Quillback

Got an email from the lakes Biologist, they have just stocked another 1,000 trout into Lake Brittany, including 50 that were 2 lbs. or better.

Thanks for the report, especially about the gear you are using, it's always interesting to hear what's out there. One of these days I got to make it down to Lake Fork.

OK Jeb, I'll let you know once it gets closer if I am in for sure, I would like to go just to meet some folks also.

I forgot to say, there is more info in the Table Rock forum about the seminar.

Anybody from NWA interested in going to Bill Babler's stickbait seminar in Springfield at 7 PM on 2/16? I plan on going as long as I'm not on the road that week. I think it's about a 2 hr drive from here. If anyone wants to ride along, give me a shout.

Snowing lightly here now, powdery stuff.

Just stuck my head out the door, not much accumulation so far, maybe an inch of sleet, it is raining right now, hard to tell if it's freezing rain. Supposed to turn to snow. I still have power, I can live with this stuff as long as the power stays on.

I would like to see this myself, maybe you could start at 7:30 PM and that would give me time to make it after work, assuming I am not traveling. Anyone want to carpool from NW Arkansas? I think it's about 2 hrs to Springfield from here.

I sure don't like the forecast for NW Arkansas, freezing rain topped off by heavy snow, I sure hope they are wrong, but it does not good. I can't wait for springtime!

No more, please no more, I can't take it, my credit card is going to be obliterated from overuse, there had to be an end to this, I can't believe there is yet another make/model of jerkbait coming out this year.. and of course it will be a hot bait, the fish will be all over it, so I must buy....aaaiiiieeee!!!!!!

I should not have read this thread, after reading this, I feel my well stocked arsenal of lures is not complete without some LC pointers 112. Please do not say anything about lures as being "Hot" or "Killer" as I will then feel compelled to buy them.

Yes thanks for the reports!

By tuning, I mean getting it to run right, not run on it's side or roll. From what I have heard some of the Rogues are like that. I'll find out.

BPS has suspending Rogues on sale now for $3.74, I picked some up, I hear that the only drawback with Rogues is that some need to be tuned out of the box. But you can get three of them for the price of one of those McSticks. They also have Johnny Morris spinning reels on sale for $63 and some change. I was using a 2000 JM when I caught htose fish, it worked well. Outdoor Life recommended them last year as a high quality value reel, and that was before they dropped the price to $63. My only complaint about them is that the line capacity is not high.

There was a lot of boats out yesterday, more than I thought there would be. I was wondering the same thing, if there was a tournament going on. I did not catch any black bass either.

When I cleaned them, I looked at one fishes stomach contents, a couple of 4 inch shad and a bunch of little one-one and a half inch shad. While I was fishing I noticed a few of the little shad here and there dying on the surface. I bet you could have caught a striper using a fly rod with a sinking tip and working a streamer like you work a stick bait, strip, strip, pause. You're right Zaraspook, this is one of those days I'll always remember.

Today was one of those days that happens maybe once a year for a weekend fisherman like me, I wasn't even that fired up about going fishing but I really needed to get the boat out and burn off some gas as it had been sitting in the garage since November. So I get to Beaver, launch out of Horseshoe bend and head over to a main lake flat that I like to fish. With the water up like it is, it had quite a bit of brush that extends about 50 feet out in the water and runs for about 300 yards along the bank. At the edge of the brush the water is about 6 feet deep and gradually shelves out deeper. I had a clown colored Spro Mcstick tied on, and I start casting it to the edge of the brush and bringing it back in in a twitch, twitch, pause a second sequence. About my fifth cast, I feel a little tick on the line on the pause, then my rod loads up, I feel some serious head shaking going on and then the drag is screaming, I'm fishing with a medium action 6'6" spinning rod and 10 lb test so the issue is in doubt, but I manage to keep the fish out of the brush, get him out to the open water and maybe 5 minutes later get him in my puny net. (That little gold looking thing in his mouth is the McStick). So I retie and make a couple of more casts, and again on the pause hook another striper, this one takes me into a tree and breaks me off. So I tie another one on and maybe 5 minutes later catch another striper, this one about 8 lbs. The action stayed like this for a few more hours, I lost track of time, I started about noon and next thing I know it's 4 PM and the bite stops or the fish moved off, but it just stopped. Anyway I caught seven stripers, most about 8-10 lbs. the smallest being 5 lbs, and the biggest about 12, I lost 2 others that broke me off, and 2 others that got off the hook. I could not tell you what was so special about today, but these fish were aggressive, they would hit it, and if they missed it they would come back again. I had one fish that hit it on the pause, missed, I jerked it twice more and paused and he hit it again and missed, jerked it twice more and he finally got it on the next pause. Every fish I hooked hit it on the pause. So the fish in the net is the first one I caught, the two on the counter are the two I brought home, one is 32" the other is 29". I kept three, one did not make the last shot, I gave it to an oldtimer that lives down the street from me, he's a fisherman but his hips are so bad he can't sit in a boat anymore. But he still likes to eat fish. I need to buy some more McSticks, I lost two and broke another one while unhooking a fish. Of course I'll probably never have a day like this again, if I go out and purposely fish for stripers I'll probably get skunked. But I'll sure give it another try. Supposedly they are going to drop the water starting Tuesday, so where caught these fish will be dry land. I'll have to find another spot.

Congrats, nice fish!

I have heard good things about Lund also, good boats for trolling, and I assume you can also work the banks bass fishing like you would with a more conventional bass boat.

Has the ice melted in the Hickory Creek/War Eagle arm/White river areas? Report in the paper said it was still frozen over from Hickory creek upstream, but hoping to get a more up to date report, as I would like to get the boat up that way this weekend.

I ordered some McSticks and they arrived today, they look just as good as a Megabass in my opinion. If they fish as well, Megabass may have to drop thier prices.

Buyfishingstuff is now completely sold out of McSticks.

Seaguar, I'll keep tha in mind, I'm lookng to pick up some fluoro soon.

About that fluorocarbon - Something I do is after spooling up a spinning reel with it, is when I first get out on the water, as you are slowly moving the boat, let the line out all the way, then reel it back in keeping tension on it between thumb and fore finger of one hand - same thing you do to eliminate twists in mono. Here's an article with some other tips: http://www.bassresource.com/fishing/fluorocarbon_line.html

Well I might go Saturday, temps are supposed to be in the 40's and cloudy. I believe they will be starting the drawdown soon, you would think that would increase current through the lake and maybe get the fish biting.