Ham

Darn it Marty, I hate you live so far away. Looks like you had a fabulous day on the water. Good on you Buddy.

You guys are a wealth of information. Thanks!

One of my nieces is getting married in Asheville in mid October. We are going to spend a few extra days in the area. I want to do some fishing in the French Broad River for sure and I am open to suggestions for additional fishing trips. If any of my OA peeps have a Gazetteer map of NC tgat I could borrow that would be MOST helpful.

So, I guess I’m headed to Destin for a few days. I’d like to do some fishing (Shocker). I am open to any and all suggestions regarding fishing in the Destin area. I’ll do some fishing for sure and post pictures if I’m able to catch anything.

It used to warmer and dryer here. I like our native cactus, Ozark tarantulas, and Road Runners.

My guest noted that we were catching lots of fish in multiple areas with near solitude.

I’m still hoping that the hatches will continue to improve. It hasn’t been a cold water stream all that long.

A 10 inch Gill is massive.

I don’t fish the lake that time of year. I gave zero idea on the fishing. There are cabins for rent near Protem, MO that I have used that were nice enough and that is near center of the lake. Places for rent all over really. Diamond City. Oakland area. Lakeview. Bull Shoals itself. Kinda hot and a lot of recreational boat traffic.

Bill, Inwould have been glad to catch either. I did catch a Big Drum, but no pics so I guess it didn’t happen.

The First Rule of Fight Club is that you don’t talk about Fight Club.

We need to get a gang together and tote yaks south. Redfish are pretty easy to catch if you can get to them. We would have to work a little more in yaks, but that’s no big deal.

Phil, I would if I was there. I’m handcuffed to a weed eater today. The Warden took me off the mower once I had the grass cut and put me on weed eating detail.

Vanish has a well earned horrible reputation. It needs to vanish from the marketplace. Seaguar Inviz X or Abraz X for casting. I have used Seaguar Red Label for leader material, but remain unconvinced that fluro is needed for leader while bass fishing. Berkley 100% Fluro is a good product, but usually not inexpensive. Sunline makes a variety of lines that lots of ppl LOVE, but I have not dipped a toe into those waters.

That’s what I drove up for a couple of months ago, but they weren’t biting when I was there. The nerve of those fish.

I’m a big fan of having some extra water in the lake to improve the spawn, but Gee Whiz this starting to get silly. The lake continues to rise day after day and they aren’t attempting to watch water out with water coming in. My ideal level would be 663 or so because that puts water in the bushes, but most ramps are still viable at that point. If the COE wants to keep the water > 664 every Spring, maybe they should develope a few more ramps AND parking up and down the lake that are useable up to say 680. It’s a beautiful lake that still fishes well at higher levels, but it stinks when accessing the lake becomes really difficult because of lake of available boat launches. another day another 1/4 foot higher. It was more like another 1/2 foot higher until the last couple of days. Lots and lots of floating wood and other garbage. Watch out for logs and get some of the trash out of the water if you can. I tried to catch a tricycle that I could see on bottom in 6 foot of water, but I could not get anything to stick a hook in the wheels were down in brush. rant over. Off to do yard work.

I have more pics but it won’t me upload them

You’re the guide! You can Shock them up, and go fish them the next day.

Flukes. I hung a fish on a full sized Spook, but it pulled off. I had a bite on a WP 110, but no hook ups. Still waiting on it.

I reached out on the Bass Cat Owners Forum looking for someone to trade a trip on Bull Shoals for a trip down to Venice, La. I was lucky enough to find someone willing to take a chance on me. I don’t post nearly as much over there as I do on Ozark Anglers. My new friend Jim Cazes is another LSU alum. Retired after 40 years in sales. Has a Bass Cat Puma which he was able to leave at home for this trip. He hadn’t caught many smallmouth bass and wanted to visit Bull Shoals and the BassCat factory. 5/8 We launched out of Lead Hill. We ran down lake a ways and found some bushes in 5-9 foot of water with some wind on them and quickly caught a few bass. We relocated to a finger off a creek and caught more bass in bushes on blades. I found a flatter bank and introduced him to Ned rigs . He picked it up pretty quickly, but we were catching LMB and Spots. I had to move us to a smaller Hollow off the main lake to put him on some smallies. Honestly, I think he enjoyed the Mega Bluegill he caught as much as the smallies, but he hadn’t caught a decent smallie yet. 5/9 We launched into Jimmy Creek. Rainy and windy. We caught fish, but the quality smallies continued to evade us. It bluebirded off on us and we Made a run to the Oakland area. Got a bass in bushes and the a few more on the Ned. I lost a BIG smallie on the Ned. We took a break for lunch and a factory tour. After lunch and the factory tour, we headed back to Leadhill. More clouds had moved in and it turned out to be a Good move. We caught some quality fish on points in a secondary cove on Ned rigs. I think he was really surprised how hard a 3 lb smallie could pull. He set and reset his PB smallie several times. We finished up the day by both catching a nice smallie on a main lake point late in the day. 5/10 We were on the way to the lake when he got a phone call about complications from home and he decided to cut for home. I went fishing anyway. More spinnerbait fish. More Sluggo fish. More Ned rig fish. More swim bait fish. I quit early. I was a little tired. water is 69 to 74 degrees. Water color varies from area to area, but it pretty good. Lake level is still slowly going up. I think we were over 671 today. I’m really hoping for it to creast REALLY soon. CLOUDS AND WIND ARE YOUR FRIENDS. Looking forward to my trip to Venice. This post has been promoted to an article

I took many a nap riding in a boat headed back to the ramp as a kid growing up. Those are Great memories for me from my childhood and I hope for your child as well.

Diamond City/Lead Hill. I’m told Tucker Hollow is ok. The launch near the mouth of Jimmy Creek is doable to 674, but you might have a crap ton of parking issues.