Your Fastest Derby Limit

[pat]

Like most of the guides on this forum I clean hundreds of fish in a year, and yes some of those are bass that my clients want to take home with them. We practice selective harvest and keep only average keeper sized bass, usually KY's in the 15" - 16" range. With all of my clients I make it clear we don't keep any bass during the spawn. We never keep trophy size Largemouth and Smallmouth or for that matter KY's. Those fish are photographed and released unharmed.

No one questioned if it was legal to keep trophy size fish, it is, but since the fish kill most don't. We try to protect the fish that have reached that size so they can reproduce and improve the gene pool.

Apparently the guides on this forum should let everyone know how and where to catch fish and keep our opinions to ourselves or face charges. Duly Noted.

If being a good stewart of the resource we are blessed with makes me a mama's boy then so be it.

EP

The mama's boy comment was meant as a joke, lighten up, and your comment to it taken out of context. There is always something lost in translation when writing. I am avid about being a good steward of our natural resources, and I guarantee you that the few fish I harvest every year have virtually no impact on populations. I don't know if you were implying something about me.

Fair enough. It is probably safe to assume that you have more knowledge about the lake than I do. If it is in a rebuilding stage I will keep that in mind if I ever go down there. What size do you consider a trophy bass?.........and where can I find them.....that was meant as a joke too.

I am just amazed at the reaction to this seemingly good-willed man who rarely fishes the lake and has a very minimal impact on the fishery compared to all the guides and fish they harvest. I am all about hearing and listening to your opinions, as I stated earlier.

[Fat Boy]

My fastest limit I have been blessed several times, a little wed. eve derby back home pull up on a flat boats still flying by had the winning limit in 5 cast and culled threw 2more, Truman it took longer to run from Bucksaw to the Tally Bend that it did to catch a limit on blades about 15mins, T Rock 07 jigs on a current pt buddy and me had

20+ lbs in less than 10mins. you have to love when they get sit up right every one of these days was owed to current.

Now to the other topic that has been pulled in on the this one, yes man you have every right to keep what you catch,

but at the same time it is the DNA that makes this world turn, I keep a small handful of Spots in the winter no big

fish, I think what every one is saying,is if we don't police ourselfs who will?. I think it is time to stop kicking

a dead horse and get back to the fun topic Bill started

[Chief Grey Bear]

I think it is time to stop kicking

a dead horse and get back to the fun topic Bill started

Bill started this one too. More popcorn and Coke please.

[haleconst]

Our fastest limit came 2yrs. ago in a 3 fish limit jackpot on Lake Spavinaw, we took off had a 2 min. boat ride to my first off shore spot. On our 6th cast we culled our first 4lbr. We ended up catching 23 bass over 4 lbs that night in 3 hours. We had 17.05 on three fish for the win. It was one of the funest evenings I have had fishing. On April 1 this year I took a guy to Spavinaw in hopes of catching a good one or two, we pulled up on the first point and I caught a 6+ on my first cast, he caught a 5+ on his first cast and on my 2nd cast I caught a 8.15, we had over 20 in three cast, ended the day with 30.04 on 5. That was not in a tourney though.

[magicwormman]

Were is Lake Spavinaw? Maybe you have found a new lake for Arsenal477. I think the biggest problem is some people don't realize the severity of the 99 fish kill. I personally feel we lost 70-80% of our LM. I was fishing the lake at the time and saw many struggling and dead bass floating everywhere. The experts called it LM virus and it affected many lakes in this part of the country. If all the bass fisherman cleaned every 5 lb plus fish, the lake would never come back. I think TR is slowly coming back, thanks to most of fisherman, who practice "CATCH AND RELEASE". If you want to fillet your legal limit of bass, that is your choice, but it doesn't hurt to have a little common sense along the way. I'm not a Guide, I'm just a concerned fisherman, who lives on this beautiful lake, and would like for my children and grandchildren to be able to experience the thrill of catching a TROPHY LM. By the way, my fastest limit was this year, 6 legal LM in 8 cast on a megabas ito vision on a main lake point. No big fish, just 15 - 17 inches, and all released.

[fullmoon]

Wow, how can i add something positive to this. Bill, Eric, Champ and many others you are what this fornum is. Arsenal I for one think no less of you for what you did. You have to know that was a special night of fishing (not so much so in the 70s and 80s) and someone had released those fish or there mommas is the reason you had a night like that. I've fished TR since 1964 I'am 63 now and i"ve killed more than my share but not for a long, long time. Back in the 70s when Campbell Point had a lunker board and everyone brought in fish on a stringer to weight 1000s were killed. Then there were places on this lake where a bass never saw a lure. In todays world we all have to do as much as we can with the things we control because of all the factors we have very little control over (lose of cover, pollution etc.) I will trade eating a fish for catching a fish. I would be willing to help you and your church feed crippled children. Arsenal i know your are taking this as a personal attack on you. I don't think it is but i can see how you might. I think you should accept that the members of this forum are not going to accept TB bass being the solution to feeding the starving masses.

[Golf Pro]

The easy answer to this issue is if someone such as Arsenal has a good cause that they want to support (esp. a fish fry) they should garner support from their fellow fisherman. I am not a big crappie or white bass fisherman, but if I were asked on this forum or otherwise to help catch fish for a fry I would be happy to get out and help, as I am sure that most would on this site. But only if it were for another species. The Bass is a beloved fish to me and I treat them as such.

[haleconst]

Lake Spavinaw is a water supply for the City of Tulsa. It was impoundered in 1928, it is in N.E. Oklahoma. It went through the LMBV about 8 years ago, you could not hardley catch a bass for a couple of years, but it is back better than ever now. It is a small fishery about 5 miles long, but it full of 5lb plus fish.

[denjac]

I think you should accept that the members of this forum are not going to accept TB bass being the solution to feeding the starving masses.

And to imply divine intervention made him do it! I think if I was going to feed 500 disabled starving orphans for a Church that was low on funds my story would have went like this: My Dad and I were fishing a point in Aunts creek during a heavy downpour at 11:30 at night We were using chicken livers and shad. We caught our limit of channel cats and flatheads, had over 120 pound with the average being around 10 pounds ea. You shoulda seen the look on those starving orphans eyes as the ate those catfish, it sure warmed my heart. I need to stop typing now as my eyes are teared up and cant see.

[arsenal1477]

listen to your selves. this is not a debatable topic. even a guide in this forum says he practices selective harvesting by filleting bass for his customers EVERY YEAR. not even i do that. i took bass for one night. the only other time i have ever kept a bass from that lake was when i was 8. i have caught MANY 5 lb bass out of that lake and on my last trip caught another SM over 5lbs. someone said that the reason i caught that limit is because they practice catch and release...well, if that was the second time i ever took fish from your beloved lake than that would mean i have practiced catch and release 28 out of the 30 years i have gone down there which is better than most of you are lying about. i would put money on the table that more than half of the people in this forum have a bass on their wall they took from TR. i however, have not one, nor do i plan on putting one up there. as stated previously, this is not a debateable topic and i completely agree that we are beating a dead horse on this. the lake is amazing. the fishing is the best its been in prob 20 years and regardless of what i said before im going to conitune to fish there. its a special lake between my father and i. im not here to try and change the mentalities of the locals. you, and only you are the reason the lake is doing so well, no one else.(being sarcastic) for those who have reacted so negatively abot this, im sorry but your being hypocritical. for those who have supported or kept an open outlook i applaud. its nice to know there are still realistic people out there. for those who caught these amazing limits, id really like to know some tips on what and how you fished.