techo

Hoping to fish tomorrow, depending on the list of things to do, the Mrs. has managed to think of. I love fishing during hunting time. Very very quiet. Where you putting in at Whackem?

I went to the weigh in one day and was on the lake trying to fish one day. The weigh in was kind of fun. They had a few booths set up and a lot of people! I bumped into quite a few of us locals there. The lake was a bit more challenging to fish with a few extra boats out there. I was fishing after the cut ( I think) so most of the boats were observers or fans. Everyone was courteous though. Doesn't hurt my feelings to have them here. Let me know when you come down....maybe we can hook up (so to speak).

Thought about heading up that way, but thought the water might be a little dark for my tactics. Sounds like a great day with the weather!

How much to rent the diver? I need to know what else to throw in after that bait to make it a value! I would like to know more about how to use the stick baits and megabass stuff too. Not the colors necessarily, but water temp, wind, water flowing or not, air temp, and where. I think I like fishing because of all of the variables and I doubt I will ever figure it out. Once in a while though.....a lesson gets through to me and what a great day it is.

That is great news on the numbers. Thought someone would have snatched up the Stratos already. We were marking a bunch of fish in the 45 foot area, but stayed with what was working for us. Thursday I saw three boats out in the middle of the lake and they must have been doing the same thing you described. Saw a Stratos with one guy in it a ways from point nine, but obviously wasn't you.

Nice photos!

Whew! Glad no one was offended. Respect and courtesy are important to me. Ranger Z22, I bet we have bumped into each other and didn't know it. I think there was a thread somewhere about stickers, flags or tattoos so we could recognize an OAF brother or sister. I drive a blue Ford F150 with a LARGE Skeeter sticker in the back window. Chance, my son, and I went out today. It was a bit on the breezy side. The nice thing about the wind is it gives you a directon on where to start fishing. We started late again. We went to Mill Creek. They were doing something on the KC bridge, but we were lucky and didn't get held up at all. Some guys were working on the blacktop at Mill Creek and stopped what they were doing, moved a pile of tar, and waved us in. If any of you guys read this.....THANK YOU! I felt like royalty. The ramp is looking sweet with lines marking parking spots and everything. There are some large boulders under the water on the ramp a guy should keep his eyes open for. We fished around the Mill Creek area and saw a guy fishing out of a red and white Cobra. I could see he was fishing top water and would catch one on occasion. We tried some top water, but no luck. I had Chance try a spinner and a wiggle wart. I tried the spinner for a bit, but went to the (drum roll please).......Eakins Jig. I drug that thing so slow that I could feel it barely moving on the bottom. On occassion I would feel it get heavier, like it was being drug through the mud. Finally I reeled down the slack so my rod tip was just about touching the water and set the hook on that mud. I ended up with a Kentucky that measured 16 inches. I have a pic of it on my iphone, but haven't figured out how to post it on here with the phone. It isn't really large enough to post the pic anyway, but looked huge after yesterday. We caught three more Kentuckys in the same area on the jig. All of them could have been the same fish as they were the same size. We caught them in 18-22 feet of water dragging really really slow. We were on secondary points with rocks and some sort of trees nearby. We decided to head to Schooners, but went to visit with the fella in the Cobra first. He told us he had caught the fish early on the spook, but it had dropped off now. He said he couldn't get them to bite the jig at all. He said he was headed to Schooner, so we decided to head another direction. We moved out toward point 9 and fished some windy sides of the main points in the area. We caught alot of little healthy looking smallmouth. Fighters for sure. None of them would have weighed in a tournament though. I am not sure how many we caught. All on the Eakins jig. I did mark some fish stacked up in 45 feet of water. We never tried the shaky head or drop shotting them.

Welcome to the forum.

Gosh! Sure hope I didn't offend anyone, especially Donna. Let me know if some deleting needs to occur.

Managed to get the day off and took my favorite partner fishing. We started late and hit the water at about 9:30. We put in at Aunt's Creek and headed to a little honey hole I call Old Faithful. Apparently Old Faithful is a little imped about me not being around lately. I have renamed the spot used to be faithful, or slut for short. I stuck on main lake points and really didn't even mark any fish. Water temps ranged from 58 to 61, I finally managed to catch three small mouth, I guessed each one to be about twelve inches. My wife (who didn't catch a thing) said they were closer to nine inches. I had to take some time and explain to her how women don't see things at the proper size and with the cold water there would be quite a bit of shrinkage. As a matter of fact....if I would have caught the same three fish in July, they for sure would have gone 15 to 18 inches with the warmer water. We headed back to the ramp about 2:30. The Mrs took some time to practice backing the boat up the parking lot and down the ramp as there wasn't anyone around. I am thinking if I can trick her into backing the boat in, then I will get a chance to drive it on occasion. When I back the boat up I have a difficult time getting her out of the driver seat. All in all a great day with a wonderful person. Not a great success at catching though. All three fish came on the little Eakins pro jig in about 22 feet of water. Putting in at Mill Creek tomorrow and taking my son. I am sure he will concur on my size estimations. Hope you all are faring much better.

All of the Pros I fished with were great. One had the last name French and we laughed all day! Fished with Dave McCormack (not sure on spelling) and learned I need to work that reel a little better and work on casting. I learned something from everyone. Sometimes I am a little slow at figuring out what the lake, weather and bass are trying to tell me and it is good to have an interpeter around. My Grandpa used to say if you plant corn and tend it, you harvest corn in the fall. I think he borrowed that saying from Shakespeare. You reap what you sow or something similar. I highly suspect there isn't a person in the World that could hang around Donna or Champ long and not be smiling and visiting. I believe Donna will never draw a bad partner because she plants courtesy, respect and love for fellow fisher people and tends it with care. With all of that in mind.....I would rather fish with my best friend all day, than Kevin Van Dam.

Same story here. Heartland is a great bunch of folks. I just would rather fish the buddy side.

I too fished the AM side of Heartland for exactly one year. I learned a great deal from each Pro, but would never do that again! I would rather fish with a friend out of my little Skeeter and lose, than fish the AM side again. The cost is almost the same anyway by the time you figure out the chipping in on gas and entry fee. I have had an excellent and enjoyable time in every AIA tourney I have fished as a buddy. Of course I fish for fun, not for money.

Greetings

Serious awesome achievment! Congratulations!

Good to hear from yu again! We really have to do coffee some day.

The bad news is that you two are usually right : (

Errr....please disregard my thoughts posted on the "Table Rock to Rise 11 feet" topic then....sorry Just when I thought I knew something and could share too! Thanks for sharing Bill!

In my opinion......yes and yes. My favorite time fishing was when the lake flooded in the spring. I hate what it did to the businesses and campgrounds, but fishing was awesome. When the water was going up....the fish stayed high in the bushes, when the water goes down, they seemed to move to the old shoreline. If you find rocks, stumps or the regular places tha fish like to hang about five or ten feet deeper than the old shoreline, then the bigger fish seemed to be there. I am of course talking about bass though, and I know you like walleye. Hopefully someone smarter will chime in on walleye.

I agree....thanks for the post. I would welcome you too, but you been around longer than me. Just been a bit quieter!

Sweet fish! I guess that answers the question in the best way! With an exclamation point.

The flood in the spring seemed to keep them shallow longer......is the high water in the fall keeping them deep all fall and winter?

3inonegod sort of has a point. I never go on Table Rock without an Eakins jig and a Yamamoto double tail grub. Colors are generally watermelon or pumpkin seed. The reason is because I have success jig fishing. Other guys will post about how the spoon is working or some other method, but I generally seem to end up fishing my strength, Eakins jig. Other guys fish their strength such as spoons, stickaits or shaky heads. I love the wiggle wart, spinner, and even now like the stickbait. I always have an Eakins tied on somewhere though. It is hard for anyone to tell you what to fish. It is easier to tell you to fish main lake points and at what depth it is working for them. With all of that in mind.....jigs seem to always do well. I would tie on whatever your favorite confidence lure is though. One of my friends fishes carolina rigged and texas rigged worms almost all of the time and he has success. I hope the spinner and buzz bait go soon.

k is a kentucky.

My favorite tournament last year was the one with the hail, sleet and snow. My regular partner couldn't make it, so the wife braved the elements. She is now going to be my regular partner! Congrats on a memorable day with the kid.