SKMO

He did call MDC. If the person called it in on the OGT (Operation Game Thief) Hotline he might have got a reward. Info on OGT is at http://www.mdc.mo.gov/hunt/gamethief/ 1-800-392-1111 However, even if he did call it in on OGT, there is a good chance he did not request any reward money. I believe only about 40% of the people calling into OGT request the $, the other 60% just want to help out. I personally would get enough satisfaction out of having the sh*tbum busted, I don't need to be compensated for doing the right thing. Program this number in your cell, along with the number of your local Conservation Agent. If you can't get him/her directly the OGT number is answered 24/7 and they will dispatch an Agent for an adjoining county if is warrented.

The guy was technically living at SK, he had a house rented on Royal Point (across from Sweetwater access on the Kings River). But he was actually a resident of Arkansas and had just rented a house up here for his poaching endeavors. Upon his arrest he said he liked it here so much he was looking to buy a house here, glad he ended up in TN. If I am not mistaken he said he was a "fishing guide" in AR, and he also had his teenage son working with him... the "unindicted co-conspirator". He said he made one middle of the night run from Sweetwater to around Piney creek on the James, by my calculations an 80 mile round trip, in December. Too cold and he burned too much gas so he started trailering and launching up the James, Wooly Creek I think. I believe his nets were discovered by an angler throwing a DD22 ! I heard this all firsthand from one of the arresting officers, but it was a few months ago and I may have a fact or two a little off. SK

A couple three years ago I buggered up my tranny cable when it slid around the backside on my trolling motor shaft and pinched it in the bracket when my trolling motor was stowed. When I noticed it there were bare wires exposed, yet it still worked fine. Have no idea how long it had been messed up. I had obviously been using it for a while with the casing compromised. I took it home and let it dry out and put a few layers of quality electrical tape over the wound. Continued to work fine thereafter. Personally I would just tape it up good and see how it works. If it is hosed and I did not want a new D-finder I would get a new transducer, $40-70 depending on flavor. However.... if you are needing a great excuse to present to the Little Lady to drop some $ on the latest and greatest, this is it. For some reason I tend to think this might be more of a marital issue than an electronics issue. I think we would all back you up on this in case she seems skeptical.

You guys are right, they are not now available. I was looking at chips on the website (which is pretty confusing to me) instead of the "Paper Hotmaps". I just called Navionics and asked for the status of them and the lady put me on hold and did some checking and said that TR is "in the queue" for paper map production. In other words they were still planning on making them but she could not say when it would be available. Hopefullly the gal I talked to was right, and whoever you guys talked to was wrong.

I think I mentioned that a while back, and it looks like they are now available in their recent high definition mapping: http://www.navionics.com/Premium07LakeList.asp?RegionID=2 The website says it is available at BPS in Spgfld but I can't find it for sale on the BPS website. I am going to get a set, not sure if I would use them much on the water as I have the Navionics chip with the same data, but it would be nice to have them to study at home and maybe pick up on some new spots.

I often fish two hooks on the DS rig, especially when I am having problems getting fish to bite and want to try a couple colors. It is kind of a pain, and I usually do not mess with the two hooks when they are biting well. You have to lip land every fish because even a little 8" fish shaking it's head can lead to a tangled mess. I also sometimes use a 3/8 oz jig on the terminal end for weight, with a single hook above. It seems to work best when they are so tight to the bottom you can't see them on your electronics. I have tipped the jig with a worm or grub, but what has come to be my favorite is the little 3" Eakins Crawfish jig trailers. Sometimes maybe 40% of the fish I catch are on the jig rather than the worm above it, more commonly maybe 1 out of 5. I seem to catch quite a few SM on the jig when I use it. I think it does put more fish in the boat but obviously is a little more prone to hang up, not too bad though if you texas rig the plastic on the jig. Make sure you use a real light wire jig, because the normal "lift and reel" hookset with the dropshot is a marginal hookset with a jig. I don't like to use the 2 hook or jig/hook setup around trees or brushpiles for obvious reasons. If you break off the whole rig, tying on a swivel, and two hooks plus the weight can take a while. I keep a dozen or so single and double hook rigs made up and ready to tie on. Take about an 8" length of one of those foam lake toy "noodles" and make a bunch of score marks about 1/4" deep all the way around the foam. Pre-tie your hooks and leaders and wrap them around the foam, burying the mono in the score maks you made, and burying the hooks in the foam. This is nice and neat and they won't come unraveled. Saves a lot of time and aggrevation on the water.

Well it looks like I am in good company. I would have to say I have probably had only about 30% of my normal topwater fish brought to the boat this season. In the past if I had to pick one predictable pattern on TR I would always say fish topwater from post spawn to mid-June at daybreak, usually guarenteed 15 to 30+ fish if there are a couple good sticks in the boat. Not this year for me. I got into Whites a couple times, but they were not as common either, and I seemed to catch smaller ones. I have a point I always run to when I launch at SK bridge in the AM dark. Not too far, as I don't like running in the dark early in the AM, as the middle of the lake tends to collect logs during calm nights. I usually set up here first until it is safe running and this place almost always gives up 6-12 topwater fish. There have been some 30+ mornings when I never left. I fished it maybe 7-8 times this year at daybreak, caught zero fish. Saw zero fish surfacing. Of course the flat that usually ran out a couple casts long at 10' depth was 25' deep, and the all important shad were not very abundant. The high water and late spawn just had everything different, at least in my boat.

I went out yesterday morning for about 3 hours and only had 4 topwater fish (from 5-6 am), then a handfull of dropshot fish, never caught a keeper. In my opinion, at least in my experience, the post-spawn topwater bite is kind of off this year. Usually mid May to Mid June is pretty consistant for good topwater Only got into them good a couple times. There are some spots I have topwater fished for several years that are real predictible at daybreak that were poor at best. Not sure why, maybe just my luck.

I concur with mclothier. I take my daughter out a few time during the summer and we catch them 25-35' deep on the open gravel near deep water. They are generally right on the bottom. Later in the summer they will get deeper. Pretty much the same type of places I dropshot fish. I do not like crickets for the same reason, too delicate and hard to mess with. I use 1-2" chunks of crawler. I have tried fishing around the timber but never seem to catch good sized ones. Wherever you are fishing if you catch some small ones move, they seem to congregate by size. Another good spot is around docks over deep water. Rig a slip bobber 10-20' deep and cast into shaded boat stalls.

Water is fine. The Kings River drainage did not get that much rain, the river at Berryville came up less than 2'. There might be some mud coming in the lower couple miles of the Kings arm but the SK area real clear and should stay so.

Went out at 0800 yesterday (Sat) in the face of the rain. Knew what I was getting into but also knew the possibility of a runoff bite was there. Called a local buddy that I knew had a good rain suit and not enough sense to stay indoors and it was game on. We fished until 1300 and got our cajones bad soaked but ended up with a real nice bunch of LM. 16 or so with the majority keepers, we had six 4# or better, but none approaching 5. Caught nothing but LM. Typical runoff fishing we tossed heavy jigs and full sized brush-hogs texas rigged in the back of cuts around Viola in the Kings. Chow was washing down the gullies and the LM were there eating. Also caught 2 flatheads, 5 and 8#. Great fun.... this is a pretty predictable bite if you can be on the water when the runoff is coming in after a deluge of rain. Usually does not last more than 6-8 hours because the runoff stops and the fish get full. You have to be there at the magic time frame and if I can hit it right once or twice a year I figure it good. Went out today with my Son around Baxter at 0500. Caught 14 topwater fish (ky's) with 3 legal by 0615 and then it was over. Went to a dropshot spot and caught 7 with 3 keepers by 0730. As we were considering changing locations we witnessed a run-in between 2 jet skis and a big boat. Not sure what the deal was but they got in a big pissing match at 0800 in the middle of the lake. My son (21 yrs old) commented that some people are just "totally jacked up". We had a good laugh and voted to go to the house for breakfast, after which I got him to mow the yard. Wonderful day.

Sorry for the slow reply... been busy fishing! I am not sure how much we got at Shell Knob, I think 3-4 inches by the crack of dawn yesterday. I went out at 0830 and fished in the rain until 1300 or so. Serious rain at times and I we had another big rain around noon. I am guessing we had close to 6" overall. Basement leaked again. Grass is growing great! I'll make a post for the fishing adventures.

Way cool report. I am not sure what I see in the cooler but it looks like at least one diet coke that would not have made it off the water with me. Thanks for the report.

I must restrain myself. I can hardly do so..... but I will. The answer is Yes, and Yes.

1) Keep reading the postings between now and then. 2) Go back and read the archives for this time the last couple years. 3) Put together a dropshot rod and read up on the basics. 4) Hire a guide for at least a half day to get some confidence, then go forth and do good. You have posed a question that has been answered numerous times in the past on this forum, and actually there is no best answer, except #4. A guide is not necessary but will put you on the right track as to the techniques that are working and the type of water to fish. None are "cheap" but the good ones add untold value to your experience. (PS: The overwhelming majority of TR guides are in the "Very Good to Great" catagory)

Has it ever occurred to anyone that it is not "all about money"? Has no one here read the staggering statistics about the decline in the fisherman / fisherwoman population? More so the overall decilne of general outdoors activities; hunting, fishing, hiking, etc. Could it just be possible that MDC is catering to and responding to a group of people who enjoy and appreciate their only known outdoor experience: fishing for and catching and Heaven Forbid eating a few fish. The trout fishery is pretty artificial, but so is everything related to the reservoir fisheries. In fact the only legit "way it was" fishing is being done in the rivers. All the rest of us are hangers on and hypocrites when we start to preach "Fisheries Management" and what is "right". We as a society are losing our connetivity to all things related to the outdoor world. Our kids are not having the exposure and experiences we had.... generally. It's not about money, it's about preserving a heritage, and I think MDC (though not perfect) is doing an admirable job of trying to recruit new outdoor "users". I do not think it's anything to do with $ coming in, it's about their recognition that we need more people connected at all levels. That 12 year old kid with the Zebco outfit, and his peers, will be making our resource decisions in a very few years. I had the opportunity to hear Richard Louv speak about 6 months ago. http://richardlouv.com/ One thing that struck me and I will never forget is a quote from a youngster who stated "I cannot play outside because there are no electrical outlets there". That is where we are headed. Actually that is where we are now. We need to turn it aound and if it means more and easier fish to cach in an "artificial environment" so be it, let's start from here. Now we can go on discussing what you and I want to catch in our favorite waters and what weight line to use.

Just out of curiousity can someone tell me what the numbers mean? I don't know bull sugar about fly fishing. I have seen some of these rods on the internet similar that were #17 9' 3F What is the 3F? (mine is 2 3/4 F) Was GB Goi the guy who made the rod ? How did you all know it was an 8 wt rod? For all your information I called about 5 vintage bamboo rod dealers and got pretty much the same story: "too bad it is 9'' (bigger obviously not better). They all call it a "bass rod" with a tone in their voice that would make a person think bass were an aquatic vermin of some type. A couple guys said they would pay about 225 for it to resell, but everyone I talked with said to put it on Ebay and I should see 350-400 for it. All sounds good to me because I think I paid $17 for this rod and about 5 others in the action. Hoping to convert it to a couple new dropshot rigs. It's just a pretty thing and I think it needs a good home. My son is Ebay savvy and I'll let him sell it there.

Thanks for everybodies input Here are some pics I just took, not the best quality, I could probably get some better in the sunlight. Actually each section looks perfectly straight and there are no nicks or wear on it aywhere, I believe it was never used when I got it. I took it on a trip or two to a bass pond where it saw little action. It has been in a PVC tube in my basement since I purchased it in '82. It's in really perfect condition, in my opinion. I do not have the original "tube", whatever that was. I should probably call and talk with the guys TroutBum4wt suggested.

I have a Heddon Black Beauty fly rod I bought at auction with a bunch of other gear back in 1982, in Fredericktown MO. It looked brand new at the tme, still had some paper wrapping on the handle. It has two identical tips, I guess for when you broke the first one. It is in a maroon flannel sleeve. Anyway I am not a flyfisherperson and wondered if it had value and if anyone was interested in buying it. On the butt section is says handwritten #17 -9' - 2 3/4 F - G B Goi @ Heddon It is in about perfect condition as far as I can tell, but I know nothing about about such stuff. If anyone is intrested drop me a PM or respond online. I am not Ebay savvy and do not wat to mess with that, would just as soon sell it locally for a fair price if it even has any value to anyone. Looks like something that should be owned by a trouter, not my bag.

I was sure the stars had lined up for a good topwater bite this AM, clouds with an approaching rain. Launched at SK bridge @ 0515 and commenced to do my usual June milk run for topwater fish toward Campbell Point. Stayed on a tried and true location until 0600 and I was already getting aprehensive. A couple short fish. Too many carp and gar, no shad. Started point hopping looking for surface fish and got to my (and everybody elses) favorite topwater spot. Had 7 shorts in the bag by then, but here they were finally busting top here. Proceeded to catch a eleven in short order but I doubt I had one over 13", most closer to 10. Was losing confidence in the spot so headed back upriver to SK bridge, stopping at maybe 4 good spots for a couple minutes to see if anyone was awake on top of some gravel flats I know fish are on. Picked up 3 more shorts, real short, and they were not busting. Thry would come up for a randomly thrown Sammy but they were small. Headed up toward Big M and parked on another gravel flat and caught 5 shorts. Saw Babler here and we cussed and discussed the fishing. I am sure neither one of us added to the others wealth of information as both boats were hauling dinks, Weather was getting dark so I headed back toward the bridge and truck just in case. Caught a couple shorts on each of the 3 bridge pilings at SK, then finally caught a barely legal, and exited stage left to the ramp as it looked like it might set in for a while. As I was idling to the ramp I saw a big fish hitting and shad flying just upstream of the ramp about 100 yards. Goosed the motor and flung a spoon a ridiculous distance and hooked up with a 18" LM. Good to end on a high note but I had enough and was off the water at 1030. Final tally 34 fish, 32 very small, one squeaker and one good one. Pretty OK numbers for 5 hours but the fish have shrunk bad on me the last few days. I probably sound like a whiner, 32 topwater fish, even though they are 8-11", are better than a day of work. Just seems to me there should be a better topwater bite. Tomorrow. Always tomorrow and it will be more and bigger and better.

I think the crappie are alive and doing well. If you just started reading the forum when you joined this past Feb, it was deceiving. Go back and look at posts late winter through May in years past. I think very few were caught this year because of the high water, period. Crappie absolutely love thick tangled hard cover when they are spawning. I would say 90% of the crappie in a normal year are caught during March and April dragging crappie jigs or minnows on the shallow spawning banks, or in the deeper trees. It's pretty easy most years and there are plenty of sizable fish to be had. We had some really good crappie fishing the last 3 years. Quality sized fish. In a normal year you would have hundreds of boats fishing the the James, Kings, Long Creek and other branches of the lake every day during the spring, and doing well. This year access was poor, water bad muddy, and conventional crappie bagging methods in traditional places were impossible. I would venture a guess and say there was maybe 5% of the normal fishing pressure/hours put toward the crappie in 08 compared to a normal year. I normally dedicate maybe 8-10 trips a year after crappie but this year zero. I did see 8 come over the side of the boat accidently however, 2 on a spinnerbait, 1 on a crankbait, and 5 on bass grubs. I think the smallest was 13". So my theory is that they did their thing totally unmolested in the thousands of acres of flooded cover where your typical TR crappie fisherperson dared not venture. There are some folks who chase them post spawn in the deeper water and trees all summer and fall and I predict they will do well as the lake goes down and they start to follow the shad. There should be a lot of big uncaught 08 fish out there. Like Phil and Whackem I am most optimistic about the baby fish making that went on this year. PS Cjones - I love to bass fish and tend to ramble about it more than anything but I foremost consider myself a Fisherman rather than A Bass Fisherman. I have intentionally fished for and caught every species on the lake I think, including gar and carp. Don't think you are hanging out with Micropterus elitists, many of us just live for the tug on the end of the line.

Martin's setup sounds excellent, especially if it will get you to depth without so much line out. Less line is good for better hookups and getting the thing in and out quicker. It can be a chore cranking in big whites from way far out. Actually it's a chore just getting the crankbait in and out. I have tried some other configurations tying onto the plug which always got fouled but not the exact one he explained which sounds like a winner. Also if you are doing this in a lake that is not as clear as TR you might not need a plug that will run to extreme depths. I did a lot of this on Grand Lake in the past where you only needed to get it down 15 feet or so. I used Bomber flat-A's exclusively cause they always ran straight and true. As a note one thing I have noticed on Grand and TR both is that often you can definitely locate a bunch of WB and catch one or two on every pass, have them pegged down to an exact location. It would seem you could park nearby and load the boat casting to them with a grub or spoon or whatever.... I have tried that numerous times and it has never once worked for me. I think the noise and attraction of the plug, plus the speed it is presented trigger strikes.

A couple people PM'd me asking what a 3-way rig was so here goes. Take 3-way swivel and attach it to the end of your line. Tie a big crankbait on one of the remaining eyes with about 2' of line. Tie a rooster tail or small twister tail grub on the other eye with about 4' of leader of 8# clear mono or floro. For the plug I have used 3/4 oz Mudbugs, DD22's, and 3/4 oz Hellbenders. All of these will troll well without turning over in the water. Take the front hook off the plug, you will be less apt to hang up in trees. One guy I know swears it helps to have a red/white plug so you may want to repaint one. Try to determine the depth of the shad and fish. Look for real loose, dispersed bunches of shad which have been scattered by feeding fish. You may or may not see the larger fish but if the shad are acattered that is an excellent sign. (Real tight balls of shad on or near the bottom with no big fish around.... not as promising). Once you determine the depth of the baitfish, you want to put your plug at that depth or slightly shallower (above the fish). If you determine 30' is where you want to be, go find a clean gravel flat and troll in 30' of water, letting line out slowly from a baitcaster, until you start to bump bottom. Reel in and count the number of layers or level winds of line you recover on your reel. When you troll all you need to do is let the line out while counting layers of line and your plug should end up at the right depth. 99% of WB will be caught on the spinner or grub, but expect to hook some black bass and the occasional walleye on the plug. Basically you are using the plug like a downrigger to get the spinner/grub to the right depth. This works well any time of the day, and it seems to work well, possibly even best when there is a lot of boat traffic on a hot summer day. When it is real calm and you are the only boat, I think they might spook from underneath, but on busy days they have no place to hide from the traffic and your noise is camoflaged by other boat traffic. Sometimes is helps to troll in a lazy s pattern as opposed to driving in a straight line. That gets your rig through some fish you have not just driven over and adds some different speeds to the presentation. SKMO

There is usually a good topwater bite right on the dam on that end of the lake. Over extremely deep water, it can start as early as the first hint of sun, more often about 0530 - 0600, and will last 20 minutes to ?? long depending on the whims of the fish, ammt of cloud cover, and ammt of boat traffic/fishing pressure which can turn them off. Overall and generally lakewide they come up early in the AM, if it is cloudy sometimes they don't appear until as late as 0900 or 1000. It is fairly common in my experience for them to appear and hour or so later than the black bass species on cloudy days. On sunny days the KY's and other bass will usually stop all topwater activity as soon as the sun crests the hills and hits the water, yet the possibility always exists for whites to make a showing in that next hour. If I was targeting whites I would want to be launching in the dark. On a cloudy funky weather day they seem to come up later, and you have a good chance of finding them surfacing on and off all day. Actually do not be surprised to find them surfacing on a bluebird day when you least expect it. Locations are wherever you find them, but the key is they will always be around the shad. Smack dab in the middle of the lake off expansive gravel flats, or in the mouth of deeper coves seems to me to be two general areas they can be located. In other words you can get into them about anywhere if you are in 30-40' water or more. When I am chasing the topwater fish I have at a minimum 3 rods on deck with 1) a topwater plug (Sammy or Redfin) for when you can put it in their face. Any topwater will work, just pick one you can cast a long ways. 2) a grub on a 3/8 jighead when I know I am casting to where they just were 30 seconds ago but they are now back deep 3) a 3/4 oz spoon that I can fling a mile and get to the surfacing fish pronto no other way. A good surface bust will probably last 15-30 seconds max and if you are not laying something on top of them you have probably missed out. Get yourself in general casting position toward their last location and stay quiet and off the trolling motor. Who knows where they will come up next. Trying to run from bunch to bunch is usually counterproductive, by the time you get there they will be gone, and probably surfacing right where you just left. I have better results positioning the boat in the middle of where they are generally surfacing and sitting tight. When you can find them surfacing and put something with a hook in front of them I am convinced they will hit pretty much anything. If you can't find surface fish I think you just need to find the concentrations of shad on your electronics and probe downward. Lots of people also troll for them as well, throughout the day with 3-way rigs, with good results. There can also be an evening topwater bite, same general places. Lots of big whites in the pond but I think they can be frustrating when you target them specifically, the July 4 crowd will not be an advantage, pray for some rain and clouds.

Thats not quite right, that would indicate MDC got 1/8 of all tax monies. One way to look at it is for every dollar you spend that is taxed they get 1/8 cent, (or for every $8 you spend they get a penny).