Growler

I had my first taste ever of paddlefish on friday night. Was at a local LOZ watering hole, and a guy brought in a plate of cajun fried paddlefish for the owner of the establishment. After talking about it for a bit, he gave me a taste and...WOW! I am now a convert and will have to look into snagging my own. Absolutely one of the best pieces of fish I have ever had. While I can't say anything about Tablerock, I CAN now vouch for the great flavor of LOZ paddlefish. Why has everyone been keeping this a seceret from me all this time?

S.Cat, I fish LOZ almost every weekend. My girlfriend lives on the lake. We did real good all summer, but lately have been struggling to boat just a couple shorts. I'll be fishing Friday afternoon and most of Saturday, if we do any good I'll post here. Good luck in your tourney. G

brownieman, my girlfriend had the same thing happen to her. Deer ran full blast into the drivers side of her Jimmy. Crunched the side of her fender and broke the mirror, but didn't (thankfully) break the glass. Scared her bad. Stop at a stop sign...look left...look right...BAM! Me, I'm waiting to see Bigfoot someday. G

Jeff, yeah, I have a bunch of friends that make their living writing and performing. I'm in the vid production business and we have a lot of our music & jingles written and performed locally. In fact, you might have seen the Sheridan's Frozen Custard spots in KC...I do those. You're from KC right? I have a buddy that's the guitar player for Voodoo Kitchin. Bill's a really good guy, if you ever run into him say hey. Anyway...everyone support your local musician...pay for that CD and don't balk at a cover charge. It goes to the guys working to entertain you! Growler

Hey kcangler, I don't use a jig, I rig mine up Texas Rig style, with as light a weight as you can get away with. It's the way my dad did, so I do. In fact, it's my favorite way to bass fish, I find it so relaxing, I keep it up even when no fish are biting. I have been experimenting with more Carolina Rig fishing lately, seems to work just as well. I don't like jigs, because I like the fish to pull the line through the weight with as little resistance as possible. Anyway, I like to keep in contact with the bottom as much as I can, with small pulls to "hop" it a bit. You've seen live craws scoot away when you try to catch them...well, just try to mimic that with your presentation. I like to fish mine v..e..r..y slow also. Takes alot of patience, especially when fishing deeper waters. Another little thing I do on occasion, is just tap the slack line a couple of times. Don't even lift the bait off the bottom, lower your rod tip a bit, and raise it a couple of times just to the point where the line gets tight, but doesn't lift the bait. This just makes the bait wiggle a bit. If you haven't had much practice with plastics, find some clear, shallower water, tie on a very bright bait that you can see, and experiment with the feel of the bait versus the action you give it. My dad always told me to try to imagine what the bait looks like while retreiving it. This goes clear back to 8 years old while learning to flyfish. Best of luck Growler

Hey Freak, There are a number of biological factors that can change the color of the "dads" in the water. Due to fluctuating acidity levels, available light and their food source, you will find different colors on the same day in different parts of the lake. I just try to catch a couple, and match as closely with what I have on hand. I also try to go outside of the natural colors, which will make mine stand out a bit from the live ones. Let's say you catch one that is dark green. If you are fishing at night with a moon, try black with a green flake. If you are in sunlight, try pumpkin with a green flake. I haven't fished the Rock for awhile, but have been doing better than good on LOZ using Larew Salt Craws in Pumpkin/Green Flake color. This pattern has held up for the last month. Also did pretty good using Yum Craw Papi in PB&J. Hope this helps you. Growler

I'm not a big cornmeal fan myself. The Cheese Nips sound really good. I like to use Club Crackers. The buttery taste really compliments the fish.

Hate to be the bearer of bad news here, but synchronizing copyrighted music to videos or using it without explicit authorization is illegal. I'm in the vid business, and we deal with this all the time. There are two main areas that are affected: 1. Publishing, or who wrote it, and, 2. Performance, or who's performing of the piece you are using. What this means is, if someone plays a piece of music and gives you permission to use his performance, but the song was written by someone else, you owe them (publisher) royalties. Like any bureaucratic area, there are literally hundreds of pages to these laws, and just as many interpretations. One thing that might bring more clarity to the issue is the knowledge that these people make music for a living, and are entitled to payment for doing their job, just like we are entitled to payment for our work. There is good news though. There are a number of websites that offer free or affordable music compositions, copyright free, for use on the web and video. Do a google search for ROYALTY FREE or COPYRIGHT FREE music, and you'll find many links to explore. Although the possibility of being "caught" using copyrighted music is slight, it can happen. Again, I am truly sorry to bring up such a sticky issue, but, I would really feel bad if one of the good people on this site got nailed for doing something they were not informed about. G

Yes, we are ALL lucky...we fish right? As for me, I have a wonderful girlfriend (years now) who loves to fish as much as I do. I figure the best way to ensure new gear & toys is to get your loved-one involved. This summer gf & I purchased a bass boat together (used & inexpensive...our style). techo, I'm really glad to hear the liquid tape worked so well. I'm going out to purchase some tomorrow. In my business I frequently have to repair cables in the field. How long did it take to dry? G

I've never used the liquid electrical tape. Do you paint the stuff on & let it dry? I have used silicone to patch insulation nicks in the past, but I'm intrigued by the liquid tape. Whatever you choose, as long as it creates a waterproof bond, you should be fine for awhile. I mainly wanted to add you should make sure it is only one wire nicked and you don't have other cuts that can short together. This could eventually fry your depth finder. Let us know how the liquid tape works. G

So, I'm compiling a couple of fishing CD's to keep on the boat. As I'm sure most of you know, your luck fishing can be directly influenced by the music you play (if you play any at all). I usually keep it pretty laid-back and in the country or blues genres, as the fish don't seem to like Death Cab for Cutie or Dinosaur Jr., plus music too loud or too metal ruins the atmosphere for me. I thought I'd share my most recent disc, and am curious what you others prefer for good luck, rally cap, day on the lake music. Going back to high school days, my brother told me "it doesn't matter what you play while fishing, as long as it's The Ozark Mountain Daredevils, Marshall Tucker Band or Pure Prairie League." So many of my discs start with these three bands. Here's the latest: Pure Prairie League-Amie Marshall Tucker Band-Bob Away My Blues (my most listened to fishing song) Ozark Mountain Daredevils-Country Girl George Strait-Milk Cow Blues (my girlfriends favorite...is it the song or singer?) Darden Smith-Days on End (great but little known songwriter) Allman Brothers-Melissa Leon Russell-Wild Horses (good cover of the Stones song) JJ Cale-Cajun Moon Chris Rea-Texas Bob Marley-Is This Love (reggae, doesn't really fit the others, but I like the song) James Taylor-Nothing Like A hundered Miles That's it for this one. Let's hear what you all find entertaining music on the lake. G

Is there such a thing as a bad bite? I like them all, but my absolute favorite are the unexpected ones. Fishing slows down, you start casting a little aimlessly, take a gander at the nice scenery, your mind starts wandering a bit...then...WHAM! These are usually the ones that nearly yank the rod out of your hands. Had a good one a couple of weeks ago while crappie fishing. Cast my jig, immediately, and I mean immediately upon hitting the water it was diving and going to the left. Caught a nice 5+ largemouth. About yanked my rod out of my hand, since I was expecting a lighter, deeper bite. I swear, that fish had to be tracking the jig as it flew through the air and pounced on it as soon as it hit the surface. G

Yes, this has been a problem for many years. about 15 years ago, my dad had his dock "violated" on Tablerock. They stole everything that wasn't nailed down. The sheriff said they thought they knew who it was, but didn't have enough evidence to prosecute. Our guess was they were taking stolen tackle to other towns and selling it in pawnshops. That was before e-bay, which has just made it easier to get rid of stolen merchandise. We installed motion sensor lights, and never had another problem. Seems they (theives) like the shadows and are shy about exposing themselves to a lit-up dock. Plus the lights were convenient when we would come in after dark. I really like the idea bigredbirdfan has about the motion controlled game cameras. If we would have had that technology back then, I would have installed them. I, like others, urge you to keep a calm head though. A bullet could cause you all sorts of undue grief, while simple pictures would provide proof, and possibly prosecution. G

I decided on a battery from Batteries Plus here in Springfield. Impulsively pulled in while driving by this morning. Plus, I've had excellent results with camera batteries I purchased there over 5 years ago. Price was less than half of the name brands, has the same warranty all deep cycles seem to have, and a higher reserve capacity than most. It's heavier also, which I've been led to believe is a good sign (more lead plates). I've put in too much research on this, now I just need to sit back, use it and see what happens. First use will be Thursday, we're shooting a commercial for 2 small crank bait companies if we don't get stormed-out. Thanks everyone for your input. These forums can sure be cool at times. Have batteries, will fish. G

Thanks for your input. I admit, if I was independently wealthy, I'd buy one of each & do a side-by-side test. But, that's also one of the great things about forums like this one, we all get to benifit from each others knowledge. Real life tests, not just advertising hype (and I'm in the ad business!). Thanks again for taking the time to post, you're all right along with what I was thinking also. G

Hey all, have to purchase a new deep cycle battery for my boat. Just curious, what is your favorite and why? I have heard good buzz about Optima brand, and have had good luck myself with DiHard (Sears). I would especially like to hear from Bill & the other guides. A good warranty would be a bonus, because as we all know, an occasional lemon does pop-up. I'm not loaded, so a good value is appreciated also. Thanks for your input in advance. G

Hey, all fishermen/guitar players should have a Fender. StratoCASTER or TeleCASTER, it doesn't matter. Sorry for the bad play on words. I do play Strats. Have one at home and one at the office. Plus a nice old Ibanez acoustic that my business partner likes better than his Taylor. Funny, I wish I had his Taylor. While I don't think I'm very good, I get an enormous amount of stress relief from playing. After a particularly stressful day, there's nothing like waiting until everyone leaves, then cranking up to 11 and making the windows rattle. I play blues the most, and am just waiting for a pawnshop prize to come my way so I can set it up for slide. I think an intersting thread would be "what guitar did you used to have, that you wish you had back". Mine would be either an old Washburn acoustic, once again from a pawnshop in Branson, or the late 60's Gibson SG I had in Hays, KS.

patfish, I'm curious, you asked what she wanted...what did she say? By the way, I just got engaged to my girlfriend...well, not exactly, but I DID buy her own fly rod & waders. G

I personally think Lukes post was right on. I do use a Mac. My company has 5 of them in 3 editing suites. We use them because the software we want to run is Mac only. BUT, there are other programs that run on PC that do much the same thing. That being said, we also have 3 PC's. You guessed it, we have software that we want to use and it is only available for PC. Guess you could say I'm bi-polar. The days of having to go with one or the other are pretty much past. They do talk together pretty well now-days, each having different hits & misses. But, I reiterate what Luke said. Research the software you intend to use, then purchase the computer based on that. Good luck G

My thanks to Phil also...got a great rod at a great price. Greg, just trying to figure where to leave you positive feedback (ha). Thanks, it was good to meet you, hopefully we'll see each other at Taney sometime. G

Dano, I agree. Sage is my "flavor". Greg, I sent you a PM. Call me, I'd like to take a look at it. Will have cash in my pocket. Thanks G

Hey Drew, if too many people give you grief over the pink lettering, you could always "man" it up a bit by covering with duct tape. G

Thanks Brian. I'll probably post the same question as the date draws closer. Hopefully you'll see it then. G

Brian, I'm be staying at ROLF on the 14th through 17th of August. Never fished the North Fork before. Any suggestions on flies/sizes I should start tying for the trip? I know it's like predicting the weather, but any lead would be helpful. Thanks Growler

My take on this situation is to look at Springfield stoplight cameras. You run a red light, camera takes picture of your plate. They look up registration info & mail you a ticket. Shouldn't be that hard for them to do the same for a drive-off, minus the ticket, just a summons to appear in court. If you have no luck with the various officers and prosecutors, don't forget to register a complaint with the Attorney General. Just keep knocking on doors on higher floors til someone answers. G