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Dan! There are no fish in the brown water, nothing to see in Monte Ne ! Move along and go back to blue water, no fish south of RT 12 Bridge ! Move along !

Try Academy online they were selling out, got one of every color in Rogers before they took them down. At seven bucks they still were not flying off the shelves. I think a lot of people don't like changing hooks or adding split rings to get them to suspend. I always change out to owner hooks and get a real slow sink. I got that tip from Mike's son.

I know what you mean by getting greatly, I like to take control and get the fish in, I have snagged logs and with 40lb braid and 17lb test and had to wrap the line around a boat cleat to break it off. But that last striper I lost was zinging the drag so fast and had that 8 foot heavy rod bent like a twig I thought I would just slow it down. Same rod and set up on a 10lb striper did not even take drag. I guess I will just have to learn patience with the bigger fish, that fish hit my heaviest rod and reel with 200 yards of 40lb braid I could have let it run. Going straight braid might make me tighten the drag to the point I tare out the hook. I do like braid because it last years without getting twisted and having memory problems, I will never go back.

I have caught those on spoons and inline spinners, I don't think they are gizzard shad but they sure do look like them. Biggest I have caught went two pounds.

I only use a split ring on the spoon, if you don't troll with it the line twist is not an issue. There are two different schools on how to let the spoon fall, myself I like the free fall. I have found whites like to hit on the fall and stripers on the way up. If I see big fish on the screen I let the spoon fall past them about 10 feet the reel up fast then fall again. I find when I overwork the spoon is when I catch the hook. Jerking the spoon up ten feet is not necessary, if you want it to do up ten feet, reel then release from the reel and you will be ready for that sudden stop and you won't wrap the hook. If you lift straight and controlled then let the spoon flutter you won't wrap the hook. With walleyes I find they like to have the spoon hit the bottom and sometimes hit the spoon several times before getting hooked. I have more success by reeling up then dropping the bait back down on hit like that, they don't want the pray to escape. I see a lot of people jigging on the lake looking like they are trying to snag, that is why they wrap hooks and have massive line twist, but please don't say anything to them they will give up and leave more fish on the bottom for me. Another tip is one and one and half ounce spoons come off tree limbs much easier then 1/2 or 3/4 oz spoons and always use heavy line and the trolling motor to get big fish out of the trees fast.

Good point about the knot, I had one break at the knot, yet the entire knot was there and the other was a good 6 inches below the knot.

I have a question about using braid for live bait. Does anyone tie the hook straight to the braid? I have lost two big fish due to the leader and my errors. One I didn't check the drag and lost the fish on the hook set, the other I tightened the drag during the fight and snapped the leader. I need to learn to be more patent but have also thought about getting the fluorocarbon out of the equation and just going straight braid and fight 30lb fish with 40lb test. All comments welcome as long as that match my opinion.LOL

I would recommend starting with a much smaller net, mine is half the size of J-Docs and if I can find a good school I can get bait. I have been throwing a 4ft for years and still mess up. There is a madder of twisting and and putting your hips to work, my wife is a natural, I just don't have the body for it. Also helps if your boat can get shallow.

For all those with left over Gizzard shad and no 100 gal tanks to keep them in, there is still something fun you can do with them. Click Here For those that eat Sushi all the time this may be a surprise, or not.

Do you have a cast net? If so head to the mouth of any creek, wait for flips and throw. I got 12 in one throw today and a 12 inch bass to boot and there was a 5lb or larger bass trying to eat the shad through the net. If you don't throw a net, head over to Hook,Line & sinker in Rogers and ask for Brooders. Where are you putting in at?

I was pulling shad today looking for stripper, I went over trees about 50 feet high in 70 feet of water and hooked 4 walleye in about an hour all over 18 in but no really big ones. Those tree tops were loaded with fish and the shad made it look like the trees were all connected. So pulling shad looks like a good way to find them especially if you are geared up for 30lb stripper. That heavy rod didn't even bend on a 20in walleye.

It would be necessary to see if it was a Jack or Jenny but they are both called by the rest of the name. I being retired Army have always appreciated the term "Mule headed" that my wife uses quite often when referring to me. The Mule has always been respected animal but owes it's existence to a Jackass that mated well out of it's league. That reminds me very much of my parents and myself.

Welcome BACK !!

A little well kept secret about the Walleye on Beaver. The big ones like to hang out behind the trees and tree stumps. Most of the fish that thrived in the channel have been fried up and served. But if you spend the time dropping baits to the bottom of the trees, you might be surprise how many 6-8 lb fish are there. I have found them dropping 4inch worms through the branches, but they really hit spoons. My best bass on Beaver went almost 8lbs, my best walleye went almost 9 and I have caught a lot more 6lb walleye then 6lb bass. I don't think the trollers took near as many home as they think.

I was up in PC for a couple hours in the afternoon. 5 boats looking and shad hanging off all the boats not one rod bent. I was fishing brooders and did not even get a spot. Really nice fish.

Is that a political statement Champ?

Has anyone ever got a striper on a goldfish? I know that would not be a target food for them but I have always wondered if that different color swimming around in a massive school of shad would get their attention.

A lot more rain down there then, rivers will be flowing but I don't think it will muddy up the mid lake. Total rain on the North end has been about an inch so creeks up this way will not add to the mud. I don't think they will generate hard enough to get the mud past point 12 or maybe point 11.

From what saw on local rain gauges we barley hit an inch yesterday, should not be much more than misting today. I did see a lot of full creeks through, but I don't think this was a log clearing flood they predicted. Probably will look bad south of PT 12 but besides pulling bait into the creeks and dropping water temp I don't think it will muddy up that much water.

And then it rained for three days during a cold front.....

The problem with circle hooks is you can't pull back on the fish even when he is taking drag, I can't break that habit. I have to put my back into it and have pulled the circle hook right out of their mouth. If you can think and take your time you are better man then me, when I hear that drag going I loose my mind.

I watched him return a 10lb and 35 lb striper to the lake unharmed Wendsday, so he does fish more than eat. Heck I think he fishes more then he sleeps. Sorry the stripers survived Champ. But if fishermen did not disagree so much, I would not have my own boat ! But we all did agree the guy on the water skies in the back of Prairie Creek was out of his mind, that wind was cold coming across the water.

I was in the White Nitro black stripes and off/white Ford Explorer, I think you loaded while I was talking to Fins and Feathers and we completed your boat.

Have you tried the 5/0 mosquito hook by Owner? It is a J-style hook but small and easy to remove. I have not had a deep hook yet, also with a wide gap and small hook, not to big for 3 inch shad or brooders.

You must have run past me on the way in Champ I was drifting live bait in PC until dark. The mountains of shad in there made the striper bite really hard. I don't know if you you were watching your graph but the shad were 60 feet deep ( I mean 60 feet of shad) and 100 yards long right there in the no wake zone. Now I wish I would have run south and bass fished, one day I will learn that wind is great for casting and not for drifting. Seems like I always get that backwards.