Quillback

Thanks for the report. Is there a BFL tourney going on? Just wondering why all the FLW dudes are there.

BTW, there is a lever on the Fortrex that you can pull back to get the motor up if the cable breaks with the TM deployed. You have to pull the plastic side panels off and there it is. Had to figure that one out one day on the water when that cable broke on me.

Where mine broke you have to take the housing apart to inspect it that's why it got me. I'd rather put a steel cable on there and be done. And I'm not worried about ripping the TM off the bow when I pull it up, that would be pretty extreme. But, to each his own.

Curious if any of you striper fishers have tried the 130 size plopper for stripers. Seems like it would be a good one to throw, you can cast it a mile, makes a lot of commotion, but maybe not the right action for the striped critters? I might toss it around next week some, but I hate to waste valuable early morning fishing time experimenting with lures.

At least, on a busy day you'll see boats fishing points, bluff ends, etc., all day long. One boat will fish a point, leave and 10 minutes later another boat will pull in and fish that spot. Lots of guys out there 4-5 days a week and they are good fishermen. But in spite of all that, you can put your head down and catch fish here and there.

I have a Fortrex, had it for over 4 years now and it works fine. My main gripe about Minkotas are that nylon pull cord. It will break at some point. And it will happen when you are out on the water. Minkota makes a steel replacement cable, and you'd think they would just sell them with the steel cable installed rather than the nylon one. I'm sure they save a few bucks by sending them out with a nylon cable. But dang it, these nylon cords have been a problem for years. If I ever buy another one, I'm going to ask the salesman to throw in a steel replacement cord for free.

Very nice looking. Any of your customers fishing them on Table Rock? I never have fished them myself (bladed jigs).

Maybe suggest Grand lake to them instead. A few more big boats on Grand won't make much of a difference.

I wear my waterproof boots this time of year. When that metal ramp that connects the walkway to shore is wet, it sure pays to be careful when you're walking on it, I have seen people slip on those things and go down several times. You gotta be real careful when there is frost on it.

These issues, as to which is the greatest state, Arkansas or Missouri, will be decided on a football field in about a month.

Heck we don't even have that fancy dial up service here in the holler. I have to drive to the city and go to the library (where the one high speed connection in the county is located) to post a report.

And you gotta have some skills to catch those crappie.

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.