dtrs5kprs

Lazy day for us. Floated it around 8am, fished pretty hard until we came in for the boy's football position group meeting around 130. Went back out in the rain for a couple more hours. Temps were obviously lower, 60-61 in the morning. Did warm up some, or perhaps we just found some warmer spots. Didn't seem to matter, aside from killing our topwater bite. Water was clearing. Had 7'-8' visibility consistently. Still catching them shallow. Know it's not for everyone, have to sell out to do it. We're fishing the 1/8 head with the cut Zinkerz, 6# FC as main, or as a leader. They want that bigger head, even shallow. At least 90% of them are eating it on the bottom, at dead stop speed. No shaking, no swimming, no gliding. Yesterday was the perfect day for it. Technically today was too, but... yeah. By shallow...we are fishing the bank to maybe 7'. Have caught only a handful deeper. Have ideas as to why. Regardless, there are catchable fish there. Had three 19" fish, including a thick black to start the morning. Several 18" fish, many 15"-17". Highlights were a double with the boy catching a 19" brownie to go along with my 16" fish, and a truly stunning meanmouth, in terms of coloration. Not a big color guy. We'd been whacking them on good old PBJ and GP goby for a week. But Saturday something changed big time. Baits needed red flake... GP red, Canada Craw, California Craw. One of the prettier meanies I've seen...

Due to an *ahem* issue, I ended up rod shopping on this trip. The not great: the Falcon Expert Finesse Jig rod. 7 foot, 4 power. Very accurate, very sensitive (too sensitive), very crisp feel. Terrible Ned rod. Tip takes the bait away from fish. Rod is just too much rod, particularly with a hot fish boatside. Too much rod doesn't mean you need a light action rod, just a different blank. The good: Lew's TP1 Black 7'6" MH. First off, not my definition of a medium heavy. They sell it as an "open water rod", and it is. It's nearly identical to my custom 7'6" rods built on SJ9000 hot shot blanks. Those are, in my opinion, as good as it gets for fishing the 1/8oz Ned on 6# line on flats, and this rod is very close. Caught a couple piles of fish on it since Friday. Up close to the boat it has a fantastic shock absorber effect. Negatives... didn't find the handle especially comfortable. Gooped it up with Winn tape until it was nice and fat. Was a little concerned about the microwave guides, but sort of like how they perform. Like most Lew's, the guy who designed the hook keeper should be paddled for a few hours until he learns what they are supposed to look like, and where they should be. Liked it enough we drove up and bought two more. Have a Dobyns and Loomis on the way, but may send them back after finding the Lew's. Still not the same as my old 7'6" Abu Venerate, but that was a special blank.

Ehhh... sounds like thunder boomers for late in the week. Wife and some church friends are going to Branson. Hope they didn't plan to picnic.

Not now. 😂🤣😂

It got flat nasty after 2pm.

You'd love LOZ. We'll chip in for the room.

👀

Gotta slow down. Stupid Smallmouth Syndrome hit them today, although the squall around 330pm finally pushed our button. Had a really solid day.

Dude...we need to revoke your TR privileges. It's getting our of hand.

Did. Don't think it's warm enough yet. That Arashi has a super smooth, subtle glide to it. They eat it. Apparently no one likes it. Bought a bunch on clearance yesterday at the Lew's store.

Yep. I think there is a big wave of brown fish that hasn't come in. Gut feeling from years of fishing for them, preferentially. We caught all three (no meanies ☹️) in the same kinds of places today. Some bedding hard, some spraying, some gutted, some clearly haven't been near the bank. Lot of fish aren't on the banks, but bedding in the "vee" of the backs of spawn coves. Can't really see them, even with the lake clearing up. At least I can't. Still not catching many that are really eating. Not spitting shad, craws. Boy did have a brown fish around 19" that hacked up a big perch. Cold night hurt the morning. We fished 7am-ish to 730pm. Mix of the little rig, a quirky Japanese plastic, a jig, and some topwater for us today. Jig was shallow, on a sharp drop. Water temps took a hit overnight, but we were reading 65+ by 4pm.

Boy had some spots slapping at the little airboat looking bait Sunday. Told him to quit throwing it because it was killing my tranquility.

Agreed. Best thing to happen to Lawrence was Quantrill.

We went right at HWY 13 and went to Lew's and BPS, lol. Y'all can have that wind. Meant to stop at F&F too, but got short on time. Had to get to Lampe for some Fillin' Station take out.

Just realized my phone changed "walking" to "waking". We're throwing the 12 size Storm Arashi Top Walker, and a Vixen. Won't eat a fin or not-fin, for whatever reason.

Yep. That explains it.

Only things that have changed since we got here on 4/26 are the weather, and the pool. Think most folks know what we do, how we do it, and generally where. Although we get around quite a bit more than many would expect. We're fishing finesse on gravel, including main lake places, specifically with the Ned. Also catching some dragging the doctor or a fry. Water color hasn't mattered a bit. Same for snot, wind, or water color. We've caught very few fish deeper than 10', not for lack of looking. Started getting a topwater bite Sunday, but my guess is the cold weather will hurt it. Lot of them were slapping at it more than eating it. Spawn coves, pole timber points, and guts on that bite. Obviously better with shad everywhere. It seemed to pop at 64 degrees (on our graph, anyway). Waking baits have been better than wakers. Catching all four species on the same stuff, same baits. Plus a few big whites on topwater. Catching a lot of blacks, and a lot of solid K's, which is a little different.

Looks like a meanie to me. You see a few color variations in them.

Yep. Lot of them were slapping at it, but enough are eating it to keep it interesting. Walkers, not wakers. The finesse bite continues to rock along. With apologies for multiple puns.

Yikes. Glad I stay under $600 with my graphs.

The wind has just been brutal.

Speaking of big swimbaits...

I'm a 7'6" spin rod guy for anything except the 1/16 Ned. And we use 7'6" for it, with the finesse Shadz, and for the 1/32 heads. After building a few, buying a few, the 7'6" Abu Venerate was as close to my customs as I've found.

Was shocked to be one of the only boats in the friendly confines this morning. Boy wanted to work on the topwater fish, so we did. Pretty much by ourselves.

We were, on a split shot and doctor or fry. Those fish changed to Ned, deadsticking it, for us. I'm not torn up about it 😂. Caught a boatload of good Kentuckies this afternoon. Took 6-7 hours to find useful wind.