Quillback

Rayburn is glass this morning. Looks like it is going to be a tough day to catch fish.

I wouldn't fish one of the little Bella Vista lakes in a 30 MPH north wind. That's just no fun. Of course those guys are pros and pretty much locked in if the weather is good enough. That would be scary to get caught out in 8 foot waves.

Day 2 cancelled, due to wind and waves. NW wind at 30 MPH.

There is a Civil War round table in Bella Vista that meets once a month at the Bella Vista museum which is right off HWY 71 in Bella Vista. The next meeting is February 3rd at 7 PM. The guest speaker is Steve Cottrell, co-author of a book, The Civil War in the Ozarks, and is an employee of the Battle of Carthage museum. It is free and open to the public. They do pass the hat to fund the expenses of the presenter, which I guess would be gas money. I have never been to one of these discussions myself, but may go to this one. Subject to cancellation if the weather is bad.

Picked up a copy of the AR Democrat Gazette yesterday at the grocery store - I seldom read the paper anymore, but if I think of it, I'll get a Thursday copy as it has an outdoors section. Story in there advocates for keeping browns on the Little Red, according to AGFC there are TOO MANY (LOL) 14-16 inch browns and the competition for food keeps them from growing to trophy size. There are wild and self sustaining, AGFC does not stock them in the Little Red. What was also interesting is that even though there are a lot of them in the river, they are tough to catch compared to stocked rainbows so the perception amongst anglers is that there aren't that many, but electro-fishing by AGFC confirms that there are loads of them in the river, they are just tougher to catch. That's a brief summary, and is not my opinion, never have fished the Little Red, just relaying what AGFC is saying. Personally I have no problem with catching 14-16 inch wild browns, but I infer from the article that AGFC is hearing feedback from anglers that they would like to have bigger fish to catch.

Thought it looked low, several feet of bare gravel on the banks. Looks to be 4 or 5 guys in the 18-19 range which is good, but not that great for Rayburn. Michael Neal is one of the guys in the top 5, has 18 lbs. He had a good year last year, might still be on a roll. I don't know if you can be more laid back than him.

The very top level like the BPT or BASS Elite, have 80 to 100 boats, it's the next levels down or the amateur Big Bass tourneys that really put the boats on the water.

According to the interwebz, Rayburn is 114,000 acres vs Table Rock's 43,000 acres.

Happy Birthday Bill!

Yeah, those Texas folks like their tourneys. I watched a bit of a tourney on Rayburn last year, it wasn't a Pro tourney but some kind of TX team trail deal. Something like 700 boats with 2 man teams. The launch had rigs lined up for a mile with a bunch of boats in the launch cove waiting to go. Once on the lake they'd show someone fishing and you could see boats all around them.

Maybe MLF hired a hacker to go after the BASS fantasy site. 😄

It does look to be tough, half the field showing zeroes, could be some technical issues effecting reporting I guess, but they sure aren't tearing them up.

Watched a little, saw some caught on plastics and a couple of crank fish. Looks chilly for sure. I see McClelland is in it, wonder if he is throwing a Rock Crawler?

Well if anyone wants to watch some fishing, the MLF Tacklewarehouse series starts tomorrow on Sam Rayburn. Coverage is supposed to start @ 0730 - can't remember if that is ET or CT. We Are Bass Fishing - Major League Fishing

Looks to be back in service.

That was a head scratcher for sure.

Finished watching the Mizzou/Auburn hoops game today - Mizzou almost pulled off an upset, wish they would've done it.

Which reminds me - Cioppino is an excellent shellfish and seafood dish. I made it once myself and it came out pretty good, so that says something about it being easy to make if I can do it. Lots of recipes out there if you do a search on it.

That's pretty neat Bill, I am jealous of your view.

Just tried. got the error too.

Never have eaten fresh water mussels myself, well the saltwater ones I have eaten and I like them, but they do have a distinctive taste that a lot of people don't like. There are shellfish beaches open to the public in Puget Sounds and that's where I would get mussels. They weren't real popular like oysters and clams so it was pretty easy to harvest them. I would think that the salt water versions of clams and mussels are completely different species than the freshwater ones. I'm pretty sure Indians used to eat them, there are a lot of shell middens in the Tenn. lakes and rivers from Indian harvest.

If you want to take some classes, take them. Why worry about what other people think?

Have to think the Chiefs are going to win it all.