vernon

Yep. That's it. I do remember that 300 always seemed to be the magic number. Holds true on Fridays too as in when the clock hits 300 you best be ready to hang on. I can't believe what a whiner I've become in my old age. Thanks and we will do our best.

Thanks Wrench. I appreciate the advice. We were hoping to do just that but will probably wait until tomorrow to make the run when "hopefully" the boat traffic subsides some. Where we're staying is just around the corner to the south of Shawnee Bend access area. Certainly not the best location for getting out and around under the circumstances. When we booked the place we weren't expecting the weather to be like mid June though! In the past, normal highs in the 50's seemed to keep some of these yayhoos home or indoors and made navigation reasonable but, man, not this week. I'm just not willing to beat myself senseless trying to make a ten mile or more run in high seas. Wish I had had the boat I've got now when I was young and fearless! I could/would have been able to go anywhere I wanted whenever I wanted. Now I prefer comfortable when possible. Its OK though. We'll have a great time regardless and hopefully we can make it upstream a couple of times before the end of the week. Heck, we might just put the rig back on the trailer and head that way via dry land. I guess we have options if we just use em'. Thanks again for the help. Those are some great (and educational) pictures!

Well, not much to report. Got in about 300 yesterday - man it's hard to find stuff down here - like resorts. Not like that's news but dang.... Anyway, like I said, late out yesterday. A couple of keeper largemouth on windy banks on spinnerbait but the waves was rollin. Later on, a couple crappies and two whites but it was just hard to fish with all the boat traffic and wind. Unfortnately, today was worse. Just couldn't safely get to the places I wanted to go. Again, a bunch of short largemouth flipping docks with Ned and jigs and a few keeper crappie on a roadrunner but not big enough for me to keep . I'm actually starting to really hate this lake. Haven't been here in three years or so cause I got tired of the rudeness. Well, it's gotten WAY worse. My God, I can't believe that people actually want to live down here. Today, had a decent sized boat (big) coming towards me while I'm IDLING along the bank maybe 100ft. from shore. I angle even more towards the bank cause if this guys goes off my port I got problems. The big wakes are already rocking me from the starboard. Well, of course he insists on coming inside my port - way inside of the no wake buoy that I'm hugging. As they pass I yelled, "Really?" and the woman in the front of the boat yells, "Get a bigger boat a-hole!" I don't think I'll be coming back here again. I guess we'll see how the rest of the week goes since we're already but man - not enjoyable despite the unbelievable weather.

Nothing here.

Sounds like deja` vu all over again! Tuff to beat a week on that lake regardless of the fishing success. Especially for us "tourist" types that still call each visit a special occasion! Glad you had a great time and hope you get back soon.

I've had lots of guys tell me about both of these deals but have just never been able to get my head wrapped around either one. Maybe I'll give it a shot this time. What the heck - all of them and you guys can't be wrong! How in the world do you cast a popper and a 6' leader with a jig? Sounds like a recipe for disaster to me but we'll see! Thanks for the tips - I'll let you know if we catch fish or both end up strangled by our own line or in the ER!

Hi Plug. Yeah, that surfacing deal is pretty much as good as it gets. I guess we're just afraid that with the water still being so warm that they won't have grouped up enough and finding them will be about impossible. We've pretty much wasted days at a time chunking and winding miles of shoreline this time of the year while praying for a cold front to come through! Trying to avoid doing that again if possible. Thanks for your suggestion - we will definitely watch the electronics closely and keep that spoon at the ready!

Wish I could have read this about ten days ago!!

Thanks Wrench. "Point" well taken. Sorry - too easy! I greatly appreciate your advice and will apply it accordingly during the week. That's stuff that I've never really thought about or considered but, yeah, that does make sense. Especially on that lake where docks are everywhere. Thank you for your help.

Thank you!

My brother and I are headed down Friday morning and will be spending all of next week in the mm 7 area. Primarily targeting whites, hybrids and hopefully crappie but still get pretty excited any time something pulls our string! As this fall has been amazingly mild, the water temperatures are much higher than we're accustomed to this time of the year. Typically, we can find whites and hybrids schooling on top or clustered on windy points but wonder if that will still hold true with the warm water. As there haven't been any recent posts relative to what we're trying to do I just thought I'd ask if any one has any suggestions that might be of use. Any advice or guidance that anyone might be able to provide would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

She needs to find a boy that loves to fish and then you're set!!

Great stuff. If you don't mind, I think I'll just add you to my hero list!

"Dead" on!

Man, I gotta get on that spoon deal. Purchased a bunch of Dixie Jets a while back and flung a few of them around last week with no success. Obviously, fishing "blind" is not the ticket. Thanks, as always, for the great post. Your expertise is flat out inspiring - even to an old fart like me. I am definitely going to have to figure out a way to develop as least an entree level of understanding of this proven technique! Way to go Bo.

OK, NOW I'm starting to feel better! The only thing that wasn't perfect about our week was the catching - the fishing, boating, golfing, etc. was terrific. After reading this, I guess the "catching" part wasn't really all that bad either! In retrospect, if I had to do it all over again I think I'd just cover as much water as I could and use the wind to my advantage whenever possible. Also, would probably take a trip up the James or Kings just to see what was going on. Good luck Quill and Pepe! Wish I was there!

Well, the week has ended for us and we're back home safe and sound. One of the wildest weeks in October that I can remember and I've been coming down pretty regularly since 1975. The heat and the wind were the story the first five days - more of both than I can ever recall of either. Then, the big change on Thursday and Friday with some spectacular lightning in between. Anyways, we didn't figure out the fish nearly as successfully as some others although it sounds like to a certain degree we were doing the same things and in similar areas. Not the first time that that's happened though. After reading some of the other posts during the week it didn't sound that unusual to experience wide ranging results although employing like techniques. Fished shallow and deep and everything in between but just never got comfortable or confident in anything in particular. It seemed I would catch a couple of decent fish up close on a windy bank on the spinnerbait and then go an hour without another sniff while duplicating locations and method. Would then decide to move out to a deep point and would catch one or two on a jig but then, again, go "biteless" for an hour or more while doing the exact same thing on multiple locations. Similar results pitching a centipede in and around cedar tops in deeper water. Almost seemed like reading the many posts during the week might have done me more harm than good. Don't get me wrong - it was all sound and useful information and greatly appreciated. It's just that I seemed less willing to trust my instincts and became confused and uncommitted. I think everyone would agree that confidence is maybe the single most important asset to have when it comes to fishing and I never seemed to develop any. Got discouraged more quickly than I can ever remember before and while it's not like I gave up, it seemed that I was just going through the motions too often rather than making every cast count. After reading Bill and bobby.b's posts about tuff going I thought, "Well, OK, it's not just me it's tuff for even those guys." But then, Bluebasser, Cindyjo and Bo posed favorable to downright spectacular results and I would go back to beating myself senseless. Also found myself spending too much time watching other guys trying to figure out what they were doing and wondering if I should be doing that instead. I remember way back a bunch of years ago reading an article on Denny Brauer where he said that he never wanted to know what other fisherman or locals were doing when he arrived at a lake for a tournament. He thought that if he let them influence his approach rather than developing his own ideas and pattern then he would never be any better than them or be able to beat the guys whose patterns he was imitating. I know it's been discussed here many time that the best approach is the simplest one. Overthinking seldom works and I'm pretty sure that's exactly what I did this past week. Nonetheless, what a great and spectacular week it was! It's pretty tough to be disappointed after a week like we had. Just wish it could have lasted a little longer but that's always the case. And, it's not like we got skunked. Without looking back in any great detail I'd say we caught around 40 fish for the week with probably four or five keepers. One was my biggest mean mouth to date - likely pushing 3 lbs - that absolutely annihilated a spinnerbait off a bluff end early Thursday morning after the storm. Probably my biggest legitimate disappointment of the week is that I didn't get a picture. Unfortunately, I was in some pretty heavy timber about fifteen feet from the rocks and the wind was howling right into me. Figured I'd better pass on the photo op rather than crash the new boat on to the rocks! Thanks so much to everyone that read and responded to my posts during the week - I greatly appreciate the comments and especially those who tried to help make our week more enjoyable/successful. Best of luck to everyone throughout the "off" season and I already can't wait for spring!

What you describe sounds so similar to what I was doing but the results are dramatically different! Good for you and your dad. Glad you had success.

Great stuff. Thank you for sharing in such detail. Can't wait to give it a shot. Unfortunately, just returned home yesterday but won't forget this tutorial!

Thanks! You know that story about the blind squirrel and the acorn! The 70's are always a goal but one that gets more and more elusive every day. Really enjoyed yesterday's round. After the disaster holes, settled into a really nice rhythm and the swing thoughts disappeared. Lots of fun when it gets like that. Just see the target, pick the club and let er' rip. I hope we can get together soon.

And THAT'S a fact cause I've asked them many times and not a word.

You sure got that there right! Sometimes it's crazy how when I'm fishing I want to go play golf but when I'm on the golf course I always seem to wish I was fishing. Guess that just means that they're both a pretty good way to spend a day. After another three and a half fishless hours this morning though more golf is sounding pretty good. Trouble is, the toughest round of golf is usually the one you play right after a really good one so a 90 is probably waiting for me out there today if I give in to the temptation. Plus, I got lots of golf courses at home but no Table Rock anywhere in sight!

Followed your advice pretty well! Nine fairways-twelve greens. Pretty good for me. Unfortunately, I putted like I've been fishing. Only three birdies and a three hole blowup that was breathtaking to say the least. Wind was down so played the tips. Started birdie, par, birdie! Easy game right? Then go 6, 6, 7, 4, 5, 3 with three lost balls for 42! 8 pars and a birdie on the back for 78. If nothing else was pretty proud of hanging in there after the triple, double, triple flameout. Only thing worse than a streak like that is doing it coming off of such a good start. Anyways, in typical Vernon fashion, turned an "almost" epic ball striking round into just a really good one. Course was fantastic and weather was even better. Lightning greens and manicured to perfection. Love the wide fairways on that course. Now, back to these dang fish!

Thanks. Appreciate the support. Ain't given up. No way, no how.

Was out this morning for a couple hours and picked up a short Spot and a similar Smallie on the jig in about 15 ft. So unaccustomed to action that I missed three others. Even when I'm right I'm wrong. Off to Buffalo Ridge to hit my thumb with a hammer! Back at em' once they think I'm gone.