Quillback

Great fish!

They are different critters. Hellbenders, as far as I know, are only found in streams. Also similar to hellbenders are mudpuppies (Necturus spp.); mudpuppies, however, have external gills, which are red and plumelike, behind the head on both sides. They have 4 toes on each foot. As adults, mudpuppies reach only 8–13 inches in length. Hellbenders lose their external gills once they reach 4 or 5 inches long, they have 4 toes on the forelimbs and 5 toes on the hind limbs, and their total length may reach 24 inches.

Buddy of mine was out yesterday and he saw some on top too. I was on Beaver yesterday and didn't see anything come up on top. No shad around where I was fishing which is probably the reason.

At the Big Bass Bash. Congrats!

Next tourney is next week.

There were a lot of boats, friend of mine fished out of PC and he said there were a lot down there too. Must be a tourney going on. It's not a hellbender, most likely a mudpuppy.

Nice drum! I was out there today also, and didn't do quite as good as you, caught 11 bass, all smallies except one, and a big white bass. Ned rig for me too. A tad slow today for some reason. Well you made me drag out the pic of my best drum, caught it maybe 10 years ago on a Ned not too far from the dam. Thought it was a striper, then it was what the heck? It bottomed out my scale which went to 15 lbs., so I'm going with 17 pounds. Here's my number one weird catch from Beaver, also on a Ned.

I was young and dumb when I caught those eels and wrestled with them in the mud. You are right about the squirminess, and there is some strength behind that squirming.

When I was living in Seattle, the Mariners were threatening to leave if they did not get a new stadium. It went to a vote and passed. They stuck it to tourists and business people by adding a tax on rent a cars and hotel rooms. The new ball park is nice, been to a couple of games there. Certainly is better than the stadium it replaced, the Kingdome. That place was a dump.

I get them on Cox cable. From what I read on the stadium deal is there is still something like 6 years to come up with a solution, so they will poke around and try someplace else in the KC area. It's early of course, but the starting pitching has been great. They really need a legit close, Will Smith has lost 2 games for them so far. Maybe he will come around, but they can't afford to let him blow many more games.

I have done battle with eels a couple of times. No fish equals them for slipperiness.

I get the Royals on Bally, I always record the games and watch them later. Cuts down on the viewing time. It's early but the Royals look much improved this year.

If so, is it a triploid?

I don't fish the KC area, but I bet you can catch fish on Ned rigs and 2.8-3.3 swimbaits. You can throw that stuff on a spinning setup which sounds like would be good for your situation.

Dang that trout is fat!

The wind really blew here in NW Arkansas. I wanted to go, but it was way too windy.

MO State record, 3 lbs. EFFERSON CITY, Mo. – The Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC) congratulates Anthony Rozniak of St. Peters for tying the current state records for skipjack herring. Rozniak was fishing with his brother on the Missouri River Dec. 6 when he reeled in the 3-pound fish. The catch ties two previous pole-and-line records – one recorded in 2019 from the Osage River and the third in 2017 from the Osage River.

Yep, I have seen Randy use that BC setup for light stuff. I made a few casts with it once at a OA One Bass Tourney, it threw that Ned rig well. I'm a spinning rod fan myself for light baits, pretty much gone to braid and leader for the light stuff. I like my Zolo McSmalls, I can throw 1/8 oz Neds and up to a 1/4 oz swimbaits with it.

Good to see you back in the game! Looking forward to seeing some fish pics.

I'm a little tired of the cold mornings myself. Lately if it has been warm, it has been very windy. I'm looking forward to May and some top water activity.

Fished with Dutch today, we launched at about 0915 to try and avoid the below freezing temps. It was a chilly start with a nice north wind blowing, but fortunately switched around later in the morning to out of the south and it was bearable out there once the wind shifted. First few hours were pretty slow, we picked up one here and there, with a couple of good fish, then later in the afternoon we went into a big cove and just caught them really well. Ned rigs up shallow, 1/16 oz for Dutch and 1/8 oz for me and Dutch edged me out with the 1/16. We caught 42 bass, mostly smallmouth, hard to say how many keepers, but 15 at least. No huge ones, but Dutch got a smallie that went 3.25 and we had another 4 or 5 that were in the 2.5-3 lb. range. Caught a few early on the Pete Special (Jig with 1/2 Zinker trailer), but the Ned was the clear winner today. Fish were shallow, I don't know if we caught one that was deeper than 15 feet. We may have seen 2 or 3 boats all day. WT 53.