Quillback

Nice bunch of fish! Glad to hear you guys got into them.

I think I will suggest to them that they put this kind of stuff in the news section of the AFG website. I imagine they do they surveys on all the big lakes in AR, and it would be cool to see the results on their website.

Sorry guys, I'm not a subscriber either, I picked up a copy at the news stand. Maybe someone who is a subscriber will see this and post the article. It's really annoying they went to a subscriber view only on their website.

If you have not read the Outdoor's section in today's NWA Arkansas Gazette you might want to give it a read. In brief the AFG did their annual survey of fish populations, it confirmed what many of us are seeing, lots of small walleye, spotted bass, and healthy shad populations, so many Kentucks that they are thinking of taking the size limit off them to encourage people to keep them and thin out the population. Anyway, things are looking good for the future!

Good luck Mitch, let us know how you do.

There's some Stocktonlakeguide reports for that time of year for last year if you go to page 3 I believe in this forum. Lots of good info about what worked last year, it would at least give you a good starting point.

I have some Gulp leeches - they look good, I just need to try them out.

I would just as soon catch Whites as Largemouth, especially on light tackle.

I hear ya, the lakes have been crazy around hear on the weekends.

I've heard some internet chatter lately that the Eyes were hitting crawlers on harnesses on Beaver, so I gave it a shot Saturday morning. I did pick up 4 Eyes but they were all small 10 - 14 inches. I only had about 8 crawlers so I did not fish for them that long. Hearing a lot of folks saying they are catching short Eyes in Beaver so maybe in a year or two we'll have some relatively good fishing for keeper sized Eyes. I also saw some whites engaging is surface feeding frenzies on Shad, pretty cool to see, I got lucky a couple of times when they were close to the boat and was able to toss a Road Runner into the action, instant hookups both times, fun on light tackle. Unfortunately both times, by the time I got the fish in and off the hook the feeding frenzy was over and the fish had moved somewhere else. About 11 AM the wind really picked up and the fiberglass toys were starting to appear, so I decided to leave. Heck of a colorful sunrise by the way. Not a bad morning of fishing.

Thanks for the report. I did not know hybrids would do that. I'm thinking about heading to Grand this Saturday to try for whites.

Thanks Bill, that does help. I haven't done much spoon fishing and I appreciate advice from those such as yourself who have "walked the walk".

Nice wallies from a lake where they don't come easy.

Yes thanks Mr. Babler for the info, I especially like hearing what lures you like and when. So how do you all work the spoons? Do you drop them straight down and jig them, or cast out and let them fall, then jig them back?

Thanks for the report!

I read some stuff a while back about stripers and warm water, it was claimed that there was about a 50% survival rate for stripers released in warm water, they are a cold water fish and the combination of warm water and the stress from being caught are a lethal combination. AFG recommends that you should keep any stripers you catch in warm water.

I have seen Mobile marine on my way to Hickory creek, just never have stopped in. Has anyone been there, just curious if they have a good selection of stuff. It would be nice to have a Basspro/Cabelas locally, but the only drawback is if they put a store in Arkansas I would have to start paying sales tax when I order stuff from the catalog.

Fished yesterday on the flats near the Shangri-La Marina. Caught an even dozen blues on shad chunks, nothing large, mostly all were in the 1 Lb range. Lots, and I mean lots of boat traffic on the lake, but in spite of it the fish were biting.

I was on Grand Lake yesterday, the water lice were unbelievably bad there also. I can't wait until I can retire and fish on relatively quiet weekdays.

What you have listed is pretty much it as far as I know.

That is 10-10-10 I meant to say.

Thom - I have never heard of water crystals, what are they if youy don't mind me asking? Did you add any calcium to your soil? I had an earlier problem with blossom end rot which can be caused by lack of calcium. What brand of water soluble fertilizer are you using? I used Miraclegor earlier this year but switched to Osmocote once the tomatoes started setting. Osmocote is a 01-10-10 slow release.

I did the container thing for tomatoes this year myself, they are really starting to come in now, picked a dozen this morning. I did have a problem with blossom end rot, but they seem to be over that now. Next year I will mix in some lime into the containers before I plant the plants. I'm sold on containers now for tomatoes. Squash and peppers were bad this year. Green beans are doing fine.

Nice fish!

Last weekend I was trolling cranks for crappie and caught half a dozen bass at 16 feet.