powerdive

Welcome, topf! Interesting screen name...do you have a split personality?

Striper-inspired umbrella rigs for bass (is it really legal to use multiple lures in a tournament???)...and of course the latest fad in the walleye world is trolling bass spinnerbaits on leadcore. What next? Sabiki rigs for crappies? (makes sense to me, if legal.) Gulp crawlers on spinner harnesses for bass? (Also makes sense--Lord knows we catch enough of those green fish on our walleye rigs.)

I was trolling shad cranks on leadcore for walleyes at Bull Shoals yesterday and couldn't keep the bass away. Caught about a dozen total, including LMs of 22, 20, 17 and 16 inches and a 16 inch SM. All quite beastly--huge bodied--except for the 16 inch LM and smaller fish. Walleye-wise, Table Rock often fishes like Bull Shoals...I dunno, maybe the same goes for the bass. You guys would know better than I would. Anyway, I caught them at 22-28 feet near the edges of the gravel flats on a large inside bend. There were tons of shad and other show on sonar, esp. bunched in in 30-40 feet. I think that's the general problem: the extended high water and time of year have created a smorgasbord of shad. The walleyes have been very fat and stuffed with 3" shad.

Well done. Love your writing style.

Only time I've ever encountered such a thing. They all flew off before mid-morning. A migration, I suppose. But yeah, what an awesome thing to see and hear! Sometimes see several eagles sharing a tree or bank line. And once, down on Bull Shoals, I watched 3 eagles fight over a fish for about 15 minutes. I fish deep (sometimes 70-80 feet) in the winter. I try to avoid it, but occasionally a short crappie won't release (walleyes and whites almost always get back down okay). It'll scare the you-know-what out of you when an eagle crashes down to pick up the floater 15 feet behind you--but what a sight to watch it wing away, up to a treetop with the fish. Wintertime is the best!

Last December I saw a flock of about 200 loons sitting on the water in Little Sac. Usually only see them in pairs, and seldom more than 3 or 4 pairs a day. Love them!

Releasing two tagged fish would make sense only for a fishing derby, and would be covered/paid by an insurance policy. There's really no possible knowledge gain from such a small sample. I think it's a hoax. Last time the MDC tagged walleyes and paid rewards, they tagged 1000 fish, which allowed enough to be turned in that they could learn something about growth and movement patterns. They deduced that walleyes in Bull Shoals grow quickly and generally do not range throughout the whole lake--a very small percentage roamed, but for the most part they stayed within their own lake sections. Those tags were worth $10, $50 and $100 each. I caught a couple 50's and a few 10's--none of the 100's.

Hey Bill, don't sell yourself short. No doubt that writer would look at you and say, if I could fish like that I'd do it for a living.

Sorry. I guess really, I just don't want to know. To each their own, as long as they can keep a cool head.

"That is another good reason to pack when you go out. " Oh yeah, I want somebody with a loaded gun in my fishing boat. Only good things can happen.

I don't. Then rps will have to give up that silly bass casting stuff and concentrate on walleye trolling. Because he is so great about sharing info, I'll learn more. And maybe catch a few more walleyes myself. Bwaaahahahaaaa!

Sorry, not a clue at Cape Fair. Whites and chromes have been best for me on the mid/lower lake this summer. Last time out, Martin stuck the only eye of the day on some bright green/red thing not far from the dam. It was so ugly, it made him look handsome.

Usually this time of year we catch them in the 35-40 foot range, trolling Reef Runners on braid and shad cranks on leadcore. They've been shallower than usual this year, though--in the 18-26 foot range most of the time. That's all I can give you, other than to fish breaklines that are well off shore. Haven''t been out lately. Best to cruise likely areas and study sonar--look for shad near bottom with lots of fish activity nearby, then fish through it, regardless of the depth you find it. A spoon or jig'n'twister might get ya some.

Paco, if you can get your cranks tuned to run at 4-5 mph that might wake 'em up...

Yeah, the eyes have been much shallower than usual this year also. Not much to go on (small sample size), but tight corners and sides of ditches looked best the other day. Good luck!

Bill, good to have you back. The Baxter walleye bite has pretty well petered out for me. Not much of a show on sonar. Sunday was flat calm and very hot. We managed only one short eye that hit a crank in 25 feet. Caught very few bass while trolling cranks, which is highly unusual. Couldn't even get bothered by a bluegill on a crawler harness. Checked all depths from 16 to 30, which is where it had been happening for quite awhile. Last pass of the day, we went deeper, 35-40 feet, and found significantly better show there in the Pt. 19 area, decent numbers of shad and hooks near bottom. Running cranks on lead at 35 feet, we caught one smallie on a point and two big whites in a cove mouth. If we weren't already fried by the heat, I'd bet we could have gotten something going in the deeper water. Anyway, you might give the 35-38 foot range a good try in the midlake area....

I ran a 1992-vintage Eagle Ultra II Plus and a not-much-newer, similar-model Lowrance X-70A (the old gray connectors) until about 4 years ago, and was able to track a spoon or jig just fine even at 80 feet. With all units, I find much better definition in cold water.

Never said it was fun, just that it works.

rps has met the enemy, and he is him.

Sure seems that way sometimes.

Yes, caught a limit plus a couple shorts. Fished the Baxter/Mill Creek area.

Thanks, folks, guess I'll consider it a largemouth. Appreciate your input. My problem is, I'm catching bigger bass than walleyes this year. That's not right, and it screws up all my theories on why everybody but me should be selectively harvesting bass. Even worse, I'm now obliged to consider rps my hero. The man has definitely gotten it done on the big eyes this year!

Jeremy, my favorite is "bluff ends." It's self-explanatory, I guess, but around here you've got a bluff end about every 50 feet. Without bass eyes, I just don't see the attraction of those places.

The definition is in this post, courtesy of guide Bill Babler: http://ozarkanglers.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=28609 In essence: long, gently sloping underwater points, usually associated with moderate pea gravel shorelines. "Runout" would be the long point structure itself, "rolloff" would be where it starts to drop into deeper water (gravel usually has a less severe drop than chunk or slab rock). At least that's my understanding.

Appreciate the explanation, Mst. I spoon for suspended crappies and walleyes at Stockton all winter long, and hands down, it's my favorite fishing of the year. If I were to take up bass fishing, that approach would interest me far more than the chunkin' 'n' windin' stuff.