Bill Jr.

Mitch, I've tried green pumpkin flash jigs with this and I do seem to catch more on the PBJ color. I've also tried the PBJ with a cinnamon/purple craw and that does work well at times, but always seem to come back to this. Gets me to think what actually does the hair or skirt of the jig mimic? Is it meant to be part the craw itself or a little disruption on the lake or riverbed with the craw right in the middle of it? for the most part the lake bottom is more hues of browns vs green.

Mitch's clearwater craw looks sweet! I use and love this as a go to bait at bull shoals. Mitch, let us know if you want to start selling but won't blame you if you keep them for yourself!

I agree. LOZ has had them strippers in the lake for years and still produces. Seriously though, I fish BS and have never boated one. Not to say i havn't hooked up as I've been broken off with some heavy fish but who knows... I would rather keep them out and let the lakes explode over the next few years. Why mess up such a great thing.

Brian, I also get a lot of smallies on a 1/2 oz. PB&J FB jig with a green pumpkin or cinnamon purple craw trailer on main lake points or swing banks. Don't fish much for crappie but i think I'll give it a try after some success this spring. I'm going down for Memorial Day weekend at the end of May so I'll give a report when i get back.

I agree with Hodge on this. I really like to fish a Super Spook Jr. on top in the summer. You can throw it a mile if you need to get to a surfacing school on a main lake bluff end. If you are not comfortable with a walking bait i like poppers over props but just my taste. For poppers i usually use a Heddon Pop N Image in threafin shad. If you are fishing shoreline don't need to work it fast at all. May get a hodpodge of bass on top in the morning and not just smallies but I love the topwater bite. Have fun and Good luck.

Present!

Watched some of the feeds and the weigh in today. Looked to be a tougher day out there today but can't wait to get down there again!

Bass or crappie?

Glad you got a couple nice birds. Hunters around us were having a hard time over the weekend. totally agree with the new wave of spawners and looking forward to the weights this weekend. I think you are on the light side but will like to see the results. can't wait to get down there again. thanks for the reports

Well me and a buddy of mine finally got to go fishing Friday and Saturday. We didn't go out until about 9:00 each day so didn't try the topwater. Started on friday and went to the back of the creek to see if we could find any whites but none there. We stayed for a while and caught 12 LM shallow in 5ft of water but only 3 keeps. Lot of these around 14". Around noon we started heading out and thought that we would fish some pole timber for some crappie. Game On! We quickly caught 15 with 6 over 13". only 1 short. Some caught on swimming minnows but most vertically jigged with slab slayrs. They were holding tight to the timber. Tried to find a pattern for the bass but was kinfd of frazzled with the stained water and all the wind. here is a pic of one of the slabs my buddy caught. Saturday we got out aroud 9:30 and headed to catch a few more crappie and managed 6 with 3 more slabs. We then started fishing for bass and had moderate success. I'm a jig guy and hard to put it down so we caught 90% of our bass on the jig. Tried some main lake bluff ends and no luck at all. Went back in the creek in a few locations and lost 4 LM that were 4+lb. throwing the jig when they surfaced. That just kills the day! After going out on some main lake pole timber and catching a few more crappie, we ended up the day catching 4 keeper fat K's and a 20" spawned out LM on jig and Sqarebill crankbaits in a couple coves just trying to get out of the wind. If we landed what we hooked into we could have had a real good day but frustrating on all the lost fish. Overall fun weekend and can't wait to see the sacks next weekend. Even though it may not be optimal conditions, i think there will be a lot of 20+lb weights.

Aaron thanks for the info. I'll be running around on Friday trying to find some sort of pattern but you are right that with them pulling back on the release of water who knows what they will do. Kind of surprised that your fish were already spawned out. I think there will be several waves and a longer spawn this year with such the warm start. As for the turkeys, I'm staying at my inlaws and they are usually in their yard lol. I'll keep a watch and let you know

I'm sure he is watching that food "highway" the deer ar traveling on. Maybe not the best time to go look for morels...

Kudos to you to be able! Living the dream of a lot of us!

Mike, Have you been up towards point 25 lately? I'm going down this weekend and wondering if this was in the "upper end" portion that was muddy or maybe something like above tucker holler? I'm really getting the itch and trying to set a gameplan before i get down there.

Wayne and jigfishr, I can't really say if i do this or not but I'll pay attention to to this in the future. This happens to me from time to time and minimizing this will certainaly help. I'm a big believer in quality line vs quality rod/reel if you don't have the $$'s so keeping the line longer is a great help. Thanks for the tip.

WOW! Do you have any dogs on your property? Maybe time to invest if you don't.

Hodge Have you been back to Bull lately? I was hoping they would hold back some of the water but they look to be bringing it down to normal pool... I think it is supposed to be at 654 by Sunday when we are leaving but looks to be earlier with the rate of the fall. I'll be in the Shoal Creek area and will put out a report once i get back. We will target bass but we also want to get some meat so I'll be breaking in the brush i sunk back in December as well as targeting whites in the back end of the creek. I've had some just killer trips mid to late April and just hope this rapid drawdown hasn't put them into a funk.

What a beautiful evening and topwater! Doesn't get any better. Did you catch these in the river or just in the area? I was out a couple evenings this past week and caught a couple fat females but i haven't tried topwater yet. Were these your first 2 topwater fish of the year? I'm going to Bull Shoals later this week but may have to try on top one evening before I go. Thanks for the report!

Moguy and Bassmaster, Maybe a little hint?? Who knows, I may be fishing at the same place If so, in a couple weeks you may want to get on shore in the back if you like morels.

Bry, I'll have to try the stupid style. looks like it will work well. Flooded parking lots and the gravel roads leading to them have been a great spot for me when Bull has been up so high during the last few years. If you know where they are it's a great way to catch fish without loosing baits in the trees. They also work well with the drop shot.

Hodge Thanks for the report. Hope the rain is not too bad. I can handle up to 10-15 ft. high but after that it is a pain. Thanks for keeping me updated if you get out on the water.

Thanks for any help Hodge. Hopefully we will escape some of the worst rain this week with Bull only going up a few feet but i've see this scenario before. With all the rain in Ark that will fall Bull will likely be in a "holding" pattern and not letting out a lot of water. Hope you did well this weekend.

Totally agree. I haven't tried a buzzbait or topwater but the water has definately warmed up quick. I went out for an hour after Mizzou lost today but only caught 2 small ones. pretty muddy with the rains today but you could see a bunch chasing shad. Need to go to BPS for a couple cranks but can't wait to go again!

Bass Master What area are you fishing? I'm in the St. Louis area. This week turned them on big time.

Spring is here! isn't it fun! Iactually went out to a local lake yesterday evening from 6:00-7:15 and the lake was alive!!! At sunset bass were boiling and it was great to see. Caught 4 with the biggest about 3 1/4 and lost 2 but it's awesome to be able to go out after work and unwind for an hour or 2. Caught mine on a Thin Fin but i bet the Bomber Square A would have worked as well. I'm loving daylight Savings! Good Fishing!