Champ188

Pretty sure he took a wrong turn and ended up in Aunt's Creek, Bill.

Welcome, 96 Champ. We have a member here (Techo) who LOVES Aunts Creek so we send as many people there as we can to help him catch em. LOL I'm a White River arm guy, too, although I do venture down to the KC/dam area on occasion. Lots of good water in Big Cow/Little Cow, along with the main lake area down there. Just have to hunt and peck around and find what suits your style of fishing. Hope you enjoy the forum. Lots of good info here.

Going after crappie in a clear, highland reservoir is not normally a recipe for success. Summer is especially tough because crappie are known to follow the baitfish way out offshore and suspend, much like spotted bass. Trolling with crank baits like a Bandit 300 series can be productive in places like the James or Kings river arms.

Appreciate it, abk.

QB, co-anglers are limited to three fish per day.

I've learned that anytime I start thinking fishing is tough, I just need to come to the forum for some inspirational reading. Someone is always catching the heck out of them regardless of the conditions. Green ones, brown ones, spotted ones ...

Hate to hear that, RPS. Glad you have such fond memories and his generously shared knowledge to carry with you.

And that is exactly what makes guiding one of the toughest jobs around. If a tournament fisherman blanks or struggles, it affects only him and his family. When a guide does it, he has to face a mighty disappointed client ... or two or three.

Fished against Watson for several years in Central Pro-Am and he is indeed a nice guy and a funny fellow. I wish him the best.

I'm with Quillback. Donna and I do keep and eat a mess of fish occasionally, but I won't kill a 15-inch spot. I'll catch my "eaters" elsewhere than Table Rock..

At least with no established thermocline it will be a real fishing derby instead of a contest to see who has the best waypoints for drop shotting/spooning isolated deep trees. With the fish scattered like they are, a guy who comes up with a strong pattern is going to be the one to beat.

Won't be long the weather will cool off, night fishing will be over and hopefully we'll be back to discussing fishing instead of bickering and ragging on the water patrol.

Good on you for helping with the dog/lady debacle.

Wonder if MDC should consider reducing the 15-inch limit on them to encourage some limited harvest? Oklahoma has gone to no creel or size limits on spots statewide (unless superseded by individual lake regs) and Arkansas has taken the length limit off spots on Beaver. No regulations are worth the paper they're written on unless there is some controlled harvest.

Donna has caught quite a few decent fish on TR throwing a Keitech swimmer behind me while I was throwing a Fin. Seems particularly effective around cedars since she can Texas rig the thing and swim it right thru the trees.

Not all fluorocarbons are created equal. The cheaper ones have less "feel" than the premium lines.

I think he cleared all of the waypoints except the ones in Aunts Creek.

Just going by bo's description. Can't see the actual color because there's no bluegill color anywhere on the website.

Does anyone besides Jason Essary fish the Friday/Saturday night derbies out of Mill Creek? Nothing like a set of tournament scales to settle the score. Might even sell some of those NuJigs.

abk, if you like 17-20 Trilene XL or Big Game for your mono needs, you might try the BPS Excel line. I was having some issues with P-Line breaking, not to mention the cost of it, so I decided to try a spool of the 17-pound Excel last year for throwing spinnerbaits/topwaters and found that I freakin' love it. Of course, can't get Big Game in 17 and 20 is just a bit bigger than I like for long casts. Anyway, that BPS Excel performs great and is cheap enough that you can change it whenever you want. However, I've had no issues with durability. Comes in clear and green. I prefer the latter.

You're not doing anything wrong, Alex. The fish are scattered from a foot to 30 feet or more, with many obviously suspended and swimming around with the shad. Hang in there and keep picking off those good ones.

Green pumpkin with blue and orange strands ... hmmm, sounds suspiciously like the Pond Scum Perch color that War Eagle introduced about 5 years ago.

I use a half-ounce jig nearly all of the time on 15-pound Trilene 100% Fluorocarbon in the green tint. There isn't a tougher or more sensitive fluorocarbon out there in my opinion.

That's a good-sized white bass and a heckuva lotta fun.

Mike, for your ringed swimbaits, take a look at Keitech's Silver Flash Minnow color. It has performed really well for me on Table Rock and Beaver, along with a guide friend that I shared it with on Broken Bow in Oklahoma. Great color.