Topwater TRL

Thanks! I guess I thought it was the brake fluid level you might be referring to. I'll look for the actuator.

Can you expand please on "got the tongue lubed". I see brake dust on my rims and want to head off a potential problem with my trailer surge brakes. Thanks!

The wife and I put in at H ramp around 8 am. Got a late start of course. Water temp was right at 58 with 4+ foot clarity. Temp reached 62 by end of day. Fished Little and Big Indian areas all day till 6 pm. Had lots of shorts (30+) and 8 keepers, biggest was 3.5# black. Most were K's. Biggest success was on the 1/4 oz. shakey using a 4" senko in either dark watermellon green or what I call the Halloween color.... orange, brown and purplish blue. Nothing magical, just drag it slowly along the bottom and shake it occasionally. Did have a few on 3/8 oz finesse jig but always went back to the shakey. Also had 2 shorts on a jerk bait but nothing on a wart or spinnerbait.... which really surprised me. The prime depth was 12' but did catch a few shallower. Secondary points or within 100 feet of the point either way from spawning cuts or coves was key. I saw no beds and no roamers. Went up to Railroad cove and just into begining of the James mid afternoon and Wow!! Whats up with the acres and acres of what looks like golden alge bloom streamers all over some of the coves and cuts. Some places mid lake in those areas also looked like a golden swirly mat type streamers hanging about 2 feet under water. Lake must be turning over in those places I guess. I've never seen anything like it. Almost like you could step out of your boat and walk on it. It wasnt moss and it wasn't pollen. Anyway, where that was going on we caught zero fish. Happy Easter everyone!

I braved the wind yesterday but didnt fare well at all. I too used a spoon. Saw many many shad balls at 50 plus feet so I targeted that depth. Guess that was wrong. If you don't mind, what seemed to be the best depth for your success? Had about 45 degree water up around Mill Creek ramp area. Thanks for your nice report.

A cheap pair of leather gloves is a great thing to have in the boat when using braid and pulling on those hung up a-rigs.

Nice! How was the water color? Lots of floating leafs yet? Always appreciate your timely and detailed reports!

Jug and Plug has them at Shell Knob.

Thanks for the detailed report. Will heading down for a nice three days on the water this weekend and will put your suggestions to work. Did it seem to matter if you were on chunck rock banks or mixed? Thanks again!

Yes, President Oblunder wants all of us to have some pain! Vote them all out. Term limits would help solve this!

Nice report! Thanks. Spoons have salvaged many a fishing outing for me also. Keep those screen shots coming! Very interesting.

Thanks for the report! Glad to see the water temp starting to cool off.

Starbrite Vinyl Cleaner for marine use has always worked for me. Walmart carries it.

Here's the MO Dept of Taxation website for the forms necessary to submit for the Motor Fuels Refund. http://dor.mo.gov/forms/index.php?category=18 You'll need to print off forms 4923 and 4925. Don't let the tax man keep your "off road & marine use" gas tax. Hope that helps.

For those who go alot like I do and care to mess with it, dont forget to have the gas station attendant stamp your boat gas receipts with their "off road" stamp so you can turn those in on your MO tax return for a refund of highway tax you pay in every gallon purchased. Dont quote me but i believe it was 17 cents per gallon last year. It does add up over a years time. I dont know if that applies to boat gas you buy at marinas. Just saying its like buying your boat gas for 17 cents/ gallon less.

For what its worth, I caught two nice walters yesterday close to dark while drop shotting a 4" senko worm whacky style in 28 foot water dead center in a big cedar tree. Fishing the White up by marker 23 if that helps. Never caught a walley on a ds before and darn if there werent two in the same tree. Did have a nice evening on the ds bite all in trees and all 26 to 35 feet deep. Only 4 keepers but steady action on the little guys. Robo worms and whacky senko was the deal. Good luck with the walleye trip!

Great! Keep it coming.

Is the A-rig legal on your lake? If so, criss cross that pile from all directions!

Yes, I have used a 4" flutter spoon during the last two summer's and into fall. I paint one side white and leave the other side silver. Seems to work better with that combination. Fished it on my medium heavy flipping stick rod to get a full 5 or 6' sweep pull. 14# mono to absorb the shock and to help retrieve off the bottom if stuck. I also found that downsizing the treble hook resulted in more hook ups. It is a tiring technique but does result in larger fish overall tan say a 1/2 oz Kastmaster, etc. It is not suitable for broadcast fishing over brushy or trashy bottoms. Make sure you use a good swivel say 13" above the spoon. Can't say its a game changer but does selectively get you bigger fish that want or at least react to a larger offering.

Nice report! Thanks. It was the annual Mastercraft reunion weekend. Yepee! Tons if X-boats attend every year. Guess they wee having a waking good time. I was looking for my seatbelt most of the day.

Nice report and pictures to boot! Thanks for keeping us up to date on the Big M area.

Thanks! Flipping is so fun. I love to get up close and personal while fishing in the trash.

Nice catches! If you don't mind sharing, what seemed to be the preferred lure for your night fishes? Welcome!

I feel your pain. I lost a complete champ trailer a few yrs back and ever since have the trailer latch locked with a quality lock. Then keep ur fingers crossed that doesn't piss them off to a point they take a hammer to your stuff.

Say Ahhh! Caught and released this real nice post spawn girl around 2 pm. She was still healing up from the spawn having a red, sore tail and actually a little on the skinny side for her girth. She weighed 7 lb 15 oz on my Rapala digital scales and measured 23-1/2". I was just telling the wife the major period was about over when she picked up my 5" pumpkin and black flake Kut Tail worm and walked off with it. Probably 9' of water just up on a gravel shelf very close to 35' channel edge. Definetly in shallower water than other fish we caught. Got out too late for the tw action so we got on our usual shaky patrol staying within 200 yards of spawning areas on 45 degree banks, staying in 10-22'. All caught on either pumpkin w black flake or the pond scum perch 5" Kut Tail Yamamoto worms with a light 3/16 owner shaky jig head. As has been the case, they seemed to want a slow steady almost coasting fall with not a lot of skaking hitting most of the time before the shaky hit the bottom. Caught fish off an on all day with total of 35 on the shaky. 8 of those were keepers, all but one were blacks. If there was pole timber or other wood at those depths, seemed like you had an better chance. Some fish were actually hugging those trees and we doodle socked them from straight down inside the tree branches. I believe the slight cloud cover, haze and light wind helped the bite continue through out most of the day. We fished mainly Big and Little Indian in the H ramp area. Around 4:30 we got on some points and bluff ends with better wind action and caught maybe 15 more on top water. Only 3 of those keepers. Used the full sized spook in bone or chrome and a Sammy to put those in the boat. Had lots of followers and missed blow ups. Interestingly, seemed like the rougher the water, to a point, the better the top water action was. Tight lines and sharp hooks!

FYI. The pond scum perch is out of their Kinami line and is sku K7L-11-K849 for the 5" Kut Tail style worm. It's a keeper!