Champ188

A Disney Cruise? Joe, I salute you for being a man of far greater patience and tolerance for others' ill-behaved children than me.

I'm very good friends with a guy who can fish a Wart as well as anyone, with the possible exception of Dave Barker. He's won half a dozen boats ... maybe more ... in tournaments over the years. He has hundreds of Warts and says there's not a dime's worth of difference in the pre-Rapala and the new Original Series that is on the shelves now. The only bad ones were the ones that Rapala messed up right after purchasing Storm. Jerry is spot-on ... it's a whole lot more about where you throw your junk than what junk you're throwing.

My bad, Mike. Apparently reading comprehension is not a strong suit today.

Mike, I thought you guys were up at Bridgeport? The 13 bridge is at Kimberling City.

Welcome to the pre-Johnny Ranger club, tv tom. I'm afraid you are right. Ranger quality is destined to decline.

Thanks for the good report, Longball. Sounds about like a lot of trips lately. I do like the looks of that spoon. Gonna have to get me some.

One of the greatest blessings of being a sports/outdoors writer for the old Arkansas Gazette back in the 1980s was getting to know Forrest and Nina Wood well enough that Forrest invited me fishing with him and his daughter Rhonda one day. Spent some special times visiting with them in Flippin. As a son-in-law of the Woods, Randy Hopper is family in both flesh and spirit. BPS will not be able to find anyone with that kind of down-home character and common sense to lead Ranger, but then if that's what they wanted, Randy would still be there.

Very true, Ham. I'm all about disagreeing peacefully these days.

Hope all had a great Thanksgiving and are able to get out this weekend and enjoy some fishing.

Gotcha. I went over to the restroom and finished strapping my boat down. He and I have differing opinions on several things.

In my opinion, nothing good can come from Randy Hopper leaving Ranger, or Keith Daffron. Randy started out sweeping floors 45 years ago and eventually was deemed the man for the top job by Forrest Wood himself. Again, MY OPINION is that Johnny is in business to make every last dime he can at the expense of quality. When they start talking about making changes to increase profitability, it can't mean much else than cutting corners that Ranger previously held as important to the manufacturing process. We've all heard the consumer nightmare stories concerning quality issues with Tracker/Nitro boats. Glad I bought my pre-Johnny Ranger a couple of years ago. Hope it lasts as long as I think it will.

I loaded up right at dark. White Ranger, silver/gunmetal stripes and a silver GMC crew cab. Which boat were you in? I did see the shad between the buoys. Tons of them. When I got there just before 11 a.m., a couple of striper guides were fishing in there.

I got a late start due to errands in Rogers and decided to just go to Beaver. Ended up having a pretty good day there (SB and CB) with 26 fish total and a fair number of keepers.

Great stuff, Bill. Almost makes me want to tie on a spoon and go get myself over 70 feet of water. Key word there is ALMOST! LOL Seriously, anyone should be able to take that info and get on the right track to learning how to fish deep in the fall/winter. Happy Thanksgiving and WOO PIG SOOIE! RAZORBACKS!!!

Fished 11-5 out of Prairie Creek and spent most of that time between Horseshoe Bend and Big Hickory Creek. Ended the day with 26, more than half of which were keepers. Best 5 probably 12-13 pounds. Took two rods out of the box upon arriving and put the same two rods back in the box when I finished. War Eagle spinnerbait and SPRO Rock Crawler did the job. All participants were in their proper places ... LM in the backs of windblown pockets and spots on the points and bluffs. Plenty of other boats out, including OAF members.

Same from me and Donna, everyone. We're certainly thankful for the friends we've made here.

Sounds like the El Nino pattern is in place. Just wait til the temp dips below freezing and these heavy rains turn to snow.

Enjoy it while it lasts, Trophy. And that is by no means a knock on your fishing ability. It's just a nod to what Beaver can do to the best of 'em. And I mean the very best.

You have every right to be proud of a 40-bass day and nearly 12 pounds ... on Beaver especially. Great job!

Not a terrible day by any means, Hammer. We can't all catch 15-20 keepers every trip. Love the eagle shot. I had one sailing around pretty close the other day myself. Gorgeous creatures. So you caught lots of crank bait fish in the Kings but mostly short?

Didn't mean to come across as grumpy guys. There was a smile on my face when I typed my reply. I know you guys aren't knifers and were joking about the smallies.

You'd have to ask some of the knifers. I'm 100% C&R, but then that's pretty widely known on OAF.

Great day, guys. Congrats on the success and the fun obviously had by all. Nothing sweeter than seeing a pile of dead stripers in the bed of a pickup truck!

Justin McClelland and Michael Hubbard won it. That's all I know as far as who finished where.

I'd much rather have whitecaps than no wind. Tie on a 3/8-ounce War Eagle spinnerbait (spot remover color works great up the James), get on a windy 30-45 degree bank with big rock and throw it til the cows come home. A Bandit 200 crank bait in a crawfish pattern will work too.