Champ188

I hate when the water gets hard.

Heck of a deal. The other guys at the ramp looked a little shocked. lol

The guys who use this rig religiously over in Tennessee and Kentucky say that a significant portion of the bites are of the "swim-up" type --- enough that they unanimously recommend a fixed-length leader.

The young man obviously has a born talent for fishing, not to mention a darn fine dad.

Whoever designed the remote start feature at GM must know outboards pretty well. The truck shuts off after 10 minutes,

My Ranger has a heated driver's seat. I back Donna in, go park the truck and then when I get back to the boat, she moves over to the passenger seat. Presto heated seat! And before you guys start hammering on me, when we fish our last spot, I get out my phone and use my OnStar RemoteLink app to start the truck. Then we make the run back to the ramp, where a warm truck (or cool in summer) is waiting on her to back the trailer in. So it's a mutually beneficial routine.

Thanks much, tpierce. I would've thought the water temp had fallen more than that. That's very good news, especially considering we may have a bit of a warming trend in the works later this week. And dtrs5kprs has it right (and he knows from experience). You're on the hot seat now, Daddy-O. "Hey dad, let's go where they are biting. This place is no good. C'mon, dad. You DO know where they are, right?" LOL

Very good info. Thanks much, Rick.

Really good report and congrats on making a lifelong memory with your son ... for both of you. You'll be talking about this day for many years to come. Just one question ... what was the water temp in the areas you fished?

This article might shed a little light on the smallmouth potential for Beaver Lake: Lake Smallmouth Could Be Lake Record OKLAHOMAN LANDS 5.8-POUND LUNKER AT PRO-AM (March 2006) By Flip Putthoff THE MORNING NEWS • FPUTTHOFF@NWAONLINE.NET The new fish on the block are packing one heck of a wallop at Beaver Lake. A 5.8-pound smallmouth bass that Ira Carrell of Broken Arrow, Okla., wrestled from Beaver on Sunday (editors note: reprinted from March 2006) may be the largest smallmouth caught at the lake yet. Carrell was fishing in the Central Pro-Am Association tournament when he hooked the lunker while working a 4-inch salt-and-pepper grub 12 to 15 feet deep in front of a dock. Carrell competed in the amateur division and was casting from the back of the boat with pro-division angler J.R. Beehler of Bella Vista. Carrell was working the lure along a gravel bank with some fist-sized rock and using a bait-casting rod with 12-pound fluorocarbon line. Since the tournament was only Carrell’s second visit to Beaver Lake, he doesn’t know exactly where he caught the fish. “I wish I knew so I could go back,” he said. “All I know is it was a feeder creek into one of the creek arms.” At Sunday’s weigh-in, Beehler said the pair fished between Point 6 and Moulder Hollow on the downsteam half of the lake. Carrell and the smallmouth waged hand to fin combat for three minutes. “He hit it on a run and kept on going. It pulled my rod tip into the water,” he said. “After I got it into the boat I sat there and trembled for about three minutes. “We were catching some scattered fish. On the lure’s way down I got a hit and missed. I was going to reel in when J.R. said no, but to lower the grub right back to the fish. That’s when it hit again. I thought it was a striper at first.” The jig head Carrell used might be the key to the catch. Carrell threaded the grub on a Roadrunner-style head that features a small silver blade to show the fish some flash. That helped the lure imitate a threadfin shad. “That creek arm was loaded with shad. You could see them on the depth finder and they were swimming beside the boat.” The smallmouth may be a lake record, albeit an unofficial one since the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission doesn’t keep lake records. Jackie Rogers of the Larue community has seen tons of bass over the years as weigh-master at Beaver Lake Supercasters tournaments. He’s never seen such a smallmouth. “We’ve had some close to five and I’ve heard of people catching them close to five,” he said. “I’m sure it’s probably a lake record.” Like Rogers, Arkansas Game and Fish Commission biologist Stephen Brown has seen thousands of bass during electrofishing research at Beaver Lake. He’s never seen a smallmouth the size of Carrell’s 5.8-pounder. “Nothing even close,” Brown said. “In our electrofishing there have been some threes and fours, but nothing approaching that size.” Roger Harp, who runs the Beaver Bass Casters team and solo circuits, hasn’t seen a smallmouth that big. Several 4-pounders have been weighed and at least one 5-pounder. “There was one tournament in our winter series that was won with smallmouths,” Harp said. “A guy had five smallmouths and the biggest weighed 5 pounds.” Smallmouths are fairly new at Beaver Lake. They now thrive after the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission began an effort to establish them. Smallmouth bass were first raised at the Beaver Lake nursery pond in 1988, according to biologist Brown. Fish raised at the facility along the lake shore near Horseshoe Bend park are released directly into the reservoir through a discharge pipe. “We stocked them for seven years in a row, from 1988 through 1994,” he said. Toward the end of the project, Game and Fish biologist Ralph Fourt, now retired, worried the effort wasn’t working. But smallmouths finally took off. Now they reproduce naturally in good numbers and thrive in the lake. Harp said fishermen catch smallmouths from one end of the lake to the other. About 25 percent of black bass brought to Beaver Bass Casters weigh-ins are smallmouths, he added. “It depends on the time of year. The winter months, early spring and late fall are the best times for catching them,” he said. Small baits, from grubs to finesse worms, are good for catching them. “Most of the ones they catch aren’t on the bank. They’re suspended and chasing shad and they’re just getting to the bank,” Harp said. The state record smallmouth is a 7-pound, 5-ounce brute caught at Bull Shoals Lake on April 1, 1969 by Acie Dickerson of Lakeview. The world record is a 10-pound, 14-ounce smallmouth caught at Dale Hollow Lake in Tennessee. Carrerll’s 5.8-pounder is evidence that the smallmouths at Beaver Lake are growing into world-class fighters.

Ham, don't take this wrong, but I like your wife. A lot.

There are rattles but they are not overly loud. This is something Mike was very particular about when designing the bait.

Iclass, please open your eyes and read the words we have written. 1. We aren't labeling anyone "just because they wear a particular shirt." As Thumbs said, we are discussing behavior that we have actually encountered. 2. As BATCAB27 pointed out, you can spot the "suspects" at your weeknight, 10-boat jackpot derbies. Not even going to say everyone who wears a jersey to those is a goober, but the likelihood is pretty darn high. That's from personal experience. 3. It makes no difference to me or anyone who has agreed with my stance what someone wears. It's the behavior that's irritating and embarassing to others of us who try to carry a banner of common courtesy and act as ambassadors for the sport, not know-it-all, entitled jerks. 4. When it comes to on-the-water behavior, disrespectful behavior becomes more than an irritant to fellow competitors. I've fished at practically every level of this sport, and I can tell you that in my experience, the higher you go, the more courtesy and sportsmanship you tend to see. Sure, there are exceptions. And there are exceptions at the local level among the jersey boys. But MY PERSONAL EXPERIENCE has been that the jersey-clad imposters (non-sponsored) are the group that I've had the most trouble with, regardless of their age. I'm talking about crowding in closer than is generally acceptable, pulling into a fish area ahead of someone who is already there, throwing a big wake into someone else's fishing area, disrespecting the lakeside property of others, and on and on. Again, not everyone is like this. But I believe the per capita population of these jerks is highest among the wannabe, non-sponsored jersey boys. 5. Finally, it's pretty likely that these guys are getting the idea that this kind of behavior is normal and acceptable from watching the BASS Elite Series and FLW television shows. You let any kind of controversy crop up out there on the water, and that's exactly what the producers will play up and emphasize on the show. I guess it's all about ratings, but it's not an accurate portrayal of the overall picture of professional fishing and it's not doing anything to help the sport grow for those within or to improve its image for the specator folks. I can't think of another thing to say about this jersey subject. I hope my stance is now clear. NOT TALKING ABOUT A CAP, HOODIE OR T-SHIRT. FURTHERMORE, EVERY NONSPONSORED JERSEY-WEARING ANGLER ISN'T A JERK. JUST SAYING THAT MY EXPERIENCE HAS BEEN THAT THE GOOBER POPULATION IS SIGNIFICANTLY HIGHER AMONG THAT SEGMENT OF THE POPULATION.

Dave, agree on the Mustads after trying both. Plenty sharp, very durable. Lot to be said for the latter, especially when fun fishing.

LMBO, rps. Just for the record, the last person to get smacked in our boat was ME. I was sitting on the rod box while Donna ran the trolling motor ... working on a bait for her, no less ... and got plastered right in the earhole with a Keitech swimbait. Fortunately, I only got smacked and not skewered. No doubt, there will be some shenanigans involved with this F&F rig. Stay tuned. I'll try to get some iPhone video posted in the coming days/weeks.

Interesting to hear all of the applications for this venerable bait (the Wiggle Wart). Look forward to hearing how the Rock Crawler performs for you guys who will be trolling it. I bet it will be a killer.

Cool trick. May play around with that some. Ron Shuffield of BASS tournament fame used to weight Shad Raps somehow and kicked our butts on them in winter derbies down in central Arkansas.

Got that right, bo. My good post-spawn Redfin trees are dwindling by the year.

You may not be jealous of their jerseys, but I assure you that some of them are jealous of what's in your livewell.

I'd have to wonder how that drop-shot weight might affect the action. On another note, I overnighted a couple of the Rock Crawlers to a friend in Oklahoma. He's fishing a derby today and texted me just before 10 a.m. to say that he and his partner had 17 pounds on the Crawler. Water temp over there is 46.

Well said, Enforcer. And thank you for respecting my opinion. Moreso, thank you for what you do every day. Be safe out there and welcome to the forum.

Funny stuff right there.

Hey buddygr53, what you just described is the true definition of paying sponsors. If you receive a discount greater than is afforded the general public in return for representing a company's product, then they are your sponsor and you SHOULD display their logo in appropriate settings. More power to you. Furthermore, thank you so much for what you are doing for those kids. That is extremely generous of you and I know that everyone on this forum and beyond truly appreciate it ... the kids most of all.

Nailed it, Wrench. The prize money is so diluted these days by short fields and ridiculously deep paybacks that everyone basically has a chance to win their entry fee back and the really good anglers have little chance of winning any significant amount. Heck, if you shop around long enough, you'll eventually find some kind of "circuit" where you can actually make a check without having to catch much of anything. Reminds me of some of these youth sports nowadays where EVERYONE gets a trophy and score isn't kept because we can't have any of the little buggers going home thinking they are a loser. Well, guess what? Some days you're a loser. Might as well get over it. The life lesson there is you hitch up your britches, grit your teeth and do what it takes to get better. Or you quit. Welcome to life.

Agreed wholeheartedly on this, J-Doc. It's this specific point that some seem to miss. For the record, nothing that I've stated in this post or any other is more than my own simple, personal opinion. Might as well put it out there. The way this country is headed, it might not be long before we no longer have that freedom.