Alex Heitman

I didn’t know those strike king king shads could wake. I thought they were sub surface. I thought you needed the wake shad for them to wake. I have one I plan on trying tomorrow.

I almost stop by point 1 every time I’m down but it has been a lot slower for me the past 2 years

Thanks guys. Fish was caught between cedar and Akers 😛 on a crawler. My dad was just fishing for trout for dinner for my mom and him. He usually keeps a few rainbows and has caught some big rainbows over 5 before but not even close to this big. Especially for a brown. I’m happy for him and looking forward to the mount.

My dad caught this brown that weighed over 12 lbs today on the current river. Fish was about 28 1/2 inches and he caught it on 2lb line. It took him he estimates about 15-20 mins to bring in. It’s an absolute beast for that river. I was so happy for him. I’m in Florida on vacation and talked to him for about an hour about it. He caught it on his last cast before he was headed back to the truck. He planned on releasing but the fish was not going to make it. He is going to mount it and I remember a post a while back about fish mounts. Does Phil or anyone know who does a good fish mount in the area?

My guess is he had it trimmed up too high and caught a wake just right. Glad everyone is okay and skeet saw him. I used to bad about not wearing a kill switch over the years but the videos posted the last few years on here have me wearing it all the time.

Don't get me wrong Champ and Bill, it was a great day on the water. Usually this time of year there is a window where you can flat catch 50-100 fish in a day and that's what we were expecting. For the last few years anyway we go about this exact time and hammer the smallmouth on the Ned and senkos with topwater. It just didn't happen this year. Those days we planned on fishing until from daylight until about 4 or 5 and stayed on the water until dark because they were biting so good. My dads back would hurt for a week haha. It was still a great day on Friday. Maybe like Bill said with so much pressure lately a lot of these fish are seeing lots of baits and being caught. I thought about busting out the deep crank this time but the bushes were just too good to pass up. It won't be long if they are not already starting on it. Maybe the MLF guys will try it but I think it will be hard for them to do with a lot of fish still up.

Fished Friday with my dad. We caught around 30 with maybe half being keepers. I really thought it would be better. No topwater for us. Maybe the cold front knocked them down. I really thought we would hammer them and catch around 50 or more. We could not get on the smallmouth. We tried a little be deeper with Ned and Neko rig but no love. Most of them came shallow less than 10 and a bunch in the bushes. We tried all our go to smallmouth spots and ended up catching LM or spots in those locations. Caught some nice 2 1/2 lb fish but nothing really over 3 lbs. We still had a great day on the water but not what I was expecting. Morning bite was good but then we had a lull where the fish would just pick it up and drop it. Probably on beds but we would set the hook and they would come right unbuttoned. After the sun came out the bite picked up and we started just fishing flooded willows and bushes and produced a lot better. Most likely would have had a better day if we started doing that from the get go. No love on swimbait just a couple bumps. Here is a beautiful colored smallmouth my dad caught. This spot is usually stacked with them but only caught this one.

Oh forgot. Sunday was freezing in the morning so I stayed in until around 10. Fished for about 3 hours and caught all three species on a swimbait in about 20 ft of water. Water temp had dropped into the mid 40’s and had about 6 fish and 4 were just barely keepers.

Had a boys trip out of happy hollow this weekend. Started at the dam and caught some good smallmouth Friday on a rock crawler early but decided to head all the way up long creek by yoccum. We caught very little up that way and disappointed in water color and the bite. Big fish of the weekend was around 4 lbs caught before the storm hit on a spinnerbait. After the rain rolled by we went back to around the dam and caught keepers on a rig but nothing big. Couldn’t get much on a jerkbait or anything else. Really thought we would get into a better bite but didn’t happen. Saturday was brutal and the roughest water I’ve seen on table rock. Waves were massive and the wind didn’t let up. Fish were extremely close to cover and tight lipped and would only swat at arig and jerkbait. Had a great time and I’m sure they are biting somewhere but we didn’t get into them. Friday was best day and a friend and I probably had around 13-14 lbs. I thought the nasty weather would turn them on but we must have been in the wrong place at the wrong time. Can’t wait for the next few weeks and more stable fishing. This post has been promoted to an article

The days are different on this stage. Usually it’s tuesday-Sunday but it’s Friday-Wednesday this time around.

Well that did not end up the way I wanted that to come out. It should have said I “always” turn off the electronics when fishing shallow.

Another thing I do fishing shallow is never turn off the electronics. For me it has made a difference. May not be the case but I make sure they are off

Why would the dam be the coldest? Usually deeper water in the winter stays warmer. Now when it warms up outside the dirtier water will warm up faster butbia usually bad if you have dirty water water that is below 45

Lew’s makes a wart rod that is great for 6-12 ft cranks

Yeah I hope it’s just the weather affecting the fish and this isn’t the way it will be at every event. Pretty boring to 1lb them to death. I don’t think it will last many years if this continues. Brett yeah I haven’t been fishing much since Spring. I joined my brothers chiro practice in Jan 2017. It’s been great. Hoping to get out and visit your cove soon haha

Nobody has said anything about it but the bass pro tour kicked off yesterday in Florida. I watched some of it between patients yesterday. Some big fish caught but not the avg fish weight I was expecting from Florida. I think today will turn out better and bigger fish will be caught. You can watch it starting at 9am on the major league fishing website.

Bo I know that lit up background in your pic ha. That’s my home water. Our dock is tucked in there behind you

Fished last night and this morning early. Fishing is very tough. Hard to get bites that’s for sure. I had fish schooling all around me for an hour and could only get 3 to the boat. Tried topwster, swimbait, jigs, spoon, and deep cranks.

The rule really only applies if you are fishing a tournament. I’ll come out and say I have fished many of those docks during recreational time. I’ve never saw the water patrol before that law but I may be wrong.

Megabass, mcsticks, and lucky craft for me. I don’t mind spending the money on Megabass because they work. If you don’t smash them on rocks or a dock they last. Make sure a get a lure retriever with a 20 ft dog leash so you don’t lose them. I’ve caught lots of fish on all three baits. I fish them all on 10 lb invisx fluorocarbon.

It’s the lew’s custom speed stick. Here is a link to it for tackle warehouse http://www.tacklewarehouse.com/Lews_Custom_Speed_Stick_Casting_Rods/descpage-WCL.html Here is the link to the wart special as well. The wart special is my favorite cranking rod. http://www.tacklewarehouse.com/Lews_Custom_Speed_Stick_Crankbait_Casting_Rods/descpage-LCSC.html

I like the lew’s jerkbait special it’s 6’ 7”. Has a nice soft tipi also use the wart special. It’s a little longer 7’ but same medium action. At times I wil use an old pro qualifier that is 6’6” and medium heavy. It has a soft tip but a little more power for warmer water temps when the fish are more aggressive

ITS possible you didn’t have the drain plug in exactly right. If any of you see my dad make sure and ask him if he knows how to put the plug in right haha

Hey guys if you are looking for a Winter series to fish on Table Rock this is a good one. Entry fee is relatively low at $100 a boat. I’ve fished the first 2 events and there are 5 left. See you guys at the next one!