Powersite on down. I threw stickbaits this morning, kind of a shake-down cruise in preparation for the night fishing I plan to do over the next couple of weeks. Two fish were caught... the proverbial 17 & 1/2" walleye and a largemouth that would easily go 4lbs. Maybe 5

The February trip sounds a little more my style... I've always wanted to do a winter float. Keep me in mind, I appreciate it!

Thanks for the responses so far... I would figure that marine speakers might be important(?), and I'll keep that as-is so I'm leaning towards a car stereo. Then again, I did a quick look through Dutch's Overton link and was reminded that some marine stereos have weather bands, which would have come in handy a time or two over the years. Gavin, great to hear from you... I'd still like to fish w/ you one of these days, are you going on the WFT this year? Maybe I can make the '07 roundup. Anyways, the boat's in the garage, it's cold cold outside, and my fishing buddy's in school... I wonder if he, like I, is daydreaming of summers past and summers to come?

My boat came with a marine in-dash stereo, no cassette or cd player. I wanna play some CDs on those lazy summer days. I thought about getting a "slave" CD player, but the radio's kind of a pain. It's a well-known brand (Seaworthy), but it's one of those theft-deterrent jobs where the face plate pops off, and it won't hardly stay together. Anyway, getting around to my question, is there really a difference (besides price) between an auto and a marine stereo? Thanks for the input.

I've heard that the Eagles are near equivalent to Lowrance... a tad lower in amperage but equal in pixels and quite a bit more affordable... I'd sure like to toss my Humminbird in the lake and get the 480!

Highway 160 is pretty clear now... I don't know about Y highway though. Phil, what's your guess on generation levels this weekend? I'd like to get up to the tailwater some time this weekend...

I am hoping to hit the park this Sunday morning (11/26)... will your shop be open? Whereabouts is the shop? 1 more question: I understand if I bring my 12 year old he'll need a trout stamp, do you carry those? thanks a bunch

I fished from 7 - 9 this morning... wasn't too awful crowded I didn't think. I found pretty steady action on rainbows using globalls (at the bottowm of rebar), and small browns were taking a bead-head pheasant nymph pretty good from rebar to outlet #2.

LWW,we had 2 boats fishing out of Kimberling this last Tuesday (10/24) and we stunk up the place... We had a handful of early bites near timber on a channel swing (and adjacent flats) on PBJ's, then we were essentially skunked from 11 - 5. We tried the areas 1 through 5 that you listed. We did not drop shot or spoon, neither boat had the electronics, and frankly all of us find that kind of fishing akin to watching paint dry. Here's what I think of Table Rock right now: I'm gonna drive an extra 2 hours tomorrow and fish Stockton instead!

I'm not opposed at all to the concept of minimum flows either... on the contrary, until I learned of the 5 foot scheme I was all for it. Upon a re-read of my original post, I should take a moment here to express some level of apology for the "snarkiness" of it... a bit of victimhood sometimes persists here on the upper end of BS, especially when it comes to Shadowrock park and our dependence on it.

I was not able to attend the meeting, but at the moment I am a member of the "short-sighted" and "self-seeking" camp with other upper Bull Shoals residents. The $130K to the bad seems pretty rosy, considering the handful of non-profit and charity events that I am involved with in Forsyth's Shadow Rock park (county fair, 4th of July, chamber of commerce) earn $20K or so annually. Then again, I imagine their formula of only compensating facilities at or below 659 does not take into account the effect of flooding our park more often and for longer periods of time... so we could probably expect a big fat zero for our troubles. Yeah, it may be amazing to some that I worry for Forsyth's $20K when Mountain Home stands to benefit by the millions... but the last time I checked, the resorts and marinas in Mountain Home are not members of Forsyth's COC, and they do not donate school supplies to our kids. I for one am glad for the "short-sighted" support of the 3 Taney County Commissioners.

I'm probably more liberal on social matters than alot of folks on this board, but I was dead-set against this on the first go-round because of the presentation the casino group was giving at the time. There was very little consideration given to the impact of the county's obligations. Law enforcement, road improvements, and the county jail would all be impacted, but it seemed the bulk of the revenues generated would stay in Rockaway proper.

I've just learned that we'll be meeting some folks at some place called the "blue lady" on Norfork Lake... staying the weekend of July 14th... I guess I've never been on that lake, should I pretty much expect it to fish like Bull Shoals? Anybody know where that resort is in particular? thanks!

I would certainly like to occasionally put in at Empire park (about 3 or 4 miles from my front door), and boat up to the landing for a bite and a "look-around"... so I hope they get some public slips.

Does anyone know if there are plans for courtesy docks at all with regard to the landing? thanks

We had a good time over the weekend... Fishing was pretty tough Saturday from 4 - 7 with the crowds and such... we stayed in the synthetic area and the boy caught 6 on plastic worms, and I eeked out 4 on various micro jigs. Sunday morning 6:30 - 10:00 was good fishing, I stripped olive maribous and stopped counting fish ~ 15. Same with the boy, worms and maribous, and the trout wanted their food moving not drifting. I was surprised to find all 3 campgrounds full... especially the weekend after Memorial... we had to camp at a nearby private place. The stockers were a decent size, larger than last year I believe. The improvements to the spring area are nice, but kind of "sterile" and without character IMHO.

I think I've said it before on this board... My 11 year old boy would rather fish Roaring River than go to Disney Land I believe. He seems to go into this trance, and I can barely get him to stop fishing long enough to eat lunch! We're gonna head that way Saturday morning... surely there ought to be at least 1 camp site unoccupied for Saturday night(?) The weather looks good, I'm hoping the work around the spring is done so there is some water clarity. I'll post a report come Monday.

Porter, I've got one of those devils horse on my mantle... it was about 15 years ago on Stockton I had one of those days you are talking about... I caught bass after bass, had to rob a treble hook off of another lure to replace the back hook after it got bent up and wore out... what a day that was!

If it were me, I'd get out at day break and fish topwater...

Hey guys, I am hoping to get some input on whether the following set up would be good for a beginner... St.Croix Avid 6'6" 3pc. 4wt with an Orvis Black Battenkil Barstock II reel. This would be for an 11 year old boy of smaller-than-average height (he takes after his mom)... thanks a bunch!

Bill, just a quick note to let you know I really enjoy reading your posts... I guess there are some in your line of work who eventually take things for granted, but it seems that you really enjoy what you are doing, and it's clear you have a great level of appreciation and enthusiasm and respect for your peers and your clients. Keep at it!

Sam, I was out of Kdock on 5/17 as well... were you in the v-bottom Tracker? I was in the red/tan fishnski. I'll second Sam's report... the lake has come up but the fish have not yet followed. I was hopeful, the water color looked ideal, but we only caught a few juvenile bass. Still, it's good to see the ol' lake up where it oughta be. I'd caution folks to keep an eye out for "floaters" out there... maybe for another week or two. Here's a quick pic of my fishin' partner... luckily we didn't run into a truant officer!

I was thinking replacement seats as well... this is a good deal, the wheels are a turnin'...

Wayne, does this boat have the molded "butt" seats? I like the 169, but I'd like to be able to turn it around and paddle it solo on occasion.