Quillback

Looks like the Gallery got cleaned out.

Thanks for the report, and welcome. I think catching those smallies and spots on light tackle is a hoot.

Same here.

I think most guys will throw a weightless fluke instead of a Trick Worm.

Yeah those are some fat browns, I have to wonder if once those triploids get big and start eating stocker rainbows that some monsters are going to start showing up.

We can always hope, but I would think that with all the bird watchers out there, if these birds still existed, they'd get spotted.

Sabine river is flooded, looks to be delayed at least a week if not cancelled. https://www.bassmaster.com/news/elite-sabine-river-delayed Mark Davis is getting a hip replacement, so I imagine he will be out for a while.

I think this is good news, at least for us lake fishermen.

That does sound like fun.

I'm in the "haven't thrown one yet" crowd. I also am curious as to how they do in our big Ozark impoundments.

Up two feet and still going, grrrrr....

Congrats RedcrawRK, that's pretty neat to win that event and your bass is the biggest one I can remember being caught for that event on Table Rock.

Golf a priority over fishing???

Well I just gave you a like for stylin' it in that leather jacket. A man's gotta look good when he is out on the water!

Went fishing with my buddy Mike today, Mike hasn't fished with me in a while as both he and his wife came down with bronchitis and it took them a couple of weeks to get over it. I had told Mike that the fishing has been pretty good, so he was ready to go. We launched about 7:15, it was cloudy, cold and windy. Fishing was tough the first couple of hours, we had maybe 3-4 small bass. Mike was saying things like "cold front has shut them down". "Wind out of the East, fish bite the least". I kept telling him to hang in there, we should get some, but I was getting a bit discouraged myself. Finally we starting getting fish, I don't know if it was just finding the right location, or they just started biting, but we started to get some consistent bites. We ended up with somewhere north of 20 bass, not much size, mostly 12-14" spotted bass, but one nice 2.5 lb. meanmouth, a couple of 15-16" largemouth, and one smallie that would've gone 16" or so. Mostly Ned rig fish with a couple on the jig. Also got a nice walleye, didn't measure it but it was an obvious keeper, probably 21-22". I did get a couple of surprise stripers on the Ned, first stripers on the Ned for me. Lucky to get both of them in the boat, got them in the trees and with 6 lb. test there isn't a lot you can do with them. I just followed them around with the boat and let them pull drag when they wanted, and when they stopped, put some pressure on them. Eventually they tire out and are easy to net at that point. Mike took them home. Missed one good spotted bass, got it right to the boat and it then jumped and tossed the hook. For a Beaver spotted bass it was a good one, at least 3 lbs., maybe a bit more. This post has been promoted to an article

Good stuff Lance, some great slabs you got there!

Used to catch some when I lived in Massachusetts. Lakes and ponds out on Cape Cod had fairly good numbers of them, but as you said they tend to run a bit smaller than whites. I have eaten them, and as I recall they were pretty good, I don't remember them having that red meat line like white bass do. But it's been a long time since then.

I see one of the Keenan bros is 4th overall, and 2nd in one of the hourly weigh-ins.

Great looking fish!

My days of making what I would call "Banzai road trips" are over, if it's more than 2 hours away, I am going to find a place to stay over night. But I have made, in the past, trips where I would drive 4 hours, fish all day, then drive 4 hours back home. The drive back home was always the worst part. But looks like you had a great day of fishing, congrats!

Spent a good part of my working life traveling also and fortunately evaded them. Sounds like they are getting worse.

Thanks JF, one of those things were I was in the right place at the right time. I really like the quality of the spots I have seen, seems to be a good year class of fish in the 15-16" range.

It's stained green up the Indian creek arm, maybe 4 feet of visibility, dam basin area is pretty clear, maybe 7-8 feet of visibility.

Nice bunch of fish, congrats on a good day!