Champ188

Wind is gonna make a big difference for you, Edwin. Hang in there, buddy. I feel your pain. I've thrown a pile of money at derbies the past two weekends and come away "checkless." Don't let Babler woo you with his siren song about that dastardly float-n-fly. Resist, my brother. Get thee behind me, evil one. Seriously, they're gonna turn on bigtime any day now. I had a good bite going up the Kings week before last in 50-53 degree water. Very few big fish and hard to even put together a sack of keepers but by gosh it was fun. They slowed down a lot last week when the water temp dropped a bit, but I'd bet they're getting back on their feed by now. Viola marina to near the Hwy 86 bridge. Shallow crank baits (Bandit 200s or even 100s) around big rocks or wood. Spinner baits were starting to work, too. Go up there and enjoy. Sounds like you need some bites, big or small.

Your msg comes thru loud and clear, Bill. No editing required.

"Our great friendship outweighs anything in the competition." You said a mouthful there, Bill. I've yet to come home from a day of fishing with my partner and wished I'd stayed home, regardless of how badly we fished or how much money we spent. And she's a heckuva lot better looking than Beck.

IN MY OPINION, it would be nice to not have tournaments during the spawn. It just can't be good to pull fish off their nests and haul them miles away. But tournaments have been around 40 years or more and we still have lots of fish, so like Mr. Bill said, plenty for everyone. Let's just go fishin' and be happy we are blessed with the opportunity to do so and have such a heavenly place to practice our passion.

Believe me, Techo ... plenty of boats in the Kings on Saturday.

Mine are on both sides of the Merc.

Fish of a lifetime indeed and a flawless specimen at that! Congrats bigtime!

Techo, I wasn't able to get in and by the time we called and tried, the waiting list was more than 50 people deep. It must have filled up on the first call-in day. Going to be sitting on top of the phone next year on call-in day. I'm betting they'll be back since Bass Pro Shops is the title sponsor and with Springfield being headquarters. Oh well, but I do GREATLY appreciate the vote of confidence. Let's do a "dock lunch" again sometime soon. Enjoyed that last year.

Wouldn't change the winning outcome as I don't believe KVD was running one of those units, but it could change the standings considerably below him. Seems it should definitely be addressed but betcha it won't be.

Weigh-in first two days will be at state park. Third-day weigh-in will be at Bass Pro Shop in Branson.

Nothing to see up there, J.E. Move along please.

Really nice report, innova. Thanks for posting.

Missouri Water Patrol regatta permits show they're having it May 7.

Just don't bring that girly man stuff up the river. We don't cotton to that kind of tomfoolery up there.

Tim's had a lot of success for a lot of years on that grub. He's as good with it as anyone I've ever known.

Looking forward to six days on the water between now and next Sunday. Like Jaws said, should be gettin good.

I keep Roostertails handy myself, Sam. Not always tied on but where I can grab one pretty quick. Probably not a better all-around bait in the world for catching schooling fish of any variety.

Dang, Cajun ... you sure seem to get your unmentionables in a knot over little bit of nuthin. Yeah, I lurked your post. No, I have nothing to contribute because I haven't been to Bull since last May and won't be back over there for a couple more months. Just so happens that fish up and down this White River chain behave a lot alike, so knowing what's going on at Bull helps me decide what to try on TR or Beaver. Have a Coke and a smile.

I think Capt. Don should take KVD snaggin' for spoonbills. That would be some quality entertainment.

I think he withdrew when word got out me and Donna are planning to fish.

AMEN to that Techo! Well said.

Please tell me the Weather Channel is not your barometer for whether you should be concerned about your property flooding. Two weeks ago, they predicted 2-4 inches of snow for NW Arkansas. We got 24 in Bella Vista. If we get a lot of rain this spring, by darn the lake will probably flood. If we don't, it won't. God knows if that will happen. No one at the National Weather Service or on this forum is quite that high up the chain of command.

Thanks to all for the roundabout words of encouragement. I'm sorry that you guys are struggling too but at least I'm in good company. Incidentally, water temps in the midlake areas that I've been fishing have been 40-44, the upper side of which I don't consider terribly cold. Still, makes sense that the big sacks are being caught way deep. Seems no matter how bad it gets, there's always some semblance of a very deep bite.

I'm hoping it's not ALL me, but I'm beginning to wonder if I've completely forgotten what little that I once knew about catching one of those green (or brown) things. Donna and I threw a jerk bait and jig all weekend and had a grand total of two confirmed acts of aggression against our lures. She actually put a 15-inch smallmouth in the boat during our 4-hour outing Saturday and I had one smack a jerk bait about 1:30 p.m. Sunday. Of course, there was a six-fish, 26-pound sack caught in the Winter Series derby Sunday, so it's obviously possible to catch a helluva string. It's just not happening for me. I'm bailing on the BFL this weekend. I may not have the intelligence to catch one, but I'm smart enough not to throw $200 at a shot in the dark. Probably be some disappointed back-seaters since the co-angler side of this derby was won out of my boat last year. Different month, though. Someone tell of similar struggles, please. Misery loves company.

It was iced over Saturday when we drove across.