Champ188

Like many others have posted before us, Donna and I enjoyed some fine action Sunday. Fished 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. in the White River arm, roughly from SK bridge down to Baxter, and found fish on practically every flat point with gravel or a mix of gravel and smaller chunk rock. Caught most of them on a green pumpkin finesse worm on a 3/16-ounce shaky head, although a wobblehead, spinnerbait and the ol' Red Fin produced a few, too. Final count was upwards of 70 with about half being keepers. Nothing bigger than 4 pounds.

Morel mushrooms. What about the shrooms?

I've always heard good things about Don. You guys obviously had a great time relaxing and pulling on some of God's finest creatures. Glad you got to catch a bunch and they bit the way you like them to.

Good lookin' baits, Rob. No surprise you caught 'em on those.

Days when you have to count down an A-rig for suspended fish are the days I am really glad the old chaps on yonder side of the big pond invented golf. Or, as our moderator is known to say, "I'm just not that mad at 'em."

Quit stocking Schooner Creek. You're just padding Beck's bankroll. LOL

Thumbs, you have a point there. That's pretty much true of life in general. The wanna-be's (corporate life, sports, etc.) are the jerks and troublemakers. That's why in most cases, they are never-be's.

Donna and I launched at daylight Sunday, getting the cherry at the Baxter West ramp (H Hwy). We started in a little favorite spot up near Big Creek and fished our way to the SK bridge by 3 p.m. Action wasn't great, but we managed to boat 25 total with 7 or 8 keepers. Donna had most of our better fish on a green pumpkin craw Bass-X finesse jig with a Damiki Air Craw trailer in green pumpkin that we tipped with an orange marker. All but one were LM that were relating closely to wood cover (laydowns) in 2-8 feet of water. I added one keeper on a spinner bait and another on a shaky head (green pumpkin candy finesse worm). Caught quite a few shorts on the shaky head. Jerk bait seems to be fading, as I only managed one short on it. Fish were scattered from the fronts to the backs of pockets ... typical pre-spawn and spawning stuff where chunk rock transitioned to gravel. The presence of ledge rock helped (when does it not on Table Rock?). Hope this helps someone. The bite should only get better after this little cold snap.

Just my opinion ... the more BASS insists on glorifying everything but the real essence of fishing, the more cockiness, rudeness and entitlement there is going to be on the water. Lots of people emulate the pros, and that's what they're seeing them do. It used to be that Ray Scott and others preached the importance of tournament anglers showing extreme courtesy and professionalism on the water. Now it's all about brighter boat wraps, acting like a complete psycho when one boats a fish, and generally being a total spectacle.

Good day, Tim. Glad you guys caught a bunch ... plus a darn pretty one.

Hey bferg, if you live in Arkansas, you can buy a White River Lakes permit for $10 that attaches to your regular Arkansas annual license and allows you to fish all of Table Rock and Bull Shoals, including the MIssouri portions.

Kenny, I can tell you from years of trial and error that you will not hurt yourself one bit to tie on a Spro McStick 110 in the blue bandit color. It's as consistent as they come.

I learned that Ducky can catch crappie smack dab in the middle of a BASS Elite Series derby.

A knocker-style retriever isn't going to work. Won't ever get down to the hook to knock it loose. Best advice I have is use 65-pound braid and heads with light-wire hooks. When you hang up, don't jerk. Immediately troll to the far side of where you're hung and pull in the opposite direction that you were retrieving when you got hung up. Should pull right off nearly every time.

Yup, I left the door open for that one.

Hey gitnby, I understand your question and agreed, it has to be strange to see a roadrunner in a tree. However, Donna and I saw one up in a big dead snag on Beaver a few years back. His "song" was what threw us. I got a good pic of it so I ended up sending it to a prof at the U of A in Fayetteville and he identified it as an eastern roadrunner.

Beautiful fish. Congrats!

Don't forget there's another player in the picture at Beaver ... the wonderful striped bass, which God put in the ocean but man somehow decided belonged in Beaver. Shad populations are not even half at Beaver what they are at Table Rock, and stripers have to be part of the reason.

They are certainly some of the prettiest fish that swim. Love when those males turn black like that.

dtrs5kprs, you're up!

Donna and I really enjoyed it. Not overly long being a par-64 but it will certainly challenge you in other ways. Water is in play on a bunch of holes and some of the par-4s are pretty healthy. Greens rolled like a dream when we were there a couple of summers ago.

You got me, Seth. It's a right-brain, left-brain thing. I've been a writer/editor my entire life. On the other hand, I can't solve the simplest of algebra equations.

Vernon, if you haven't already, you might try the Thousand Hills course right off the strip in Branson. Pretty nice little track and reasonably priced.

There are a lot of options this time of year but being brand new to the lake, here's one that might be easy to pull off. Find a 45-degree bank with chunk rock and gravel. Standing timber is a plus. The guy in the front of the boat can throw a jerk bait (Spro McStick in blue bandit works wonders) or crank bait (Wiggle Wart, Bandit 200 or 300 series) while the guy in the back fishes a finesse jig (Eakins jig in PBJ or watermelon candy with a green pumpkin Zoom Lil Critter Craw trailer is hard to beat). If one bait is getting bit hands down over the others, obviously you should both throw what's working best. Hope that helps.

Again, I spoke without thinking. The filter between my brain and my mouth (or fingers) doesn't always work well. Sometimes it's good to speak your mind, but just as often it's better to keep your piehole shut. Fat Boy probably did catch those fish. I don't throw an A-rig so when I think back to a month ago, I get nothing but visions of trying my best (along with others) to just buy a bite on a stick bait or jig. Couldn't be done, but that's not to say it couldn't happen on an A-rig. To Fat Boy and anyone else I offended, I'm sorry. That's all I can say about the matter.