Alex Heitman

Try finding boat dealers around your area who buy it in bulk. I know Branson west Marine and Mcallister marine both carry it. It is half the price you pay in a store.

Getting rid of the bouys is a big mistake. In our cube we just got some replaced that broke lose and people would zoom by our dock and the others in the cove with no regard. We had plenty of some wake boaters take off right beside our dock. We got the bouys back now but some still have no respect. They get a good cussing most of the time ?

The fishing was really tough on us. We got lucky and stumbled on some nice fish here and there. We tried to duplicate spots and run a pattern but there really just wasn't one that was specific. We went sometimes over an hour or more without a bite which isn't fun by any means. I'm sure there is some deeper fish to be caught but drop shoting is not my cup of tea unless we aren't getting any bites at all. If you have ever read any of my reports, then you know I love cranking. It's my favorite thing to do and what I feel most comfortable doing, especially in the summer. It may not be the hot bite but I feel like I can catch fish no matter what if I have a crankbait in my hand. I'll give info but I like to hold some specifics to myself because it takes a lot of time and effort and it comes from experimenting out on the lake. I live 4 hours away from the lake and it has taken years to gather a lot of instinct and baits to use in certain situations. The best advice I can give is to fish your strength and go outside the box. For instance, sometimes a lot of anglers are fishing offshore but that doesn't mean you cannot catch shallow fish at any given point. Watch the FLW or Bassmaster tours . There is usually several bites working and the anglers are fishing what they feel comfortable with and believe what they are doing.

Good job Bo. I sensed they were scattering and running in little packs.

Forgot the pic of my dad

Bobby these were all over fish. No pattern really just got out there fished good looking spots and had the trolling motor down.

My dad, brother, and I came down for the weekend. It was a great weekend weather wise and we caught some nice fish. We didn't load the boat but we caught some good ones. Caught them on cranks and jigs all over the place. Some in 1ft some in 20ft. We didn't want to resort to drop shotting so we just kept after them. We fished from kimberling to the dam. Here is some pics.

Sore thumbs where did you order it? I have been checking tackle warehouse daily and they have been out of the good colors.

Donna I was dressed well but unfortunately I applied the sunscreen to the shoulders to late and have a terrible sunburn haha

Thanks guys. Abkeenan I almost always use a 7:1 gear ratio and it most likely is a lews BB1 pro because it launches a bait a country mile haha. When the water is cold I just have to slow down a lot. It's not what a lot of the guys do but I've learned that way and it works for me. I like the faster ratio for the dragging technique I use like Dave Barker. You can pick up slack really quick.

Caught this girl this morning at about 1030 on a crank. Caught lots of other fish too. Had probably 6 keepers. Going to go back after here in about 30 mins

I have had them roll on me and it is usually from the wire on the back end of the plopper being slightly bent and not straight. This causes it to belly roll. If you straighten out the wire it should work fine.

It was nice to meet you and pretty funny you caught me in your cove haha. I would have chatted longer but we were hit and ready to head in. The fishing was pretty good first thing in the morning on the spoon but very few bites after that. The crankbait bite has died for me and they seemed to be more suspended now. Not much love on drop shot though. Next time we will shoot the bull longer. Those are some nice fish. Night fishing is always better come summer time.

Very good advice Champ and Abk. I will catch them deep on spoons jigs and drop shot but I still love deep cranking. I usually throw a 6 or 8 XD in the summer a lot with 10 lb fluro and can get it down to 20ft. I have a 8ft KVD composite cranking rod with a Lews BB1 pro. That will get your crankbait way out there and achieve those deep depths. Brush piles are a plus when doing this and also points that are long runouts that have a distinct drop into a channel.

I have about 5 or 6 of the in-line spinners left and have actually caught quite a few nice fish on them.

I forgot about that huge meanmouth you guys caught. That is just a huge fish!

I don't know about any records for meanmouth but it was the biggest one I have ever seen and it was 21 1/2 inches long. I thought it was a smallmouth at first but then seen the lateral stripes.

Lots of boats out this weekend but that didn't deter my dad, brother, and I. Fishing was great for us. We caught lots of big fish and lost some hogs too that threw the bait. Water temp was 71-75. No topwater for us in the dam area to speak of. We were running a pattern that I'm pretty sure no one else is right now so I'm going to keep tight lipped for the moment. Lots of waves and people running right next to you and between the bank lol. I expected that so we didn't get to mad since the fishing was good. Water seems to be clearing up some as well since Thursday. My brother caught a meanmouth close to 5 and we had some SM that were right up there as well. We also caught some big LM and had some absolute hogs jump off at the boat. A couple bonus whites with one pushing 21 inches were also caught with a bonus walleye. We didn't take pics of all the big fish either because some were hooked good and were out of the water a while. It was a great weekend to say the leaset!

Sprint I thought the same thing 2 weeks ago and they were still out in 15-20 ft

Well I will tell you this. I have had some of the most viscous strikes I have ever had on that bait. Some of my biggest stringers of bass have came from that bait. You have to know where to throw it and get the right angle to catch a lot more fish. I figured this out by throwing it all day long. It's a big fish bait

Dave the water was actually a lot clearer than when it was last time we were down. It was perfect except from a topwater aspect. I think a lot of fish are going to spawn this week or next week

Will also add we had several other fish in the 6lb range jump off or jump and hang up in brush. That's the way the ball rolls sometimes but it was a blast and these fish were full of fight.

My dad and I fished Friday thru Monday. Water was 65-70. Finally figured out some nice LM this trip. They were in specific areas and we're all prespawn or in the spawning process. Caught some as deep as 20ft. All of these were on a bottom bait that I'm going to keep rich lipped about because of some upcoming tournaments. Caught a few on a spinnerbait before the rain came in on Monday. Was a great trip and we even got mom out in the boat which is rare haha. Sorry for the sideways pics

With the bass fishing not being up up to par yesterday, my dad and I decided to go after some crappie. We found some big slabs on minnows around cover. Big females that have not spawned yet. The one on the right was 17 1/2 inches. Would of let her go but she was very stressed and didn't think she would make it. It was a fun day and will be great eating tomorrow. A lot of the bass we have been catching have not spawned yet and I think there will be some big waves in the next coming days. Dam area has been tough fishing besides the smallmouth. Water is nasty.

Awesome Bo. That is a tremendous night of fishing. Nice big healthy LM in all of the pics. I'm just wondering why you out in the trailer at 12:30? Did you leave them biting? I would have stayed up all night ha.