Quillback

I wouldn't back away, espcially if it looked like it was stalking me, but in the very unlikely possibility that is was a female with cubs I would back away. I lived in cougar country (Washington State) for 20 years, hiked, fished, and hunted quite a bit and never saw one. But I had a game plan on what to do if I ran into one. And if I was going to slowly back away, and I wouldn't unless cubs were present, I would not be quiet about it, the cougar knows you are there, let it know you know it's there. But that's me, you can decide on what you're going to do if you bump into one. And if you're backing away, be sure of your footage, it's not a good time to trip and fall when a predator is stalking you.

The experts say when confronted by a cougar, that you want to act agressive towards it, stand your ground, raise your arms above your head, throw rocks and sticks. You don't want to run away of back off. Since Missouri is apparently being swamped by a wave of invading cougars they may want to start a cougar awareness program so that people know how to react in the presence of one, instead of reaching for the firearm and shooting. Or just continue the shoot on site policy. I don't understand the phobia that well armed people have with cougars.

There are more eagles over at Swepco right now than I have ever seen there. Must be at least 50 if not more. If you're into eagle watching, now is the time to go. Bring your bass stuff too.

I just noticed these today from Bomber, they look good and they are cheap compared to some of the other stickbaits out there. Anyone tried them yet? http://www.tacklewarehouse.com/Bomber_Suspending_Pro_Long_A_/descpage-BSPLA.html

I am tempted sometimes to do a little squirrel hunting, but I just hate cleaning those things. Sure aren't as many squirrel hunters as there used to be.

Yeah Champ, that Lake Ann has been frozen over since the freeze we had a couple of weeks ago, it froze over with really thick ice. I drove over to Avalon yesterday and it had quite a bit of ice on it also from this last freeze, but it's thin and should be gone soon. Brittany fished real well for me one day last week before this latest freeze, I didn't check it out yet but it may have iced over also. Come on springtime!

I like McSticks and if I want a bait that works a little deeper, I pull out an IMA Flit. The Flit in Chartreuse shad worked real well for me on one of the clear lakes here in Bella Vist last week. I would think it would work on TR.

I like 8# Seaguar Invisix for jerkbaits. Above water is is very visible which allows me to easily see line movement when a fish takes it on the pause. I like a line that sinks, has low stretch, low visiblity under water, but easy to see above water for jerkbait fishing.

The truth is emerging - It's the Feds! http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/41178569/ns/us_news-environment/

Here's a thread on Chubs from another board. I have heard (never tried it myself) that a can of dogfood with holes punched in it and placed inside the trap works well. Chubs are supposed to be a killer walleye bait. http://www.ohiogamefishing.com/community/showthread.php?t=89122

Wow, just shy of a 6 lb. average on a 5 fish limit.

That's some fine hunting you are getting into! Not a duck hunter myself, but there are plenty of them in and around Bella Vista right now, hundreds if not thousands of geese and I saw a couple of hundred mallards on one of the lakes a couple of days ago. Sadly they can't be hunted here, the geese need to be thinned out considerably.

I have read some newspaper accounts of people getting some serious jail time for collecting arrowheads on federal property. It's not worth it.

That's cool, as far as eating, in my opinion those blue are better that stripers.

Well kinda slow for me, I caught 3 LM's 12-14" fish on a McStick. Caught those fish on a couple of gradually sloping points with wind and sun. Caught them in a 45 minute span and the other 4 hours I fished was skunk city. Saw quite a bit of shad on the FF, but no predators around them. My FF doesn't have a temp probe and I did not drop the thermometer so no info on water temp. Only saw one dead shad, so I'm thinking it hasn't dropped enough for a shad kill. Saw a couple of guys beach their boat on a gravel bar that has emerged with the low water across from the bend at HS bend. They were searching the gravel for something, arrowheads maybe?

Checked out the Horseshoe Bend COE ramp this morning, no ice, ramp is dry. I may haul my boat over there today and see if there's any cooperative bass in the area.

March 3 through March 6, according to the schedule. They could be facing some nasty weather.

I think what this says is that he did not have a license (or permit) for elk. But he may have a hunting license. I wonder what a "raptor violation" is?

Saw this in the weekly AR Game & Fish report. AGFC wildlife officers arrest two on game violations PRUITT - Arkansas Game and Fish Commission wildlife officers arrested two individuals in Newton County for violating state game laws. Linda Morgan of Fairview in Marion County and Lewis Weeks of near Marble Falls in Newton County were arrested after officers found them with four unchecked deer and an elk. The two were taken into custody after the officers found elk and deer carcasses on Weeks’ property. Weeks was charged with an elk hunting violation, no hunting license, four counts of failure to tag and check deer, possession of a controlled substance, possession of an instrument of a crime and driving on a suspended license. Weeks also was given two warnings for doe deer prohibited and a raptor violation. His total bond was $8,130. Morgan was charged with aiding and abetting in a violation, hunting without a license and was given a warning for interfering with a wildlife officer. Her bond was set at $500. The AGFC’s Cpl. Shawn Smith, Sgt. Kenny Seay, Cpl. Les Gustavus and Wildlife Officer Matt Garcia were involved in the investigation.

Based on dollars per inch, this is one pricey bait. http://www.tacklewarehouse.com/Moreau_Baits_3_Topwater_Frog/descpage-MB3TF.html

The message I'm getting is that Missouri has a shoot on sight policy on mountain lions, shoot it and tell the enforcement folks that you felt threatened. Only hitch in the giddy-up is they won't let you keep the carcass.

Yep I agree, we need to know the root cause of these die-offs if possibile.

Overfishing ended because the fish were almost wiped out. If and when fish stocks rebound, we have to make sure overfishing does not again rear it's ugly head.

Ysp some white stuff here in NW Arkansas, but forecasters are saying there will be a weekend warmup.

Interesting read on Haley. http://msn.foxsports.com/nfl/story/kansas-city-chiefs-are-legit-but-coach-todd-haley-is-a-fraud-010311