PB Kentuckies?

[LarrySTL]

3 lb 13 oz a very long time ago on the James arm of Table Rock on a black fliptail worm at night. Yes, fliptail...that long ago.

[hoglaw]

I was 19 at the time and this was before the advent of digital cameras - or at least before I had one. I think there's a picture somewhere at my aunt and uncle's house. They lived up on top of the hill where Richland Creek and Mill Creek came together - 500 yards or so above the confluence with the White. I loved that area back then. It got absolutely no pressure. There was no boat ramp. Folks would still be out there in the spring for the white bass, but not nearly like it is today.

The water was so much cleaner back then. I was in heaven as a new student at the UofA. I just had to go out there, climb down the hill, and unlock a canoe that was chained to a tree. We'd fish Richland on the way down, then go either up or down on the White. It was a rare day when we didn't catch one or more big bass. We rarely used anything other than white/silver spinnerbaits and white trick worms. We also caught more crappie and catfish than we knew what to do with. It was paradise for two kids in a canoe. Sometimes we'd float from Tuttle Road to my uncle's house on Richland, or from Wyman down on the White.

A few years later the lake got really high and backed up the river for a long time. It just happened to coincide with the building of the new 45 bridge and the AFGC ramp, and I believe with something relating to effluent discharge. Also, someone cut the chain and stole that canoe. I still fish out there a lot during the spring, but it's nothing like what it used to be in terms of native fish or water quality. I hardly mess with it for bass anymore.