Quillback

SPOCK: "Captain, this planet appears to be shielded by an impenetrable force field of deniability." KIRK: "Dammit Spock, we must find a way to communicate with those people, use your powers of logic and reason to overcome this obstacle!" SPOCK: "Captain, I am sorry to report that my calculations indicate that this force field in 100% impervious to logic or reason." KIRK: "Sigh, well Spock, I guess we'll have to leave, by the way, did you know Roosevelt was a communist?"

If I had unlimited funds, I'd fly to Florida, stay in a fancy motel, hire a bass guide every day for a week, and come back next Friday when temps (hopefully) have returned to normal around here.

There are some very expensive boats in some of those marinas, hopefully everyone is up to date on their insurance.

Man those are funny! He makes so many that sometimes I think that he stages them, but most of them look too painful to be staged.

Finally ended up with 8 or so inches. Power never went out, could've been worse I guess.

Snow is really coming down now, very windy to boot.

Yep it is now snowing in NW AR.

In NW AR it is sleeting, there was just a little ice this morning, now an inch or two of sleet has fallen. Lots of snow predicted. The forecast calls for -8 tomorrow night. That is ridiculous, I hope they are wrong.

Snakem you deserve the true grit award, holy cow!

Very nice!

Is there a launch in the town of Beaver? The map I have shows one, but I looked around a couple of years ago and did not see it. I know about that ramp on Holiday island but to get there I have to cross that long one lane wooden bridge.

Yes they can return to the sea, these Hells Canyon fish are a long way from the sea and have to get by several dams to get back, so the chances of one returning are very, very slim. Fish from undammed coastal rivers have a much better chance of being return spawners. The fish that is released is a wild spawned fish, they must be released by law, to spawn, you can tell by the intact adipose fin (they zoom in on it). Hatchery fish (adipose fin is clipped) can be kept by sports fishermen and they are also netted by tribal fishermen. F&G biologists encourage anglers to harvest hatchery fish as they don't want them spawning with wild fish and screwing up their genes (it's a complicated issue with many opinions, but basically that's the reason). And as long as the hatcheries receive enough eggs and milt to provide the next generation of hatchery fingerlings, then the excess can be harvested. I'm not 100% sure what Idaho's policy is on hatchery fish that have been spawned out at the hatchery, but in Washington State they are donated to foodbanks or the carcasses are used to suplement river nutrients, they are not released alive back into the river. So, it's perfectly acceptable to keep a hatchery steelhead. Once they've been in the river a while they aren't the best table fare, but are good smoked.

Thanks for the report, as always it contains some good info.

His plan is to amputate the finger with a meat cleaver, yank the hook out of the amputated digit, pack the finger in ice and send the patient to a surgeon to get the finger re-attached.

Anyone notice that they are using #4 shot for their predator "Shoot". You have to be really close to a coyote or bigger predator to get a clean kill with #4. Nothing humane or ethical about what these guys are doing, how many times did they have to shoot the cougar to finally kill it? I'm a hunter myself and I have no problem with people killing predators, but at least try and put them down quickly. I'm sure they are using #4 shot too lessen the chances of shooting someone else in the group, but good grief, if you don't feel a little twinge of conscience when slowly killing an animal, you're a pretty cold blooded son of a gun.

I love it here in Arkansas, but I miss my steelhead fishing. http://www.photoshop.com/users/he11scanyon/albums/0c3c1dc2ebae479a9bda683b9b11cf92/view#f30f3d6e06aa41ebb6dca0917bbcb222

If it's the marina ramp you are using, it's the one that is all concrete and on one side is the dock with the marina office and on the other side is a boat stall. There's also a sign beside the ramp reminding people to pay $3 at the office. You can't miss it. It is definitely not a corps ramp. I pretty sure the annual corps pass is not good there, but maybe I am wrong.

These reports make me hesitant too, not because of the slow fishing, but the hooks in fingers stuff. I have fished all my life, and I have done a lot of fishing and so far have not buried a hook in myself, it's just dumb luck, and when I see stories like this I keep thinking my time will come.

Happy Birthday Bill!

Didn't know there were 2 corps ramps at Hickory, to get to the one I am talking about, when you get past the guardhouse you can either go straight or take a right, if you go straight and follow the road it deadends at the ramp that is closed. Where is the 2nd ramp? I'd like to save $3 since I have a Corps season pass.

Well I did drive by the Hickory corps ramp a couple of days ago - it is CLOSED. Yellow tape across the ramp and a couple of barriers, dock is on it's side and out of the water. You could still launch there as the concrete ramp still extends into the water, but I guess with the dock on land they didn't want anyone to launch. However you can launch at the Hickory creek marina for $3.

No big ones for me, but they were all chunky 1 - 2 lb. fish. Fight a lot harder that the coldwater bass I have been catching lately.

I was there a couple of days ago, the fish are spawning. I caught 4 bass on plastics, pressure is heavy, if you go on the weekend it's a good idea to get there very early as the parking lot will probably fill up.

Yep it's just west of Gentry AR. SWEPCO is the utility entity that runs the power plant that uses the lake water. I think the official name for the lake is Flint Creek (or something similar), but folks around here call it Swepco.

25 pound chinook on your back works better than a pork chop. You jooged my memory with that pork chop remark, attack story from several years ago: Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) enforcement officers this morning issued safety warnings to residents near a section of the Kalama River while a private hound hunter continued searching for a cougar that reportedly jumped a male angler yesterday, knocking him to the ground. The man, a Fort Lewis resident in his mid-30s, was not injured but his frame backpack showed claw marks. WDFW officers, assisted by a hound hunter, searched the area about 10 miles northeast of Kalama for several hours yesterday afternoon after interviewing the angler. The man told officers he was jumped from behind and knocked face-first to the ground as he was hiking out from the Kalama River shortly before 11 a.m. yesterday with a 25-pound chinook salmon wrapped in a plastic bag and tied to the outside of a frame backpack. When he rolled to his side to get up he saw a "huge" cougar disappearing into a brushy area about 12 to15 feet away. The man hiked out to a nearby mini-mart where he encountered a state hatchery worker who reported the incident to WDFW officers. http://www.biggamehunt.net/news/dfw-searching-kalama-river-cougar