mixermarkb

That’s a fantastic bag, but as much as my bass boat running ego hurts to admit, I’d put my money on 24/7 being able to catch a 20 pound sack on pretty much any day he chooses to go, big boat or not. Because of all the high water, the numbers of bass in bull in that 5 pound class or better has to be just silly right now, and 24/7 and all the other locals around who can pick which day and time to go can go out and put 20 pounds in the boat pretty close to at will. Can I? heck no. I'm from St. Louis, and like a derby guy, I’m at the mercy of whatever the conditions are on any given day and time I get to fish. If I get the conditions that match my fishing strengths, I can do it too, because the fish are there. (assuming there are ANY days I get to fish, which is a big assumption these days) I’d still say even without getting to pick the day, time, and weather, that you better be ready to throw over 20 pounds on the scale in any of the joe bass or winter bass-o-thon derbies to stand a chance at doing anything other than donating.

I’m gonna give this rod a plus one, even though I haven’t used it myself, for a few reasons. First off, Champ is the resident bank beater here, and I trust his opinions on all things less than 15’ deep. Second, as mentioned above, I’m a two cranking rod kind of guy, with the deep rod being a St. Croix 7’10” mag cranker, and the shallow rod being the Falcon Cara Reaction 7’ medium cranker. Third reason, although the Falcon rod is an amazing cranking rod for most White River lake crankbait techniques, I’m a little bit salty at Falcon for moving production overseas, and just won’t be recommending them anymore. (Not that anyone cares one bit what I recommend or don’t)

Done.

I normally post reports, but I haven’t been fishing since I was called back to work in late May. It’s been nice to be off of unemployment, but the concert and events industry is still running at maybe half of what it was pre-COVID, and it’s tough to spend money fishing when you are living paycheck to paycheck. I hope to be down sometime next week for a couple days, and I’ll post what I catch (or more likely don’t). I do agree though, plenty of seasonal pattern info posted here over the years, and it gets a little discouraging to just talk to 24/7 and Ham over and over again while the rest of the Internet reads our conversations, even though I like those guys.. lol

I’m torn on this one, but I guess I come down on being in favor of moving the park. I’m all for a ramp (with plenty of parking) usable at high water levels, as the situation of folks backing across 160 to launch off the road is flat dangerous.

Did you switch to Bull Shoals?!?!?? Was last night your “special powers” at work?

I’m with Wrench. Would absolutely take someone stoned vs drunk or hangover, any time, any job. I also got shredded to bits over on the BBC for saying that a whole lot, if not a majority of tradesmen self medicate with a little meth when they need to get up and go to work. I’m not saying it’s right or good, in fact I believe harmful self medication is a key reason we need Medicare for All, but you better believe it happens, even among folks that look “sober”.

And for the record, even though I don’t partake myself, I’m 100 percent in favor of legal marijuana, and think it should be pulled off the standard drug tests. It’s no worse than alcohol. If folks want to smoke a little after work, they shouldn’t lose their job when other folks can modify their headspace with a six pack.

Meth is killing rural America. I wish I had an answer to it. Between meth and opiates, we are now three generations lost. I’m hoping some infrastructure and clean energy jobs can help, but it’s a catch 22. What good are jobs if you can’t get people sober enough to work, and what good is being sober if you don’t have any hope for anything other than a check from Uncle Sam? It’s incredibly sad when you see good people turn into dead eyed skeletons.

Having been on unemployment for a year, and recently being called back to work with PPP money, I can say for certain I didn’t get rich from any of the federal supplements. We made our payments, and thankfully the owner of the sound, lighting and video production company I work for paid both the company half and my half of our health insurance the whole time we were out of work. If I had to come out of pocket for healthcare coverage like most on unemployment have, life would have been real, real uncomfortable. It’s been tough enough to pay full price for dental work for the kids, since the company owner had to drop dental and vision. (Anyone price a root canal lately?!? Wow!) Every single person I know who has been called back to work, has gladly gone back to work. The idea of folks getting rich on unemployment is a nice media talking point, but hasn’t been reality for me or anyone I know.

The old school G. Loomis IMX MBR-782 is for me, the perfect top water rod. I would call it a fast, maybe a mod-fast, medium power. It’s THE rod for walking baits up to 5/8oz. I have no idea if they still make the MBR-782, or what the newer blanks feel like. I know I preferred the IMX to the GLX for this application back in the day, as the GLX was just a mite too crisp. For redfins and other wake baits, I have a couple of really, really old G. Loomis IM6 PR-844 popping rods. These things are 7’ long al dente pasta noodles, but they load up well on a cast, and keep fish pinned that smack that fin wobbling along really well. I also have gone back to mono for topwater. I liked the hook set of braid, but I just couldn’t keep braid from blowing up and backlashing really bad about every 50 casts. I think I was probably just overthrowing it, but the bait would just stop in mid cast and fall to the water and the reel would be blown up, seemingly at random, so back to 15 pound big game it is for me on the floating stuff. P.S. - Sunline Defier Armillo mono is flat amazing on topwater, but it’s awful spendy and I like being married.

My friend Stan bank fishes there pretty often. Usually starts around dusk, and catches some pretty good Walters and the occasional white/hybrid there.

For a brief period I had an 05 Chevy shortbed. Even with a worn out V6 it was really fun to drive. Felt like a go cart compared to the extended cabs I’ve been driving for years.

I’d come on down. It will be high, but fishing should be great. I’d be ready with spinnerbaits, flukes and senkos, and top waters over the bushes, as well as flipping baits. Bull is big enough that even while rising, it won’t all be muddy, and there will be fish to be caught.

I’ll find the smallies when I’m down on the 26-27th. I’ll be sure and conduct a very accurate survey, I’ll catch all I can lol

40 pounds? 5 fish limit each day? Catching two 20 pound 5 fish stringers back to back is a dang good job! thanks for the report- I can’t wait til next week when I can get back down to get after them myself! Mark Burris

They weren’t doing it when I was there. You better believe I looked...LOL

Hello- Finally getting around to posting a report for my trip last week. Tuesday, I screwed up. Fished all day out of Spring Creek. Didn’t listen to what the fish were telling me, and ended the day with two bites and no fish caught. I was trying to force a shallow bite on crankbait and big swimbait, and it just wasn’t happening. Wednesday I wised up a little, and started paying attention to the fact that they were pulling the lake 6 to 8 inches a day. I made the adjustment to go to bluff end points, and caught some fish on the Arig. I had 6 keepers, including a real nice smallmouth, and a few shorts. Altogether, it was WAY tougher out there than I suspected it would be. I feel like the fast dropping lake is keeping fish suspended offshore that would otherwise be moving up with the water temps approaching 60 degrees. good luck- I’m sure it’s going to be on fire as soon as the lake level stabilizes some!

Wow- 26 pounds is a good day anywhere!

Awesome, make sure and post a report! Even if you didn’t catch em, sometimes what someone else did that didn’t work is as valuable info as what did work! Just trying to get some more guys posting and getting to know each other here- posts routinely get 200-300 views or more, and yet their are only a half dozen of us who ever post...

Hey Guys- We have a lot of lurkers here on the Bull Shoals page, and not a lot of posters. I’d like to see some more traffic on here, while I’m stuck in STL wishing I was fishing. It would be really nice for all of you who derby fish to go ahead and post a quick report of all the small local and club tourney results. I’m not asking for in depth articles on the winning pattern, or GPS spots,, but a quick note on winning weight, where the derby was held, what the winners caught there fish on (if they say), size of big bass, etc. It would be good promotion for your club or circuit, and help us get some more traffic and information here on the Bull Shoals page. Let’s all pay it forward in the OAF example- thanks! Mark Burris

Hey Guys- I fished out of the Buck Creek area Wednesday and Thursday. I had my boys and father in law with me for our annual “man trip”. Wednesday I found Kentuckies and a few largemouths on transition banks in the creeks. I caught three right away cranking the brush line with a wart, then put the treble hook baits up for safety’s sake and backed out a little on the same sort of banks. My father in law managed 6 on a grub, and I caught a half dozen more on grub and Mr. Ned. The boys both missed a few bites, but the little guy kept himself busy with the net. Thursday we basically waited for the rain to stop. When we got out, I tried the same pattern as the day before, with no bites. I backed out to a main lake bluff end, and threw a jerkbait for a couple casts, and caught a nice smallmouth. The rain hit again right after that, and ended the day. Friday the boys didn’t want to fish in the cold morning, and my father in law was pretty sore from the day before so we just packed up and headed home. Met a couple guys from the Jefferson Co Hawg Hunters bass club who were having a derby today and Sunday. Hope they caught them good, and maybe they will post a report. Nice bunch of guys seemed like. I will be back after them after Easter, can’t get away until then.

Trying it on is what I’m going for. I’m also hoping it’s the last rain gear I ever have to buy, if I decide to go ahead and spend my spot lock trolling motor/live sonar cookie jar on it... with the weather forecast for my spring break trip next week looking the way it is, rain gear is taking priority over new electronics.

I think I’ve decided to pass down my 10 year old Columbia rain gear to my nephew and buy a new rainsuit for this season. Anyone seen the SIMMS stuff for sale locally? thanks, Mark Burris

That’s incredibly bad boat driving for a “professional” fisherman.