FISH CATCHING TRAVEL

There is no better way to spend a couple of days than talking fishing.  Michael invited me to work the booth some and as it has been every time I have done it the show was fun.  It was a time to meet both new and old friends.  The Wade Right guys, Waterloo guys right across the isle, Joshua and his magic shrimp among others.  And a couple of readers stopped by to say high so it was a success.  Plus we sold plenty of baits.

Of course, selling baits was the reason for the season and for me selling the Knockin Tails is fun.  When you believe in a product it is just a matter of telling folks why they should use them.  With the way they have put fish in the boat for me it is easy to talk about them.  Plenty of folks were stocking up, others heard about the Knockin Tail at the show and came to try some out.   And I hope some of the freshwater guys we talked to give them a real go on the water, they will be sold to.  Adding the 3 1/2″ and 5″ to round out the line, along with jig heads, covers most conditions year round.  Now it will be back to using them starting tomorrow, which is definitely the most fun.

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The Wade Right Fishing Belt and the new Madre Sling.

For all your wading needs.

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Weather

80/68.  Areas of low clouds, then some sun; breezy in the afternoon with no chance of rain.  Wind SSE  14 – 40mph.

Lake Level

Today   97.01 msl.     13 days ago   97.32 msl.

Bite Times

Major  10:47 am to 12:47 pm.   Minor  4:20 pm to 5:20 pm.

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When I got to the lake at daylight it was dead calm, but that sure did not last.  They issued wind warnings, and boy was that right.  The water temp at the ramp was 70 degrees, and most of the lake is in that range.  Some of the color is not the best and it has definitely gone down.  No matter where I was today, and it was limited by the wind, there were fish spawning, and I mean carp, gar, tilapia, bass, and who knows what else.

Swim Jig with a Knockin Tail Greenback trailer, best bite of the morning.

It was cloudy at first with little wind but it just kept building and of course it cleared off.  I started with the 5″ Pearl Knockin Tail in a shallow spawning cover and caught a couple of smalls and missed a couple.  It took an hour to fish it meanwhile the wind kept picking up.  I wanted to fish a couple of places before it came up so I picked up the buzzbait to cover some water.  A couple 3 or 4 smalls jumped on and then this small white.  You never know.

The buzzbait bite has begun.

Next was my favorite spring cove the swim jig, and I did catch the one above but could not buy another bite.  By now the wind was blowing right along, and I am being nice in that description, as in a real pain in the ass.  I wanted to make one quick pass in white bass territory and caught these to crappie twins out of one area on crankbait, but since I did not catch a white bass I headed back down lake.

Twins.

At this point the main lake was white capping and there were few places to fish.  Spinnerbait, spoon and Knockin Tail, swim bait, was about all I could fish.  It was turning in to no fun, but I did manage a couple of bites.  I lost the best fish of the day and had another good one boil the 5″ Pearl.  I should have caught a couple more, but the wind was such a hassle that making the kind of precise cast you needed to was impossible.  I finally called it a day, or surrendered, around 1:00.  There was only one truck left at the ramp when I pulled out, it was that big a hassle that it ran everyone off.

While I did not catch that many fishing is looking up.  It would have definitely been better if I could have fished where and how I wanted, but no complaint.  Conditions will be better next time and I am looking forward to it.

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Several folks responded following my last report.  This from Ross.

Looks like a great time up in Arkansas! Striper are my #1 target when not fishing saltwater and my biggest striper, 38lbs, came from Norfork. I have a lot of family in SW Missouri and have been fishing the White since I was 5, so 35yrs now! I hadn’t been on river below Bull Shoals in a few years and went back in September. I, too, was as surprised as you by how many boats were on the river and how rude the ‘guides’ were. We were flyfishing only and were looked upon as lepers! Drifts cut off constantly as well.

First day we fished from the dam down to Gaston’s. 2nd day we went way downriver to where the North Fork comes in and had it all to ourselves! We fished from the North Fork up to where the Buffalo comes in and it reminded of the ‘Good Old Days’!

It is great to see so many people enjoying the outdoors, but the selfish nature that is so common is unsettling. I see it on every body of water everywhere I go.

Great to hear from you.  That is becoming the experience for most of us now, especially those that have been outside for a lifetime.  The only way to deal is just be the bigger person and avoid confrontation on the water.  It is just indicative of  the general loss of etiquette and ethics of some folks, and ignorance by others.  But great to hear from someone who has fished Norfork, one of the great striper fisheries, plus it is interesting you have fished up from Norfork, I still have an acquaintance that owns one of the trout docks. And guiding we would cook a shore lunch on the island at the mouth of the Buffalo.  So thanks for the comments, the rest of you if you want to knock off both a good striper and some trout visit the Twin Lakes Area, you won’t be disappointed.

This from SA Joe.

Not only the fish trip was an “A”, you got to see friends again that love fishing. Glad you had a blast. It take a miracle for me to get friends out on the boat. They just dont slow down and take a breath to enjoy the outdoors.

Sorry them douche bags, with the jets. Where are game wardens when you need them. Its all about chasing the money and putting the clients on fish. We know we have some days and then catch nothing the next. Clients have no clue.

If they are not careful on the White it will start to look like some areas of the West, like the Snake where you have to register and some other assorted hoops to jump through to float the river.  And fishing with my buddy Clyde is always an adventure, we did some real damage in the old days and it sure was nice to go back and put the hurt on them.  The addition of a population of walleyes only adds to the fishing.  As far as the knuckleheads we can’t kill em so best to keep on fishing and let it roll off.  Thanks for the comment.

And from John.

like the idea of that rod box. Is that the one made by Yakima?

Yes.  A little background on how that happened.  There was none to be found the last couple of years and I finally got this one from an Australian that got deported.  They are regularly $600 and this one was brand new and was $300.  The reason I mention it is how I feel about it after this trip.

I wanted one that held multiple rods, and on this trip I took 5 casting rod and reels, 2 spinning rods and reels, and one spare rod, for a total of 8 which fit fine.  I added 2 padlocks to make it awful tough to break in to, along with mounting it on Thule Aero crossbars which would be a major operation to steal.  One issue I read about was wind noise, but it made none so that was good.  I think buying the quality Aero bars had a lot to do with that.   I was able to mount it to be able to get at the rods by standing on the floorboard of the back seat.  Once it is mounted it will be fairly high so access has to be considered.  But it was a pain in the butt to have to always take them inside the motel when traveling.  Part of the motivation was the time I left 12 in a motel in Jasper Al and did not realize it for over an hour and had to turn around and go back.  An added bonus, it can carry both my fly rods (They have to be broken down by a section or two depending on where it hits the rack.) and conventional tackle when in trout territory.   I give it an A until we see how it holds up, though it sure helps how cheap I got it, at $600 it would be a little pricey, but I would still have bought it.

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Congrats to my Razorbacks for a good season and a good run in the tournament.  And anytime you beat 2 teams who are ranked number 1 in the same year you have done something.  It was a tough loss the other night, but the future is so bright I have to wear shades.  WPS!!!!

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So what is next?  Tuesday wind 18 – 44 mph!  Wednesday wind 15 – 30 with another wind advisory.  I do know one thing, when the Boss retires and we hit the road I will not miss our early spring winds.  Good thing it only last a couple of months but it was a hassle today and looks to be the same for another couple.  Then it will be back on the water.  So keep stopping in and thanks for reading my stuff.

Good Luck and Tight Lines