DeepStructure

Hi all, I might be going to the Ozarks in mid-June and would like to take advantage of the bass fishing while there, but I dunno anything about the lakes there. I will be in NW Arkansas, but don't mind a couple hours' drive/don't mind fishing in Missouri. I would like to hire a guide for a day, but I want to get the best possible fishing experience and don't know which lake I should be getting a guide for. Please help! :-/

lol read all the jealous comments below the news story, they're saying it's illegal or fake or something. One of the commenters claimed you can't land a striper that size on 12 lb test. Just give the guy credit where credit is due. This reminds me of the former world record blue catfish, something in the 110-lb class, that was caught on like a 2" minnow on 17-lb line by a crappie angler. Like bilgerat said, huge fish can be taken on light gear.

I have read that if you drill a hole in the chamber you can either fill it with epoxy, or remove the ball if the hole is big enough. Just make sure you seal it with epoxy when done. just my $.02 -gk I've heard silicone putty works too, but regardless of what you fill the chamber with, you have to epoxy the hole like you said.

Well that stinks, but yeah, better safe than sorry. Tell us how they work next week.

Well, how did they work?

The ones with the reflective inserts were a special model of the Fat Free Shad, I think they were called Advantage, I have a couple and they have Jimmy Houston's signature as well as Bill Dance's. What annoys me is that they were discontinued with no warning (if there was, I missed it) so we couldn't stockpile...

If you want to stay within N. Carolina, I think Hiwassee and Fontana are both supposed to be quite good for smallmouth. If you don't care what state, driving into east Tennessee probably expands your options further.

Second theory may be true; they're both owned by Pradco. Address on back of old Excalibur boxes is Jenny Lind Rd., Fort Smith, Arkansas; address on back of new Bombers is.... Jenny Lind Rd., Fort Smith, Arkansas. Maybe just brand consolidation. I mainly miss the bluegill and baby bass colors.

You're lucky enough in Colorado to be able to access those larger trout, some of us aren't nearly as fortunate.... I did always find it funny that bass eat stocked rainbow trout in so many places, but the world record rainbow is over twice what the world record bass is...

I'm not sold on the coffee scents just yet, prefer garlic and anise I totally forgot about anise!

I know it's still around, I have some garlic lures; it just seemed like there was a time when it was especially popular, coffee seems to be the hot thing now.

3" grub on 1/8 oz jighead or 3.5" tube on 1/8 oz jighead, both in natural colors like green pumpkin.

Like the other guys have said, my first choice would be a thumping Colorado-bladed spinnerbait, and my second choice would be a rattling crankbait with a wide wobble, both in either very bright or very dark colors.

Didn't Mann's used to sell worms that were grape-scented? I never heard anyone claim that this repelled fish. I honestly think if it tastes at all natural, they won't drop it any faster than any other soft plastic bait. This is probably why the coffee lures work fine, too. I'm actually still a little surprised that garlic was a trend in scents for a while, because lots of *people* don't like garlic (though I do )

I'd get something with a 4 or 5 wt. line. Small poppers work well for bream on fly rods; dunno about wet flies but you could probably do well with nymphs. You can get decent combos from BPS or Cabela's for maybe 70 bucks that will be sufficient.