Champ188

Nice one!

Way to go, Denny!

I happen to know that one among us led the way this morning for a bunch of fishermen who decided to "open" a certain Corps ramp at a certain Corps lake other than TR. I will let him say more, if he wishes to do so.

Crawfish red is certainly interesting. I also wonder about the chartreuse/blue and chartreuse/black in some of my fall and spring crank bait spots up in the Kings River arm. I'm with you, QB ... a little different look sometimes isn't a bad thing.

I've suspected all along that Obama's mission was to divide and destroy this country from the sanctity of the Oval Office. If the people were wise enough to wake up to it today, I'm afraid it already might be too late. Yes, I'm very disheartened. The guy isn't an idiot by any means. He was smart enough from the get-go to get himself elected by getting out the vote of those previously too lazy/uninformed to go to the polls by promising them more federal aid than ever. It worked. I'm convinced of this because I refuse to believe that this man was elected TWICE by those of average-and-above intelligence and work ethic.

Why not hire a guide and load up the wife for a real taste of what Table Rock is all about? After coming from Michigan, it would be shame to miss the true flavor of the place.

So if the rangers are still working, why the **** are they closing the parks/ramps? Good gawd.

Plenty of brown ones up the White. Donna and I caught a few the other day. Kings tends to be more of a largemouth area for me.

Good to hear, Duck. I spoke in good-natured humor ... that's a handy little place to launch sometimes, especially for Donna and I coming from Arkansaw.

What? You mean the Corps hasn't locked down Sweetwater National Park and Watersports Emporium? I figured there'd be no way they could manage to staff and maintain that fine facility with the government in lockdown mode.

We (the taxpayers) already paid for those ramps and we continue to pay $30 a year (annual pass) or $4 daily use fee. I, for one, will use MY ramps when I'm ready, regardless of whether there's money to fund some ranger running around in a truck checking my pass. Don't mean to sound militant but that's by gosh how I feel about it.

Shimano has an over-the-counter, full replacement policy on their rods. At least they did for several years and I haven't heard that it's been changed. Donna and I have exchanged a bunch of 'em at Hook LIne & Sinker in Rogers and Bella Vista. They are bad to break about 18 inches down from the tip ... Crucials and Compres both.

If anything, cold fronts hit the river areas harder because of their shallow nature. I don't have any data to base that on other than a lifetime of experience, but I can testify that my younger years of tournament fishing were spent praying that a cold front didn't blow through and erase any advantage that I had built in practice by locating shallow fish in the river arms of whatever lake I happened to be fishing. I'm told that when barometric pressure is high, as it is after a cold front, that the air literally pushes downward. This can be felt by the fish and affects their swim bladder. The shallower they are, the more they feel it. Again, that's what I'm told and have read. Not saying it's gospel. I do know that it's generally best after a cold front to fish deeper, as those fish seem to be less affected by the pressure change.

Better days are just around the corner, folks. The deep guys are having to move in closer all the time to catch their fish. I don't mind sitting out and dragging or even drop-shotting ... I do it every fall. Just frustrating when there are bait balls the size of a school bus by the hundreds just wandering around over 120 feet of water and half the bass in the lake are out there following them around. Can't drag for those and drop-shotting suspended fish is tough at best when they aren't positioned on cover. Shad and fish both are starting to move into the creeks and cuts, though, which will only increase with another cold front or two. Get ready for some good fall fishing. It's almost here.

I think QB is on some sort of commission plan with them.

He does write a good report, huh rps? Light, tight and bright. I think Donna and I are gonna roll into Shell Knob about daylight in the morning and proceed to see who we can catch. Got a few pet places I need to check on.

I'd rather catch a magnum spot than a 5-pound LM any day. Just love those things.

I'm sure the Central Pro-Am boys learned plenty by trolling this thread. LOL

I can appreciate your feelings for sure, abk. Thing is, it is just the opposite down here. Our local Cabela's is incredibly neat and organized, especially the fishing and boating departments. Probably has more to do with management than anything, as the fishing/boating manager here runs a tight ship, so to speak. He once owned his own tackle shop in Rogers, then worked as a manager at Hook Line & Sinker before hiring on with Cabela's. On the other hand, the BPS in Branson is pretty much a joke. More times than not, they've been out of the staple items I needed when I'd drive up there from Kimberling City ... things like 15-pound fluorocarbon line (not even a spool of their own BPS fluorocarbon in 14 lb), common lures in common colors, etc. And trying to get help from anyone who knows anything is just as difficult. Just my experience but I don't apologize for being truthful.

He's fibbin. Spinnerbait won't work in the Kings. Never. Ever. Especially in the fall.

Don't know that I've ever had one go dim. I've sure had the display go completely out. That was a bad problem with the last few years they made the Pinpoints.

abk, do they not have a Cabela's in STL? The one down here carries a great selection of rods ... Duckett, St. Croix, Shimano, ... etc.

Got that right about Coach Phillips.

Nice report. Thanks for sharing, CHAMP.

The web designer did a Photoshop cutout of the lure and it was a lot easier to cut the hooks out than to cut around and include them. He/she should have taken the time, though, to clone out the hook reflection on the belly of the lure. Sloppy.