Champ188

This is awesome news considering the someone in our two-person household is turning 62 in May. LOL

This is wonderful technology from several aspects ... the mounts are of such quality that it takes close examination to tell them from a traditional mount; they don't seep oil and discolor over the years because there's no actual skin; and best of all, as Stone points out, the fish goes back in the lake. Amazingly, some people remain dead set (pardon the pun) on killing trophy fish to have a "real mount" made by a taxidermist.

I like Mill Creek because the way the courtesy dock is set up, you can back down right next to it and just step in or out of your boat, as opposed to having to climb over the bow. Huge convenience factor.

"Three things can happen when you throw the ball, and two of them are bad." --- Darrell Royal

Plus one on a pat on the back for the Corps. Perhaps this year our fish can have a successful spawn without the threat of the water being pulled down off their beds should we have a major rain event, which is always likely in spring. Without supplemental stocking, Table Rock can use all of the favorable factors it can get for the natural spawn.

I do believe the A-rig results in more big fish being caught by inexperienced or unconcerned anglers not responsible enough to release them and have a replica mount made. Beyond that, my dislike for it is purely selfish ... you almost have to throw it if you want to win a winter/early spring derby and it's hard on old shoulders, elbows and wrists.

Welcome to the site, Bill. Glad you decided to join in and contribute. Look forward to hearing what you have to say.

That RK is a fish-catching dude.

Glad to offer what limited help I did. That Falcon Cara would be the sweetest thing you ever put in your hands, but we all have budgets we have to stick with. I bet that Lew's would do the job just fine, too. Again, whatever you get, enjoy the heck out of it and catch a bunch. I certainly would wait until I could get in touch with Bill and see what he can do. You might be pleasantly surprised.

Good job of nearly keeping pace with the A-riggers. Just hard to beat them this time of year. Some of us are determined to keep trying, though.

Back atcha, my brother.

Guys, we all know that anytime you have extended periods of low water, there will be plenty of old, formerly sunken wood that dries out and is likely to create a boating hazard when the lake comes back up and floats it. At some point when TR comes back to pool, that could be something we all want to be aware of. But MDC's brushpiles are only a tiny percentage of this wood. In an aging lake like Table Rock, we need all the wood cover we can get. I can't say I've ever fished an MDC brushpile intentionally, but it's good for the fishery in general to have all the cover we can get. Most of us have boated in far more treacherous situations during the flood years.

You will like that head, Macsimus. The keeper system eliminates the need to super-glue swimbaits onto your jighead. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BLr6bTMt2YY

MH is an awful lot of power for a jerkbait. The M power does at least two things: (1) It helps soften the "jerk" for those who have trouble imparting a subtle "twitch" to their lures and (2) it helps keep fish from pulling off during the fight. M power and fast action are the way to go.

I don't know where you guys are finding Big Game in anything below 10#. I've never seen it in smaller sizes and even Berkley's website doesn't list anything smaller. You sure you aren't talking about XT or XL?

Thumbs, those are some incredible eagle pics. More than worth the trip right there alone. Probably a good thing you didn't get any closer. I can't get this vision out of my head of that bird going into attack mode and you laying in the bottom of that Skeeter pleading for your life.

Yeah, but not in your holes. There's an unprecedented relocation program under way. Been ongoing for a few weeks now.

I'll admit, it had its moments for me. A well-done show by talented folks, obviously. But it just didn't tickle my funny bone most of the time. I'm sure the same can be said for lots of folks where Big Bang Theory is concerned, but I love that one.

As winter days on Table Rock are known to do, this outing started far easier than it progressed. After catching up on some freelance editing work, I left Bella Vista about 7:15 a.m. under cloudy skies with temps in the mid-50s. But driving north into the arriving strong cold front, the temp had plunged to 45 by the time I reached Seligman and on down to 39 when I stepped out of the truck at the H highway ramp at Baxter. Having just received some freshly and oh-so expertly painted jerk baits from Tim Hughes (Hughesy here on our own OA forum), I was anxious to get them wet. Little did I expect to get the first bite on one within sight of the ramp and for it to be a solid 16-inch keeper largemouth. Because I had just started down this promising windblown south bank, I figured more bites would come fairly quickly. Wrong. The second bite didn't come until 45 minutes later, after I'd moved around the corner to another known location that was heavily populated with standing cedars. Because of the thick cover, I had switched to a Keitech 3.8-inch Fat Impact soft swimbait which -- importantly -- was carried by the fairly new War Eagle Grubber weedless grub/swimbait head in the 3/16-ounce size. The head is specially designed with double spikes to securely hold swimbait bodies and also features a cable weedguard that allows it to be thrown into literally just about any kind of cover. This second fish, which fell an inch or so under the 15-inch keeper mark, inhaled the swimmer as it was in the gnarly middle of a standing cedar tree. Leaving the Baxter area, I headed around to where a bluff transitions into a sloping point, and sure enough, just as I'd suspected, the second or third cast with the Hughes-painted stick bait produced a second keeper largemouth. The very next cast, a keeper spotted bass did likewise. Both battled gamely, with the water temperature still showing 47.9 degrees, obviously helped by the two previous days of high air temps in the 70s. When the action died there and the sloping point produced nothing, I let my curiosity draw me a few miles downlake toward Kimberling City. That's generally not a great plan for this old river rat, and Thursday was no exception. Fishless -- and biteless -- two hours later, I returned to Baxter and started pounding windblown chunk/slab rock banks to no avail. Finally, where some timber started to appear, another keeper largemouth came aboard, this time on the Ned rig (cut Zinker in green pumpkin goby rigged on a 1/8-ounce head supplied by our own Dave Reeves, better known to OA members as dtrs5kprs). With the air temp now at 36 and the north wind still whistling, I decided one last stop might be enough. The choice of a 45-degree chunk rock bank lined with timber proved to be a good one, for within 30 minutes I was able to boat another keeper, two more short spots and lose a very healthy fish of some description that I never saw. Could've been a big bass or a hefty walleye, but whatever it was, it was a dandy. In retrospect, what is certain right now is the midlake water temps are still in the mid-40s, which is very fishable. At least on Thursday, any shallow fish to be caught were around wood cover. And, as evidenced by a well-worn bill on a phantom green Rock Crawler, there just doesn't seem to be much of a crank bait bite to be found. I'm not hearing much better news from others better than me at finding this bite. Rest assured, it is to come. Meantime, get out there and enjoy what God has created for us. In some ways, it's never prettier than in winter.

Guys, I use a Falcon Cara T7 Weightless Worm rod myself that I bought directly from Mike McClelland's hands. He handed me the lightly used rod and I handed him cash. Best darn jerkbait rod ever made, IMO. But we need to point this guy toward the best jerkbait rod he can buy for $100. To stay strictly at that price, I'd be hard pressed to recommend besides the Lew's TPI Speed Stick Jerkbait/Small Topwater model. It's a 6-8, ML rod that should do the job nicely. What would probably do a significantly better job of getting that bait out there (and distance is critical in jerk bait fishing) is the Lew's Custom Speed Stick Jerkbait rod at $129 (retail -- might find it on sale closer to $100). I say this rod might be better because it's a M action instead of ML, and that extra bit of muscle in the barrel might just help propel that bait a bit farther. That's my 2 cents' worth. Whatever you end up with, Steve, I hope you catch a bunch of fish on it.

True, Phil. Never could stomach Seinfeld myself. I'd have to call this my Seinfeld of fishing shows.

Wasn't pointed at you, Ham. Just a general challenge.

Perhaps those who want exclusive fishing threads should actually go fishing, then come back and post a report. Donna and I have done so the past two weekends and I'm going tomorrow (Thursday). Challenge issued.

You're learning, Grasshopper. Of course, you're probably so young you'll need that one explained to you. LOL

That's pretty much the case with all fishing shows these days ... they're all about entertainment and very little about fact and actual help for young anglers.