Ar River still fishing tough for some of us

[boogerdoc2]

Regarding the land sale for 28 million-

Well what happened first was some dipstick state rep from Hot springs wanted the legislature to get a significant portion of the funds and threatened to legislate out any of the money that agfc gets from setting license fees when it didnt look like those boys would get any! Huge fight and this dipstick finally backed off.

My understanding is that there will be little or no increase in salary for any of the AGFC boys(yall no offense to mojo but they dont get paid squat), I think a lot of it went to hard equipment and purchase of other land. We as fishermen have some good support on the Commisioners and hope to get some of that money for weigh ins...

ABA is going to work with Colton Dennis who is in charge of AGFC's Black Bass Program. Already have spoken with Colton and this years ATIP summary will be angled for us fisherman a little and we'll make it electronic on this site, get5bass and hopefully on the agfc site so we can link it.

Mojo does a quarterly newsletter from his district which is great. He'll add anyone to the list.

I think AGFC could spread the word a little better but I think ABA, Federation and many others are charged somewhat to help this along to our membership. I think you'll see us do that.

In the next few months ABA may try to have some meetings across the state and gather public opinion to formulate an overall river plan. Will let you know-

[ditchdiggerjcfII]

While I would like to see the river fixed, I am more concerned with some of our lakes. The reason we were given as to why we can't intensely manage larger lakes for trophy bass is that those lakes are too old. I don't believe a lake has to be new to produce big bass. Here are a few that still produce giant stringers, and are as old or older than some of our lakes.
1. guntersville 2. kentucky/barkley 3. clear lake 4. amistad 5. falcon 6. choke canyon 7. the great lakes 8. millwood and so on.
If AGFC would stop with the striper stockings in at least one of our COE lakes, maybe it could be better managed for black bass. I don't believe we need more/better weigh in facilities. I believe what we are looking for is more/better black bass fisheries.


Modified by ditchdiggerjcfII at 9:49 PM 8/21/2009

[mojorig]

Please first of all let me say, I'm not here to argue. I come on here to gather and learn new information from anglers to become a better manager and fisherman. Please realize that I also think there is more that could be done on some of the large lake but I don't have that power. The managers in those districts are responsible for those waters. You should contact them and talk to them about it.

I would like to say I used poor choice of words and apologize for that when i said we intensely manage smaller water bodies. I should have said it is more difficult due to the sure size of the larger COE reservoirs. In our black bass management plan we have a section talking about trophy bass fisheries . In this section, it talks about stocking Florida's and regulations and a criteria for a lake to fit into "trophy bass" designated lake. These lakes tend to have highly restrictive creel (4 fish) and slot limits (16 to 21 inch slot).

We do routine sampling on all large lakes every year and most of the smaller ones as well. Age does have some to do with it but it comes down to productivity (amount of nutrients in the water). The higher the productivity of the water the more fish it can support. The lakes you listed are highly productive systems. For example Falcon and Amistad are basically acting like new lakes because they were so low for so long and when they rose to the current levels all the cover got flooded and the productivity increased. Gunterville, Kentucky, Millwood and Clear Lakes are river systems reservoirs.

I realize you don't like striper stocking but there are people that do. I did a small Google search As for the lakes you listed, Guntersville has hybrids, Kentucky Lake is starting to see more and more stripers, Amistad/Falcon/Choke Canyon have stripers in them.

I understand your complaints and I realize none of this is going to change your opinion and I’m not trying to. I too wish all our lakes were like Guntersville or Kentucky Lake!!

I believe we have a bright future in the reservoir in the upcoming years. Reservoirs like Ouachita, Greers and White River Chain of lakes were going to be really good due to the high water!!

I'm sorry for hijacking the Arkansas River Post.



Modified by mojorig at 9:47 PM 8/21/2009

[TBDIRECTOR]

boogerdoc2 I'd like to see how our trail could contribute to the weigh in facilities at Pendelton. If you could IM me our email that it would be greatly appreciated. I myself was thinking of doing something in conjunction with the fine folks at the restaurant and the adjoining property over the winter if I could get the support. Dumas needs a place for the anglers to weigh in, the ramp and parking lot improvements are awesome, attboy to the local clubs and AGFC.

[TBDIRECTOR]

Jeremy your thoughts as well as others are greatly appreciated, it even brings the level of intelligence up on this board Information and communication is the key to knowledge. Thank you again.

PS: Your included to Danny, you bring light to many things that I'd never have considered.

[ACesBigDaddy]

Time for me to add my two cents worth here. I have my problems with some of AGFC ideas and management techniques they have used before. But Jeremy (mojorig) is certainly, most definitely, not one of them.

I am very excited about the future of fishing as a whole in Arkansas because of Jeremy. This young man isn't paid enough for what he does, but he does it anyway. The thing about Jeremy is, this is not just a job to him, but a passion. He is a member of our bass club here in Monticello (of which he is currently running away with our Angler of the Year title) and regularly presents to us updates on what they are working on. Last year, he made a presentation to us on Lake Chicot and how that lake cycles through, thereby causing good fishing years and bad fishing years. A lot of this study was done on his own time and at his own expense. Amazing stuff that the regular Joe would never consider.

Just one example of something that was done recently, and I give Jeremy credit for, is controlling water hyacinth that was about to take over the river and all the backwater at Pendelton. Water hyacinth is a floating plant that can clog an entire river system. Jeremy set in to fighting this thing and if you go over there today you won't find any...not none that I have seen this year.

Yep, you guys rest assured that we are in good hands with the Fisheries Biologist we have in AGFC. Having been a fisherman for over 40 years now, I see things happening, good things for sure, that I have never seen before.

And finally, just for good measure...the Ar river is fishing tough for all of us, even the guys that know where all the fish are...right mojo?? You won't find his "In the Boat" story on GET5BASS.com concerning our last club tourney at Penedelton...cause he ain't got one...can you say zero. LOL I really think Jeremy, just being the nice guy that he is, is just giving the rest of us a chance, ever how small it may be, to catch up with him in the AOY race.

Regards,
Steve Jacks
Monticello Bass Club President


Modified by ACesBigDaddy at 8:02 AM 8/22/2009

[TBDIRECTOR]

[QUOTE=ACesBigDaddy]Time for me to add my two cents worth here. I have my problems with some of AGFC ideas and management techniques they have used before. But Jeremy (mojorig) is certainly, most definitely, not one of them.

I am very excited about the future of fishing as a whole in Arkansas because of Jeremy. This young man isn't paid enough for what he does, but he does it anyway. The thing about Jeremy is, this is not just a job to him, but a passion. He is a member of our bass club here in Monticello (of which he is currently running away with our Angler of the Year title) and regularly presents to us updates on what they are working on. Last year, he made a presentation to us on Lake Chicot and how that lake cycles through, thereby causing good fishing years and bad fishing years. A lot of this study was done on his own time and at his own expense. Amazing stuff that the regular Joe would never consider.

Just one example of something that was done recently, and I give Jeremy credit for, is controlling water hyacinth that was about to take over the river and all the backwater at Pendelton. Water hyacinth is a floating plant that can clog an entire river system. Jeremy set in to fighting this thing and if you go over there today you won't find any...not none that I have seen this year.

Yep, you guys rest assured that we are in good hands with the Fisheries Biologist we have in AGFC. Having been a fisherman for over 40 years now, I see things happening, good things for sure, that I have never seen before.

And finally, just for good measure...the Ar river is fishing tough for all of us, even the guys that know where all the fish are...right mojo?? You won't find his "In the Boat" story on GET5BASS.com concerning our last club tourney at Penedelton...cause he ain't got one...can you say zero. LOL I really think Jeremy, just being the nice guy that he is, is just giving the rest of us a chance, ever how small it may be, to catch up with him in the AOY race.

Regards,
Steve Jacks
Monticello Bass Club President