powerdive

Yes, I had a young lady pulling a tube nearly remove me from the gene pool a couple summers ago. However, as I intimated rather capriciously above (more words for you, rps), it could be much worse. And with all the homes and resorts around the lake, it's not going to get any better. So everybody might as well just learn to deal with it.

You toothless, tobacky-spittin', bass-worshipin', sleeveless, cornbread 'n' Moon Pie-eatin' Ozarkers are spoiled. Your artificial lakes are 10 to 50 times the size of those natural lakes those up north, and about a tenth as busy. Get over yourselves, quit complaining, and learn how to be sociable. Mostly tongue-in-cheek, except for the spoiled/busy part. Really, at least down here you can still fish on the weekends. It's not nearly as bad as some make it out to be, in my opinion.

I would not recommend keeping your post up, QB. Many folks don't read closely nor between the lines. It was funny, but a little too real for skimmers. As you can see.

Thanks for the straight talk, Bill.

Sounds like it was written by a bass fisherman--oh wait, it WAS written by a bass fisherman. I have a pkg of TR walleye in the freezer, so...wondering about this. Your humor is a little off, QB.

Horrible day for me. Not a single eye. Fished from 8' to 46'. Amazing show on sonar, but nothing wanted to eat my cranks or my jigs. At least I got to meet Jeff.

I'm a lifelong lake fisherman. I need to get over my aversion to shallow water. The thinking part of my brain agrees with you, Wayne, and says that there are probably more active walleyes in shallow water virtually any time of year, but my stubborn streak (which controls a much larger portion of gray matter) tells me to stay in my comfort zone. Duh.

Jeff, check the archives here for both Bull Shoals and the Table Rock forum. There's been some good discussion on that...just gotta dig it up.

I seldom see enough current to make a distinction. I assume we've been talking about the Snapp-to-Mincy area. Upstream will be a different story, but I don't troll there.

Jeff, I use leadcore and flatlines for cranks, target a small depth range (say, 23' to 26') on each pass, and try to run the baits within a couple feet of the bottom. I generally keep it at 2 mph in the warm months, although a little more speed will sometimes trigger a better bite. (Sheer laziness--it's just easier to figure running depth for leadcore at 2 mph.) Sometimes the tough part is getting your cranks down thru the gar. I don't bounce much anymore, as I prefer to cover water. But generally spinner harnesses work best at 0.7 to 1.5 mph. Colorado blades are best slow, willows are better for the higher speeds. Keep it slow for Slow Death rigs. I mostly troll the outside edges of flats. In the height of summer you might do better vertically jigging the mouths of ditches that cut thru the flats, at 25 to 40 ft. I hail from Delavan/Lake Geneva.

By the way, the tagging study conducted by the MO DOC a few short years ago concluded that there was very little movement between lake sections. In other words, the vast majority of the fish that spawned at Powersite "lived" above the state line.

Jeff, that's unusual. Probably a reflection of the great spawns that came out of the high water years. But in my experience, walleyes of all sizes live in that area. I've caught 'em from 8" to 33" there. Most of the time, May into October, I troll cranks at 18 to 30 feet. So, you just had one of those days, in my opinion. Seems there's always lots of show on sonar there, but you can still blank one day and load up the next--welcome to the South. (I'm from WI too.)

Jason for President!!! Signed, The Walleye Guys

We trolled cranks on leadcore Sunday. Ended up with 7 keeper eyes plus a few shorts, and 7 nice crappies. Fish were scattered, mostly on points around midlake. Most of our fish came from 30 feet.

Haha! I admit bass pull harder. There are different challenges and rewards involved, for sure. One thing I like about walleye fishing here: even though they're fairly scarce, you've got a shot at the fish of a lifetime, or even a world record. Bass...pfffft. Too many, too small.

Bill, thank you. We all know this is bass country first, everything else second. Appreciate your respect for the resource...wish more would approach it like that.

QB/Jeb, it's not the possibility of running aground, it's the probability of hitting another boat on these heavily fished waters. Even if I had radar, I don't think I'd want to run on plane in the fog. Just my thoughts--so please watch out, I could be idling along (or trolling) in front of you.

Easy limits for all this spring. Enjoy it while it lasts! Being from up north, I actually like the 15" limit--those 15-17 inchers yield perfect fillets. It's what the MDC's put-n-take approach is all about. But I do wish they'd close the season during prespawn and spawn--say, mid-February thru mid-April. There's a lot of carnage then, often to excess, by people who otherwise wouldn't know a walleye from a bicycle.

Thanks for the eye info, Bill. And the releases--very rare.

That's right, eyeman. Bass fishermen should eat bass, and leave the walleyes to the walleye fishermen (us). By the way, bass are great under tomato plants. As WM mentioned, they are a nuisance; can't keep 'em off your hook. Why people spend thousands to pursue a fish that's so over-populous and easy to catch, I can't fathom. I'm being facetious, of course.

I believe the high water cycles of the past few years created tremendous year classes and accelerated growth throughout the system. Nice going, H91!

Good job, 9LB. How did you get your trolling baits down, or (as I suspect) were your Sunday fish suspended? Thanks.

Thanks, dtrs5.

Speaking of which, are any of you guys finding any walleyes out in the main lake, well away from the spawning streams, yet? Thanks.

Was trolling cranks for walleye at Baxter on Saturday. Turned out I was bass fishing (yuck). Caught 25+ bass, all varieties. Had 7 or 8 in the 17" class. Caught bass at all depths from 14-27'. Most of the larger fish came from 23-27' on the edges of flats, and all looked spawned out.