paparock

This old 2LT. says go fer it dagnabit ! I joined a club and it helped me learn saltwater fishing a lot faster. If there was a bass club where I am now I would join!

Good luck at the classes! I may get a chance to go to the one at Springfield,MO next month if things work out. Keep us posted.

I can't speak for everyone but BPS sent me a letter reminding me that the points needed to be used or I needed to contact them to keep them going into 2006.

I used mine for a new rod rack for my tackle room. ;D

Welcome to bass fishing! I fished saltwater both inshore and up to 100 miles offshore on the Texas gulf coast. As most will tell you the better reels cost more but the most expensive are not always the best deal for the price. I still have one of my saltwater rigs I use for big stripers. It is a Penn International 12LT fully raced out by Larry Cofe. The reel has been modified for casting and the drag up graded to handle up to 50lb. line. The rod it's on is a custom Calstar Whopper Stopper that is 4 feet long with six light weight rollers on it. Not much for casting but will whip most anything including tuna. Yes it is overkill for anything but big stripers or big open water catfish but then it is a blast to fish with. I really get some looks with that rig. As with most fishing it takes time to master new techniques. You will find some techniques you will like more than others for the conditions you fish. That learning experience is part of the fun. Best of luck and again welcome!

Merry Christmas

That was very creative and funny George. Merry Christmas George and Everyone!

On the gulf coast of Texas while I was living and fishing off-shore there, we had jet skiers jumping the wakes of our boats as we came back in. One of the guys had one of the jet skiers wipeout when he jumped his wake and the mental giant hurt himself in the process. His buddies got the registration number off the boat so this guy sues the boat owner because he created an attractive nuisance so it was the boat owners fault not the wave jumpers own fault. When I would see the jet skiers I would slow down so they had nothing to jump and they would get mad. I guess there is just no pleaseing some people. :

Most people stumble through life working at a job they do not enjoy or even hate. Going through life working at something you enjoy makes one blessed in my book. It doesn't mean it's easy as the Lord knows making a living fishing in not easy but waking up each morning looking forward to the day counts for a lot. My hat is off to those who choose the life of a professional angler. I understand the commitment it takes and the sacrifices they must make.

No, I am not going to post pictures of my wife but be nice GobbleDog or I will post pictures of my EX-wife. That ain't no red dress either.

Enjoy, enjoy, enjoy your time with your daughter it will definitely be a good thing as she grows older. It offers a common bond during those awkward teenage years that will come far sooner than we think. Watch that monkey.

I have been living on a "quality' smallmouth stream for the past few years here in north Arkansas. The smallmouth here feed mostly on crawfish with minnows second. The most consistent lure that produces fish is a pumpkinseed hula grub on a 1/16th to 1/8 ounce jig head, the Rebel crawfish lure, and last small 2 to 3 inch curl tail grubs minnow imitations. I would say turn over rocks and look for the minnows to try to figure out what the fish have to feed on then try to find a lure to closely imitate them. Smallmouth also like freshwater leaches so Berkley Power Leaches and Gulp Leaches work. The key is to be flexible and experiment to find what the fish are feeding on. Smallmouth can be very picky at times preferring only say a 2 inch grub over a 3 inch and sometimes they will hit one color over another but that can change from one day to the next or even several times in a single day. Keep trying different retrieves to find what the fish want. Don't give up on small streams. During summer here the flow on our river can drop pretty dramatically resembling a creek more than a river but people still catch smallmouth up to six pounds each year.

Original? Try this. My best friend growing up in south Arkansas was an American Indian. I learned from him how to catch fish by hand. It only works in small streams where you can build a barrier to keep the fish in a small area. We would stir the bottom with our feet to the point the fish would come to the surface since it had the least amount of debris in the water. The water would become very muddy. We then would watch for the back of a fish at the surface and by slow movements get a hand in front of the fish and then let the fish swim to it. When the fish cooperated we would slap the fish out of the water onto the bank. Strange but true.

THANKS! I will be trying it in the morning. My wife just said she feels sick so I better go tend her!

For those of us who are computer challenged. Please explain how to post pictures to the Forum

One of my tackle boxes weighs 67 pounds. The bait monkey doesn't bother me

I really like the tournament shirt but it doesn't come in small tent size for us little people. So I will have to drop some hints to the little lady for a sweatshirt.

Mountain Home is about an hour and a half southeast of Branson. Bull Shoals Lake is 45,000 acres with a little over 1000 miles of shore line. From the air it looks like a giant Chinese dragon.The bridges that span Norfork Lake: http://www.lakenorfork.com/images/twinbridgeslg.jpg Norfork lake is about a 20 minute drive from Bull Shoals. http://www.lakenorfork.com/images/bigmap.gif http://www.agfc.com/fishing/pix/brown_trout_big.jpg http://www.agfc.com/fishing/pix/walleye_big.jpg Check out Arkansas Fishing Records Number 1 World Record Brown Trout over 40 pounds Number 1 World Record Walleye 22 pounds 11 ounces Avid I sure wish I could see that add. I guess they don't run it for people already here in Arkansas. Hey I need a partime job, hmmm maybe?

I have always hear good things about Lake Conroe. It's the lake where my father was having a retirement home built when he died. He never got to enjoy the fishing there. I'm gad to hear it has come back. Hopefully those responsible will take a more considered approach this time to balance the vegetation so that it's not all gone or taking over.

To be the best at anything you need to study the subject extensively. I have a friend that is a Professional Flyfishing Guide. He approaches fishing as a science; constantly striving to learn more like turning over rocks and trapping minnows to see what the fish are feeding on. He can sit down and draw you the color patterns of every baitfish in northern Arkansas along with the order in which the bass prefer them. Even if you don't go to college you can still find books on the biology of the different species and become a self taught expert. A great professor I had in college always said a college education did not teach you all you needed to know but rather it teaches you how to learn and search out answers on your own. Best of luck!

WOW now that is a smallie. I'm glad credit for such a great catch has been established.

If Texas isn't an option, I agree that the Russellville/Dardanelle area in AK is nice and might be an option. My in-laws lived up there for about twelve years and there's plenty of fishing (Dardanelle and many other watershed lakes, plenty of deer and duck, and trout fishing within two hours on the Little Red or White rivers). Russellville/Dardanelle is a very nice area. It was my second choice to the Twin Lakes/Mountain Home area. I spent 15 years on the mainland from Galveston Island on the Texas coast. There are a lot of great people in Texas. I found that the hunting was harder because almost all the land is private and you had to get a lease. That is another thing I like about Mountain Home. Within a 30 min drive we have National Forest and even a Wilderness area. You can hunt bear here and they grow big. If you are lucky enough to draw a permit you can even hunt elk.

Days fishing will outnumber semi-retirement (working) days!

Low_Budget_Hookers, come down sometimes and I will show you around the area. That goes for anyone on the forum. If you like mild weather and fishing all year long you will love this place.

I'm doing that as we speak. The Mountain Home (Twin Lakes Area), in Arkansas is my choice. Some of the reasons are: Arkansas has some of the cheapest taxes in the USA. My tax bill for a canoe resort that I just sold with a store, five cabins, bathhouse, a 2300sq. foot log home and just over 10 acres of camp ground is the same as I paid for just my house in Texas. The twin lakes are Bull Shoals and Norfork. Bull Shoals is known for bass, largemouth, smallmouth, and spotted (Kentucky). Norfork is known for big striped bass. Fish over forty pounds are caught every year. The tailraces on the dams create the White River Trout Fishery. Brown Trout up to thirty nine pounds have been caught along with trophy Rainbow, Cutthroat, and Brook Trout. If river smallmouth are your thing there is the Buffalo River the first National River in the USA. All this is only a twenty minute drive from Mountain Home. The weather is great. We have all four seasons but none are very bad. We get maybe 6 inches of snow and the lakes never freeze over. Whether you fish, hunt, or golf you can do them all year round. Check it out: http://www.mtnhome.net/index.asp I just paid $94,000 for a 1650 sq foot house that is about a mile and a half from the boat ramp on Bull Shoals. Life is sweet!!!