Quillback

Dang, they just rolled out FLW live coverage, would've been fun to watch some of the live fishing. Other than that, I don't care that much, I don't follow the FLW at all except when they come to Beaver.

Nice video. There's a few grass carp here in the community lakes stocked for weed control. A few winters ago I accidentally snagged one while fishing a jerk bait, certainly did some pulling before the hooks came out. A nice looking fish, nice shiny green coloration. I will see one every once in a while when the water is cold, laying on their side, on their back floating on top the water, they look like they are dying, but I believe they are feeding on something. I like to sneak up on them when they are doing that and poke them with a fishing rod - it freaks them out!

I haven't thrown a spinner bait at night, but fishing a week ago on one of the Bella Vista lakes, the guy with me caught a 4.25 bass on a black spinner bait with a #6 Colorado blade. He had a red Menace Grub on it as a trailer. I like to throw a 1/2 - 3/4 oz wobblehead with a black/blue creature bait of some kind. I just don't do much night fishing.

Just saw there was a 4.2 at 8:47 AM just outside Cushing OK.

Anyone notice a jolt a few minutes ago? Felt a jolt here followed by a little shaking.

This could be a heckuva business opportunity for a solar business.

That's a reasonable point, if you're a working dude with family, and can only get out maybe 20 times a year, it would be cheaper to hire a guide. Not to mention you have to have insurance, pay for maintenance, fuel, and all the other boat expenses.

I would be surprised if this originated from the COE, I could be wrong about that, but I have to believe this came from "above".

Thanks for the link. I am hoping your division 1 buddies publish a newsletter also.

Amazing how much boat prices have jumped in the last few years. But they are selling them.

Going to make recharging trolling motor batteries interesting, especially at night.

First one I have seen, except for a glimpse or two of one off the side of the road.

I was thinking of the drop shot myself, didn't have any of that stuff with me. I saw a few on the graph out in 15-20 FOW underneath the boat and I bet they would've bit a drop shot, or a spoon. Had a couple spit out 3" spoon sized shad.

Launched early again today, 0530 or so. Went over to a nearby gravel point and caught a few early, got my biggest of the day, a 3 lb. LM. Fishing the c-rigged Trick worm again. Saw some bass busting top water, but couldn't get them to bite my top water offerings. Fished a couple of other gravel points, picked up a few here and there. Then I fished a brush pile that sits on a gravel point in about 15-20 FOW, off a cove mouth, it's a brush pile I have fished in the past and sometimes it is good for a bass or two, but today it was loaded, caught over 20 bass off that pile, mostly 12-14" spots, but also a few keepers, 2 of the keepers were LM's,the only 2 LM's I caught off that pile, but they were both keepers. Again on the c-rigged Trick worm. (Old Purple and Candy Bug). Caught a bunch of fish today, 35 or so, mostly 12-14" spots, only 5 keepers. Not one smallmouth, but did catch a meanmouth. Surface WT was 86. Saw a bobcat today, pulled into a little cut in a bluff wall, made a few casts on one side of the cut, moved the boat over to the other side, saw something moving on the bank, thought it was a fox, but once I got a good look at it I realized it was a bobcat. It just slowly walked away and disappeared into the brush. Didn't have time to get the camera and get a shot, I needed to change lenses to get a good photo and the cat just didn't give me the time I needed.

Appears they are looking for the top water bite.

This was on the AGFC website. The Arkansas Game and Fish Commission Trout Management Program worked with the Greers Ferry National Fish Hatchery in Heber Springs to clip off a fin on each of 14,300, 9-inch brook trout to be released into the Bull Shoals and Norfork tailwaters later this month. The loss of a fin may seem counterproductive to fish survival, but the fin-clipping effort is part of a larger project to determine the effectiveness of larger trout being stocked in the tailwater. Brook trout have been stocked in Arkansas since 1994 at a size of 6 inches. Recently, the AGFC Trout Management Program has worked with the hatchery to grow out the trout to 9 inches before release. According to Christy Graham, supervisor of the Trout Management Program, the tradeoff for fewer, but larger trout being stocked may increase the amount of trout that make it to catchable size. “Creel and electrofishing surveys conducted over the last 10 years indicate very few of the 6-inch brook trout stocked survive very long after stocking,” Graham said. “We hope increasing the size to 9 inches will give anglers a better opportunity to catch these trout.” Graham says the clipped fins pose little harm to the fish, and enable biologists to accurately determine when a fish was stocked. This information is vital to determine the success of stocking as well as the growth rates of the fish. “Typically some fish would have to be sacrificed to determine age through other means,” Graham said. “But this marking enables us to track the growth rates and survival of stocked fish and release it to be caught by anglers.” The current minimum length limit for brook trout is 14 inches and anglers may keep two per day. Arkansas is the only state in the Southeast to stock rainbow, brown, cutthroat and brook trout. Catching one of all four species in a single day is a feat known as the “Ozark Slam.” Graham says anglers who visit the Norfork and Bull Shoals tailwaters should also be on the lookout for public workshops in August to begin the review of the trout management plan for these tailwaters. “We will have announcements soon on where and what times these workshops will be held, but the dates will be August 3rd and 24th,” Graham said. “We want all anglers, from the casual bait-fisherman to the experienced fly-fishing guide, to be represented at these meetings to make these tailwaters the best they can be.”

Fish were in the 5-15 foot range, time of day may be a factor also, things may be different in the evening.

Dang. that bass could've grown up and been caught on a big swimbait.

Something I forgot to mention - the coves are filled with baby shad right now, should bode well for the future.

I fished a Tatula most of the day today Carolina rigging. Casting distance is pretty impressive, I believe they are right in saying that the T-wing system helps distance. Not one backlash all day. Couple things I don't like is that the spool tension control is very tight and just doesn't have a well machined feel to it. Drag is a little sketchy, not bad, certainly fishable, but not as smooth a drag as I would like. But for a reel that you can usually find for less than $100, it's a good value IMO. I have the first version of the Tatula, some guys didn't like them as they thought they are a little big. I am fine with the size, but the new version, the Tatula CT is a bit smaller, so I ma told. Never have fished a Lews, so I can't make a comparison between the two, but a lot of guys really like their Lews.

Got to the launch at 0530 today. Noticed some activity not far off the shore, so took a rod off the deck and made a cast with a wobblehead/Megabug combination. Drug it on the submerged blacktop, felt a fish pick it up, swung and missed, let it drop, started dragging some more and had a 14" spot grab it and hang on. Uh-oh, first cast fish. Made another few casts, had another one on, it came out of the water about 4 feet and tossed the bait. I think it was a smallie. Decided I better get the boat in the water before I wandered down the bank fishing and end up launching after fishing the bank for an hour. Put the boat in the water, parked the truck, walked down to the boat, got in and decided to make a cast or two before leaving the dock. Caught another bass, this one a meanie that went about 14", and had another one spit the hook. Finally untied the boat and got out of there. Motored down to a cove that has a dock near the entrance of the cove, one of my favorite early morning spots in the summer. Dragged the wobbler around the rocks lining one side of the cove, caught a keeper LM, and a very nice 18" meanmouth (2nd of the day). That was it for the cove. Spent most of the morning fishing gravel points with the c-rig, dragging Zoom Finesse and Trick worms, caught a 3.5 LM on a Finesse worm which was my big fish of the day. Bite never was "hot" but it was steady with a bite every 5 or 6 casts. Ended the morning with 19 bass, 4 of them keepers. About 10 AM the recreational traffic started getting bad, I hung in there until 1130, then split. Surface temps were 84-85.

This is what provided the structure for the Tacoma Narrows bottom fish.

Used to catch the saltwater quillback around the Tacoma narrows bridge 25 years ago. Ugly but tasty. Also used to go out of Westport WA on bottom fish charters and catch black rockfish that Kjackson is talking about. They are very similar in appearance to largemouth bass. They'd typically run 3-5 lbs and were great eating. Limit was a dozen back in the day, and you'd usually get a lingcod or two. $80 to go on the charter boat and you'd get your moneys worth in fillets. Deckhands would fillet them for about $5 for your limit. It would take 1-2 hours to get back to the harbor and the deckhands would fillet all the fish by the time we got back.

Nice couple of smallies.

More wildlife vs human news. AUBURN, Maine (AP) — A professional runner from Kenya who was out training on a nature trail in the woods near his home in Maine says he encountered two charging black bears but was able to outrun them during a frantic sprint to a nearby vacant house for cover. Moninda Marube said when he saw the bears early Wednesday his instincts kicked in and he did what he does best: run. He told the (Lewiston, Maine) Sun Journal that the bears were 20 yards (18 meters) away from him and a vacant house was 20 yards away in the opposite direction. So he made a run for the house, with the bears closing to within 10 yards (9 meters) by the time he found safety on the house’s screened porch. The bears stopped, not realizing they could’ve easily crashed through the flimsy porch screens, Marube said. They sniffed around for a while before wandering away. Wardens advise people who encounter black bears to make themselves appear big, make noise and back away slowly. But they recommend people stand their ground if a black bear charges and say if the bear attacks, then fight back. But Marube said that’s easier said than done. He said he knew that black bears can climb trees, so he couldn’t climb to safety. He said he considered jumping in a nearby lake, but he can’t swim. He said he initially engaged in a stare-down with the bears but the bears charged the moment he turned his back on them. Marube, a student at the University of Maine at Farmington who finished third in the 2012 Maine Marathon and won the 2013 half-marathon, said he’d once encountered a leopard perched in a tree while alone in Africa — but the bears were scarier. He said he learned an important lesson from his close encounter with Maine’s wildlife: “Just make peace with people. You never know when your day comes.”