abkeenan

Yeah that is a nice meanmouth for sure. Congrats on yet another nice day Bill.

Good info there Bill. When I chum I just use canned soft kernel from the grocery store, the cheapest cans they have. Less than a buck a can so $10 will last a weeks worth of chumming. When I do bait my poles up though I use the hard whole shell corn and before hand take a small drill bit and drill small holes in them so I can thread them onto the hook. A little time consuming but it is well worth the time of not having your bait sitting out there at the bottom with no bait on it. Perch usually will get the bait off the hook before you hook up with a carp and the little boogers can't get the hard kernels off. If your hook if our there with hard kernel you can rest assured your bait isn't gone so just leave it be.

When I am at Table Rock with the young kids and am going to be there for a few days I will chum carp off the front of our dock with corn for those couple of days. It brings in just about everything. Cats, Carp, Snakes, Turtles, Perch, Bluegill, you name it they will start coming around. Makes for good times when it is hot during the heat of the day and bass fishing is slow and boat traffic is high. Kids love seeing the size of the carp plus they a too much fun fighting. Crawfish Trapping --> SEC Football --> Chumming Regulations -->Trout Digestion--> Carp Fishing.....

I have one and broke the lip off it and replaced it with another lip but glued it in at around a 80 degree angle and it has AWESOME wiggle to it and looks to be killer. Only problem is that it is 1/4oz and I can't throw it far at all being that light, balsa wood and no casting system like today's newer baits. If it was 1/2oz or better yet 3/4oz it would be just perfect.

I thought so. I am sure they are nice rods but for that $ I think their are other rods that are better. Just my opinion. If you want to try to keep it local (kinda...if you are from Arkansas) Denali Rods get great reviews and are based in Mountain Home, AR. I have no personal experience with them but have heard nothing but praise for them and the prices are fair. On Bass Boat Central there is usually about a post per week or so on the best rod for around $100 bucks and the Denali usually always make it into the conversation. Another rod that people are REALLY raving about lately is the 13 Fishing rods. I have more rods than I need but if I were to get another I think I would be the Omen series. http://www.tacklewarehouse.com/13_Fishing_Omen_Black_Casting_Rods/descpage-FOBC.html Here is a link the the Denail lines of rods: http://www.tacklewarehouse.com/Denali_Casting_Rods/catpage-DENCR.html

Is that the rod that Rick LaPoint makes or sells? Saw them at the St. Louis boat show a couple of years ago and they looked nicely made but older technology and tip heavy from what I could tell. The guy working their booth was too pushy trying to sell them to anyone that walked by and I couldn't take it anymore with his sales pitches and had to walk away.

Fin = Redfin...a type of lure made by Cotton Cordell. http://www.basspro.com/Cotton-Cordell-Jointed-Red-Fin-CJ9/product/22294/

Awesome report Bill. Glad to see you put some out of towner's on some fish and they will most likely be back to the Rock again.You are a great ambassador to the sport, the lake and the local community. Only one thing wrong now....that 8 year old Hunter is now spoiled for life and anytime he doesn't catch them like he did today it is going to be a let down and disappointed. Now look what you did Bill! Congrats on the fine day.

Hahaha. I had a good laugh at that.

Happens all the time and more frequently now because there are just more people fishing and more people that don't know any better so encounters like that are bound to happen more often. Had a guy go in between me and the bank and I was literally in 18 feet of water and about 1/2 a cast from the bank while he was idling with the big motor. I couldn't believe it and still can't. I keep saying I am going to throw a super spook right into these yahoos boats but never do. One of these days I just might.

I heated the bill up using a hot blow dryer and it did work for bending the bill like you want it. That said it didn't work and it is still a work in progress finding the right angle. I might just remove the whole bill and glue in different sizes and shapes circuit board and see what that does.

I agree. Playing the powder puffs the first couple of games is just a waste of time and what does it really prove that you beat Our Little Sisters of the Blind 70-3? But if you lose any of those first couple games your chance at a BCS title is pretty much gone even if you go on to spread everyone in the SEC. I know this has been mentioned for YEARS about going to a playoff system for college football and I actually believe we will see it within the next 5 years. Will be hard to get away from all the bowls being like you said there is so much $ involved but from the stuff I have heard makes me think we honestly have a great shot at the playoff system soon.

Yes he has 7 sons. How else do you think Bill has the most up to date info on what's going on from the upper james, white river to the dam to long creek? He is just one man and couldn't do it without all of them. He has all of them out scouting for him during the week. It was a smart business decision to have to many sons. PS - I think he meant "Steven"...typo.

I have to disagree. Although I agree that no team will ever fully stop or contain Johnny Football, I think teams will be better prepared and have had all off-season to watch film and coaches can game plan for him and have defenses with personnel packages set up to at least keep him in check. I also don't think the Razorback will beat SC. Spurrier finally has that program playing well and they should be a top 15-20 ball team. Arkansas might take a couple years to retool under their new coach. Pretty rare any coach comes in with players he didn't recruit and have a lot of success. Not saying it doesn't happen because it can and does, but it is not the norm. MIZ!

I think A&M will be fine this year. Don't know if they will have the type of success they did last year because the SEC won't take them as lightly as they may have last year and like Bill said will now game plan for Johnny Football. A&M also according to sources had a top 3 recruiting class in the entire country last off-season so they appear to be ready to make a good run for the next couple of years at the least. Doesn't hurt recruiting in Texas since the Longhorns are now in somewhat of a down period in their program and are barely a top 25 team (if that) the last 4-5 years and also the fact that young high school talent see's how much exposure SEC teams get now being the powerhouse conference in NCAA the last decade. Just so this rant qualifies as fishing post Crawdads are delicious and go quite well with fried fish.

Nice report. Dang that sucks you lost one of your "good" fins. Water should be just about warm enough to get out the goggles or scuba mask and go get that back.

2 in a Boat, I do miss the KU vs MU games but the hatred still lies dormant in my blood........ for now. I hope the Jayhawks and Tigers can put something together each year to where they play each other at least one time in both football and basketball. Kansas City lost out on a lot of money when the Border Showdown was ended and I can't imagine KC commerce and businesses were happy when MU went to the SEC. Really a shame as I enjoyed making the 4 hour trip to KC, tailgating and whatnot that goes along at Arrowhead and giving me an excuse to see some good friends in Kansas City. Like you said its all about the $ and the SEC offered more of it. One thing I will say for the SEC is that they split the pot evenly among all the teams in the SEC. Big 12 is more like the Big 1. The Big 1 being Texas and then its redheaded stepchild Oklahoma. Texas gets the lions share of the $, Oklahoma gets the scraps and the rest of the teams/schools just get the bones. In the end its all about money and hopefully my Tigers can get their act together in football so we don't look like such a joke and out of place. Boys in the SEC don't fool around when they are talking about their football and the Tigers/Pinkel had better get with the program. NOW BACK TO FISHING! Vacation, It might be a hair early for those 'Dad's to be coming in on the banks/shallows at night and out of their rocks. Water is still pretty cool for them but I would think you should pick up some right now, just not as many as the water is in the 80's in July and August which is when we typically really catch a mess of them. Bill and anyone else for that matter, Anyone seeing crawdads being spit up or have them down their throat in bass lately? Could be the crawdads just haven't gotten moving yet. Water temps are still cooler than normal as that brutal/long winter put the lake temps/avg's back about 3+ weeks or so. Good luck out there.

Ya. We don't use them for bait...WE BOIL AND EAT THEM!

We put traps out a few times each year for crawdads and always have success just dropping them down on the bottom in our boat slips on our dock. Front of the slip and back which is about 12-18ft deep. We use the traps specifically designed for crawdads and just about any bait will do...leftovers from dinner such as chicken bones, skin and meat, a big thick circle hunk of unsliced bologna (because it stays in there so long without being eaten too much) but probably the best is just to catch a few bluegill, green sunfish, etc from the lake, hack them up a little and throw them in there. You WILL have crawdads in there after letting them sit overnight. Never catch any during the day, all during the night and always remove in the morning first thing as they can escape, especially if the food is depleted. We get some real monsters in the 5-8" range. Good luck.

I have a 7' M Cara Spinning Rod and I use it for a lot. Grubs, Shakeyheads, Small Jigs, Ned Rigs, Dropshot....basically anything 3/8-5/16 oz and under and it does great. I don't think you could be disappointed in any Falcon Rod you choose. I love my BuCoo especially for the price.

What am I leaving out?

RS, Really sorry to hear about your gear getting stolen. A thief is about as low as come. Might keep an eye on Ebay as well as your local Craigslist as the a$$hole may be brave/dumb enough to try to sell your gear there. Hope you gear finds its way back to you and the jerk finds himself in jail.

Good info Jason. Much appreciated. I know I can't keep from hanging up a crank in trees during the light of day much less during night when you can't see them so I never even think about chunkin' and windin' a crank at night. At night I am a brush hog, jig and big worm guy. 7-12" red shad Culprit worms have been a family "go to" since the 70's and still work great. As far as night spinner baits go I stick with the dark colors and use War Eagles night time models.

Dave doesn't know what he is talking about. Brush hogs on a jika rig won't work and never will. Like oil and water. Never ever try it with the Blackberry color either.

How about we just leave Table Rock alone as it is and if you want to fish for stripers go somewhere else to chase them. I know I don't want my expensive jerkbait collection to have to be restocked every year when one decides he wants to take mine. If it ain't broke don't fix it.