Donna G

My daddy would be proud, but he died when I was 27 and never got to meet my man.

Thinking of TBT (throwback Thursday) that many folks do on FB, so I was looking at some old pics. Came across these and wanted to share. Would love to see your TBT photos of fishing friends, family and idols. The ones I'm sharing today have passed on, but it doesn't mean yours have to be. A little intro - Penny Berryman. Anyone who knows anything about women's bass fishing recognizes this name. I had the privilege and pleasure of being her co-angler at Dardanelle in the inaugural year of ESPN's Women's Bass Tour. A class act. When Champ188 was a sports writer with the Arkansas state paper, he covered her from her boat for the old Bass'n Gal Classic. (Recognize the person interviewing Penny? Think Major League Fishing.) Connie Jenkins. Longtime postmaster of Knob Knoster, Missouri and avid tournament angler. She was one of the first women to ever compete in a men's professional bass tournament. She collected frogs (not real ones) to illustrate her motto F.R.O.G.S. - Fully Rely on God. My daddy - William Clark Taylor. Miss fishing with my daddy.

And jigs. You forgot jigs. I get shaky if I don't have at least one jig tied on.

Middle finger, right hand.

God bless DVR.

Forgot to mention that I caught a keeper spot on a Keitech while we drifted off the bluff and Champ was working on tackle...before the hook incident. 40 FOW and I'm seeing fish and bait from the bottom to 15 FOW. Tried fan casting, but no love, so I dropped the swimbait over the side and let it fall almost to the bottom and then started reeling slowly. Hadn't made two turns before the fatty clobbered it. Fun times.

Got a late start. Champ188 caught the skunk-buster off a windy bluff end on a blade, of course. After no more takers on a crankbait or swimbait, we pulled the trolling motor and he was fixing me up with a different crankbait when a DD22 bit him hard. So, we're at the ER in Berryville. ? Told him I was hungry and ready to go back fishing, so hurry up.

Shook us in Bella Vista, Arkansas. I slept through it. Typical. I've slept through a tornado in Texas. Champ188 and our neighbor started texting when it happened. He said it freaked out all the cats. Some of the news agency are blaming fracking. Of course, there is that pesky New Madrid fault line a lot of us sit on.

It doesn't mean he isn't there every day sniffing around.

Champ188 seconded what I said earlier, or so I thought...we don't keep bass from TR unless they die on us. Again, we go elsewhere and harvest a few 12" spots from lakes begging you to because of overpopulation, and then only occasionally.

Got that right. I have more than one pair.

That's really sad. I've waded out to my waist at Mill Creek to try and resuscitate tournament release fish. Seen some awful summer night tournament scenes at Lake Ouachita. 8lbers floating where they were released in a hot, shallow, oxygen-deprived cove instead of being returned to deeper water. It's a black eye for all anglers when this wonderful resource is casually and callously handled. We generally practice CNR, but we keep a few fish occasionally for table fare. Champ188 and I aren't against keeping fish, but we don't do it on a regular basis. We're not trying to feed a town - it's just the two of us and we don't eat fish seven nights a week. When we do plan to keep some to eat, we normally do that on lakes that have a 12-inch minimum size limit on spots and where there is an overabundance of that class fish. That, and the fact I like crispy little fillets. When we're fun fishing and a legal fish dies on us, we'll put it on ice and take it home. We're not going to leave one floating. On the flip side, we've fished for hours on a fun trip with me spending most of that time trying to bring a fish back from the dead, riding around aerators running dumping livewell additives in. You'd be surprised at the ones we've saved. Learned a trick from Jacob Powroznik when I had the privilege of being his co-angler in the FLW at Beaver years ago. Super nice guy and showed me how to stop a fish from bleeding. Used it successfully multiple times. It's not foolproof, but works pretty well. Here's the deal - I love bass. They are beautiful and give me so much pleasure catching them that I'm just not that interested in eating them. We do it rarely and it hurts my feelings, actually. In my book, that's what crappie and walleye are for. lol Regardless, I realize that not everyone shares my sentiments about keeping bass, but I think handling tournament fish with care and making sure dead ones aren't left floating and wasted, is something we can all agree on. Thanks for sharing what you witnessed.

Cool. I still tend to call all lipless crankbaits Pinfish. :). Champ188 has grown accustomed to it and knows what I mean.

Back in the day (seventies), all us Texas anglers threw a lipless crank bait by Bomber called a Pinfish. It was obligatory to have at least one each white, chrome and black. Most of us fished shallow year-round and in a lot dirtier water than TR. You could hurl the Pinfish a mile and it was often a mad dash back to the boat when a gar spotted that chrome one up in the muddy shallows. I'd be cranking so hard on my Ted Williams Ambassador 5000 that the crankbait was skipping across the surface and you could still see the gar charging. lol Fun times.

Thanks for the intel on the courtesy dock.

Thanks for sharing. That's good news.

Don't forget your watermelon candy crayons.

Champ188 is most definitely a champion of the resources which, in turn, benefits ALL anglers.

Champ188 knows sunset is my favorite time to be on the water. Love it. Sunrise is pretty special, too, but sunset is tops in my book.

We did have a good time. I really enjoyed getting out and wetting a line. I haven't been in awhile. Those little dudes were feisty and would grab the drop shot as soon as you hit the right depth, spitting up shad the whole time you were reeling them in. I didn't get around to it, but had planned to switch out my worm for a little craw just to see if I'd still get bit.

Thanks for sharing. I didn't know about it.

You crack me up. I can always count on a chuckle from your comments.

Not today he didn't. We left Arkansas at 5:30 this morning for TR. Finally got tired of the wakers, tubers and jet skis. We're on our way home. Champ188 will post our report later.

I see you are dressed appropriately for the weather, too. lol

Captain of the Crazies?