mixermarkb

Pretty much every derby I know of on Bull has been won way up the white river arm this year. There are too many big LMB in the lake to win a derby with smallies, and I think the LMB in the Theodosia, Spring Creek, Gooley and Big Creek arms get pounded at a lot more because of better lake acess to those areas. It's a serious commitment to get to Tucker Hollow and above by either land or water- and I think the relative lack of fishing pressure helps. Idk, I may have to run over there while I'm down and see what I see. I haven't been farther than Shoal Creek in a couple of years.

Good Job! As a derby newb myself, it really does come down to good decision making and good preparation. I really enjoy fishing them, and I'll keep at it, because you only get better by doing. You guys had a solid bag day one. One more keeper and you would have been right in the thick of things, and wouldn't have tried to gamble on big fish to catch up on day two. As it sits though, you had a good plan and it just didn't work out. Hard to predict what that much fishing pressure does to the fish. You guys still did well though.

Congrats on a solid showing so far, and good luck tomorrow!

That meme is a joke. You know, haha, lol, and such? Have you ever fished the info 24/7 posts on here? It's accurate, and it's patterns, techniques, and locations that you don't have to have a 21' boat with 250 horses to fish. He's more than generous, given that since his bass boat was destroyed in a dock collapse, he's not nearly as mobile on the water as some of us are. He's telling the whole Internet how to make a big pond fish small, and I sometimes wonder why, because the small areas he fishes could easily be wrecked by pressure. I'm proud to call him a friend. Lay off.

Do it before someone regulates it out of existence, or beats you to it!

Good luck Ham!

Bill isn't doing my "stretch your arms to the camera" move, so the size of that fish didn't look that big at first, then I noticed the size of her jaw and HOLY CRAP that's a big bass! great to see her swimming away too-

I have caught only a handful of fish on Jerkbaits this year, not sure why they haven't been on the jerkbait, but I've thrown it a bunch and bites have been few and far between.

Ya got no idea what yer missing wrench- but that's ok. Hell, I like LOZ too, it's fun pitching over dock cables for 17"-18" green fish.

Lots of guys on here outfish me on a regular basis, both for size and numbers. 24/7, Ham, Champ, Dave, Bo, Quill, and of course Mr. Bill, plus many more. My point was just not to call BS on someone, just because you haven't done what they have done. Our lakes don't rival Erie for big fish, but numbers of 2-3 pounders are a lot of fun!

Old Plug, I hear you on fishing for keepers. I'd say about 25 of one of those 100 fish days are keeper smallmouth, maybe a few more given the health of TR and BS smallie population. The majority of the rest of those are chunky 12" to 14" smallmouths, and while they are protected by law, will give quite the battle on 4 to 6 pound line. At least 3 or 4 will be in the 18" class, and those will make you think you have hooked JAWS. I like to catch big LMB too, and I've spent several days this year fishing for bigger fish with big baits, and caught 7 or 8 17" fish and a four pounder and been happy. Don't knock the smallmouth though, these aren't your dink spotted bass, these things pull. Different strokes for different folks, but catching a bass every five minutes or so is hardly a crappy way to spend a spring day-

If you aren't that guy, then don't call BS on those of us who are. 100 fish days may not happen flipping jigs over dock cables on LOZ, but they can and do happen with smallmouth on TR and Bull. Now I'll grant you my spring fishing days are more like 10 hours then 8, but still, careful who you call out-

Maybe totally different on TR, but on Bull last Tuesday, I kept cranking a wart with the wind at my back all day long and ended with 7 nice keepers. My brain kept telling me how slow the bite was, and it for sure wasn't normal spring numbers, but the quality was there. As soon as the wind and weather settles, it's gonna be ON FIRE!

Not every time out, but now is the season for big numbers of bass. Give me a cloudy, overcast day, with a breeze, but not a 30mph gale, and I'll give you 100+ smallmouth on Bull Shoals, with the vast majority between 12"-16" and a few genuine 3 pounders, along with a few babies. I can't do it every day, but 20-30 bass from all three species with 10-12 keepers is a pretty safe bet from now into the beginning of June. A clicker is needed this time of year for sure! Now fishing for 5 really good ones, is another trick altogether, and one I'm still learning.

Congrats!

Shhhhh. Stop telling all the good stuff.

Heard it was a pretty tough day for most- anyone have a link to the results?

Totally agree Bo. When I'm fishing slow and I think about it, I'll put some KVD craw stick on the bait, because I think it might buy me a split second more time to set the hook, and since I'm a hack, I need any extra help I can get. It doesn't hurt me when I forget it though, and it's just not something I pay a lot of attention to.

Shhhh. I don't think so. Don't ruin it for me.

Well, I might have to look at this one, I don't often get to fish a derby on one of my normal days off. Working every weekend makes derbys hard to do-

Is this really on a Tuesday?

I did cover all the bases. I'm incredibly blessed to have met and somehow convinced her to marry me. She's smart, funny, a wonderful mom, full of Jesus, on the way to becoming the soap queen of the Midwest , and she's a redhead with a southern accent that likes to fish. I covered all the bases and then some!

Well, a hippie natural soap making capitalist... who doesn't look or smell like a hippie.

Early in the week I was catching bass on crankbaits on the last bluff type bank in the creeks. Hard telling now, tis the season when the bass are up and moving. Best bet is to move around till you find them, they will be biting somewhere- If I was fishing today, I would start with a craw pattern crank, a spinnerbait, a topwater, a grub or Ned, and a C-rig. Run into the back 1/3 of a creek, find a bluff, and then run points and transistion banks, and good looking pea gravel spawning flats, all the way back with the above baits til I ran into fish or ran out of water. With the cold fronts it may be tough, but there are good fish to be caught. Make sure and post a report on the Bull Shoals forum of how you did for me and Ham and the others who are tied up with work and can't go!

p.s. She makes a soap for me called "fishing buddy" that has Anise Oil in it as its only scent. I won't make any claims as to wether or not it helps, but it smells good and doesn't seem to hurt. Anyone remember the old fish formula? With sparkle scales???