FRENZEL

Took off a 3day weekend to spend some time with dad. Sat. we took the kids spoonbill fishing. Sunday we went shed hunting and Monday we chased crappie a while. Anyways I caught the biggest spoonbill of my life on sat. 95+ lbs after drying on the floor of the boat for over an hour looking for a decent scale. I'm sure they heard my little girls squeeling for miles!

You got warts from Dale!?

Hey brother those are both rainbow pics. Rainbows come in a lot of shapes and colors. The first looks like a male and the second like a female to me.

Oh Chris.... Everyone knows your supposed to steak out any bass over 4lbs so you dont have the sushi center! Or just eat the cheeks and give the filets to the cats.. But I really would just as soon eat a gar as a 5lb black!

Remember that this time of year you can use that top water all day long ... Even in the sun.

Hey Phil, They continued hitting well and we left them biting good at noon. We had a 50 fish day on the jigs with several nice rainbows no browns. They liked the sculpin as well as the white. The larger fish definitely were biting better to the bluff side but several trout following every cast from the shallow side of the boat. You were right in that while there was shade it was the place to be. I had been on BS all last week chasing crappie....or trying anyhow. The cooperative trout were a nice break. Talk to you later,

I went down to Bull shoals and the brushpiles we caught off of were in 20ft of water and 51 degrees. ONLY thing they would hit was a minnow on a slip bobber and 10-12 feet deep. Caught a few males a day earlier in some 12ft deep brushpiles. Just starting up I think.

I thought for sure there would be shad pouring over the dam but I did'nt see any..My group was more in a bait fishing mode so we headed down. I bet it will get pretty good if they keep em open a while. May head up and drag some little chrome/white crankbaits. I'm betting the creeks downtown will be hot as well. Think I should have fished Taney in the morning and Bull in the evening instead of vice versa. Took out at cooper well after dark last night and the courtesy dock ramp was under... And the whites were back on in the creeks I hear at Bull Shoals. I need a clone.

Guess I shoulda waited for the PM.. Sorta knew it. Was a little dirty downstream and we also didn't fish the prime time. The boys wanted to trout fish the evening after a slow time @ snapp and cedar yesterday. Bet the water was a lot better up Beaver huh.

Well this will cure the O2 prob eh?

you could yes... If you are bait fishing just use a swivel.

Shoulda went bowhunting!

Bet he didn't leave a # he could be reached huh?

I have noticed the same thing except my best fly yesterday was the zebra midge. Several fish on 1/8 oz sculpin jigs but a lot of short takes on these. Fish are really healthy and carrying some big bellies. Catching/seeing more and more browns every trip. Keep your eyes open for the Bald Eagles and also don't get too close to the bluff bank.. Acorns falling everywhere.

Congrats Phil and Marsha! Grandpa and Grandma Lilley

Taney has plenty of giants in it.. Just gonna take a miracle to get one in. I saw one a couple years back that was choking on a 15" rainbow. It was head first and looked like it was wedged in the big browns gills. We stayed over that fish just watching it thrash in 6 feet of water for 10 minutes. It finally spit the dead rainbow out and took off. I can't even really guess how big it was ..... Just huge! I love our "fishbowl".

A 26" smallie? You could have let go a record I believe the world record was 27"?

I have already noticed an increase in the amount of browns I am catching this last week. I only fished from Lookout to just below fall creek though.

I figure I may owe him just a little.

Wow .. maybe we should just let any numbnutz take people out for hire?. It would be really funny if one of these unlicensed and unisured guides took you out and god forbid had an accident. No insurance will cover what % of your medical bills? Most of the licensed guides carry at least $1,000,000 in coverage. All licensed guides are first aid and cpr certified. They also take drug tests and have put a lot of time and energy into acquiring the certification. Do you honestly think that this would not be a problem?

My parents were in town a few days and dad had not been trout fishing for too long... So we pulled our buts out of bed and headed into the fog this morning. Started off 2 units running and pitching everything we could in some eddies up in the trophy area. Caught a few but the fish were really shy in that crystal clear still water. Bite was really light. Even with 7x fluorocarbon. Decided to use the moving and slightly colored water to our advantage and tied on some 1/8th oz sculpin colored jigs. Pretty much instant satisfaction. Fish were really healthy and averaging over 15"... Almost every fish took us for a ride. Largest was just shy of 20" Super strong and super fat. If you like casting jigs it was perfect today. Best water for us was the tennis courts to the new bank @ fall creek. Barely anyone on the water. It was nice! Get out and enjoy it.

Its those corn intolerant trout...

If you want to learn some new methods you might want to start out with some early morning Jig casting up above fall creek. You can watch the fish up there react to how you are working your jig in the shallow water and by the time they start some units up you will have a good idea of how to work them. Just try different retrieves... Big hops short hops.. Let it sit or run it back. When the water is off try dragging it across the bottom darting it every few feet. Year round that is probably my favorite bite. 3/32 or 1/8th oz. sculpin colored. Line is 4lb or 2lb if you can do it. Fluorocarbon or at least lo vis green.

There is a bbq man down at Gages now but don't think they have beer.

Water patrol was hovering around one tree island with the lights on yesterday. 2 boats. That is probably the spot. Sorry to hear of the loss. Prayers sent