A real fruit jar general discussion.

First off, before you read on….everybody take off you underwear. Go on. Do it. Cause I don’t want nobody getting their panties in a wad or their knickers in a twist over this. Just a plain old discussion where we can all express our own opinions and see what we all think about it.

First off…I’ve been disappointed that this thing has not grown any more than it has. When I originally envisioned and dreamed it up, I was shooting for a low cost alternative to the other trails that was low pressure and high on the fun. For the most part, it has been, with a few bumps and bruises along the way. But since that time, we’ve expanded the lakes, the number of FJs and increased the fees as well as changed up the rules a little. In my mind, all in an effort to attract more boats and people….now, keep in mind, this has not been for profit on my or anyone else’s part…we’ve always paid back 100% and will just as long as there are no major expenses incurred that we can’t handle in some other way.

So, we’ve bumped along and grown very little, meanwhile the cost of everything has increased tremendously. Gas especially, but hotels, food etc will literally put a hole in your wallet just to go out of town and have a 1 in 15 to 20 chance at bringing home maybe enough to cover the costs of the trip.

On top of that, the South boys have always born a disproportionate share of the travel expenses. Take Maj for example….can’t remember a fruit jar he’s missed, but other than the 2 we’ve had at Ross Barnett, he’s had to hoof it every time…..I’m sure if I got ahold of his check book, I’d find he’s out several hundred if not a couple thousand dollars. Worse still, he took top honors at Washington this year and may have just about broken even on that one trip.

Now we find ourselves somewhat stuck….do we
increase the lakes we fish to attract more (say Columbus, Okitibee, or another Delta Lake)?
increase the fees to help make it more profitable?
keep everything the same, afterall, who cares if it’s 5 boats or 500, we’re only doing this for fun anyhow

or should we create a North and a South Division and combine for the championships? My thinking is, DD, Maj, Holic, Gene, Steve and Scott could form the core and get it started, pick their own lakes and schedules and work towards a championship. Then we could combine for a North/South fish off and either combine the carry forward pots or split it somehow for a 1st and 2nd pay down. Might be tough to set the schedules as to not compete against each other and I’d hate not to see those guys in the North FJs, but I don’t want them to go broke just so I get to see them once a month either.

Now, I don’t have a direction I want to take this thing in. I just want it to survive and grow. At the same time, just like ya’ll, I’ve got limited funds and limited time to devote to it. I’m just wanting to start a discussion to get ideas and opinions on what we should try next because I feel like we’ve stagnated to some degree. Maybe that’s OK. Afterall. I know I have fun whether it’s a Washington with 7 boats and 34 degrees or whether It’s Sardis and 30 boats and 97 degrees.

I’m sort of rambling I know and maybe this discussion is better left to after this season is over. Now, I like poking fun as much as the next guy (probably more so than anybody else), but this ain’t the place for it, so put a sock in it on the humor or smack. We all know we’ve had some major blow ups over the FJs and a bunch of hurt feelings and we certainly don’t need any more. Got an opinion? State it. If you want to discuss someone else’s idea, do so. But can the slings and arrows for the good of the FJs PLEASE.

Wannabe…

It IS expensive to travel, but since I've joined this group of merry fishermen, I consider the FJ's to be my annual vacation broken into shorter time frames. I don't want to see a "north & south" split because I enjoy everyone's company and would like to keep it together. And, I for sure don't fish these things expecting to make any money but do hope for some more bragging rights. I think the locations of the lakes we fish are good as they are but could be expanded based on the input of those of us who fish at least a few each year. This whole deal is just for the fun of it for me.

I'd hate to see up split up into 2 goups. I like everbody too much to have that happen.

As for going broke and not having enough prise $$$, raising entry fees would only cause the majority to be out MORE money if/when we didn't win. At some time or another I've heard a lot of different people state that "FJ's are for fun, not for making any money". That is the truth and that is the way it should be in my opinion. Heck, everything fun costs money. I have really enjoyed getting to know you all and fishing with you / against you the last couple of years.

As for the tournament schedule, I'd like to see more tournaments. Sure, add some new lakes! Why not? It's understood that we can't make them all, that's why we only have to fish 3 to qualify for the championship. Adding a couple more southern lakes would give the southern boys a fair chance to beat up on the rest of us and give me a couple more chances to get out and have a good time.

It's all for fun and braggin rights!

Well, even though I am not one of the southeren boys(as per WB's description above) I will still chime in a little here. As far as costs go it is darn expensive for me to make one of these trips and the same probably goes for some more of us down here cause we have to put out all of the expenses for the FJ (i.e. Me/April, DD/Nessa, Holic/Deb, and Maj). I live 3 hours from Grenada so it is not easy to make this a one day trip, I can do it, but definitely would rather not and if I do have April with me I can tell ya she ain't going to get up at 2 am to fish. Is this my fault cause I live 3 hours away and I want my wife to be able to fish with me...yep sure is, so the expense issue here is almost a mute point. As well it should be for everybody else that lives far away from one of the lakes. Here is a run down of what this weekend cost for me and April.
Gas (truck) 120.00...gas (boat) maybe 20.00...supplies for the cookout 100.00...food around 125.00 (85 just at 33) entry fee 50.00 so that 415.00 bucks for Friday and Saturday. I think first place would have barely covered this and I may even be forgetting something.
Don't get me wrong at all here cause I love the competition and the fellowship most of the time. But it is very expensive for some of us to do it. My goal as of now is to fish one more FJ so I have my 3 and then fish Grenada.

What's a good answer here to make it all a little less painful...not sure. Like WB, I have also thought about having a north and south division and swapping lakes from north to south each year for the championship or either put a few lake in a hat and draw it out each year.

I do hope we can come up with something fair to ALL so that I can fish more than 3 times with you guys.

I have said this, Me and Sat live in the delta and its 1 and 1/2 hours to Enid, Grenada and Sardis. 2 hours to Arkabutla and 2.5 to Ross barnett. Its also 1 hour and 15 minutes to Washington. We don't mind making the drive and it is expensive. I think we should slide the schedule later. I mean start them in Arpil and go through November to maybe draw some more boats. As far as the Delta lakes go it would be tough for them to handle 20 boats. Maybe we should try to make a schedule booklet and sell some advertising to up the payouts. Everyone has a favorite baitshop or restaurant they could solicit an ad from. Just some ideas. I am against a North and South.

I kind of agree with Major in that I consider the FJ's a big part of my annual vacation. As far as the costs are concerned, how much would it cost to participate in any activity. Fishing is my passion. Would it be any cheaper to follow the NASCAR circuit, hold season tickets to the St. Louis Rams, fish Crappie Masters (on a regular basis), ect... The FJ's are a great venue to enjoy the sport I love and do it with good friends. Travel and expenses go along with any activity. Even though I had a major sponcer, I spent a fortune in the 80's and 90's shooting competition archery. It's just the price we pay for doing the things we love.

Well said Speck, I tell folks you got to love it cause you ain't going to get rich fishing crappie tournaments.

If we can get the Tenn Tom Ckub up and going, I'm sure an eastern division could be had. Increasing the tourney fees is the very first way to run folks off. If you give fitty dollers to enter a tourney, the fun is gone fer some. Specially ifn you drivin a couple of hours. I myself had a blast this weekend. I wasn't in it fer the money. If I had a been, I'd a had me a partner and went at it hard. I offered a seat fer Gottabe just because it was all about fun. And watchin a kid catch a fesh or dip one or knock one off is fun.
This was my first one with y'all gewbers and I had a good time. But it's hard for me to fesh with y'all when I'm already helpin run 2 clubs.
If we could join in with y'all at maybe a state wide classic next year, I'm sure I could get a few teams to do it. We could possibly take the top 10 teams out of each division and have a separate classic.
With this being said, ifn a team wanted to fesh in more than one division, he could. We'd jus have to watch our scheduling. And some will interfere with others.
Now I done went to rambling.

Triton, you oughta had a be in yo boat that said daddy didn't feed him breakfast. Cost me a arm and a leg tryin to get that boys strength built up jus enuff so he could operate the net. But it was werth it to hear him say "dang, daddy don't Neva ketch um that big".

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Originally Posted by Speck

I kind of agree with Major in that I consider the FJ's a big part of my annual vacation. As far as the costs are concerned, how much would it cost to participate in any activity. Fishing is my passion. Would it be any cheaper to follow the NASCAR circuit, hold season tickets to the St. Louis Rams, fish Crappie Masters (on a regular basis), ect... The FJ's are a great venue to enjoy the sport I love and do it with good friends. Travel and expences go along with any activity. Even though I had a major sponcer, I spent a fortune in the 80's and 90's shooting competition archery. It's just the price we pay for doing the things we love.

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Speck ifn you gonna follow the Rams, you in trouble.

Although I've only fished a couple of the FJ's, I've enjoyed them and plan to fish more now that my knee is getting usable. It's a long drive, but it's worth it for me. Hope y'all keep having them.

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Originally Posted by Minnerman

Speck ifn you gonna follow the Rams, you in trouble.

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No true'er words were ever spoken Minner. It was hypothetical.:p

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Originally Posted by Speck

No true'er words were ever spoken Minner. It was hypothetical.:p

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Whew, I thought you were serious there fer a minute.

ES, you may be on to something there. Maybe add a couple of more lakes (FJ's) but still only make 3 to fish the championship tournament. Also guys I wasn't complaining about the expenses I knew that was part of it going in. But, to give an example, we only had 9 boats at Barnett and 22 at Grenada. If the expense is just part of it and not that big a deal then more boats need to be here when we fish the barrnett.

I think the time of year is a draw back also. Barnett needs to be in May and fish around the timber in the sunken lakes.

That's a thought for next year torch.

Even though I do not fish the FJs.....I enjoy keeping up with you guys that do, enjoy the posts, reports , and smack talk about them. I really enjoy the camps though where everyone gets together for fellowship and some fine eating. Where ever you have the camp/cookout....I will try my best to be there and help anyway that I can.

Thanks "G", you're always welcome. Now minner will say something about that alleged bribe.

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Originally Posted by majflyboy

Thanks "G", you're always welcome. Now minner will say something about that alleged bribe.

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Yep, he prolly will.........he's got to say something about everything, lmao

The only thing I have is, will yall consider having maybe half the fjs on sunday, to make it easier for people that have to work on saturdays? I know that almost everyone on here fishes on sunday anyway. Being in retailing, saturdays are extremely difficult for me.

[QUOTE=duckhunter;1515400]will yall consider having maybe half the fgs on sundayQUOTE]

Done! Let's have the fg's on Sunday, but leave the FJ's on Saturdays.:D

Sorry duck. Had to

Yea us Arkansas boys drop 3-4 hundred every time we come down to fish a FJ so it's plain to see we are not in it for the money.

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Originally Posted by creekslick

yea us arkansas boys drop 3-4 hundred every time we come down to fish a fj so it's plain to see we are not in it for the money.

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x1

I go along with G idont fish the fjs but i try to keep up with them and try to make a showing at the camps when possible,and when one is held at Butla i try to help all that i can. Have devulged some honey hole locations to certain folks.

[QUOTE=EmptyStringer;1515417]

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Originally Posted by duckhunter

will yall consider having maybe half the fgs on sundayQUOTE]

Done! Let's have the fg's on Sunday, but leave the FJ's on Saturdays.:D

Sorry duck. Had to

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Es, dont you have anything better to do?......like reading about how to safely back a boat down the ramp without incidents?...lol....just teasing you.

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Originally Posted by majflyboy

Thanks "G", you're always welcome. Now minner will say something about that alleged bribe.

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Alleged? I seent it wit my own eyes. Three pacemaker batteries fer no deletions of threads or post till the next camp.

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Originally Posted by Minnerman

Alleged? I seent it wit my own eyes. Three pacemaker batteries fer no deletions of threads or post till the next camp.

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Minner, seems you are really really confused. It was TWO batteries, not three.

First, let me say how sorry I am for the current rif going on. I never intended to step on someones toes. I am well aware after chasing tournaments for 25 years that everyone cannot be satified. When setting up a tournament schedule, more than just a date should be considered. There's several questions that should be asked such as: are the fish biting that time of the year?, what other events are going on? The distance we all drive is second place. Coming in first place is Are the fish going to bite? About a month ago I sent several pm's to folks asking when was the best time to fish that particular lake. Everyone responded with positive information. Taking this information, what I personnaly know about the lakes and special events such as mothers day, Easter, etc., I made up what I think was a good workable schedule. In order that no one could cuss or discuss it, WB has the only copy and it would up to him to bring it up. I fish tournaments for the fun of it, not the money but it would be nice to see the "southern" folks given a little more consideration. By this, I mean, having spring or fall camp on Barnett. We have excellent facilities around Barnett and can handle anything. We have resturants that can handle large crowds all over the area. Our crappie fishing stacks up with any lake in the south. Do as you wish but a North or South or East division will definately not work. The only thing that will work is 100% participation by everyone. By this, I mean you fish them all or you don't fish the finals.

I never have been a big tournament fisherman. Only fished our company tournament for a few years now..I really do enjoy it but it is truly just for the fun and commradery that I do it and the fact that after the tourney I can get some help on where to catch some fish. As most of us know, planning a tournament schedule and hoping the fishing is good at that time is as hard as some of our heads..Who would've ever thought that February at Sardis could've easily been a 17.5lb+ sack...I hope the FJ's continue(and continue in good fun and helping one another) and North South is not a good idea IMO.. Good Luck DonDon on lake selection I know its a pain. 'Holic I along with a few others understand your BEEF bout Barnett.. Same could be said by several us about 'Butla.. Grenada is 2.5hrs from my house so who knows how far Barnett is...(100% Participation) Please dont go to this..So many things can come up last minute or well in advance.. I agree with having to fish a set number but not all..My $.04

I know I don't have really have dog in this fight per say as I have really not fished many of the FJ's but these are just my thoughts on this subjects

1 really don't want to split the FJ's as I have only fished the southern FJ's got to know the guys and really like hanging around with them

2 I like the more tournaments idea as I really enjoy fishing with you guys

3 as far as money that's far from the reason I fish the FJ's and have heard many guys on here say the same but it always comes back to money so why not do away with the tournament and just pay %100 at each one

4 as far as the camps why not do 3 spring summer and fall one for the north one south and one in the middle? that should make everyone happy

That being said y'all can start the shooting at it now!!!! LOL

If for some crazy reason y'all do split can we make sure to put them on different days so I can fish both ?

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Originally Posted by oleblue

I know I don't have really have dog in this fight per say as I have really not fished many of the FJ's but these are just my thoughts on this subjects

1 really don't want to split the FJ's as I have only fished the southern FJ's got to know the guys and really like hanging around with them

2 I like the more tournaments idea as I really enjoy fishing with you guys

3 as far as money that's far from the reason I fish the FJ's and have heard many guys on here say the same but it always comes back to money so why not do away with the tournament and just pay %100 at each one

4 as far as the camps why not do 3 spring summer and fall one for the north one south and one in the middle? that should make everyone happy

That being said y'all can start the shooting at it now!!!! LOL

If for some crazy reason y'all do split can we make sure to put them on different days so I can fish both ?

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+1

Guess it's DonDon's turn. I to am one of those Central Miss folks and yeh, Grenada is about 1 1/2 hours just to the turnoff of I-55, then another 30 minutes to the lake so it's the closest lake to my house.
I sat down one day and put in the costs of me fishing these FJ's Never cheaper than $275 and most times $350. It would be more but we why do you think we bring a tent to sleep in most times? $36 for 2 nights instead of $120-$150. It's ALOT of work packing, unloading, setting things up and then taking them down. We start the weekend before a tourney getting our stuff together so we can come see you guys. Ya'll are all like our long lost family to us and we don;t miss unless we just have to. This is our 3rd year and we've missed 2 tourneys in that entire time. Both Butla. It's over 3 hours up there one way for us but we will be coming up this time. HINT HINT JIM, Put me on some fish Bro. LOL
These tourneys ARE our vacation. I only get 10 days a year and 7 FJ's plus a champoinship, well, leaves me 2 days for us to go do something else.
Morris, That's how I came up with the dates for this year. I asked around on when was the best date for each lake.
I do think that starting in Mid March would be better though. Still a crap shoot with the weather no matter what dates you set. I felt sorry for Bigger last year picking dates and this year hasn't been a whole lot better. You just have to pick the dates and hope for the best. I'll pick the dates later on in the year this time to make sure nothing gets in the way of people coming.

Adding lakes. If we start in March and run through say October, then have the champoinship in November, that would give us one more lake. 8 FJ dates and a Championship. We could have one more Southern lake maybe added. Eagle? Chotard? Barnett 2? Just thinking out loud but it would allow us to not have to drive a minimum of 2 hours to fish every single time.
I brought all this up last year and it didn't go over to well but we have several more from our area fishing them now. I think I'd only be fair if we had another South lake in the mix. Just need some of you guys from up north to drive down to fish them. I was proud of Wannabe coming down this time to Barnett. Meant more than you'll ever know to us with you coming down.

Hot digity. A real discussion. Ain't seen a knife nor a tire iron yet....but I think Minner might have some brass knuckles stashed somewhere so ya'll keep an eye on him.

This really is what I was hoping for, some well thought out discussion on the subject to improve things. And to any of you lurkers that don't post, or have never been to but one or maybe even none of the FJs, don't be shy. You're the ones I'm wanting to show up at the next one or next years if we tweak things a little to make it more attractive to you.

So far, this is what I've got - Divisions are out, but we need to adjust the schedule to start a bit later and run a bit longer....maybe add 1 or 2 south lakes.....Honestly, I'm not sure about the South Delta lakes like Eagle or Chotard though...that's like way off from everybody.....even the Jackson clan......what if we just did Ross Barnett twice and maybe Okitibee once? Wouldn't that be closer? Not sure....Heck Ross Barnett is a good enough lake to do it 3 times if need be.

If we expand the schedule do we keep the 3 to qualify or should we up the qualification...say to 4 or 5? I agree with, I think ESs comment.....no one can commit to specific dates to fish a year out and I never expected everyone to fish every FJ. That's asking too much.....having said that, I think it's important that in order to qualify for a chance at the "big money", you should be required to contribute to the building of the pot to a degree. Just not sure if we expand to 8 regular FJs + the championship if we should require 4 or 5....with guys like Speck and Creek, I sort of feel like we'd be asking too much to drive into a full 5...especially if you consider that their contribution to the championship is only $5 per tournament, but they'd be shelling out $400 to $600 to come for the weekend. Just talking it though. Would be interested to hear what you two think about the expanded schedule and expanded qualification.

One other thought - Arkabutla...Personally, I don't care for it and I know others have expressed the same sentiment at times....it's just a hard lake to love. I hate to suggest this on account of Mr. Jim being our honorary host, but it has consistently drawn the least boats of any of them. I'd be interested to hear whether ya'll think we should drop it and maybe double up on Sardis....you know the fish it's kicking out this year and it would stand to reason that it'd hold up for one more.

I also think that maybe the championship ought to be moved from Grenada next year. I enjoy having it here and it has the potential to be a home run derby on any date, but I confess a selfishness to wanting it here. If it'd help, maybe we ought to rotate it to another lake next year....Sardis? Ross Barnett? Maybe we should agree to have it on a different lake every year? Or is everyone happy with leaving it in Grenada and hoping we get a perfect storm of weather and fish cooperation for a chance at a slug fest? Again, just wanting to discuss it and I'm open.

Wannabe...

I want to offer a perspective from a new guy that doesn't have a dog in the fight.

1) The $50 entry fee is about right. People fish these FJ's for bragging rights among friends; a couple hundred $'s to win is nice but not the main motivator. If you increase the payout you will have guys coming to fish for your money but don't want to stay and eat with you.

2) If I had fished all 6 FJ's this year I could have driven to four of them the morning of the tournament and would have stayed overnight for two of them. That's 4-2 for me, and I bet it works out the same for 75% of everyone else. I think if you start changine things alot for everyone you include you will be excluding someone else.

3) Crappie fishing is an expensive habit. Try to keep the costs moderate, but noone is expecting to make money.

4) As far as holding the tournaments on Saturday. I think it makes a statement that somethings are more important than fishing. I don't know if this statement was intentional or not, but I appreciate it.
As for getting off on Saturday. Where my wife works they are open 363 days a year. So to get off on Saturdays she has to plan ahead. For the rest of the FJ's she has taken off Fri.- Sat.- Sun. for each of them. To do this she will have to work a couple of 13 day stretches with no days off. If she has to she will use some of her vacation days.
If it is important to you, you will get the time off to fish.

5) From my observations decisions need to be made by committee. And the committee needs to be elected yearly.
There are some hotheads on here that get twisted out of shape if their ideas are not agreed to or the poll doesn't go their way. With a commitee there is not a lot of debate.

6) I would fish a 8 tournament plus a championship March through November schedule. I believe this would allow for two more lakes.

First of all Don and Morris, you really cant set a scedule until the Crappie masters, USA, and Magnolia scedules hit the shelf. Not that any of us fish all the trails and its gonna effect attendance, but these guys buy permits for their lakes and that prevents other tournaments on the same days. I think we could make it real easy, have 12 tournaments, 1 for each month and alternate em between grenada and barnett. Or Sardis and Barnett, Whatever. The point is were overcomplicating things. Make it simple, make it cheap, and make it fun. Don now u know Y i didnt want to do the sced. this year.

Bigger you quit at the wrong time bro...we are paying DD big bucks for the duty this year..lol

Bigger why does someone buying a permit prevent another tournament?

I agree Bigger on you can't set the schedule until later one. When I set it up for this year, I looked at all of them (crappie Masters, CUSA, MCC) and then since several of the MCC guys said they wanted to fish with us, I set a few of them the week before a MCC tourney in hopes that several of them would fish our tourneys since they'd be there prefishing anyways. Nate, it took me to about 2 weeks BEFORE our first tourney to figure that out Bro. I started getting PM's, called out on the board and just bugged to death about things.I even put up the dates and asked for acceptance of it which was overwhelmingly positive on the dates I set. Whatever is set for next year, folks need to just accept whats there and fish if they can, not whine about it. I fish these cause they are fun and it ain't been fun with some of the things going on.

I kinda feel like this. Expand the FJ's to include more Southern lakes. At least 1 or 2 more. Keep the qualifications at 3 tournaments or better yet, just drop the championship altogether and just fish tournaments with 100% payback at each. These were created for us to get together and have fun, right??? Keep Arkabutala in! Sure it can be a booger to fish at times but talk about a home run derby potential!!! Every lake throws a different challenge. Thats part of the reason and fun of fishing different lakes.

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Originally Posted by tritonman

Bigger why does someone buying a permit prevent another tournament?

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Im pretty sure thats the purpose of the permitt, so there wont be 3 different crappie tournaments on the same lake at the same time. Kinda like reserving the pavillion.

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Originally Posted by Speck

I kinda feel like this. Expand the FJ's to include more Southern lakes. At least 1 or 2 more. Keep the qualifications at 3 tournaments or better yet, just drop the championship altogether and just fish tournaments with 100% payback at each. These were created for us to get together and have fun, right??? Keep Arkabutala in! Sure it can be a booger to fish at times but talk about a home run derby potential!!! Every lake throws a different challenge. Thats part of the reason and fun of fishing different lakes.

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+1 Chris I hear a lot about Wolf Lake at Yazoo City but I am willing to drive to Columbus Lake. I want to get as many boats involved as we can and fish some of the Southern lakes also.