Champ188

So you stoop to their level and then brag about it on a public forum. Hmmmm.

Amen. Everyone has their point where it becomes "If it ain't broke, don't fix it."

There's a lot of good info right there. Thanks for the great post, top_dollar.

C4f, yes Donna and I play more golf this time of year. Taking a break in the heat of summer goes back to my tournament days, I guess. I fish so much in fall, winter and spring that my boat needs a little break in the summer.

Deep Wee R was my go-to crank back in the 80s.I still have some of the old ones and they still catch fish.

I was pretty inspired by the should strap feature until I considered that it might cover up some of the logos on my jersey. Maybe I could use the shoulder strap to attach it to my Power Poles? Looks like a pretty sturdy rig so it could probably stand up to flapping in the wind behind me while running down the lake. Seriously, looks like a nice bag. I might go this route myself.

Moral of the story ... bass fishing is more fun and much safer than trotlining.

At least you scratched out some small ones. Can be very tough to get on them this time of year. Thanks for the report.

Shell Knob to Big M stretch definitely has its share of them.

Very nice deal.

Interesting. Thanks for sharing, 96 CHAMP.

The spread needs to retract back to the Left Coast from whence it came. JMO, of course.

How in the name of Bear Bryant can a man with your football knowledge call the SEC brand BORING? Have you sniffed too much powder coat up your nose? And for gosh sakes, you will fish 12 hours a day, every day, for two weeks in one creek!

I'm sure you would have gladly performed the operation and that your abilities are top-shelf. It's your bedside manner that would've concerned me.

Dadgummit, Fly, this is an educational forum with a benevolent spirit. I just want to make sure everyone knows how to saw the sides off everything they catch so the generations to come don't spend every spare penny they make on boats, trucks, fishing tackle, GoreTex clothing, etc.

Commendable effort, Robert. Cash is hard due to a layoff situation but I'll be dropping off a lure package for Chris in the next couple of days at HLS. OAF is a great place to hang out.

Drama? What drama?

That's just not nice and it undoubtedly offended masses of Obama-loving, foreigner-hugging, gun-hating liberal sissypants.

C4F, you are no rookie around here. It's summertime, fishing is somewhat slow, the Branson navy is in full force, and this is OAF. We can connect a housecat's ear to an elephant's ba-donk-a-donk with minimal effort.

Arkansas is gonna miss some NFL/graduation-departed players, including but not limited to TE Hunter Henry, OT Sebastian Tretola and RB Alex (Dreadlocks) Collins. On the other hand, there is a lot of talent returning on both sides of the ball. Some of us aren't thrilled to begin yet another season with yet another "Allen" kid at QB, but it is what it is. The defensive secondary will be severely tested early on against TCU. Hopefully, they don't get beat down badly enough to affect their play the remainder of the season.

The line trick is handy but it's also a good idea to use a little caution when deciding whether or not to try it. In this case, he might have done considerable damage (vein, tendons) and been sorry in the long run. I knelt down on the front deck once to land a tournament partner's fish and put my knee directly on a crank bait. You'd be surprised how few nerves are in the skin covering the kneecap. Hardly hurt at all. Couldn't do the line trick coz my partner nearly passed out just looking at the situation, so I ended up pushing it thru myself with needlenose pliers (that skin is TOUGH!!!), snipping off the hook point and pulling it back out. But that was in a noncritical area without important stuff like tendons and larger veins. Again, good call to go to the ER in this case.

Bobby, there are a couple of active threads right along this line on the Beaver forum. Lots of info there that I think you could use.

Hey Pepe, here's the stuff that matters to me and Donna about Bella Vista ... 1. Golf is still a pretty good deal despite a 30 percent increase in greens/cart fees at the beginning of the year. You pay $40 to play 18 holes before twilight (2 p.m. during daylight savings time, 1 p.m. during normal time) and $30 during twilight. 2. The lakes are OK for catching a few fish when time doesn't allow a longer trip, but they are nothing like they used to be. The whiny property owners around the lakes will raise a fuss anytime they see a blade of grass sticking out of the water, so the POA aggressively attacked all of the submergent vegetation that was fueling the robust bass populations of old. The big lake (Loch Lomond) is now basically a swimming pool year round with water so clear and free of anything on the base end of the food chain that it's just not a healthy environment for fish anymore. 3. Some of the housing is getting very old ...close to 50 years ... and is attracting some not-so-desirable folks, including drug dealers. That's certainly not unusual in this day and time but any prior insulation against this is now gone. It's still a very nice place to live but you want to be picky about which areas you choose. 4. Obviously, we are close to anything urban you could want ... Bentonville, Rogers, Springdale and Fayetteville. Medical care is pretty good but still a bit stretched to meet demand. For really serious stuff, like both of us having cancer a few years back, we gladly drive the 2 hours to Tulsa.

I usually wait until tournament day to do that. It gets me to the culling stage a lot faster. And if you believe that ....