Quillback

How a Single Walleye Traveled 50 Miles by Sea and 110 Miles by Land

A beaut!

I believe there is no legislation that requires the feds to stock trout. It was started as mitigation as you've said, but as far as I know requires congress to include funding in the budget. The feds have tried to back out in the past, but a large howl is raised across the Ozarks when they try and it gets funded in the end. From what I've read, the Norfork hatchery has long term water quality issues that may not go away by itself. I have not seen any plan to fix these issues.

That would make sense. I am going to guess they were worried about pushback from the guides and trout resorts that cater to clients fishing bait.

You have to wonder, with the water quality issues at the Norfork hatchery that don't look to be going away, if this could be the future.

I could live there.

Very nice!

Yes, closing the Viney ramp was not good. Last I checked it the gate was closed, you could walk in, but don't know if there is a place to park. Some good bank fishing when the water is cold. I dunno why they can't leave the gate open so people can drive in, Joe Bald is pretty much shut down, but you can drive in and launch if you want.

They are open.

Couple of neat videos, first one is drone coverage, and it is fairly short. 2nd one is catching tarpon off the beach in the mullet run. Looks like fun!

That's very cool!

I was out today myself, up the White. They were biting up there too. Not the quality you had however, but I caught close to 40 bass and a walleye. Only one keeper. Had some bad luck on the keeper sized fish, lost several. The 90 size plopper was my best bait, lots of shad chasers, spitting up one inch shad. I caught some on jigs and the c-rigged craw too. I had a lot of fish miss that plopper today, some jumped right over it, others would hit it 4 or 5 times, finally get hooked, then come off. I had a LOT of action today. I don't think I caught one out any deeper than 15 feet. I'd go again tomorrow but have an appt. with the tooth doctor. Last 2 fish of the day, a double. Hooked the little guy and was skimming him across the water and he got blown up on 3 or 4 times before his beefier buddy got hooked.

Very nice. I might get out tomorrow. Supposed to be some wind, which I like this time of year.

SOCIAL HILL, Ark. – Officials with the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission said on Thursday that a mountain lion was struck and killed Wednesday night. AGFC officials said a motorist struck the lion on Arkansas Highway 84 near Exit 91 on Interstate 30 at about 10 p.m. This is the first confirmed dead mountain lion in the wild in Arkansas since February 2024 and only the third confirmed dead since 1975, they said. AGFC officials confirmed that it was a healthy male, measuring 83 inches in length from the tip of the tail to the tip of the nose, and weighing 160 pounds. Samples of the animal were taken and are being sent to an independent lab for analysis, they said.

From the fatality a couple of weeks ago: AGFC said the exact cause of the attack cannot be definitively determined but the investigation revealed that the bear was found to be malnourished, which is considered to be “highly unusual” for this time of year when food sources are typically abundant. The bear’s stomach was full of natural foods, the necropsy revealed. Microscopic abnormalities were found in the bear’s spinal cord and brain by diagnostic laboratories. This suggests the bear was suffering from underlying neurological issues, AGFC said. “The combined evidence of malnutrition and neurological abnormalities suggests the bear was not functioning normally,” AGFC said. “However, the exact cause of these issues cannot be definitively determined.”

Hey you combined a good work out with fishing, nothing wrong with that. 😃 Those grassies are strong fish. I have accidentally snagged a couple while bass fishing. Hard to get them to quit fighting.

Had my buddy Jeb with me this morning. A little on the chilly side early, but not a bad day. We had to work for our fish. I think we got maybe 10 total between us with a couple of nice keepers. Mainly throwing jigs and the c-rig. Best fishing was in the trees in Indian Creek, with the fish being in less than 15 FOW for the most part. We did go out on the main lake and try for smallies on the rocky banks, but we only had one that got off halfway to the boat. There were some scattered stripers blowing up in Indian, we threw top waters at a couple of them, but not bites. Little shad are everywhere in Indian, but other than a few stripers, nothing was chasing them. For whatever reason the bass weren't messing with them, at least not on top. WT 76-77

Nice looking fish!