Quillback

With warm days melting the snow, the cold nights refreezing everything, I trust nothing in the morning. And as you note, it's EVERYWHERE! 😃

There's some speculation on recruitment in this article. An interesting point they make is that one of the reasons that nature has made these fish long-lived is that they need certain conditions to spawn and have fry survival. Living a long time gives them a lot of chances to try. Bigmouth buffalo - Wikipedia

It is forbidden to fish on or near the commercial docks on Beaver. If I was serious about carp fishing, I'd bait an area near the bank over at Indian Creek. Plenty of nice bank to set up some carp rods and wait for a bite. I have never seen anyone fishing for carp on that end of the lake. I'm assuming there's bow fishing going on, but haven't seen those guys either, but they could be out there at night.

I'm bringing some lunchmeat just in case.

Usually there are quite a few carp on the dam end of the lake. I have not seen that many this year for some reason.

Welcome to the forum! Beaver lake on the dam end has a lot of wadeable/bank fishing for smallmouth. But only if the water level is down to where it is now at 1120. You could still get around pretty well if it is at a couple of feet above 1120. You can access the lake at Indian Creek COE park, and the both the Lost Bridge Parks. The banks can be a little steep in places with chunky rocks to walk on, but there are literally miles of bank to fish if you're willing to expend some shoe leather. If the water gets up to over 1125 the banks get tough to negotiate. I bank fish that area a few times a year, usually I'm in my boat, but every once in a while I like to keep it simple, one rod and a few lures and go fish the bank. I rarely get skunked from the bank, you work at it, you'll catch some fish. If you're really lucky in timing and get there when the shad are spawning, you might get some top water bites to include stripers. Most likely you're going to catch smallmouth. Table Rock has some bank fishing, around Big M COE park, Eagle Rock park. What limits it there are bluffs. There are a couple of neighborhood ramps at Viney cove that have some access. I've caught fish from the bank at all those places. The big gotcha there is there's just not a lot of bank you can get too. Send me a PM when it gets close to when you'll be here if you want to know what bank conditions are like at the spots I mentioned on Beaver. Just noticed you said you'll be there in March, too early for the shad spawn.

Last night I had a Taneyfest dream. This is what I remember of it: It's lunchtime and there are several of us sitting around a round table that is in this really tiny cabin. Just room enough for the table so you have to squeeze by people to move around. There's a guy at the table with a plate of 3-4 cooked burgers. There's also a line of guys, like 20 of them out the door waiting for lunch. When I sit down at the table, I sit next to a radio talk show host from Nebraska, he's a loudmouth and has been talking the whole time. When I take my seat he says (in a loud voice) "You look like you could fish all day!" All his buddies laugh at that. The guy with the burgers yells "lunchtime!" and people file in and take the burgers. I decided to get one and the guy with the burgers tells me they are all gone, I should've moved faster he tells me. Only thing left is one of those hamburger buns that have onion pieces in them. That's all I get for lunch. None of the people in the dream were anyone I know. It was weird. I hope we have enough food for lunch.

That would be mighty gracious of you. 👍

The dart point is very cool! Well they both are, but I like that dart point.

There are tons of shad up there, lots of food for those gar. A lot of spoonbill too. I asked Dutch if he has ever seen that many gar on the James and he says he never has.

If you have any bow fishing buddies, send them to the James River arm above Flat Creek. The gar are unbelievably thick up there. I don't know if a lot of gar have an effect on the bass, but the bass fishing hasn't been too good up there the last couple of years.

The major roads around here are all clear and dry. That being said, I am ready for the warm winds of spring. 😀

Anything below 32 is too cold for me. Lots of football and basketball to watch and the fishing shows are all first run. The Van Dam show is pretty good. Might get out later this week, looks to be a bit of warming Thursday and Friday.

In the video, the guy mentions an increase in crappie guides on those lakes. What he was saying is that the crappie harvest has increased due to other factors also, including FFS. Those crappie in those lakes get hammered when they are in the bushes spawning, then get hammered again by techniques like spider rigging and trolling crankbaits when they are done spawning. The guides filled limits before FFS came out. No doubt FFS can make people more efficient in harvesting fish, but in the case of those crappie lakes, it's too many people harvesting too many fish.

Did you see anyone else out on the river? @Ham

I watched a fishing show several years ago where they were fishing for them during their spawn. They mentioned how old they can get which surprised me. It would be a shame to kill one.

The prediction today is for 45 for a high with a breeze out of the south. The snow is going to get spanked.

Lake Fork has a slot limit, the Elites were on it last year, so the argument that the big boys won't come if there is a slot limit is not a good one. What kind of surprised me is that director of the Bama trail, said that they had a 20-25% mortality rate. That's still pretty darned high.

Yep, there's a lack of info for sure as far as methodology. I'm not defending it, basically something that I saw that might be of interest to some. I'm one of those "messengers". 😀

Just got back in the house from clearing the walkway and driveway with the lift and throw manual snowblower. I'm guessing 6-8 inches here. A few days ago they were saying maybe 2 inches at the most. HA!

It's pretty, but I will be happy to see it gone.

This study is interesting not because of FFS but because of tournament mortality. Wildlife and Freshwater Fisheries Director says bass slot limit based on scientific data Here's an excerpt: "When we got the preliminary results of that study, it was pretty evident that tournament mortality was extreme up and down the Coosa," said Chuck Sykes, Wildlife and Freshwater Fisheries Director. "The data is showing it is tournament mortality. It is not recreational fishermen mortality," he said. The study showed that tournament anglers seek large, fast-growing, female fish, which leads to the highest rates of tournament mortality among those groups. 45% of bass weighed in during tournaments died before or after the weigh-in. The mortality rate was estimated to be higher during hotter weather.

Those lakes get hammered, I have not been down there for a while now, but if they saw the increase in fishing pressure like we saw here during and after Covid, then I can see why they are going to drop the number of crappie that can be kept. I'm sure they want that out of town money coming it too. Those NW Mississippi crappie lakes are the crown jewels of their freshwater fisheries. People go down there to catch and keep as many crappie as they can, myself included. Those lakes kick out hundreds of thousands of crappie every year, they are flat out crappie factories, but you don't want to push them beyond the breaking point.

I like hearing about a good jig bite.