Quillback

Looks like it is back up.

Still don't see lake levels for Beaver, TR, and Bull.

I got an email from MDC announcing that they had started this free fishing thing. They encouraged people to go fishing as a way to get out and "Social Distance". Then they said they would no longer be stocking trout in the parks. Kind of ironic. Parks are still open, they ought to still stock some trout and go to catch and release IMO. Arkansas also went to free fishing, no license, but it is only for this week.

Went to the Wally located in Jane MO. They had toilet paper! That's the good news, the bad news is that it was only 2 cases, and it was this weird generic stuff. The inner carboard tube was a wider diameter than normal, and I'd say there was maybe about 1/2 the paper that you'd see on a normal roll. This looks suspiciously like a federal govt. manufactured roll. Maybe they've set up a secret toilet paper manufacturing plant in area 51. Still some bare shelves, but they had bread, milk, and dog treats.

Local news guy last night said we were now 5" above normal for the year, I believe they measure it in Fayetteville. I remember them saying we were something like 20 inches over normal last year. There's some heavy rain on the radar right now moving this way.

Hopefully somebody left a note for the guy, could literally be ignorance. Talked to a guy that launched there Sunday, said there were 10 rigs in the lot, he had to do a lot of maneuvering around them to get in the water. I'm surprised to see the courtesy dock is useable. There are places to park besides right in the lot, might have to walk a ways.

District biologists have been working with Charlie Craig Hatchery Staff to collect Walleye from below Beaver Lake. Biologists are looking for larger adult Walleye that are used to produce fingerlings to stock back into Beaver Lake. Fish are collected via electrofishing and Walleye that are ready to spawn are artificially spawned at the boat ramp. The eggs are taken back to the Charlie Craig Hatchery to be hatched and raised to a larger size for stocking. The female Walleye that are not spawning (eggs free flowing when you squeeze the fish) have their eggs checked with a clear catheter tube (see photo). Eggs that are clear are close to being spawned, but cloudy eggs are a few days from being released. Females that are close to spawning are taken back to the hatchery to be spawned within the next 24 hours. The eggs are held in spawning jars at the hatchery for 7 to 10 days until hatched. Fry are stocked into hatchery ponds to be raised for future stocking into Beaver Lake in May.  Beaver Lake is stocked every year with 100,000 Walleye and we are evaluating these stockings to determine if stocked fish contribute to the fishery. Results from the study will determine future Walleye stocking in Beaver Lake. Walleye fishing has been great this spring and should continue to be good in Beaver Lake for many years.

Ugh, shoulder replacements - you guys have my sympathy. You'd think knee and hip replacements would be worse that a shoulder replacement because there is so much more weight placed on knees and hips, but it's the shoulder that is the worst one.

I second that motion.

Today I was fishing on one of the Bella Vista lakes, a boat comes idling out from one of the boat launches, comes over close to me, and the guy starts a conversation with me. Asks me how the fishing was so far for me etc., and in the course of the conversation, Table Rock comes up. I mention to him that I fish out of Big M often and lo and behold, he had launched there yesterday. What a coincidence! He told me that there were about 10 rigs there yesterday, he got in the water but had to do a lot of maneuvering to get his trailer backed in, as only about a third of the lot was above water and some of the rigs were parked in such a way as to be tough to get around.

It is open as of Saturday. You're going to have to launch off the top of the parking lot and park off one of the side roads. It will take a little creativity to get in the water. Word is Eagle Rock is closed, barricaded at the entrance.

You spent too much time in your life as an editor. You notice stuff like that. I didn't even notice the date snafu until you brought it up. 😄

Never been there, but I'll be interested to hear how you do. Good luck!

Nice cold rain falling out there this morning. We needed it, the water level in the roadside ditches was getting a little low.

Dang, sorry to see that. There's a business called Arkansas Boat Restoration in Rogers. 479.899.7549. Haven't used them myself, so can't give a recommendation either way.

This year there was a strain of flu the vaccine did not cover. And I don't know that in any year the shots cover 100% against all the strains out there. But since I get them for free, and don't have any reaction to them, I go ahead and get one. When I say free, it's free because of the health insurance I have which is definitely not free.

Nice one! Heard a report from someone else that it was tough today. But that's a very small sample size.

I've been following the stock market for close to 40 years, these things happen and it always looks ugly at the bottom. It presents a buying opportunity if you have a long term outlook.

They had just pulled Bull down to 660, now it is back up to 669 and as of yet they are not running water, I guess because of downstream high water. So, just based on past operations, they'll pull Beaver down to 1128 or so, then stop running Beaver, pull TR down to 915, then they'll pull Bull down to 660 (again). Barring anymore heavy rain, they'll get Beaver down pretty soon, take about 1-2 weeks to get TR down (unless they do something drastic like open flood gates), then Bull is going to take close to 3 weeks to get down to 660. Based on that (and that's just a WEG), we'll need probably 5 weeks at least just to get the whole chain down to where it was just a few days ago. And that's without any additional significant rain.

I bet those crappie are tasty! Wish we had them in good numbers here in the Bella Vista lakes, there's a few, but not enough for me to spend a day targeting them. Tons of bluegill and bass however.

Looks like great times! Love that pic of the boy with that long rod.

I'm looking at Beaver as my next destination, Indian Creek is useable, you've got to wade through a foot of water to use the dock, but that's not a major deal. Tough area to catch fish, but sometimes it can be pretty good.

Ramp is way underwater, most of the parking lot will be flooded so you may have to park along one of the access roads. You'll have to launch off the parking lot, the slope isn't very steep so you'll have to back way in. In other words it will be challenging. I'm not even thinking about going there myself. The lake itself around Big M should be OK, usually there's not much of an issue with floating debris around Big M, but it can happen.

Centuries ain't what they used to be.