jeb

I have my Advanced Open Water dive certification. Lots of stuff can go wrong when diving. In addition to what was said above, getting tangled up in stuff is also a killer (trees, fishing line, cables, etc). But the biggest cause of deaths in Scuba is inexperienced divers and panic, which usually go hand in hand. If you lose your head down there, bad things can happen. Swimming down rather than up, not being able to get the breather valve back in your mouth if it's torn out by something, getting stuck and struggling instead of calmly working your way out, etc.

Picture didn't work. Maybe you have to be a FaceCrooks member to see it? At any rate, congrats on what sounds like a nice fish.

Yeah, I could do that. But I just don't want the stress level that kind of thing would cause. Just not what I'm out there for. I'm sure many of the folks in the tourney are nice folks and wouldn't cut another angler off. First time I've had trouble to this extent. I guess 150+ boats on the water will do that. I just wish all of them were respectful of other anglers.

Got on the water near PC yesterday about 530 AM. Picking up a few bass fishing chunk rock points and banks in the PC area. I was down toward the mouth of Ventris when the water started to boil. Not from fish, although there was a lot of surface activity (mostly carp), but from a big tourney that started at 630 out of PC. I saw them starting to put in when I went through the no wake zone, so figured it was coming. But this was a big one. I bet 75-100 bass boats came charging out of PC over a few minutes time. No big deal, I figure. I keep fishing. But I was wrong. I got cut off pretty quickly by one guy, so moved. Then I got cut off again almost right away, and a guy then cut off the guy who cut me off! Hell with that, I put the boat back on the trailer about 730 and went home. I fish for fun and that is no fun. Like Quillback said, I'm so glad I don't have to fish on the weekends. Just thought I'd get out for a few hours before the crazies hit the lake. Just happened a little sooner than I expected. Y'all stay safe out there.

No kidding there! Quillback and I have watched some interesting launches happen at Viney. That ramp is just not steep enough for anything large or heavy-ish. We watched a guy launch a pontoon there once and the front tires were almost 1/2 way wet by the time they got it off the trailer.

Also very sorry to hear about this. He seems a great guy, and an inspiration to me. Wishing him a full recovery.

As Jeff said in the opening post, most bites were in the 10' range, some as deep as 20. And some close to shore, but most came around 10'. A very fun day on the water. We tried top water some too, but only caught one each doing that.

No shad that I noticed in the back of Ventris, is about all I can tell you. I never went into the back of PC or Avoca coves. . Jeff could only fish a half day, so Beaver was more convenient. And we do like to fish Beaver. But it can rarely hold a candle to TR. We were at Big M today and caught 61 bass, with some 3lber's mixed in. And also 3 legal walleyes. I wish I could say that difference was not the norm, but it is.

Quillback/Jeff and I decided to give Beaver a few hours today. Hit the water at 6am and fished until Noon. Did a little top water near where we launched in PC, and got a few that slapped at them, but no hook ups. Fished some points in the Avoca/PC area with mixed success. Caught our first bass on a point dragging c-rigs/flukes. Then we ran down to Ventris and fished some coves toward the back. Fished one nice cove from the front to the back. Caught some LM way in the back on jigs, but nothing anywhere else. Caught a couple of whites and a couple of small spots near a dock and a couple more small spots in the back of another cove on a shakey head/finesse worm. We ran into a nice school of fish on a main lake point in Ventris and brought several nice fish in, including some decent smallmouth. C-rig mostly catching them there, with craw baits. Caught a couple more down in the Copper Mine area, mine came on the c-rig again. Jeff was getting bit on the ned rig pretty good, but he had a few get off before getting them to the boat. So no real pattern. The fish were kind of all over the place. But not a bad day for Beaver. Saw some fry back in the back of coves, but not many beds.

Agreed. I once caught a fish with half of a 6 or 7 inch senko sticking out of it's, um, exhaust port. I'm not sure how you can tell a skinny fish is suffering from this issue, but I for sure keep all my used up plastics in the boat now. Easy to clean them out when I get home.

Yep, those are very, very special conditions. Hardly anything we can draw conclusions from for public bodies of water, IMO. Could be, but I'd bet they eat a lot of the bass before they ever get to be 12". I'm not a striper hater. They're in the lake and folks like to catch them, so it is what it is. But I do believe they are part of the reason our bass fishing is not as good as, say, Table Rock. How big a part they play in that is the only real question, IMO. But in the end, it doesn't matter. They are here to stay and, while I may not be in love with it, I don't get my blood pressure up because of it.

I have a bunch of each. I agree with Ham, that each will likely have its day. But for me, the STX just catches more and bigger fish. I have a ton more confidence throwing them around than the 20-25 MB Vision jerk baits I have. The finish is not quite as durable on the STX, as noted above, but they are not as frail and suspend far better out of the box than my MB's. My MB's mostly gather dust these days.

Dang, that sounds painful! Hope it heals well for you. My fracture is not actually the collar bone, but the next bone outboard of the collar bone. It's called the acromion of the scapula. After it heals, I get to find out of my rotator cuff got damaged. Sure hoping not. I hear you there! Heal fast, brother.

Thanks for dragging me along, Jeff. It was kind of slow and nippy early, but it turned into a good day of fishing. I missed a few I probably would've had if I were able to use both arms, and my left arm/elbow got sore from casting with it. Worst part was the lack of accuracy/distance and errant casts over Jeff's line a few times. Lot's of "Oops" coming from the back of the boat. But only one or two mild backlashes, which I felt good about. I sure can't complain, though. It was a pretty day with good company and good numbers of fish. Felt good to be back on the Rock for a day.

I wear a Mustang inflatable with their HIT system. I wear it 100% of the time I'm fishing, all year round. Very comfortable vest.

I've driven to that tomb several times now. It is kind of odd that it seems to just be part of someone's yard. I remember thinking the first time I saw it that the Monte Ne area sure didn't place much value on their history. And seeing all the graffiti on the tower sure confirmed that.

Good for him! I hope he continues to do well.

No heavy ice in the area I normally launch, Jeff, FWIW. Some thin sheet ice along the shores, but not as heavy as I was expecting to see when I went to town today.

Our Cabela's has a good inventory of NRX's, so maybe the one in KC does too?

No kidding! It's a shame that lake is getting so beat up by all these tourneys.

We have an Academy in the area. As far as fishing stuff, it's the last place I ever go to. Prices are nothing special, not much selection in a lot of areas, not much high end stuff, etc. More of a stick and ball store, IMO. I hadn't heard of or experienced the different pricing issue. But probably worth checking.

I don't see any more or less schools of shad on TR than I do on Beaver. Always seems about the same. I always find lots of schools of them on both lakes. Never fished Grand. I was talking about these sister lakes on the White River.

Your argument seems to be that folks are going to break the law anyway. I'm sure that's true of some. But I believe most people that go fishing to keep fish know the laws. Even if they choose to break them, they at least know them. Just the threat of being checked and caught keeps most folks in line, IMO. But that does really seem to be the point here, or at least not my point. They have changed the law. I just think it was a bad decision. I'm not all worked up about it or anything, and I hope they're right about it growing more quality LM fishing in Beaver. I'm very skeptical about it though. I do agree with you on tournament fishing during the spawn. I think that's wrong too. It's one thing to catch them and let them go in the same spot. But dragging them miles down lake and stressing them out can't be good for the fishery.

Table Rock also is not infested with Stripers like Beaver is. But I think Beaver has good forage, too. I see huge schools of shad all the time on the depth finder on Beaver. Whatever, it is what it is. I just think it's the wrong thing to do. I've caught a lot of high quality spots on Beaver this year. I'm guessing those will be a thing of the past with every worm dragger on the lake keeping every bass they catch. And you know a lot/most of them are going to keep the LM's below 12" now too.

I think it's a bad decision, personally. The min on Table Rock is 14 or 15 inches and the spots seem to be bigger on average there. Growth rate must be the same on both lakes, so it seems a longer minimum is to thank. If they want to increase the forage base for Beaver, remove the length limit on stripers. IMO and all.