Champ188

Maybe I'm strange, but I love it when you're reeling a spinnerbait by a shallow bush or log and a big 'un knocks about a foot of slack in your line.

RR Vet, I was one who recommended the Crucial. I own both Crucial and Compre models and love them both. Just went out to the garage and happened to have a Crucial and Compre laying on my boat's front deck next to each other. Both are 6-6 med heavy/fast tip models. Actions are identical. Both have 10 guides. Only difference is the Crucial MIGHT be a little more sensitive because of its IM9 construction. Compre is IM8. But to be honest, when fishing I would have to look down at the label to know if I'm using a Crucial or a Compre. Really very little difference except the higher-modulus graphite in the Crucial — and $30-$40 in price. Both have over-the-counter replacement guarantees. For general consumption by all, I bought a 6-6 medium/extra fast Compre last fall and used it for jerk-baiting this past winter. It's the first rod I've ever felt was perfect for this application. Good soft tip for long casts and to allow the fish to get the bait without ripping it away from him or pulling off after being hooked but plenty of backbone to handle a big fish. Anyone looking for a good jerk bait rod might want to try one. Hope this helps, RR Vet.

RRV, Extra-fast tip is more limber but the rod still has lots of backbone in the butt section for power when fighting a fish.

RR Vet, Since Bill's going to sandbag, I'll offer my own uneducated 2 cents' worth. Over the past several years, I've become a big fan of Shimano gear. Three outfits? Here's my choices, emphasis on MY. First would be a 6-6 medium heavy Shimano Crucial casting rod with fast or extra fast tip. Reel would be a Shimano Chronarch spooled with 15-pound Trilene 100% Fluorocarbon. This would be for Texas-rigging soft plastics or casting/pitching a regular (not FB) jig. This outfit could also double as a spinner bait rod. Second would be a 7-foot Crucial, medium heavy/extra fast, Chronarch reel and 15-pound Trilene 100% fluoro. This would be for Carolina-rigging and dragging a FB jig. Although the 15-pound line might be a bit heavy, you could also use this rig to throw a big crank bait (DD22), especially at night. Third, I'd choose a 6-6 or 7-foot Crucial spinning rod, medium action with fast or extra fast tip. I'd put a Shimano Symetre 2500 series reel on it and spool it with 6-pound P-Line mono. The rod has a drop-shot weight keeper at the butt end and is great for drop-shotting. It can also double as a shaky-head rod. The Crucial rods are IM9 construction and for my money are the way to go. They retail for around $139. Personally, I don't see paying for the GLoomis name. I own one GLX model and to me, there's not $5 worth of added performance in it over my Crucials, much less $200. But others may feel differently and that's certainly their right. The other advantage to the Crucials or any other Shimano rod is their over-the-counter, no-questions-asked replacement policy. You break it, they replace it over-the-counter wherever you bought it. Can't beat that. Hope this has been some help. Look forward to reading other posts on this great topic.

Skeeter, Like others said, I feel your pain. But I'd strongly recommend seeking other legal counsel before I commenced riddling someone with bullets for stealing $200 worth of gas. Did your attorney also think it wise to post death threats on a public internet forum? Sounds like premeditation from here. I seriously doubt that any prosecutor, judge or jury is going to embrace the idea of killing someone over a tank of gas regardless of whatever obscure law your "attorney" wants to quote. Bill's right. Thieves have been around since the dawn of time. You aren't going to single-handedly stamp out thievery by killing anyone. All you'll do is land yourself in jail, perhaps for taking a shot at an innocent fisherman. Stop holding your common sense hostage and take your boat home.

Danger, I'm sure Bill can expand on this, but my simple answer would be to fish the fb jig exactly as you would a Carolina rig. Chunk that dude as far as you can, let it fall to the bottom and drag it slowly back to the boat. I keep my rod tip low and sweep the rod sideways when I set the hook, just like with a C-rig. I throw it on 15-pound fluorocarbon (Seaguar or Trilene 100% fluoro) for sensitivity.

Question rps ... do Diet Cokes sharing an ice chest with walleye taste less fishy than with other species? Drank plenty of "fish beer" back in my drinking days.

Allen, Fish the points around Big Bay Resort on both sides of the creek. Also, heading downlake toward Baxter, go into White Oak. It'll be the first creek on your left and within sight of Big Bay. You'll find em.

Seems I remember getting out and enjoying a relaxing day of fishing along shady banks, pitching a jig or worm and catching scrappy little spots. Then I got all serious about tournament fishing and was forced to concentrate on catching bigger (and fewer) fish.

I gotta agree with Bill on this one. I don't think you can successfully legislate safety and certainly not common sense. Besides, we have a no-wake zone under the Highway 12 bridge on Beaver Lake and it ends up the sheriff's patrol sits there watching the bridge all day when their time would be better spent out patroling the rest of the lake. Can't speak with much knowledge about Missouri, but enforcement resources are spread ridiculously thin in Arkansas. As a result, it's fruitless to enact new laws because there aren't enough deputies, game wardens, etc. to effectively enforce the ones we have. Like it or not, it comes down to the fact that we have to share public waters with other interest groups. And realistically, fishermen's headaches with big-boat traffic are pretty well limited to a few hours each day on weekends and primarily only in warm weather months. Before we start hollering for size limits or other restrictions on pleasure boats, perhaps we should think about whether we really want to open that can of worms ... do we want round-the-clock speed limits on our rigs? Maybe those huge boats and certain water activities (skiing, tubing, etc.) could be limited to certain areas of the lake. I'm as irritated as anyone by the idiots and irresponsible pleasure-craft renters. Had two pass between me and a point I was fishing Saturday through a space no wider than a long cast with the crank bait I was throwing. But the bottom line is, it's public water and we have to share unless we're willing to risk some of the freedom that we, too, enjoy. Just my 2 cents' worth. I'm done. Assemble the firing squad and blast away.

Fished the same derby, Bill, and had the same opinion of the boat traffic. Good grief, it was awful. Told my wife/partner that I thought it was the worst I'd ever seen on the Rock. Glad to hear you say the same. Didn't know if it was just me or what. We were fishing points in the James and NOT fishing that far out from the tree line and twice had boats run between us and the trees. Could have clocked either one of em with a football jig and it sure was tempting. Ah, the joys of summer.

Incredible info. Incredibly detailed. Incredible that Bill and Capt. D would share it after all the hours they put in on the hour gathering it. Thanks, guys. Seriously.

I think those fish actually came from Beaver. I believe I recognize that log as one near Coppermine Lodge.

Thanks, guys. Thought I might save a little boat gas/oil by putting in up there Friday before the CPA team tournament Sat.

Anyone know if it's possible to launch at Cape Fair or the 76 bridge? Haven't been up there since the floods and didn't see anything about those areas on the ramps report at the top of the forum. Thanks in advance.

Guys, The season's final Central Pro-Am team tournament will be Saturday (June 21) out of Mill Creek ramp. Entry fee is $100 a boat and you can pay at the ramp. Unsure about takeoff time but probably 6 a.m. Come join us. More information available from CPA office in Kimberling City at (417) 739-3478.

Those are some beautiful pix Bill. Been quite a spring on the Rock, especially considering the added difficulty of finding catchable fish given the high water. Of course, always appreciate your reports and those by Capt. D, Eric and everyone else here. Also, glad to hear of the hospitality at Big M. Have considered going in there to see if they had a grill several times but never have. Will make a point to do so now. Love fishing that area of the lake.

Bill speaks the truth. Some Redfins just won't work properly no matter how much you tinker with them. I've found that the Jackall Mikey and Mikey Jr. wake baits are far more dependable, but they should be since they cost somewhere around $20 each. Good thing is you aren't apt to lose a wake bait on Table Rock. On my home lake of Beaver, you're risking feeding one to a striper every time you toss it out there.

Phil and others, Regarding my request this morning of prayer for the co-worker, I just wanted you guys to know that Damien called me late tonight to say that he and his fiancee have resolved their problems and renewed their plans for a November 1 wedding. I told him of posting this request and he wanted me to thank you guys for your prayers. I thank you as well and ask that when you can, please remember this young man with the learning disability in prayer and also, if you would, please pray that I will remain a tool of the Lord to help Damien along in his new walk with God and his struggle with alcohol. God worked a true miracle in delivering me from alcoholism and it is one of my greatest desires to share my story with others in hopes that they will choose an easier and shorter path than I took to get where I am today. God bless each of you for caring enough to take time to pray for Damien and me. It's been said before, but is it any wonder that Jesus loved fishermen so much?

Guys, A friend at work approached me yesterday in tears over problems he and his fiancee are having that have led to the postponement of their wedding. This young man recently accepted Christ as his savior and is attending church regularly, but I learned in the course of our conversation that he has continued to drink. I personally sacrificed 25 years of my life to the bottle until God literally delivered me from it a year-and-a-half ago. I know firsthand the absolutely needless pain and suffering that alcohol can cause and my request is that you pray with me that God can continue to use me as a messenger to this young man, Damien. I know that his heart is soft and open right now and that despite his learning disorder that God can work the same miracle in his life as He did in mine. Thanks in advance for your prayers. James

Capt. Don, I did that once in a tournament ... got a Rogue hook buried in my hand first thing that morning and left it in all day. Boy did it swell and hurt. Hope the doc gave you some pain pills, too, for the first day or two afterward.

Bill, Thanks much for this information. Can't get that anywhere else. Curious what the water color is like in the Kings, say from from Sweetwater to 86 bridge? Thanks again.

Seems to me the 15-inch minimum length limit is working as advertised. Where else in the country can a guy catch spots the size of those at Table Rock, plus great smallmouths and largemouths, too? I fished last Sunday on a not-too-great weather day and had a 5-pound largemouth, 4-pound spot and 3 1/2-pound smallmouth. Just my opinion, but I don't know why you'd want the MDC to jack around with the regulations for Table Rock. It's been a winning formula for a long, long time. I, too, disdain the idea of jerking bass off beds — males or females — during tournaments. I'll be fishing Central Pro-Am next weekend and do not intend to bed fish or even look for beds. A guy can waste way too much practice and competition time doing so. I'd be fine with the idea of not holding tournaments during the spawn, but I believe some folks would still be out there yanking fish off the beds. As for paper tournaments, those may be fine at the club level. But I'm not spending $1,200 and up on entry fee, fuel and oil, lodging, eats, etc. to fish a tournament where weights are guesstimated with a formula.

To Bill, Don and other guides/local experts who post here ... this tournament fisherman thanks you all for sharing what you do. I have guided myself in the past and I feel your pain. It doesn't come natural to most of us to get nasty with people, but there does come a time when enough is enough. Again, thanks for what you guys do share here. Anyone who knows much of anything at all about fishing should be able to take that general info and make it work for them. But therein lies the problem, they don't want to WORK at it. Personally, I get as much joy out of the "work" part of fishing as I do the catching part — examining the conditions, making an educated guess as to what the fish are doing, going back to the blackboard when it doesn't work, and hopefully finally putting it all together. Guess that's the difference in true fishermen and those who just want something to pull on their line.

I will be fishing Central Pro-Am up there April 5-6. From tournament reports on 724outdoors.com from last weekend, fishing is pretty good despite the high water. Haven't been up there myself but plan to leave early Wednesday morning, April 2, and put in three good days of practice. Will be happy to report back, although I know it will be a couple of weeks from now. BFL tournament is Saturday up there so that may provide some information.