Whack'emGood

I would like to add my .02... for what it is worth (absolutely nothing usually )... I am in full support of Bill, Eric, Don, Philip S., Phil and all of the rest of the guides (and regular members, for that matter) that post on here. I know I surely inadvertently left a few great guides that post on here out and I apologize. I appreciate any and all (FREE!) information that is given on this forum. If I can't use it to my advantage, then that is my fault (not the guide or other member's fault). Get a grip guys... if you can't use the information to your advantage, it is nobody's fault but your own. Secondly, you are not owed or entitled to this FREE information. Get over yourself. I know you are just kidding Eric about not posting reports anymore. You have to know that you are a great asset to this site and we are lucky to have you. Keep on keepin' on... it is much appreciated. Everybody needs to stop complaining about everything. Get a life people. Don't ruin it for the rest of us. Hang in there Bill... don't take no crap from anybody. We are behind you. Whack'em

It's cool man. No problem.

I would like to say thank you to all of the guys that have spoken up for me... and all of the guys that have RESPECTFULLY disagreed as well (hey Techo )... I apologize for getting into an argument on here... I don't like to do that... I don't feel it is the purpose for this forum and I try to avoid it. This forum is truly a family, and I guess all families have arguments from time to time-- but I know we all try to keep it to a minimum. I will say no more... let's go fishing! Whack'em

LMAO! I would hope my mom wouldn't sue me. You must live in a padded room, to prevent something from happening to you. Watch out! The sky is falling! If you don't leave the house, then you won't get into an accident I guess... I think I'll pass on living in the bubble. That is plain nuts thinking. LOL

In case you didn't notice, I didn't say anything about anyone being a "hot-shot" as you say. You sure do make alot of assumptions and generalizations when someone makes one little comment. I think you think also that we all run 70 mph at night... I never said that either. My boat will stay on plane at 37-38 mph if I feather the throttle and get the trim just right... otherwise it will start porpoising and fall off of plane. That's it. I have 4 batteries, fuel, the motor, and a livewell full of fish in the back of the boat... I don't own enough tackle and rods to counterbalance the boat enough I guess. No big deal to me though... I make it just fine. I don't think I am more likely to "run over" someone while going 37 than 30. If you can't drive a boat at 37 mph without "running over" someone, you shouldn't be driving a boat. I never said "screw the man" and/or anything about being out to break the law or anything like that. I also have never even come close to "running over" someone as you state. What I meant was that, no matter how hard guys try, they simply cannot run 30 and stay on plane. I don't know one guy in my tourney series that says "screw the man... I'm gonna run as fast as I want to!" as you seem to imply. There are no "hot-shots" in our tournament series, and I assure you nobody drives a (to drop a name brand as you did) BMW around and acts like a big shot. As for "nobody has joined you in advocating breaking the law"... I'm sure the guys I fish with don't have the care or time to argue with someone like you who is obviously better than them and is obviously against tournament fishing anyway. If and when you fish at night you can keep your running lights on all night if you want to... have fun not catching fish while you battle the bugs... I will not. My boat fishes well, and since it is paid off and I don't have money just laying around to buy a new one (or buy a BMW), I think I will stick with the one I have. I don't think I will quit night fishing anytime soon, just because I can't run exactly 30... It is gonna take alot more than that to deter me from enjoying night fishing. I'm not worried about the Stone County Jail... They don't even pull you over unless you are going over 40 anyway, so no thanks. I also have never even been warned for fishing without my running lights on... much less been hauled into jail for it... So I suggest you go ahead and worry about yourself following the laws and quit trying to govern everybody else. I never operate my boat on the lake in a way that can even be loosely construed as "unsafe" or "reckless"... you have no idea what you are talking about. You don't know everything about everything and everyone. I can tell that you think you do... but you don't. I love it when guys will "personally ensure" that someone will get in trouble with the law. That is hilarious. You really do think you are very important don't you? I don't care how important you think you are... you aren't any better than anyone else, and you will do nothing of the sort. Just mind your business of keeping your family and friends safe (as you stated) and stay out of everyone else's business. I hate when I get to arguing with someone about something as stupid as this on here... that is not what this forum is for. The guys who know me on this forum know that I am not a trouble causer and know that I am generally a nice guy. I just don't appreciate someone telling me that I don't know what I am talking about when it comes to my own boat and how I don't know how to run my own boat. Run your own boat and don't worry about mine. It's funny how, when you state the facts about something on here, there is always someone who wants to argue about it. I guess some people just want to argue about anything... even when they don't know what they speak of. I am done with this subject.

Well... Everybody seems to have the perfect boat for going 30 mph except me and all of the guys that fish in the tourney series I fish. At least 80% of the guys I know can't run 30 mph and stay on plane with two guys, all of their tackle, and a livewell full of water and fish. I spend countless hours on the lake at night every year and I'm telling you this-- MY BOAT WON'T STAY ON PLANE AT 30MPH PERIOD. It ain't the driver either as some of you have insinuated (like you know how every bass rig runs)... MOST of the big bass rigs aren't designed to run 30 mph fully loaded and WILL NOT stay on plane at 30... period. Not only that, but the motor over-revs at these midrange speeds and is not good for the motor. They are not made for this. Whoever made this law has not put it to the test (as usual) to see if it is practical and needs to get a clue. That is the last I will say about it. Have fun out there. P.S. I will not fish with my running lights on... It attracts bugs, repels fish, and any serious nighttime bass fisherman will not do it. You need to watch out for other boats to come near and be ready to flip them on at all times though.

Yep. It's 30 after dark. What a joke too... I would like to see a loaded bass rig run 30 mph and be able to stay on plane for more than a half mile. I haven't seen a full size bass rig do that yet. We try to keep it under 40... of course, that is also tough to do sometimes when you have a full livewell. Also, you are supposed to keep your running lights on if you are more than 50 feet from the bank, but nobody does. The man doesn't seem to care about that... however, he may pull you over for speeding after dark-- so watch out. Good luck. Whack'em

I have your solution. Here it is!!!!! The Rocket Rod! http://www.asseenontv.com/prod-pages/rocketfishingrod.html Just kidding. I agree with crazy4fishin... surely you can somehow get her to go with a spinning reel. Good luck! Whack'em

I use P-line CX Clear Fluorescent Hi-Vis, because it has more sensitivity than regular mono... but I know alot of guys use BPS Excel Fluorescent (straight mono) and say it glows great. I have a Nucli-Eye Extreme light. I don't know if the Excel glows more than my P-line, but the Nucli-eye is super bright and will make anything fluorescent glow like a well rope. My .02. Whack'em

Yep. That same old fashioned way still works great Sam. I'm pretty old school myself. It's fun aint it??!!!! Whack'em

http://www.basspro.com/webapp/wcs/stores/s...roductname_link They look pretty good to me but I have never tried one myself.

Hey Motoman. We have been finding that alot of the nicer LM are starting to move to their usual main lake locations and can be caught after dark. We are starting to pick up a few nice Smallies also on the main lake. Main lake points, bluffends, and relatively shallow bluff banks (bluffs that don't drop relatively as quickly-- have a little slope to them before dropping into the abyss) are the deal right now for us. Big chunky rock for the LM, and smaller mixed rock for the Smallies. I'm sure some guys are catching them in different types of locations than we are as well, but that seems to be the best pattern for us right now. We have been catching them relatively really shallow in these locations (5-10 feet) in most cases. Jigs and soft plastics in dark colors. That's my quick report. Whack'em

Well, the good news about the new dirt they brought into the Mill Creek facilities is that they haven't spread it out thin to be washed away... it is still in big piles (has been for about 2 or 3 months now) and only gets washed away slowly. The bad news is that the dirt piles are totally covered with weeds now, since they have sat there so long while the Corp workers pick their noses. They have, however, just built a brand new fancy shower building (I thought the old one was still pretty nice--but maybe it got flooded and ruined) for all of the campers to use... wait-- there won't be any campers (it doesn't appear) this year unless they get to work on the rest of the campgrounds sometime soon. Oh-- I will throw in one more thing. Corp representatives have told our Tourney Director that they will be repaving the ramp/parking lot "SOON"... they have been telling him "SOON" for several months now. They promised him they would have it done well before our tourney schedule started (April 17)-- Well, they obviously still haven't done it... but instead they (being geniuses) decided to spread gravel all over the ramp so we could slide around and throw it all over our boats. I almost forgot about the light at the top of the parking lot that hasn't worked since late last Summer. Of course, I'm used to that not being in working order-- they generally can't ever keep it working for more than about a month at a time. It usually works for about a month and then is off for about a month before they decide to fix it-- my guess is that it will be off all Summer this year before they decide to get around to fixing it. I think I will stop there before I get upset about it and start calling them names. Whack'em

I, as well as all of the guys in our Mill Creek Night Tourney Series, am very tired of it. The Mill Creek ramp and parking is pathetic... the dumb thing is that they have put gravel all over the ramp and parking lot and guys are sliding and spinning their tires badly trying to launch and take out. It is a major pain. The campground there is still nowhere close to being fixed and usable either. They have had way more than enough time to fix everything and have been sitting on their thumbs. My .02. Whack'em

Glad you had fun MrCold. Love the classic "shirtless fisherman" pics. My dad used to fish shirtless all of the time when I was little... brings back memories. Whack'em

Way to go Jason! Those days are alot of fun. You wouldn't have been able to pull me off the water at the end of the day-- in that situation I would have kept catching them (and releasing... after my limit, of course) 'til my arms fell off... to make up for those days when the bite is slow. Glad to hear of your great success. Keep it up. Whack'em

Will do. I'll see ya there.

Hey Crappie5-- We have been fishing our tourneys every Friday night and practicing one night a week for 3 weeks now. This week's tourney is Saturday. The night bite has been tough for us and most of the others so far this Spring. Each week there are always, of course, a couple of teams that bring in some good sacks but most teams have been scratching thier heads. Most of the teams that win every week (and it has been different guys every week) are fishing beds, as far as I can tell. We don't fish beds, and we have been battling to scrape together some fish every time. We have caught some big ones, but not enough of them. We really haven't caught enough lately to even know or give specifics on what the fish are doing right now. I would say your guess is as good as mine as far as catching them right now-- but we have been working hard and are currently trying some different things and areas right now. It has been especially tough lately with all of this rain coming in and the Corps constantly running water. This last week, surface temps dropped 5-6 degrees. We might be close to figuring some things out, but it is a work in progress. I will certainly let you know if and when I have some good info. to share though. I agree that there is never enough night fishing talk on here, and I am always willing to contribute to get the ball rolling. Good luck out there. Whack'em

Hey Hogfan. Yep, we have already had 3 tourneys. We fish on Fridays from 7:30-1:30. This week it is a Saturday tourney from 7:30-3:00. There are 3 Saturday tourneys this year-- May 9, June 6, July 18... the rest are on Fridays. Entry fee is $40/team and includes big bass... plus a one time $10 per man fee to fish for the season. 100% payback-- they pay 1 place for every 4 entries. Oh, and there is a $25 side pot-- winner takes all. If you come out, be sure and say hello... We fish out of a White/Silver/Black Nitro NX882. I will be wearing a blue Gene Larew hat. Good luck, and I hope to see you out there. Whack'em

I would say the problem was the guidee-- not the guide. You have to be able to fish a little to catch them... even with a great guide like Bill Beck.

There it is!

Looks good Zander. Great job! Whack'em

I think I will butt out of this thread because clearly I am not a fisheries expert like you. I guess the MDC isn't very good at it either. Maybe you should get together a presentation and show them how it is done. Maybe you should try to convince the MDC to try to convince the fishermen that catch 99% of the bass (C&R bass fishermen) to start keeping and eating their catches... then we'll see how long bass remains even a sustainable species in TR. Good luck. I'm done with this dead horse... haul him to the glue factory. Have a great day.

You said that C&R fishermen are actually doing more damage to the fishery than if they kept and, in effect, caught out all of the bass? I'm glad you aren't the MDC. Table Rock would be a terrible place to fish. Heck I would probably quit fishing and take up golf again.

I'm sure there aren't any members on here that are willing to quit fishing altogether in order to never accidentally kill a fish-- it seems like you are saying that is the best option... although it may be, it is obviously not feasible... and obviously not going to happen. I know one thing though. I practice catch and release 100% of the time on bass, and I kill a heckuva lot less fish than someone who deliberately kills and eats them. You know... we might get hit by a truck and killed crossing the street also, but I am still going to cross the street if I need to get to the other side. Do you know what I am saying? What a silly side to the argument we are having now... Now I guess it is not CATCH N RELEASE vs. CATCH N FRY... It is now CATCH N RELEASE (with a minute chance that one may still die) vs. CATCH N FRY (with zero chance any fish will live after he swims in the grease). I still know which one I will practice... it doesn't change anything. Whack'em