Donna G

I hate that the fish are being hauled to Tulsa, too, but at least it's not hot weather. I'm told the bags are checked for dead fish before they head out and if one dies on the way there is no penalty. Ok for the angler. Not so much for the fish. My question is, do they bring them back making that long haul again? Where are they released?

Grand can be really good. I'm originally from Texas and it's more similar to the lakes I'm used to than the clear highland reservoirs we have in this part of Arkansas and Missouri. However, I've become so acclimated to fishing those highland reservoirs that I have to readjust when we start fishing Grand regularly. I like jig fishing and flipping a jig and grand gives me plenty of opportunity. Seems like all they want is the jerk bait right now, though. About the drum, Champ188 gauges whether there are any drum in the lake by me. If I haven't caught a drum - there aren't any in the lake. lol I think I've caught drum everywhere we've been on a a variety of baits. I caught two back-to-back on a square bill at Bull Shoals once. Attaching a picture from 2007. Can't remember where we were, but it was bloody hot and we were fishing pretty shallow dirty water. I was screaming for the net until it broke the surface.

Appreciate it, Bird Watcher.

Thanks. She made me smile.

Here we go.

Pooh. My photo didn't load. Gotta hit the road for work. I'll try to upload it tonight.

My favorite bait is usually the one they are biting. ... for me. Champ188 can catch the fool out of 'em on a jerk bait. Me, not so much. I'm a dragger and a pretty fair hand with a jig, out fishing Champ from the back of the boat with a finesse jig occasionally. However, thanks to his good guiding, I got the kicker fish this trip with a jerk bait. I was forced. They wouldn't bite my jig and I got tired of not catching any. lol She was a beaut. Scale said 6 lb 4 oz.. Looked bigger to me. Don't they always? Air temp wasn't that cold starting out, but it did rain pretty good and we had wind and cloud cover. Water temps ranged from 45-47. We put in at Honey Creek. I dragged a jig and flipped it around cover. Slow rolled a spinner bait and swim bait just off the bottom. Only bites were on the JB. Caught the crap out of the drum on the JB. They wouldn't leave us alone. I hung one in the tail and I thought I was pulling up an entire cedar tree. I had the biggest drum AND the biggest bass. Caught one decent crappie that came home. Weird bite. Felt like jerk bait was skipping along the bottom when reeling it in. Had no idea the crappie was on there. Most of the bites were not. The fish just started leaving with it when the bait was sitting still. The big girl gave one tiny "tick" and that was it.

Sounds like fun times. Good luck with the wrist surgery. Carpal tunnel?

I'm sure you don't need my acknowledgement now, but I've been fine since you made the change. Thanks.

I read it was a joint contribution of the state and city of Grove.

Very cool. Nicols and BFL in March will benefit from the Classic work. Only perk missing would a bunch of boat slips like we used to have at Ahoy's on TR. Thanks for sharing, Quillback.

Thanks, John. I haven't seen any craws lately, but Champ reminded me that is one of his favorite colors, too. I like the phantom brown for a stock color. Certain times of the year (and water color) watermelon (seed) works good for me, as well. I like the tiger color also. I feel better throwing those than Champ's painted ones - don't worry about hanging up as much on the cheaper off-the-rack models. lol The painted ones really seem to produce, though.

You're welcome, Ron. Be glad when we get some water back in the lakes. Last time we went to Eucha in Oklahoma, we launched off the bank. The ramps were closed. It's a little eerie to see tree tops in places you never have, too.

That's a good looking WW. Is it a Fall Creek paint job?

I've heard that the winners caught 'em on spinnerbaits, jerkbaits and jigs. Sounds reasonable, but who knows? You can hear anything. The water was still 47-49 degrees, although the air temp got butt cold that afternoon with north wind, sleet and snow. Warm enough for a spinnerbait and we had wind. Done with Beaver until next New Year's. lol Went to TR yesterday afternoon and caught a few on a jerkbait. We started to go to Grand and Champ188 decided to head to Holiday Island instead. News flash - you don't want to launch there. Ramp drops off, then there's a crater followed by a hump. We might have got it in the water - wouldn't have been any fun getting out. We ended up going out of Eagle Rock.

You got your entry fee back, Sore Thumbs, plus a little. That's a successful tournament. Thanks. Champ is a good guy. Think I'll keep him and the boat. Right now the poor girl is all wet and dirty. Takes a while to dry out this time of year in an unheated garage. Can you answer Stump Bumper's question about how the winning bag was caught? We didn't stay for weigh-in and I haven't heard.

Way to go! Guess the Beav owed you after a lower unit. I'm glad it worked out where you could fish. Did you get a check?

Thanks, QB. No trophy. Only money and the respect of your peers for having survived. lol Yes, it was nasty. Just now warming up. I was bone cold.

According to Champ it is. lol

You said it - we're bass anglers. We let BASS go. In reality, the walleye will be released - to the grease. Not far from Rocky Branch.

We went from Prairie Creek to the dam. Never saw a temp lower than 47.9. Most of the time it was 48-49. I would have paid good money for the AIR temp to be 48-49. It was quite the endurance test today. 1-1:30 p.m. it started snowing and temperature began dropping. Not even close to the weather forecast we saw before leaving the house this morning. We fished until 2:10 p.m. with only two keepers and decided to put it on the trailer. We weren't the only ones either. Boat is covered in ice. Snug as a bug on the sofa watching the Rose Bowl now. Oh, actually we had three keepers. Mr. Walleye made the trip home with us. Guess we're having black-eyed peas and walleye for New Year's.

Glad to hear it. Good luck to you, also. Best advice is stay patient. We don't have an OA sticker on the boat right now. We just traded. In fact we don't have registration numbers on yet. We're in a Z119 Ranger white, silver and black with red pin-striping with a 225 Mercury towed by a silver GMC extended cab. Can't miss me. I'll be the short one in all red Guidewear with my pant cuffs dragging. lol

Wish they'd put stickers on the cars that stay parked in the dang narrow streets making it hard to get through with your boat. All-in-all, I like living here. We lived in Hot Springs Village before moving here and it was similar. We golf when it's too miserably hot to fish and it's nice having all the courses here. Plus, there's some nice little lakes if you don't have a lot of time and want to run wet a line for a few hours.

We didn't make it to Rocky Branch yesterday. Launched at Prairie Creek (this much I know - lol). Long day on the water for these temps. Didn't start until 9-9:30 a.m., but stayed out until dark. Leaving the boat in the garage today. Looking forward to tomorrow.

I'm sorry to hear that. It's scary out there right now with the low water. We were running somewhere yesterday (remember, I'm geographically challenged) and Champ shut down quick. We were in 70fow and we saw a rock hump sticking up a foot or two above the surface. No buoy. Yikes! I thought if it were tournament morning and everyone running in low light, it might have been bad. Gray day, gray rocks, gray water and waves makes it even harder to see. Hope you can get back on the water soon.