Quillback

I lived in Western WA for close to 20 years. I fished for salmon, steelhead and trout. The LM fishing is tough, especially from the bank, and as you mention, the lakes your fishing may not be good for bass even under the best conditions. Lake Sammamish has some great smallmouth fishing, but you need a boat for that lake. A buddy of mine caught a 6.5 LM out of Chambers lake near Olympia, but again you need a boat for that lake. I'm tring to think of lakes in your area with decent LM fishing and bank access, but I'm drawing a blank.

Nice thing about the LE jobs is that they come with a pension. Pensions are next to impossible to get in the private sector these days, you'll have to save money out of your salary through a 401K or IRA.

The winds have been blowing here in NW Arkansas also this month, I was fsihing yesterday and commented to my buddy that I'd never seen winds like this in October. We didn't so as good as Bluebasser, but we put 20 bass in the boat.

So are the snakeheads becoming numerous in FL? Do they effect the bass population? Just curious, I did not realize that they may be established down there. However, I do hear they are good to eat.

Another fan of the Keitech Swing Impact, or Swing Impact Fat, as a swim jig trailer. They are soft, so I recommend supergluing them to the jig. Choose a size to match the hatch in the lake you are fishing.

Yep I agree on the slow sinker, I have had days were they tore it up. Got a couple of modified (heavy split rings) Luck-E-Strike RC STX jerkbaits, that will do the slow death sink.

I love my GLX 803 BCR as a light c-rig rod. Most sensitive rod in my arsenal, you can "read" the bottom with it, and feel the lightest bites. Watch the fishing and boating boards for sale forums, you'll see used 803's pop up in the $200-250 range. They pop up on Evil Bay quite regularly also.

I don't have a Chronarch, so the operator with the birdsnests must be you..

You buy an STX and for $9.99 you can get a high quality ABU hoodie (chicks dig them). You poor Shimano fanboys don't get squat when you buy an overpriced Curado, well except for the extra birdsnests..

I live about 90 miles north of Ft Smith AR, there's plenty of fishing opportunity around Ft Smith if you're into bass fishing or other warm water species. If you're a deer hunter, lots of public land nearby, if you bow hunt for deer, the season begins in September (they may move it back to Oct. 1 next year) and runs into February, and depending on the zone you can take up to 6 deer a year. Cost of living is low in Ft Smith, very little traffic, summers are hot, winters are mild.

If the SS had caught the ball, then no one would give a hoot if the infield fly rule was called. The two errors Atlanta made in this game were what really sunk their ship.

I've got a 798 in the bow, I've been doing a lot of drop-shot fishing over gravel flats in 20-35FOW, and I've come to heavily rely on it for this type of fishing. It does a good job of showing fish and bait on the 2D sonar. I haven't used the DI much, but might in the next few days as I hear the fish have moved out around cove mouths over deep submerged trees, so it might be a situation where the DI will come into use.

I'm lucky to live within an hour of Table Rock, Beaver Lake, and Grand Lake. Some medium sized lakes also in that radius. And there's some very good community lakes within 10 minutes. Expand my radius out to three hours and there's Stockton, Bull Shoals, Ouchita, Arkansas river, and Hudson. Lots of water to fish, enough for a lifetime.

I like the Keitechs, but they are soft, I recommend using superglue to keep them on the jig. Rage craws make a good trailer also, the claws flap really well, you can pause your retrieve and when the jig drops those claws will flap on the way down sometimes triggering a follower to bite.

I was out on Table Rock yesterday fishing the drop shot, caught around 30 black bass on the DS, maybe 4 or 5 LM's in the mix. But the LM's were small, 12" fish for the most part. Spots were running 13-16".

Yep, same here.

Boom or Bust!

I've been there a few times, lots of traffic, hot and humid in the summer. Don't know about the fishing opportunities, but it's close to the gulf. Gotta be some LM fishing in the area.

Right now, Drop shot, spinner baits, and cranks are starting to pick up, topwater is working also. Once it gets colder, hard jerkbaits. And I wouldn't call it a favorite, but the A-rig bite should start going pretty soon.

I fish Beaver and Table Rock frequently, maybe not as clear as Bull, but like Bull they are in the White river chain. My number 1 DS worm has been a Zoom finesse in Old Purple. My fishing buddy has done well with a Roboworm in Morning Glory. Other colors mentioned by the guys on this thread will also work. Main thing is when using the DS is locating the bass schools, once you've done that, I don't think color is really that important. FWIW, the guides have been killing them on Table Rock the last week on the DS. Mostly spots with a few SM and LM in the mix. The topwater bite has also been improving. The Drop shot bite has been good lately on Beaver and Table Rock, since August, I imagine it's working on Bull also. Got a big cold front coming through this weekend, it may change things up. I'd bring some FB jigs, cranks and spinner baits, and topwaters, JIC.

I have 2 Sols, great little reels.

I was out drop shotting on Table Rock today, did OK, maybe got a dozen or so on the DS, and a half dozen on topwater. Mostly Spotted bass with a couple of LM. I was getting them in 25-30 FOW. Mostly off long points and gravel flats near deep water channel swings. I'll fish the DS a couple of different ways, first off I'm always watching the sonar, if I see fish and/or bait I'll drop it vetrtically down and gently shake it, with a little dragging as the boat moves. If I'm not seeing anything on the sonar I'll move around, fan casting, relativeliy short casts, letting it reach bottom (sometimes they'll pick it up on the fall, they were doing that a lot today), then I'll slowly drag it back. Got a double header, put down the drop shot with the bait on the bottom, cast a topwater at some busting fish, got a fish on the TW, look down and see my DS rod tip getting yanked, set the hook on the DS, put the rod down (with my foot on it), landed the TW fish, then landed the DS fish.

Lived for twenty years in WA state, and read many studies that showed Walleye and bass had little effect on salmon numbers in the Columbia system. The real problems are dams, overfishing, bad hatchery practices and lack of habitat.

I'm surprised that 1/2 oz weight doesn't keep it anchored, but sounds like when you tighten the line it's pulling it towards you, but when I fish a drop-shot horizontally, I keep it moving towards me, and BTW the heaviest weight I use is 1/4 OZ(unless it's really windy). I use floro for drop shotting, better at transmitting the light pickups you're going to get. There's also, in addtion to the vids on this site, a good Aaron Martens vid on fishing the drop shot, just do a search on "Aaron Martens Drop shot video". It's only about 5 minutes long, but yet he does a great job in explaining various ways to fish the DS and what is going on with your bait.

Here in the Ozarks, a bass over 8 lbs. is something to be proud of.