Champ188

Trophy, there just isn't much in that area. Others, please correct me if I'm wrong. Right now, I think we're going to settle in at Lunker Landing or somewhere similar over by Shell Knob and drive over to Big M on tournament mornings. Be about a 30-minute drive but beats driving 1.5 hours from home.

I'm sure there could be any number of good reasons, including that he doesn't want a boat parked in front of the room. Hey, it's his place and he can do as he wishes. But the fellow manning the phones didn't handle the situation as one might expect from a person representing the place to someone who was trying to book 5 nights of business. Just simply said he had spoken to the owner and he "wishes to decline your business."

Not a thing said about trout guys. I have several good friends who trout fish and would love to do so myself if I had the time. Not about that at all.

I'm guessing it wouldn't do any good to try and bribe him with a couple of pre-Rapala Warts. And yes, Dave, to just flat-out say "we wish to decline your business" is just, as you put it, strange.

After a phone conversation Donna had this morning, I'm compelled to spread the word among the bass anglers/boat owners here that it seems we are not welcome at Roaring River Resort & RV Park (no affiliation with Roaring River State Park). We've been looking for a place close to Big M to stay for this year's USA Bassin' tournaments. Being located on 112 just north of the trout park and appearing clean and modern on their website, we contacted the resort. Donna spoke to a fellow and gave him the dates we needed for the season, who said he'd speak with the owner and get back with us. He did get back with us --- with the message that the owner "wishes to decline your business" --- that he does not want a boat parked next to the rooms and he has no other external power. Combined with a nonhelpful and basically condescending attitude from the messenger boy on the phone, I knew of no other way to take that but as an insult. So, please ... unless you're confident that you measure up to these folks' standards ... make sure you pass on by Roaring River Resort. You may not "qualify" to stay there. Meanwhile, I can vouch that grubby ol' bass guys and gals are always welcome at White River Lodge, which is far snazzier than the place at Roaring River. Rant over. Smiling now.

I'm with you 110 percent, TrophyFishR. I grew up fishing Ouachita and DeGray and was lost when I moved up here in 2000 and couldn't find any deep grass to fish. The crowning snafu at Ouachita and DeGray was when they released some sort of larvae from Egyptian gnats to hatch bugs that would kill the grass. They SAID they were only going to kill a certain percentage but as you know, they wiped out every last stalk in DeGray and nearly all of it in Ouachita. My old buddies down there tell me it's coming back pretty good in Ouachita, and there was a 150-boat Arkansas Team Trail tournament down there a couple weeks ago where they just hammered them like back in the old days. There were 15-pound limits way down deep in the standings. Of course, the cycle will likely repeat itself and the pleasure boaters/rich marina owners will again make enough noise to get it eradicated again. I'm also with you on the Bella Vista lakes. They were really kicking out some big bass back in the days when they had grass.

That's a darn pretty spotted fish, QB. But why does it have a cat turd in its mouth? I know what you mean about the wind. I thrive on it 10 months out of the year but it's just hard to do what you need to do in January and February when it blows much over 10 mph. As always, thanks for the report. Gonna be interesting the next few weeks to see what this weather does. Just hope it doesn't jack up the spawn. Told Donna the other day, I wouldn't mind seeing another flood year. Not to the point of opening any spillways and damaging people's property, but a good spring flood nonetheless.

ness, I worked with a guy a few years back that was a 40-year outdoors writer and he swore by Action Optics prescription sunglasses. And he had the same experience with broken frames, etc. Replaced at no charge, no questions asked. I swear, if I'm not mistaken, he LOST his one time and they replaced them for him.

Good read, for sure. Been around the whole clan myself as an outdoors writer and have loads of respect and admiration for them. Funny story, I was fishing as a press observer in the 1987 Bassmasters Classic on Chickamauga/Nick-a-Jack. I was with Arkansas pro Jim Nolan the second day and we were fishing within about 150 yards of Guido, who had caught a good sack the first day and was in contention to win. Both guys were pitching jigs and worms to matted grass when here comes this big TVA barge with sprayer arms hanging off the front. They were spraying herbicide on the grass to retard its growth and started in on the stretch Guido was fishing. He started yelling like a madman at them, yanked up his trolling motor and went tearing right up to them raising holy heck about the spraying. Needless to say, he didn't make any new friends and they went right on down that stretch, spraying the crap out of his grass. Given his history of heart problems, it's a wonder he didn't just fall out in the boat right there. It was one of those deals that was funny but not funny at the same time.

I'll be the first to admit that I fall on both sides of the fence. I contribute what I feel like is a fair amount of valuable info, and I can assure you that what myself and Donna post here is God's honest truth. We don't exaggerate and we don't sandbag. We fish 1-2 days a week about 9 months out of the year, and I freely divulge the lures we caught them on except for withholding a specific color at times, and I'll tell the general areas where we found them. I may get a bit more stingy with information as tournament season approaches, but I'll still give the basics and what I post will be accurate to the best of my ability. On the other hand, I sometimes get grumpy and make negative comments. Guilty as charged and apologies all around to anyone I've offended. Seems I need to do this annually, and it's usually right about the time of year when the water temp gets down close to 40. I'll try to be better about that going forward. Phil runs a great forum here and Bill does a fine job of moderating the Table Rock page. Let's all try to enjoy it in the spirit it is intended, and I'll do my best to set the pace for our newer guys, as I know many other OAF veterans will do the same. Kum-ba-yah around the campfire, boys. (But I'm still gonna snicker if you're wearing a sublimated jersey.)

Vernon, They're actually called Flambeau Zerust boxes. Here's a Tackle Warehouse link to them. http://www.tacklewarehouse.com/Flambeau_Zerust_Rust_Inhibitors/descpage-FLZA.html You can also find information/purchase the boxes at: http://www.flambeauoutdoors.com/en/fishing

Nice fish, guys.

"No sublimated jerseys were used ..." Now that's funny!

Helps to be smart enough to read, huh? My bad.

You're absolutely, positively right, iclass. Don't know what I was thinking.

My point exactly.

Enforcer, with all due respect, the A-rig is a major game changer on Table Rock when the water temp falls below 50 degrees. As for "everyone can go buy one" --- that would not begin to level the playing field for those who have never fished it. To effectively fish the thing, you need a heavy-action rod at least 7 feet long, an equally burly baitcasting reel and very heavy line. Then there's the matter of being able to hurl the thing far enough to get ihappt down 30 feet in the treetops and keep it there long enough to bite. I own quite a few A-rigs and a good-sized box full of heads/swimmers, plus two rod-and-reel outfits set up just for A-rigging. That's just to say that I'm equipped and fairly well skilled at fishing them. I'd just like to see them disallowed for the benefit of those who are not. Some of these guys just started fishing and are in no way skilled enough to compete against experienced anglers throwing A-rigs.

QB, you're probably gonna kill me for bringing this up but my personal feelings are that we should not allow the A-rig in the OAF derby. Frankly, there's plenty of evidence that it creates an unlevel playing field that is tilted in favor of those using the A-rig. By nature, this is a learning forum and there are a lot of novice anglers here who do not own A-rigs and have neither the knowledge or equipment to use them if they did. This is a small, friendly bragging rights/trophy-only tournament --- let's give everyone a fair chance to win.

Yes, please quit pro-pimping all of your gear and trash-talking everyone else's. Don't you know that buying nice gear automatically makes you guilty of ... um, guilty of ... wait a minute, guilty of NOTHING except being wise because you use yours every day to make your living.

I was mostly pleased for this time of year, bo. Sure ready for some of those days of 75-90 fish like we enjoyed last spring. Won't be too long.

Exactly right, Jim. They meander down from both the Beaver tailwaters and Roaring River.

We started at Shell Knob at 10 a.m. and fished til dark. Went the opposite way from Fishrman, ranging as far downstream as Big Creek. Ended the day with 12 total/9 keeps. Had a couple of breakoffs and a couple of others just pull off. The varmit accounted for most, but also had a couple on a jerk bait and a Keitech swimbait worked slow and deep. Typical January stuff ... mainly bluff ends. Water temps 43-44,

Dave will eventually sell off his operation to Rapala, starting a whole new eBay craze --- pre-Rapala Varmint heads.

Congrats, SnakeM.

Donna caught one last fall on a drop shot at Shell Knob.