jeb

The Garmin 60CSX is a great unit. I've had one pretty much since the CSx model showed up. I have Topo 2008 loaded along with all of the USA in City Navigator. So it does street level prompting (with beeps, not voice) for on road navigation, too. It's really a nice unit, and Garmin has great customer service. I also have a Garmin eTrex Vista HCx loaded up with the same maps. Basically identical features and functions of the 60CSx, just in a smaller package with no antenna protruding. Fits easily in a pocket, where the 60 is a little big for that. The screen is slightly smaller too, and the buttons are on the side instead of the face. But both have high sensitivity antenna's, although using different technology for that. Both are outstanding for not loosing the signal, even in a backback and under a heavy leaf canopy. I don't think you go wrong with either.

I was out for a couple of hours after work last night. Lake is down about 6' or more, judging by some of the rock walls I fish. Kind of cool to see some of the stuff that's been under water for a while! Still lots of bait fish pods in the Praririe Creek area. Water temps were down a couple of degrees, right at 40 now.

Yes, it sounds like they're going to shut it down, or have already. I have the same thoughts about Saturday. I don't mind the temps, but if it's raining or blowing hard, not so much. Got a new rod coming in on Friday though, so might force myself to get out for a little while in any case. Have to test it, afterall!!

Since 1/8 of the population of Arkansas gets its drinking water out of Beaver, I think they're always reluctant to let it drop much unless they have to. So I think in general, there won't be much flow out of it in a normal rainfall year.

Thanks for the suggestion. I'm a regular at the Rogers HLS, and have thrown them a lot of business. We're on a first name basis. They have tried to help, but they're not really aware of a club that fits my needs.

I tried the Fishin' Fool for a while last year after it won that knot wars. But found it hard to tie, especially in any wind. So I switched to the San Diego knot and am liking it quite a bit. Easy to tie (super easy on lures that have any weight, like jigs, crankbaits, spinnerbaits, etc) and I'm usually not breaking the line at the lure anymore. I normally use FC. Still use the palomar knot on drop shots, of course.

Probably 8" or more here in the Rogers area of Beaver Lake. We have three four wheel drives, but I don't think we're going anywhere today.

I could be interested. It seems there may be a video made of it too, though. Let's keep in touch about it.

It's raining now by the lake, but I don't think it's freezing yet. Yeah, been an interesting couple of winters. But having lived in MN for 35 years, it's hard to call it extreme.

Thanks guys. Good idea on a guide, I guess. Does anyone have a recommendation for a good black bass guide on Beaver?

Very cool! Always nice to get more scum off the streets.

I'm not familiar with the 788. The 797 is a good unit with SI. It did just recently get the free DI update, too. I have a 798, which is the newer version of the 797. It has a bigger screen, faster processor and denser screen pixels. There are some guys on another forum in this thread that say they're getting the 798 for CHEAP from Gander Mt right now. Might be worth a look.

I moved to this area about 4 years ago from MN. I'm 52 and LOVE the weather down here after spending 35 winters in the ice box. I was a big bass fisherman up there when I was in my 20's. Then I got big time into dirt bikes and pheasant hunting and only fished a couple of times a year. Well, there's no pheasant hunting down here and I'm starting to get a little burned out on the dirt bike thing, although I'm the current pres of the dirt bike club in my area. Anyway, I've gotten more and more back into the bass fishing thing since moving here, and finally went over the edge this summer with a new skeeter, lots of money in Loomis and Humminbird, etc. I've put almost 100 hours on the motor on Beaver and Table Rock since June, and the dirt bikes are collecting a lot of dust these days. I've been reading mags, watching online vids and tv shows, reading the forums, etc and have learned a lot. But I feel like I'm just thrashing around at times, probably not fishing the right areas or right tackle given conditions. So I've been thinking about joining a club to try and learn more and possibly competing at some point. But in talking to the guys at the bait store, the clubs are just loose organizations setup mostly for the members to compete against one another. That didn't make much sense to me. Is that pretty much the gist of it? I was hoping to go to meetings, talk to other guys about what to use when, network, etc. No, I'm not expecting someone to give me a map of the lake's hot spots, but just some pointers and general knowledge kind of stuff. I was hoping I'd be able to enter tourney's as a back seater just to learn, but it seems it doesn't work that way? So the question is, are there clubs (preferably in the Beaver Lake area) that have what I'm looking for? If so, can you tell me who to contact about them? If not, how does one accelerate the learning process? Thanks

Thanks. Similar to the settings I ended up with today. I posted them along with a picture in the other HB thread in here.

I worked for quite a while today and finally started getting some decent results with my DI. Seems there is a lot of variability in settings to get good results, and I can't explain why mine would be different than someone else's. I'm still not happy with some of the closeup stuff, but you can see the tree in the middle of the picture has good detail for branches, as well as a couple of others. So I guess the rest of the forest I was running over just didn't have as many branches left: Amber 2 down imagining picture Settings: DI sensitivity: 14 Amber 2 DI - Wide 455hz Chart speed - 3 SI enhance: sensitivity-13 sharp-11 contrast-low Surface clutter - 5 Noise - Med to High 2 2D settings like 200/83 vs 200 and Switchfire on and off didn't seem to make much difference, but surface clutter can a little, especially in turbulent windblown water.

Redbud, Thanks for the pics from your 997. If you can, could you post up your exact specs? I was out on Beaver with my 997 Friday and did not get great results with DI. Will probably try again today, but your shots are great, so would make a good place to start. Which DI beam (narrow, med, wide)? SI frequency? SI enhance settings? DI sensitivity? Etc? Thanks in advance!

Down about 1.5 feet yesterday, I'd say. Maybe 2 feet. Lot of rain today, though.

Looks like they've already started. Hard to notice it looking at the lake so far, but some of the flooded ditches on our road were almost empty yesterday. They empty right into the lake on the other side of the road, so the level must be falling some. Finally.

McSticks need tuning, too. I had to put quite a few of those stick on lead strips on one the other day to get it to suspend. The LC Staysee was perfect right out of the box, though.

Here's one SI view from my 798. I have a few others, but this is the only one I on the net already:

Great shots, redbud! Can I ask what settings you have for the DI and SI on your 997? I have the new DI on my 798, but I can't get much good detail out of it so far. My 997 should be back today, so am looking forward to seeing if DI works better on it. So getting your settings would give me a head start! Thanks in advance!

Wow, great day! I was out most of the day yesterday, but the opposite direction. Didn't catch anything. Black bass are pretty slow right now, at least for me! Lots of boats out yesterday, though. Was there a fishing contest yesterday?

Caught it on a suspending jerk bait. It was cool and all, and I wouldn't mind catching another or anything. I just don't see me spending any time focusing on it. No offense or anything, I just enjoy chasing black bass.

Nice mount, Jay. How big was that striper? Saw a couple of 20's mounted at Jimmee Nell's taxidermy in Springdale yesterday. Looked really nice and he has a great rep around here. So I think I'm going to go for it. Thanks for the help, guys.

Caught a 19lb striper yesterday, 36 inches long. Was a fun fight on what would be considered light tackle for a fish this size. I don't fish for white bass, just black bass. So this was a bit of a fluke. First striper I've ever caught. Anyway, debating on getting it mounted. Wife is all over it, wants it done. It's not HUGE by striper standards, but probably the biggest I'll ever catch since I don't really fish for them. But I'm not real high on fish mounts. Although the guy we'd use does awesome work, it's still more about painting skills than anything with fish. When I have pheasants done, the only paint is the red around the eyes to highlight it and some gloss on the beak. So for folks that have fish mounted, would you do it again? And, no, I didn't net him by the tail. I just pulled his head of the net before snapping the first pic. I was a little afraid he wasn't going to fit in the net, though!