Champ188

I've always been a big fan of spots, especially the big ones that roam the lower ends of TR and Beaver lakes. I'm also a fan of eating a mess of them when they are overly populated, as they used to be in the big lake in Hot Springs Village. Just can't bring myself to whack the sides off a 15-inch or bigger spot ... as for some reason, that remains the size limit in TR. Spots seem far more prolific than LM to me, and in some cases I've read they will beat down the LM population by monopolizing the forage supply.

Travis, there are people here a lot wiser than me, but there's no way a bass can bed 50 feet deep. Bass move shallow to spawn because their eggs need sunlight penetration to hatch and that ain't gonna happen at 50 feet.

Nailed it, snagged ... as you frequently do. And yes, I do feel better momentarily ... thanks. Hard to swallow that $300K for a budget no bigger than he manages. Then there's the restaurants manager who is making somewhere near $200K, then the golf agronomist, the aforementioned golf director, the recreation director (for pursuits other than golf) and on and on. Precariously top heavy and not in the sense us gentlemen normally prefer.

Hybrids are no longer "efficient" enough for our big-city transplant yups down in NW Arkansas. They're going full-blown EV's or bicycles. Oughta try to get around Bella Vista these days ... very common to run into a big line of cars and wonder, Flowers? Then find out there's a single bicycle taking up the middle of the lane up ahead and refusing to move the heck over to the side of the road. Because it's their "right" to impede traffic. Exactly the reason that Donna and I are 2 years from packing up and moving home to Hot Springs Village, where we used to live. Eleven lakes to fish ranging from 33 to 930 acres in size --- all with concrete boat ramps and managed primarily for fishing. There are also nine immaculate golf courses and 24-hour manned gates at the main entrances. Property owners use a computer chip card to enter after-hours at q couple of additional unmanned gates. And practically NO bicycles. Heck no, those old folks aren't gonna pedal around on bicycles when they can ride like kings in their golf carts, this guy included. Might be a few younger yups there but not many, and the ones who actually are there spend 3 hours a day or so commuting to Little Rock and back for work, which doesn't leave a lot of time to jam up traffic with their bicycle buddies. Oh yeah, rather than $165 a year or whatever the ridiculous boat registration fees are up to now in BV (I don't support the BV POA unless i absolutely must, at least not until they stop paying the general manager over $300K a year and the golf director 175K) the Hot Springs Village annual registration fee for my 20-foot Ranger is $79. And despite not being able to launch without a lake ranger showing up to quiz you on what you're fishing for, what you're throwing, how deep --- i.e., everything but his JOB --- there are unregistered trailers and boats on these lakes that are supposed to be property owners only. Of course, the BV golf courses are wide open to the general public and it shows. Property owners get no preference for tee times, instead getting bumped by all manner of society (dress code is totally ignored and there are no marshals on the course anymore) just out to ride around the course getting drunk, hitting wildly into other groups on other holes and tearing up property that is paid for by our monthly dues (which, of course, our "guests" don't pay). Less than half the price for some stupid-good fishing (the biggest lake, Balboa, also has a very healthy population of spotted bass, which the lakes management folks down there encourage folks to keep a mess of for eating so that a healthy balance remains between largemouth and spots. I realize a lot of this is of no interest to you folks in Missouri, but others have a vested interest in Bella Vista and its mounting issues with our $300K a year POA "leader" allowing the Walton grandsons to tear up 50+ years of a lovely place to retire and turning it into a bicycle/yuppy-palooza.

I know I'm late but happy Veterans Day to each and every one of my fellow vets. I don't care how big a mess this country may be in, it's still the USA and we still love her dearly. Don't believe it? Come screw with us and see. Bet today's military feels every bit as proud as we did and is every bit as ready to defend our freedom as we were during our days in uniform.

I have proven this many times while attempting to take a leak on winter fishing trips.

We are headed into winter. This was good practice for some of our winter Franken-threads that tend to provide maximum humor (depending on number of bong hits ingested) but minimum useful information. Well worth the price of admission most days.

It's all about the pressure --- and the rapid change --- as I understand it.

Let it be noted today that I was no part of this heinous attack on wrench, just in case I might want some friendly advice someday on a DIY project involving my boat.

It should be a shootout. GO HOGS!!

Absolutely true. Can name several from Arkansas alone who either struggled financially late in life or dropped out along the way and got regular jobs.

Wish I could like this post 1000 times.

If you're past 40 and even that's probably too high, you are gonna struggle to compete these days. These kids are far better at running computers than they are at fishing. They aren't old enough to have much appreciable time on the water but they can dang sure turn on that computer, dial it in and let it do the hard work for them. No sour grapes for me ... don't want to fish that way, ain't gonna fish that way and had my fill of watching SOME of these local wannabe kids run all over each other and everyone else on the lake. There are literally some out there who believe their mission to win money outranks the importance of whatever I might be doing if I'm someplace they want to be. We've all heard the old, "Yeah, but I'm fishing a tournament!" when we tell one of them they are intruding. And if we say anything to them that isn't sugar coated with rainbow sprinkles, we are being non-woke selfish meanies.

THIS!!! ^^^ Nice post. You should come around the warm-water forums more often.

Had to be an old show. They don't bite spinnerbaits anymore. Been told that by multiple folks ... gotta be true. LOL

Amen and amen. Not happening in my boat either. I'm officially old. I'd rather zero my way than catch em your way. LOL

I spent 10 years trying to fall in love with my Humminbird 998s and it just never happened. I put a pair of new Lowrance Elite 9's on my 2013 Ranger and haven't regretted it for a single minute. The Lowrance 2D is just leaps and bounds above Humminbird --- they have owned this market for a very long time. Side imaging and down imaging work fine, too. The reason I don't have livescope is twofold ... 1. Not gonna sink thousands upon thousands of dollars into a tactic I don't even care for; 2. I enjoy finding my fish the old-fashioned way ... by using my noodle rather than my electronics. Again, wouldn't think of making a purchase before checking out the Lowrance offerings.

Bill, I have to borrow one of your lines about all that "deer farming" work ... I just ain't that mad at em. 🤣

You guys need to face the fact that you're draggers, plain and simple. Put the winding stuff down and fish only with worms or jigs. 😂

You said a mouthful there. But I sure wish they'd had those fancy sublimated jerseys back before I quit tournament fishing. Maybe I'll ask Santa for one. It's not like I really have to be a pro to dress like one, right? Shoot, as Wrench said, it's a sickness. Just look at all the $100K rigs out there screaming up and down the lake with nothing but water in the livewells. 😂😆

My Ranger that I bought new in 2013 came factory rigged except for batteries and electronics. Another cutback by JohnnyCraft?

Anyone who has to be fishing a derby or practicing for one to enjoy fishing is not a fisherman. They are just lake lice in bass boats.

Nice bags. Wonder how many did the ol' Table Rock "Autumn Stroll" and drug football jigs behind the boat using the trolling motor. Don't care who you are, if you are using the electric motor to move your bait along, you are trolling. And trolling is illegal in any tournament I've ever fished. Popcorn time? 🍿

Frankie, think on this for just a minute ... why would Bill give up specific locations that he has spent a lifetime locating? You can study maps until you're old and gray, but you don't know if a spot is worth a hoot until you fish it a few times. That's a lot of work when you consider the hundreds of spots that Bill has on this lake. And I promise you that in 25 years of living here, I've never heard a single complaint from anyone of poaching spots by Bill Babler or his late brother-from-another-mother Bill Beck. Those guys did it right ... they've both spent eons of time on the water doing the inglorious and never-ending job of finding new stuff to fish. Frankie, take what Bill has told ya for gospel and go see if you can apply it to the areas you like to fish. You won't find info like he just gave anywhere else on the internet. I promise. And best wishes in your tournament.

You would've been right there in the check line.