Champ188

Donna and I are going somewhere on TR. Not sure where.

Glad to have ya, sloth man. Good luck!

Going tomorrow. Will let you know.

Just another example of good ol Johnny furthering the sport of fishing. The man just nearly drowns in his own good will.

War Eagle calls that Pond Scum Perch. They introduced it about 10 years ago.

Take it from one who relishes winter fishing, there’s a ton of good info here.

A sizable but not huge group of bass anglers were able to bring about a number of changes back in the 90s in Arkansas by getting the AGFC to sit down and discuss our concerns and wishes. Three things that I remember well getting done were supplemental stocking of smallmouth bass into Lake Ouachita, fewer stripers stocked into Lake Ouachita, and stiffer regulations for spearfishing, which is extremely popular on Ouachita because of its incredible water clarity. If the MDC would be willing to come to the table (pun intended) in a public forum about our Table Rock concerns, perhaps we could get their attention. But for individuals to write letters and make phone calls, it's too easy to toss those into file 13 or forget what was said as soon as the receiver goes back in the cradle.

Wish NuTech would add a 5/16 finesse jig with a collared skirt to their lineup. I'd definitely try one of those.

Awesome brownie. Congrats!!

Great job, QB. May go back tomorrow myself.

Donna and I launched at 8:00 at Lost Bridge to temps in the upper 30s, dark cloud cover and a brisk south wind. Not the worst of conditions for January although it did rain steady the last two hours. Water temps steady at 46-47. Threw a jerk bait, jig, Ned and Rock Crawler and caught fish on all but the latter. Found most of them still back in creeks on channel swings and secondary points. Mix of SM, LM and spots. Ended with a dozen total with 8 or 9 keepers.

Man, you couldn't have said one word of that any better. Amen and amen.

You shut up about that black van. That’s an official United Nations vehicle whose occupants are decoding microchips embedded in street signs. We don’t need you going missing when they find out you outed them.

I might think twice about that ... I haven't had one iota of trouble with my Merc except for the ONE DAY that 96 got in my boat and it immediately smoked an ignition coil. Heck, we hadn't even left the dock! Just sayin ...

In retrospect, I hope my previous post didn't seem insensitive. It certainly was not intended that way. But like many of you, I've been in and around this tournament game a lot of years ... about 40 of them. One thing I am certain of is this ... there needs to be some serious talk about safety. FLW and their Costa series in particular has had numerous accidents, including a two-boat collision just a few months ago on Grand that turned out a lot better than it might have. Wrench is right ... there is the factor that a lot of these guys depend on their earnings/sponsorship contracts for their living. So no doubt they want/need to get to their best locations. But there is another and way more important factor for these boaters ... they are responsible for the lives of their co-anglers. Before you set out across rough water that may or may not be more than you/your boat can handle, you have to stop and think that the guy sitting beside you is someone's son, husband and/or dad. You are taking the chance of bringing tragedy into a lot of lives and you cannot afford to make a snap decision with that much on the line. I'm not saying this is definitely what happened at Okeechobee. I don't know what happened. But I know there are a LOT of times practically every weekend when someone in a tournament makes a decision that could potentially turn out very, very badly. It doesn't have to be a pro tournament ... it can happen in a club derby. It doesn't even have to be a tournament ... it can happen during a day of purely recreational fishing with a buddy. Bottom line is safety isn't something to be tossed aside for the sake of catching a few more fish. Even if it's your livelihood, catching a boatload of 5-pounders does you no good if you don't make it back to the weigh-in with them.

Sounds like at least two things could possibly have prevented this: 1. Perhaps FLW should have considered cancelling competition that day if the waves were high enough to cause an accident. 2. Perhaps the boat driver was going too fast for conditions. It happens all the time in tournaments. Guys get over-amped about getting to their spot and take unnecessary chances.

Hoping against hope that the co-angler is found alive.

You will always find me either in the shade or the wind. Times when the wind is blowing in on the shady side are the best of both worlds.

It's a darn good trick, Jerry. I got it from Mark Davis many years ago before he ever fished a pro event. One of the old guides on Lake Ouachita had shared it with him. The internet is certainly full of information but there's still a lot of good stuff that gets passed down from generation to generation.

Glad to hear you found one that fits your budget and your needs. Let me offer a couple of suggestions to combat line twist ... (1) Always close the bail manually before starting your retrieve. (2) Every couple of trips, cut your lure off and while idling along and let the line string out behind the boat. I'd let at least half the line off your spool and pull it like this for 4-5 minutes. This will pull practically all of the twist out of your line and set you up for a smooth day of casting.

The larger the spool, the less line twist you have to deal with. I've been using Pflueger Supreme XT's for about a year now and am very well pleased with them. I'd suggest the 35 size. Not to heavy and very little line twist issues. http://www.tacklewarehouse.com/Pflueger_Supreme_XT_Spinning_Reel/descpage-PXT.html

Listen, Titleist Breath, you don't have the market cornered on hating because I have been labeled a hater here MANY more times than you. So there. And yes, I hate you, too. For that matter, anyone who stoops to throwing an A-rig probably uses Volvik golf balls. The fluorescent, matte finish, flaming hot pink ones!

Yes, I suppose you could look at it as a shortcut to success. If you’re into that sort of thing.

The Whopper Plopper is a single-bodied lure. The rub with the A-rig, double Fluke rig, etc., is that they are multi-bodied lures attached by a harness of some sort.

The 2-inch length would be awfully short to hang multiple bags or lure packages. I use the 8-inch size. And no comments from the peanut gallery, please. https://www.amazon.com/Presa-409-50-Shelving-8-Inch-50-Pack/dp/B00IT2NQGG/ref=sr_1_1?s=hi&ie=UTF8&qid=1514823585&sr=1-1&keywords=pegboard+hooks+8+inch