Sore Thumbs

Just shy of 30 lbs. of smallmouth in Bryant Smith's bag yesterday.

I just used this super nice guy. For some special makes. Took about 2 weeks to get the order, but they are exactly what I wanted. Made in Kentucky. I called him and talked to him personally, then sent him my order. 
I am going to take some pictures of 2 other jigs I want built, so he can build those also. Will, be ordering a bunch so I will have a lifetime supply.
 Puffy Jigs | Puffball Jigs | Lions Collar Jigs | Smallmouth Jigs | Frugal Lures (fishingfrugallures.com)

He does good work.  Before he started his company we would send each other hooks to be used in molds that the other guy didn’t have.  Now he has way more molds than I do.

He has some nice looking jigs.  I have so many jigs, I need to fish them more.

I don’t know what you guys want or what you have been paying.  I know a young guy who got into the business a few years ago.  He lives in NE MO.  His name is Mike Seibert.  His business ic called Seibert Outdoors.  Give him a look.
https://siebertoutdoors.com/

Yeah, I ordered a bunch that hopefully get me through until I find another place to buy them. I am open to suggestions.

He made a post a couple weeks ago saying he was closing up shop and trying to use up the materials he has left

Can someone tell me if Jigs4Bass is not making jigs anymore? I ordered jigs from them a lot. Hopefully it’s temporary. If not I’ve gotta find someone else to make those brown/orange jigs. They were fish catching machines. TIA. 

Paid. 

Nice job!

Finally got a chance to get back down to Table Rock and throw that blade bait again. I had been chomping at the bit to get back down there ever since Dean and I went on my birthday trip. Put in at Campbell Point again and ran up Big Creek. Gary and I fished some of the same water that Dean and I did and the fish were still there. Lost my last blade late in the day so I changed over to a grub and picked up a few more. They were definitely hitting the blade better. Water temp started out at 43* but by the end of the day we were seeing 46*. Big Creek was stained from the recent rains with lots of debris on the water. The fish we caught up there were 6-8' deep. The main lake was still crystal clear with no debris what so ever. We had to fish much deeper in the clear water to get bit. Most of the fish came from the 20' to 24' depth range.

Good day for you Jeff and spot on about the weather. @curtisce called me last evening and wanted to know if I wanted to go to Spring River in Oklahoma. We found some White Bass and crappie in the deeper part of the river near the lake. Water was glasslike most of the day. The black vultures greeted us at the launch.

A great day to be out, seems like we get one of these about every two weeks or so.  I had low expectations as far as fish catching, but it turned out to be a decent day to catch fish.
My main fish catcher was a 2.8 Keitech on a 1/4 oz head.  Fished it real slow on the bottom, slow like dragging a football jig.  Most of the bites were deep, in the 20-30 foot range.  Moved around a bit, but when I found fish there were usually a few in that spot.  Found a good bunch back in a creek and another good bunch on a main lake point with trees.
I caught 5 or so on the Ned rig, but the test on the Keitech.  21 bass, 6 were keepers and a bonus 6 lb. walleye.
WT 42-45.  A few boats out there, but it wasn't crowded by anymeans.

 

Visited this morning with a couple of TR guides. 
Shad on main lake at 80’ to 120’ with fish holding just above them or in the bait balls. Not easy by any stretch. 
Shad in the creeks 40’ to 80’. Some fish on the bottom. Not easy. 
This morning Becky watched a guy going down the bank in our cove and said she saw him catch 3 on an A-rig. She said at least one was a monster. Others were big enough for her to see them with naked eyes at a couple hundred yards. 

 

I love their jigs. The ones with the orange under the head and the skirt are deadly in early spring. 

TW, spinnerbait, spoon ... 17 lb green BPS Excel mono.
FB jig, Hula grub, Texas rig, wobble head ... 15 lb Sunline Sniper fluorocarbon.
Finesse jig, Senko, floating worm, swim bait, squarebill  ... 12 lb Sunline Sniper FC
Warts and other midrange to deep cranks ... 10 lb P-Line CXX mono.
Jerk baits ... 8 lb Sunline Super Mono green

I’m really starting to like the braided main line with flouro leader. Better feel,lower cost and stronger. I still like 10-15lb flouro on my cranks depending on the cover. If you are using it for multiple applications I would think 12-15 lb flouro would take care of most situations. Topwater would require braid or monofilament only because flouro sinks. 

Nice job! 

There are no fish in Bull Shoals. Plus the roads to it make you carsick. And it’s ugly. No harter house meat near it. Terrible darn lake. Just stay over yonder on TR. 

Last year I was the first spot out the money in several fishing tourneys as well as fantasy fishing. If I can tear it up in the real tourneys this year and bomb in fantasy, I'd be alright with that. 😁

Launched at 10 AM today, there was some light rain in Bella Vista early so I decided to wait it out, but it didn't make much difference as it was drizzly and cold at the lake when I got there.  Air temp 39, water temp 40 but not much wind.
Fishing was kind of funny today, lots of blank time with short bursts of some fish on every cast.  When I found them, they were schooled up.  Put 20 in the boat with 9 being keepers, couple of 17" spots were the biggest.  
Best spots were near the mouth of a couple of coves around sparse timber, fish were in that 15-25 foot range.  Even split on fish caught on 1/8 oz ned rigs and 2.8 Keitechs on 3/16 oz heads.  Slow drag on the bottom.
I'm not seeing any shad kill on the upper end and not seeing many live ones either.  Not seeing any suspended bass either, the few I see on sonar are on the bottom.
Didn't see any ice anywhere.
Quite a few boats out, buddy of mine said he heard there are some tourneys this weekend.

Talk about the story of my year when it comes to tournament fishing. I finished one or two spots out of they money so many times this year and here I am again doing the same thing in fantasy fishing. 😆

Congrats to T. Ryan (TMR624) for the 1st place finish in the Ozark Anglers Fantasy Fishing League. Well done!
Congrats to the rest of the top 4 finishers as well.
The Tackle Warehouse Gift Card payout shall be:
1st = $90 - tmr624  -  T. Ryan
2nd = $50 - supremeJCK  -  J. Keenan
3rd = $30 - SoreThumbs  -  J. Mitchell
4th = $20 - Z Man  -  A. Danner
I will knock out the TW gift cards today or tomorrow and Private Message the above individuals with the card codes. 
Thanks again for all who participated. See you again come January. 

Alright gentleman, last call on the last event of the season which starts tomorrow morning. Get those lineups set. Good luck to all and I will get in contact with the winners shortly after the season ends.
Thanks to all of those that participated and hope to have it again next year.