Quillback

Welcome indeed, that's quite the fishing resume!

I believe the Coast Guard thing is given to you once you pass a CG inspection. Certainly not necessary, but if it's something you want, why not? Do a search on CG vessel requirements to see what you'll need to do.

The BPT Redcrest championship is being held on pools 7 and 8 from August 21-25. If you have the time to watch some live coverage you can pick up some tips.

Congrats! I love to fish, but not in lightning, I would've called it a day too.

Are they busting on small shad? If so, try a small spoon, like a 1/4 oz Kastmaster or a 1/2 oz jigging spoon. You have to be fast, cast it right to the boil as soon as you can, let the spoon sink for a 1/2 to one second,then give it a rip. Rip and drop back to the boat. I like to spray paint the flat side of a silver Kastmaster white - I use Krylon spray paint - and hang a #6 feathered treble on the back. I use 5 lb. Maxima on a light spinning set up. They aren't named Kastmaster for nothing, you can launch that 1/4 oz with the right tackle.

Seeing Bo's post reminds me of something else, if I am vertical fishing for bass, I try to keep my bait in front of the boat, or to put it another way, I try not to fish a spot after my boat has drifted over it. I'm pretty convinced that the boat, or it's shadow, when passing over the fish, spooks them.

One thing to remember is that it is August, and I know for me this is always the toughest month to fish. I'm a daytime fisherman, I like to get out first thing and fish until 1030 or so. There is an early bite, at least there has been the last couple of times I was out, and I'll try different locations looking for fish. I won't spend too much time on any one spot if I'm not seeing fish or not getting bites, there's just not enough prime fishing time in the AM to spend time beating unproductive water. Keep an eye open for bass chasing shad on the surface too, I haven't seen a lot of that myself, but when I do it tells me where there are active fish, and they usually aren't loners this time of year. Drop shot should work, I'd try finesse type worms, like Zoom Finesse worms, Robo worms, or GY Cut Tails. I don't like fishing bait for bass, nothing against others doing it, but I might be tempted to send down a night crawler on a drop shot if I was seeing fish but not getting bites. Don't overlook docks either.

Well hopefully you can grill a fish or two. Does the outfitter go with you or is one of those deals where they drop you off and you're on your own until you get to where you are going?

Do you just need to bring clothing and fishing gear? Does the out filter supply food, camping stuff?

My experiences with wild trout are that they aren't any tougher to catch than stockers. I think just about every wild trout stream in the west have gone to catch and release rules, if not, the fish would get wiped out.

The single old ladies here in Bella Vista have a saying about the old guys that hit on them, they are looking for a "nurse and a purse".

Where in the NW did you live? Spent almost 20 years of my life living in North Bend WA. Never fished jigs at all for trout while I lived there, but if I go back sometime I'm going to pack some for the Yakima river catch and release area. I bet those fish would eat them up.

I have only found the drop shot fish in one location this summer.

I use a 6'10" spinning rod, moderate action. 6lb. InvisX, 1/4 oz weight. Pretty much vertical fishing, I'll flip it out there 30 feet or so, let it drop to the bottom, work it with some subtle shakes and hops. When you get over them like in those screen shots, they'll usually bite. Sometimes you've got to leave it down there for a bit, they may not hit right away.

Up with the chickens again this morning, launched the boat at about 6 AM. My plan was to do a little c-rigging and then try the drop shot for a bit. Didn't think I'd be out for long, due to a combination of heat, non-biting fish and recreational traffic. The c-rigging didn't pan out too well. I picked up 3 random smallmouth on a couple of different locations, main channel points and rocks, fish were in the 10-20 range. Found some spotted bass in 30 FOW off a gravel point, caught 10 of them on a drop shot fished near the bottom using a Roboworm. That was the only place I found them. Took a couple of screen shots of them. That was the sum of my catching, caught them early, didn't get one after about 9 AM and put the boat on the trailer at 1030. This post has been promoted to an article

Nice ones Dan!

And who could ever forget Mudcat Grant?

Speaking of bullheads, and another name for them. Cody Sparkman of Perryville caught a 2-pound, 13-ounce catfish on a Perry County farm pond. JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. – The Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC) congratulates Cody Sparkman of Perryville for now holding the state record for black bullhead catfish. Sparkman caught a 2-pound, 13-ounce fish on a farm pond in Perry County July 21 using a jug line. The previous record was a 2-pound, 4-ounce fish caught in 2010 in Cass County. “I was out that day hoping to catch catfish and turtles,” said Sparkman. “It’s definitely something to now hold the state record.” The fish’s weight was verified on an MDC scale in Perry County. Bullhead, such as black, brown, and yellow, are nongame fish and may be caught and kept. For more information on bullhead catfish, visit https://huntfish.mdc.mo.gov/fishing/species/bullhead. This now makes the eighth state-record fish caught in 2019. Sparkman caught the fish using chicken liver. Though Sparkman now holds a state record, he has some reservations about mounting his award-winning catch. “I got to admit, it’s a pretty ugly fish,” laughed Sparkman. “We call them mudcats around here. But it’s a record so I’ll take it. I’m still debating on whether or not to mount it.”

New England has some unusual names for fish, might be more of a local thing in the Boston area, but sunfish were called "Kivvers" (don't know if I spelled that correctly as never saw it printed). Bullheads were "Horned Pout". And as mentioned above, crappie were "Calicoes". My Tennessee uncle calls redears, shell crackers. .

Hard for me to say, I certainly did not find any big schools like 196 had found.

My first day on TR since June 20. I knew it would be a challenge to find some fish, and it was. Dragged a jig in a timbered cove first thing in the morning, had one solid bite and that was it for the jig. After that, I spent some time scoping deep water spots hoping to find some schooled fish - never really found any except for off the end of one gravel point in 30 FOW I managed to catch a couple of 13" spots on a drop shot worm. After that I decided to live or die dragging a c-rig around with a Rage Craw, that did bring me a couple of largemouth (one keeper) and a walleye. The c-rig fish were in 15-20 FOW on a flat that came out from a chunk rock bank. If I had to do it over again, I would have just thrown the c-rig and jig all morning. 6 bass total, only one keeper. Left at 1030, boat traffic was getting pretty busy and the bite, what there was of one, tailed off. This post has been promoted to an article

Carp chunks?

I bet mackerel would work really well.