Quillback

I hear you on getting that lure on the right away. I did have a striper blow up Friday that I made a cast at and when the lure hit the water, he blew up again maybe 3 feet in front of it, I thought for sure he'd hit my lure, but walked it right through the swirl and nothing. The best is when they are wolf packing a shad school and the water is so churned up you can't see your lure when it hits the water. If one doesn't grab it when immediately when it hits the water, you just gotta twitch it and they'll grab it. Since you can't see the lure or know when one grabs it visually, you have to feel it. Sometimes they'll just about rip the rod out of your hands. Haven't seen them doing that this year and I'm beginning to doubt I will.

I can always count on getting beans and cukes. I may struggle with other stuff, but beans and cukes always come through. Just a handful of beans, but in a week they'll be putting out.

I know a 90 year old and his health has declined quite a bit in the last couple of years. He's not a burden, lives by himself, but does get paid for daily living assistance. Instead of being a burden, he's actually a source of employment.

I have heard of someone doing what you plan on doing out of Coppermine. Dunno if it is open in March however.. Centrally located on the lake and not to far from Rogers area restaurants and grocery stores. Coppermine Lodge There's this place, but you'd have to launch from the COE ramp which is nearby, the COE ramp has a courtesy dock and adequate parking. WELCOME | Rocky Branch Resort There are a couple of other places around Rocky Branch, but I don't have the names. I have not stayed at either place listed above, so no ratings from me.

I launched out of Indian, but I liked Devan's title of his last trip, fishing the dam end which is what I did, I did not go back in Indian. I launched at 0515 and spent a couple of hours checking different places for top water striper action, still not much going on that I could find, a few here and there but no schools going nuts on shad. Did not get a single striper bite, but caught a few small bass on top. Switched out to a c-rig with a Zoom Speed Craw and found some fish on windy, gravelly banks. Decent bite for a while, caught my last one at 0930 and was outta there at 1030. Ended up with a dozen bass, all smallies except for one spot. Had one of those rare days where I caught a limit of keeper sized smallmouth. Surface temp 82.

I'm perfectly happy with my new knee, I could barely walk on it before I got it replaced.

One note about some of the Mustang inflatables is that they are "hydrostatic" meaning that they have to be submerged in 4" of water to auto inflate, which means you should be OK with one in rain, humidity, and wave splash. That's according to them. I have a Mustang inflatable HIT and my main complaint it that it does not have a metal clip to attach a kill switch lanyard.

They are, but this thread has been somewhat borderline. It has run it's course.

Hope it works out for you, hang in there!

I almost always go early and there's never a problem getting in the water even if someone else is ahead of me, it's always fishermen early and we all want to get in the water and get to fishing. The last hold-up I had was a couple of weeks ago on Beaver, a guy pulled in just before I got there, so I dropped the TM and did some fishing while waiting. He backs in, then goes to his boat and starts dipping minnows out of the livewell with one of those little minnow dip nets and releases them into the lake. Took the guy like 5 minutes to get them all, no big deal, actually thought it was kind of funny. And I caught a smallmouth while waiting on Mr. Dipper. Some of the ramps are worth fishing when you come in, at least on the lakes. All that prop washing stirs up the silt and brings fish in. You'd think it would spook them, but seems to have the opposite effect.

Dang, none of mine are even close.

I netted a walleye for a buddy of mine last year that he caught on a top water, and I had one to the boat this spring that I hooked on a top water, but I got a little casual getting it netted and it got off. Both were on Beaver lake.

LOL, that was my first thought. Every tourney director out there has Andy's number blocked.

Thanks guys, I have heard of mulberries but no idea what they looked like. Dunno if I can eat on though now that you told me they are full of bugs. 😀

Congrats on some great fish! Getting out of there at 9AM on a hot weekend is a good idea. A buddy of mine had some family in town and they launched out of Indian Saturday, fished until the afternoon and he said when they came back to the ramp it was crazy. They drug brood minnows around, they caught some nice bass and one small striper. He said they were blowing up around the ramp early, but several boats were already on them so they went elsewhere.

Some kind of berry that came off a tree. Green one and a ripe one. No idea what these are, I bet someone on here will know. They are about 1/2 inch long.

Another one for John @Johnsfolly

Congrats!

Well the Newport gauge is right above 14 feet so they can let water out of Bull and they can also let some out of TR to drain into Bull. Last year the Corps said they were planning to keep Beaver at no more than 1120 because even though they say the dam is fine, they don't want the extra pressure of high water on it. So...I would guess once they get more water out of TR and Bull they'll start letting it out of Beaver. Looks like no significant rain in the forecast so maybe they can get the lake levels down. PBS did a show on the St. Francis dam collapse outside of LA back in the 1920's. St. Francis Dam - Wikipedia

I was fishing on Beaver lake a few years ago up the White river arm and I see a jug being pulled in the water fast enough to leave a wake. It kept on going past me and continued down the lake until it was out of sight, never slowed down. I was sooooo tempted to see what was on it, but I can see it now, just when I pull it out of the water, around the bend comes the guys running the jugs.

Looks like it is fixed even though the message says they are still having issues. I'd say the 1128 number they have is correct. Beaver Lake (army.mil)

Rick you must be fishing in a tough neighborhood being that you have an armed guard riding shotgun. As far as table fare, best eating freshwater fish I have ever had was blue cats from Grand Lake. Not big ones, but they were in the 1-5 lb. range.

Nice fish!

Sounds like fun getting into some SW fish on the fly rod!

One for JF. @Johnsfolly