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J-Doc I am a little confused, could you please circle each shad with a RED circle and each fish with a BLUE circle.

That looks like a lot of shad

Ok, I can't argue that point taking "natural" as to mean after the man made lake was made and Mother nature to mean the Corps of Engineers I guess not to mess with nature means "don't make the people with money mad". Got it.

Click on the link, smallmouth were originally in Canada and were spread during the early 1900s by the railroad. They go back 100 years but they are an invasive species. Then again most people who fish for them are too...Even the "Native Americans" crossed over from somewhere. Then don't even get me started on the starlings, what a dumb bird to bring across the pond ! But stripers have run up this way since before men had spears so who people call "native" or "natural" need a history lesson that pre dates 1950. We have changed the environment a lot and certain fish handle the new conditions better than the fish that were here, but I am just saying I have no problems with any man or fish but if you look into it you will be surprised as to what is "natural". Now if you want to know what doesn't belong on the lake lets talk Wake Boats !!!! I will take sharks over those !!! By the way I am just having fun, no real feelings on the subject at hand, just useless information in my head.

Only 20mph, just kick in the big motor and face into it.LOL

The weather has not been cold enough for a good shad die off in 3 years, so that could effect how the fish are not feeding up in the winter. IMO the fishing would get easier with a good shad die off.This year does not look like below 40 degree water will happen.

Then the Smallmouth Bass does not belong in Table Rock since it was stocked south of the St Lawrence River by the rail road,Click here, or for that matter the entire lake chain should not be there since Mother Nature did not build those dams. And don't forget the carp, that were brought from Europe for a food fish. Stripers still make a Natural Run dictated by Mother Nature up the Arkansas River and Red River system, if not for the dams who is too say they didn't run up the white or wouldn't have run up the white. They are saltwater fish that spawn in freshwater and don't go into the saltwater until they reach 5-10 lbs. Last I checked Missouri stocking programs include bass, crappie, walleye and even catfish along with a lot of trout so let it be has not been their motto for a long time.

Stripers over trout? Dump in those stripers ! But don't stop the trout stocking, stripers have to eat.......

John you could be right, maybe it is all the shad the big fish can get so much easier that keep the gills overpopulated. There is also a very hard bottom and most places I have seen really good gills have had muddy bottoms. But I honestly think the lack of cover make the gills easy picking for bigger fish and any lake I have fished that has grass has bigger bluegill, could be the food source in that grass. Any way I would love to hear from someone who has done a study, I am just guessing.

My wife caught a sunfish, not a true blue gill that went almost 3lbs years ago while we were fishing a bass tournament. It was the biggest fish we caught that day. I think the spots and catfish keep the bluegill population in check and keep them from getting very big. When I do catch a big gill it is usually on a spoon fishing a deep brush pile. My biggest shad on Beaver is bigger than my biggest bluegill and stripers love gizzard shad so go figure.

Tenkiller is at the bottom of the chain, Beaver is at the Top. They did the same here running water out of Bull Shoals getting ready for Beaver and Table Rock water. What they don't want is the gates open on the last lake going into a flooded river, that destroys property.

I think I will wait 3 months for you to get tired of the new one then bid on that!

I know the whites I have been catching have been huge, I had one a couple of weeks ago take drag like a big fish. One theory I have is fat is a reserve for hard times, most of us fishermen carry about two months supply around with us. With so much food around maybe the fish have been growing in length instead of girth. Fish have the ability to grow until they die of old age as long as there is a regular food supply. By eating more often maybe it goes into their length not girth, were as if the gorged alot less often it would translate to fat. I have read studies on people like this where certain genes like that of the Native American Plains people had genes to produce fat to help them survive long times between finding game that hurt the current populations waist line. With the shad population so big I think the fish adapt much faster then humans and switch over to growing longer instead of storing fat. Just a theory with no real data or study to back it up.

I got a Helix 5 for the front and really like it now I have to do some reading and comparing.

Is the 899 bigger than the Helix because my GPS is still black and white, needing to upgrade myself.

I betting 200 boats at least for this one !

The way it works for me is put two rods out with shad on them and any where from two to three split shot. Troll around for a few hours then troll over to another OAF member and start complaining they are not biting. As soon as you both decide where to move too and start to take in your lines the poles will bend and drag will race.

Good report, how do you keep count of all those fish ? Clicker? Any monsters today ?

I will catch you one........

Did you get Gizzards? I have got lucky like that before, but probably 1 out of 50 throws. One time I saw one shad flip on top and got 2 dozen gizzards and a 2lb bass but that is like getting a 30lb striper on your first cast. I did not catch one good fish that day, it was like all my luck was used up in the first 5 minutes. lol

You need to be shallow enough your net will get to the bottom or see the shad flipping on top of the water. If you want good size gizzard shad it is best to be where you can see the bottom then throw on them as they run by. Throwing at a school on the screen is really hit or miss and 20 feet down they will see the net coming for days. I have thrown at Gizzards in 5 feet of water and they all escaped before the net got them. Some days you may have to set in the creek mouth for an hour to get the right size bait to run by, sometimes it just starts flipping around you as soon as you get there. But the key is you have to see it in or out of the water with your eyes to get the right bait. If you get a net full of threadfin don't bother keeping more than what you have poles they die that fast in the live well, maybe enough to re bait once or you will just have to clean dead shad out of the live well. One more tip is that Gizzards feed in mud, not rocks.

Tons of food in the water right now, if you don't want to use live bait you are going to have to locate feeding fish and hit them on the head. Sit on the trees or brush piles and wait for them to get hungry, I saw that with crappie fishermen, trees are covered but they feed for an hour then shut down. With all that food I don't think anything is chasing food, the fish just sit there wait for a ton of shad to come by and open their mouths. I got a 5lb LM on a jerkbait last week and he just inhaled it and sat there felt more like I bumped a twig then a fish hitting. Good luck and trust in your electronics.

I am stuck up here in North Dakota on business !!! Keep that weather there for me for two more weeks!!! Also save some stripers for me please.

Trust the Birds !