Quillback

I fished Saturday afternoon in the Indian Creek area, there's a lot of small spots up there also, I was using a Rat-L-Trap and catching them on that. Nothing of quality size however, I did have a nice smallie on until it jumped and tossed the lure. I think there's too many spots in that lake for their own good. I read that AFG is considering reomiving the size and numbe rlimits on them so that they can be fished out a little. I was using a finesse worm on a jughead also but I had to stop using it because the little spots would not leave it alone, they grab hold of the tail and play around with it, it get's aggravating after a while. I was fishing back in a cove where the shad would come up every one in a while and the spots would go after the shad, but there was a heron that as soon as it saw the fish feeding would fly over to try and grab one, that put the fish down right away.

Good luck and let us know how you do!

Yes very nice!

I do appreciate our National Park system, but this series is too long for it's own good. I thought they spent too much time on John Muir and Yosemite at the beginning. I was hoping for more focus on the geology and animals in the parks instead of hearing people reading quotes from Muir and others. Heck I can get books by and about Muir at the library, show me something new rather than reading stuff people have written in the past. I did like the part about the CCC's involvement in the parks, but that lasted about 20 minutes then it was snoozearoo time again.

Yeah I hear ya on the pleasure boats, I only saw a handful all afternoon, it sure makes fishing more enjoyable when you don't have those things buzzing by every 10 minutes.

Nice fish! Truly a trophy smallie!

Well I made it out there at 11:00 AM, fished the dam area until the evening. Picked up half a dozen bronzebacks on a crawdad pattern Bandit 200, and a couple of nice spots on the spoon. The spots are fat but the smallies are skinny (see picture). As the evening set in the lake turned to glass, saw quite a few shad dimpling the surface, so I'm sure the stripers are around.

I don't see how you could be ticketed for a decorative lite out, I could see if it's tail lights or turn signals, but if a decorative lite is out, is there a law for that? I could undertand it if the decorative lites are too brite or numerous, but if they are out, so what? Seems to me theire are more important things for LE to look out for and spend their time on.

Thanks for the advice.

Thanks for the reports!

you guys have a point, but if we start using genetics as a part of the record process, anytime a record breaking fish is caught you'll have to weigh it and then send in a DNA sample. And what about cases like Texas where they have that large fish breeding program crossing big bass with one another? What if the next WR bass comes from offspring produced by that program, does it count? Just food for thought..

Maybe they should start stocking triploids in the local tailwater fisheries.

I was out near point 3 yesterday, several striper boats were in the area, but I did not see them catch anything and after a couple of hours they left for parts unknown. I tossed some jigs and spoons myself, nothing doing for me either. I did not see very many shad on the fish finder which may explain the poor striper fishing in that area. I think you are wise to bring your own shad, but keep your eye out and you may see some to net.

That's awesome, your boys are going to be fishing addicts (which is a good thing) if you keep getting them on to fish like you have been doing.

Wow, what a fish! It's healthy looking too, probably could have gotten even bigger, makes you wonder if their are some out there that are truly huge. I'm surprised one has never turned up in Table Rock from the browns stocked below Beaver dam. Some nice bows have been caught in TR, you would think then that there could be some huge browns swimming around.

Thanks for the report, I would think with this cool weather and rain the trout will be going bonkers.

The blues are biting, I've been catching them by drifting shad on main lake flats in 25-35 feet of water. These Grand Lake blue cats are exellent fish for the frying pan.

Nice bunch of fish! Glad to hear you guys got into them.

I think I will suggest to them that they put this kind of stuff in the news section of the AFG website. I imagine they do they surveys on all the big lakes in AR, and it would be cool to see the results on their website.

Sorry guys, I'm not a subscriber either, I picked up a copy at the news stand. Maybe someone who is a subscriber will see this and post the article. It's really annoying they went to a subscriber view only on their website.

If you have not read the Outdoor's section in today's NWA Arkansas Gazette you might want to give it a read. In brief the AFG did their annual survey of fish populations, it confirmed what many of us are seeing, lots of small walleye, spotted bass, and healthy shad populations, so many Kentucks that they are thinking of taking the size limit off them to encourage people to keep them and thin out the population. Anyway, things are looking good for the future!

Good luck Mitch, let us know how you do.

There's some Stocktonlakeguide reports for that time of year for last year if you go to page 3 I believe in this forum. Lots of good info about what worked last year, it would at least give you a good starting point.

I have some Gulp leeches - they look good, I just need to try them out.

I would just as soon catch Whites as Largemouth, especially on light tackle.