Champ188

Love those old "5-gallon" Ranger caps with the mesh backs. Owned a many of them myself. They were custom made for "bighead boys" like myself.

Denny and kbillb, so very nice of both of you to offer use of those units. Can't say how much I appreciate it. I believe I'm going to go ahead and buy a new Lowrance HDS-5 unit. With my boat going up for sale soon, I hesitated to spend the money but I think it will just add value to the boat. Again, thanks so much guys.

Methinks EP was confused as to his general location. He couldn't have caught any fish in the White River arm. To quote our guy Techo, "Nothing to see here. Move along please."

Looking to buy a Lowrance 520c unit fast ... by Thursday. My 5-year-old Garmin bit the dust this past weekend, leaving me without GPS and Central Pro-Am coming up this weekend. The reason I'd like to have the 520c or something very similar is that I have a 510c (non-GPS model) on the bow and am very fond of it. If anyone has a 520c or 522c they want to sell reasonable, please let me know. No transducer needed but will take one. Just unit and power cord will do. Thanks in advance for any help.

Techo is right on all counts. Great day Saturday, one of the primary reasons being some quality time spent picnicking with some darn fine folks. Usually not much myself on stopping to eat but truly enjoyed some "dry time" under the dock with Techo and Shell. Hope we get to do so again soon. As for the fishing, can't "give away the store" with Central Pro-Am coming up this weekend but suffice to say we had an incredible day. Started in Fisher Creek at KC and ranged as far as Campbell Point by day's end. Best five would've topped 21 pounds and included two LM on the high side of 5 pounds each. Caught em on shaky head worm in watermelon candy, C-rig lizard in same color, grub, floating worm in bubble gum pink, topwater and spinnerbait. Fish are literally in all stages of the spawn, thus the wide variety of ways to catch 'em. I will say that I'm not sure there's a flat gravel point in the entire White River arm, at least up to Shell Knob, that isn't loaded with fish.

Got mine in the mail yesterday. I'll have them on my motor this weekend.

Hey Capt. Don, you might check into things a bit deeper. Snagging spooners may not count as guiding.

Jim Thompson, owner of Central Pro-Am, is now a local dealer for Megabass. Go to www.centralpro-am.com and look under news articles for an article about him carrying Megabass and info on how to contact him. He will probably have what you want in stock, saving you having to order one.

After 30 years of just silently abiding the rudeness, I'm with Capt. Joe on this. If we don't say something, it just continues. And we can do so politely. The ones who don't know better at least will understand what they are doing is intruding on others. Possibly they'll use that knowledge to avoid doing so in the future. The ones who don't care just might pick up and go bother someone else. Folks like that tend to be cowards anyway. They'll walk all over you if you let them but they'll turn tail and run when challenged. If not, like Capt. Joe, I'm a big boy and we can go to the bank if they like.

I'll leave the rental info to someone else but I'd strongly suggest Aunt's Creek as a place to swim, cook out and of course to fish. You knew it was coming, Tim. :lol:

Predator1, You bet they run in schools back to the lake. Some of the very best white bass fishing of the year occurs AFTER the spawn and it's topwater fishing. Now is the time to start looking in the middle sections of the rivers for them to blow up on top in big schools. They'll kill a Redfin or Zara Spook Jr. when they're doing this. The bigger pockets off the main river channel are good places to look, as they'll herd shad into those and feed on them. I see this in late spring every year up the White River but you can bet the same is true in the James.

I'd probably go to Long Creek. I hear you can catch bass down there on anything you throw so it stands to reason that the cats should be easy pickins too.

Same here on the timing. We have Central Pro-Am this Saturday on Beaver. Donna and I are in with more notice, though.

All Bill is saying is that there have been a lot of guides working that same area lately and none of them found such easy pickins. Wart, blade, grub and stick is a lot of changing around in a few hours of fishing. Granted, the report did not include a specific number of fish but the overall tone was that it was "throw anything you want, they'll bite it." Look at the recent derby results and some of the names who have struggled. It ain't that easy.

Sure be glad when the CPA derby on Beaver next weekend is done with and I can slide up the road to TR and get in on some of that. I'm ready for some of that wart-blade-stick-grub "throw anything you want" action. I'm having to work all dang day to piece together a decent limit. Easy pickins sounds mighty inviting.

I'd ditch those spinnerbaits. Those things never work very well.

Shoulda gone to Aunt's Creek for the AIA derby. Woulda burned a lot less gas.

Gorgeous boat and yes, too bad. Thieves obviously weren't too bright — that black/red Cobra is gonna stick out like a sore thumb. Not a lot of them running around.

In my opinion, any tournament director who'd disqualify you for a potty break or any fellow competitor would protest you for it is a chicken bleep anyway. Just my 2 cents.

Yes, Cap'n Joe, thanks for a great idea and for herding this topic through the rough terrain. Look forward to getting my stickers. BTW, will those also serve as a season pass to fish Aunt's Creek?

Mudbug, Sometimes after applying all of the logic and scientific knowledge in the world, a likely-looking area still doesn't produce. That's part of the siren song of fishing ... in the end, they are living creatures and will do unpredictable things. Bottom line is that every lake has areas where "fish just live" and areas where they don't, no matter how promising they seem. You might try drop-shotting or dragging a football jig around the mouth of Railroad Cove in the summer months. I've caught some there but never anything to write home about.

I'm in for the fluorescent orange motor stickers and would suggest the back of the cowling for placement.

At this rate, we may still be fishing pre-spawn conditions when Central Pro-Am visits TR the first weekend in May. This has been one stubborn winter in the Ozarks.

10 inches on the ground in Bella Vista this Sunday morning.

I like Capt. Joe's fluorescent ribbon idea. Yes, the bumper stickers are very nice. But the ribbons would be easier to see from a distance.