Terry Beeson

An oldie for some, but a goodie... SNEAKY SNAKE We met at the launch point at 7:00 pm. Melvin and I had been talking about doing some night fishing for a while now, and this was the perfect opportunity to get our fix. Bass in the late evening just before and after sunset were known to be ready to feast on most anything that swam by. And by the looks of the swirling water around the edges of the lake, we were not going to be disappointed. Melvin and I made a perfect pair when it came to fishing. We both loved to fish. I didn’t have a boat, but there was a large watershed lake on my farm. Melvin had a boat, but the property he owned was only large enough for a small water fountain. I had the fishing spot, Melvin had the boat. It was a perfect combination. The lake was located about halfway between his house and mine. We each made the four mile trek knowing the conditions were perfect for our planned outing. I had met Melvin at work. He worked in the stockroom, I worked in the office. One of the supervisor’s and I had been talking about playing music and came up with a plan to start a garage band. He had played in another band a few years before and Melvin was the drummer. One thing led to another and soon we were playing the clubs and festivals within a 100 mile radius of home. It had been two years since the breakup of the band, and we had remained close friends. Melvin and I spent most of the time we were together talking about the “adventures” we had during our music days. Stories about drunks, rednecks, fights, pretty women, ugly women, and on-stage screw ups kept us laughing for hours. We missed it, but, at the same time, didn’t miss it at all. Moving around the edge of the lake, what we had hoped for and predicted came true. Almost every other cast resulted in a Largemouth devouring my top water or his crank bait. We trolled along the west bank until the sun began to set behind Cotton Ridge then moved to the other side of the 45 acre lake at dusk. After a full day of work, rushing to get home and to the fishing spot, and a couple more hours of hot Bass action, I began to run out of steam when the bite began to wane. Even though it was dark and late, Melvin was the type who always wanted “just one more cast” before heading home. That always led to one more, then another, then another, and so on. I knew before I came that it would be difficult to get Melvin to load the boat and head home. My back began to ache so I decided to move down and almost lie on the floor of the boat. Melvin was standing, fishing from the right side of the boat, casting towards the creek channel that was lined with some large oak stumps. I was reclining on the left side feeling like a bored kid just making time until Melvin was ready to go. I flipped my bait out half-heartedly and slowly cranked it in not paying much attention to where I was casting or what I was doing. The sound of something breaking the surface caught my attention and, in the moonlight, I saw the ripples expanding from the point where a nice size fish had, most likely, taken a bug from the water’s surface just a few feet less than a good cast and directly behind the boat. I put a little more effort in my cast this time, plopping the top water just about six feet beyond the point where the fish had surfaced. Meanwhile, Melvin had decided to try fishing towards the bank. He whirled himself around, barely noticing me almost prone in the bottom of the 17 foot bass rig. Casting a few feet from the bank, Melvin began to work his crank bait back to the boat in hopes of one more strike. He didn’t even notice my line coming out of the water just to his left and up to my rod tip. I had lost interest in my attempts since the bait on the end of my line had come through the ripples and was halfway back to the boat. I slowed my cranking down to barely a crawl, watching Melvin staring intently at his bait coming towards him. Boredom was setting in again for me as my eyes started to drift closed. Suddenly, Melvin’s head jerked to the right. Since he was staring in the opposite direction, I couldn’t tell what he had seen. He looked back to his line then jerked his head back again as if he’d seen a snake! Sure enough, I noticed he was staring and following my top water bait slowly swimming towards the boat. He HAD, in his mind, seen a snake. And it was headed for the boat! I quietly began to perk up. A grin crossed my face as I watched Melvin’s head pop back and forth. Straight ahead and then to the right. Trying hard to keep one eye on his bait and one on the “snake” headed straight for him! I worked the bait slowly but steadily in his direction. He hadn’t noticed me yet. His attention was focused on his line and the swimming wake now just a few feet from the boat. Melvin’s bait came up out of the water as he reeled faster to get it to the tip as quickly as he could. Now his attention could be focused fully on his nemesis. It was all I could do to hold back my hilarity. I knew what was coming next, and I couldn’t wait to watch. Sure enough, Melvin raised his seven foot bass rig high in the air with both hands. Coming down with the force of a jack hammer, he slapped the surface of the water with the treble hooks of the crank bait aimed at the “snake.” I stopped cranking to watch. He slapped at the creature several more times before I let out a burst of laughter heard all over the lake and the hollow it was located in. Finally, Melvin looked at my rod tip and where the line was leading. His intensity and desperation suddenly turned to a snicker and then a laugh. After accusing me of several unspeakable acts and calling me a few names, none of which can be repeated in public, Melvin cranked up the 75 horse motor and headed for the launch and our trucks. It was almost impossible for me to help him load the boat and gear as my laughter continued amid his moaning and rambling about my status in the world. I had to work on gaining my composure for several minutes before I was able to see through the tears of laughter well enough to drive home.

Lawman... Get in touch with Mike Davis down there... They'll know him at the fly shop. Mike fishes a lot and is a TFO fan if there ever was one. And he's a good guy willing to show you the ropes.

Yep... and Gary is on a first name basis with most of the fish between those points... As is John Berry.... I'm betting you might get some wading time in there too...

For those of you who have a website - personal, commercial, myspace, facebook, etc... and you would like to promote this forum, I've got a way to do it... If you look at my website by clicking here you will see a familiar logo with the words "Proud Member of" at the top... Clicking on that link takes you directly to the forum. With Mr. Lilley's permission, I set that up and I'm sure he won't mind if you put it on your website. It may be a way to pick up more members, at least that's the idea. The html code for this is: <a href="http://ozarkanglers.com/forums/" target="_blank"> <img src=http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a344/tbeeson/OAFlogo2.gif width="255" height="124" border="0" alt="Ozark Anglers Forum"></a> If you know how to edit your webpage, just copy this above, paste it in your page, and you'll have it on your website. If you don't know how, find the nearest 12 year old and they can do it for you...

That's pretty much true... Depending on what you want to spend and what you want to do... Basic surfing and work I would recommend a 17-19 inch flatscreen. If you want to do high end graphics - games, movies, etc... Go with a bigger one and look into wide screen... Also, if you are looking at that, you want to look at the video card in your PC. That's as important as the monitor for that... I'm partial to Dell myself... We have boo-koo of them in the SOMHS network and they seem to do us very well...

Yep... that was a BIG accident/killing waiting to happen... plum stewpid... BOTH of them...

They have food at Hooters?

Dang.... thanks for the heads up, Rich.... I'm on my way to WalMart this morning... and again this afternoon and tonight... I will be going by Home Depot and Lowe's as well.... I should have known it was a scam. I've been "hit" about 30 times myself...

I'm just glad he's not "Dr Phil...." Congrats...

Dang, Dude!! You were in SJMHH? Hey I talk to those people almost daily!! We support their computer systems... That's why that one day you woke up hearing... "beep.... beep.... beep.... beep.... beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep.... beep... beep... beep..." They told me you were there and I remoted into the system and set the monitor to give you a wake up call.... Glad to see you back....

Honestly, I think you've got a pretty good plan there... The only thing I would change is I would have to include the Spring River (AR) kind of akin to you including Roaring River. I met my lovely bride LOML there...

Very nice... That should go in the photo contest at Conclave...

Same here.... But the reason I use it is so I can stand in the cosmetic aisle at WalMart and say somethin' like "'S'cuse me ma'am, but do you think this color would look good on my toenails?"

Go to MySpace music and look under the acoustic and folk genres... You can usually find some interesting and different stuff there.... Like I found this dude, Jeff Scheetz there... Man is he way out there in space somewhere.... (By the way, Scheetz... I put your "grabit" songs on my myspace... Now I need some to put on my playlist...)

Be sure to read the whole sign...

Basically, if you go down the list of forum sections on here, you will find good fly fishing in about every stream noted. I don't think there are any "bad" streams in the Ozark region. At least I haven't found one yet...

In the VINEGAR department?! DUH!!! Seriously, I've found it at WalMart, Kroger/Dillons, and several other places. Karuman is the brand you want. As for the oil, I don't need that. Just as good without. Sugar, OK, but the seasoned rice vinegar already has sugar. As for the peppers, yeah, that's an added bonus.

OK... fair warning... The "F" word is used quite a bit in this song, but if you're up for it... If you are not familiar with Tim Wilson who is on the Bob and Tom show in the mornings on radio, he is quite a character. This song hits the nail on the head for a lot of reasons. In fact, it mirrors my sentiments about a lot of things... So if you want to hear it and get a good laugh.... (use your earplugs if around any kids...)

Wow... if only it had been the Time Bandit.... and my hero... Johnathan Hillstrand.... or the Cornelia Marie and my other hero... Phil Harris... or the Northwestern and my OTHER hero... Sig Hansen.... But still a great adventure... I've been on fishing boats but not a big crabber like that one.

We? Looks to me like there is only ONE on the viewing platform and the rest are down by the bear...

I don't care who did it or if he won any competitions or not... But I will say that if you have not been to Backcountry Outfitters and seen that mount in person, it is well worth it to stop by and see it. That is a BEAUTIFUL mount....

Don... I took that beauty while snaggi... uh... I mean fishing at Outlet 2 on a 2/0 Lucky Antron Midge Emerger (LAME for short.)

Cuke.... no doubt.... Peel it, slice it, a few rings of purple onion, unseasoned rice vinegar, salt and pepper to taste... Let it set in the fridge for a few hours.... enjoy!!!

It's fishing.... and things happen. And I like catching big fish and this one was certainly a big one... Congrats to the guy who took him. I too wish he had been released unharmed, but again, things happen.

Hey guys... Would this be enough detail you think???