Champ188

Be You had to have felt right at home. Beck always said you were the best net man he'd ever had.

Disclaimer: Yes, I used to tournament fish. A lot. And loved it. A lot. Just got ruined on it when entries/payouts got so low that you had to WIN a Central Pro-Am event to cover the 4-day trip. Not kidding. Winning checks got down to around $1,000. Here we go again ... another major national tournament on the White River chain. Table Rock has already been hit with Redcrest and no telling what other banner derbies this year. This week, it's Beaver. Water levels are so low that shallow fish are there for the taking, and with a full moon coming May 1 (Friday, the second day of competition) it's going to be ridiculous how many fish are yanked off beds and tossed into livewells. Just another grand favor done to our fisheries by good ol' Johnny, who is trumpeted as a world champion of conservation/preservation. Yeah, as long as he profits from it. Bull Shoals-area residents need to be glad they don't have the hotel/restaurant/convention center setup to handle these events. That concludes this get-off-my-yard lake rant. We now return you to our regularly scheduled programming.

I'd be wise to take that advice and follow the food out deep myself, but apparently I'd rather stay up shallow and practice casting while the bite goes on out behind me. Probably why I put my boat up and just beat on the old Titleist these days from June until October.

Pete caught that one coz he was fishing, not scoping. 😮

Bill, you're like those guys on the Dr. Rick (Progressive Insurance) commercials ... I get you up shallow and you're whacking on them, and next thing I know, you've drifted back out into the abyss again. Guess we all tend to drift into our comfort zones, huh? 😁

Thanks again for the report. Didn't have as good a day as you but managed 19. Winding bite was hard to come by and it was a bit tough dragging that Ned in 30 mph wind. Thinking about going up the river tomorrow with a couple of 10-foot crappie poles. I honestly don't believe they've spawned yet.

Donna totally kicked my butt for two straight days of Central Pro-Am practice on Bull a few years back. I was determined to catch ledge fish on a jig and she was catching one after another in 2 feet of water on a Senko. Worse yet, I continued to fish deep in the tournament and barely weighed a small limit. We did kick butt the next day, though, in the team tournament ... a top 5 as I recall.

You don't know how it makes me smile to hear that you're out there fishing how you want to instead of how you have to. I mean, come on ... who dreamt there'd be a day when you posted a report here that they are on a floating worm? Or that you'd be fishing close enough to reach the bank with a 1-oz spoon. 😆 P.S. I've guided enough to just about worship you guys who did it full time for decades.

Glad to hear that coming from someone whose opinion I value. I've watched that guy poach fishing holes for years and seems like whenever there's a dispute over water, even if he's not directly involved, he's always in the neighborhood.

Darn good day, Jeff. Cherish those on Beaver, as they don't come along often. But you know that. Appreciate the report. Helped make up my mind where to go today.

Looking at it two days after April Fools, you had me going. I was trying to picture a $100K bass rig with a jersey jock driving up to some old hillbilly crappie fisherman and telling him he's gotta move coz I have that brushpile reserved. That glitter rocket would likely end up with a couple of lead-puncture wounds.

I hate wind. 🤣

Didn't know you even owned a crank bait. Bet you don't have any DD22's. 😂

That's a darn healthy largemouth.

So just be sure you've got it all set to go before you come for my piano ... Good to see you back, Mark. Hope you get some fishing in soon. It's getting good. And thanks for the enlightening info about show setup. Very interesting.

Saw lots of terns diving on shad between Big M and Big Creek the other day. No cormorants in that area. Hey Quillback, please find us some new holes up there. The ones you have now are fished out and that GPS tracker I hid in your boat wasn't cheap.

Meanmouth all the way. How classy to drop an F bomb that had to be scrambled out of the audio. I'm convinced that one reason these kids are soaking up scoping is that their brains aren't cluttered with needless vocabulary ... all you need to say is (1) Big one! GIANT!!! Big one!!!! MONSTER!!! (2) Stay on! Stay on! Stay on! Stay on! (Must be said while making three full and needless laps around the gunwale of the boat). (3) Dude, dude, dude, dude, dude, dude, dude, dude ...

OK, like Bill, this will be my last post on this topic. Just want to suggest one other line of thinking. Why won't MDC study the LM population in TR? I've spent a fair amount of time myself on TR over the last 25 years and have seen my LM catches steadily trend downward while little spots have been at darn near pest level. Yes, river spots tend to run smaller than lower-lake fish. And we are now seeing the results of strong spawns in recent years. However, spots under 12" rule the roost --- from shallow to deep water above Shell Knob in the White River arm. Granted, the Kings and James rivers can turn out good numbers and size of LM, primarily because the water is a bit dirtier, which LM like. Seems to me this is just another MDC decision made by out-of-touch officials who need to put money into proper research efforts before passing laws that will likely ruin a nationally renowned fishery. Do the creel surveys --- no one can tell you more than the anglers themselves. Reach out to the guides and invite them to coffee and discussion --- i.e., do something besides hand down rules that seem to be another concession to the meat eaters.

They're info poachers ... often tournament guys trying to find a way to beat the guys who can run their business off the front deck of a bass boat. Would I read this site if I was a visitor headed here? Of course I would! But I wouldn't show my appreciation by picking a fight with a guy who has spent more time on the water than most of us put together. That's the head-shaker for me.

There's one major difference in Beaver and Table Rock ... stripers. Say what you will but personally, I've never fished a striper lake that was worth squat for bass.

Ummmm, maybe coz they're visiting and don't have a boat here? Or maybe they're local but don't have access to a dock. There are no public fishing docks on any Corps of Engineers lake that I know of. Bill Babler guided on TR for decades and was among the most sought-after guides on the lake. And to my knowledge, he never ever kept a bass of any species. He made it clear up front that if they wanted to eat fish, it would be white bass, walleye or bluegill. My guide service info states the same --- no bass will be killed. My guide business, my boat, my choice. You must have some long arms coz you're really reaching at this point. Or just trolling. Either way, you aren't gonna get a lot of support for running a knife through bass on this forum.

So we should just accept that MDC has done their homework on this and are confident that it won't harm the fishery? Game and Fish departments across the nation are known to lean toward "the everyday angler" when it comes to keeping fish. The demographic for today's everyday bass angler has changed --- you can't cater to guys in flatbottoms anymore because they aren't the majority. The majority are fairly affluent guys with a lot of electronics to hunt the fish down. And don't think a lot of those guys aren't keeping fish. I see them putting them in the livewell quite often, and not talking about gathering up big fish for a hero pic. I can't see from any angle where this appears to be well researched on MDC's part --- if I'm wrong, they sure aren't being very forthcoming or transparent about it. In my career as a newspaper writer covering G&F meetings, the biologists love to present their findings when they've had proper funding and time to research something properly. Haven't heard any of that regarding this change.

Yes it does and you will spend day upon day looking for a 15-inch spot in Beaver. Same for the Arkansas portion of Bull Shoals for the most part.

That's darn sure been a factor. Sometime between 10 to 15 years ago, it got to where there were so many derbies that none of them pay worth a crap. But the fragile-ego boys get to go home and say I won even though there were only seven boats in their tournament LOL. Wasn't worth the money anymore for me. I know a lot of others felt the same because they quit when I did. And boy do I ever love being able to fish where I want, when I want these days.

We can watch them fish anywhere on TV. We don't need them in our backyard drawing more publicity pressure. Table Rock seems to handle it fine but I worry that Beaver is going to pay the price of increased pressure. Maybe the weights at Beaver will suck and no one will want to come here. LOL