Cindyjo

Was out for 2 hrs. this morning. Caught 1 LM, he was legal. Spotted the schools but they were small schools. Simply weren't taking. PM always is better for me than AM. Good work, thats a respectable trip.

Please if you choose not believe Merc, or myself that is fine. I'm not going to start grabbing the phone, try to clean my hands, set up a shot, spend 1/2 hr downloading, reconstituting the pic to get it down in size so it can be uploaded. All to convince someone. Sorry, that would be crazy. then someone would say please include the pic data so they can verify date and time. Crazy. Apparently some folks don't believe it cause they have not done it. Don't read my postings. Continue doing what your doing and having the same results. Again I write to help other anglers who are trying to Lear this lake.

Smithvillesteve - my experience is horizontal is more productive since you are pulling through and across the school. I vertical jig a lot when I get tired of casting. It is fun. Fish 24/7 - that was the dam area of bull shoals. Jerry McCord was our guide. We boated 2 walleye, 1 was a keeper. Guide had one, my friend the other. That week I never boated a walleye. Champ - I doubt they would hit that many hours. But a band aid may be a better solution. Sorethumbs - you will hit them like that using the method described. Confidence and discipline. Merc - right on. In May my friend and I were in separate boats. We were killing them. So I told him to I would start counting. In 10 casts I had 10 fish, nothing on the eleventh, and fish on 12 - 15. Thats 14 fish in 15 casts. I told my friend they were on a conveyor belt. They stayed like that for 2.5 hrs. Between us we caught over 100 fish. Then we both left.

I have received a lot of feedback with my last 2 postings so i thought I would share my process. The process is not comfortable for everyone, however I know it works for fall fishing. I have specific GPS targets I use, but using sonar you can find the fish. This time of year 12 - 15 fow adjacent to a drop off. I'm interested in finding schools of ACTIVE fish. Once found I back my boat up 30 - 50' from the school with the wind to my back and drop my anchor in the deeper water. This is why I look for schools, so I can anchor and catch many fish. You will recognize me on the lake because of using my anchor. I then start casting a 1/4 ounce Kastmaster spoon. I use this spoon because it drops at a predictable 2' per second. I count down on every cast. It is second nature to me so I am almost unaware I'm doing it. This is important because it tells me the depth of the water where my spoon entered the water. I start working left to right, or right to left in about a 120 degree pattern. Always casting and counting. Let it hit bottom. Then start a slow bounce across the bottom back to the boat. 2 turns of the reel, then let it drop for 1-2 seconds. 2 turns of the reel and so on. Once I get a pick up I remember approx. direction of the last cast, and the depth of the water at point of entry. Then I work the heck out of that immediate area. Often i will move 30 - 40' in a different direction to optimize the casts. Sometimes letting it drop to a specific depth is more effective, such as the bottom being at 15' but the count for catching fish is say 5. Obviously, suspended fish or actively feeding fish. Then the fun begins. Some points to consider. Several locations I have marked produce much larger fish than most of the rest. I don'know why this is but it has repeated itself for several seasons. Some ideal looking structure never produces schooled fish, again I don't know why. If the fish are INACTIVE (laying tight to the bottom) they are not worth the effort of trying to get them to hit. This time of year 3pm to sunset is more productive for me than morning. Once the sun drops below the hills the fish tend to become much less active(angle of the sunlight on shad I believe is significant for feeding). We tend to over think fish. They are primitive and predacious in nature. I have had fish hit my spoon several times until they finally take it. A friend and I were fishing one time together in separate boats and getting hit after hit but could not hook up. It as if all the fish were just playing and not feeding. Hang ups are fairly common but I rarely lose a spoon. If its timber, its old and soft. If caught between rocks usually several attempts at letting the spoon drop frees it. When they are actively feeding is it crazy and hope you don't gut hook the fish cause it takes a lot more time to safely free the hook. Once you locate active fish DONT leave the area. The old saying is worth remembering "don't leave fish to find fish". Following this discipline alone will boat more fish. As mentioned in previous articles I generally fish for 1 - 3 hrs. If I don't catch in the first hour i begin to think about heading in. If the fish are active I generally become bored of catching and releasing after 1 - 2 hours and head back in. By then the thumb is pretty raw. So I'm not sure what would happen if I stayed out for 6-8 hours. I recently spent a week on Bull Shoals. Hired a guide to catch walleye, but we did not do well. However, a point worth sharing. I was lucky to spot a school of surface feeding Smallmouths. I went over and saw a ton of suspended active fish in 100 fow. It was a fascinating sight to see sooo many fish from 30' to the surface actively feeding. Everywhere fish dispersed throughout that water column. I caught 4 fish real quick. Three were hugh and one respectable. (no pics so I'm not going to say how big the 3 were). And then just as quick the school consolidated and disappeared. This is why we must actively look at the environment on the water. Shad active on the surface feeding. Tight clusters means something different than loosely dispersed clusters. Angle of the sun can be a trigger. Birds feeding is mass can be an indicator. Black bass feed differently on the surface than white bass. Over time you learn to recognize the difference. Wind direction and the effect it has on pushing shad in a direction and how the feeding fish react to this direction. Anyway I have work to do before I go out again this afternoon. Till next time

Check out my post 12/9/2015. Its fishing and has good days and bad days. Don't feel alone!

Champ I hear you on the pics. I was happy to supply the sonar pics. But to keep taking pics to convince the naysayers is not what this is about. I write these posts to inspire and teach and share with those who are just learning how to fish and use their new sonar. Not to teach or convince well established fishermen, they already know. Lets just say I caught a lot of fish that day and the best 5 were 10 pounds. That would be a lie but some folks may feel better with that explanation. But let me continue to help those who perhaps just bought a new sonar and are not sure what to look for, like the guy who just emailed me and asked if I guide. I said no I do not. He commented that he has a HDS unit and no one will help him. He asked if I could help. I said I would, and suggested he look at my posts. I will continue to post because I know their are others who appreciate obtaining knowledge about fishing. Im 65 and retired for 5 years. Not interested in proving anything. Not interested in bragging or showing who caught the biggest. I am interested in helping people like the email I just mentioned, in enjoying the sport. I'm not a priest or clergy, or bleeding heart. But I do want to give back a little in life since my wife and I have been so fortunate. I do appreciate your comment and the opportunity to offer my perspective. Till next time

Out again Sunday 10/16. 4:15pm - 6:00pm. Absurd fishing. Boated 25-30 fish. Best 5 would have easily exceeded 20lbs. Spoon, in 10 - 15 fow. Whites are starting to bite. I always kid my friend that fishing should be illegal when you can catch this many fish in less than 2 hrs. They are starting to fatten up. Much more girth compared to August. Attached is a sonar pic of ACTIVE fish. Active meaning ready to feed. I don't have a FEEDING pic but they are much more dispersed in the water column. INACTIVE meaning laying tightly on the bottom. Caught 3 whites exceeding 3 lbs each. Several smaller. (wont let me download pics ?) I am disappointed. I cannot be the only one catching fish like this but don't see posts from other fisherman with similar experiences. How about sharing similar experiences so fisherman can learn from our experiences? Additional info. Caught 2 walleye. One was the smallest walleye I ever caught at 8", the other was 13". This suggests to me that the population of walleye are healthy and reproducing. Out again Tuesday for about 1.5 hrs. Fascinating, shad on the surface everywhere. Not the same as in the summer, but everywhere. Bass where going crazy. Similar catch story, I believe they would have hit a sewing needle if I tossed one. Several 3 consecutive casts with fish. As in my last posting unless you know where to go to catch fish you need to take time to locate them first. Once you find them on the graph like the pics below, stay there. I have a couple of dozen gps coordinates that I use so finding them is usually easy in the fall. I rarely fish the shoreline. I fish for schools on old river channels and dropoffs. To keep this in perspective, I cant hardly catch a fish in July/August. All were safely returned to the water. Good luck to all Till next time

Yes this is the time of year when I enjoy contributing to this forum. My experience is that Sept. Oct. & Nov. are the best months for bass fishing on TR. This year is no exception. The last several weeks have been very good bass fishing. Steadily improving each week. 3 weeks ago landed a 23.5" (7 - 8 lbs.). Friday a 21" (6-6.5lbs). The activity is hot and heavy. Several days of 15 - 30 fish in 2 hrs (see my previous articles) . The fish are easy to locate and once your on a school don't leave it. I have included many sonar pics in previous postings to inform what to look for on your sonar. Side sonar is invaluable. 12'-15' of water is magic. Edges of dropoffs along the old river channel. It is simple. It all works. The 23.5" I caught on a bass pro center aisle stick bait. Its not how much money you spend that catches fish, its how much time you spend on the water. 80% of the fish I catch are on spoons. Then jigs, Then everything else. Watch the water and adjust your lure to what you are seeing (or not seeing) and what you are hearing. Spoonbills are beginning to break the surface again. Thats a good sign. Blue heron always know where the fish are. Very importantly the angle of the sun this time of year. Lower in the sky provides more reflectivity of the shad. More reflective shad = more opportunity for bass feeding. Angle of the sun is much more important to me than water temp. I rarely fish shorelines so I cannot say if these previous points are applicable. Have fun, enjoy, wear your PFD. Is is simple.

Quit using oil and the fracking will stop. Or quit complaining about the results of fracking. My gosh.

I was out last night on the James and Flat Creek. There is a thermocline at 15 - 20'. Seems to vary. Not the winter type cline which is a very distinct line. Last nights cline was were the water density changed and looks like static on sonar. It is easy to spot when you know what to look for. I DID NOT see any evidence of a fish kill. Te gar are very active. I saw several spoonbill break the water.

The James has never cleared up this year and now it is worse. Very muddy looking water. Flat creek is the same.

Can anyone guess the weight of this cat. The lure is 4" long. It was a 20 - 30 minute fight from shore. He was exhausted ....and so was I.

High turbid water. The least favorable conditions for my technique of fishing. But the sun was shinning and nice weather conditions so I decided to give it a try. Would I catch fish? Or get skunked? Started in the Flat Creek vicinity. Water temp 48. Lake level 932. Most of the shoreline has submerged trees. Worked in the 10 - 20 fow. As usual tossed a spoon and jig for about 30 minutes. NADA Decided to give the James River side a try. Water was slightly better in appearance. I could spot fish in the 10 - 15 fow range on sonar. Used a spoon, jig, and jigging rapala. NADA So i went to the flats knowing now they were in 17 fow deeper than usual. Last time there I caught 11 fish in 30 minutes (day before the heavy rains). This time NADA. But on days like this I spend most of my time doing sonar work. Determining what depth the fish are at. Looking for new GPS locations. But most importantly determining what affect the flooding had on my old GPS locations. There are several timber/brush piles I frequent. All in or near the old river channel. (as mentioned in previous postings, I do not normally pound the shoreline. But instead try to find old riverbed locations fish frequent but out of the pattern of most fisherman) These locations look to be intact even though we had record rains. I felt better knowing the regular locations were relatively unaffected by the high current. What did I learn after 2.5 hrs of fishing? High water does not fit my fishing pattern. Most of the fish were in 10 -15 of water. (typical at this end of the lake) Most of the structure I GPS remains intact even though we had record flooding. Perhaps later in the day the bite may have turned on. When I was out the solunar tables predicted the worst fishing. And oh by the way, I was skunked! PS. WHEN THE RAINS FIRST STARTED TO HIT I SAW A TREE GET PUSHED AND LOCKED IN PLACE IN NEAR THE BEGINNING OF THE FLAT CREEK RIVER CHANNEL. I SAW IT STILL THERE THE NEXT DAY WHEN THE WATER LEVEL FINALLY ROSE ABOVE THIS TREE. I WOULD GUESS IT IS STILL THERE. IT IS IN AN AREA WHERE BOATS NORMALLY RUN FULL SPEED. THIS ENTIRE END OF THE LAKE WILL HAVE AREAS LIKE THIS. TREES MAY NOW BE LOCKED IN THE BOTTOM WHERE NONE WERE IN THE PAST. BE VERY CAREFUL OUT THERE. I WORE MY LIFE JACKET THE ENTIRE TIME I WAS IN THE BOAT YESTERDAY.

Just was at the James/Flat Creek confluence. The debris running down is as bad as this spring. Hugh trees, logs, and even bales of hay. Fishing will be horrible for a week or two. Boating will be treacherous at best. Local marinas will be busy replacing lower end units for the next month or two. It is up at least 10' and all that water is heading towards the dam. Ugly, ugly, ...ugly.

I knew this day would come again. Fishing has been exceptional....until today. Went out at 9:00 this morning and fished until 11:00. 2 fish...I repeat 2 fish and one was a catfish! Could not locate schools on the sonar. This has happened in the past. And always raises the question "where do they go". I looked deep, shallow and everywhere in between! They simply disappear. So not to be stymied by simple fish I decided to go out again this afternoon. Revenge would be sweet. Fished from 2 - 5. I thought for sure fortune (mis) would reverse and I would with all my intellect show those simple fish just how foolish they are. Yes, I was the one who was fooled. After 3 hours of fishing I outdid my morning trip......I caught 1. 1 whole 13" spotted bass after 3 hours of fishing. I gave up a nice power nap for 1 fish! But I know this will again reverse. Staying with the discipline of finding the schools on the edge of the old riverbed, tracking with sonar, zeroing in with precise casts, and counting always counting the drop of the spoon will yield more 30 - 40 fish days. I always know how deep the water is below the boat using sonar. I always know how deep the water is when my spoon hits the bottom. And they are rarely the same. Every cast I count 1, 2, 3 until my line goes slack. 2 feet per second. Cast, count, bring it up that bank and slam!!! Isn't fishing grand. Good luck to you on your next trip.

Lake level is dropping. Water clarity has improved significantly. Steady weather. Went out for 2 hours today. Caught a total of 19 with the largest in the 4-5lb range. All spotted bass. All caught on spoons. Absolutely fabulous fishing. Same pattern as described in previous postings. I dont know when it will stop, but it has been great. I can only hope most of you are enjoying the great fishing this lake has to offer.

Flysmallie, you are 100% correct. Done that many times myself. Those are hard decisions and necessary ones. People should not automatically say quality will suffer. I have seen numerous occasions where the quality improved. In fact the quality had to improve or more changes would occur. Those who left Ranger were probably offered a nice package. Those who stay will see change. Everyone one has a choice to buy the product or choose a different brand. I have a Ranger boat. In the first 6 months the trailer axle broke away from the frame due to poor welding. Then many of the rubber components started rotting and had to be replaced. The windshield screw inserts began to break. Yes, ranger did stand behind their warranty, but what a hassle. Frankly, I dont know why Bass Pro would own and operate 3? different boat companies.

Pattern remains the same since my last report. Went out last Monday and boated 22. Best 5 were probably 15 -18lbs. Out again last Wed. for 1 hr. and boated 2. Sat. boated 8 in 1.5 hrs. Today boated 10 and fished for approx. 1.5hrs. Nothing has changed in the last several weeks. Locate the fish in 12-16 fow on sonar. Actively fish in adjacent water 6-10'. It is a blast to get directly over a school and vertical jig. Nearly every fish was caught on a spoon. Did catch one on a road runner. When they are actively feeding I use a daredevil just for the fun of it. Once again lucked into a walleye. This one was 24". Past 3 years no walleye. This year 3 so far. The 2014 shocking report indicated better walleye populations than previous years. Fishing results confirm the shocking report. Interesting.

The bass are in their typical fall pattern and will be for the next several weeks. I have been out 7-8 times in the last 2 weeks and the indicators are the same. I find huge amounts bass on sonar in 12 - 16 fow. However they typically are not feeding there. They come up to 10 - 6 fow for feeding and are very catchable. I have caught over 150 bass in this period of time with the largest at 21". Plus one bonus walleye. It is easy pickings if you use your sonar to find them. Then fish shallower for the catch. I have noticed the bass are running larger this year with a higher percentage being 15"+. I typically fish late afternoon so I have no information to share on the morning catch. 90% of my fishing is with a spoon. I would guess this pattern is not the same throughout the lake, but where I fish it is very consistent. This has worked very very well for me. Hope you have similar luck.

That is one mighty big brown! Nice catch.

Gosh, there were water skiers out in the Bridgeport area. The debris in the James just keeps coming. I still see large trees floating down and lots of partially submerged logs. If your on TR in your boat you better be at idle.

White bass. June has been an exceptional month for whites. I have caught 200+ so far this month. One outing 50+ in 2 hours.

Good fishing. That is how fishing should be!