Donna G

5:35 p.m. on the trailer headed home. Tough, tough day for us. Two keepers with maybe a dozen fish total. It was alphabet soup - Jerk bait, Ned rig, swim bait, grub, spoon. No luck on jigs. Had to crawl the swim bait on the bottom, though. Kings again. Champ said jerk bait jumped the tracks. . Saw the winter series had some good bags.

Cool. Look forward to hearing about it.

Here we go again. Didn't bother to cover the boat - carpet's still soaked from our Jan. 1 trip although we keep it in the garage. No airflow. More later.

No, I wasn't aware of it, but Champ can free all his own drum. Some of them are bib bruts and they all have little mouths as tough as shoe leather.

Tough day. Only 10 all day with 3 keeps and one keeper Walter. Launched at 8:30 and didn't get on the trailer until after 5. Will let Champ fill in the where and how. Typing with my pinkies because all my other raw digits have fresh SuperGlue on them. Lol

Yep, the Keitech's aren't cheap. Looking forward to the report.

Thanks. We'll have to give it a try. I forgot Champ used Flukes during his A-rig phase. I was letting the Keitech fall to a 15-20 count and swimming it slowly as close to the standing timber as I could. The bites came when the bait popped off the tree. I really like the head Champ has me fixed up with. I'm not sure what it's called, but it has a screw keeper - no need for super glue. I fish it weedless.

We did catch 3-4 on a swim bait through the trees.

Uh, no, because he'd drop my big ol' self. I've gone in the water with all my cold-weather clothing before. Not fun.

Killing me, huntest.

Thanks,Terrierman.

Ditto what Mike said. Merry Christmas, guys.

Thanks, Denny. Merry Christmas to you and Jackie, too.

Now for the rest of the story. Stayed in the Kings and fished from Sweetwater to Viola. Windy bluffs and bluff ends, main lake points. Didn't find much going on further back in the pockets. At times we were sitting in 40-50 fow throwing to the bluff or point but just as likely to be in 15 fow with deeper water close by. Didn't find much interest in wood today. Most fish came on a variety of jerk baits with several on a FB jig on those same bluffs. Had two on a Ned rig. Caught our first fish at 10:00 a.m. and had a limit by 11:30 a.m. Tried spooning some we found in front of a deep dock, but that just ain't our gig. I lose interest in it quickly. It snowed, sleeted and rained, but only a little bit and for short periods. However, we were pretty comfortable temperature-wise. Gotta run. Finishing up the goodies for our Christmas visit with Champ's folks and the kitchen is a wreck. lol We had planned on our own personal Christmas Eve "service" at home. We ended up listening to Pastor Jack Graham's TV broadcast instead. It was inspiring. I love Christmas. Merry Christmas to all our OA friends.

Thank you! I'll check it out.

Thanks, Bo. We thoroughly enjoyed the day and we are each other's favorite fishing buddy. We did see several magnificent eagles; a big bald eagle and an immature or golden eagle.

On the trailer at 4:15 p.m. Eighteen total with six keeps. All keepers LM except for one spot. Total was 12 LM and 6 spots. Details to follow. Racing to Pea Ridge for chili fixins' before Neighborhood Market closes.

Haha. Thanks! My hands are great! Ditched the New Skin and my new go-to is cheapo super glue. Two coats and I'm good to go. Headed to the Kings again.

Left Bella Vista 15 minutes ago and it was snowing! Not cold enough to stick. Getting boat gas and figuring out where we are launching today. Stay tuned.

Must try Hot Tamale Spread if you go to McClard's. I know, tamales. They are huge homemade versions piled high with chopped BBQ, onions, beans, BBQ sauce, cheese and Fritos. Not once in all my years in Hot Springs did I ever try anything on the menu, because I had the spread on my first visit. lol

Dang. Could have swore there was a buoy. Yes, I'm geographically challenged on the water. I've been known to reminisce about a fishing trip and get the area, or even the lake wrong.

Uh yes, didn't throw it enough due to big gash in line feather finger. Caught a nice LM on it last weekend, though. Merry Christmas, Dave.

Did it! Merry Chistmas.

If you want the recipe for the Pink Stuff I mentioned in my last post on this thread, let me know.

Thanks for all the tips. I'm sitting here with dried SuperGlue on as I type. lol Look like some gangsta trying to hide my fingerprints, but it's certainly protective. I've tried a lot of different creams and lotions. Most work fairly well, so long as you use it, and as Hunter53 said, BEFORE you get in bad shape. I'm going to make a concerted effort to lotion up more often, but the glue will fix me up until this bout heals. The best cream I've ever found (when I use it) is one Champ188 and I call Pink Stuff. We whip it up at home. Cheap, easy and makes a pile. Has a combination of petroleum jelly, baby lotion, vitamin E cream and triple antibiotic ointment.