Champ188

Not a thing wrong with your post, buddy. Great deer.

Deer fight! 🤣 God bless winter on OAF.

Until fish learn to talk, we aren't going to have definitive answers as to questions of line visibility and other things. My personal opinion is that line visibility does make a difference in ultra-clear water. My reasoning is that I've witnessed it firsthand on Lake Ouachita. Not going to debate it because I may be wrong. Likewise, Bo may be wrong. Since fish aren't going to talk and tell us, it's probably best that line is made in all variations and sizes so that we can all fish our convictions. And it IS a proven fact that we all catch more fish when we believe in our equipment and tactics .

There it is, folks. Every word truth.

This is a mouthful right here and is something that, if addressed, would likely have a much bigger impact than supplemental stocking. Everyone wants to hold tournament after tournament in the spring months, when the fish are most vulnerable, and we've all seen the results of poor fish care during some summer events. Delayed mortality takes even more fish and is far less visible. It would be nice to see MDC take a hard look through eyes unclouded by money (economic impact) and/or politics, and fearlessly address the fact that hundreds upon hundreds of tournaments simply cannot be healthy for our fishery. Yes, by all means, tournament anglers have a right to enjoy their sport. But that right ends where harm to the fishery begins. I'd still like to see an exhaustive study done --- far more than springtime electrofishing --- where MDC collected true data on the lake's carrying capacity for black basses (LM, SM and spots) and took action to try and get us to that point. Heck, maybe we are there now. But we will never know by simply shocking up a few fish while they are up shallow during spawn/immediate postspawn months.

So THAT’S why Bo and Babler catch so many more fish than me at times! 😆😂

Happy Thanksgiving back atcha John. And here's hoping for a less-tough year in 2019.

Hey nhornback, just an observation ... your post has had 558 views at this moment ... that's how many people you mapped your fishing spot for. Very nice of you to share full info and my hat is off to you for your generosity ... but you may want to play your cards a little closer to the vest. Lots of vultures on this site and others like it who never bother to even join, much less post a report. They just want whatever tidbits they can take and run with.

Fished 7:30 to 4:30 Friday out of Baxter and had a pretty decent day. Ended up with 20 fish on the nose, with 15 keeps. Nothing real big but lots of solid fish up to 3 pounds. Took one of our local high school fishing team members and he did most of the catching. Pure fun sitting back and watching him catch em for the first time on a Ned. It was one of those classic Table Rock days where they should've been chasing a moving bait but instead they were glued to the bottom and were only receptive to dragging presentations. Had several nose-bump a jerk bait but only one taker. Nearly every fish came from 8-15 feet and having timber present was a very big help. Not a must, but close. Everything was either main lake or in the front half of creeks. Interesting side note ... we caught all brown and spotted fish and a couple of meanmouths ... but NO green ones. Water temp was 52-54 everywhere we went. With the full moon, the afternoon bite was definitely better. This post has been promoted to an article

Haven't heard anything but I'm sure Aaron at HLS could tell you or Jeff Cook at his Allstate Insurance office.

Thank you, Bruce! I'd like to also wish everyone on the forum a great Thanksgiving and fellowship with family and friends. I'll be on the water tomorrow with one of our young Bentonville High School fishing team members. May be a nasty weather day but hopefully they'll bite.

Fifteen fish in November isn't a bad day for us commoners. We are not in the same league as some on OAF. 😆

Not trying to talk you off of a Falcon if your heart is set on it but I've been using the Denali Kovert finesse jig rod for my Warts and Rock Crawlers for a while now and it's an awesome rod for that. Too soft in my opinion for its original intent (finesse jig) but perfect for a mid-size crank. https://www.amazon.com/Denali-Kovert-Lite-Casting-Rod/dp/B07F6SHZZ4/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1542231742&sr=8-3&keywords=denali+kovert+rods

Good job, buddy. Nice bag of fish.

That's a great cartoon, PDF or not 😄

Good job, guys. Donna and I went last Sunday and caught some bass on spinnerbaits and jigs, then we ran into some nice whites schooling at the mouth of the ramp pocket at Rocky Branch as we were about to load up. Caught a few of them on topwater and swim bait.

HERE WE GO! Now it's fishing season!

Exactly … shoot, even ARKANSAS stocks bass in their lakes. Guess MDC can't keep pace with its barefoot, backward neighbors to the south. 😆

I doubt that anyone here knows Shane Bush better than Mr. Babler, who has stated repeatedly that there will be no bass stocked into Table Rock in the foreseeable future. Don't know where all of those derby-generated dollars are going but they ain't buying us any more bass.

I see they've moved it back to April this year. They do take very good care of the fish from what I've seen but I hope we don't have fish on beds. Since the lake just keeps attracting more and more tournaments and MDC refuses to supplement the natural spawn by stocking, the fish don't need to be moved around during the spawn.

Thanks, Mark and I will or Miss Donna will conk me on the head. Come to think of it, I'll just put her on the TM. 🐢 Of course, that will introduce the danger of nodding off and falling off the back deck into the drink.

LOL guys, sure wish I was out there today but work had other ideas. I just bet a guy could get a tickle or two on a Fin or Plopper run thru the top of the right cedar trees. Probably a blade bite to be had, too. Bo is absolutely right about this rain hastening the completion of the fall turnover. My suspicion is there will be fish both shallow and deep for quite a while … a guy should have his pick of which way to catch em, within reason. Won't hurt when all of these year-end championship derbies are over, either. Surely that has to be sooner than later. Getting ready to have a knee carved on Nov. 12. Just a scope job to repair a torn meniscus and clean up some cartilage and such, but I won't be able to play golf for 6 weeks. It's the twisting movement I have to avoid. However, since there are no weight-bearing restrictions (no comments from the wize azzes, please 😆) I do plan to be in the boat waaaaaaaaay before 6 weeks is up.

Winter fishing is fabulous on TR. But please, take Bobby's advice and go duck hunting. The fewer boats on the lake, the better! 😁

So you ARE catching them in a roundabout way … just putting others on them so they can win a $5,000 check. Can't miss with that kind of help.