Trav

Timid and humble huh? Haha...I get the sarcasm in that statement. It happens when you realize your ego can overinflate your abilities. For some reason I still find myself eating a lot of crow no matter what I do. It's not bad as long as you order the humble pie to go with it.

..expect the truth....that is who I am!! Even if I may be wrong about people, fishing is the truth as I say it...........I give honest secrets of those selfish pros. Time is on my side and I have used my time to expand my expertise beyond the "monster" of Lower Taney. Everyone knows Lower Taney is probably the most difficult body of water in the Ozarks. We also know that I have it mastered. These past months, relocation has perfected my knowledge on Pomme, Stockton, Truman, and I have The Rock figured like a playbook. People who fish with me have learned to hate the big deep water because it is where I find the big ones. We all know my prowess to find the uncanny on Lower Taney. I used big bass tactics I learned in Panama to catch dozens of trophy brownies out of the deeps in unseasonal conditions south of Rockaway. And lets not forget I had that small fishery/fish bowl figured out. Granted...I grew up on the the Lower Taney giving me an advantage. I know the currents and the cycles of a fish bowl fishery. And I will continue to tell OzarkAngler Forum readers the dish on it but I have decided to slide my focus on our natural fisheries. Oh, What a time I have had!! I surrounded myself with guys who know the stuff this past year. Personally I have had two muskie over 30 inches and three walleye running five pounds...and the bass is numerous. Beyond any of the reports I have obvserved on here. I have made it a personal endeavor to saturate myself with knowledge. And this year I am going to tell all the secrets. No hidden honey holes, no crazy stuff...just straight up reporting. Consider me as your man with the plan. I am not going to just give out these reports but I plan on taking average Joes like yourself with me. OzarkAngler Forum members will be submitting their reports as well. The goal is to give the catch and release bass man who is living here in the Ozarks the experience to learn the crap all these guides refuse to share. And I am going to do it for free. We all know Trav has been less of a secretive dick in the past....those days are continuing. From this day on...Trav will be the guy everyone credits for them being a better fisherman. Time to open the books! Time to fish with Trav.

The whole country has evolved into chaos while I was away at the beach. Everyone I used to know is either dead or so out of the game they aren’t the same people.

I HAVE BEEN TAZED BRO! And labeled as one to incite on assumption And labeled as one who overreacts before giving a benefit of the doubt Is this just Trav being Trav? If so, then does anything I do really shock anyone? There is going to be some issue taken to my approaches as there always has been and always will be. I read things literally and I do not assume anything. I take what has been put in black and white and determine them as they are. If I was to make some misstep in speech or forget to clarify on a subject and it ruffled a few feathers, everyone knows there would be a dozen members to point out my error. Is Phil above this same criticism? Sure, it is his site. He can do what he wants. None of us have to keep our mouths shut though. Are we all a bunch of slap happy friends around here? I don’t think so. We are individuals who make a whole. Without the allowances for the adversity, OAF would be like any other site. Do we really want to feel like a tourist who has to watch out what we say to the natives? Someone mentioned how other sites have ‘clicks’ and it is true. Most are bullied by a group, who in their numbers will alienate everyone who has anything to say which might put a bad light on the popularity of the majority. Not to mention look at everything under a microscope in the hopes to create an element of superiority. I am just Trav. No better than anyone else. I have a methodical grass roots way about myself. I don’t do protest marches and demand change. I write my opinion (good or bad) and inform those who may not know what is going on around them. I am aggressive about it and know how to get my word out if I see it is necessary, even if that necessity is only justified in my own lonely opinion. With this said, I have been pretty silent over the winter and all of a sudden I am labeled (yet again) as a doomsday theorist the minute I speak up. I didn’t go anywhere. I have been lurking around and reading what everyone has been up to the entire time. I decided not to post on every little thing I had an opinion about and stayed clear of anything politically oriented. I actually did it for the site. I could have kept the boards screaming with debate but I new it would only instill unwanted hostility. I am going to suggest that maybe there might be a need for a more intimate Ozark site, one where locals don’t have to sift through the tourist’s naiveté. A place where everyone knows what each other is talking about and we don’t have to explain for the hundredth time that you don’t need a thermometer in Lower Taney to catch a bass. We definitely need a place which won’t punish a moderator or anyone else for that matter for building awareness, especially if it “goes too far”. Speaking of which, I noticed that my name was listed as a figure head for the Lower Taney Forum but I was unaware I was considered a moderator. My profile continues to say “Fishing Buddy”. TAZE ME AGAIN BRO! __________________________________________________________________________

Well, I guess if this is all a "failure to communicate" Next time clarify when you say something Phil. I was on the phone with my new web designers! Might I suggest taking some of the forums on this sight that aren't quite Ozark related? darn! I really wanted to go out in that blaze of glory!

CENSORSHIP? What debate? All indicators are saying the forums will be moved whether we like it or not. I am only bringing more minds into awareness of what is going to happen with all the threads and forums. It is relevant to every place I notified for it involves them as well!!! Disappearances happen to those who disagree with those in power. No? They get dragged out of the room and tazed if they resist. This is Trav resisting.

Keep that in mind Kido, If the forums get moved it will not be the same. Let's make this site a member owned site!

DON'T TAZE ME BRO!

Let it be known! "The man" is going to punish my rights to free speech!! Shut me up and then what? You will have a bunch of sheep! If I disappear fellas....YOU WILL KNOW WHY! I am only standing up for the masses that have already expressed their opinions!

I will not chill. Phil stated he was moving the forum and that is what he has in mind. The threads might as well be dead and it isn't because of my doing. I am trying to hang onto them by letting everyone know what is going on!!

Sorry Dano, it is no worse than inviting an anthill to a picnic. I think it is a raw deal to be forced to be part of an expansion that is forced upon the members. To move the forums and expect a following to a far less intimate setting is monopoly. Maybe Phil will sell his URL to the members. I am sure we will dig deep to keep this as is. I look at it this way, If the forums are going to be moved, the continuity is already disturbed.

Thanks Buzz, Hang on to the fifty and keep it out of the stock market. You might need it here if we have to turn this site into a coop.

ATTENTION OZARK ANGLERS! Your two pennies are needed now more than ever! Our great site is about to be no more. Please tell everyone what you think of this disastrous turn of events. If you have been lurking as a nonmember, now is the time to join and let the Administration know you don’t support this change!

I hope you are right Dano, but your betting odds seem pretty low. If he is "moving forums" then you will be forced to move

This says you will have to move Kido

That's just it Kido, Trav will not be making a move. I want to stay right here or go out in a blaze of glory. I think we should buy the site off Phil and keep it the way we like it.

This says to me, YOU HAVE TO REDO ALL YOUR SETTINGS AND START FROM SCRATCH and not only that "WE WON"T BE OZARK ANGLERS BUT ANOTHER NUMBER IN THE MIDWEST" And what about our blogs and the work we have done there?? Nothing is going to be good about this

ATTENTION OZARK ANGLERS! Your two pennies are needed now more than ever! Our great site is about to be no more. Please go to the link below and tell everyone what you think of this disastrous turn of events. If you have been lurking as a nonmember, now is the time to join and let the Administration know you don’t support this change! http://ozarkanglers.com/forums/index.php?s...15915&st=40

You have your new domain Phil. We the people of OAF will be glad to take this one off your hands if you no longer think it is good enough.

I have $143.12 in my coin jar Might get about $50 if I recycle the aluminum cans I have been collecting in my barn. We could have a blood drive I guess I could pawn my wedding ring. After all, I have been divorced for nine years. Anyone want to buy a lawn mower? I will just borrow one from a nieghbor. Heck, To keep OAF just the way it is.......I will part with my prescious BassMaster Magazine collection. It dates back to the 80s. Any takers? I am sure we can buy this site somehow. Anyone on board with me?

Say it ain't so joe. No more more OAF? New Forum? What will happen to this site? Will you sell it to me? I will pass around the hat and am positive I could get enough OAF members to divvy in to keep our site as is. What do you think fellas? OAF to go coop? I hate to say this Phil, I am not going to be moving to a new site. I am happy with this one. It took me hours to get all those pictures on my Blog!! If this means I click on my favorites list and it shows a blank screen, so be it. I guess your britches just got too big for the OZARKANGLER.

BigRed, Whodat said his 'hand' not his head

Thanks Fellas, Spliced it and used silicone to seal it. Waited for it to dry Then I wrapped it with foil to take out any unnecessary echoing. Then I put more silicone on that. Waited for it to dry Then I used electrical tape since I was too lazy to go to town for the liquid stuff Then I put silicone on it. It isn’t pretty but I can guarantee it isn’t going to leak. Ha-ha. I tested it in my fish tank, worked fine. It said I had fish and I looked in the tank and saw fish. I verified it was correct Guess we will see for sure when I get the boat back in the water.

Doug, Keep in mind that Taneycomo is a cold water fishery. The main lake rarely gets above sixty. These bass have different tendencies. I know, I know, you’re thinking bass are bass. And they are to an extent but not in the Lower Taney. I have had more than a few local bass guys (mostly in-laws, cousins) tell me that ‘this body of water is too much work’ and/or ‘you can have this cold water crap’. My neighbors have told me similar stories and even I have to agree with its local moniker, ‘the monster’, for it has sent me to the dock shaking my head in frustration on many occasions. Most tourists try the Lower for a day or two and never return. Monster or not, it is predictable. The fact remains. The water temp never really changes on the main lake so it does make it consistent. The bass don’t react to the spawn the same, they don’t feed the same, and they don’t socialize the same. Spawn is almost 100% percent determined by the length of daylight versus night hours. Temperature isn’t so much of an important factor. Bass even try to spawn in the fall when the hours of daylight matches the actual spawn in the spring. It is a natural occurrence to see a female try to bed in the fall. Odd, I know. So throw your temperature gauge out of the boat. It is moot. There are no feeding binges either. The bass here don’t group and chase. They are either cruisers or ambushers. I relate them to sharks most the time. They wander from location to location and never set down roots. You will never see more than a few of them together. The ambushers are actually bass following instinct. This is where we get into a bass will be a bass. In the summer, they will get territorial and stack up like fence posts. It is a river more than it is a lake. Think like this. You want to fish in areas that get the least amount of current water and the largest amount of runoff, especially this time of year. Only leaves you inlets, coves, areas behind islands, and non channel banks. And think small presentation! I can’t emphasis this enough.

Troy is mistaken about the authority stuff. I spend too much time fighting authority to admit I may be one. There is still a reason they call it fishing instead of catching, especially when it comes to the Lower Taney. I can direct you in some direction though. This time of year, the Bass are going to be all over the place. If I was to go out tomorrow, I would look for them in the inlets/coves. Not so much against the banks but like I said they will be scattered until we start getting warm rains. The rain lately has been pretty chilly still. Think four to eight feet on average. I would not use anything larger than three inches at anytime of year on this lake. I have much more success with small finesse types. Jerk baits work well and if the sun is out and it is warm, a Senko is always good to pick up a couple. If the wind is up, fish the docks that are getting pounded the hardest. Flip tubes and little quarter ounce spinner baits. Think silver and/or blue on everything. Those are my confidence colors. Not saying other colors won’t work though. I will say this, fish with the confidence you have in your own favorite lures and colors. You will probably catch just as many fish this time of year as you would with my suggestions. And think small.