Champ188

There are definitely certain places that fish just "live" year-round and leave only to go spawn, and then they don't go any farther than necessary. These places can be points, bluff ends, boat docks, channel bends, etc. I use them as checkpoints ... to try and learn what the fish are doing that day --- what kind of cover are they on, are they feeding "up" on shad or "down" on crawfish, are they aggressive or sluggish, how many bites can I expect in an hour, etc. Once I've learned what I can from those areas, I try to expand it to others --- maybe a place I've never fished before but that seems to have all the right ingredients. This is the part of fishing that I enjoy most these days ... more than hooking a fish and reeling it in. It helps that I have Donna with me 95% of the time and she's all about the hooking and reeling 'em in part. Of course, there are times they just don't want to bite worth a darn and on those days you can stay with your "checkpoint" spots and try to beat out a few. At least you know you're around some, which goes a long way towards keeping my spirits up when they don't want to play.

We'll have to find them a bunch of those big ol' Bella Vista bream bedded up next spring. Then they can have a blast catching them and take dinner home, too.

I knew when I walked out of the house Monday morning and nearly got knocked down by the wind that it was gonna be a fishing day and not a work day. Unfortunately, my stack of bills said otherwise. Great day and a nice report. That's fall fishing at its best.

You're so short you can walk under a snake and not duck your head.

The idea behind that hook placement is for the rear hook not to interfere with the rear prop.

This is gonna be short and sweet coz there's not much to tell. Donna and I started at 7:30 at Sweetwater in the Kings. Slick water and high blue skies for the first sevecral hours. Managed a few on a jig and shaky head, including one nice keeper, working shady 45-degree banks up in the river. Finally got a little wind around noon and proceeded to catch a few on a spinnerbait running windy bluff ends. Tried working a jerkbait fast in some of the same areas but no takers. No love on a crank bait either. Finished the day down around Shell Knob on a couple of pet drop-shot spots and caught 2-3 more keeper spots and several fat 14-inchers. Zoom finesse worms in a couple of shades of watermelon and also plum did the trick for those. In summary, caught 20 with 3-4 keepers fishing 1-40 feet deep. Yeah, it's still pretty tough and the fish are still in a summer pattern --- some are here and some are there. Cool front this week should help.

You guys have fun. I will be one pool to the east on the White River chain of lakes.

They're waiting on you to learn how to catch something first. (Sorry bud, the door was open.)

Look good, for sure. Any Jackall bait I've ever bought/used has been great quality.

Couldn't be more right, J-Doc. It's like expressing an opinion about something, and after being diligent to emphasize that it's only an opinion, still being labeled a hater just because you happen to feel differently about something than another person. Happens right here on this forum.

Thanks for supporting the boys (and girls) and being what a dad should be. We need young anglers who learn the ropes from guys like you.

Sadly, I believe the moral decline we're seeing everywhere in society is also affecting sportsman ethics. Not much way to avoid it. I'm not a hunter anymore, although I fully support those who are. The deer herd is healthy and plentiful throughout the Ozarks and without hunting, the animals would overpopulate and die horrible deaths from chronic wasting disease and other illnesses. That said, anyone who would take anything other than a 99% sure kill shot -- archery or otherwise -- is a lowlife who doesn't deserve a hunting license. Kill shots don't land in the hind quarter unless, as mentioned, the arrow happened to be deflected by a limb. And then, was that really the best shot to take? I just have a real problem with anyone who doesn't respect their prey enough to be ethically rock solid about raising their weapon.

Well said. Only thing I can add is that I'm happy to report the dumbassery was evenly distributed throughout the lake Sunday. Donna and I fished from Sweetwater up iin the KIngs down to Shell Knob bridge and it was a zoo.

I might suggest putting light-wire trebles on those Mudbugs and getting yourself a good retriever. My system is a hound dog-style retriever sold by BPS that has several little chains dangling from it. I took a broken rod and sawed it off where the blank goes into the ferrule and mounted an old Garcia reel on it spooled with 80-pound catfish mono (cheap at Walmart). Then I tied the retriever to that. Makes a great way to neatly store your retriever without that godawful twine they come with tangling up in everything else in your storage box. They carry these at both HLS stores in NW Arkansas so you don't have to order from BPS. http://www.basspro.com/Bass-Pro-Shops-EZ-Lure-Retriever/product/44428/

Gotta hit em straight, Jason. Too old and fat to hit em long anymore.

Bank beater? Who you calling a bank beater, you ol' insomniac?

Spro indeed, QB. It's of Wiggle Wart vintage but is said to run deeper ... maybe 14 feet. I've seen pics of some prototype colors ... pretty awesome-tastic.

To each his own, but I just don't see the advantage to using guys from California and Wisconsin when we have Tim right here on our forum giving firsthand advice. Heck, I plan to keep what little money I spend on custom-painted baits here with the local guys, especially one who comes onto the forum and freely gives advice without self-promoting, etc. I know for a fact that Tim does work for some of the Elite Series pros, including Mike McClelland. In fact, he was heavily involved in helping Mike develop colors for the Spro McStick series and may also be involved with Mike's new Rock Crawler crank bait that's due to be released in the near future. Rob McGilvry at Fall Creek Lures does work for Greg Bohannan and others, and I've had great results with some of his custom paints on my own lures. Just saying, you don't have to send money off to faraway places to get great work. And what's more, these guys are in tune with what works here locally.

Probably a little late to help but I'm sure you could wrangle a few of those smallmouth on a fb jig or hula grub on those main-lake points.

Pete's a darn fine guy. Fished CPA against him for 5-6 years and enjoyed getting to know him. And he's a very good deep-water guy, along with the Bills (Babler and Beck). But they can have that crap this time of year. I might have to drop-shot and drag a 2-pound football head in the hot summertime but I'm not doing it this time of year. So there. These fish can get shallow or to heck with em. The beauty of not fishing tournaments (to speak of) anymore is when I get enough, I can by God go home and play golf.

You're welcome, Vernon. I sure hate what happened to you. If there's a safe dock on the lake and there's probably not, Harper's Valley would come pretty close to being it. You gotta be wanting to go back there to go back there, if you know what I mean. Thing is with them, there's plenty good enough boat parking up by your room that you can park it up there at night. They have their own ramp on-site so that makes it double easy to just put it on the trailer at night. Hang in there. I'm as hooked on golf as anyone and can shoot a pretty decent score most days, but it doesn't replace fishing. So hush up bout lettin' those jackwagons drive you off Table Rock. That's just crazy talk.

Not saying you had a bad day and that's sure a pretty meanmouth. But you'd think it woulda been better. Hope we don't have another fall/winter of hopelessly suspended fish just swimming around in the abyss with too many shad.

http://harpervalley.com/

Oh, definitely another striper. It's a running joke with me. I take no exception with nor criticize another man's style of fishing. Some people like flinging $300 hand-carved swim baits at bass. Others like dunking redworms for bluegill. I'm good with all of it. We're all out there to enjoy ourselves, so whatever makes us happy is what we should do. And if another striper perishes in the meantime, all the better!

Those are big ones for sure, Jeremy. Gotta be getting close to 2 pounds at that length.