# Tail from the Magic Kingdom



## Meadowlark (Jul 19, 2008)

With muddy water on Livingston and T,P,&W messing around below the dam, striper fishing has been a bit scarce around here lately....so when friend Ron on Ouachita called and said to come on up, Michael (LLA) and I made the run to the Magic Kingdom of stripers on Ouachita and returned today. 

The place did not disappoint.... providing a whopping 30 pound, 37 inch fish that had a simply unbelievable tail that neither Michael nor I could get our hands around. It was a magnificent fish, truly magnificent. It hit a 9 inch gizzard shad behind a planer board in the very early light this morning out by Bird Island, for those of you familiar with this magic place...a location where last summer I got a 31 pound fish from 50 ft down. This striper was in about 10 ft of water, and was an awe inspiring sight to see it take that big shad right off the surface. 

That gin clear water with huge stripers was simply a godsend to this striper angler who has been starved for some striper action.

Thanks to Michael for travelling with this old coot to the Magic Kingdom and sharing in another memorable adventure in this marvelous American fishery.

Here is the beauty...pictured without depth exaggeration to increase perceived size, LOL as she needed no help in that regard.


----------



## ChrisH2 (May 22, 2010)

That's a Nice fish!!! But the memories are even better. Good job!!! Did you catch that on a Tobasco Slim Jim???


----------



## lx22f/c (Jun 19, 2009)

That is a beauty... Congrats guys on a fine catch. Any schooling yet?


----------



## rustyhook1973 (Aug 25, 2014)

I know that is going on the wall


----------



## bowmansdad (Nov 29, 2011)

Way to go, Michael and ML! Hope to get one on the 16th weekend! Ron has been on fire!


----------



## CarolinaPartimer (Mar 22, 2013)

That's a fine looking fish there. Good to see a picture of a striper on the forum!


----------



## Meadowlark (Jul 19, 2008)

ChrisH2 said:


> That's a Nice fish!!! But the memories are even better. Good job!!! Did you catch that on a Tobasco Slim Jim???


 In the absence of the standard angler depth perception trick, and with a 3 ft cooler, it seemed the fish needed some reference for size appreciation, LOL. 



lx22f/c said:


> That is a beauty... Congrats guys on a fine catch. Any schooling yet?


  Thanks, Robert. We saw some huge blow ups from clearly very large fish...but no concentration of surface action...yet. 



rustyhook1973 said:


> I know that is going on the wall


  Actually, my wall space is reserved for an over 40 pound striper. This one will appear on walls advertising the great fishing on Ouachita.



bowmansdad said:


> Way to go, Michael and ML! Hope to get one on the 16th weekend! Ron has been on fire!


 Greg got a 39 pounder today and another well over 20 pounds. It is big fish time in the kingdom. Good luck on the 16th.


----------



## Danny O (Apr 14, 2010)

Fantastic fellas! Glad you had nice weather Larry and Michael.


----------



## Meadowlark (Jul 19, 2008)

Pet Spoon said:


> Fantastic fellas! Glad you had nice weather Larry and Michael.


 LOL...we talked about that memorable snow, sleet, wind and rain day PS...and Ron suggested it wasn't all that bad. . He will identify a July day for us tonight.


----------



## big D. (Apr 10, 2010)

Congrats Guys! 

The Magic Kingdom had a boatload of awesome fishermen on it today!

Bet Michael was speechless for a while after seeing a striper that big. 

My son and I are traveling to a big fish lake this weekend! Hope one of us lands a 20lb+ fish!


----------



## Meadowlark (Jul 19, 2008)

big D. said:


> Congrats Guys!
> 
> The Magic Kingdom had a boatload of awesome fishermen on it today!
> 
> ...


 Michael is never speechless, lol, big D, especially as related to observations of Nature's finest.  Good luck on Canyon!!


----------



## Bankin' On It (Feb 14, 2013)

That's a fine looking fish. Congrats!


----------



## Watersoul (Feb 15, 2013)

Nice catch. I hope to make it up there one day also. Hope LL starts producing those monsters.


----------



## Meadowlark (Jul 19, 2008)

Watersoul said:


> Nice catch. I hope to make it up there one day also. Hope LL starts producing those monsters.


 Not likely to ever happen. They simply do not live long enough in LL to grow even to 1/2 those sizes.


----------



## Bottom bouncer (Jul 26, 2010)

Congrats Larry and Michael on a very nice fish . Sorry to hear it was a little slow I think the temp fluctuations still have them a little confused . We caught several to 18 lb last week and pulled the hook on a good one . Hope to head back next weekend to baptize the new boat with a good dose of slim. Congrats again !! Tight lines Jim


----------



## Alumacraftbassin (Nov 13, 2012)

Michael? Trolling? I thought that wasn't in his blood. Guess he can put aside his dislike for trolling for a 30lb fish hehe.


----------



## Whitebassfisher (May 4, 2007)

Meadowlark said:


> Not likely to ever happen. They simply do not live long enough in LL to grow even to 1/2 those sizes.


As much as I like stripers and enjoy reading threads like this, facts are facts. LL does not have the right conditions for stripers. I think the TP&W Dept has a lot invested in stripers in LL, so they will continue to use it as their striper brood fish lake, but I would prefer hybrids in LL, which won't happen. Man, I bet Livingston would be a good hybrid lake. The biologist told me in person at the dam one April that they don't want hybrids in there competing with their stripers.

But, congrats on the huge Arkansas striper!


----------

