Trav

Welcome!

Welcome!

Welcome!

should have been flipping docks if your bass fishing lower taney with a week of high water. Your a guide?

Shhhhhh.....I thought I heard something..........Did you hear that?

just look on the top of the site page and click on Blogs.

haha Just feel lucky I have been accurate to this date. I am terrible with dates. Heck, half the time I cant even tell you what day it is...lol Thanks for pointing that out Flysmallie.

js haha As opinionated as I am, I find social interaction a bit detesting. Its one thing to throw out conversation online and another to have to look them in the eye. I chalk it up to a number of dissociatable disorders but my shrink says it is normal with cases like myself. I hate to tell her that I have always been this way but she thinks that it is normal for individuals with a lifetime of gifted intellegence facing mortality to judge the human race as nothing but a bunch of degenerates. I personally consider myself reserved and anal. By the way, I was a musician once. I was a singer/screamer. Was mostly in tribute bands singing Zep, Doors, Pantera, Soundgarden, Nirvana, Alice in Chains, and ect. My throat gave out on me. Must have been all the cigs and pot. haha

Got out around 1pm today. Fished Sycamore cove to Long Beach point. The wind kind of killed the bite some. I caught 3 bows in two hours.

Welcome!

Long Beach Point is the sharp bend just adjacent to Long Beach community. Saber Island is a long sliver of land, on the NE side of the lake, about 2 or 3 miles down stream from Long Beach. I have a bunch of pics of lower Taney locations on my Blog. Might help you out.

Welcome!

Went out for only a couple hours before sunset. Drifted between Long Beach Point and Saber Island. Was a fast drift too. I was jigging hornets on the drift and trolled x-calibers back to my starting point and drifted again. Got in 3 drifts and 2 trolls before the sun started to set. I picked up 4 bows during the trolls and one bow with one brownie that scaled at 3-13 on the drifts. I think I might have had better success with the brownies if I had fished while the sun was at high noon instead. I will give it a shot tommorrow.

Bill Will Restore Nationwide, Commonsense Exemption, Protect Waterways for Recreational Boaters WASHINGTON, March 13 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The National Marine Manufacturers Association (NMMA) today applauded legislation introduced by Senate Environment and Public Works Chairwoman Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) and Sen. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.), ensuring recreational boaters and anglers will not need a federal permit to operate their boats. The Clean Boating Act of 2008 fully and permanently restores a longstanding, commonsense regulation that excludes recreational boaters and anglers from the federal and state permitting requirements under the Clean Water Act designed for land- based industrial facilities and ocean-going commercial ships. On behalf of Americas recreational boat, engine and marine accessory manufacturers, their hundreds of thousands of employees and the nations 73 million boaters, NMMA offers its thanks to Senators Boxer and Nelson for working toward honoring their pledge to protect recreational boating, said Scott Gudes, vice president of government relations for NMMA. This issue has been a cloud hanging over our industry and, as promised, Senators Boxer and Nelson have worked to address it. We call on Congress to swiftly adopt this bill well in advance of the September 2008 permitting deadline. The Clean Boating Act of 2008 restores a 35-year old Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) exemption for water-based, non- polluting incidental discharges that occur in the normal operation of a recreational boat, such as weather deck run-off and engine coolant water. The legislation recognizes that discharges from recreational boats, which are operated on average 31 days a year, are completely distinct from commercial ship discharges. To help protect the health of the nations waterways on which recreational boaters and anglers depend, the bill also pursues whether reasonable best management practices need to be put into place for some recreational boat discharges. Recreational boats are currently heavily regulated under the Clean Water Act, the Clean Vessel Act, the Oil Pollution Act, and other federal and state laws. There is no need for federal or state permits for water-based discharges from recreational boats, Gudes said. This legislation takes a balanced approach which protects the American marine manufacturing sector, boaters and anglers, and the nations aquatic resources. The issue of new federal permits stems from a September 2006 U.S. District Court ruling that ordered the EPA to regulate ballast water discharges, and mandated a deadline of September 2008 to put it in place. Although the litigation was aimed at ocean-going vessels, the courts ruling struck down an exemption instituted in 1973 that applied to the incidental discharges from all vessels, including recreational boats. Large ocean-going ships use ballast water for stability and routinely discharge that water, introducing pollutants and invasive species in U.S. waters in the process. Unfortunately, the courts decision to overturn the entire exemption unintentionally tossed recreational boats into the same category as commercial ships, said Thom Dammrich, president of the NMMA. While minimizing the exchange of ballast water from one international port to another is very important in reducing the spread of aquatic invasive species, it is equally important not to sweep small recreational boats into the same regulatory scheme. It was clearly never the intention of the law, or the EPA, to treat your everyday boater the same as these large ocean-going ships, and doing so would have a devastating effect on recreational boating in America. Without legislative relief soon, everyday boaters would be required by federal law to apply for the same expensive permits as ocean-going commercial vessels and land-based industrial facilities, Gudes said. We are pleased that Senators Boxer and Nelson recognize the economic, social and cultural significance of the recreational marine industry and recreational boating and are moving to enact this crucial piece of legislation. NMMA has been working with a broad coalition of stakeholders, including BoatU.S., to resolve this problem in advance of the permitting deadline, Gudes added. And its important to note that we are heavily indebted to the strong bipartisan efforts over the last year to provide relief for recreational boaters and anglers, including the leadership of Sen. Mel Martinez (R-Fla.), Representatives Gene Taylor (D-Miss.) and Candice Miller (R-Mich.), who have also introduced legislation to address this matter. Congress must now enact this legislation before the clock runs out on Americas recreational boaters. National Marine Manufacturers Association (NMMA) is the leading association representing the recreational boating industry. NMMA member companies produce more than 80 percent of the boats, engines, trailers, accessories and gear used by boaters in the United States. The association is dedicated to industry growth through programs in public policy, market research and data, product quality assurance and marketing communications. For more information, please visit www.nmma.org. SOURCE National Marine Manufacturers Association

Capt Don Number 8 is exactly why I dont do the tourney thing anymore. And after almost a decade of being a guide and catering to others I had almost lost all drive for the fun of the sport. I finally had to just get selfish and start thinking of what I wanted instead of servicing or competing. It is very important not to lose grip of the fact that it is a pleasure sport and not get wrapped up with treating it like an industry. Doesnt matter what you do for a living. When your zeal becomes your job, it can quickly turn into a grind. If you dont keep open your perspective as to why you jumped into it from the start, and hang on to that, your favorite hobby can quickly be something you "have" to do other than what you "want" to do.

Welcome!

As a "been-there", I can say that it has alot to do with whom your associated with, and whom you know, than as it does with talent. It is a popularity thing ultimateley. You cant manage a living without sponsors and you cant get sponsors unless you can sell thier product. Wich requires name recognition for the most part. That requires social buzz through your fellow competitors. Wich as Dutch says, selling yourself, to accomplish a good standing amongst your peers. Talent is a very small part of it. I have talent and almost a decade of experiance doing guide work. I even have tourney Admin experiance and competed/participated in hundreds of tourneys with a 70 percent top 3 finish ratio. But when I went pro I lost the farm. Nobody offered me any sponsorship so when my well went dry, I was done. My failure was totally based on the fact that I am an isolationist and dont socialize. Nor do I "brown nose" to crawl a pedistal of exceptance. My personality is there but not on the surface. And I naively assumed that actions spoke louder than words. Search out some of the previous threads that are here on OAF about working in the industry. There is quite abit said on this topic. Not trying to discourage anyone, just laying down some of the sad hard realities of business. Its very clichish and nepitism is rampant. Its a dog eat dog business and if you arent in bed with a pack, then your wearing the pork chop earings.

Haha or The Manchurian Chip, implanted in the fishes brain to bite only for certain fisherman. I like your way of thinking Zander, but I guess I was shooting a little bit towards tool interfacing. What would Joe Fisherman find as the most useful info while finding difficult fishing conditions on unfamiliar water. If there was a database to provide a past pattern that could be searched, How would that information be displayed best for user friendly formats.

If you could have a tool, similar to your Depthfinder, but it could answer any question you gave it, about any body of water, or species of fish, What kind of questions would you want it to be able to answer and how would you want the results of that question be expressed to you? Humor me guys, I even want the bad ideas because you never know if it is bad until you express it. Please, haha, limit the responses to fishing. Unless the nearest strip club sells more than jail"bait"...haha

Thanks Rps Maybe I will wait until after April 8th and see what it all looks like. As long as they are cranking the water here on Taney I will probably stay home and take advantage of it anyway. Right now Taney is on fire. Everyone I speak with says the fish are going bonkers. Of course I am not much into catching stocker bows but the brownie action....hmmmmmm.

I had planned to park a fifth wheel for a week of bass fishing at Campbell Point but as it looks I am looking for a more water-condition friendly bass water instead. Are there any local(Missouri) waters not too effected by the onslought of rain? I would appreciate any input about some lake I might be overlooking in my quest for a full service campground Base to Bass fish from. Thanks Fellas

No Problem, If we get a day where the wind slacks off, I plan on doing the same. Been working to much latley prepping for spring(garden, yard, ect). I need to get back to just playing with the fishes again. Maybe I will see you out. Good luck.

no doubt DC, Can I carpool with you to get our fish back? Haha

Welcome!

The water has cleared up real well in the channels. Lots of debris until late yesterday but today that has subsided(I hope). Is still slightly stained up the creeks but with the high water the bass are holding tight to cover near those transition points between clear and stained. Whites are cruising right on those same lines but are hard to find. If you find them it will be fun. In this current they tend to school tighter together but you will have to move fast to keep up with them. With the debris slacking off, the trout are very aggressive in the high water generation. I havent been out looking for brownies in over a week. I would assume that with all the current they arent holding to deep cover but are instead chasing the bows wich tend to loose all inhibitions in the conditions that are present. Would be a great idea to fast drift(like you have a choice) with hornets or troll upstream (real slow) with deep diver cranks. Try to focus on the 10 to 15 foot range. Those brownies will work the shallow fast water more than hold in the deeps when we have prolonged generation. Hope that helps you Don