Alex Heitman

Yeah it is pretty frustrating they take your money for that long. I fished the open here a few years back and they did the same thing.

Hmmm. Yeah I don't really know how that works and the people on the phone you call don't know either ha! I just figured since I signed up as soon as it was available I would get to do it. That is of course there wasn't a bunch of life members that signed up first

Did anyone else sign up to be a Marshall when the elites come down to table rock this upcoming year? I signed up as soon as it was available. I called today and I am still on the waiting list??? Anyone know how this works?

Maybe the bass school split up and some bass pushed up the shad while the others ones waited

Guys I have to say I do fish some so called "commercial" docks every once in a while. I have caught my fair share of some gains there as well.I know the people that have there boats there and they would never turn you in. They welcome you and talk to you about the fishing. With that being said you better be careful if you do fish a commercial dock and never fish them during a tournament. I hate that they are off limits because they are in some really good fishing areas.

Yeah guys I was in aunts creek. haha. I actually spent a lot of time in Beardsley Branch up on flats and points. Just looked for the flats that had stumps on them and focused on those areas. Went into little indian as well and did the same thing. Could get nothing going on the jerk. Caught all of them on the wiggle wart.

Water temp was 50-51

We got on the water this morning at 8 and tried the jerkbait and a-rig first thing. After 2 hours with only 1 big smallmouth on the a rig, I pulled up to a flat and picked up a wiggle wart. First cast bang. 18 inch LM. Fish was no deeper than 5 ft. The rest of the day we caught around 20. All really shallow. Only a few shorts with the others being nice quality keepers. All three species too. Lost a big LM right at the boat probably 5+ lbs. Had the boat no deeper than 15ft for the whole day. Most of the fish came off flats. Really surprised me with all the deep fish talked about. They were just hammering the crank and couldn't move off the bank to look for deep fish. I did find a massive school of fish that I'm going after tomorrow right when I was headed in for the day. Good luck guys

Jerkbait, spoon, jig, A-rig is my guess. If there is a shad die off the jerkbait might be on fire right now

Don't ever try the green shad color. They never bite that color, especially in the kings

Does anyone know what time the marina opens in the morning? I need gas bad haha

Quill I'm the same way. Sometimes I get hung up on an area because it has produced so well and just force one to bite when instead I could be in another spot where they are more active haha. I also try to fish new water everyone I'm out though.

Here is the Brownie

Got down on Friday at 5. Was pretty spoiled since the fish were in a feeding frenzy with the rain and wind. Threw a blade the whole time and caught some bigger fish. K's Brown and LM. Caught what I think was my personal best smallmouth. No scale but would guess 4.5 +. LM and K's were all around 3.5 lbs. Caught about 10 and then it was dark so called it a night. The fish that night were in the back of a cove from 5 ft to right on the bank. Sat. And Sun. We really had to work for them. Could not get a wart or blade bite going at all. The fish seemed to be here and there and never had a pattern going. Fished primarily main lake and secondary points. Few fish came from the backs of creeks.Tried docks with jig and managed only one barely legal K.Pretty much just threw a 5xd all day long up to the the bank with a fast retrieve grinding the bottom all the way. Fished whatever spots looked good to me. Managed 8 fish all day Saturday, all keepers. Sunday morning was tough. Only one fish early until about 930 and then the wind really picked up and managed 6 fish. All Fat keeper K's. All on blade right on bank. If you weren't in the strong wind you weren't catching anything.Lost a big LM by dock walkway due to the darn cable lol. Overall a good trip and can't wait until Nov 2nd for the big bass tourney. Good Luck

Ham you could make it suspend but I think it would kill the action of it

Fishing hodge I would love to fish this event but I will not beach my boat to weigh in fish. Is there a courtesy dock there you could park until you weigh in your fish.

Watson wins with 44 lbs. it took only 34 lbs to be in the top 10. I thought the weights would be a little higher than that. I think a lot of guys were scared to go deep because it wasn't consistent everyday. Stacey King ended up in 6th place. Man I just thought they would flat out catch some bigger fish because they are so good. I hope they come back next year, really thinking about fishing on the even.

If you guys want some bigger spots they are there. Caught lots of 16-17 inchers but they were way up in the dock slips with the drop shot. If there was a boat lift it was even better. Trouble is after you hook them you have to fight them until they are tired and better have a long net or you will never get the fish in the boat.

Thanks guys I was hoping it was just the conditions. It's a grind that's for sure but there is fish to be caught. I think the bigger LM that you can catch are up shallow in the bushes and you may only catch one or two but they will be bigger fish. I have two days left down here. Debating on grinding it out and going shallow one day or just staying deep the remainder of the trip. Here is a couple pics of the bigger blacks I caught shallow. Good luck guys.

Good the hear Quillback. I got on some today as well. Football jig this morning in the back of a cove with a long flat. Thought I had a big bass on but it stayed down and ended up being a 10 lb flathead. What a fight! Ha. The rest of the day ended up drop shotting dock slips and found a bunch of K's. ended up with probably around 15 fish. Going back out this evening in Indian point area we will see how it goes.

I don't know if it is me but I doubt it is but the bite has been flat out tough for me. I can't recall when I have had this hard of a time of catching fish and trying to develop some type of pattern. I have been down here since Friday and have caught all of my bigger fish dead shallow in the bushes. This takes lots of time and effort and not very many fish to show for either but they are bigger at least. I can't get a consistent deep bite either. Have tried drop shotting and deep with the FB jig but not very consistent and takes work as well. I cannot get fish to bite deep unless there are by docks as well I have not had one open water deep fish yet which is odd for me. I also went way up into long creek today for 5 hours and managed only 2 fish! At least they were 3+ lbs. Both were caught on square bill. Basically what I'm wondering is if I'm doing something wrong or if everyone is struggling. I have caught two 4 lb fish but geeze my best day numbers wise was 9. I'm blaming the bad fishing on the hot weather and rising water temps ha!

The table rock sp color looks like a new color. Is this an old color and if so has anyone tried it. Looks killer.

My take on the rules is that since you cannot cull you are allowed to have 6 fish in your boat. Lets say you put five in the box. The rule states you cannot cull but are allowed to keep six. So you keep fishing and catch a bigger fish that would cull. Well you just simply keep it and use it to cull another smaller fish but you do not throw the smaller fish back. You bring it to the weigh in site and do not count it towards your limit but it is put in the release boat. This is probably not right but just my take on the rule

Right there with you abkneenan. This year unfortunately I have had nice smallmouth almost completely swallow my tube and injured them on the fight to the boat. I did not mess with them and just cut the line. They ended up coming up after there release and not making it. I hate it when that happens. Made me sick.

This brown water has me all excited. Green pumpkin tube with orange tentacles should drive them nuts.