Quillback

They've just come out with an Academy brand knock off of a Megabass 110. $5.99. I haven't fished one, but I'll probably pick one up next time I'm at Academy.

I don't know anything about him, Dobyns sells a Mike Long signature jig rod and a Mike Long swim bait rod.

Saw this link on another site. Some very cool underwater pics of big bass. Also these pics tie into the Swim bait discussion we've been having. My favorite are the before and after pics of that catfish ending up as a meal for big mama. http://www.mikelongoutdoors.com/underwater-bass-pictures/

Here's the link to Pete's website, you can see his report there also. He usually posts a new one every Wednesday night. http://www.hookedonbass.com/

I should have added, that if my bait is out a ways from the boat and I miss a bite, I'll let it drop and see if they'll pick it up again. I also think that quite often the next bite might come from another fish, not the one that originally bit it, spotted bass especially seem to get competitive when they see one of their buddies drop a bait. But if I get my bait back to the boat and it needs fixing, I'll fix it before casting out again.

Well the first thing I do when I miss a fish is throw myself down on the deck, roll around, and scream: WHY ME! WHY ME! I DON'T DESERVE THIS! But seriously, I always will fix the bait, never thought of throwing it back in as it is - I'll have to try it sometime. I can usually fix them pretty quickly BTW.

Could be those bigger rainbows survive by becoming nocturnal.

Thanks for the report - I think everybody else was over on Table Rock, lots of boats out there Sunday.

Happy Birthday Bill!

Yep in the PNW people used WD 40 quite a bit on salmon baits. Not as popular nowadays with all the scents out there on the market, but back in the day people swore by it.

I get the impression that they may have been staying in a cabin that had access to that shoal. Hard to find a spot like that anywhere that has that many browns in such a small area. Pretty unique.

Hmmmm, dressed treble on a Wart - I like that idea..

I use a Gunfish quite a bit and it comes with a feathered treb. Works well, and when the feathers get torn up, I replace with another feathered treble. I have some Yozuri, small, 4" pencil poppers that don't come with a feathered treble, and they work quite well at times also.

Yep you can get a trolling motor transducer or just about all models.

I had a 17' Xpress, never had a problem with hull integrity or the transom. Cockpit was cheesy, thin fiberglass.

I think you're right Champ, they're out there somewhere, suspended over deep water. That kind of fishing does not appeal to me so I don't spend much time pinging the deep water.

Thanks for the report Ham, sounds like a great day on the water!

It's been real slow on the Bella Vista lakes also, had a pretty good shad die-off on Windsor a couple of weeks ago, but that did not get the fish going. I'm blaming it all on these nasty cold fronts that keep marching through. Oh well, it won't be long before the fish go into pre-spawn mode. We'll start catching them then. I just hope we do not have a cold spring like last year.

Old Plug, you'll have to let us know how you do throwing those swim baits.

I tell you, it is dangerous to a person's wallet to even look at that TW site.

Danger makes an awesome jig!

I didn't see any shad, alive or dead, around the Big M. Didn't see any shad balls on the finder either. I did not go out and ping the deep water, it could be that's where the shad are.

I must have just missed you. I left right around 2 PM. Those filleted out fish have been there for over a week now.

Yeah, I've been eyeballing those Lucky Craft Smash swim baits....must......resist......urge.......to .......purchase......

Drug the tube around for a while today, still slow, caught 5 bass, a couple of 17" fish were my big ones. Wind started blowing pretty hard early in the afternoon and it was making it hard for me to drag that tube deep and keep it in contact with the bottom. Tried inside a few calm coves, but just can't get a bite on that water right now. The few I'm getting are still coming off steep chunk rock banks and deep timber. Surface temps were 38 -42. Saw an air temp of 67 on my way out - that won't last for long. This bass looks like someone dropped some black paint on his head. Chunky spot