Champ188

Glad to hear of this project. Very glad. May blessings befall BPS/COE/MDC for this effort. Would love to see them use some other types of trees, as well. Grew up being a "brusher" and several of us around lakes Ouachita, Hamilton and DeGray, including tournament fishing pioneer Ricky Green, learned that cedars, while GREAT for crappie, weren't necessarily the best species for attracting and holding bass. Pin oaks, on the other hand, were sublime.

Now THAT is some serious action in the right direction. I'd much rather hear of an "every man fisherman" putting his money and sweat into helping the fishery than others taking credit for adding to an empire that does nothing but add angling pressure. Makes me feel pretty small for simply trying to raise awareness with my mouth (or fingers), but for now, that's what I can afford to do. THANK YOU, Browning Guy for your contributions. You rock, brother!

Just like anyone else, I'm limited in WHAT I can do because I am one person, and one person cannot impact change upon a 50,000-acre fishery. That takes action from the ruling bodies ... in this case, the MDC and the COE. Missouri was second only to Texas back in the 70s and 80s for fisheries management ... i.e., the statewide 15-inch length limit on largemouth bass. Perhaps we need some forward movement from them ... at least conduct some intense and viable studies on the busiest lake in the state to see where catch rates stand, where gamefish numbers stand vs. what the forage base can sustain, etc. Perhaps the Corps could look at limiting the number of tournament permits it issues per day, week, month ... And for that matter, the Corps could also consider the damage being done to our shorelines (as Steve pointed out earlier) by the big cruisers and wake boats. Instead, all we get is status quo from both agencies. "Everything is fine," they say. Maybe it is, but their answer is not based on science because they haven't conducted any real science. All they do is run a shocking boat through a few areas every spring and say YEP, WE'RE GOOD! Anytime that anyone I know, including myself, has inquired about taking a closer look, the default answer is "We can't afford it. Not enough in the budget." So here's an idea ... how about Johnny Moneybags gets up off a few dollars and actually DOES SOMETHING FOR THE VERY LAKE THAT HAS SUPPORTED HIS LAVISH LIFESTYLE FOR DECADES instead of every project he does having the end result of putting more money in his pockets? Frankly, I would be happy with some sort of protective regulations on fishing during the spawn. Northern states do it and so could we. It doesn't take a genius to figure out that you can't increasingly pressure something forever and expect it to remain in peak form. Doesn't work that way with machinery, relationships or fisheries.

I'm afraid none of it will do any good long term but, hey, at least I can go down swinging. I'm not anti-tournament but we can't take things for granted and expect them to always be there. Gotta show a little love for the fish and the lake itself. Thanks for the nice words, Steve.

You know Ketchup, us "has beens" have seen the lake at its best and we want to leave it like we found it ... or better. At this point, it's doubtful that will ever happen, but at least we are open to some new ideas of management and conservation. But heck no, let's not consider tighter regulations because by gosh, we aren't gonna let the gubment and those dastardly "has beens" take away our rights to pound the resource to death. Heaven forbid that we be restricted to a 3-fish limit or a no-cull rule during the spawning months to protect the fishery for ourselves and future generations. No one is trying to take anything from anyone, just protect the fishery from fishermen themselves. One really big problem is, the "never beens" just want to start more and more tournaments until the field is diluted enough that they can finally cash a check. Shoot, put your money up and fish against the Becks and Bablers and Barkers and Fletchers and McCutcheons and Thomases and Eakins of the world ... that's how it works if you want to get better. Of course, many will drop out at the thought of putting their money up against the best, creating exactly what many including myself believe would help more than anything. Less tournaments means less pressure on the fish ... especially spawning fish, which is the original subject of this post anyway.

Don't mean to pick on the BBT event except that if JM was really the conservationist that he's trumped up to be, seems like he'd take a lead role in looking at how many tournaments are scheduled each year on Table Rock and perhaps lead the way in reducing that pressure on our wonderful resource. I think it's pretty safe to say that TR is easily one of the most tournament-pressured lakes in the nation. As Browning Guy suggests, find a way to cut back on derbies when the fish are in their most vulnerable state of the year. Surely there's a viable solution if the powers that be (i.e. money folks) would come to the table and talk.

The powers that be are never gonna short the illustrious Big 10 when it comes to the playoffs, and especially THE Ohio State University. Too big and slow (i.e. white) to compete against SEC teams; nevertheless, it's not FAIR to load the playoffs with too many SEC teams. Look forward to expanding to 12 teams in 2024 so most of the whiners can get in and get their butts kicked in the early rounds and then we can get on with the real business of crowning a champion,.

Congrats ... that should be right in the middle of the spawn again. What would be wrong with scheduling these to MISS the spawn rather than to land right on top of it? Another example of how committed ol' Johnny is to taking care of our resources.

I, for one, am totally embarrassed at the comments Chuck Barrett made about Missouri. I'm sorry, guys ... I didn't say it but I am compelled to apologize on behalf of our state and Arkansas journalism as a whole. I started working at the statewide Arkansas Gazette in 1979 as a sports clerk and continued on there to become a sportswriter of some note. Spent 16 years in sports before transferring over to the news side. If Barrett can say he just never liked Missouri, I can say that in my limited time around him, I never cared for Barrett. He certainly isn't half the man (in any way) that the late Paul Eells was (picture below).

Me and ol' Bo went round and round a few times on this subject. Sure miss him. Did an article on finesse fishing once with the late Ricky Green on DeGray Lake in Arkansas. We fished timbered bluffs on the lower end of the lake in April, when most of the fish were postspawn. We did some experimenting with 10-pound test down to 1-pound test (yes, not sure about now, but in the 1980s, Trilene made its XT (blue box) line in 1-pound test.) There was a marked difference in the number of bites we got by reducing our line size to 6 lb and then even more of a difference when we switched to the 1 lb. test. There are points for and against light line fishing but for me, I'll always be a light-line proponent.

That's a beautiful largemouth. Look how healthy! Good indication there's a great forage base. Don't know how with all the pressure it gets, but our playground that God so generously gave us just keeps pumping them out year after year.

Happy Thanksgiving and go Cowboys!

Beautiful view. North shore of the lake? Trying to determine where I'm looking down from and what part of the lake I'm looking down upon.

You don't want to be fishing 47-48 degree water when temps are in the mid-50s in other areas of the lake. It'll be cold all over the lake soon enough --- take advantage of the warmer water while you can. Also, as you mentioned, that upper-White water is crystal clear because it comes from the bottom of Beaver Dam. Strong-flowing clear, cold water is difficult to catch fish from.

Steve, I would listen to this guy. He knows his stuff when it comes to spinning rods.

That soup looks incredible, Chef Bill. Just needs one of Donna's oven-baked grilled cheese sandwiches (they are ridiculously good) and the feast would be on!

I've always found the combination of fall, low water and bright skies just about impossible to overcome on that lower end. Then again, I'm mostly a river rat, so what do I know?

Suspected as much.

Pretty sure Shell Knob ramp can be used at just about any lake level on the low end of the spectrum. Might have to back out on the gravel.

That's a studly one right there for sure. Up shallow. In dirty water. No livescope required.

So, what's the over/under on too much to spend on a fishing rig? Who gets to decide whether my Ranger is extravagant or if another guy's $1,500 kayak is too much? After all, lots of guys spend $2,500 and more on yaks. Or are you just taking a shot at bass fishermen who enjoy the comforts of a nice boat?

Good job of grinding on them. Mixed bag for sure ... just needed a meanie to complete the TR quad-fecta.

I would strongly consider the Denali Lithium Pro series. They retail for $219 and are lightweight with excellent sensitivity and plenty of power (the 7-0 MH Shaky Head model is an excellent and versatile stick for Ozarks lakes). You can check them out at denalirods.com

Well done, sir. Same buzzer you usually throw?

Sounds like the fall dock-pitching bite is on up the KIngs. Funny (and brief) story ... Got that bite going one year in the old Champion owners derby. Was catching em up to 4 pounds pretty regular couple of days before the derby. Went to bed the night before the first day feeling crappy and woke up coughing, blowing yellow/green snot and feeling awful. Didn't say anything to Donna coz I wanted to fish but by 10 AM I had 102 fever and chills. Kept clanging my jig off dock supports, boats, etc., .and that's not like me ... among my few talents is pitching a jig on docks. Still scraped up 14 pounds and could've done better. By weigh-in I was too sick to cart them to the scales so Donna did the honors and we were in the top 5. Went back to our cabin at Schooner and couldn't hide my sickness anymore. She stuck a thermometer in my mouth and that was it ... we were headed home the next morning. Good thing we did ... turned out I had pneumonia. Took a month to get over it and lost my voice for 6 weeks. Oh well, what might have been!