dtrs5kprs

There was a post on here a day or so ago about lipless baits, kind of lost track of it. Useful sometimes for schoolies but not sure about others... Hard to beat 4-5" smoke or s&p grubs, all manner of little green finesse worms (berkley shaky worm, zoom finessse-w'melon red, grn pmpk, w'melon candy), really little green finesse worms (zoom meatheads, berkley slim shaky, chompers drop shot worm). Fish doctors, then centipedes for rigs, senkos in same colors plus shad colors. White tubes, 4" lizards for bed fish. Will probably see you then if you are fishing with Bill...will be fishing out of Schooner Ck resort at that time into May. Should be hard to beat. Would like to see a little more water though.

Around KC put the chunk rock LOZ looking banks out of your mind and look for gravel or transitions to gravel. Look for banks that make you think, "What am I doing here when all the other boats are hitting the sexy looking banks?" Once you find a few of those places you don't have to move around much...have spent a ton of days on those and never put the Ranger on plane except to run out and back. Lot of that water from 13 to Fish Hook resort area. Once the sticks slow and the water warms, the shakey and drag bite should get going on those banks. Don't worry about wood and such. Took me 11 years to figure that out. Spent about 5 just getting the stupid bluffs and vertical swing banks out of my ehad.

Aunts is so hot I caught 7 keepers in there today on warts...and I was at work in KS all day.

Curious how you fish lipless baits on the Rock. Have caught some school fish, gravel points, also sometimes as a vertical bait, but just don't normally throw them.

Anymore I fish from Baxter back to the Cow creeks most of the time. The rivers do warm up earlier (color, shallower) and I used to die hard from Viola to Arkansas fishing shallow. KC area is a lot more of the finesse stuff, and more brownies. Drop your line size to 6# for grubs and shakey heads, 8-10# for sticks, that sort of thing. Weather, especially wind is a real key. Have to find the right types of places where fish pull up also, not always pretty places. Stay off the banks unless it is blowing, any wind is better than none. Should be able to catch some on smoke grubs, sticks in Schooner, Whites, maybe Little Cow for starters. Gravel places, transition banks, swing banks.

Had a similar experience in November running back to KC past the Cow Creeks. Huge cruiser plowing water at about 20-25mph. Wake was like a barge wake from the Mississippi R., no crest just big drop offs. Could not safely get past it in my 521-tried to accelerate past it but it spread too far, tried to time and jump but just ended up pounded. Managed to tack & surf across the lake into Little Cow and fished for about 30 minutes before the wakes ever really quit. Saw it again up by Schooner but was able to scoot around in front of it and get back. Unreal. I'll take wind any day over that. Used to run barge wakes around Prairie Du Chien, WI / Quad Cities, IA / Lake Cooper, IA, etc...don't miss the big river at all. There you can't do anything but run thru them, can't stray much to the sides due to the channel/wing dams/etc.

absolutely beautiful fish

But what about a Ma's breakfast? Can't fish without taters and eggs.

If you don't have fish in the livewell, or don't intend to, well... Just about as close as you will find to a modern facility in most bass rigs.

Wiring directly is ok, but don't forget some sort of breaker.

That is a great explanation.

Only managed to catch one all last year, and that was flipping docks in the fall. Used to hit a bunch of them on the same spring places where I catch brown fish. But then I also only caught a handful of K's last year. Thank goodness for those brown fish. Anyone know if they showed up much in tmt bags last year?

How is it rigged, meaning: wire size, fuse / breaker set-up, plug or hard wire, etc...? Where did you measure the batteries, at the battery or at the bow? If it is a standard foot pedal is the wheel adjustment actually changing the speed setting? Is it a straight 24V or is it a 12/24V that requires switching? Ran basically the same motor on a 462 Ranger for 9 years, except for toasting one at Pomme in a moment of stupid with a big hardwood, it was basically bulletproof. On a few occasions it was not, however, "me" proof. Usually was something to do with a wire, plug, or the foot switch. Had a lot of foot switches changed out on that one. 10 minutes on high should not have been a big deal unless you are running that motor on a boat over 18-19', or unless maybe it was on high bypass the whole time. The fact that both batteries tested well makes me think the motor was somehow not pulling enough power, at least after it slowed down on you. Would have expected it to be down.

Bummer. I've always carried the Teleflex fill tool and instructions, but have fortunately never had to use it. Now I have one more thing to check and re-check over the next few weeks, sounds like about the same trim position my Ranger and Merc 250 require. On the plus side, that brownie makes me start thinking about a 1/2 way back jig bite. Would have expected the stick to work for you with wind. Have a better trip home.

If many more Iowans keep coming, the MO folks will have to start buying non-resident tags. Good luck, it definitely beats flipping trees at Little River. Do you hit any of the little oxbow lakes along IA's west coast? Dave Reeves Recovering member Des Moines Bass Club

howdy

Really hope no one thought I was trying to be negative towards Ralph or the Heartland organization. Tried to be open about not singling any organization out. This is one of the reasons I just fish. As Bill notes, if you are just fishing (and I find it sort of sad to distinguish the two) I don't have to stop spooning a spot b/c I am catching whites, or stop swimming a smoke grub if the brownies I am catching are short. Cranky little brownies pulling on 6# line will work fine for me, all day.

Fished 11/3 to 11/12 more or less from Big Creek area back to Cow Creek vicinity. Struggled on my usual brownie places around Hwy 13 and Baxter. Moved on to flipping deeper docks with 3/4oz football jigs in the Baxter area. Big jig was better than the little round head jigs (reaction bite?). Decent bite there for blacks on the docks until the lake kept dropping, tapered off around Monday/Tuesday for me. Some nice fish, but a lot of work, as docks always are. Best docks were on chunk rock banks or points, about 30-50' on the fronts. Fish were mostly 10-20', a few shallower early in the week on walkways. Lots of shorts later in the week fishing a shakey head in same places. Could not catch them pitching the spoon in the slips. Still working on that. Also did not do well on docks on gravel. As that bite died, moved on to deep ends of flats, 20-35', in the Indians dragging the same FB, also fishing "nothing" looking secondary points in 15-30' with the jig. Decent there, but not fantastic. Little bit of an early morning redfin bite on bluff ends and swings, probably tried it too much. Found some deep kentuckies and whites on 11/4, finally went back to them on 11/12. Around Point #9, 40-60' on a white spoon, kind of off to the sides of the tops of the high spots. As I just saw Bill mention in a catch-up read (man, I need a lap top to take to the lake), I could not see the fish on the graph. They were smack on the bottom, but very aggressive. Did not necessarily have bait around them, which was a new experience for me. Stuck some nice 15-16" whites, no whites less than 12", and a few decent kentuckies. Learned a lot, fished a lot of water I do not normally (and may not again). I learn more about this lake when I am not on fish and have to really work at it. Lowlights: Cell phone preventing me from hooking up with troutgnat. Sorry Darren. My brownies abandoning me. Highlights: Discovering that the BPS Speedo Craw is a flat awesome FB jig trailer, esp in W'melon Red and their "swirly" PB&J colors. Really stay on the jig and swims/flaps well. Not hitting the peacock that flew in front of me on H highway going to Baxter . Did not realize until then how similar peacocks and turkeys are (feeding together that morning). Putting a face and a handshake with all of our own Bill Babler's great posts and info at Ma's on Wednesday. Also watching him clean about a million white bass at the Schooner Creek dock . So you want to get paid to fish...

Darren...sounds like the same day I had that day. Improved things a bit later in the week up the White. Cell phone never did work right the whole trip, dropped you while I was leaving a vm telling you it would probably drop you . Will call you from the house about your wiggle warts this week. Dave Reeves

Please don't think I am targeting Heartland. Hear these issues with the other circuit too.

I think that is spot on. If each pro-am encounter was successful (not necessarily productive in terms of fish, just a good learning experience) it would be different. Maybe it's bad luck, but John's experiences have been mostly not good (no fish, broken down boat, no clue generally), with the exception of one day with Mike Webb about 10 years ago.

Appreciate the report. Those brownies will bury up more than folks think.

Unfortunately, I hear more stories like John's than not. Have had some anglers from my local (former) club do well as back seaters, but they are usually guys who are probably on the fringe of fishing the other side. One of the reasons I stopped fishing tmts, picked one lake, and have tried to learn it as well as I can on my own and with some very wlecome local help.

Anyone have a guess at the current water management strategy? Are we in "let's fill Beaver all the way up so if it rains or we get snow we can absloutely panic, open the gates, and flood T-Rock, thus leading to flooding out Taneycomo, then Bull" mode? Seems kind of jacked up for fall. Know we have had crazy rain throughout the watershed, but also seems like that might have been planned for a little earlier.

Yeah, reminds me of why I don't fish tmts anymore. Had a good time, just not anywhere close to the right bite. Partner didn't tell him if they were over fish or bait, trees or open water. Never let him know what depth he was expecting fish at. Said when they went shallow (where all keepers came from) the boat was about 4' from the bank with almost zero casting room / angles. Not sure why people fish the am side, I guess in the name of learning a lake, but it usually does not seem to work out that way. Seems like a guide trip would be money better spent. I'm hoping they will just run water, not open gates this round. Might give some fish a chance to adapt to the water. John said most everyone with fish was talking about jigs fairly shallow. Seems to make sense, but I'm guessing around docks and maybe the old waterline more than junk. Will find out Tues am I suppose.