rogerdodger

First rod :Scott G-2 custom built by me 8ft 2-pc 3 wt. This is an original San Francisco era "Power-Ply"rod . H&H chrome snakes with Winston nickel silver reelseat. Condition like new. Has always had a role as a back-up rod but rarely needed. Price 175.00 This is all the rod you need for 80% of Taney fishing. These retail in the $500-600 range Second rod: Very rare Redington NTi 8 1/2 ft. 3 pc. 5 wt. New with factory sock. Lifetime warranty honored by Sage. A super sweet rod that is a joy to cast & lighter than my similar Sage Z-axis. These Nano-Titanium rods were David Redington's best effort before he was bought out by Sage. My favorite white bass rod. Price $140.00 this rod retailed for $600.00. I usually Ebay all of my gear but thought I'd give the forum a shot. The prices are good but firm. If they sell I'll donate $20 to the site................Roger

In March about 15 yrs ago I caught a 52 lb. flathead on a 1 oz white sp.bait down below Ashers. I was jigging the spinnerbait around standing timber. I have photos tho I haven't digitalized them. Anybody got a larger flathead on a lure? They are marvelous gamefish and fight like the devil. Since then I caught a 10 pounder on plastics while fishing a small night tournament out of Cape fair. I caught a 8 lb. channel last week @ night on a black spinnerbait off Indian point. I can't be the only one tangling with these brutes..............

Once the spring bite is over it's the nites for me. 3/4 oz black spinnerbait and a bag of salt craws or chompers is all I need. Its cool, uncrowded and there's almost always a bite going to happen. Just learn a little topography first, the lakes starting to get lower and some of those points go waaaay out there.............

Been fishing around Indian Pt and doing quite well, but I gotta ask.....I've never seen tea/coffee water down there before, nor discolored for this length of time. It's got nothing to do with rain, its tannic like you see in the everglades.Also what is that stringy weed that you blunder into, not talking about the snot but stringy tough strands that won't pop off with a smack down.....

My brother and I caught 30 biguns Mon. in about 4 hrs. Nothing happening @ Taylor so we ran a ways up..... it appears they have all ran up. Probably could be caught in Galena. Still too high for flyrods so 1/16 oz plastics ruled the day. Found a school of Crappie in an eddy mixed with whites caught about 20 shorts and 5 really nice keeps. Farthest i have ever found Crappie upstream. White bite was VERY light, I use braid with a flouro leader on x-fast St Croix and still could barely feel them. Colors::: Shad around noon switching to pearl as the sun faded. An absolutely gorgeous day. As the river falls I would expect Blunks to be the ticket.

My kids just got a cabin down off DD across from Indian pt. I'm an old James River angler and can run from Ashers to Cape Fair @ night, but know absolutely nothing about the lower lake night fishing especially with all the water up in the bushes. I'm used to Salt Craws, Big worms, Jig/Pig, and Black single spin Spinnerbaits. Not knowing the lake I'm not gonna run far probably from Kimberly City to Indian pt.(all I've got right now is my small jet river/lake boat so we got to be careful). Any suggestions as to baits and structure. Do they get up on the bank down there, any reliable times that they turn on? One advantage of being 60 is you're not afraid to ask for help..........Roger

One of our patients at the clinic caught it. He brought in pictures, looked like a Saltwater beast. Oh yeah it looks like there were more than a few hogs caught with it.............

Nice to see a real spirit of conservation. Wish everyone applied this philosophy. Last month I put my little jet in @ the Taney dam ramp with my brother just to see how Taney had changed after 10 gates. Launching and taking out of that ramp is an adventure onto itself, but as I was driving on the trailer I counted 12 Smallies by the ramp that had the filet knifes put to em. Bro' talk about something that will turn your stomach....Most of them looked between 13-15"..........Roger

At last no water running, but enough to keep the gravel covered. Pretty crowded. Started at the first outlet by the hatchery to see a guy with a couple of kids pulling out rainbows @ the mouth and placing them in a small landlocked pool behind them, they all looked bigger than my boots which are size 12, this scene is so typical anymore. The water was fairly dead and not containing the quantity of fish one would expect this time of year, certainly no Browns to speak of. Water was glassy with the occasional midge bulge. Fishing down I soon discovered that the only fish wanting scuds or eggs were the dinks, so I went to my default Taney setup and began fishing midges. Found a couple of big pods roaming around the tailouts and had about two hours of non-stop action, with the usual midge dillema of 1 fish to hand for every 3 takes. Lot's of folks were striking out, the fish were very sour. I didn't see any real damage from all of the high water. Rebar riffles were dead whereas ussually there is almost always a good scud/egg bite in there. I left around 2pm maybe they turned on better in the eve. There is a steep learning curve to become a successful midge angler but I highly reccomend the effort, I have found they ALWAYS will eat the midge. Except for the Walmart vibes @ the first outlet it was a very pleasant day...........Roger

This fish shows the results of the conservation dept. size limits paying off. I caught it 2 weeks ago a couple of miles below Hootentown. The day had started off slow till I switched to the flyrod and caught 7-8 Smallmouth and Spots casting some of my tied jigs to the back of eddys and adjacent to large boulders; they all measured between 10-13" along with the usual Goggleye thrown in for good measure. Towards eve. I caught a 14" Smallie on a 4" swimbait using the spinning rod and then on the very next cast this sweetie hit. Took about 5 min. to land her on 6lb. test. Unlike many Smallmouth I have caught in previous years that were long and thin this one was thick and mean, mimicking the fish of the northern states. 19 1/2 inches and still swimming free............................Roger