Flysmallie

Walmart Open: Special Report Young Describes Alleged Shooting Incident Wednesday, May 13, 2009 Photo: FLW Outdoors/Jennifer Simmons David Young said he was so scared, he had trouble speaking with the woman who took his 911 call. For the fourth known time in 6 years, a tournament angler has claimed to have been shot at while engaged in a tournament. This time, the event in question took place at Beaver Lake near Rogers, Ark. – site of this week's Walmart Open. David "Scotty" Young of Mayfield, Ky. alleges that Sunday, during practice for the event, he entered a cove connected to the War Eagle arm and was shot at three times by a person on shore who wielded a "high-power rifle." A similar situation occurred at the 2003 Bassmaster Classic in New Orleans, when Gary Klein accused Dale Silbernagel of firing over his boat during competition. Silbernagel was never prosecuted. At the 2004 Alabama River Bassmaster Elite 50 in Prattville, Ala., pro Stacey King, his non-boater Bill Bonner and BASS photographer Gerald Crawford claimed they had been shot at by a local resident. King also said he found a bullet hole in the hull of his boat after the event. The alleged shooter, Paul Gray of Lowndesboro, Ala., was charged in the Lowndes County District Court with three counts of reckless endangerment and one count of criminal mischief in the third degree. He was found not guilty. In May 2007, 86-year-old John Burke Yearwood of Madison, Ga. was charged with aggravated assault in Greene County, Ga. after allegedly firing three shots at tournament anglers fishing the Oconee River. Angler Craig Barnett of Sycamore was wounded under the left arm, and produced a small-caliber bullet for authorities. The outcome of that case is not currently known. What Happened? Young began his official practice for the Wal-Mart Open on Sunday already feeling down – the day before, he lost the Kentucky Lake Central Stren on a tiebreaker. Beaver Lake is currently about 8 feet above full pool, which means that vast areas of shoreline are flooded. Last year, the event was won by fishing flooded parks and parking lots, and it's common practice to fish such flooded areas. Laws differ from state to state regarding public water during flood stages, and the law as applies to Beaver in its current condition isn't known. According to Young, he worked his way back into the War Eagle arm and began fishing a shallow cove that was perhaps a flooded pasture. At that point, things took a turn. "The first warning was a high-powered shot about 50 yards in front of the boat," Young said. "Then I started hollering at him and screaming – I thought he was shooting at a turtle or something. I thought it was a mistake, or a ricochet – you know how a bass boat can creep up on something – but he wouldn't even acknowledge me." Young said he screamed at the man three times, but thought perhaps the man had run in the house after learning a boat was nearby. "I went about 20 more feet and a shot blew up water right in front of me," Young said. "I hate to say I'm this much of a coward, but I climbed down in the boat and got under the console – I thought he was trying to shoot me. Then I jumped up and took off with the trolling motor down. All of a sudden I heard the third shot, but I was leaving and don't know where it hit." Newton Heard Too Fellow pro Jonathan Newton was fishing outside the backwater and told BassFan he heard all three shots. "I was in the cove next to (Young)," Newton said. "I heard three shots, and that kind of made me alert. That makes you pop up a little bit. Then (Young) came screaming around the corner telling me not to go in there. He was obviously shook up. "It's just unfortunate that things come to that," Newton added. "When you're on the water, you never really think about danger, other than being real aware of your surroundings. You never think something like that's going to happen." Guarding, Reporting Young said that after he exited the backwater, he stopped and spent 2 hours near the entrance in order to prevent other anglers from entering. He said he also called 911 and was routed to a local sheriff's office. "I could barely talk to the lady on 911," Young said. "They sent me to the dispatcher, and dispatch called the sheriff. I never got to talk to the sheriff personally, but they said he (was) on his way. They said, 'We know who you're talking about.' "The thing is, I still haven't talked to the sheriff. He never called me back." BassFan placed several calls to the Benton County Sheriff's office today, but was unable to reach public information officer Doug Gay, who would likely be able to confirm whether the incident was investigated. When asked why someone would object to his fishing the cove, Young said: "This guy is a complete freak. He never tried to holler or anything. He just wanted me out of there so bad." Asked to describe the area and the man's dwelling, Young said: "The cove is all the way up into War Eagle – it's almost the end bay in War Eagle on the right. It looks like a farm house. He lives up on top of a hill – about 200 yards away. He was watching down toward the water." Young noted he contacted FLW Outdoors tournament director Bill Taylor with news of the alleged shooting prior to today's tournament meeting. Reporting on this story will continue if and when new details emerge.

Don't feel bad it bothers me a lot. That's all advertising is anymore.

We've been having this problem off and on for awhile now.

Well I guess the marina is open now, sort of. It's still sitting right up against the ramp but boats are unloading and the marina lady was out there making sure everyone was official. I get kind of scared everytime she looks my way. I didn't really fish much, stuck on the bank and the wind was blowing about 100 mph. Wanted to head out there and play with a new frog fly on the fly rod but it was so windy I didn't even try. Did catch a couple small largemouth on a carolina rigged worm up closer to the dam. All those bushes in the water look really good right now.

I've always started at Riverton and floated on down to the state line. Lots of smallmouth in that stretch and you usually don't see many other people.

Here ya go denjac.

Leave it Dano to come up with all this weird stuff. And of course it's going to rain all weekend, why wouldn't it. Now I know why my loving wife was so quick to say yes to me fishing all day Saturday.

That's a really interesting setup Duane. It's basically the same setup I use for smallmouth using a worm pattern. Just like a carolina rig. Do you just let the setup swing in the current letting the weight bounce along the bottom? I love fishing for smallmouth like this.

Never being at the Conclave or Sowbug it's hard to say if it would be a successful as those or not, but that's part of the problem. Even though they are not that far away it's been impossible for me to attend because of all of my other obligations. However there are a ton of fly fisherman in this area and I think it would have a great turnout. Another thing to consider though is how much will this take away from the Conclave and/or Sowbug. They both have a great following, but would there be potential for them to lose attendance because of a new on in this area? Or would you have a hard time getting the presenters and tyers needed to make it successful here? Maybe that's not important but it's just some thoughts. But yes, I would probably attend. As long as it doesn't conflict with volleyball, band, ballet or anything else that my daughters have going on that costs tons of money. For those of you out there that have younger kids. Be careful when you encourage them to "get involved". It takes up a lot of time and money. I'm not saying don't do it, I wouldn't miss one of their events for the world, just understand what it takes. Your kids only get a chance to grow up once in their lifetime. You only get one chance to see it. Don't screw that up.

Yeah, send me some and I will come up with something!

I haven't missed one yet. Can't wait. But it would be nice to have one in a little better weather. This year was not bad, but the year before was brutal. Maybe we would have a bigger turnout for an event in the fall. Or maybe we should plan an gathering around a smallmouth stream

It will be hard to break the habit, but I will try.

Here is an article taken from Science Daily. It shows where fish have been caught and released as much as 16 times in a one year period. Catch & Release may lose a few fish here and there, but a fillet knife kills them every time. Just for the record I practice catch & release 99% of the time, but I never have any bad feelings about taking a few home once or twice a year. The guys that really bother me are the ones that think they have to keep every keeper that they catch. Born To Be Caught: Largemouth Bass Vulnerability To Being Caught By Anglers Is A Heritable Trait enlarge In an experiment spanning over 20 years, researchers have found that vulnerability to being caught by anglers is a heritable trait in largemouth bass. (Credit: iStockphoto/Lawrence Sawyer) ScienceDaily (Apr. 15, 2009) — In an experiment spanning over 20 years, researchers at the University of Illinois have found that vulnerability to being caught by anglers is a heritable trait in largemouth bass. The study began in 1975 with the resident population of bass in Ridge Lake, an experimental study lake in Fox Ridge State Park in Charleston. The fishing was controlled. For example, anglers had to reserve times, and every fish that was caught was put into a live well on the boat. The fish were measured and tagged to keep track of how many times each fish had been caught. All fish were then released. "We kept track over four years of all of the angling that went on, and we have a total record – there were thousands of captures," said David Philipp, ecology and conservation researcher at U of I. "Many fish were caught more than once. One fish was caught three times in the first two days, and another was caught 16 times in one year." After four years, the pond was drained, and more than 1,700 fish were collected. "Interestingly, about 200 of those fish had never been caught, even though they had been in the lake the entire four years," Philipp said. Males and females from the group that had never been caught were designated Low Vulnerability (LV) parents. To produce a line of LV offspring, these parents were allowed to spawn with each other in university research ponds. Similarly, males and females that had been caught four or more times in the study were designated High Vulnerability (HV) parents that were spawned in different ponds to produce a line of HV offspring. The two lines were then marked and raised in common ponds until they were big enough to be fished. "Controlled fishing experiments clearly showed that the HV offspring were more vulnerable to angling than the LV offspring," said Philipp. This selection process was repeated for several generations over the course of the 20 year experiment. "As we had predicted, vulnerability was a heritable trait," he said. Philipp went on to explain that with each generation, the difference between lines in angling vulnerability grew even larger. "Most of the selection is occurring on the LV fish – that is, for the most part, the process is making that line of fish less vulnerable to angling. We actually saw only a small increase in angling vulnerability in the HV line," Philipp said. Male bass are the sole caregiver for the offspring. Females lay eggs and leave. The male guards the nest against brood predators for about three to four days before the eggs hatch and another eight to 10 days after they hatch, before they become free-swimming. Even after the baby bass start to swim, the dads stay with them for another three weeks while they feed and grow, protecting them from predators. Philipp explained that the experiment sped up what's actually happening in nature. "In the wild, the more vulnerable fish are being preferentially harvested, and as a result the bass population is being directionally selected to become less vulnerable. We selected over three generations, but in the wild the selection is occurring in every generation. "We've known for 50 years that commercial fishing exerts selection on wild populations," he said. "We take the biggest fish, and that has changed life histories and growth patterns in many populations of commercially harvested species. Because there is no commercial fishing for bass, we were assessing the evolutionary impacts of recreational fishing." Philipp explained that the perception among anglers is that catch-and-release has no negative impact on the population. During the spawning season, however, if bass are angled and held off of their nests for more than a few minutes, when they are returned to the lake, it's too late; other fish have found the nest and are quickly eating the babies. Philipp recommends that to preserve bass populations across North America, management agencies need to protect the nesting males during the spawning season. "There should be no harvesting bass during the reproductive period. That makes sense for all wildlife populations. You don't remove the adults during reproduction. "One of the big issues for concern is the explosion of tournaments. Lots of bass tournaments are held during the springtime because there are lots of big fish available. In tournaments you put fish into live wells, and yes, they're released, but they could be held for up to 8 hours first. They're brought back to the dock, miles from their nest. So, basically, if a fish is caught in a tournament and brought into the boat and put into a live well, his nest is destroyed." Philipp recommended that if fishing tournaments were held during the spawning season, then regulations should require that there be immediate catch-and-release, eliminating the use of tournament weigh-ins. Philipp urges management agencies to go even further and suggests that a portion of each lake could be set aside as a bass spawning sanctuary, where all fishing would be prohibited until after bass reproduction is complete. In the rest of the lake, mandatory catch-and-release regulations could be put into place during that same reproductive period. In Illinois, the bass reproduction period is from about April 1 through June 15. Philipp said that in that way, anglers could help protect the long-term future of the resource without completely restricting fishing. "The potential for angling to have long-term evolutionary impacts on bass populations is real. If we truly want to protect this valuable resource into the future, then we need to understand that and adjust our management strategies," Philipp said. Others on the University of Illinois research team include Steven Cooke, Julie Claussen, Jeffrey Koppelman, Cory Suski, and Dale Burkett.

Great pictures.......as usual.

But you already know that I'm an OAF'r and you still always flip me the bird when I see you.

Dano's way works or you can do what I do. I loop to loop 6 to 8 foot of 6 or 8 lb. test and hope for the best. I haven't had my leader cut through a loop yet.

Speed Bump!!! That's funny. You gotta love a good boat dog.

I use a 9' 5wt & a 7'6" 3wt. Yeah the three weight is a tad light but I have a lot of fun with it. I'm not sure what streams you are fishing, but I have seldom had a problem with my 9' 5wt being too much rod. And I do fish some pretty nasty places. Plus you need the extra backbone of it to chunk some junk if you need to. The Sage rods are really nice. However they are $395.00. Yes they do come with some line, but what if I hate that line? Ross is making the same style rod. The FlyStik is 7'11" and comes in 6wt, 8wt or 10wt. I have heard they are really good also, but sell for $169. No line, but for the $226 in savings you should be able to find a quality line & real. I'm just not convinced that the 7'11" is the way to go. A lot of the reason it's 7'11" is so it's legal for use in a bass tournament. Something about rods can't be over 8ft. I just know that I spend a lot of time casting from a sitting or kneeling position. I think that extra foot probably helps me when casting bigger stuff. And since I suck at casting, I need all the help I can get. I did cast a 9' 6wt Echo Carbon and really liked it. Sometimes you just need a little more power to get your fly where you need it.

Okay Michael, I have all my stuff packed. When are we leaving? Good luck to you and the family. A lot of us are going to miss you.

That's funny. I carried my camera with me to North Carolina this week. I didn't know what a pain it would be carrying it and my laptop through security and having to drag both bags on and off two planes. But I made it here with it. Guess where my battery is? Yep, it's at home on the charger!

One of the best crawdad patterns is a heavily weighted wooly. Color should match the natural in that river. Yeah they aren't as pretty as others but they are easier and quicker to tie and it won't break your heart when you lose half a dozen on a trip. I'm focusing more on big streamers this year. But I have come up with some bottom creatures that have turned out pretty nice. They are very colorful with lots of legs and curly tails. The good thing about smallies is that if it's moving they think they need to kill it. If you tie your own, think big and bright. Chartuese, purple, orange.....they can't resist bright things. On top, just about anything that moves will draw a strike when they are in the mood. Big and bright streamers fished through the middle. On the bottom, large heavy crawfish patterns, big 5 inch sculpins and a worm pattern. That's all you need. Well except some cooperation from the fish. I'm ready to catch some smallmouth!!!!!

You guys are killing me. I've been in North Carolina all week and don't get home until late Friday. There ain't no way the wife is going to let me out. I think everyone would jump at a chance to float and fish with Al. Al, if they talk you into Shoal, enjoy it. But when you get a chance to head back this way give me a holler and we will fish Flat Creek. You won't be disappointed. Good luck guys.

I had a Caddis Navigator II a few years ago. It's built for bigger guys. It was a pretty good tube. http://www.caddissports.com/navigator.htm#

I'm still going to go give it a try. We fished Beaver today, I'm always in the wrong spot at the wrong time. We didn't catch any whites but had 15 largemouth in about an hour and a half. Most on a jerkbait. It should be slow tomorrow but you never know.

The reason your mother wouldn't let you swim unless it was 80 had nothing to do with you being cold. It's a little technical, so I won't go into detail here, but the reason has to do with if the water wasn't a certain temp then that little helmet she made you wear would cause you to sink. I bet we can figure out a way to float a large cooler. We might have to drink a 30 pack while building it but sometimes thats the price you have to pay.