Champ188

There ya go. Keep some of those "eastern" fish ... they have plenty of em over there and they don't get beat nearly as hard as TR bass.

I think everyone owes it to themself to purchase FFS and get out there in the middle of the lake with it. There are millions of bass out there just waiting to be caught ... STUPID bass that have never seen a lure. Meanwhile, Randy Blaukat and I will be frothing the shallows like idiots, mad that we can't get a bite and cursing FFS. LOL

I'll dig some of mine out in a few minutes and post a pic.

I have a fair number of "dirt" in the Zinkerz and the old Strike King version of elaztech. Both are laminates ... green on one side and brown on the other.

Blaukat drew out with another boater because he didn't link up with a co-angler when he signed up and they came up short on the co-angler side. He was not happy on his daily YouTube video/rant. I've been around the guy quite a bit and he's likable in person ... I just wish he'd not be such a whiner. But he's spot-on on his stance against FFS. We share the opinion that schooled, open-water fish (as crappie are much of the year in lakes like TR where the cover is thinning by the day) are gonna get hammered until we have a numbers problem. I could care less about it anymore where tournaments are concerned ... if I fish a tournament these days, it's because I believe I can beat the scopers with my own brand of fishing. But I hate to see our crappie and especially our walleye, which for now have a nice foothold in Beaver and TR, get wiped out by meat hogs. Doesn't help that enforcement is in way short of the officers they need to uphold our laws.

Ham, I think you and I share a love for at least attempting to use our noodles to locate and catch fish. Not saying you don't have to be smart to catch em scoping, but if I had to sit out in the middle of the lake staring at a computer screen 12 months out of the year, I'd just sell out and spend more time on the golf course. Instead, Donna and I are picking up and retiring back to Hot Springs Village in a couple of years. Population is more than 80% retired and there are 11 recreational lakes (the biggest is just over 1,000 acres) that are full of fish. Gated community and heavily patrolled by police, so little chance of sneaking in and fishing. Lived there for 14 years and can't wait to get back. Stay off my lawn.

Snagged, I don't know anything near what Bill does about both lakes, but to me there's one big difference in TR and LOZ, and that is fertility. Lots of old septic tanks and field lines very close to the LOZ lakeshore can help "fertilize" the lower end of the food chain (plankton, etc.) and keep a fishery happy and healthy. There's also a LOT more shoreline cover at LOZ than TR, helping hold some of those fish closer to the banks. But I've had my butt kicked by the best of lakes and LOZ is no exception. That lake seems to me to be one of those that you have to find "the pattern within the pattern within the secondary pattern" and if you miss one little ingredient, you might as well be trying to write an algorithm in kindergarten. If you get all the pieces to the puzzle put together on the right day, it'll reward you handsomely.

It's just ridiculous anymore. Fished a couple Saturdays ago on Beaver ... it was 36 degrees with a heavy mist/light rain falling that was forecast to get heavier as the day continued. I was the only truck/trailer at Indian Creek park. There were none at Lost Bridge North or Lost Bridge South. I was somewhere in Indian Creek (fishing a little swimbait in deeper water, meaning I couldn't touch bottom with my rod tip 😆) when I heard a motor. Had my sweatshirt and rainsuit hoods both pulled up over my ears, so I didn't pay a lot of attention except to think, "A guy just can't be alone out here anymore, no matter the day or the weather." Went back to fishing thinking he would go on by but then I noticed the engine sound was gone. Peeked out from under my hoods to see this clown had stopped HALF A CAST from me and was in the process of lowering the trolling motor when I said, "You gotta be kidding me! We have to be the only two boats on this 40,000-acre lake and you think this is OK?" Of course, it was like trying to have a sensible conversation with a lib-tard ... I was the bad guy for calling him down when he'd done absolutely nothing wrong ... in his mind. Actually, it was more like "You're in my way so I'm just gonna fish on top of you until you leave." So, I appeased him and left. May or may not have done two full laps around him on plane on my way out. On my second lap, "Mr. Scope" was on his knees on the front deck trying not to fall in the lake. I think it was at that point he realized maybe it wasn't so cool not having even a "pro pole" on the front deck to grab onto in rough water and believe me, the water was pretty rough in his world at that particular moment. Black and silver Ranger with a new 4-stroke Merc and power poles. Gonna start taking pics of these guys and posting them here and on FB when they pull this crap.

I've never seen an MDC report that said anything else. There are plenty. No need to supplement the population that is getting the literal heck beat outta them every weekend by tournaments. Again, there are plenty. Go fishing and don't bother us.

Nicely done, Bill.

Yes, reduce the length limit.

Glad to hear you say that, Dutch. I thought it was just a personal thing with me but it's far from my fave color, too. I just seem to get bit better on the greenish colors.

How many were A-rig fish? Have to deduct 2 pounds each for them. 😆

Happy birthday, Bill. Hope you had a fun day.

Coz I saw you first. 😆😄

Boom goes the dynamite --- nailed it. 🔨 Admittedly, I'd already replied when I looked straight down and saw that Vernon had, too. Apologies in advance for steppin on ya. I like you ... you bring my kind of fishing weather when you come to call. LOL But gotta throw Big Pharma in there, too. I record Norah O'Donnell news every day and between segments yesterday were 3 consecutive Rx drug ads and a 4th for an OTC med. They did one story then broke again for 3 more Rx ads, 2 of which were the same as had just run 3 minutes earlier. For heck's sake, you can't turn on the TV anymore without seeing one. Personally, I'd prefer more Norah and less of everything else. I'm probably the furthest thing from a conspiracy theorist but you can't tell me that Big Pharma and Big Insurance aren't bumping uglies, so to speak. First question you have to ask about Rx meds these days is, does my insurance cover it? Side effects don't matter if you can't afford/won't pay the price for it, so Big P and Big I have us by the pinky toe with channel locks. A golfing acquaintance struggled for years with cancer ... he swore that the minute his insurance coverage maxed out, his doctors collectively told him there was no more they could do. Again, more Norah. Just sayin ...

Ol' Sam works that portal pretty hard. Seems to do well.

That's a pile of em for sure!

As for ice fishing for them, are you guys sure you don't mean yellow perch? I know those are awesome eating and very popular with the icefishing crowd.

The only thing that'll bring true parity is financial equality and that isn't likely to happen unless the NCAA puts caps on NIL and limits on the number of times these kids can transfer. Unless the Big 3 --- Walmart, Tyson and JB Hunt --- come on board with our NIL fundraising efforts, Arkansas is gonna struggle mightily to recruit the kind of talent needed to compete in the SEC.

Actually, I think those may have gotten loose from the nightwatch detail down the lake in the Cove That Shan't Be Named. Ever. Forever and ever. Amen.

I'd like to say I've never been that mad at em ... but I can't. I will say that it's been a minute, though.

Smart call. I recall a club derby in the early 80s when it -6 at launch time. We had to thaw out nearly everyone's steering cables with a bottle torch. Had to jump start a couple guys who probably hadn't charged their batteries good. I had 2 little spoon fish about 10 AM when the club prez pulled up and said we're done. Everyone else is gone. If you have a fish, you win. I did and I won. Anyway, your reel and rod guides all ice up so bad at that temp that you can hardly cast. Thus my decision to spoon fish that day.

Are you practicing up to shoot me for all of my smart aleck comments? 🤐

Me either and still tried to "Evel Knievel" a floating log in a 12-foot flatbottom one boring dog-day afternoon ... most likely on a dare. Ended up with a 6-horse Mercury (green & white, of 50s vintage) laying at my feet running wide open. Thankfully the shear pin had already broken so the prop didn't amputate my feet.