Champ188

That was a very good friend (and his partner) who won the Polar Bear and yes, they did catch em on jigs. However, he does have FFS and they used it some.

He's flamboyant, at the least.

Bill, you've posted some pretty incredible fishing wisdom here over the years but not sure you've ever written truer words than what you said above. For the record, I was livid when Drink rented out two digital highway billboards in Pine Bluff to celebrate ... or gloat over ... the signing of 4-star WR Courtney Crutchfield and an equally talented Pine Bluff HS teammate to the Tigers. I even texted Mr. Bill after hearing about it to say what the frick is up with your dude? Who does that? I thought it was a douchey move and, honestly, I still hope it comes back to bite him in the bum. What I did not know was this is apparently a thing that coaches across the country have done recently. Still seems classless to me but hey, it IS 2024 and things have changed. College athletics certainly have changed, as has the entire world. No, I won't stop watching despite my wishes that the sport had spurned NIL and the transfer portal. (Love the Dr Pepper Fanville ad where the sheriff hollers, "It's the transfer portal! It's outta control!" As for Arkansas, go Hogs! Coach Sam may not be the long-term answer but I can say in full confidence that he has left indelible examples of CHARACTER upon his players that will accompany them throughout life. Petrino, meanwhile ... well, you can't say it much better than Bill already has, so I'll leave that where it lays.

The swimming squirrels were a real deal indeed. We were at Bull Shoals for the Central Pro-Am championship that year and Brad Butler was practicing in an offshore spot when, unbeknownst to Brad, a squirrel climbed into his boat and took refuge under the driver's console. When Brad finished fishing that spot, he pulled the TM, went to the driver's seat per usual, started the engine and took off. Apparently the squirrel was not a fan of high speed and came out from under the console, climbing straight up Brad's bare leg (he was wearing shorts). I don't recall the details, but mayhem at high speed ensued and when Brad got the boat stopped (probably by activating the kill switch while trying to escape the squirrel). Eventually, the squirrel bailed over one side of the boat and Brad nearly bailed over the other. And yes, he was presented with a toy stuffed squirrel at a weigh-in later that week.

Happy new year, pstone!

I've seen you on the water plenty of times. There aren't that many of anything where you usually fish. 😆😂

Generous of you Dock to share a pic of your best lure. Thanks, brother. Helps us river rats/bank beaters at least understand a little about what you're doing.

I could listen to stories like this until I fell over dead from laughing. God blessed us magnificently with his creations, but he blessed us even more with friends to share our experiences. And when all is said and done, it's rarely the fish stories that we tell and re-tell over the years ... rather, it's the kind of recollections Bill just shared where things went awry (locking keys in truck, etc.) but left us with an indelible memory. Hope that makes sense. I just know that I have plenty of experiences that seemed disastrous in the moment but were howlers to re-tell years later. Bill, thanks for sharing these memories of Buster. I didn't know the man well but these stories helped me learn a bit more about a darn good guy.

That's a bruiser for sure. Congrats!

Never ever heard a bad word about the man. For a fishing guide and tournament fisherman, that speaks volumes about his character.

Merry Christmas, everyone!

😆😂

Of course it counts ... a 7-pounder (or 8 if the ".15" is actually ozs. rather than 1/100ths of a pound) caught on 4-pound line around a dock is a pretty good feat. Congrats and here's hoping you exceed all goals for 2024.

For what it's worth, I heard jerk bait and jig from a pretty reliable source. If someone had a gun to my head and I had to guess right or die, I'd say Wart.

Nah, got sidescan for that. Humminbird might once have had the market cornered on that ancient feature, but Lowrance made it better. Still a dang good way to find crappie piles (and crappie). Sometimes one even finds a bass or two. And speaking of docks and bass, what happened to catching them off the front corners of docks on a topwater, spinnerbait, swim jig, crank bait or anything else for that matter? I did not catch a single front-corner dock bass in 2023 that I can recall. Hard to believe it's just coincidence ... I may not fish 100 days a year or more like I used to, but I fish enough and throw at both front corners of dang near every dock I come to. Used to be a darn good way to catch Ol' Big.

Just when you think you know me, Jeff .... BOOM GOES THE DYNAMITE! Never underestimate a native of Hot Springs, Arkansas --- we were the first people in this great capitalistic nation to make a fortune selling bottled water and rocks (crystals) to the rest of the country.

Great post. Thanks for the expert info.

Caught a similar bunch of fish but much shallower Tuesday. Sun was high and bright with no wind so I started out flipping docks and pretty much stuck with it the entire 6-7 hours I was there. Mostly spots but 80% or better keepers and a couple a little north of 3 pounds. Most of mine were sorta long and lean, like some of Bill's fish above, but the two bigger ones looked like lower-lake fish ... just total footballs. Have to share this ... our late buddy Bo came to mind because, along with the smallmouth he caught when he ventured downlake on his night trips, he'd bring big spots back up the Kings and White rivers, too, as part of his "tournament restoration program." He figured --- and I agreed (yes, Bo and I sometimes agreed 😆🤣) --- that with all of the big derbies being out of Kim City and points even farther east, a lot of fish were getting hauled out of the river arms and never replaced. Bill knows this better than I, but no telling how many fish Bo brought back to the rivers over the years. It was a bunch and it wouldn't surprise me if it made a noticeable difference. Now just imagine how much MORE difference it could make if the MDC would just do an annual ... or semiannual ... supplemental stocking of SM and LM. I don't think spots really need any help with numbers, especially with a 15-inch min length limit. My fish Wednesday came from 4-28 feet (almost ran outta line on that deep one 😂) on two things ... finesse worm (watermelon candy) on a drop shot and a 5/16 ballhead jig (jelly smoke) with green pumpkin craw trailer. Yeah, I rambled. It's legal in the winter.

Exactly right, brother. No one else coulda gotten by with that.

Coz Johnny needs that $5 real bad. I thought he was all in for doing things to promote the sport of fishing ... how's charging $5 to access a lake that already belongs to all of us doing anything for anyone except himself?

I'm going to The Knob tomorrow (Tuesday) and will report back Wednesday AM.

Maybe, maybe not. I'd keep my head on a swivel just in case. 😆🤣

You were talking so sensibly, Bill, and then you drifted back into that delusional discourse about shad at 80 feet and other such crazy talk. 😆🤣

Stay off my stuff. ☠️😆

Good to know, you ol' walleye hammer. You've spent a lot of hours learning them for sure!