Quillback

The toon I saw was nothing like one of those beasts, it was your standard dual metal tube toon, but it did have a big motor on it. And I am not knocking toons, that was just what those guys that did the U-turn around me were riding in. If it was a bass boat I would have been just as annoyed. And I was only mildly annoyed, I am pretty sure those folks were oblivious to what they were doing.

Yep, still got good old AOL.

Beware of half naked men, LOL! Great report, and some great fish pictures.

I am an AR resident, but will make time to send a couple of emails. Phil, I have not received your email either and I'm sure my email gets notifications from OA when someone sends me a PM.

Got off to late start yesterday, waited for the fog to burn off here in NW AR so I did not get to the lake until 0930. Probably hurt my deep water fishing that I did yesterday. I started deep, looking at places off the gravel banks in 30-50 FOW. Never found any of those big schools, found a few, but they were moving, and when I found them I could drop the spoon on them and get a bite or tow and they would be gone. Found some surface activity at one location, could not get them to hit the plopper, but I found that if I threw a Ned on them right when they were on top, they would eat it. Unfortunately for me, about 15 minutes after I found those top water fish, the sun came out and they just shut right down. Spent the late afternoon throwing the Ned on the banks, found a pattern of some fish (including the smallie pictured above) holding tight to rocks on steep banks, rocky points, and bluff ends. Encouraging to see them there and eating the Ned. Lots of fun on the light tackle. Put 20 fish in the boat, mostly spots, caught 2 LM's on the deep spoon, and the one smallie. Lost a bunch of fish, probably more than I got in the boat. Had a couple of good pullers on the Ned get off, and lost a few spoon fish. Lots of guys on the deep spots, I think the word is out. At the end of the day I was fishing a gravel point, all of a sudden here comes a pontoon boat heading towards me, he was moving too, had a big Yammie out board on that thing. Anyway, "Supertoon" passes me on the right, does a turn about 50 feet behind me and heads into a small pocket on the other side of the point. I had the pleasure of getting waked on three sides! They go into that shallow pocket head first, come to a stop, and then proceed to shift back and forth between neutral and reverse gradually backing out - I have no idea what the heck they were up to, but took it as a sign it was time to go home.

Thanks guys, darn knee is just getting too aggravating to put up with, so I have to get it done.

Way to go Dan, very nice fish. I'll tell my neighbor the striper fisherman that they look to be biting.

Well, you could come over and pick him up...

She's probably never seen a bass boat, but yeah, it would be interesting to hear her thoughts on bass boats.

Well I have my knee replacement scheduled for 12/7 so I won't be coming down as I have some stuff I'll need to do that weekend in preparation. I will give Riley's a call, probably next week, to set you guys up. So if you are on the fence about going and need a place to stay then you probably need to decide. And remember that Riley's does not take credit cards, so bring cash or check to pay for your share of the lodging.

I think the quote about this being a symptom of an "epidemic of idiocy' sums it up pretty well.

Somebody, somewhere on this lake, will get them even when the fishing is tough. Good to see you got into them.

I am going to try and get out a day or two myself this week. I am expecting it will be tough, but it is still fun to get out.

My knee hurts, but I don't know if that is a forecast for a cold winter or a warm one. I'll let you know in May.

Here's a link to the story. 1st place 14-10, 2nd place 11 and change. Pretty tough fishing. http://www.bassmaster.com/news/alabama-anglers-take-toyota-title

I tell ya, yesterday the Hawgs didn't even bother to unfold the tents, looks like they left them on the bus.

Hard to explain the Hawg meltdown yesterday. I am hoping they will play LSU tough and I think they will. SEC Is dominated this year by Bama. It's always possible Bama will have a bad day and lose to someone, but in my opinion they are in a class by themselves. The rest of the league is just fighting over the table scraps.

Some very nice and healthy looking fish. Ya'll did very well, congrats on a good trip!

Light frost on my roof this AM, but not on the ground. No worries about me transporting fish, last couple of times out I haven't been able to catch a keeper to save my life.

Washington State had the same law regarding rivers as Montana does now. You could float or wade anywhere as long as you stayed within the high water mark. Never heard any politicians try and change it, I guess because it had always been that way.

Things are doing well here in NW AR. It took a while to recover from the 2008 bust, but things are moving again. New houses going up, road construction, and quite a bit of commercial construction. Downside is traffic is getting to be a bit heavy.

That explains it. Fish are going to all be wore out by the time that derby rolls around.

I was last out on Tuesday, and it was crowded on the upper end also. Thought maybe there was a big tournament going on. Must be the warm weather, because the fishing sure was tough.

Cool, glad to hear you are sticking those fish in spite of the weather. It rained a bunch here in Bella Vista last night.

Thanks Neil. Must have been interesting to see what it was like when the water was down.