zander

There might be a turtle population explosion then. It makes you wonder besides flathead cats, what in Table Rock could eat those big gizzard shad. I read on the MDC website they have stocked hybrids in Truman and LOZ because they could eat the bigger gizzard shad.

Everybody is different. RPS had a good entry in his blog on here about choosing a boat. I wish I could afford to have my own but even if I could I'm pretty sure I am not the salesman needed to convince my wife it would be a good idea. Kid's college fund, new furniture, the list goes on and on.

is that the guy who had the hit about "The Old man down the road" and in the video they followed a cable all through the swamp?

Bill, If it makes you feel any better, the last bass I caught on Table Rock had to be in 1982 or 1983 before our family left Kimberling and moved to Louisiana. A bad day is one thing but fortunately you haven't had bad decades .

i don't see anything?

go here: http://www.whiteriveroutfitters.com/guideinfo.htm

if you click on the link at the bottom of his signature it will open a new window where you can get telephone numbers to get a hold of him

I was surprised at how clear the water was. Considering that is "flood" water, is it normally clearer than that?

I haven't fished any of the golf course lakes, but I have fished the little pond on the left hand side when south bound on Fremont right before you get to Independence Dr. I caught a couple of feisty little LM's each time and I think there are crappie in there too. I wouldn't eat them no how no way though. You should be alright fishing there on the weekend's or after regular business hours for the buildings there. If you get bored of fishing you can walk over the hill to the exposed bedrock and find a ton of fossils. I want to fish the little pond on Fremont by the tag office and the pond behind the Cody's station on W. Republic Rd. Anybody fish those?

By the way, it is good that you are doing that for the kids. I remember growing up in Kimberling City how my older brother during the summer would go off to Bass Masters and learn about all of the fish with his own tacklebox and then he would get to go fishing and put on a REAL life jacket. I was soooooo jealous since I wasn't old enough to do it. I tell you that because the kids you see are not the only kids you excite about fishing. Good luck.

Recently when looking up records about my great-great-great grandfather, I made an interesting discovery- that not all of them came home after the war. The Harp's of Newton County, AR tended to side with the Union during the Civil War. In June of 1862, three Harp brothers got on their horses and headed north to Cassville to enlisted in the First Union Arkansas Calvary. They waited in Cassville for a couple of months and then the regiment was ordered to go to Springfield, MO to await more recruits there. On their way there, the youngest of the three brothers William died of disease at Flat creek Missouri in August 1862. It is hard to imagine the emotional strain it would have been in the midst of war, so far from home, that these two brothers would have to bury one of their own, only to move away so quickly and probably never visit the grave again. As far as the larger Harp clan still live around Newton County I can tell you that we didn't fair so well. The couple of Harps who sided with the Confederacy usually deserted after less than a year. Of those that fought for the Union, two brothers were killed on the same day Sept 15th, 1864 while on scout duty by bushwhackers in Newton Co, AR. Mainly the Harp clan were on garrison duty or fighting skirmishes against bushwhackers, but evidently war wasn't total hell because Lewis Harp Jr was born in March of 1864 which means either daddy got a little visit in or someone else did! It was a rough place during a rough time. If you are a Harp reading this, let me know. Lewis Harp Sr.

I know a lot of people that look for these birds. They eat all kinds of fish but compete with species we like to fish for. Primitive technology fish finders.

I think we should all take a breath. As for me, there was only one time in my life when I literally had to fish or not eat a lot. It was called grad school. Thank goodness the big cats had moved in to feed on the crappie. Consequently, that period also got me burnt out on cleaning fish. I practice catch and release not for any conservation of resources reason, instead it is for conservation of energy reasons......I'm lazy and most times would not want to bother with it. I still keep the odd fish, put some on a stringer only to let them go if I don't get anymore by the end of the day. That being said, hats off to catch and release people since it at least provides the chance of being caught again by others and helping in recruitment. I wish I could say I do it for the noble reasons but it is just laziness for me. I for one am not hurting the white bass population at all this year, you have to catch them first and the three w's aren't helping, work, weather, and the wife.

They were probably cormorants.

Fishing with your girlfriend???? Hang on to that one! My wife's idea of fishing is going to Red Lobster! Sad to hear about the bass. I'm sure they were dumb kids, I used to be one of them that did stupid stuff because I COULD didn't ever think about whether I SHOULD. And then some folks never out grow that mentality.

MDC does have a site but the regs are pdf format. We went by the brown wooden signs posted around the area.

We just got back from the Truman Tailwater and I have a fishing report. First of all yes they are still letting copious amounts of water through the flood gates. It was quite a sight to see. We fished on both sides of the tailrace. We got there about 1:00 PM and started throwing sliders trying to fish them as close to the bottom as possible. It was hard to keep your tackle and I lost count at how many times I broke off. We then moved to the flood gate side of the tailrace and I put on some liver and caught a channel cat about 1 1/2 pounds and put him on the stringer. Later on I caught a 9 1/2" crappie on a pearl and red tail 3" slider. Now I thought the minimum length for a crappie there was 10 inches so I threw it back, actually the minimum length was 9 inches so it goes to show you it pays to know the rules . Now for the exciting part. I threw a lot of large bucktail striper jigs 3/4 to 1 oz weights. I had two takes on the flood gate side on a pure white 1 oz bucktail. the only color it had was two small black dots for eyes. I was using a real soft tipped pole and I failed to set the hook adequately and I lost them both but they were fun while they lasted. Any other color combo on the bucktails didn't do didley squat. We then went over to the generator side right before sunset. People had said limits of whites and walleye and crappie were being caught there on jigs and that you could see the white bass hitting right in front of you. Well when we got there I only saw one white the whole time. But after losing many sliders to the rocks, I put on old reliable solid white bucktail. About my fourth cast with it there, it was hit like a ton of bricks. The hook was definately set this time! I could hardly reel in the line, and then it went out into the main current and line started coming off. There was little I could do. I watched what had to be a hybrid pull out 130 yrds of 10 lb Maxima line (thanks for the advice Leonard) and then SNAP! This fish had taken ALL 130 yrds of line off my reel! It had to be good size and then it was swimming with the current so I couldn't do a thing but hope it would stop running, but I guess it was hoping differently. By this time I was ready to call it a day. The shad floating by in that area were the same size as this large bucktail. Heavier pole and heavier line and it would have been a different outcome I believe. Here is the closest thing I could find to what I was using: Good luck!

That is a good place to fish without a doubt. We have always done best there with shrimp, cut bluegill, and stinkbait. We have been fishing more with cut bluegill now because there are tons of little cats that will keep you busy all day rebaiting your hook. Very nice cats are caught out of the area by the hot water outlets. Plus you can throw bass baits in there too and catch bass (although not as often as cats). This time of year I can usually do pretty good walking the banks throwing little spinnerbaits around the fallen trees for crappie and bass but with the water we've had this year I haven't done it yet. Wait too much longer though, and there will be too much poison ivy to fish that way without a haz-mat jumpsuit.

I have an old Garcia conolon flyrod that I got when my cousin was cleaning out the attic of a house he had just bought. I really like it. Heavier than most rods nowadays for sure, but it is built like a tank.

I hoping that the bite (or lack thereof) had to do with the weather change on Wednesday. Hopefully by tmw when we go up there it will be back on. I will do a report one way or the other.

Vonreed, we were planning on going up there Saturday. What were you fishing for? Any size to what you caught? Anybody else doing anything that you saw? Which side of the tailwater were you fishing on? A lot of questions, but Truman sounded great to us too after Jenny's report. Also in a lot of these reports the bait XL Glow Slabhunter is mentioned but nobody at BassPro or Fin N Feather had ever heard about it. What is it? Do they sell them at the station?

If it were up to me, and not up to me and my wife like it is (hence I live in Springfield) I would live in Hollister. The reason I would live there is because of its proximity to the dam as well as Table Rock, closer to N. Arkansas and all of the great stuff they have there. And probably the prices aren't as high as they might be in Branson, but this is just my guess.

White bass tastes like mud cat, huh? That is pretty funny. As Carl in "SlingBlade" would say, "Mmmmrrrrgh, I like the way you talk, mmm-hmm." But they are right, cutting out that red meat is important, and then I roll the fillet in French's yellow mustard before adding the fish fry mix.

I used to go this time of year to Ponca and fish behind Kaw Lake Dam. I used to catch a lot of white bass on little tube jigs. Be careful after dark though, the rats come out in force!

we had been planning on taking my dad's boat to Beaver to try to catch some whites on Friday or Saturday. With the conditions already and with the new rain, would Beaver be too dangerous to fish? If not where would the best place to put in a bass boat at?