Quillback

It will be interesting to see how they do.

I plan oh fishing Beaver this spring (once I get a boat) and I won't be shy about posting results, good or bad.

I saw a fishing show a couple of weeks ago, I believe it was Infisherman, anyway the host was fishing Norfolk with a guide. It was winter time, can't remember exact month but I believe November or December. They were fishing at night tossing swimming plugs up against the bank and retrieving slowly. It was on the windy side of a point. They caught some nice stripers.

Sounds tasty!

Well seeing how the Razorbacks blew it (why did that kid try and field that punt?). I have to say it should be OSU vs Florida. In my opinion Michigan had their chance and they got beat by OSU. The championship game should be between two conference champions, no 2nd place teams allowed. We really need a playoff of some kind, but since there isn't one I guess we'll continue to have this kind of controversy every year.

Those are some nice slabs!

Got about an inch of ice and sleet with 3 inches of snow on top here in Bella Vista. It's 16 degrees outside right now, and to think it was 73 a couple of days ago. Went from Fall to Winter real fast.

The Tigers used Nolan Richardson's pressing defence to beat the Hawgs. The Hawgs couldn't handle it.

Thanks for the warning, it's supposed to be 65 here today and we'll be lucky if we see 35 tomorrow. I'm not looking forward to it.

I noticed in the "Ads by Google" section in the header that the "Fishing Hurts" website got a link in there. It's an entertaining read, in case the link is gone here's the URL. http://www.fishinghurts.com/feat-dogfish.asp?c=1509

That is a nice fish, congrats!

Pretty fish, almost looks like a Golden.

It's a good site, I would like to see more posts (reports) on warm water fishing, especially Beaver lake and the area around NW Arkansas, but that's a wish, not a criticism of what's being posted. I guess I'll just have to get out and make my own reports.

I would like to see more info as far as where to go, when to fish and what to use.

To throw in my 2 cents, I lived in the Pacific Northwest for 17 years and many of the same issues with fish habitat are similar to the issues are going on down here. What really scares the ranchers, power generators, developers and local politicians are Federal judges stepping in and dictating habitat and other requirements. This usually is a result of conservation or environmental groups bringing lawsuits in defence of "threatened" or "endangered" species. I have a book "Fishes of Arkansas" that shows species distribution in Arkansas watersheds, there are all kinds of unique minnow speices that are confined to individual river systems or even just small area of a specific stream. I would think that if any of those unique species were threatened with extinction due to development of pollution that a lawsuit could be brought against the offending parties. Unfortunately minnows aren't as glamorous as say slamon and steelhead in the Northwest so it's hard to get big conservation organizations interested in saving some obscure minnow species.

Great report, glad to hear you guys had a good time..nothing beats a bologna sandwich while you're out fishing.

I just moved to NW Arkansas, reading the fishing reports in the paper, they say Catfishing is good in Beaver. Anyone have a recommendation on where to fish for them from shore? I don't have a boat yet, but I would like to get out and catch a cat or two. Any other catfishing places here in NWA that anyone would recommend? Thanks in advance!

Yes thanks for the reports, I just moved to Bella Vista and once I get a boat I plan to get out and fish Beaver. Once I do get out there I will also post reports.

Good luck, it will be interesting to hear how you do.

Well I can understand that point, I wonder if angler opinion agreed with the biological reasons for the reg change on SWEPCO? It's a great place to introduce youngsters to bass fishing, and from the number of rigs I've seen in the parking lot on a Saturday morning it appears anglers aren't turned off by catching too many small bass. I would also argue that SWEPCO already contains a healthy population of trophy bass, I fear the end result will be a lake with a relatively small number of "trophy" bass and anything below 18" will also become scarce. Anyway I guess we'll find out, hopefully this change is for the better, it would be great to have a lake that has a good number of trophy sized bass.

I haven't fished for bass in SWEPCO since last November, but it was good then for bass of all sizes, we did get some smaller ones, but also caught several in the 2-5 lb range. Maybe this reg change will create an environment where there will be more larger fish, but I'm sceptical. I think it's a fine lake for bass fishing as it is and I don't see how this reg change will improve it.

Thanks for the report, once I get moved down to NW AR I'll have to give this lake a try.

I was surprised to see a 10 fish bass limit at SWEPCO. I fish that lake when I come down to visit, it's great bass fishing under the current catch and release rules. I don't see a need for bass retention on that lake, does anyone know why they are going to allow retention? Is the fishing too good? BTW, does anyone know if they implemented the suggested changes?

CrappieFM, yeah I live in Washington now, but I'm moving to NW ARK this fall. Yeah the bounty is pretty sweet, if you like fishing for Pikeminnow full time. I live to far from the Big C to make it worth my while, not to mention I would rather spend my fishing time going for salmon and steelhead. Right now is prime time for Chinook and we also have an open Sockeye season in Lake Washington.

It's funny how you see the same thread topics on different boards. On the Columbia river there's a big Sealion problem, Sealions eat returning Spring Chinook when the fish are congregated at the dams waiting to get upriver, considering about $400 million a year is spent on salmon and steelhead management on the Columbia, watching these expensive fish get gulped by Sealions is aggravating. The Marine Mammal protection act covers Sealions so they can't be lethally removed without Federal approval (they're working on it.) There is also a problem with a predator known as the Northern Pikeminnow (formerly called Squawfish, name changed for PC reasons). Pikeminnow eat salmon and steelhead smolts, so the Feds came up with a program to PAY people to catch and kill Pikeminnow, it's a $3 per fish bounty. Top Pikeminnow fishermen make 30-40K per year catching Pikeminnow.