Quillback

The below is what makes me laugh. Can't handle the wakes? Just get a bigger boat! "Boaters talk of buying bigger craft just to stay afloat — going to a 28-footer from a 22-footer to avoid getting swamped by the 50-footer that replaced a 40-footer. Troopers patrolling the lake say that escalation of boat size, combined with more traffic on the lake, makes for more treacherous waters." Read more here: http://www.kansascity.com/news/state/missouri/article156461774.html#storylink=cpy

Yep, I wonder if the Z's would compete with the shad for plankton. A significant drop in the shad population would not be good for the stripers or any other fish that relies on them.

Here's a link to the article. No one has an answer. http://www.kansascity.com/news/state/missouri/article156461774.html

Excellent!

Sweet, I am surprised to see a spawned out brownie this late. And I did not see "Dirt" in your list of successful colors so I am also a bit disappointed.

You'll have to launch off the black top, courtesy dock not useable at this level. Parking lot is mostly underwater, a bit of a strip up top, so you'll have to park off the side of one of the roads. Not a whole lot of room close to the ramp for parking, so you may have to walk a bit, but you should be able to find a place to park. I'd get there early, especially if you are going on the weekend.

The Japanese beetles have not been very numerous around my house the last few years, I have no idea why, they were really bad for a while. Maybe it's a cyclical thing, but if you guys are getting them, I'm sure I will be seeing them soon.

After they dry, I put them in a cheap, small Plano box. After a few months the corners of the box curl up and you need to get a new one, but they are only $2.50 each. http://www.tacklewarehouse.com/Plano_3450_6_Compartment_Stowaway/descpage-P34506.html

Oh yeah, this means war! I'm bringing a grappling hook tied to strong rope, and I'm gonna drag all of the brush out of YOUR spots, load in into the boat and put that brush in MY spots.

I've tried Gorilla glue, it runs something awful which if you're doing it in the boat can be a problem. Even doing Neds at home it seems I would get some of that G-glue on my fingers. It also dries to a white color, don't know if it bugs the fish, but I don't like it. I am back to the gel, even with the nozzle issues. I'll glue up 20 Neds at a time, if you get the Mustad hooks on Dave's heads they won't rust out, make up a bunch at one time, at home, use gel, and all is good.

If the Ned wire down the throat trick doesn't work, I'll nip the top off of the spout with scissors.

I imagine afternoons are worse, lots more pleasure boaters out. But when we pulled out at noon, only half dozen or so rigs in the lot.

Today wasn't bad at the ramp. lower parking lot has room for a row of rigs parked diagonally and the upper lot is wide open. Courtesy dock is useable also. It's probably crazy on the weekend.

I don't get any errors, but the photos are smaller, using the same pixel size as before, but now for some reason they pictures are smaller when displayed in the message.

I saw the proposal, my understanding is that the shad netters are netting their shad in rivers (I believe it was the Arkansas river) and then selling them to guides to fish with. Big worry are bigheads or other carp getting accidentally netted and then turned loose in Beaver. The guides claim they can differentiate between the shad and juvenile carp, so to them it is not an issue. I can understand why the guides are upset it can be tough to net shad in Beaver.

Traveled over to Shell Knob today and launched at the Bridge. Fished with a fellow Bella Vistan, Mike. Mike has been an occasional fisherman during his life, but in the last few months has taken up bass fishing. He has a little problem with his casting as in distance control. I think we had to go back into the trees at least a half dozen time to get his jigs back. There were times I wished I had a machete (for the vegetation, not for Mike) Fishing was a bit slow, my excuse is that I am not familiar with that area. We went point hopping, best points had some breeze on them. Dragging 1/2 oz FB jigs with twin tailed grubs or craws produced the most bites for us, usually shallow at the edge of the brush, but a few out in deeper water. We got about 20 bass, a dozen were smallies, a few spots and a couple of largemouth. Got 2 nice smallies in the 17-18" range, a couple of nice 16" spots and one keeper largemouth. Mike got 2 walleye on back to back casts with his jig, first one was just short of 18" and got released, 2nd one was an obvious keeper, didn't measure it, but probably 21" or so. Water color is somewhat stained with several feet of viz, surface temps 79-80. We left at noon, bite slowed down, and the wind was getting annoying.

I was out today and saw very little top water activity. Tried to force a bite by throwing some top waters, but they weren't having it. Plenty of little shad skittering around, but no blow ups. Kind of ticks me off.

Champ is waiting in the parking lot for the Yamamoto truck to arrive, they don't even get into the store.

Good to hear she is doing better, and I hope that her condition continues to improve.

Well went back to Clifty today and it stunk. Didn't see any top water activity anywhere. Even the black bass were hard to find. Saw some striper boats around point 5 and scattered around the channel in that area so maybe that is where the stripey ones are. Surface temp was 79-80 so maybe that has something to do with it.

Congress would have to provide the funding and direction to the COE for facilities expansion/upgrades. Wouldn't matter where we are on the COE's priority list. There was some facilities work done last year, but relatively minor stuff. If the $1 trillion proposed infrastructure deal goes through, sure would be nice to see some of that money directed towards COE facilities (not that I am holding my breath on that one).

Been picking Sugar Snap peas for the last week or so. The purple green beans are starting to form pods.

Depends where you launch your boat. West side of Hobbs is near the Rogers area, if you launched there, might take 30 minutes. If you went out of Rocky Branch which is near the northeast side of Hobbs it is 10-15 minutes. You might want to get a map of the lake, I don't know off the top of my head where you can get a map, but the local Walmart used to carry them at the counter in the outdoors area, Hook, Line and Sinker in Rogers may have a map also. Keep an eye out for floating wood as there is some floating around here and there.

Cool, that is what is important, having fun.

There's stripers in the Clifty arms and in the main channel around point 5. If you want top water action you need to be there at daylight. Calm morning helps as you can see the top water activity from a distance. Would not hurt to bring some binoculars. Try and be stealthy, don't use the big motor to closely approach active fish, use the TM. Long casts help considerably even though there are times they will get close to the boat if you are quiet. Use poppers or spitters that you can toss for distance. When you see one on top within casting distance, get your lure on them as fast as you can. Spoons probably will work also, cast to the activity, let it sink for half a second then rip it a few feet, pause again, repeat. Another lure to consider is a Storm Wildeye shad, 3 inches or so. My neighbor and his son caught about 30 stripers last May doing nothing but targeting early AM active stripers and rolling those Storm baits through them. Clifty area is a bit of a run from Rogers, you might want to trailer over to Rocky branch and launch there.