Champ188

Catching 8 isn't always a bad thing. Depends on the day.

It's a great forum indeed and welcome, willyfish. Bill is our moderator and one of the very elite guides on Table Rock. He has an understanding of deep-water fishing that few ever achieve. You will learn tons from him and others here.

Dang right, abk. I'll take Walter any day he wants to bite. Heck, I've even been known to let him go on occasion. Can't keep em all if you want to keep em around.

Oh, they exasperate me all right. Far too often!

Heck of a day. And great images from the Lowrance. There's a lot to learn here, folks. And for free, no less.

abkeenan obviously knows his stuff about these hook sizes. I buy quality hooks but I do good not to put two on there that end up hanging on each other every other cast. LOL

Need to keep all of them toothy critters. Nothing but a nuisance!!!

I've seen exactly what you're talking about on LOZ ... been the victim of it myself. Was fishing a CPA tournament up there one weekend by myself (not enough co-anglers to go around) and was trying to boat a 4-pound fish I'd hooked inside a dock slip when a 4-foot wake slammed the side of my boat and sent me crashing into the dock. Busted a spider-web crack 2 feet long down the gunwale of the Champion boat I had at the time. I was waaaaay back beyond the no-wake buoys in a long pocket in the Racetrack area. Bunch of drunk jackwagons on a Donzi. Caught the fish and made a check in the tournament but ended up spending it on insurance deductible to get my boat fixed.

Buzzbaitr, Yes indeed, jerk baits are generally high on the list in March. So are Wiggle Warts, provided the water temp is beginning to climb. I throw a number of jerk baits, but my go-to pick if I had only one would be the original SPRO McStick 110 in the blue bandit color. In Megabass, I like the Secret Grape and GP Pro Blue II colors. If the water temp has warmed to around 50, don't be afraid to go up the river arms and slow-roll a half-ounce War Eagle spinnerbait on points and secondary points leading into spawning pockets. Depending on water clarity, I'd throw either a lavender shad with nickel-and-gold willows (clearer water) or a solid white with double gold willows (stained water).

And I agree with you, Old Plug. Mark this down as a historic date. Seriously, I remember when this all went down the last time because at the time I was actively fishing the Central Pro-Am circuit and pretty invested in fishing docks. Seems it was thrown together rather haphazardly and just about every question that anyone asked the Corps was answered to the effect of, "Because we said so." The marina owners wanted it, the Corps seemed to want it, too, and therefore it came to pass over the objections of the fishermen. Would it hold up under a sturdy challenge in court? Probably not, but I'm not sure there's anyone out there willing to put up the kind of money it would cost to fight the government on it.

It's important to keep in mind that commercial docks in this case refer to marinas only. These do not include docks that are associated with condos, hotels, property owners associations, etc. As I understand it --- unless the docks are part of the list of marinas that I borrowed from Mr. Babler earlier in this thread --- fish on, brothers and sisters. I always try courtesy first when dealing with dock owners/renters but I am not going to stop fishing just because they don't want me there. By all means, respect their exclusive property. But that property does not include the waters of Table Rock Lake. That belongs to all of us.

The passage below is taken from the latest Corps of Engineers document concerning recreation activities around commercial docks. The full document can be found at: http://www.swl.usace.army.mil/Portals/50/docs/recreation/SWLR1130-2-57.pdf 5. Definition: Commercial Zone is defined as a designated area where only commercial activities are authorized. Recreational activities such as fishing, swimming, and diving are prohibited from public use including marina customers and patrons. No fishing tackle may be cast into this area. Commercial activity is typically the procurement of materials, supplies and services from the marina concessionaire. The commercial zone will include fuel and store docks, restaurant docks, and boat storage docks.

The rules are written so that EVERYONE is prohibited from fishing, swimming, etc. around those docks. That includes patrons of the marina (i.e. slip renters), and the rules explicitly say so. However, we all know that isn't frequently enforced.

I like that guy on the bottom. He's purdy.

The Owner Stingers of which dblades speaks are excellent hooks. I've had very good experiences with them but they are much like the Daichi Deathtraps ... don't get anything near them that you don't want impaled, including yourself.

The restrictions on fishing commercial docks were expanded a few years back to cover ALL docks within a marina complex. Used to be only the gas dock or a dock that had a retail store on it. Now the regs include the entire marina.

I can see both sides of it, too. I do fish docks pretty frequently but I take every precaution to be respectful of other people's property, especially when pitching a lure into slips. And I'm certainly going to seek shelter from lightning when necessary.

Here's a list of no-fishing areas posted by Mr. Babler in June 2010. Pretty sure there haven't been any changes since then ... Here is a list of the docks that you are prohibited from Fishing; Cricket Creek Marina State Park Marina Indian Point Marina 13 Marina or Port of Kimberling Marina Cape Fair Marina Baxter Marina Campbell Point Marina Viola Marina Big M Marina Eagle Rock Marina Holiday Island Marina All others are open game. The only other one that might be in qestion is Hideaway up the James as they I believe have gas on the dock. All others are OK.

Like the heads Pour Dennis makes, I've found that a lot of the better ones are locally made and available in small tackle shops around the various lakes, but not in the big online tackle shops or chain stores. I know that Donna and I found some very good ones over at the Big Red tackle shop at Bull Shoals one year. My personal favorite is a roundhead model with a spring-style (screw-on) worm keeper and a high-quality 4/0, 60-degree hook, such as a Gamakatsu. I use the Bass-X head most of the time because they are readily available at Hook Line & Sinker tackle shops in Rogers and Bella Vista, AR. They can also be ordered online through the following link: http://bassxlures.com/

I'm with ya on the temps, TRRANGER. As our moderator here likes to say, I'm just not that mad at em.

Not trying to impress you, oldplug. Just making a point regarding how condescending some of your statements come across. I'm no spring chicken myself. You may have a few years on me but I'm 53 and been fishing since I could walk. I don't know everything; in fact, I don't know half of what there is to know about fishing. But rather than come on here and talk down to everyone ... and poormouth every halfway modern tactic or innovative piece of equipment ... I try to pass along the little bit I've learned over the last 40-something years in hopes that it might help someone else catch one. And I'm proud to say that in some cases, I've succeeded. I've also picked up a heckuva lot of spot-on information from the other members ... on the forum, in the tackle shops and even on the lake with those of you that I've been forturnate to share a boat with. That's what Ozark Anglers is about ... sharing information ... not trying to shoot down anything that you think costs too much, isn't worth your time to try, won't work because you don't like the looks of it, etc. Yes, the old ways of doing things still work ... sometimes they work better than the new ways, but sometimes not.

I don't bother riggin' more than one worm. A worm's a worm. Fish don't care what color it is. All those different colors and shapes are designed to catch the fisherman, not the fish.

I'm thinking Donna and I will fish for the heck of it.

Actually planning to fish Tuesday and Wednesday. Should have the lake to myself pretty much. Donna and I are doing Christmas this weekend with my folks down in Hot Springs.

Agreed, grub is a year-round top producer but rarely figures into my style of fishing. I will throw one in the dead of winter and into the first stages of pre-spawn, but beyond that I have other methods that I prefer. Again, to each his own. Grub is deadly.