KansasBoy13

I bought some Braided SpiderWire the other day and is there a particular knot to use for it? The two knots i tie which are the palomar and clinch and they just destroy the line... Any recommendations would be greatly appreciated.

I had some flathead sunday actually and I think they are a good eatin fish a little strong but not bad at all, but thats my opinion. Nice fish by the way!

I grew up fishing strip pits too never caught anything nearly that huge tho! My dad does have an almost 8lb LM on the wall he took out of those pits...Great time and very secluded there usually...

If you dont mind what did you catch them on? I've caught some here and there over the years one today even just bass fishing with grubs and plastic worms but was wondering if there is a key bait that seems to do the trick... Heard plastic craws do a good job but never tried and thought crappie jigs would do an amazing job too but again never tried lol apparently i need to experiment some things myself...

I've personally never met Bill or even seen him out on the water but from what I've read of his on here he is soooo much more professional and even mature in situations that I would have lost my mind. I salute you on handling it that way...catching the fish right in front of him after what he did is priceless. I still dont see how anyone gets off doing what he did, maybe I was taught manners growing up but thats something I could never ever do to someone. However, after he would have flipped me the bird, I dont think I could have kept my mouth shut but it would have been very immature so again way to be Bill. And of course thanks for everything you do for us fishermen that have our stuggles on TRL, I know I can get skunked one day come here read how all the guides did and try their techniques the next and have a much better day...Thanks to you all and of course Phil for having the site...

I remember seeing some of these fish you were describing i thought in this forum, but i looked for them for a bit yesterday and couldnt find them hmmm...The others were calling them crappie-gills lol...Those had the body almost exactly of a crappie and then just had strange coloring similar to a bluegill, if i remember correctly, but no one seemed to really know...I just know I bet they are tasty

Sounds like a really great time with the boys...Every guy should get to have a week or weekend like that at least once a year

Went down to the pond behind the house today and fished for an hour and a half and caught 12 keepers. 6 bluegills and 6 green sunfish, i believe they are called. The crawdad in the picture was in the stomach of the smallest sunfish we caught, very interesting ...Probably be back down tomorrow, good luck everyone!

Probably wouldnt wanna share those spots would ya??? But they still catching some up right by the dam? Only place I know how to get to unless I break out the waders Anyway much luck to if you head back out...

Wow, sounds amazing, I need to get my father and myself up there, but all we have is a bass boat. Would it be completely irrelevant to snag from the bank? Didnt look like it would be too bad snagging from bank when I stopped by though unless of course it was crowded...

Lots and lots of boats yesterday around dam area, no surprise to anyone here I bet, but I got the big ZERO yesterday too. Tossed SB, swam grubs, jigs, even plastic worms. Got one bite and that was about it...All is well especially after hearing that about your spook getting hammered!! Gets my excitement right back to get back out there and try some new things...

Everything anyone needs to know about places to launch is on this page.................................... http://ozarkanglers.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=11067

Hmmmm......must have slept through the 2007 season....Or maybe I did and it was one incredible dream!!!!

Thanks RS for the directions. Stopped by on our way back from Springfield to check it. No one there when we got there but saw tons and tons of carp and my girlfriend said she saw what appeared to be a spoonbill surface, wish I would have seen it to know if thats what it really was. Talk to an older fella that came down to catfish and said snaggin ended the 15th but I could have sworn it ended the 30th. Anyway, Seth, I'm excited to hear how you did and I'm ready to give it a go myself even if its just a few carp I get into...

Are you guys still reeling the SB as slow as you can with keeping the blades going or have you sped up your retrieve any? Thanks for everything Bill...

I know its still early but has anyone even tried the topwater bait? Nothing better in my opinion than watchin a huge swirl around my spook bait! Thought maybe with them so shallow right now you could throw one between the trees and bushes and one come up and blast it.

We fished around Gages this morning water is still very muddy, coffee with creme color, down there. Only fished about an hour, mostly went to check it out, caught one pretty nice sized Kentucky on a brown jig. That was it no other bites. Tried the spinnerbait but no luck.

When I went by at 8 a.m. all 10 gates were open this morning came back by at about 10:30 a.m. and all were closed...What do the COE have in mind? Is it so Taneycomo and Bull Shoals can get caught up? Seems kinda risky with rain in the forecast for tomorrow and friday but I dunno just seems like a strange thing to do, anyone heard anything that I possibly missed?

Saw a guy post a photo on photography forum that he snagged a bill by the dam. I'm live in branson but grew up snaggin back in Kansas and was wondering if anyone else had be snagging any or heard of any reports and where exactly the dam is. About all I know is I cross the lake on my way up to springfield lol. Thanks

I read the article from last year on how to catch grass carp but i threw some corn at them and didnt really seem to have any effect. Do the cherry tomatoes really work that well? Sounds like a fun time and ever since I found that big ol bloated one dead(which i posted under table rock forum before i realized there were so many forums in here) i have wanted to catch one so bad lol. Will my catfish hooks be strong enough to handle them you think?

Have to get this story in the open maybe it'll help me recover. Well I was bluegill fishin like i do a couple times a week in the pond behind my house. Shallow fishing about 2-4 feet deep with little pieces of worms. Fish about 5-10 from bank is all with my crappie outfit 4lb test light action diawa combo. I wasnt having any luck where I was at and windy so to stay out of the wind I could only fish a small small piece of the pond, bank fishing of course. So I move down a little toss out and immediately the bobber goes under nothing like a bluegill would take it but its bluegill so you never know. Set the hook, solid! Definitely not a bluegill my first thought was hung up which does happen often in that pond then felt it fight just a bit, so really thought it was a turtle have caught two out of there on accident. Then it went on a run yeah not a turtle! Thank God I grew up snagging so I had an idea of how to fight this thing. Loosened the drag up and cupped my hand around the reel and it was on. I knew it couldnt be a carp cuz the only carp I believe are in there are grass carp and far as I know dont eat worms. So I've been fighting this thing about ten minutes now waiting for my girlfriend who just got home to join me to fish when she finally comes around the corner taking her time so I holler at her to get down her and help! She just looks in awe like what is that!? I'm like I guess its a catfish only thing that makes sense fighting like that and that size so I finally wear it down after 15 plus mins and get it to bank and try to have her get another hook in it only thing available was 6lb test with a plastic worm on it so she rips of the worm and for the life of her couldnt get that hook to stick not that i could have either. So she sits the pole down and I hand her mine cuz now the fish is just laying by the bank which there is like an 8 inch drop straight down before it starts to slope so couldnt really pull it on bank and it decides to make one last run and I take the pole back and after a couple mins i get it back and hand her the pole back and I'm reaching down to get ahold of it and she goes uh oh real softly. So i asked(more like a yell lol) did the line break and shes like yes, so i hop in the water, cuz at this point it doesnt realize its free and try to wrestle it in and off it goes right through my hands. I stand straight up and look at the sky like why did this happen!? It appeared to be a channel cat at least 3 feet long and a good 20 pounds, so we both think. Never been so depressed about fishing took about 15-20 minutes before I could even tie anything else back on. Thought I would share this and maybe get some encouraging words...

Its a stretch but would it almost be better for the spawn since crappie spawn in such shallow water and its getting to that time of year that the lake almost needs to stay up so they can just get through their spawn? We all seem to be worried about them obviously and I dunno about everyone else but I didnt have the best spring crappie fishing last year. I personally dont have a huge problem with this happening and if we have to take a year off, not that we would have, from crappie fishing and have huge years in the near future, and just go hammer some of those huge LM's! Just my thoughts and if I'm way of on my thoughts let me know lol....

Anyone been down and seen what Gage's looks like?

Had to go back to Chetopa so brought my white bass gear in hopes some were up in the rivers to be caught, but didnt look too promising. At Chetopa dam (Neosho River) it was still a bit high and muddy. Saw people snagging but looked quite low for spoonbill to be up. So as I was passing through Baxter Springs (Spring River) pulled off and saw a lot of folks that seemed to be white bass fishing tho it looked a bit high but not nearly as muddy. So i got out and watched a little while on both sides of the river and never did see any caught. My guess is a few were being caught and it got people like me white bass fever up! It was close to 5 when I got there so I did wet my line but didnt have as much time as I was wanting so we just drove back to Branson. Supposed to have my uncle keep me up with whats happening at Chetopa so hopefully I'll have a real fishing report with lots of white bass or some big spoonbill to report!