Champ188

Hey Ness, you're a bird hunter. Could FFS be adapted for that? I could see it totally replacing your bird dog in the field. And it wouldn't eat nearly as much or require trips to the vet. LOL

I'm personally looking forward to moving back to Hot Springs Village soon. It has 11 private lakes (mostly fished by retired northerners who don't give a flip about catching bass). It's like Bella Vista except bigger and with gates to keep the place secure. And in addition to the lakes, there are nine awesome golf courses that look like Augusta National compared to Bella Vista. We are still close to a year away from actually making the move, but preparations are underway. I'll also be fishing lakes Ouachita, Hamilton and DeGray --- as I have all of my life --- so any OAF regulars who need a reliable report on those waters, just PM me. If you aren't an OAF member or are fishing for tournament info, move along, please. Like many here, I've grown weary of the freeloaders who just want free info and rarely come back to give a report on their efforts.

Nice brown fish, Jeff. Good thing he didn't get caught by the striper guide I saw at Rocky Branch dock the other day. Guy was tied up to the dock and whacking their sides off one smallmouth after another. I wanted to barf on his boat.

To quote T.O. on the old Sunday Night NFL pregame show: "C'mon, man!" 😄 If I offended anyone here with my rants against FFS --- or Johnny, or killing bass, or the prevalence of tournaments, or ... 😆--- I do apologize. After so many years here, you assume that everyone knows your sense of humor, which is impossible in a chat room. There's also the fact that Wrench and I share the dubious distinction of speaking what's on our minds pretty freely. It's liberating at times, troublesome at others. More the latter, usually. I keep trying to order a filter on Amazon but they haven't been able to fit me yet. Do I wish FFS hadn't been adapted to fishing? Yes, definitely. But that doesn't trump anyone's right to own it or love it. By all means, don't withhold a fishing report. I'm sure our moderator or Phil would speak sternly to anyone --- myself included --- who attacked you here in any way. I just don't want to be "that guy" who causes anyone to shy away here from posting a fishing report or stating their opinion on anything fishing related. If I am, I'll step aside myself. Scopers gonna scope; winders gonna wind.

Some folks got weary of relaying hard-learned intel to drive-by's who never reciprocated or even bothered to join the forum. They just wanted free help for their next tournament, while others wanted to challenge the OP (Bill not withstanding) regarding their reports. I'm just an old grump according to some, but I can promise you this ... the quickest way to lose someone's free help is to challenge them on what they are trying to tell you. Translation: Don't ask one of the best guides to ever fish Table Rock how to catch fish and then say they're lying when they lay it out for you down to the precise lure, depth and presentation. With pics, even. The real truth is that some folks just suck at fishing. Period. But rather than own that and try to learn something, they dispute the source of their intel. And that's a forum killer. No one is going to keep spending their own time, money and talent to be undercut by some lazy-butt who wants the world laid at their feet.

I was under the impression for years that this was called "fishing" but apparently I was wrong --- fishing these days seems to be pretty adjacent to watching college or NFL football re-runs in my living room, minus the recliner. Maybe La-Z-Boys or Catnappers are the next big thing in bass boat options.

That's about as good a definition as I've seen through four decades of fishing derbies (until I gave it up a couple of years back except for the occasional benefit or "fun" event like the annual Polar Bear Tournament on Beaver Lake, where everyone is assured of a bowl of chili when they're done. Good times. Good friends.) Otherwise, I fish when I want to, stay home when I don't, and spend more time looking around appreciating all that God has made and gifted to us.

If a bullfrog had wings, he wouldn't bust his butt every time he hops.

Aren't many mechanics out there anymore. Just parts changers who can't even do that without a computer diagnostic to suggest which part (the most expensive, by default) to change.

No-ethanol regular (87), right?

Actually, it would be hypocritical if I continued to fish tournaments and complain about them at the same time. I'm not anti-tournament entirely ... like Wrench, I'm just against dozens of derbies every darn weekend so that a few people can benefit from the money that's thrown around. What's the purpose of a permitting process if you grant a permit to everyone who applies? Yes, I played the tournament game a long time --- long enough to know that if you MOVE some of these events to other lakes, people will still fish. Some won't like it, but others (me, Wrench and most definitely others, as well) would be glad to reap the benefits of less pressure when we are out there fishing on weekdays while most of the derby guys are slaving away to make those $1,000 boat payments.

I'm considerably behind ... just now seeing this but thanks Steve!

Phillip, I'm not a mechanic but I'm an old(er) fart with a lot of experience, and I make every effort to avoid ethanol. There's a phone app called PureGas that does a pretty good job of locating places to buy straight gas. Wrench has far more credentials than me being a sho-nuff marine mechanic. But I can say that I've owned black engines for a big part of my life and I like to think that buying pure gas at reputable stations and running only Mercury DFI (full-synthetic brown) oil in my two-strokes (not a factor for you four-strokers) has helped me get longer engine life and better overall performance.

Just asking ... don't you have trouble in big chunk rock with hanging up? That 1/4-ounce head seems like a lot for no more depth than you're fishing. Have you tried a 1/8 or 3/16? Or should I just be saying "nice fish!" and not be overanalyzing your methods? 😂

Me too, Moon. He and I had a few whizzing contests over little of nothing but glad I learned to like the guy before he passed. He knew stuff.

Always great to run into a warden out on the water. And invariably, the Missouri wardens have been extremely professional but equally friendly. Donna and I got checked out in front of Big M one day and I had a Walter in the livewell. It measured beyond legal ... even in the low 20s ... but the older of the two wardens was training the younger one, so he wanted him to measure it. I invited the guy onto my boat so he could get the fish out of the livewell himself rather than me trying to hand it off in the wake boat waves, etc. Guy climbs in, fishes it out of the livewell and just as he stood up with it, the thing twisted real hard in his hands, escaped and hit the back deck flopping and went right over the side back into the water. I think that older warden may still be laughing. The younger one had this incredulous look on his face and was the only person between the four of us not laughing ... YET! We ended up giving both of them a bottle of ice-cold Gatorade and visited a few minutes, then went our respective ways. I ran into the young guy a couple years later at the Eagle Rock ramp and we had a good laugh about him throwing my walleye back. LOL

There won't be any co-anglers soon with Livescope, but that's not a bad thing to all involved. With guys paying $100K and up for boats these days, many of them don't want strangers stomping around in their boats and breaking stuff. Had a guy break the back off my passenger seat once and have had countless hook holes made in upholstery, and scratches/chips out of my motor cowl from lures yanked back outta trees and such. And yeah, it happens --- more than you'd think. And then there's the entitled attitude of "I have a right to fish just like you do" that often turns into "You're cutting me off!" And I don't need a sermon on how to treat my co-angler ... first, I'm done with tournament fishing other than pick-your-partner team stuff or solo pro events, so it's a moot point. And second, anyone on this site (there used to be several) who ever drew me in a Central Pro-Am or BFL will attest that I gave my co-anglers more than ample room to fish --- sometimes at my own expense. I'd venture to say that my co-anglers got a check in well over half of the pro-am's that I fished, and three times I had the co-angler winner in my boat on at least one day of the derbies. (Central Pro-Ams were two days back then, BFL's were one). And then there's the gas money thing ... guys who own $100K boats are fully entitled to expect co-anglers to pay for every drop of gas/oil burned during a day of fishing. Donna was giving $50 to her boaters back 10-15 years ago, and these days I'd call that a MINIMUM and that $100 would be more appropriate. Can't afford that? Then you can't afford to fish the tournament. The owner of that $100K boat is in NO WAY responsible for dragging you around in first-class style all day so that you can fish for money --- and at the end of the day, you can't afford to give him an appropriate amount of gas money? Pathetic ... NOT because someone doesn't have the money ... they probably can't help that. But it's pathetic that they'd get in someone else's mega-expensive boat, ride around all day, possibly cash and check, and then hand the angler a measly $10-$15. I even had a co-angler WIN a BFL and $1,500 on Table Rock, then slip off down to my boat during weigh-in, get all his stuff and freakin' STIFFED ME on gas money. Not a penny. And I even put my rod down and went into guide mode the last hour of the derby and helped the guy cull a couple of fish. Oh, I did hear from him again ... he had the gonads to call me before the next BFL and ask for some pointers on what to take to the next tournament. Not kidding. Lastly, to heck with the Livescope complaints from the co-anglers. Flowers? Some guy that I'm already allowing to ride around in MY boat all day wants to tell me I can't use Livescope (which I don't even have or want) because it unfairly handicaps him? LOL!!!!!! Kinda like walking in my house as a total stranger and changing the TV channel. You want to fish where you have a better chance to catch something? Easy! Get off at least $50K for a used boat and the $500-$1,000 a month for the monthly payment/insurance, pay DOUBLE the entry fee you are now paying, buy gas/oil for your rigs (tow vehicle, too) and fish you heart out. From your own boat, not mine.

War Eagle makes a 1/8-ounce buzzer that can easily be thrown on a baitcaster with 14-pound mono. Guess it depends on what rod/reel you use. Caught 5 for 19 lbs. on it in a derby a few years back to win a couple thousand reasons not to pooh-pooh small buzz baits. 🔨

Two things to say here: (1) A thorough search of your profile shows you've hardly posted in the Table Rock forum ... if at all ... until your Mount Everest comment; (2) you were grousing about Livescope back in 2022 during a Sturgeon Bay trip. Don't you fish out of a canoe or yak? Where you gonna put Livescope anyway? By the way, don't pat yourself on the back too much for running Bill away. It wasn't you alone. Not by a longshot. Bill just finally reached his limit of putting out the best free information the internet has ever seen only to be criticized by those who couldn't catch themselves in the butt if they sat on a Super Spook with Death Trap trebles. If the shoe fits ...

Two things to say here: (1) A thorough search of your profile shows you've hardly posted in the Table Rock forum ... if at all ... until your Mount Everest comment; (2) you were grousing about Livescope back in 2022. Don't you fish out of a canoe or yak? Where you gonna put Livescope anyway? By the way, don't pat yourself on the back too much for running Bill away. It wasn't you alone. Not by a longshot. Bill just finally reached his limit of putting out the best free information the internet has ever seen only to be criticized by those who couldn't catch themselves in the butt if they sat on a Super Spook with Death Trap trebles. If the shoe fits ...

Thanks for the kind words, Andy. My absolute only concern with Livescope is what long-term effects it may have on our crappie. I enjoy fishing for them in the cooler months, mostly on Beaver, and I'd hate to see their numbers beat down by technology that our MDC or AGFC folks weren't prepared to address. So, to those folks who are making decisions that will affect fish populations, Livescope is here to stay. And tournament fishermen probably aren't the biggest threat ... I see it being the meat-mongers who know they aren't likely to get caught over their limit of crappie (or bass, or walleye) because there aren't enough wardens out there to adequately patrol our lakes. At my age (early 60s), I'd be a total hypocrite to grouse about Livescope. I remember the first graphite rods ... they were HEAVY and hardly more sensitive than the fiberglass we were accustomed to in those days. I've watched electronics go from box flashers to in-dash flashers (like the Lowrance 1240A), then on to the liquid crystal displays. I've seen fluorocarbon line rise up from the dust, as well as one lure after another. We've even entered a day now where lures are custom made for certain techniques, including scoping. I've used all of that to my advantage, so I can't really draw the line and say all of that is OK but Livescope is over the line. If you like fishing deep, there's all kind of water out there that is good for that. If you're a bank beater like me, we just gained some additional fishing water. I still honestly believe that Livescope eventually will take some pressure off the shallow fish and I'll be just as happy as a scoper in a school of 5-pounders.

The continuing friendship that Bill and I have could not be a more perfect illustration of what you just said, Andy. There probably aren't two more polar opposite fishermen on the planet than us two. Bill has guided forever (Well, close to it. He's like Abraham old. 😆) and you can't take guide clients anywhere near most of the places I fish ... be that flooded bushes in 3 feet of water or dock slips with 100 feet under them. I joke with Bill about a gloriously new War Eagle spinnerbait (Bill's, of course) that one of his clients used to lasso a great big weather vane on top of a dock ... in Aunts Creek, as I recall. That was years ago and the darn thing may still be up there. 😅 Pardon the ramble but nice to have some activity going. Bill and I occasionally cross paths in flooded cedars post-spawn, throwing wakers, and then again in fall (same good Fin bite then is often overlooked) and winter throwing jerk baits. I always know I'm around fish when I look up and see Bill nearby. He's just usually out in the middle of the ocean and I'm back in a creek. Not to sound like a Gen X'r but I think Andy's sage comment means this, at least with fishing styles: You do you.

Now that's funny I don't care who you are.

Jealousy sure turns ugly sometimes. And no, I'm not a scoper. Likely won't ever be. Shoot, it's not often that my boat is sitting in more than 40 feet of water.