Ham

Launched at daylight took out at dark. I wish the day could have lasted another 6 hours.. Water temps 66 warming to 70. Wind 5-15 from the south. A little gusty at times with front edges of T storms. Water clarity was awesome. 8 foot or so in pockets and 12 plus on main lake. Good topwater bite early. I think there are post spawn LMB shallow in the brush. I think we are in between waves of spawners. There are piles and piles of fish off shore. Channel your inner Babbler and go find a pile of them. I enjoyed the topwater bite early. I probably stayed with it too long. I got a couple on 18 inch smallies shallow which made be stick with that far too long. The middle day was a major junk fishing grind. I finally switched and stayed out > 20 FOW and dropped a hammer on them. I lost a monster Spotted Bass. I had no idea the fish was that large until she jumped clear of the water and spit my bait. I really think 19 plus inches. I had a handful of smallies over 18 and at least 3 LMB that I measured that were over 18. I only caught 3 spots all day and every one of them was an absolute football. I had one just under 17. All three over 15 inches. Lots of chunky smallies. I finished the day with one last topwater fish. I caught 72 fish. All bass. Vast majority were smallies. I love Bull Shoals Lake.

the salt in our water from the water softener will freeze drinks in my cooler. Just sayin.

Lol.

I fished today from just after daylight to right at dark. I caught 72 bass. Fishing top water as much as I did held my numbers down. I got fish on multiple Super Spook Jrs, a Sammy 100, Lucky Craft KJ, and Sluggos. I had a lot of blow ups where the fish seemed to miss on purpose. Some of the hits were savage though. It was great.

Smallies seem to be a lot worse about getting gut hooked than LMB and Spots. The crazy things are in a hurry to swallow. Most likely driven by concerns of have dinner stolen from them by a sibling or cousin. It is a lot worse if someone is not paying attention, but its going to happen sometimes not matter what. I hate it, but that doesn't change the facts.

Oh no doubt they have their differences, but they have similiar scenery and share the same species diversity. Granted Bull Shoals doesn't have near the number of pleasure boaters and a holes on jet skis.

Except Beaver, Bull, Norfork, Tenkiller, etc.

So cajunangler and I share time at the front of the boat. At Tenkiller, multiple times the guy at the front of the boat would be flat stoning them and the guy in the back was largely relugated to observer status. When we switched positions, the guy formerly going fishless in the back would start catching them left and right, and the guy that just left the front is now going fishless. for example, I had gone 20 minutes without a fish. My turn came up on the bow. Without relocating, I took the bow and caught fish on the next 8 casts in a row. ca was rerigging or something and I just kept catching them. We were fishing the same bait. The same line and leader combo. It wasn't a line issue; it was a position in the boat issue. The aggressive fish were quite happy to eat the first bait they saw. I suspect that happens in other boats from time to time. I also suspect that Dave is very good with the Ned and that there is a learning curve for some of the back seaters in his boat. If I struggle fishing a Ned behind Dave, I'm pretty sure it doesn't have anything to do with line choice. In regards to leader length, I truely believe length of leader matters to use more than the fish. I have fished with the same leader until it gets 12 inches long and there was no problem.Guys fish sink tip fly lines with a very short leader at times. I'm pretty sure fly line is more obvious to the fish than Nano is. Free your mind, the rest will follow. Champ, I'm glad you are happy with you set up. Lots of ways to skin this cat and different strokes for different folks.

Multiple workable trout boats in the Baxter Bulletin classifeds right now.

You can tell that you've gone over your time a little when the hall goes dark Lol.

I spooled a rod up with SIlver Thread in 10 lb. It's a pretty decent co-poly. I've used it for years and have no complaints. I'll throw LC Kelly J''s with it or Pop R's or maybe Zara Puppy's. I have a little longer and stronger rod spooled with 14 lb ST that I will throw Super Spook Jr's. I have a bbefier rod yet that I will throw Full sized Spooks or Super Spooks or big wake baits with. All three of those will be on the deck all the time.

I need to fish one of those deals eventually. I need to blow thru a bunch of gas trying to play the game an get a fish weighed right before an hour ends.

Fish 24/7 should have fished it. I think he's got every > 4 lb fish in the lake on speed dial.

Most of the time NO. What we all need to do is pay attention to what you were doing when you got bit and repeat that action looking for additional bites.

You could find a used boat, motor, and trailer for less than $3000. The motor would be a 10 HP instead of a 20, but still.

I took a big pay gut to come here and so did the wife, but cost of living was lower and so it all balanced out. You know your numbers beter than anyone else, but iot might be more workable than you think.

Hey Rex, Come back and fish TR at high noon on a sunny day in July. It fishes a little different. Ham

Wow, I thought 2008 was higher than 2011. I knew they opened the flood gates for the second time in 2011, but I missed that it was higher than 2008.

The redear "specialist" I knew always looked for areas they spawn in. Once those areas are found (by chance usually), they will be Redear spots forever. It is a bottom composition thing. I agree that spring is normally the deal and that bottom fishing verses bobber fishing is a better tactic, but I've had good luck in the Fall as well.

I use the Alberto which I understand is an Albright by another name basically.

I would think that you'd run into a deal where all 6 (or 8) lines would have a white bass on and it would be a huge fubar with a lot of re-rigging involved. I'm sure its fun, but I'm going to try to keep from picking that habit up.

Gizzard Shad

After all the trees I have cut down in the last 7 days, I'm pretty good at seeing a tree for what it is.

I know Man I know. It will be gnawing away at my mind to throw the lure that Shall Not be named. If 20 minutes goes by without a fish I wil throw Lure X until i catch 2 or 3 and then I'll pick the hard bait up again. 5-7-15 Daylight to dark. Somewhere on BSL. Gonna happen (I hope).

So, how fun is the spider rigging when you drag thru a school of white bass?