Quillback

Thanks Jeff for the info, I'm looking at the map and there does appear to be quite a bit of Game Production areas in the NE part of the state. I may take a drive up there next week, depends on the weather. Left a message for the local wildlife officer in Britton, I'd like to talk to him and see what he has to say.

Looks like a tough day, I watched the video of the weigh in for day 2 of the OMTT and most bags were 3-5 fish 7-10 lbs. total. They weren't saying much about what they were fishing, but shallow was where the fish were for the guys that talked. Winners had a 29 lb. bag and also had big fish at 7.02 lbs.

Wow, I find it tough to believe that, and I am assuming that you are talking about the Elite series event held on Bull last spring, the B.A.S.S. anglers would not buy a license. (Not that I don't believe you Bry) it just seems crazy any of those guys would risk a DQ for fishing without a license. Were you seeing these guys and talking to them during practice or during the tourney?

Too bad LSU did not pull off the upset, that would have really shook up the BCS standings.

What sized weightless plastics are you planning on tossing? Just asking, because some, for example Senkos, are relatively heavy. Are you looking at just a 6' rod? Dobyns rods makes several light action casting rods, but they are 7' minimum. You might want to check out the Dobyns Extreme 701DX and 702DX. If you shop the online Black Friday sales those rods will fall into about the price range of that IMX.

Thanks Jeff, did you hunt any of the WIHA areas around Aberdeen? Curious if they've all been cut like they were around Mobridge. I might go back to the northeast part of the state next week, but it depends on what shape the WIHA areas are in that part of the state. I'm going to call the regional offices to see what they have to say.

Several of the teams are doing well, but others not so well, these folks are pretty good local fishermen, using these results as a barometer it tells me the fishing is still tough. Anyone get their magazine "Respoolin"? Curious if it has good local fishing articles. http://www.respoolin.com/News/NewsText/99

Some interesting reading in this link: http://www.in-fisherman.com/2012/08/24/hybrid-black-bass/

A pic of a mean and a spot I caught on Table Rock a couple of days ago. It's also my understanding that a meanmouth is a cross between a smallie and a spot.

That's a good one!

They was ugly again last night. Offence is so predictable - 1st down, run the ball, 2nd and 3rd down pass.

Heck just bring the shootin' iron with you while you're fishing, I saw a nice 6 point buck hanging around his lady friend while fishing yesterday. Only problem was it was just about in someone's backyard. The fish are biting at Swepco, Jeb and I were over there today and did well, with a few 3-3.5 lb. fish, and a lot of 1-2 lb. fish. But it's crowded, parking lot was full, can't imagine what it is like on the weekend.

I launched from Big M about the same time you did Duck, must have been your outboard I heard over by Viney. I did OK today, could not get the dock jig bite going, nothing on topwater, but did get some on a t-rigged Senko, ended up with 9, 16" spot was the big fish, and a couple of 15" LM's. Very light biters, I missed more than I caught, they were biting like spawning fish moving a bait off their beds. But it was a heckuva nice day as far as weather.

It appears they are moving shallow, hopefully it's not a head fake.

The bite changed up a bit, did OK fishing jigs around docks and on topwaters. 17 total, a couple of keepers, mix of Spots, LM, a Meanmouth and a smallie. Could not get a jig bite on points or rocks, but they wanted it around docks, not all docks, but some. Most were on the shallow ends of the docks. Topwater fish were here and there, not a hot bite, but you can work the topwater and get fish. Saw some bass pinning bait against the banks, haven't seen that in while. Water went dead calm around 1 PM Got a double header on the topwater, 15" Meanie and a 13" Spot. Don't know if you guys know it, but you can enlarge photos by double clicking on them.

It was contemporary rock and roll type music so I wasn't worried, but if it had been organ music I might have been a little spooked.

The Lambs should not make any more trips to London. That was one ugly game for them.

LOL, don't give anyone ideas,,,

It appears they are now in the "Suck for Luck" mode. They need to get a QB, so maybe it's the best thing to do, stink the place up and get a high draft pick next spring. I can't believe they started Brady Quinn, but that didn't last long, Cassel stinks but he's head and shoulders above BQ. And to top it off, their best weapon, Jamaal Charles, barely touched the ball yesterday. The only explanation I can think for that is they deliberately want to lose.

We started off really well, got a couple of topwater fish in Prairie creek, and it looked like it was going to be good topwater day - but it wasn't. We fished from PC to not far from Rocky Branch, ended up with 18 or so blacks, small fish, 10-13". Paddle tail swimmer on a jig head was our best fish catcher, and I think we picked up one on a spoon, one on a jig, and had a couple of bites on the A-rig. Water temps were 60-62.

Yes indeed, you can really get some great deals on the Gen 2 Premiers.

I've got a Gen 3 STX, and it compares favorably to a Gen 2 Premier. I haven't fished it a lot, maybe 3 times, but it casts well and is very smooth. Only complaint is the tension control knob has to be tightened down hard to have any effect on spool turn. I tend to leave it loose myself so it's not a big deal to me, but may be to others, it's not just my reel either, others have noticed the same thing on their Gen 3 STX's. IMO it's great value for a $199 reel (you can get them for $179 on Ebay last I looked), or wait until the Black Friday sales and get a 15% discount.

Thanks for the report Bill, glad to hear they are biting.

Yep I have no doubt that they get out in that stubble, I saw some in private fields. I did walk some of the stubble, but the dog never got birdy and I didn't see any birds running or flushing. And I would love to hunt the cover near these WIHA fields, but it's all on private land. There's no cover on these WIHA harvested fields, zero, nada, zilch. And the birds will move into that stuff and feed early in the AM (you can't hunt until noon the first week of SD season, then 10 AM thereafter) or in the evening, but it's pretty iffy to get within shotgun range of those birds. Oh well, it is what it is, and I'm moving on.

Just talked to the DFG folks who work in the Mobridge office, and they confirmed that in a "normal" year the farmers will leave some cover, but because of the drought they harvested it all. Apparently under the WIHA rules they will pay $1 per acre for WIHA even if there is no habitat on the land. They'll pay $5/acre for land with habitat. So I guess a farmer with a 600 acre field can enroll it in the program, have his cattle graze it down to bare earth, and still get a check for $600. What a country! Talked to a SW NE regional DFG habitat manager, and he says that their is increased harvest of habitat on walk in areas, but they stipulate that the farmers leave 50% of the land unmowed, so there's not as much as last year, but still land available to hunt. He also claims bird numbers are good. (That may bode well for NW KS). So, I still plan to head up to SW NE next week.