jeb

Thanks for the report, Jeff. I enjoy watching the loons too. They are always on the lakes in Wisc I fish in the summer. But they can get to be pests, too. Had one grab a small bass just after I released it. I knew the loon was close by, so I was careful to let the bass go on the other side of the boat from it. Darn loon swam right under the boat and snagged it. Too big for it to swallow, though. I assume it found a way to eat it.

PC cove is milkshake brown.

Up about 5 feet already, and more heavy rain predicted for today. Looks like it's going to muddy water fishing this spring.

Still not a fan of stained/muddy water, but you guys that like it should be happy. Prairie Creek is running pretty brown. The back part of the cove is all stained, and there is a mud streak down the middle at mid-cove. News this morning said another 3" or so before it clears off on Sunday.

Thanks for the advice. Mine was only a partial tear, so I'm hoping once I'm released to fish, it won't give me too much of an issue. But I'll sure back it down if gives me much pain.

Just watched the weather, and they gave a 7 day rain total prediction of 6-7 inches of rain. I know it's a good thing for the area, but it'll probably muddy up the lake again. I prefer fishing clearer water, so not looking forward to it. Just in time for me to get back to fishing after a 4 month layoff from rotator cuff surgery.

I feel just the opposite. I wish we were further away from BP HQ, so they would not mess with the Rogers store so much. I like BPS okay, but have always been more of a Cabela's shopper.

Well, looks this may be getting reversed. Seems our store here in Rogers will be getting dicked with a lot, because it's the closest Cabela's to Springfield, MO. So they will try stuff on us first to see how they roll out. Anyway, they are starting to restock the Cave. I talked to several employees and a manager there yesterday who said they'd gotten a lot of blowback about closing it, so are reconsidering it. I sure hope they keep it open. I also learned that if they had (or do) close the Cave, the merchandise that would have ended up in there would be put on the shelves near the new merchandise and marked down.

I've found that their prices are generally inline with similar stuff in other brick and mortar stores. There are exceptions where they are way out of line, though. I guess we'll just have to wait and see where Cabela's ends up. Starting to look like they may be Bass Pro stores with a Cabela's sign outside.

Agreed. You can for sure tell they are working toward doing things differently. I hope they don't screw it up too much, but closing the bargain caves sure makes me think they're on the wrong path.

We were at the BP outlet in Springfield yesterday too. Yeah, busy day. I didn't see anything from Cablea's, but wasn't really looking either. That place is going to have get a LOT bigger if it's taking all the stuff that used to go to all the Cabela's bargain caves! Good point on the online bargain caves, Jeff. I wonder if that will go away too, or maybe it will become the place where all of those things go?

Went into the Rogers Cablea's today and, as always, wandered into the Bargain Cave. They only had about 1/2 their normal amount of stuff in there, and all the scopes, GPS's, bincos, etc were removed. Pretty much everything left was marked at 50% off. We asked what what was going on, and an employee told us that Bass Pro has decided they are doing away with Bargain Caves. Kind of disappointing, we've scored a lot of great deals in there over the years, and kind of enjoyed the "treasure hunt". It will mean less trips into their store for us, that's for sure.

Yikes. I sure hope they're wrong. I won't be on the water, but will be outside all day NY day.

At least none of the stripers robbed you of an expensive lure! Sounds like a good day on the water.

Those fat spots are always a blast to catch on topwater!

I got the letter, too. Good to hear they are planning on leaving the store names and brands mostly as they are. Sounds like all up sides for the consumer, at least for now. Bass Pro Announcement

I was going to invite you along, but have heard so much bad about Beaver since I got home, I didn't want to waste your time. I was pleasantly surprised.

I spent all summer fishing up in Wisconsin again. Great fishing up there this year! So I'm finally home, got the boat all cleaned up, any issues addressed, etc, and got back on the water yesterday. Hit the lake about 5:15am in the PC area. Caught a couple of nice smallies on a Ned rig on a main lake point while it was still full dark, along with a 3-4lb drum. Surface action got HOT for the time just before the sun comes over the trees. Caught a bunch of spots and LM's, and a small striper and white bass, on a walking bait and jerkbait for about a half hour. Actually, I'd moved to that spot to take advantage of the surface bite at that time of the day, as it's one of my hotspots for that. I didn't even get a chance to move the walking bait before a fish took it, so you know it's on when that happens! Once the sun was on the water, it got more normal. But I was still catching fish with jigs, ned rig and a c-rig. Nothing big, but several legals. Mostly still on main lake points. Pleasure boaters started showing up and doing the loud rap music/wake board thing about 10am, so I headed home. Water temp was 79, and it was surprisingly clear in that area. When I left to go up north, the lake looked like a chocolate sundae.

I've read about a lot of issues with the Xi5 too. Maybe they have them figured out now, but last I checked, there were a lot of complaints from guys who owned them for a while. I do wish they'd put the Ultrex spot lock technology on the Terrova, though. It's suppose to be more accurate. My Terrova is accurate enough for my use, but it would not hurt to have it be a bit better.

Correct, but only if you use Lakemaster maps. And it may not work with some of the HB units, either. I bought a new co-pilot 24v Terrova really cheap from BP the outlet store in Springfield. I replaced a PowerDrive 24v co-pilot system with it. I had co-pilot mounts on all my rods and have 10 of the remotes, so I was happy to upgrade to newer, stronger motor. Unfortunately, the designers at MK don't allow the co-pilot remotes to work with any of the iPilot systems. Absolute idiocy on that one, as it could easily be done. But I wanted some of the iPilot features, so upgrade the head of the new motor to an iPilot one. It took me a while to get comfortable with running the new one via the remote, but I like it now. I still wish I had the co-pilot remotes on my rods, but the Auto-Pilot makes up for it pretty well. I fish with AP most of the time but use the spot lock feature a lot, too. Both are game changers, IMO, over co-pilot, even the co-pilots with AP (gps is better). I rarely use the foot pedal at all, only the bottom buttons for minor course changes while on AP or to turn on and off the prop if I'm too busy to want to use the remote. I NEVER step on the big foot pedal part. I've never had a cable steer, so that is very un-natural for me. I owned a Link system for a while, but did not own any Lakemaster maps. So it had no more features than the non-Link iPilot, but you have to deal with a bigger remote. It's been a while since I looked, but LakeMaster does not have many of the lakes I fish in high def, so hard to spend the money on them to lose detail.

Uh-oh. Quill gonna' trade in the bass gear for some reels with counters on them and build a pole holding rig on the back of the Phoenix? Sounds like a fun day, Jeff. Those nicer stripers are fighting fools, no doubt about it.

Sorry for the slow response, just seeing this. I take it this is tongue in cheek, but that's a lot of if's! :-)

Just a bit over 11.5" in rain gauge for the storm. Incredible amount of rain on top of already saturated ground. Old Prairie Creek Rd is impassable with water and torn up pavement. Watched the pro's weigh in at the ramp. Pretty poor bags, only 1 or 2 had 5 bass. One said there was only 3-4 inches of clearance getting back under the bridge.

Just at 11.5 inches in our rain gauge now since Friday night. Incredible storm on top of saturated ground. Old Prairie Creek Rd was just barely passable in a 4wd truck at late afternoon yesterday. Water is over the road in 3 spots, and large gravel washes are over the road too. Sure glad we live on a hill, but I feel for anyone that has suffered damage from the rain or flooding. Those FLW guys got lucky with the weather for the most part yesterday, but they've still had to fish in some pretty darn challenging conditions. Hats off to them for fighting through it all.

Yep, tap the SL button on the fob or the foot pedal. Or tap the prop on/off button either control. I've never lost a fish due to my iPilot system, but it has made it a lot easier to catch more fish!