vernon

STOP WITH THE SNAKE VIDEOS ALREADY!!!!!!

Not true about the black mambas. I've seen THOUSANDS of them around Table Rock. And I know a black mamba when I see one - I used to be a professor of Snakeology at Snake University back in the 70's and wrote many books about the life and times of the black mamba and it was in fact black mamba research that first brought me to the Table Rock area. In fact, Beardsley (formerly known as Snakesly Creek) was actually called The Babbling Brook of the Black Mamba in the 40's and 50's.............. However, you're correct about the green mamba. Although rare around Table Rock they reside primarily in the LOZ area and are known to frequent the drive up bars on the water.

So that story is TRUE? Wow. I'd heard that story a million times but was always skeptical that it might just be urban legend. NOW I know better! Thanks so much for setting the record straight, once and for all.

Got me there!

The problem is that a lot of the resorts don't allow trailer parking anywhere near the units so you have to drop it in some obscure location designated for such use. Kinda like a big candy store for thieves - one stop shopping. Still Waters is among the worst. While the parking area is lighted, it's up on a hill in the middle of nowhere with zero visibility from anywhere in the resort area and no security.

We fished yesterday from 200 - 700 and couldn't agree more about the change in water color/clarity. The clarity almost reminded me of last spring after the winter flooding. The color is much different but visibility is similar. We found water temperatures as high as 78 from point 1 to the mouth of Big Indian but the biggest change for us was the spinnerbait bite. After very limited success with it all week we caught more than twenty on it yesterday. At least four feet down seemed to be really important and some were probably closer to ten feet down. All were gorged on shad and fat as pigs. All of them also hit like ten pound stripers! While many were only fourteen inch fish, they obviously didn't know it and pulled like freight trains. One thing that didn't change much was location. Points were again key. We tried fishing in and behind the flooded stuff as well as pockets and the back of coves but only caught a handful at best and all were little ones. Around fifteen feet of water was still most consistent for us. I was throwing a War Eagle "compact" style in green shad, silver and gold double willows, 1/2 oz. weight but 1/4 oz. size. Mark was using a regular 1/2 oz. in chartreuse and white and we caught a pretty equal number so size/color wasn't an apparent factor. We also caught a dozen or so on good 'ol Ned in the same locations and those bites were also very aggressive. I also would very much like to point out that ALL of the Ned fish were caught on - wait for it - WATERMELON RED! Bad news is, after the Super Dave ruse resulted in me disposing of many thousands of dollars worth of the dang things I had to restock. Consequently, don't waste your time looking for any either online or locally anytime soon cause there ain't any! Heading back out shortly to take on the pea soup conditions on grand finale day. Hope the SB is still working!

Good deal - glad it was a simple fix!

Oh sure, you make it sound so easy! Just kidding - thanks for the help. I'll give it a shot this evening.

Is there an "easy" way to downsize photos on an iPhone to post on the forum? By "easy" I mean simple enough for my pea brain to comprehend. I can do it on my Mac at home but that's not much help here. And by the time I get home I figure it's old news and just never bother. I don't have anything earth shaking to share but I really enjoy looking at the pictures y'all post and would like to know how to do the same. Plus, it would enable me to place a check mark next to the "Things I Learnt Today" box.

Man, you just saved me a whole lot of typing! Only other thing I would mention is the water dropped and the surface temp soared since Sunday. Lots of 75 - 76 degree water yesterday but it appeared to be almost two less feet of water. We're still throwing Ned as opposed to tube. Didn't catch as many yesterday as Sunday - maybe twenty five with five or six keepers but successful techniques remained the same. Water was a little murkier we thought, with more stuff floating around on top (leaves and stuff) although still very little in the way of floaters. Cuts, pockets and the like have done zippo for us other than an occasional dink. We can catch a few out of and around the trees but, again, primarily just the trees on points. Likewise for dock ends. Here and there but nothing consistent.

Yep. Points for sure. We spent WAY too much time outside the box today trying to be cute or smart. As it has been (for us) two of the last three weeks it's been all about points and it was again today.

Sounds like it might be time to establish a FAQ page on your Cove Access webpage!

Yes but it was really squirrelly. It varied anywhere from three to five degrees depending on the area. A couple of times I thought thought the temperature gauge was acting up but the readings were consistent between both units. We'd be moving from one point to another using the trolling motor and the temp gauge would be blinking up and down all over the place. I guess with all the new water, rising and falling levels and steady current it just can't stabilize throughout the water column. The absence of wind probably made a difference too since the surface layers weren't mixing at all. For the day it was about as slick as I've ever seen it. Found a couple of spots that reached 71 but most were around 67 - 69.

Pretty dang good day again today. Got on the water about 100 and fished until 700. For the life of me I don't know why I don't put all my baitcasters on eBay. Ned rules as always. Messed around a little with spinnerbait and swimbait but, again, no soap. Ned, however, was money. Caught at least thirty and probably closer to forty with around eight for sure keepers and a few more tweeners. Brother had a 19" smallmouth that was just beautiful. Somewhere around three pounds or a little more for sure. Some really pretty fish throughout the day. Fifteen feet was still the best depth but did catch some as deep as twenty feet and a few as shallow as four but fifteen was dominant. Bottom line, we ain't that good and don't really work that hard at it anymore - if we catch fish great but if not we still have a great time. Nonetheless, the week before last and now this week have been about as easy "catching" as I can remember on this lake. I'm sure we wouldn't win any money with our stuff but we're having a blast and what else matters? I'd also add that other than the fifteen foot depth deal nothing else really mattered for us. Points, cuts, or nothing banks it just didn't much seem to make much difference. Have been trying to load a few pics but, as usual, can't make it work. Even the tech savvy brother can't figure it out. I can do it easy from the computer at home but the iPhone is a consistent no go. What a stupid I am.

Good stuff that. We've yet to venture past the mouth of Indian Creek but from State Park to there and a couple of areas in between we've yet to see a floater. Now, by that I don't mean the coast is clear by any means cause I'm sure they're out there. It's just way more navigable than I anticipated. That being said, we'll probably burn a record low amount of gas this week. Gonna try and "Dave 'em" to death! In the meantime, happy lead meltin'! Somebody has to keep the rest of us armed with sufficient weaponry!

Yep, we noticed that as well. Almost six to eight degrees cooler in some places than eight or nine days ago. I wonder if it will warm up as quickly as it normally would with all of the cold water coming in from Beaver? I sure hope so! We will definitely keep an eye out for the shad and any other surface activity though. Thanks.

BTW, we got in about 90 minutes of fishing yesterday late afternoon. Since we'd just gotten here we spent more time getting organized and unloaded than anything else. I was absolutely shocked at how much the lake had changed since we left last Saturday! Doesn't even look like the same place. Sure made me wish I had been a bit more diligent about inputting waypoints that's for sure. Nonetheless, we couldn't resist the obvious temptation of flinging at some of the flooded trees and submerged brush with spinnerbaits and a Plopper for about thirty minutes. Had only a couple of small followers on the SB and nothing on the WP. Once the effects of the adrenaline eased a bit we went back to what was so effective last week which was good ol' Ned off of the points. While the appearance of the neighborhood had changed dramatically, the smallies were still home. While it wasn't exactly a slayfest we did catch about a dozen with one or two "maybe" keepers before heading in to get settled for the week. Although the high water is obviously gonna require some significant adjustments, I don't see any reason why we shouldn't be able to catch a few. Mostly a matter of figuring out what types of areas to eliminate so as to not waste a bunch of time fishing fishless water but that's certainly nothing new. There just happens to be a WHOLE BUNCH more water to eliminate! Regardless, looking forward to it and will let everyone know how it goes!

State Park is fine - just a little congested and there are a few of the "usual" types throwing temper tantrums I guess because others are "in their space". Launching was a piece of cake and that's all we needed to do since we're slipping the boat for the week. Parking and loading appeared to be a bit more challenging than usual but not a big deal. Kind of resembled a holiday weekend due to the cramped quarters.

Nice! Salon Select I assume? And your "blouse" did NOT come from Target my friend. Well played old sport!

Update on this post - I was WRONG! Even the ramp at Still Waters is long gone. Rode up there yesterday evening and it's way higher than I visualized. In fact, nothing about what I saw yesterday even vaguely resembles the lake I remember from the week before last. Wow. We were able to put in at State Park without issue but it was a zoo over there as one might imagine. Still, there was quite a bit more boat traffic than I would have expected but, again, WOW. The folks at State Park and the area marinas have done some super human work getting these facilities functional under the current circumstances. Although some services are compromised to varying degrees depending upon location it's still pretty awesome what they've accomplished and that they've done it all under conditions that far exceed the term "challenging".

How did they"know" the rain was coming? Because the weatherman said so? How many threads are there on this forum alone about about the accuracy rate of that bet? How many times has the forecast declared a 100% chance of severe stroms and heavy rains and we've gotten nary a drop? I don't know the number either but it's way way more than one. Draw the water down, the rain never comes and now everybody sits high and dry for the entire year and the COE not only loses millions in power generation dollars but gets sued for many times more than that for breaching hundreds of legally binding federal contracts. Homeowners can't access their docks, boat ramps are rendered useless and resort and marina owners go out of business as an entire season of recreation and summer vacations is lost. Not much of an alternative. The current situation is bad but not dire and is only for the short term. With a little luck, things will stabilize to the point that Memorial Day weekend is salvageable and the remainder of the year will proceed as per usual and the resort owners will be able to recover and have a decent year. In the end, that's the COE's primary mission - to minimize damage and loss during major flood events to whatever degree possible. Everthing else is pretty much gravy and not the function of the COE.

I can't believe that I'm the only one that can't go cause I'm washing my hair. Y'all must be getting a little mangy.

Lots of really good and pertinent information there Quill. Considerations are too numerous to list when plotting out the strategy for events of this magnitude. As I mentioned earlier, it's flat out impossible to look at this from the perspective of any one lake or region and hope to discern any reasonable understanding of what's going on and what needs to be done to restore any semblance of normalcy. Thanks!

Man, I never heard of so many excuses - wait, scratch that - I never knew that there were so many excuses NOT to go fishing! Seriously, RPS I hope you can find somebody to take advantage of your most generous offer. Lots of great knowledge that could be gleaned from this opportunity I would think. As for me, I'd love to go but I have to wash my hair.................

I'll be really surprised if Bull doesn't eventually get to 35' above normal. It's just kind of a staging process between Beaver, Table Rock and Bull Shoals with much consideration for down south factored in as well as the Landing. But Truman and Bull Shoals are pretty much the Alamo for the area and Bull has almost three times the storage capacity that Table Rock does. Gonna be a tuff Memorial Day weekend for a lot of folks but it sure won't be the first time.