Champ188

Thanks, Vernon. Kind of you to say. There are lots of people here who help make this forum the great resource that it is. Just happy to be among them.

Good job, man. As Tim said, nothing like that blade bite!

Glad to hear they can still be caught. I'll be there Friday and probably back Sunday.

Can't figure out for the life of me how he beat Kentucky twice this past season (Fayetteville and Lexington) but he did. I don't care who beats Calipari or how ... just as long as the cheating bum gets beat.

Your former coach isn't doing us a lot of good down here. Just like he did at Columbia, wins every home game and loses every road game.

Always keep a few of everything in the boat. Always. Friggin always. Get it? Then you won't be scrounging around for a Fluke like I was a few days ago. April, and I didn't have a Fluke in the boat. And I probably own 300 of them all told.

I'd like to lose my appetite. For a year or so.

Programs like HOFNOD are great. But the best-case scenario would be for kids to get a proper raising at home so we wouldn't be so reliant on folks other than parents to instill some darn decency and respect in children. Just think how much more effective these programs could be if the administrators weren't having to teach basic values to kids who should have learned them years earlier. We have a major parenting problem on our hands these days.

Fact: Table Rock far outproduces Beaver in terms of black bass species because it has tons (literally) more shad. Stripers significantly reduce the forage base in a lake, therefore reducing its carrying capacity for the black bass species. Shad cannot be stocked in sufficient numbers in large fisheries to adequately make up for what the stripers eat. Fact: Lake Ouachita is far from being a banner bass fishery. I am a Hot Springs-area native. If not for the efforts of the Arkansas Black Bass Coalition, which actually amounted to a group of Hot Springs-area anglers formed expressly to address declining catches at Ouachita, the lake would not be as productive as it is now. Fact: Stripers have but a fraction of the positive economic impact on the Hot Springs or Northwest Arkansas areas as black bass. The main beneficiaries of the striper fishery are a handful of guides. Final fact: I couldn't give a hoot less anymore. The Arkansas Game & Fish Commission is gonna do what they're gonna do for whatever reason they please. I'm just glad to live near enough to Table Rock and Grand lakes that I have superior options when I get ready to go fishing.

I think I'd check with Nancy and Basil at Harper's Valley Resort in Kimberling City. They have some of the best room rates in town and they'd certainly let you drop off your boat(s) there for a few days. Tell em Donna and I sent you. Good people.

Promising indeed, balsabee.

I was at Beaver last Saturday on the lower (dam) end of the lake and big carp were milling around everywhere in the pockets with timber. They weren't on the banks but holding just under the surface out in the timber. Big Clifty arm was full of 'em. They may be doing the same on the lower end of Table Rock but I haven't seen any up in the White River arm (Shell Knob area).

Good job, Alex. Glad to hear the jerk bait bite is still working. May have to keep that in mind later this week. It's definitely a good bait in the wind.

Additional factors about the Kimberling Inn boat dock: It sits right on the main lake, so you're subject to have your boat hammered with waves all night long from south/west wind. The no-wake zone only extends 100 feet out from the dock, so there's also the problem of big wakes from big boats entering/leaving Fisher Creek. Moreover, you're taking a big chance on getting everything you own stolen.

Donna fished as a co-angler with Jacob Powroznik a few years back in the FLW at Beaver and he treated a bleeder by pouring granulated Rejuvenade (livewell treatment) down its throat. Worked like a charm, so we've done the same a few times since then with similar results. Jacob told her that something in it works as a clotting agent to stop the bleeding.

Hey, I was throwing a worm on a leadhead hook back in the early 80s ... A LONG DANG TIME before anyone ever came up with SHAKY HEAD. You guys have some nerve coining a newfangled name like that and I for one refuse to participate in such tomfoolery. In my boat, it shall forever be known as a peahead. So there.

Good job, dwiebenga. Nice to see a post from you, especially when it includes a great fishing report. Glad you got your licks in before the front.

Great to see the young uns get in on the fun. Very nice job, Dad.

Great work indeed. The spring craw at top-right is an early-season killer in the river arms of Table Rock and Beaver.

I hate going to the office a little more every day.

He speaketh the truth. It's just stupid out there.

1. Get a spinning rod with 6-pound monofilament line. 2. Tie on a 1/8 or 3/16 ounce shaky head with a green pumpkin finesse worm on it. 3. Find a shallow-sloping gravel point and throw the thing out there anywhere less than 20 feet deep. Guys, it's really that simple. Don't make it harder than it has to be. There are 11 months out of the year for that. Enjoy these precious few weeks that it's easy.

Ditto here. No problems catching fish in or around it.

That's some fine eatin' right thar.

Faster here, too. Thanks for all you do, Phil.