hoglaw

If you're looking for a really great deal on a boat that might be considered something of a "fixer-upper," then look no further. It's a 15' Carolina Skiff with trailer. I'm sure some of this will buff out: https://www.iaai.com/Vehicles/VehicleDetails.aspx?auctionID=0&itemID=14265976&RowNumber=8

It's not new, just new to me. It's an AFF Eagle, 21'x54" flatbottom. Gotta get it home and get the trolling motor set up and I'm champing at the bit.

I had high hopes of making this my first year to really go after the walleye. But now I'm sort of "between boats" and waiting to pick up a 20' fiberglass john with a 90/65 yammie jet. I feel like I'm missing out already. But this rain we got makes me think everything is trashed for a while. The water temp in the white river plunged bigtime, and the river surged from 3' at the gauge to almost 10'! That's a bunch of water, but it's going to go away quickly. I went trout fishing over by Mountain Home last weekend, but we stopped at Twin on the way back to look at the water. It looked absolutely gorgeous. I've been fishing out there since '99, and it seems like it hasn't been as pretty as it was last weekend since then. The water was running nice - not high, definitely not low, just a good solid flow. And it was a really pretty green. Probably 2+ feet of visibility. A lot better than the muddy trashed out slough that place has been ever since they build the new 45 bridge. So what is everyone's prediction on how this is going to affect the runs? When I get my jet, I'd love to take whoever wants to go out with me, but I was really hoping to get on the walleye before it gets too late. Will they chill out while this water subsides? Or are they already doing their thing? I'm sure there are a few white bass in the river, but I think we're five or six water temp degrees away from them really getting after it. No big rain is in the forecast, so maybe it will get primed in the next week or two? Maybe the higher water will let them push a little farther up where we can get away from the crowds a bit. The hybrids and stripers are yet to come. Haven't fully figured them out yet, but i've tangled with some big brids on the fly rod below twin before. I should have the setup to run up to Wyman if I want here in another two weeks. Hopefully I won't have missed out on the walleye action by then.

Jeb, help me out here. When I first got turned onto drop shotting, I was using my uncle's boat/dock at rambo creek. I'd find a bluff line under water that dropped off really sharp and had trees on the edges. I would hang onto a tree to hold still and drop down straight under the boat and catch 'em. After fishing with Trophy for a while, I've realized that folks will cast a drop shot a relatively short distance and work it back towards the boat. Seems like it ought to catch fish right off the bottom. Last summer, I found schools on my cheap electronics in pumpback and counted down the distance until I thought I was just under them and caught fish that way - with my weight far from the bottom. I guess all three tactics - fishing on the bottom vertically, fishing on the bottom horizontally, and fishing vertically to suspended fish - fall under the umbrella of drop shotting? Any major words of wisdom on when to choose between the three?

darn Mitch, you're right and thank you for pointing it out. I feel like an butt. That was some guy named Jerry Rapp. I feel bad now and I am truly sorry JoeD. I still disagree with your opinions about lawyers in general as there are a lot of us who do a good job and make the world a better place (at least for our clients), but I was out of line to say the kinds of things about you that I did. Way out of line. I'm glad you were the bigger man and took the high road. I really am sorry. Ness, I'm sorry for offending you as well. I guess I shouldn't say anthing about being thankful for the status quo in a thread about gloom and doom. I'm not sure why I bothered you so much. I'm sure it had something to do with feeling a little defensive about my livelihood and my mark on the world being impugned. But anyway, I'll go ahead and bow out of this one now.

No, I'm not sensitive about my profession at all. It's my calling. For some of you I suppose that's a statement on my character, but I'm darn good at it and I'm in high demand. It's easy to be selfish and feel good about that, but I genuinely like the fact that I provide a value added service to my clients - as in, they are money ahead for having utilized my services than had they gone elsewhere. I wake up every day loving what I do. I guess I'm blessed. I'm as quick to make lawyer jokes as the next guy. How do you know you have a GREAT lawyer? He gets your sodomy charge reduced to following too closely. The entirety of my animousity towards JoeD comes from a post he made where another member was selling custom painted warts, and Joe was pimping the wares of someone else in the same thread. I thought that was pretty classless. I suppose I should let it go. I'm a bigger person than that, but I couldn't help myself since he'd been scarce around the threads I had posted in lately. Once someone says something that shows their true colors it's hard to forget, you know? You form impressions of everyone on a message board based mostly on a name, their avatar, and what they post. My impression of you is a fairly mellow guy who catches some nice fish. My impression of some others not to be named is that they are pot stirrers in threads I usually avoid. My impression of JoeD is that he's a classless guy who will slight others for no particular reason. That's probably not a fair impression. I'm sure he's a nice guy, but it is what it is. Of course my girlfriend's been a little mad at me as of late. Probably had something to do with it.

Well humor a poor entrenched sheep like me. I guess I did call your idealogy a little crazy so a personal attack is probably fair play. But it seems to me that you just rattle off quotes and statements bordering on anarchy without any effort to actually explain them. Humor me. I'm obviously not as informed as you are, so please explain the relevance of that quote and help me understand why you feel the way you do. I'm open minded. You might be surprised. Is it your position that we should pay taxes? Less taxes? No taxes? Are there certain functions of government that you don't think are proper government functions? You sound a bit like a states' rights type guy who thinks that a lot of the current federal government functions weren't delegated to it by the states, but then you say things that are all-encompassing. I believe you are sincere and not just trolling, but you haven't said much of anything to support what you say. You haven't suggested an alternative other than to call us all cows, sheep, or whatever. I guess I do have a pretty simple frame of mind. I see the DOW at an all time high. Today, the market continued its rally based on employment statistics. There are still folks who are so willfully ignorant that they will say we are in a "recession," but all of the leading economic indicators say we're doing better than we ever have. It's not government double-speak either. It's reality. We still have major debt and budget issues to face, and idealogical battles to fight in that regard. But I can live where I want, do the work I want to do, fish where I want, buy the boats I want, drive the truck I want, take the vaccations I want, and live as comfortably as I want. I've done well in the market over the last couple of years. I'm a little skeptical because it doesn't all feel right, so I've given up some growth in exchange for buying puts on leveraged index funds since I feel like we're going to get a decent correction at some point between now and October. I grew up in a family that paid taxes. I went to a public land grant university for eight years. I worked hard and got head-hunted twice because of my work. I can literally do anything I want to do. I guess I don't want to kill people, steal stuff, or evade taxes, so in my mind that makes me pretty free. I hate paying taxes as much as the next guy...particularly 7.65% of my income to subsidize the retirement and medical care of older people. But in the grand scheme of things, the United States is really a pretty great place to live. Maybe that means I'm just getting led around like livestock, but I guess I'll take the country club, boating, fishing, and secure retirement lifestyle that goes with it. If the zombie apocalypse kicks off or the "government" starts attacking me with drones in the next few decades, then I suppose you can tell me you told me so.

Haven't tried those two locations, but when the fish are poised to hit a drop shot there isn't much that works better. One of my personal goals this summer is to get better at it than, "I'm going to hang on to this tree and drop this straight down and wiggle it...hopefully it works." Drop shotting on some otherwise tough days at Pumpback in Oklahoma has turned me onto it bigtime.

I'm with you here except for the term limits Mark. The expense of campaigns and the micro-economy that has become campaign finance is crippling this country. As an unapologetic lawyer, it pains me to see the fundraising and contributions that go into judicial elections. Aside from the fact that they are supposed to be non-partisan and apolitical, there's no reason they're any different from executive or legislative elections. When you have to raise money and corporate contributions and PAC contributions are unlimited, why would anyone think that the candidate would serve anyone other than those who contributed the most money. Term limits are a great idea in prinicple. No entrenchment. Fresh blood. All good things. The problem that I encounter on a routine basis in Arkansas is that the devoted and inteligent elected officials who truly "serve" have to step down. Let's face it, there just aren't that many smart people in this state. And those who are smart enough are WAY too smart enough to run for state office. Instead, we get a bunch of yokel jackasses who grandstand and try to legislate morality regarless of the undeniable unconstitutionality of their efforts. It is really an embarassment. It would be nice to have some inteligent servants in office for extended periods of time, but there's no reason to think the jackasses wouldn't get entrenched as well. Term limits is a tough call for me, but I completely get the logic from those who support them.

well yeah, Karl Rove is a jackass. I'm not sure what point quoting anything that came out of his mouth serves. If you want to talk about cows, moo-ing, etc., Karl Rove has suckled at the teet of politics more than just about anyone in history. He dropped out of college to pursue work with the republican party and never went back. He abandoned education and a career to marry well and pursue the life of a true career politician, but not someone that was charismatic enough to be in politics himself. No doubt the guy is seriously inteligent, just in an extremly devious - no boundaries - sort of way. Most recently, he apologized for saying that if someone killed Missouri's mentally challenged congressional candidate who talked about women having natural defenses to "legitimate rape." Maybe a noble sentiment to thing that guy..akins, akin, something like that...would serve the world by disappearing, but Rove's motivation for being pissed at the guy was purely because he said something so stupid he would hurt his own election chances as well as those associated with him. I can't believe anyone quoted Karl Rove for any purpose other than to make a joke.

Wait....this is a joke, right? Are you saying that the slave utilizing cotton farmers were right to resisit abolition? Are you saying that we really need some slaves since that's how it's been for a long time? Or are you saying that...I honestly can't think of anything you could possibly be saying that would make sense. Are you saying that we're all slaves to some greater evil or something?\ Things change. Eventually you don't need a man to pick cotton. I.....I mean...you just....what the heck are you talking about?

I haven't read the whole thread so I'm sure someone pointed this out, but your extremist logic is premised upon an entirely false assumption - that you have taxes extracted from you at the barrell of a gun. The first thought that comes to mind is move. But if you want to live in this wonderful land of opportunity, you can easily get by without paying taxes. First, stop earning an income. If you don't earn an income, you don't pay income taxes. Easy. There are lots of folks that do it. There's a whole commune just outside of West Fork that does it. That's really the easiest part. Since you don't earn an income, you're unlikely to leave behind the $5 mil or so that's required for estate taxes to kick in, so that's not an issue. Now to the tougher ones...excise taxes. You're going to have to not buy anything. Sure, you're going to need some things, but perhaps you can whittle or something and trade your wares for what you need. Fuels, electricity, tobacco, alcohol, etc. You're not going to have electricity anyway so that won't be an issue. You will have to do some walking, or perhaps you can hitchike with one of us who is willing to pay taxes to support infrastructure like roads, traffic control devices, etc. You're going to have to grow your own tobacco and dope and make your own alcohol...all of which you are free to do without paying excise taxes. The state taxes are next. We've already covered income tax. The next two are sales and property. Sales is pretty much the same as excise. You just can't buy retail. You can barter, trade your wares for cash (or as the folks I know who share your ideology call cage, FRN's [federal reserve notes]), etc. So sales tax isn't really that difficult to avoid. Hell, you can even buy a car of a certain value and not worry about it (not that you'll have gas to use with it...but maybe you can start making ethanol...darn, that 's not a bad idea, you might just be able to make this work). The real kicker is property taxes. You could live off the rest of us and set up a tent in the national forrest, but at some point you're going to want a little holler to call your own. Remember, this is on the state side and not the federal side, but it's still a "tax." I'm sure you can homestead a small patch of woods and be totally exempt from property tax. But it wouldn't get you much. Your better option is going to be to move to one of the states that don't have property taxes. I believe those exist, but maybe not. But some states have pretty generous homestead exemptions. In Washington State for example, you won't owe a dime in property taxes if you don't make over a certain amount of money, which you won't! The thing is, living without paying taxes is completely do-able. You can do it right here in the good old U S of A. While you're doing it, you'll be very glad that the rest of us pay taxes for things such as law enforcement, sanitation, public land (where you'll be living), roads for you to walk and hitch a ride on, a military to ward off invading nations - however unlikely, and even public assistance. The same public assistance that will keep others from living in your patch of woods and keep them from having to steal your handy-work by force. If you get hurt or sick, the rest of us will pay for you to get better - though not as good as you'd get if you were working and could afford private insurance. There are definitely valid points to be made in the realm of what things are government functions and what things aren't. If you told me that it wasn't the federal government's responsibility to mandate insurance coverage, provide unemployment benefits for those that lose their jobs, or make sure that old people receive social security benefits, you would have a valid point. If you told me that it wasn't the federal government's responsibility to regulate interstate commerce, maintain a standing military (regardless of size), or provide care and social security benefits to orphans who lose their parents, then you would be a little whacky but you would still at least have a logical argument to make. But for someone who uses a computer to post on a website about fishing for stocked fish in public waters, presumably with a job and a house with a car or two in the garage, who no doubt receives and sends mail and might even have children in school to say that there is no justification for taxes and only brute force "extracts" them is just REALLY out in left field man.

Thanks griz, but that issue is taken care of.

Just posted it on craigslist last night and have had quite a few bites. Going to show the boat and trailer to a guy from Harrison tomorrow. Here's the ad: http://fayar.craigslist.org/boa/3659768628.html I'm planning on picking up another boat this weekend so I'm looking to move it quick and it doesn't appear that's going to be an issue. If you want a quick response, email me through craigslist as I don't check the forums as often as I should.

I just posted mine on craigslist. Shoot me a PM if you're interested. It's a 20' x 41" Shawnee. Boat and trailer have zero issues.

If they ever have a crankbait category on Jeopardy, Trophy will clean house.

See, it's people like you who go and screw up a perfectly good rant with logic. The term "job creators" is a euphamism created for the purpose of securing votes. How can you hate a mom and pop grocery store or a bed and breakfast? The idea that "small business" is the engine for employment is completely misguided. The economy and demand are the engine for employment. A strong bottom line, good credit rating, and low interest rates stimulate the economy. The corporate fat cats aren't going to work 120 hours a week because folks are spending more money, they're going to hire more ditch diggers! Unfortunately, the people in this country that have the strongest opinions are the easiest ones to sway.

Well said JoeD...wait, you were being sarchastic weren't you? Right.... lawyers, including myself are responsible for the ills of the world. Your inbred hillbilly dumbass willfully ignorant logic may not be all of what's wrong with this country, but it's an awfully big part of it. I'll get to that in a minute. Personally I wish there were more lawyers in government. The Arkansas legislature used to be chocked full of lawyers. But over time, the demands of public service conflicted with the difficulties of supporting a law practice and now there are precious few. So few that the Arkansas Bar Association has to donate the services of lawyers to review bills that are passed by our dumbass representatives - elected by people just like JoeD. We need lawyers to try and point out the problems with things like banning abortions if a heartbeat is detectible, a mayor imposing martial law (See Helena - West Helena), and nearing triple digits of state constitutional amendments. So let's get back to why JoeD's deliberately narrow and ignorant mindset is the fundamental root of problems in this country. Politics has to cater to too many voices, and the wealthiest ones bark the loudest. The citizenry is content to focus its attention on things that have little to no bearing on our current economic state of affairs. The looming debt crisis (and I don't say "the economy" as the DOW is nearing an all time high) should be on the forefront of everyone's mind. But instead, people like JoeD focus their attention on things like foriegn aid, illegal immigration, and my favorite - "makers" vs. "takers." For the most part, the criticisms espoused by the majority of morons are completely uninformed. The Obama administration has set records year after year for deportations. Deportation does not now and never has solved any of the problems posed by illegal immigration, but if you want an administration that boots illegals at record rates, then your guy is in office. "Foriegn aid" is a commonly misunderstood issue that is only a drop in the bucket...a fraction of a drop in the bucket that is the real problem. And the idea that millions upon millions of Americans are content to rely on government assistance in lieu of finding real work is not based in reality for the reasons previously articulated in this thread. There simply is not a crisis of urchins suckling at the government teet. Even if there were, medicaid, food stamps, unemployment benefits, the earned income tax credit, and "welfare" are not as substantial a problem as the military, medicare, and social security. JoeD may begrudge me for getting an education, but the one thing I learned in my public finance economics class is that any attempt to "balance the budget" is futile unless you deal with the military, and the programs supported by payroll taxes (medicare and social security). The amount of money we spend on a standing military, particularly in light of the fact that this country will never ever ever ever be invaded or occupied, is staggering. We are financing occupations and operations that serve almost no purpose other than we started them so we need to finish them in a way that doesn't leave a worse mess than there was when we got into it in the first place. I think it's really cool that we have nuclear submarines around the world that can put a tomahawk in a window 1500 miles away at the drop of a hat. But the military has essentially become welfare at this point. It employs a tremendous number of people who would otherwise have to find work. I "support our troops" as much as the next guy and I hold any man or woman who put their life on the line in high regard, but it's time to realisticly assess this country's needs in the 21st century. Social security was not intended to be the retirement program of the masses. That isn't why it was put into place, but that's what it has become. My father will be eligible for social security benefits soon and he sure as heck doesn't need them. But no one can take that stance and get elected because you old people vote like crazy. If you're 65 years old and you can't afford to retire without government assistance to cover your health insurance and give you walking around money, then you aren't ready to retire. If our economy doesn't collapse, then my generation will have to bear this burden so we might as well impose it now. Medicare is the next big issue. Health care is too darn expensive. Private insurance companies bear a big part of the blame here as they are an unnecessary cost center between consumers and providers, but the root cause is the fundamental nature of modern medicine. Anyone who has any real interest in discussing this is certainly free to PM me or come fishing with me, but the bottom line is we have an over-supply of health care but government subsidization through medicare, medicaid as well as private subsidization through third party health insurance keeps the price up even though the demand doesn't necessitate the price dictated by the supply. It is very easy to get lured into hot button topics like guns, immigrants, abortions, foriegners, etc. Most folks like JoeD are intelligent enough to understand the real issues, but choose not to because it's simply easier to point to these things as if they're the real problem. Al has hit it on the nose a number of times in this thread but he's just nicer than me. The real solutions are the ones no one wants to deal with and they are antithetical to the hard line stance of party politics. "Less government" is not the answer. De-regulation and less oversight has caused the taxpayers a tremendous amount of money only to enrich the shareholders of the big corporations, like myself. The answer is a fundamentally different government. A government that addresses the real issues in a common sense way. A government that surrounds itself with advisors and people who are smarter than those that govern (hopefully not too many of those advisors will be lawyers JoeD). But because of extremist idealogy, NPR, Fox News..whatever, that type of government can never get elected and stay elected. In the meantime, I have enjoyed the meteoric rise of the DOW and S&P, and I am properly positioned to do even better off the correction that I believe is looming in the near future. I will continue to vote for the candidates who I think are intelligent enough to stop pandering and address real issues, but I don't hold out much hope for that. Oh, and JoeD is an idiot.

Just saw something in the recent mudhole catalog that reminded me of this thread. MHX has added a "shooter" model - "These blanks have been designed specifically in shorter lengths and fast actions to build with pistol grips or short rear grips for underhand casting and skipping under cover such as docks, mangroves and overhanging trees. All blanks are 6' fast action, but here are the lighter two: CS721-MHX - 6-10lb line, 1/16oz-5/16oz , ML power, $42.75 CS722-MHX - 6-12lb line, 1/8oz-3/8oz, M power, $44.00 I have made quite a few rods with MHX blanks and find them a very good value for the money. To me, the joy of building rods comes in building something that no one else can have - rods that are the very best period at their chosen application. But In my opinion, the base model MHX blanks when used in the right applications and set up correctly, perform as well as just about any rod in the $100-$150 range. If I were you and I was dead set on casting 1/8oz jigs, I'd get the lighter of the two and do a Pac Bay Minima real seat with a split EVA foam grip, and just do a tiny split, then test cast some single foot size 4's against some spiral wrapped micro guides

Didn't know about the pork shanks. Those look solid. The same family owns The Rail, Club Frisco, and Iron Horse. I used to work in the Poplar Plaza building right across the street from all of them and frequented all three. Good lunch at Iron Horse or The Rail. I always went there when I needed to detox from Wilson's place just down the street. If you want some Chinese that will change your life, give Hunan a shot. I always called it the southern take on non-buffet Chinese.

That's interesting Coldspring. Creepy guy right there. That case had a little more meat than the average criminal appeal, especially on the sentencing stuff...even a concurring opinion. I wonder why it was in federal court to begin with? Is any of the Jacks Fork on federal land?

After you said that I checked the closet. I have two 5' "Duraflex" blanks, and another one thats just a little longer than 5' that I can't identify. They're all relatively stout rods...clearly made for short baitcasters. I think these are all destined for pistol grips and spinner baits in the White River Refuge. After I posted that, I decided to look them up. Appears Duraflex blanks were made in Harrison Arkansas at some point in time. That's pretty cool. And some others had the same thoughts about them I did. http://rodbuilding.org/read.php?2,28123

What void? Are you talking about cutting off the butt end of a blank and moving the whole set-up to the tip and the resulting gap between the blank and reel seat? There's no reason to approach it this way and cut a blank down, but if you really want to then you just use masking tape to build up arbors to the inside diameter of the reel seat and epoxy the heck out of the tape. When you're done taping, it looks like this: tip -----------------------------------------||-||-||-||----butt with the vertical marks representing bands of tape that are built up to match the inside diameter of the reel seat. Then you epoxy on, around, and between the tape arbors. They also make graphite arbors that you can ream out to the proper size and they fit snugly in a reel seat, but tape works great.

Bingo. That's exactly what you need to do. I refurbished a rod that one of my friend's grandfathers made a while back. I'll have to look at the blank to figure out what it is exactly, but it's a 6' GL3. Just don't know the model number. He had it set up as a spinning rod with the most god awful big guides you can imagine. I took it out once and hated it. It had no sensitivity at all and it did not cast well. So I took it home and I stripped off all the guides. With those guides and thread (he did underwraps on ALL of them) gone, the rod had a fantastic action. Aslo, the handle he had installed would accept a baitcast reel. So I put one on and taped on some guides to play around with in the yard. It performed pretty well as a very light baitcast rod, but I didn't like the handle for baitcasting. I could have stripped the handle, but this guy had done a really nice wrap just above the handle that was his signature on custom rods, and I wanted to preserve that. I didn't feel comfortable removing the grip and getting a new one exaclty the way I wanted while preserving that wrap, so I just kept the grip and reel seat as-is and replaced the guides. For the stripping guide and one running guide, I managed to reduce the size of each by half, then I used a 4mm micro guide as the choke with 4's all the way to the tip. That rod is the bomb crappie rod now. But the moral of the story is I could have made a light weight bait cast rod out of it, and I'm confident it would have handled 1/8oz with no problem as long as I spiral wrapped micro guides. I don't think you need to go to the end of the earth to find a suitable blank either. The stiffer the rod is, the more difficulty you're going to have with 1/8oz jigs. So if you take a high modulous high dollar blank that's stiff as a board and sensitive as can be, and you don't dampen it with guide weight (using micros), then it's going to struggle with such light jigs. I think you need something in the extra fast department (the rod takes the most bend near the tip) that has a little bit of play to it. You won't add much by using a micro tip and micro guides. You can get away with only six or seven guides on the rod if you spiral wrap it (as opposed to those gawd awful "Duckett" rods that have like 22 micro guides on a 7' rod), and I think it will handle what you want. If you try to stay super stiff, then you're going to have a hell of a time throwing such a light jig....but this can be done.

Good stuff. JoeD is a dork. He reminds me of the kind of guy who looks at a picture of a smoking hot scantily clad woman and finds something negative to say about her. He wants impress the internet community with his discriminating tastes, but in reality we all know that she's out of his league anyway.