Champ188

If you had a guitar and a keyboard, you'd have a band!

Thanks for saying so, Ham. Maybe someday. Would be a sweet place, for sure.

Stripers! Oh boy, oh boy, oh boy, oh boy ...

Couple of pics from Saturday, 12/7 ....

I would just come prepared for anything, C4F. ?

Those are some studs. Congrats to the young man! And the old man too. ?

V-Man, do not let the fact become lost on you that our spouses double as our favorite fishing/golfing companions and therefore are partners in crime where lavish spending on these ventures is concerned. Took me a couple of extra tries to land on that formula for success, but it's been working for 23 years now.

One of the best Yankees ever ... and a lot better fisherman than he lets on. Look forward to seeing both of you guys again.

Welcome to the forum, Lake Lover. No matter how many years you linger around these parts, you'll still be getting used to the ways of the TR bass. They are wonderfully mysterious creatures. Glad you'll be joining us for the hootenanny in March.

Good luck back atcha, Mike. Not sure where we're going to splash the boat but we will likely be in the mid-White River area.

I make a little 15-foot pitch and reel it in right quick, then I'm good to go.

I will also say that we won't be without deep tools (spoon and dropshot) if we have to go that route. I'd just like to get in one good shallow trip before winter sets in. But I also realize you can't put them where you want them. They'll be where they want to be and that's where you have to be also if you want to catch them.

I have but one practice in this world that even borders on superstition and it is to NEVER catch a fish on your first cast.

I'm never gonna complain about a day on the water with my fishin' buddy. There will be a reasonably shallow bite at some point soon, although it may be brief if this frigid weather continues. I think Bo is on the money about the sudden drop in water temp ... in my experience, bass don't like radical change, whether it be rising water, falling water, muddying water or cooling water. Short of an ice storm, we're going to put in a full day this Saturday. High is supposed to be 55 sometime in the morning, falling near or into the teens by dark. Winds are supposed to howl out of the south in the morning, then swing to the north in the afternoon. If that's not enough to get some good ones up in the skinny water and chomping, I don't know what it will take. And yes, Bill --- we ARE that mad at them.

It doesn't help when a 16-inch spot smacks the Smuckers out of it on your third cast.

Yes she is, J-Doc, and thanks for saying so. And yes, I definitely outkicked my coverage. By approximately the length of Toledo Bend Reservoir.

In fairness, I will say that my Lew's spinning reels were bought several years ago when Lew's was first starting back up. They were not the cheapos, though. I gave $79 each for them. In no particular order, my main complaints were: Line twist was just awful. Main drive gear stripped out of one of them within 6 months and the other one started sounding (and feeling) like a thrashing machine with less than a year's use.

Mike, it's supposed to be 55 for a high Saturday and then falling like a meteor in the afternoon with 15-25 mph NW winds. Donna and I will be at Table Rock. Yes, it may throw ice pellets or snowflakes at us in the afternoon but I KNOW you aren't going to let a woman out-tough you. LOL All joking aside, should be a CATCHING day with that front coming in. Donna's a trooper. She has the best in clothes that money can buy --- UnderArmor Infrared and assorted other cold gear, plus GuideWear outer garments --- and she doesn't back down from anything weather-wise. If I go, she's with me. I'm blessed to be married to such a great fishing buddy.

Hope the fish is equally durable. DU is right ... squeezing the heck out of its midsection is not the way to hold a fish.

I bought two Pfleuger Presidents a few months back and couldn't be happier with them. If not for the littering aspect, I'd throw the two Lew's spinners they replaced overboard just for the satisfaction of watching the pieces of junk sink. I'm all about Lew's casting reels but it'll take a lot of convincing before I ever try another one of their egg beaters.

Awesome stuff, C4F. I'm on board!

Guide buddy over at Broken Bow uses them and has been very pleased.

Are you at the Indian-named camp up inside Baxter?

Pretty much the same with me. I can get pretty knot-headed when I have a blade in my hand, but I know I can cover a lot of water with it and put it back into any kind of cover I want. The jerk bait is opposite ... you don't cover much water and the turd will hang in anything it gets within 3 feet of, except a fish, of course, which can knock slack in your line and never get stuck. And that's after you've put Daichi Death Trap hooks on it that will reach out and grab human flesh from any distance.

Exactly what has happened to me the last two trips.