Quillback

Haven't been to Big M in a while, holiday crowds and weather has kept me away. It was almost cold this morning, 59 degrees at the launch with some thick fog in places. Water temp was 83. Fishing was kind of weird, I caught 20 bass, 6 were keepers, and half of the bass I caught and I think 5 of the 6 keepers came on top, late in the morning when the sun was shining down and the water was calm. Caught several in 70 FOW that were largemouth, they came up a few times chasing 3 inch shad and if you could get that top water on them, they'd be all over it. I also have a little pocket near some gravel that for some reason has a late morning top water bite, caught 4 in there, they were spots. Caught some fish deep on the 3.8 Keitech, a few on jigs, the only smallmouth I caught came on a jig. Quit about 1030. Quite a few folks out there fishing today.

When I lived in Washington you had to go to one of the Indian reservations to buy fireworks. Not a fireworks guy myself, but had friends that would go to the rez and load up on the explosives.

They aren't that good to eat, from what I've been told. People do like to eat the roe, pan fried it is supposedly good. There were a couple of places on the Yakima river in Washington that were popular to fish when they were spawning, and they'd spawn early if I remember correctly, something like late January/early February. People would keep the roe, toss the fish. Never tried it myself.

Good stuff, I am thinking about chasing some gills, I love fried gill fillets. How do you rig your crawlers for them?

My 60's memories of maters were the summers I would spend with my Bootheel MO grandparents. Grandad was a farmer, cotton and soybeans, but he would always grow an acre of tomatoes. He'd pick them by the bushel. Grandma canned them and made a really good sweet relish, that I liked over Crowder Peas - something else they grew and canned. Sad thing was that I wasn't a big mater fan as a kid. They had a lot of connections with other farmers, either family or friends. They all had something different, sweet corn, peaches, watermelon, green beans, blackberries and grandma would go visit and pick all she wanted. She'd can her own cream corn, green beans, make her own desserts with the fruit, that woman could cook! Best peaches I have ever had, all the watermelon I could eat.

Browsing around this morning I ran across the Kerguelen islands. Located in the very south of the Indian ocean it is one of the most remote places on the planet. No airports, only way in is by boat. Climate is inhospitable, mainly due to wind. Only inhabitants are people associated with scientific research. Salmonids were introduced, brown and brook trout are the ones that 'took'. Some studying going on, neat little video, nice brown caught and tagged.

Biologists completed a stock contribution study on the Beaver Lake Channel Catfish population and there are good numbers of catfish in the lake. AGFC annually stocks 60,000 Channel Catfish (average size of 9 inches) in Beaver Lake to supplement the natural spawn and provide better fishing opportunities. To evaluate stock contribution, AGFC staff from Charlie Craig Hatchery and District Biologists have marked (adipose fin clip) the stocked Channel Catfish for the past five years. Around 270,000 Channel Catfish have been marked and stocked into Beaver Lake in the past 5 years! Staff can determine how these fish contribute to the fishery by sampling the lake with baited hoop nets. Catch rates of Channel Catfish were similar to the long-term average of around 10 catfish per hoop net set. Stocked individuals were caught in large numbers one year after stocking, and were not caught in the lower section of the reservoir near the dam until two years after stocking. Overall stock contribution ranged between 42% and 53%. Compared to their wild conspecifics, stocked Channel Catfish were marginally smaller in total length after age 2, had similar body condition, and showed similar rates of mortality. Our results show that stocking is important to the maintenance of the Channel Catfish fishery in Beaver Lake. This is a great time to catch Channel Catfish on Beaver Lake and if you catch a fish with the adipose fin missing, send us a picture! jonathan.stein@agfc.ar.gov

Took a break from growing tomatoes this year. I think I made a mistake. Got some good snow peas however. I just planted some squash and cukes, never have started them this late.

Rumor has it that Supreme is a MUCH better bass fisherman than his brother. 😃

Looks like you guys are having a great time!

I may have knocked out an insert or three myself. I've had to train myself to stop banging stuff into rod tips. Fortunately rod tips are not that expensive. Mudhole.com has a whole lot to choose from.

Man, that is a nice bow!

Yep, use heat myself. Have not looked myself, but there are probably a gazillion videos on the web about rod tip removal and repair. I learned somethig from this video, there is a rod tip sizer, didn't know they existed, I am going to get one.

Well I'll be darned, I know a celebrity! The Bella Vista weekly paper has a column written by Puthoff, and he was asking for people to send in their stories. I don't know if they'll print it in that paper but I'll keep my eye out for it.

Very nice! I was out a couple of times before the heat wave rolled in and had good luck on Keitechs and top waters. Not too many places holding them, but when you find them, there can be quite a few.

I'll be interested to hear where you fish in Washington.

That's pretty good weight loss so far. Be happy with your accomplishment. Losing 75 lbs. ain't easy.

I have found that this time of year they like 3.3 and 3.8 Keitechs and not the 2.8.

That's some good fishing!

Some great fish! Checked out that lure on TW, they want close to $10 for one. Resisting urge to purchase....must not buy....I have too many lures, don't need more....

This week's Honey Hole outdoors show was on Fork, probably filmed it a few weeks ago. Bill Wilcox, the host, caught a good one, didn't weigh it, but I'd guess at least 8 lbs. They also caught several in the 4-5 lb. range. Mostly on crank baits with a few c-rig fish. Wilcox made an interesting statement, he said Fork has been 7 feet low for a few years while the dam was being worked on, during that time a lot of brush grew up on the banks. All that brush is flooded now and Wilcox is of the opinion that should lead to good fishing down the road.

I was fishing by 0530 and three casts later I caught a 4 lb. largemouth on top and that was the high point of the morning. Caught a half dozen smallies on jigs, no size, all were between 12-14 inches. Saw very little top water striper action, had a couple come up early and made a few casts at them, but couldn't get them to bite. Once the sun came over the horizon the stripers pretty much stopped coming up. About 0930 the water was flat calm, it was getting hot, could not get any bites, and the ski boats were starting to appear, so I was done and headed for the ramp. WT 78 early.

Great pics!

No idea on Table Rock, but I used to catch cats over on Grand in 20-30 FOW drifting shad. Mostly blues over there, but there would always be a few channels that would bite. Good luck, and it will be interesting to hear how you do.

Cool, thanks!