Champ188

dtrs5kprs is exacly right. Would hate to see resort owners and guides be shut out for a month during a critical time of year for them. Honestly, I'd be willing to give up my tournament fishing for a short spell during bedding season but I don't think MDC could effectively do it by setting a blanket statewide period. Seems to me they'd need to zone the state and set different dates according to normal spawn times for particular regions. I know someone is probably going to bring up the old catch, measure, record and release suggestion for tournaments during the spawn, i.e. hold a "paper derby." That may be fine for bass clubs but in my opinion, that would never fly for bigger-money tournaments.

Don't know about uplake but was on the lower end (Oakland area down to dam) for Central Pro-Am and spent five full days on the water. The Walters, aka walleye, were thick around shallow-sloping points, mainly about 15 feet deep just outside the green brush line, and would absolutely eat up a 4-inch Kinami grub in the Natural Shad color. Plenty of bass out off those points too, but most (for me anyway) were small. Any kind of draggin' bait (fb jig, C-rig, etc.) would catch them.

Mine falls out of the boat periodically. I'll have to ask her to check out the forage supply next time she's underwater. Of course, since she's on this forum regularly, I probably just signed my own death warrant.

I'm not opposed to closing things down for a month during the spawn, but let's close it to all fishing period ... not just tournaments.

Yes, Donna and I plan to be somewhere up the White ourselves Saturday. There's a Guys and Gals derby June 19 that we plan on fishing so I figure we better go see what we can find. I'll definitely have my "deep dawgs" in the boat as well along with some fb jigs. Might even have a fairy wand or two onboard in case I can remember how to rig up one of those drop-shot contraptions. One might say that kind of fishing isn't exactly high on my list of preferred tactics.

I heard from a very reliable source that yes, the deep crankin' bite is underway up the White. That's about all I can say about it but again, that comes from a reliable source. Also, seeing that an established deep crankbait expert finished both in second and third place in the KVD tourney should tell you something. I'd say spending Saturday looking for that pattern would be time well spent.

A friend fished the Nichols Marine/Ranger team derby Sunday on Grand Lake. Took 25 pounds and change to win. My friend and his partner finished 49th with 17 1/2 pounds. A stringer weighing 15 pounds even would have landed you in 124th place. They had 280-something boats. Now that's some incredible fishing.

Hey rps, look on the bright side ... at least a snake didn't bite you while you were in the water working on your lift.

I grew up in the Hot Springs, Ark., area fishing around Brady and his dad, Freddie Meredith. They're top-shelf fishermen and great people. Congrats to Brady.

Our own Jeremy Rasnick finished in second place in the BFL All-American derby, which ended today on DeGray Lake near Arkadelphia, AR. On a can-be-tough lake at a challenging time of year, Jeremy sacked 12 keepers in three days for 18-7, which was three more keepers than any other co-angler. The only guy to beat him, winner Brett Rudy of Iowa, caught just six keepers over the three days but they totaled 21-4. Rudy's second day bag of three bass totaled 12-0. After winning the BFL Regional on DeGray last October, worth a new Ranger boat, Jeremy came home this time with $17,000 cash. A great haul by a really great guy.

Most of you here know that I am a tournament fisherman myself, so this is not a prosecution of derbies in general or of my own kind. But I feel it's something worthy of mention with hot weather coming on. In the interest of not rambling, I'll just blurt it out — By gosh, if you kill it, keep it. Fish should never be tossed back in the lake in a dead or dying state — not during and not after the derby. This has been done time and again by tournament groups (one particularly bad incidence comes to mind last year at the Aunt's Creek ramp). Anyone with half a brain can tell if a fish is dead or dying and at that point should take responsibility to take it home and clean it. Furthermore, I can't find where it's explicitly stated in MDC regulations, but I know that Arkansas law prohibits throwing back a dead fish. If you are fishing a derby in Arkansas and you cull a dead fish, you have broken tournament rules and should be DQ'd because any derby worth its salt requires participants to follow all state and local laws. This extends to recreational fishermen, too. If you kill it, eat it or give it to someone who will.

Hey Techo, those are very kind words and are much appreciated. My comment above was intended as humor and not an after-the-fact punch at Arsenal. Yes, the catch-and-keep vs. catch-and-release thread had more than run its course and for revisiting it, I apologize. While I'm at it, I will extend an apology to Arsenal for getting a little personal and ugly in the aforementioned thread. I do not apologize for my views on keeping trophy fish. Those who want to keep their legal limit of fish to eat are certainly entitled to do so. Obviously, many of us here on OAF hope they won't choose to do so, but they shouldn't have to apologize for or defend their views. Again, apologies to Arsenal. The "long knife" is sheathed.

Spearfisher, less than two weeks ago they were thick and even chasing our topwaters just below Holiday Island. The flats between Holiday Island Marina and the old Devil's Dive Resort were loaded with them.

Kudos to Capt. D for pitching in like that and to you for standing your ground on not butchering the SM. Sounds like everyone got what they wanted.

I usually fillet any fish I catch from Aunt's Creek, but only if I have 10 or so that average 5 pounds each. Lot of trouble to dirty up the electric knife just to saw the sides off a couple of little fellows. And don't you holier-than-thou, hypocritical guide types and bass derby jockeys jump all over me either. By golly, it's legal to keep up to six bass a day. I read that somewhere. Now if I could just remember where.

Thanks, Brian. Headed over to Bull this morning for the day. Didn't go up the James arm at TR and the bite might well be on in the bushes up there. I was in the White.

Decent day in BFL on Saturday. Fishing only his second derby ever, my co-angler partner won with a fine five-bass limit totaling 13 pounds, 7 ounces. He fished an Eakins jig 4-10 feet deep all day, getting most of his bites along the original shoreline. Until very near the end of a short day (2 p.m. weigh-in), he had all 3 species (LM, SM and K) in his side of the livewell. He finally culled the K around 1:30, at which time I told him he was "spotless." He got a kick out of that, but not nearly the kick he got from the $1,600 check he won. As for yours truly, I finished a lackluster 11th with 11 pounds, 10 ounces. Topwater bite was really off in my areas, even early, and couldn't get much going on a jig. Ended up catching about a dozen keepers, nearly all by swimming Kinami natural shad grubs 6-20 feet deep in pockets. They seemed to want the grub pretty close to the bottom. Mix of LM, SM and K's. Never could get that one big bite that I needed. We fished from KC to Big Creek, keying mostly on steeper pockets with timber. Fish were schooled up pretty tight ... once you found them, you could catch 5-10 in pretty short order, with a few keepers amongst them. Saw a couple of post asking about fish in the bushes ... can't find them with any consistency. Seems the closest thing to that kind of bite is to work a jig just out from the bushes along the old shoreline.

Got in about 7 hours today ahead of the BFL derby Saturday. Fished between KC and Baxter in water 1-60 feet deep and caught fish in all of it. Numbers weren't great but ended the day with a dozen keepers including a 6-pounder, putting my best five at 18-19 pounds and would have included all three major species. So far, the monsoon of 2010 hasn't killed the bite. But the fish are really spread out. Some on topwater, some on jigs, some on grubs, some on C-rigs. We have a great fishery, folks — something to really be thankful for.

Admitting that this thread has pretty much run its useful life, I gotta say this: Arsenal, you say you "harvested" these lunkers in the name of Christianity, yet your last post is littered with cursing and you seem to have quite an affection for alcoholic beverages. And you call US hypocrites?

Glad you're feeding the disabled kids, arsenal. Seems to me you could've bought a lot of tilapia or catfish for what you spent in gas alone on that single trip down here, not to mention the cost of lodging, food, lures, etc. Slaying trophy bass "for the greater good" doesn't quite qualify you for sainthood. Just because it was legal doesn't make it sportsmanlike or responsible. As focused fishing brought up, bass of that size are of an elite gene pool and need to be preserved. It is a very small percentage that ever grow to more than 3 pounds, and again, those that do need the chance to reproduce.

This isn't "spot on" the original topic but close. First round of the Central Pro-Am championship last fall on Bull Shoals, I had located some quality SM's within sight of takeoff. Having a low boat number, I was able to get on them within 30 seconds of putting my boat on plane. Had two 3-pound-class SM before the 40-boat field had all departed. Coming in that afternoon, my partner and I had 7 minutes to spare. I stopped on the spot again, and on our last cast with 3 minutes left, partner caught a 4-pound brown fish. I netted it for him, pretty much pushed him down into the passenger seat and he arrived at the check-in boat with the big "jaw" in his lap.

Amen to that, Bro. Bill. If the caveman isn't lying, and I suspect he is, maybe Phil will give him a nice discount on a set of those bright orange Ozark Anglers decals. What kind of boat are you running there arsenal1477?

That's a fine fish Bill, several fine fish in fact. Gotta make the ol' guide feel good when a plan comes together like that.

Hey bluffboy, if this was your first CPA tourney, I sure hope it won't be your last. As you probably know, there's always a chance of drawing out with a sight fisherman this time of year and I hate that happened to you. One reason I don't sight fish in derbies is just that ... I can't hardly concentrate on working a bedding fish for feeling bad about what I'm doing to my co-angler. Also, sight fishing is too big a gamble for me. And sounds like your guy was looking for fish rather than working beds he'd already located. That's REALLY drawing to an inside straight. As for what you could do, Techo actually had the best suggestion I could think of ... dragging a C-rig Fish Doctor or lizard behind the boat or out into open water when the boat was sitting still. Otherwise, you were pretty much hamstrung. Again, sorry you got shut down like that but I hope you'll come back and fish with us some more. There are some top-notch pro division anglers out there from whom you can learn a lot. Shoot me a PM and maybe we can hook up and visit a while at the Bull Shoals derby in June.

You guys are too nice and we so much appreciate your kind words, but not nearly as much as your friendship. Before we ever left Ahoy's on Sunday afternoon, Donna and I were talking that any day you finish second to Tim Sainato anywhere, much less on his home lake, you've had yourself a heckuva day. Bill is dead-on right about him — no one works harder or fishes smarter than him. And besides, he's a nice guy. Actually, we were glad to see him score the Nitro bonus money Sunday after he missed out on it by 4/10ths of a pound on Saturday in the pro-am. OK, gotta brag just a tiny bit here and more on my life partner than myself — Since CPAA started team circuits in 2009, we have fished 10 events together including a couple of the CPAA Skeeter derbies last year. Out of those 10, we've had five top 10 finishes. Guys, don't be afraid to let your wife be your tournament partner. One of the reasons I tend to fish well on Sundays is that I'm NEVER more at ease and able to let my feeble mind work as best it can than when Donna is in the boat with me. And she holds up her end of the deal on catching fish, too. I'm sure that Techo and Snakem will agree that there's something special about sharing time on the water with your best friend. Again, thanks for all of your kind thoughts and words. We appreciate all of you.