powerdive

Another excellent report, Marty--thank you. Good luck to you and your clients in '09! Mike

Knew you'd like that.

Darn bass are everywhere. People need to start eating them.

I'm gon go raht out thar en ketch his grandaddy, then, now's I knows whar he be.

I just want those darn green fish out of the way. Seriously, I agree that Nathan's report was more detailed than most--so what? I disagree that anything significant could come of it. Slice and dice the numbers a bit...add in the timing and personal factors...and it probably leaves you with nothing more than good info for some future day when conditions are just right, if they should ever come again. Of those 341 views, how many actually read the post? (Topic is a ramp question, popsted 4 days previously.) Of those, how many are interested? (It's species-specific; other people just like to read controversial threads; the majority are probably multiple viewers like us--not unique viewers.) Of those, how many have the opportunity to use the info? Of those, how many will actually go to those spots? Of those, how many have the specific capability to duplicate the feat? (Equipment, ability, technique, spot knowledge...) Add in the micro and macro climatic and water conditions, plus bait movement, plus the fact that the report was TWO WEEKS OLD at the time of posting, and I'd bet you're down to zero.

TFW, Ken Shultz's book has been around for years and is geared more toward Great Lakes and coastal fishing. Assuming you know how to work your downrigger and you want to look at other, easier delivery methods, Precision Trolling offers a ton of usable trolling info plus specific dive curves for most major crankbaits. (Since the depths you'll be fishing are attainable without the rigger, you'll probably want to run more than one rod.) PT is the easiest way to ensure your bait is working in the strike zone; most walleye guys around here use it religiously. http://www.precisionangling.com/

Correction, I use 20/6 SpiderWire braid for longline trolling. Braid drastically increases your trolling depth, and I like having the extra beef for snags/vicious hits. Sorry. For downrigging, suggest you stick with mono. The stretch is helpful in playing the fish successfully after the release. Have a BIG net with plenty of handle reach.

No riggers. I use trolling rods with linecounter reels loaded with either 10/2 Stealth braid or leadcore. Sometimes use planer boards to run 3 or 4 lines and open the spread. Check bends and points from the mouth of the Kings to Holiday Island--lotta water there, but it's all walleye water most years (this year stunk). Scout with your sonar before you fish an area--make sure there is lots of activity low in the water column (unless fishing timber--there the fish suspend--rps can help you with that). Proven lures include Reef Runners and Shad Raps, providing you can get them where they need to be. The key is precise depth placement. You might be running at 20 feet in June, and 40 feet by August............ If you run a downrigger, stay off the contours and out of the timber, or you'll lose a ball or worse. Use floating stickbaits--not deep divers--or crawler harnesses or flutter spoons, and watch your speed to optimize lure action.

Sorry, gents. I really don't think the fishery is that fragile.

TFW, troll inside bends with channel drops (usually well away from shore), as well as the edges of large points that have a good bit of shallower water on top. Follow the contours around, staying at the same relative depth (i.e., 17-20)...start shallow, then move progressively deeper on ensuing passes. Know how deep your lures run, and keep them close to the bottom. When you connect, focus on that depth for the rest of the day.

Ham and Forsythian, in my opinion that's just ridiculous. The report was two weeks old at the time of posting. They had such a good day the young man was still excited. What on earth makes you think anyone could go and duplicate that feat (if legit) the next day, much less two-plus weeks after the fact? This is a fishing forum, after all, with the purpose of sharing information, is it not? Seems to be what's lacking, and I guess now we know why. Mike

We caught a few at 27 to 40 feet last Thursday. Water temp was on the warm side yet, 51 to 53 at Cedar Ridge. It was sunny and calm, and they were hunkered down in the brush and wouldn't come out. Still waiting for the shad schools to show up.

Good report, Marty, thanks. Just want to add, on the vertical jigging in cold water, crappies have a notorious tendency to "lift" the jig on the take--meaning that all of a sudden, your line will go slack. The fish is swimming upward. That calls for an IMMEDIATE over-the-head hookset, or he'll be gone. No matter how quick you are, you'll still miss quite a few. Took me a long time to get the hang of this, and I still miss 'em about 1/3 of the time. Part of the fun, though.

Nah... I just don't understand what soggy is saying. I'm sure he has a valid point to make, but...well...what is it? There's something left unsaid here.

Okaaaaaayyy.....for those of us who don't read them, please, what's yer point?

Being from the land of natural lakes, I don't really understand how fall turnover works on flowing reservoirs. We fished out of Big M yesterday, looking for walleyes. All we found were a few bass and a big bluegill. It was a nice day to be out. However, the water temp was 54. Back home that would be right in the middle of turnover. We did notice quite a few white swirly windrows on the surface, but the water was very, very clear. On the electronics, we didn't find much for shad on the main lake--in fact, there wasn't a lot of fish life of any kind showing. Not like usual in that stretch; it's normally a very fertile area. It was like fishing a lake on another planet. So, would you say that the lake is turning over in that area?

My apologies to the board. I really was little too blunt. But coming from up north, I'm extremely happy with the fishing conditions here--the weather's better, the recreational traffic is much lighter, the people are more courteous, and the rules are far less restrictive. Guess it's just a matter of perspective. Again, my apologies. Mike

Finally, some balance and sensibility. There's 80 billion acres of water out there. The marinas provide a valuable service, and should be allowed to operate their businesses without a bunch of fishing boats creating problems. Their equipment is not meant to be fishing structure, and common courtesy would dictate staying out of the way if you're not a customer. No matter how badly you want it to be so, it's not just a fishing lake. Quit whining and live with it. Perhaps there should've been more participation in the legislative process, but maybe it just wasn't working too well. One of my best bass/walleye spots was lost when K Dock on Bull Shoals expanded. I didn't like it, but I got over it. There's plenty more good spots waiting to be found out there.

We took an accidental limit of keeper crappies (no shorts caught) off a couple east-side points in the Point 6 area of Big Sac on Saturday. We were trolling small cranks on leadcore near bottom at 21-23 feet, trying to catch walleyes; the crappies just kinda got in the way, but we didn't mind. I imagine we could've stopped and jigged up a bunch, but we didn't bother. There are definitely some crappies using most of the marked brushpiles in that area of the lake too--straight off the signs in 18-25 feet of water. Hope that helps.

I read your reports every week, Marty. Thank you for your time and effort--great job! Mike

Troy, note that rps was using 10# PowerPro. That stuff has the equivalent diameter of 2# mono. It gets your lures WAY deeper, especially with that much line out, since it doesn't float and puts up very little water resistance. With certain lures (Reef Runner 800), I'm able to run baits unassisted at 40' with only about 125' to 135' of line out. And if the fish want smaller lures, leadcore can get 'em there too.

PHhunter, I agree with you. For many people, selective harvest is a very sensible approach--respect the resource, keep only what you can truly enjoy, release all others. However, for the good of the reasource there's nothing wrong with people strongly advocating full-time catch and release. The problem is when they overstep their bounds and insist on cramming their views down other people's throats. Kind of a fine line, there. Speaking of the walleye, I wish there were a rule that if you're fishing in an entry-fee tournament, you agree not to put any other species in your livewell other than the target species. That means no bass fishermen bring home walleyes, and no walleye fishermen bringing home crappies, etc. Just my opinion.

A bunch of MSW walleye guys were out there having fun this weekend, with easy pickins on both walleyes and crappies. My pard and I were pulling cranks; we limited almost twice over on walleyes and could have limited on crappies if we'd wanted to. Ended up taking 8 walleyes and 15 nice crappies home. Just hit 20 feet on mainlake points or midlake flats, and you'll do fine. Cranks or jigs, your call.

Amen that, techo. We learned our lesson in the walleye circuit. July and August are now out of the tourney picture for us now--and that holds true even in some of the northern states as well. Just too much stress on the fish. However, round here bass fishing is a river of gold. Good luck trying to get tourneys banned in summertime. One could try to establish more stringent regulations for them, though. Fly-by-nighters, company derbies, fundraisers, small-club tourneys--no matter how "small" or cash-strapped an organized event, the TD should be required to obtain a regatta permit from Water Safety (which is free) and a Corps permit ( which isn't). In addition, I wish MDC would also be involved in the approval process, including enforcing minimum standards for fish-handling equipment and processes. Easy for a non-bass guy to say, huh? Not likely to be a popular view, but that's mine.

We didn't find any walleye today either. However, my son-in-law did catch his best bass to date whilst we were trolling for eyes. 22", sleek and healthy. No idea what a bass that size would weigh, but quite a thrill for him. Caught at 31 feet on the edge of a flat between Eagle Rock and the power lines.