Champ188

Big thumper spinnerbait would probably get you a few bites. But no, I'm not fishing. Hadn't planned to anyway.

At 4 p.m. today (Monday), Grand was at 754, or 1 foot short of the top of flood pool, which is 755. It's still rising.

Are you guiding tomorrow or just fishing?

The only thing less accurate than the modern-day news media is social media.

That's me and Donna in the boat. We just loaded up on War Eagle spinnerbaits and jigs at BPS and are headed to do some bank beating with them. Only problem is the dang bank keeps moving on us.

Prayers, Phil.

Thanks very much, Ben.

Bring em on. They'll never leave the Beaver Dam tailwaters with all the trout there to eat.

Thanks, Mike. Like Bo preaches all the time, you gotta stay alert to what the fish are telling you and be able to adjust ... sometimes several times a day. That's a big part of what I enjoy about fishing these days ... figuring them out ... and then watching Donna catch them.

Illness in the family forced the postponement of our Christmas gathering, so Donna and I spent our Christmas Day in the second-best way possible ... chasing those green, spotted and brown critters around the Shell Knob area. We stayed within 3-4 miles either way of the bridge and enjoyed a nice day, boating about 25 fish. While we only had 5 keepers for 12-13 pounds, several others were very close to 15 inches. I called it a successful trip given the east wind and high pressure. Ned, jerk bait and swim bait were the ticket, both fished on 45-degree banks with chunk rock ... the bigger the chunks, the better. Seemed to be a few LM on wood, too, but nothing real strong. Probably could have doubled our numbers if we had stayed with the Ned exclusively, but we both wanted to catch some jerk bait/swim bait fish so we sacrificed numbers for catching them the way we wanted. Did catch one of our keepers on a Rock Crawler off a main-lake point.

Christmas plans got postponed due to illness in the family so Donna and I are going Christmas day. Hope to do as well as you did, QB.

Great info, Ben. Thanks so much and Merry Christmas!

Been known to do that with a blade for a while ... as you said, just to prove the point.

I spent many an hour sitting in that board room in Little Rock covering those commission meetings for the old Arkansas Gazette. You couldn't have said it better, Notropis. It was sickening to watch sound data gathered by highly skilled biologists ignored and cast off because some bigwig landowner/power broker had the ear of a crooked commissioner. To underscore what Notropis said, this did not apply to all commissioners. Some were very good people with only the best interests of the state's fish and wildlife at heart. This state will always have problems of that nature as long as the AGFC commissioners are appointed rather than elected.

Every word of this is truth. Embrace it.

Merry Christmas to all. Let's enjoy our time with family and friends, but not forget that this day is to celebrate the virgin birth of Jesus --- God's own son and our free "ticket" to eternal life in heaven.

Couldn't agree more. Bunch of big kids playing with some dangerous "toys." A lot like Congress. People with lots of money seem to need more and more extravagent things to entertain themselves. Likewise, people hooked on power seem to need higher and higher stakes to satisfy their cravings.

I try not to take myself too seriously. I get wound a little too tightly about certain causes sometimes but I'm working on that, too.

It should probably be noted that Ike returned to the scene of the canine crime and apologized to the target of his F-bomb the next day. Cherry may still be laying on the deck of that boat.

Twas the night before Christmas in our drafty ol' trailer, I was sleepin' by cuz and was fixin' to nail her ...

I think you're onto something there!

Gonna have to differ with you on this one. I fish both lakes a lot and can assure you that they fish differently in just about every way possible. Grand is 90% largemouth, with a few K's thrown in and essentially no smallmouth. Three feet of visibility at Grand is extremely clear. Just a different critter than Table Rock.

Nailed it.

I'm holding out for a heated jersey.

Not to mention I'd have 30 peanut butter jars bouncing around in the boat.