The Big M 08/21/2014

[Quillback]

Ugly, very ugly. 2 spotted bass that were about 12" each. Off the water at 1030. Talked to another guy that was pulling out at the same time, he had caught 4 or 5 shorts on the spoon and drop shot.

Good news is the shad are moving onto the banks and into the coves, well at least the Big M cove. there are shad out in the channel also, there were shad balls near the surface all over the place down by point 23. Not many bass feeding on them however.

Didn't see a single pleasure boat today, only a couple of bass boats.

I may be done with the Rock until mid-September at least. Unless I hear reports that you guys are tearing them up.

[J-Doc]

Best report I've read all summer. "Not many pleasure boats"

Lol!!!!

[Quillback]

Yeah it almost made it worthwhile.

[Champ188]

I may be done with the Rock until mid-September at least. Unless I hear reports that you guys are tearing them up.

You can come to Beaver and help me practice for the Everett year-ender Sept. 6-7. They're biting good there. I promise. Really. I do.

[J-Doc]

You can come to Beaver and help me practice for the Everett year-ender Sept. 6-7. They're biting good there. I promise. Really. I do.

Oh huh....sure they are. :-)

I'll say this. Don't fish it like you normally do. Fish it as if you had never been on it before and go up river. For some reason, recent activity has been up river and this time of year, it's more productive. Must be the current and the fact that river fish behave differently than main lake fish.

It's what I would do if I were in a tournament. Look for lots of fish on graph, mark spots, then try to establish a pattern on locations. Then figure out what it takes to get a bite.

[Quillback]

Yeah we need to get out there and go after them one of these days. Dunno if I'm any "help", probably more of a hindrance.

[Champ188]

Thanks, J-Doc. I used to fish the river end a lot ... both the White and War Eagle arms ... but got away from it last few years. The lake really tends to fish small up there at times. May make a jaunt up there, though, and see what's going on.

[J-Doc]

It's odd. It's either on fire in a few isolated areas or it's dead everywhere. Key is finding them when they are feeding. Once you find a group or a pattern, you can limit out fairly quickly I think.

There are always some guys that bring in a big sack but out of 80-100 boats, I bet only 10-15 boats bring in a limit of fish and the top 5 bags will be decent weights.

Thus why I don't do tournaments. I'd just assume take a wad of money and throw it out the boat and watch it disappear vs. sticking it in another fellas pocket. LOL!

[Champ188]

I think you're right about the number of limits. My thinking is just try to make sure we have 5 each day, even if some (or all) of them are spots.

[J-Doc]

Yep. Small baits get the bites for the Kentucky bass. Jigs get the big ones but few bites and those that can deep crank and use spinnerbaits deep above the fish will get the big sacks. I ain't one of those few! Lol