mclothier1

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A man and a friend are out fishing by the Shell Knob bridge one day. One of the guys is about to make another cast when he sees a long funeral procession coming down the bridge. He stops his cast in the backswing, takes off his ball cap, closes his eyes, and bows down in prayer. His friend says: "Wow that is the most thoughtful and touching thing I have ever seen. You are truly a kind man." The man then replies: "Yeah, well, we were married 35 years."

While I havent had that same scenario happen to me, It did happen to my sons Girlfriend last year. She hooked a bluegill and while landing it a nice 3# smallmouth decided to have a bluegill lunch. She was able to land the smallmouth though. Amazingly both the bluegill and the smallmouth survived and swam off in their own separate ways after the ordeal. Now when Im out at the deeper end of the dock catching bluegill... I will hook one and let it swim a bit, it seems to get the bass into chasing mode. I did also end up buying one of those underwater cameras, and we were able to verify that a hooked bluegill will usually get at least one bass to chase, (if there are any bass in the area) it was pretty cool to watch.

HaHa... just dont fall in the lake, you'll get bit!!

Good for you! sorry to hear about scratching up the boat though. I live near Wichita, and most if not all of our local ponds that are public fishing have a trash problem. In the past I have taken my share out but i've cleaned an area and came back a couple weeks later and it was right back to being a dump. I dont know what's wrong with people, maybe it was the way they were raised? I was raised to pack out what you pack in and then some. Leave the area as clean or cleaner than the way you found it. Signs dont do any good, trash cans are provided but people are too lazy to use them. Someone could organize a clean up but what good would that do. It's a never ending cycle. You would think people would have more respect for public lands. I have seen everything from the usual fishing trash, to old lazy boy's dumped in the ponds, I guess the fish needs structure, but not like that. The local fish and game have tried to clean it up, but nothing is working. Anybody have any success stories or ideas on how to actually change this situation? Its has been so bad that I quit fishing the local ponds.

Not gonna name names, but I have seen recent photos from a Striper guide that shows that days clients and their catch, and earlier this spring they must have been catching some Largemouth mixed in with the stripers. I have hired striper guides before and if I did happen to catch a Largemouth or other bass I would toss it back, so not sure if its was the client's decision to keep em or not? just dont seem right. Im sure its legal though.

You got lucky! In the heat, seriously... stay away from anything with caffeine, its a diuretic that actually makes you lose water. Coffee, Tea, Beer, save that stuff for after the trip. Probably dont want to drink any of those "energy" drinks either like Red Bull. Gatorade and good ol water is all you need. When it gets hot around here, and Im outside working... I have drank as much as 2 gallons a day. And only had to pee maybe twice.

Great post, Only thing I can add to it is not only drink water while your out fishing, drink plenty even the day before you go, because if you start out already dehydrated, its hard to get hydrated while your out in the heat. I used to coach a youth baseball team, and every chance I got I stresed to those kids that they need to be drinking plenty of water the day before a game, then drink a bunch during the game. I read somewhere that if an athelete is 10% dehydrated it equates into a 30-40% drop in peak performance. My brother in law suffered a heat stroke a couple months ago, bad bad stuff, takes years to actually recover and his short term memory is all messed up, and he cant take the heat at all now.

Usually when the younger crowd does this its called "skinny dipping" For the more mature... Chunky-dunkin! lol On a side note, last year on vacation I saw a boat sitting in front of a bluff, nothing unusual except it sat there for at least an hour without moving couldnt really see anyone in it. So I got closer to check it out, and saw a naked woman posing while the guy was taking pics I think... Had to move closer still to investigate, and yep sure enough he was taking pics... then he fired up and took off. Compared to Colorado... this is nothing! just about anywhere you go in the mountains in the summertime, your gonna see naked people, especially around Boulder.

I just got back from a week's vacation, fishing was good. Im starting to like it when those storms roll thru, on wed 6/16 I got out early and caught one on topwater (still learning so gimme a break) from 9 am on I hit several Kentucky dropping a crawler off of a bluff end in 24 to 36ft of water, then a storm rolled thru in the afternoon and I got out and waded the bank in front of some bushes in the water, casting a shakey head with a purple/brown worm of some kind, and was getting bit on almost every cast. Lots of short bites, and I finally figured out that patience is the key, along with shortening up the worm just a bit. I ended up dragging the shakey till I felt a bite, then just slacked off a bit and if they started swimming off with it, blammo! I ended up catching 6 smallmouth, two of them were fat keepers, I didnt have my scale on me but one of them had to be close to 4# it was a toad. And they all fought hard and are still swimming right where I left them. Bank was sloping gravel and water depth where I was casting was a max of 12-15 ft. I guess what Im trying to say is, If a storm rolls thru... put on that rain gear and drag a shakey head, you might be surprised! Not sure what part of the lake you are staying, I was mostly fishing #5 to #7.

Saw a HUGE one up in Piney Creek, the thing broke the surface right off the bow of my boat... and I about lost two pounds!!

Well if you happen to catch Fred (that what I named him) he should be about #6 by now... just tell him I said hi, and chunk him back in his spot please.

I make one or two trips a year to Table Rock, wish I lived closer... one of these days! After my trips are over I try to share what I find, as a novice I dont find much most of the time, but it might help others as far as what not to do. This is something I NEVER do, but I caught a nice 5# bass out of a unique location on Table Rock last summer, Since I found this secret spot, I really havent seen or heard of any other boats hitting that spot. So in the interest of sharing, I caught it right here.... Yep that is the EXACT spot, Enjoy!

From what I have read on the scuba site, A diver did find the remains of what he thought to be the town of Oasis, he said he found evidence of some remains but no structures to speak of. Also it was said that the corps razed whatever structures that were still standing before the lake was flooded. Regarding the Zubulon Pike, apparently the real Zebulon Pike is still floating, the ship that is sunk was called the "General" and was some kind of floating dock for the Pike, made from an old barge. The Zebulon Pike has been known to be docked at Cricket Creek marina several years back. After searching for more info, it appears that there are MANY sunken boats in Table Rock, One I found interesting is supposedly in 65 feet of water laying on its side on the (north) dropoff side of point 7. I even read somewhere that one of the scuba pro's took a bunch of fish guides down to view the enchanted forest. Sounds interesting, not sure if it was true though? Another interesting tidbit... the sunken bridge at Kimberling City has had a bell installed near the top of the structure about 9 years ago, divers go visit the bell annually. When Table Rock was being flooded apparently the bridge was in the process of being salvaged but the water rose too fast so they had to abandon the salvage operation and just left one span in place. If you can get a clear shot of it on sonar supposedly you can see the bell.

Good shots! The Pike looks like its on the side of a steep slope. Amazing stuff! And thanks Chief for the links, looks like there are a bunch of sunken boats to check out.

Cool stuff for sure, I wouldnt mind seeing a screenshot of that big sunken boat, I think I read somewhere that it was a 90' cruiser somewhere around Indian point?

Nice catch!! I bet that was a ton of fun, kinda like catching a decent bass on an ultralight rod.

With 2400 watts it should have enough power, and yes you have to be able to keep the bait in the "cone" pretty much sitting still. You might try using a larger target like a spoon, which should make it a little easier to pickup, then adjust from there.

Oh boy... My son ate one on a dare from one of his crazy uncles. I dont think he ever got sick, but I will let him know to keep a watch for those symptoms.

I snuck a peek at the fishfinder... and it appeared the majority of the fish were hanging out around 25' in 35 to 40 feet of water. The cove we were in also had ridges... or points that extended into the cove and it seemed like we saw balls of baitfish on top of the ridges, followed by massive schools of Striper. At one point Don looked the the finder and said something like "Wow you gotta see this" and when I looked at the screen... it was just FILLED with fish, thats when things got crazy! Oh... And I wish I would have brought my rod with the Spook, they were hitting topwater all around us.

I think you are right, I searched "log perch" and came up with this... Which looks pretty much the same as the one I caught.

Yes the trip was awesome! had a great time. Also... while fishing from the dock I caught something that I have no idea what it is? I was trying to catch a few bluegill with a worm and ended up catching a little 4" long fish that was real slender kinda like a gar, but its head and mouth didnt look like a gar, and it had very prominent vertical stripes. Don couldnt remember what they were called.

Good thing about Don is you can schedule a full day trip like we did, but if you get limited out early.... he will only charge a half day rate. And my dad in the pic... 72 years old... cancer survivor and diagnosed with congestive heart failure five years ago, he had the time of his life!!!! Good luck on your trip!

Report posted on the guide thread.... But I will paste it here too... Just got back.... WOW!!! what a day!!!!! My two sons, and my Dad and I hit the water with Don (Beaver fever guides) just a lil before 6am, took a short boat ride, dropped lines and we were done by 7:30am with a full limit of nice Stripers. Biggest one went 18 lbs. plus we had a couple more that went 15 or so, and the rest were 10 to 12 pound. The action was fast and furious, at one point we were tripled up! and I know we doubled at least twice! we got into a school of them and they just starting pulling down rods right and left. We missed way more than what we caught as some were short biting the shad, and sometimes we were late in setting the hook. Let me tell you... this was a blast!! Ive never experienced anything like it. And BTW if you check Don's website he has a awesome discount going right now with boats open. Location... I believe we were in a large cove next to point 3. plenty other boats around so it must be a popular spot.

Just got back.... WOW!!! what a day!!!!! My two sons, and my Dad and I hit the water with Don (Beaver fever guides) just a lil before 6am, took a short boat ride, dropped lines and we were done by 7:30am with a full limit of nice Stripers. Biggest one went 18 lbs. plus we had a couple more that went 15 or so, and the rest were 10 to 12 pound. The action was fast and furious, at one point we were tripled up! and I know we doubled at least twice! we got into a school of them and they just starting pulling down rods right and left. We missed way more than what we caught as some were short biting the shad, and sometimes we were late in setting the hook. Let me tell you... this was a blast!! Ive never experienced anything like it. And BTW if you check Don's website he has a awesome discount going right now with boats open. Location... I believe we were in a large cove next to point 3. plenty other boats around so it must be a popular spot.