jeb

I was out today, but I only fish for black bass, at least on purpose. Did okay today. Was out from about 6-11am in the Praririe Creek area. 8 bass, 3 over 2lbs (2 of which were hard fighting smallies). C-rigs, popr's, drop shot were the main baits, but I caught one on a McStick, too. Water is clearing up, finally. After like a year! I did see a fair amount of surface activity in the Avoca and PC coves.

I've only ever fished one tournament, and that was this spring at the CMN FLW event on Beaver. So I read the rules carefully. They say: No trolling with big motor. http://www.flwoutdoo...iracle-network/ So it appears at least some tourneys are okay with electric motor trolling. If it is cheating in some contests, they usually have a clause about taking lie detector tests, too.

Wow. Violence? Really? I can't believe I'm reading this in a fishing forum. Incredible egos being displayed here, assuming you know what is safe and what is not. Y'all need to lighten up. Jeez.

I understand your point of view. But I never felt we were doing anything unsafe. The one thing that scares me is if some idiot is out in the middle of the channel idling/trolling/whatever without legal lights up. I'm still sure it would not have been an issue even so, but that's the one thing that worries a little. We did have to come off plane for one particulary thick section, too. It's taken me a while to get to the point where I'm comfortable doing that in the fog. It's based on many trips over the years ideling along and learning how far you can really detect things based on the density of fog you're in. I do not recommend it for beginners. Actually, I strongly discourage it.

No, I didn't live there, just shopped there a lot! I lived in Rochester for 30 years, and Hastings for 5. So we were virtual neighbors. And it is indeed a small world!

Oh yeah, we'll be back! What a hoot. The structure on TR is just so much better than Beaver. I am starting to understand why it has better big bass numbers, and better bass fishing. We had pea soup this morning, too. Not too bad at Eagle Rock where we launched, but we quickly ran into a solid wall of super thick fog. I trust my Humminbird GPS completely, so we stayed just on plane for a few miles until we got to our first spot, paying close attention to both the GPS and my 12 o'clock. Spooky as heck, though! Jeff, I have your map book. Give it to you next time we get together.

Not sure if you know, but the Bass Pro Outlet store next to their Springfield BP store has a lot of reel parts. And folks that work on them, too.

You know, that's one of the drawbacks to getting a Cabela's. Now online orders will have local sales tax added since they have a store in Ark. But maybe you're right and they might do a free ship to store deal, which would make up for some of the tax. Without a doubt!

I liked it okay, but really never bought much tackle there, but some shooting and camping supplies. According to the Cabela's website, the Ft. Worth/Dallas stores is 230K sq ft. Ours will be 100k. So less than half the size.

Drove by Waymack today. Gone! Lot is empty, building looks empty, signs are gone. They were putting up a big for sale sign in the parking lot when I went by. Sad deal.

That must have been very recent. I drove by Waymack a couple of weeks ago, and they still had a bunch of boats in front. All looked normal to me. That would be a shame if it's true. They have a great rep for doing good work.

I'm glad we're getting it and all, but doubt I'll do much buying there. It's going to be a tiny Cabela's compared to their other stores, about half the size of their KC store (100k sq ft vs 180k sq ft). So I'd guess their selection will be limited. The only other small Cabela's I've been in, the one in St. Louis, is pretty underwhelming. My least favorite of the 10+ Cabela's I've visited around the country. I swear that store is half womens clothing. I suspect this one will be, too, given where it's located. I used to live about 40 minutes away from the one in Owatonna, MN. Shopped there a LOT as I was a huge pheasant hunter up there. I like Cabela's more for hunting stuff, Bass Pro more for fishing stuff. You will be paying full retail on 99% of the stuff at Cabela's, except the occasional sale and the Bargain Cave. The Cave used to be great, but with Cabela's more restrictive return policy these days (and I don't blame them for that), the selection is more limited now. If I'm going to pay full retail for something, I'd rather give the business to a local shop. Sometimes the local guys will even give a guy a deal on the more expensive stuff, too.

Oh, I do. I never tire of fishing on Beaver, or living so close to it. Extremely scenic. That's most of the reason I moved to Arkansas 6 years ago. Beautiful country here in the Ozark Mts. Sorry to hear the fishing was tough, though.

I was not living in this area in '99. What is the LMBV?

That's a football!

I saw Dudley in several areas around PC Sunday. I was out from about 9am to noon and ran down to Shaddox at one point. He was easy to spot with a WalMart spotter boat following him around, but staying well back. I guess I saw him fishing 5 or 6 places. I had no idea at the time who it was since I really don't follow the pro's that closely. But the Castrol boat stands out, so it was easy to spot. When I saw him, not a single fan boat was following him. Only the WalMart boat. I thought that was kind of unusual. But he was "only" in 4th place.

Went to the weigh in today. Never been to a pro weigh in before. I'm an FLW "member", which means I subscribe to the mag. So I was able to get a VIP tour deal for free. Showed us all the back stage stuff. Nothing earth shattering, but interesting how it all works. And we got VIP seating, which was nice. The weigh in was a good show, except they apparently have some deal where they like to get the leaders get all emotional and get them crying. I don't get it, but whatever. Dudley won with 54. He had a 16 pound bag. Morgan weighed in 17lbs. Some really nice bags! Many of them where throwing the A-rig pretty much full time. Many commented on how much better Beaver is fishing than in years past, saying they were catching 20-40 fish a day. A different leader every day, and the winner was only up 8oz over 2nd. So a good tourney.

I caught my biggest fish today on a Keitech, a 2.5lb spot. It's the only paddle tail swimbait of its type I've ever really ever had success with. Man, the pros were all over PC today. I had to work on my trailer today. Bad master brake line inside the frame which I had to replace. Pathetic on a 2.5 year old EZ-Loader. But figured while it was hooked up, might as well roll down the hill to the lake and put in a few hours. There were 2 pro boats camped on the area I launch at. One looked like Boahnon, though. So not sure what that was all about given he was not in the top 10. But Dudley was around, too, as well as others. PC seemed to be the place to be. I counted 5 wrapped boats in there at one point.

Thanks for the report. Those Keitech's are great baits.

Hey, I resemble that picture! She was so fresh off the beds, her tail was still oozing blood. But she had a big gut yet, apparently eating everything in site. One of the pros that had a tough day yesterday was saying at the weigh in "I hope the wind blows 100mph tomorrow. I KNOW I can catch them then.". I don't do well in big winds, so that is counter-intuitive to me.

Just some links for anyone interested. Here's a live feed for the weigh ins: http://www.flwoutdoors.com/tournaments/flw-live/ Link to the standings: http://www.flwoutdoors.com/bassfishing/flw/tournament/2012/6742/beaver-lake-professional-results/ I went out and watched the weigh in for a while. But not much going on there, very few specifics. Just watch the live feed above and you'll get the same info. Quillback and I were out slaying the fish today (45 bass in the boat, big girl was 7.5lbs) so I didn't get out on Beaver to watch what the pros are doing. Most said it was tough, though. The leader said he caught the heck out of them.

Agree on the tough day yesterday. Took a buddy out up in the LB area. We fished from about 6:30 to noon. Not a single bass was put in the boat, which is a pretty unusual occurance for me these days. Caught a 21+ inch walleye though, which came home with me. Lots of pro boats out there poking around for the FLW event next weekend, too. Suppose to start warming up on Tuesday finally, so that should put them back on the bite for you.

I'll meet you at the end of the day for BBQ, but I don't have much interest in catching whites, stripers or hybrids. No insult intended. I've caught some by accident and they're fun and all. Just not my passion.

I was lucky enough to be able to retire 2 years ago at the age of 52. So I try to avoid fishing on the weekends altogether! But I hear you.

Good fishing, F&F! I need to get over a mental block I have about staying out on the lake until dark. I just can't bring myself to do it, and I think it's a key time fish feed. I'm a very early to bed, early to rise guy. I've been up over an hour already today. So getting on the water early in the morning is more my thing. Had a good day yesterday. Fished from about 6am to Noon. 15 bass, biggest was a 19" spot on a plastic worm. Biting on a little bit of everything. I had 10 rods on the deck all with different baits on them. Fished everyone of them at one point or another, and I think I caught fish on 8 of them. Beaver is a jewel to fish when talking about scenic and the "away from the crowds" feeling, especially during the week. I fished in the Hwy 12 bridge area for a little while yesterday, and did not enjoy it as much with cars and trucks roaring by and all the buildup in that area. But you don't have to run far to get away from all of that.