T-RockJaws

Let me start by apologizing for the amount of fish that were left floating after the tourney on Saturday night. I have ran the JHA and EFCO tourneys for the past 5 to 8 years. Just so you know, we were not the only tourney out of the bridge that night, we had 12 boats and the other tourney had 9 or 10 boats. However, I will also say that I know we were responsible for many of those dead fish. We had a couple of boats that did not do a good job with keeping their fish in good shape. There was a good deal of time after that tourney talking and teaching with a couple of these guys in an attempt to educate them. We also had a guy or two that was down there trying to revive fish as well as we had a guy handing out needles and trying to educate before the tourney. Our committee has been discussing how we can make some changes for next year to try to improve upon our efforts to release fish just as they were when we caught them. We are going to continue to try to educate our anglers because that is the best thing we can do. We are also looking at not allowing dead fish to be weighed in (and I like the idea of them also losing their biggest fish if they bring in a dead fish). We are also looking at reducing the limit to 4 fish per boat instead of 6 for July and August (possibly September). I know that we are going to have a few dead fish here and there as will anyone who fishes even if they release them right away. Truth is, you just cannot save every one of them. But, rest assured we are aware and working on a resolution. With all of that said, I am a little disappointed in the finger pointing and blame that I read in the previous posts. That is not the way to educate the folks who need it and the ones who read it are probably not even the ones who need it, but the ones who actually try to do their best. We have many boats/fishermen who have not killed a fish all year, to blame all of them for a couple boats that do not care is wrong!

Hook Line and Sinker in Rogers AR has a retriever that I think they make there. It basically looks like 4 to 5 ounce weight and has a clip that goes on your line and on the other end it has a large treble hook with the barbs clipped off. You can run it down your line and use the trebles to grab the A Rig. Works every time, have not lost one all year. It also works very well with stick baits and crank baits.

Last wednesday night between Big M and Eagle Rock, a few spots I fished looked like it was raining from all the shad "flipping" around. Did not see a whole lot of fish feeding on them.

Had one at about 6 pounds the other night... For me, it is "almost" as fun to watch them swim away as it is to catch them!

Fished from about 7:00 to 10:30 last night and stayed within about 2 miles of the Shell Knob bridge. Of coarse the water was pretty rough from all of the tube pullers running around, but it does not take long in the evenings for them to start clearing out. Fished mostly on main lake points, but di go deep into one cut. Had around 30 fish with two keepers between the two of us. Before dark, we were having success on PB&J jigs, watermelon salt craws and some 10 inch worms. One keeper came before dark on the craw, partner had another about 4 and 1/2 pounds on a big worm after dark. Stick with darker colors after dark and you should do okay. It was the dark of the moon last night and the bite seemed to be getting much better! Still a few logs floating around out there after the big boats come off the water, use caution after dark.

Saturday evening wasn't too bad either. The night bite is still pretty slow, but before dark I had 2 fish in the boat for about 9 pounds. One just over 6 pounds and the other about 3 pounds. Big worm is about the best thing I can find for late evening and night!

"Fizzed" means to let some of the air out of the fishes bladder. A lot of the time when the water is hot, the fish we catch are in deep/cooler water. When we bring them up quickly, their swim bladder fills with air. This will cause the fish to float not allowing it to get back to the deeper water. When this happes, the fish will ultimately die. To prevent it, you can penetrate the swim bladder (thru the side or thru the mouth) with a needle and let most (not all) of the air out. This will once again allow the fish to get back to the deeper water. There are all kinds of instuctions and diagrams on the internet that show and describe how to do this!

Thanks for all of the prayers for the unspoken name I posted about a couple of weeks ago! A quick update on Pete... Surgery went really well, they did not have to remove near as much as they had planned on. They only had to remove the one kidney by itself. While they were in there, they did not see any swollen lymph nodes or anything else of concern! He is now healing and waiting to see if/what other kind of treatments he is going to have to take. Thanks again for all the prayers!

As the water temps continue to come up, please keep the health of the fish you catch in mind! We had one the other nite that came from less than 10 foot of water and was only out of the water for a couple of minutes, when she was returned to the water she was trying to get down but could not. After my partner fizzed her, she went straight down not to be seen again. If you plan to put fish in the live well for a weigh in, please consider using well water and/or ice if at all possible!

Sorry I have not got this report out sooner! The last couple of weeks, my partner and I have been fishing from around 7pm until about 11 or 12. Most of our fish are coming in that hour or so around dark. We have easily caught 50 plus fish every night we have been out with at least 3 keepers mixed in every time. We have been throwing primarily big worms and or carolina rigs. After dark, the bight still slows down for us but we are still catching a few. They seem to want something with a smaller profile to it after dark. 4 inch salt craws seem to be working about as good as anything and I even got on a chomper bite one night. The fishing is really good right now, get out there and enjoy it!

The last couple of weeks, my partner and I have been fishing from around 7pm until about 11 or 12. Most of our fish are coming in that hour or so around dark. We have easily caught 50 plus fish every night we have been out with at least 3 keepers mixed in every time. We have been throwing primarily big worms and or carolina rigs. After dark, the bight still slows down for us but we are still catching a few. They seem to want something with a smaller profile to it after dark. 4 inch salt craws seem to be working about as good as anything and I even got on a chomper bite one night. The fishing is really good right now, get out there and enjoy it!

Fishing in the back of Indian about a week ago, spotted a tree limb bobbing up and down. Upon further investigation found a chanel cat at the end of a limb line. Took 2 hands to get around it just behind the gill plates, had to go 10 to 12 pounds at least. It was on monofillament line so we figured it had gotten on someones snag. Not so, the mono line had actually been tied to the tree limb. Seeing this we returned it for the person who set the line. Never seen anyone use monofillament line to tie a limb line...

Hope they stay up there and don't migrate down to our little pond!

Thanks for the report! Unfortunately, looks like the next several days may be a little wet as well.

Fished for a few hours last night out of Campbell Point. Water is still pretty stained in that area, went up and fished in the Big Creek area. Water a little better there, but still stained. Water temps ranged from about 61 to 64 degrees. Managed 2 keepers and a few shorts before dark. Seems like the bite just completely quits at dark. Most of our fish came on a watermelon chomper hula grub. Did have a fish or two hit a spinner bait up in the brush as well. Had one fish on that would have been in the 5 pound range, no net and she got off right at the boat. Good luck!