wdberkley

We lucked out, the only time we saw any of those spaceships they were headin' north up 65 as we rolled in, thank lord. Glad they left BB behind, we needed some of his pointers that week to find some fish!

Seeing a lot of guys add an iPad or other tablet with cellular connectivity to the cockpit for navigation purposes. You can pull up Google or Bing maps, flip on satellite overlay, and have your position live. The thought is the satellite imagery provided by Google/Bing is better and will show you things Navionics won't. (You'd also have weather/radar, music, and access to other information like this forum while out on the water) Kinda a cool option if you've already got a tablet anyways.

Well that settles that! Thanks Pavon!

One advantage of the Platinum Chip is the 3D & Satellite Overlay. On your HDS 7 it will give you a three dimensional view of the bottom of the lake. The 3D looks really cool on the screen of an HDS 10, but if you can envision the contours, you'll be fine - don't waste the $50 IMO.. I think the Platinum also offers Panoramic Photographs of select lakes - I don't need a picture, I'm on the lake. Also check out the Marine & Lakes USA Chart. It's $99 and lets you select a specific state. Bought one last year for Missouri to put in an Elite 7. Works pretty well.

Since it's -8 degrees today here in Chicago (huge warm up from -15 yesterday) I figured now'd be the time to start planning our annual spring trip to the Rock. I'd like to throw out the following questions to you fellas, since you spend a helluva lot more time chasin' fish around that lake than we do. If you had one week of fishing in early April (we're looking at April 6 - 12 this year), where would you fish? Our group stayed up Aunt's for 4 years and fished from Cape Fair to Kimberling City, down to Baxter - always caught good numbers, a lot of 4lb and a handful of 5+ lb fish. Last year we moved down near the Dam hoping to stumble into some Brown ones, and spent a lot of time fishing from the Arkansas/Missouri Border to Kimberling City - and while we saw less numbers-wise, we did have two monsters in our group with a 6-7# and a 7-4#. We didn't find too many smallmouth either. Obviously, planning a trip 3 months in advance is difficult, no one can predict what Mother Nature will throw at us in the spring, but we're always trying to find a good balance of quality/quantity. Also, I've looked around online, and haven't been able to find anything showing a schedule of the Carp Tourney. We got down last year right after it ended. I'm sure it wouldn't be a huge issue, but I'm hoping it doesn't coincide with the dates were' looking at. We plan on arriving the last day of the Elite Series event, that'll cause enough chaos on the lake.... Any feedback, as always, is greatly appreciated.

The Keitech Model 2 Football I mentioned is tungsten. The 1/2oz is smaller than a 3/8 lead head. The feel is absolutely unparalleled. They're great jigs when the bite is tough. The skirts are awesome, but the hook is pretty light. At $5.59 they're pricey, but they sure catch fish. The Model 1 is more of a casting jig with a little larger profile and a much beefier hook. I've tried Eco Pro Litner Footballs and Lethal Weapon Drag Queens too. They're a little bigger - Lethal Weapon is mostly lead with a tungsten plate on the backside where the bait makes contact with the bottom and has an internal rattle in the head, which is a cool feature.

It's pretty hard to go wrong with a Jewel Football jig. I really like Keitech Model 2 Football jigs too, but they're pretty pricey. And I must be doing something wrong...90% of mine never seem to last long enough to have the paint knocked off - they're always stuck in a crevice, wrapped around a dock post, or hung up in a submerged tree...

Ignore them...but keep a fishing log for a month. Note the date, temps (air & water), weather, times fished, and if possible, times you caught the majority, or multiple fish. Then go back and look at the Major (Moon Overhead) and Minor (Moon Rise) times of the day and see if there is a correlation between catching fish and those times. Odds are (baring major frontal activity, or other outside factors) that Major & Minor Periods will coincide with increased fish activities. As far as Moon Phase, maybe, maybe not. But I'm a believer in the Peak times of Major and Minor periods.

Ahhh, one of my favorite topics - football jigs. There's so many options and techniques when it comes to fishing them, they're one of the most versatile baits around. Fish it deep, throw it shallow, swim it, flip it, drag it, hop it, stroke it, run it high in the water column...it's hard to go wrong with a football. I've caught fish so darn small they could hardly get a 3/4oz jig in their mouth and hogs that completely choked down a 3/8oz jig. Bottom line is they catch fish! Deep, open water I fish anywhere from 3/8 to 3/4oz jigs, depending on wind, current, depth, etc. Typically the bigger the jig the heavier the line, but if it's open water I try not to get over 10lb Flouro. When fishing something with more structure - bluffs, bluff ends, rock piles, docks, laydowns, etc. I'll run all the way up to 20lb flouro, something more abrasion resistant and with a little more strength to help rip a jig out of crevices, rock slides, and other hang-ups that tend to hold fish. I never, ever get in the boat without having at least one - typically 2 or 3 tied on. Fling 'em out and HOLD ON. Nothin's better than a good Jig Bite!

The topic was started as a heads up, a general warning and reminder to be conscious that a smash and grab was going on. It's not like the initial post was a specific comment regarding a specific case of personal loss via theft. The few comments that could be misconstrued as cold hearted (mine included) appear to simply take the initial warming a step further and offer insight as to how to avoid being a victim of what's going on. Nothing more, nothing less. As far as lacking compassion, a wise man once told me, if you want sympathy, look it up in the dictionary - it's somewhere between sh!t and syphalis.

I don't live on the lake (or in the state for that matter) but do some traveling and fishing in the greater Midwest - including Table Rock - and as someone in that situation, I've been fortunate enough to never have this issue. But in the same breath, me and mine go well out of our way to avoid it. I've heard stories of guys coming out in the morning and not having a lower unit. If criminal scumbags are willing to go THAT far, a combo strapped to the deck, or a graph left in the RAM Mount, or a battery, or tackle boxes left laying around are all easy pickings and can very very quickly cost you a lot of money. A wise old fella once told me if there's something you don't want stolen, don't leave it in your boat, plain and simple. Yes, it's a tremendous hassle to pull the boat out of the water or unload all that gear every night - but considering how hard most people have to work to make the money to have a boat full of gear, it's well worth it. Its unfortunate that this problem exists, but like Champ said, thiefin' has been around since the beginning of time.

It is, as long as there's no more than 3 hooks, similar to your regulations down there. That was one of my initial thoughts, went to grab it, and realized my Arig rod was right where it belonged....in the garage. I'll be trying it this weekend though.

Rodmaker - you may or may not be spot on. When do you go down to TR? We've been doing a week long trip in early April for the last 4 years and have had some good luck. Rps - I was thinking the same exact thing! Thanks for the feedback fellas, much appreciated.

Let me start by saying this isn't a 'Rock report. While I'm lucky enough to fish you lake once I year, I'm typically confined to the greater Chicagoland area. I'm asking a few questions, and feel free to take it or leave it as it is - I'm just hoping to get some feedback and I heavily trust the opinions and knowledge shared by those on this message board. I frequent a somewhat similar lake up here in the flat lands that is very clear (20+' of visibility) and deep (140' +) with current and minus the timber structure that TR provides and about 35,000 acres of water - there are some basic similarities. Last weekend I was able to locate a considerable rock pile in +/- 20 FOW, way point it from Structure Scan, back off, and catch a few fish that are well above average up north fishing this rock pile. Water Temps are 62 right now, the Brown ones are doing the deed all over the lake, but the Green ones are yet to move up. My question is, had you located a similar feature on Table Rock, what would you throw at it given the current stages the bass are in?? The fish we put in the boat came on a crank and a jig, just wondering what else to throw at it? Thoughts?

Wow, reading this was a helluva entertaining way to waste a slow Tuesday afternoon....

Chris makes some solid jigs. Couple years ago me and a few buddies ordered a couple hundred from him. His hair jigs are pretty cool too.

A wise man once told me PICTURES are great backup to your reports, so I added a few to the original post.

Just stayed at Happy Hollow Resort last week. It's between the dam and the 86 bridge, about directly across from Big Cedar. Nice place, clean cabins, cheap rates, super nice owners.

It's Monday, and we're back to work. To summarize last week: Six guys, three boats fished from Sunday April 7th to Friday April 12. Got down Sunday and launched around 2:00pm. Caught a couple shorts. Fished mainly in the greater dam area, main lake points and pockets with everything from an Arig to a tube to a Jerkbait to a fluke to a jig. Fished till around 7:00pm just poking around, nothing serious. Water clarity 20+ feet up around the dam. Found water temps in the mid 50's. Monday we headed out with BB and fished something we've never ever seen before. Caught a handful of fish, and as usual, learned a few new tricks. Monday afternoon we found fish south of the 86 bridge on 45 degree banks - ledgy shore with chunk mixed in and Timber using 1/2oz Football Jigs. Picked up a couple in the 2.5 to 3.5 range, and kinda thought we were onto a pattern. The two bigguns in my original post came on something a little more vertical on the same run, in a matter of 3 casts. After my dad hooked the first fish (which I guessed to be 7lbs) I suggested we throw 'er in the well just so we could show it off. 2 casts later, his rod loaded. I was sure he was snagged (there was quite a bit of timber where we were fishing) and then I saw his rod tip start dancing and I knew he had another tank. Anyone fishing between Long Creek Marina and the 86 Bridge musta heard me screaming like a banshee once we boated the second fish. I went full Ike. Turns out taking the first for a little ride was a good choice - we were able to snap a few pictures of him holding 'em both, get 'em on a scale, and let 'em swim off in tandem a few minutes later. The first went 6-7 and the second went 7-4. The old man caught his personal best, and then broke it a few casts later. That's why we drive down from Chicago every Spring - MEMORIES. Water temps again, mid to upper 50's. Tuesday we tried to recreate what we had done Monday with little results. Managed a lot of 14" K's with fat bellies, but nothing of any size. Also did manage to pickup 3 sort K's on a Spook when we spotted 'em bustin' shad off a main lake point in 60 FOW just north of the ARK/MO Border. Thought it was going to be ON, but it lasted as long as it took to materialize - about 5 minutes. Of the three boats in our group, we had maybe a dozen keeps. Did find water temps 60+ in a pocket down near the state line, but didn't catch anything in water that warm. Wednesday the majority of us got a late start after watching the weather reports the evening before and staying up too late enjoying some adult beverages. Two from our group did get up early and headed toward Kimberling City (Point 5 to Long Creek), where they found a decent Jerkbait bite on main lake & secondary points getting wind. By the time the rest of us got up and moving (9:30am) I decided to poach a spot BB showed us, and we were able to catch some keeps swimming a grub or a paddle tail fluke. Caught a few random fish here and there heading back toward the resort, but no consistency. Again, decent numbers, no size, maybe a dozen keeps. Fished mainly from Indian Point to Long Creek Marina. Water temps were mid/low 50's. Did get a nice supper at White River Lodge that evening - thanks again Bill! Thursday we all loaded up all three rigs and trailered over to Baxter on a tip from a certain guide we know. This was our best day numbers wise. We launched at H and started up near Black Oak and found a lot of fish, mainly on a shaky head, throwing at shore with the boat in 20 FOW. My boat had 30+ fish for the day using this technique, but only 8 keeps. We did lose two quality fish at the boat. Both other boats in our group caught good numbers as well, on anything from a Jerk to Jig to a Paddle Tail Fluke. Warmest water we found was 54. Friday was our final day on the water, and it was a rough one. My boat managed 3 fish in 12 hours - no pattern was consistent. 2 from our group made the run by water to Baxter and caught fish. 2 others found 'em here and there from Point 5 to ARK/MO on a 3/4oz jig and managed one that went 3.5 lbs. Outside of that, it was a really tough day. At one point I made the comment that the spot we were on looked too good and we shouldn't bother fishing it. It seemed any time we got on a spot that had wind, timber, chunk rock, we didn't catch anything. Tried pea gravel, ledges, even transitions and bluffs. Again, water temps in the morning were around 52, highs in the afternoon 54-56. (Did get to see Terry Scroggins, Gerald Swindle, and Gary Klien fishing our bay as part of the Toyota/Quantum media shoot they were down there working on. Only saw KVD running, didn't see where he was fishin'.) In the five years we've been making this trip, this year was the most inconsistent - both fishing and weather wise. But one positive we did take out of it, aside from the two big bites we had, was the sheer number of 14" fish swimming in TRL. In 3-4 years there's going to be a lot of really solid fish in the lake. We'll be back again next spring to chase 'em.

Outside of those two fish we really haven't had much action. This morning was miserable - 2 keeps between 3 boats in 5 hours. Did get a couple short K's on a spook, that was fun. Seems the afternoon bite is much much better.

Been on the Rock for two days now. Lots of short K's and Browns, it's been tough. Thrown the kitchen sink at em and have yet to nail it down. Only 2 large mouth. But they looked like this -

Dancin' Eel = one free lap dance?

Bill - I didn't say it earlier, but as usual, fantastic info. Eight paragraphs of detailed information on a subject that is directly related to how you make a buck is more than generous on your part. Well done sir. Saw Rick Clunn post this shot on Facebook yesterday, only comment was Mike Webb April 2013. I'm guessing this is the P-I-G you mentioned???

BB, you're making me want to reschedule our trip a few weeks LATER. However, I do like seeing someone caught an 11. Sweet Jeebus that musta been fun.

Looks like you're on 'em. Hope it holds true for another week and a half!!!!