Steve McBasser

Ron and I put in mid lake on Bull Shoals again on Tuesday expected to tear 'em up. We had an awesome wacky worm bite going and couldn't wait to get back to it. Instead when we got there we could see acres of debris floating on the surface and mud stained water. We went back to our favorite spots hoping to find the fish still there. Unfortunately the flood had them jacked up and the bite was tough. Ron managed to catch a few on an odd colored spinnerbait he had but I never got a bite. Tough day.

It can be hard to beat this time of year. My buddy Paul used to throw it a lot around the spawn while I was stitching my hula grub. He out fished me with it several times but I was stubborn and would keep throwing my grub. He passed away a couple years ago now so I threw it Tuesday in his honor. I was glad I did. There were lots of biters, but pretty sure they were all males. (Long and skinny.) The big females are going to start moving up pretty quick. Better rig one up

Its been a good year so far..... that's for sure. Thanks for the reply.

Ron and I launched the boat near Theodosia on Tuesday. Water temp at the ramp this time was 60.5*. We found 64* in the back of the creeks in the afternoon. Started out throwing all the typical springtime baits without getting bit at all for almost and hour. Then, I picked up my wacky worm pole and threw a 5" Senko in watermelon/red. Game on! We spent the next several hours catching... not just fishing. It was awesome. Hope you all are getting to go too. Its springtime. Go get you some....

thank you Pepe..... will do.

Ron and I put in a mid lake and ran up a couple of creeks as far as we could go. The bass bite was tough but we wound up catching several Walleye that we took home for supper. The walleye saved the day for sure. The water temp was about 62* at the ramp. We found 66* way up the creeks in skinny water.

Sounds like a good day to me. Glad you guys caught "em.

Gary and I put in at Hideaway yesterday and fished the lower James for a few hours. Wherever we fished, they were shallow and on scattered cover. If the water had been up 2 or 3 feet and in contact with a few more lay downs I think we would have clobbered them. We ran back to the back of several coves and caught fish in 2 1/2 feet of water on lay downs and stick ups. We also fished bluff pockets that were within 20 yards of 100' deep water and caught a few right on the bank, also around lay down. We saw just a few beds back in the backs of coves but the water was so dirty you had to be right on top of them in very shallow water to see them. We managed to catch some but nothing to brag about. We had to work at it. Slow rolling a spinner bait was the only thing we could get them to bite.

Gary and I ran down to Shell Knob again on Monday, April Fool's Day. We put in at about 9:30 am and found the water temperature to be 56.5* to start the day. The warmest we found all day was just 60* way back in the back of a cove. The water was just a little stained but not muddy at all. The air temp when we got there was in the upper 60's already. It was feeling pretty muggy outside for April Fools Day. We figured that's why they were calling for storms last night. The fish we caught were scattered far and wide. We never really put together any kind of pattern at all. We had to do what Paul and I used to call "scrounging" in order to get bit. We caught 'em on a crank bait, a ned rig, a hula grub and a blade bait. I also threw an A-rig, a swim bait, and a jerk bait and had a few fish make half hearted passes at them but never hooked up. We caught some on bluff banks, main lake points with gravel or chunk rock, mid coves, and backs of pockets. Just one or two here and there. My buddy Gary only caught one little dinker. The better fish I caught came on the grub and a custom painted wiggle wart my buddy Andy painted for me. Then, at the end of the day, while we were fishing one of our favorite points, I heard somebody yelling at me as he was standing on a big boat dock. He said he recognized me from Ozark Anglers and he appreciated my posts..... That was kinda cool. Anyway, here's some of the fish we caught.....

Go early..... stay late. That's my moto. Many times I have left the house 2 hours before daylight and didn't make it home until after the 10pm news went off....... Can't get enough.

Been a while since I fished the Kings River arm but back in the day there was an awesome Wiggle Wart bite this time of year. Rock Crawlers are more popular now but the the wart still catches a lot of fish. Secondary points, both gravel and bluff end can be great for bigger fish. If you're catching lots of small fish just move out a little deeper....

Its been a good year so far, for sure. And..... I had a couple of trips where I skunked out. Crazy. Yesterday was fun though.....

Gary and I put in near Shell Knob yesterday. We found the water temperature to be right at 52* at the ramp but the main lake was closer to 54*. The water color was very slightly stained. The fish we caught came off of main lake and secondary gravel points in 18' of water or less. Bigger fish were deeper. We caught them on a ned rig, a hula grub, and a blade bait stitched slowly along the bottom. ( Dang, I'm loving that blade bait.....) We also caught a few on a crawler in the afternoon after the wind came up. Altogether it was a pretty good day.

beautiful slabs there.....

nice fish....

Campbell Point shows 10-3 Friday thru Monday....

Thank you.....

Nice fish Dock....

Sorry guys..... posted to the wrong lake.... My bad. If the admins could push it to the right lake, it would be awesome.

Ron and I tore 'em up at Lake "X" on Tuesday. Hoping for the same, we ran down to Bull Shoals again on Friday. We were rained on all the way to our launch site but it quit as we were taking the straps off of the boat and didn't start up again until we were putting them back on. Water temp was 52* when we put in at 10:30ish. We hit all the regular spots hoping for a stronger bite with the slightly warmer water, but it just didn't happen. We fished pretty hard all day. Ron got 3 fish in the boat and I blanked out. Two of his bites came on a jerk bait, one on an A-rig. So far this year it has either been awesome, or awful. I had two good fish on. One on the crawler, one on the A-rig, but both came unbuttoned right at the boat....I might try Table Rock before the end on the week.

You are right Bill. We have caught a ton of fish for this early in the year..... And, I've had two trips now where I completely blanked. Crazy.

Hang in there Mav.... you'll be back after 'em before too long.

Ron and I fished one of his favorite lakes today but he asked me to keep it hush hush. Hit the water about 9:45am. Water temp 52*, air temp mid 40's with a cold wind piling in behind a passing cold front. Water color was stained and the wind was blowing about 20mph. We fished the first hour with everything in the box but only had three fish in the boat. I had already thrown the A-rig several times with out getting bit when all of a sudden they started tearing it up. It was awesome. Until today Ron had never caught a double on an umbrella rig. Today he had two doubles in 10 minutes. We enjoyed a pretty good bite....

Thanks Bill..... What's weird is that the bite has been better in the colder water and has been more consistent. As the water warms up and they start to move they can be hard to keep a handle on. We'll try to keep them figured out though and I'll let ya'll know what's going on the best I can.

Ron and I skipped a week so I could fish with Gary down at Table Rock last Sunday evening and Monday. Went back down to the Bull yesterday in the wind. It was a tough bite. We really thought they would be turned on but we had to work for every bite we got. Water temp was 48* in the middle of the creek we were fishing and about 52* back in the skinny water. We really expected low 50's everywhere but it just wasn't. Water clarity was perfect. They wouldn't hit the A-rig at all, which surprised us. But.... we did manage to catch a handful on a jerk bait and a crawler.