kjackson
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Everything posted by kjackson
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I was living on the Peninsula when they pulled that car out--
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That would be a weird find.
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Nice report. Nice fishing, much better than Beaver, at least for me.
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Braved the wind and high-water to see if I could find something to catch. On the way to the launch, I saw my first wild turkey in Arkansas. I also saw uprooted trees floating upright with the tips sticking out of the water and branches spread out to the side--first time ever for that. I also saw carp spawning on top of a concrete picnic table (never saw that before) at the Dam Site campground...so that gives you an idea of the lake level. But I really wanted to fish. I came up with a Ned rig version that I had to try, but it was no go. However, with the lake as high as it was--I was looking down on green bushes in eight feet of water--I couldn't buy a strike in shallow. Fished with regular Ned in shallow and deep but had only one mighta-coulda-been a bite that felt like a bluegill. Decided to troll for a while in the main lake as I'd noticed a lot of suspended things between 15 and 25 feet---no real concentrations or schools but individual marks. Caught a decent largemouth and shaker smallie in 30 feet of water with the baits running above 20. Ended up with half a dozen smallmouth, one of which was decent, the largemouth and a smallish walleye dinner guest before I pulled the plug. The wind today stirred up a pretty good mudline on exposed banks, and that was where I caught the walleye and the largest smallmouth. Water clarity varied from the usual clear to not-so-much near exposed banks.
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Very cool! That is a great boat. Some guys in the PNW use them and love 'em. Will be interested in your review...
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Thanks. That sounds like a good trip.
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"Aside from that, I need to locate crappie & walleye on that end of the lake. Ive gotta a crappie rod for bobby garlands & a walleye rod for livebait. Im still new to walleye fishing but I run across them by accident with the Ned. Now that Ive figured out their down image footprint, I hope to start landing keepers. So, crappie & walleye first, then bass 2nd. If its real windy & overcast, I found a rock crawler & topwater bite on the mainlake. those threadfin are spawming right now & the topwater is good. gotta find the shad" Wish I could give you specifics on walleye location, but my experience has been scattered fish; I've never found significant numbers in any one place. Having said that, I'm still learning the ins and outs of the clear end. The only crappies I've caught on the dam end have been in Indian Creek, and from reports, I'm guessing that also is where the bulk of the walleyes are--generally. I've not done much there except chase bass with some success. But on every trip I learn something different. This last trip turned up some offshore structure that looks really good for summer fish that chase shad in open water. My plan is to hit that next week after the crowds thin a bit and if there is a hole in the thunderstorms that will let me slip out.
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What has been a surprise for me is the total lack of spots and largemouth in the area I'm in. Across the lake it's different, but this area and the one next to it are deserts as far as anything but smallies are concerned. I need to fish both areas a bit more to really see if it holds.
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Definitely use the Ned for numbers of bass. My trip yesterday was incredibly easy...the smallmouth were pretty much stupid easy. I caught several deadsticking the bait. Cast it out, lay the rod down, grab a sandwich and then either pick up the rod and sweep set into the fish or watch for the rod to start dancing. As J-Doc says, it usually is a different bite. I'm starting to learn that it usually is a ESP-type feeling--you kind of sense that there might be a fish on. Having said that, I had a couple of fish hit on the run, and end up jerking the rod...and my response, a quick hookset, resulted in no fish.
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Since this forum has been a bit slow, I'll add yesterday's trip. Hit the water at the crack of 10:30 at Dam Site and left at 3:30. The wind was a bit stiff, but the forecast showed it dropping later in the day. Started trolling crankbaits in the wind because of boat control, and then changed to spinners after a pass at one of my spots with no one playing. Saw a bunch of bait or debris on the graph and ran over a couple of schools of fish, but they didn't want to say hello. Since I needed Ned practice, and the 'eyes weren't cooperating, I headed to one of the creek arms where I had the smallies surrounded on my last trip. I started with the ZMan leech in a pearl-translucent color (Blue Steel) on a 1/16 Gopher head. Hooked a nice smallie that I'd guess--you can see where this is going-- over three pounds and perhaps as much as four. Got her up to the boat before she gave me the fin and got off. Started playing with the Ned seriously--tried Fireline, fluorocarbon and XL lines to get a better sense of the hit. I also tried ZMan's new head, the ZMan leech and the TRD. I also used the 1/16 Gopher head with a Canada Craw TRD. Didn't have enough time to switch things around between lines, so my results may vary. However, the most success came with the 1/10 ShroomZ Finesse head in red with a New Money TRD on XL. The Fireline rod was rigged with a fluorocarbon leader and 1/16 Gopher head with a leech in Blue Steel. The fluorocarbon rod had a Gopher head and craw TRD. I did have swing-and-misses with each rig, but the most success was on the XL rod...don't know whether it was because of the heavier head or the color or the fact that the mono line didn't transmit the bite as quickly as did the other two. The leech was a magnet for small fish--bluegills or whatever as I'm thinking a lot of the bites were only tail grabbers. While I had a lot of strikes, I hooked fewer fish on it. I didn't keep count, but I'd guess I landed maybe 25 smallmouth (two that would keep) and a dinner guest, a maybe-five-pound channel cat, which was a hoot on light gear. Water was 70- 72 degrees and visibility was eight feet or so. Having said that, there was a lot of trash in the water--leaves, sticks, logs, deck chairs, styrofoam logs and whatnot.
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Since this forum has been a bit slow, I'll add yesterday's trip. Hit the water at the crack of 10:30 at Dam Site and left at 3:30. The wind was a bit stiff, but the forecast showed it dropping later in the day. Started trolling crankbaits in the wind because of boat control, and then changed to spinners after a pass at one of my spots with no one playing. Saw a bunch of bait or debris on the graph and ran over a couple of schools of fish, but they didn't want to say hello. Since I needed Ned practice, and the 'eyes weren't cooperating, I headed to one of the creek arms where I had the smallies surrounded on my last trip. I started with the ZMan leech in a pearl-translucent color (Blue Steel) on a 1/16 Gopher head. Hooked a nice smallie that I'd guess--you can see where this is going-- over three pounds and perhaps as much as four. Got her up to the boat before she gave me the fin and got off. Started playing with the Ned seriously--tried Fireline, fluorocarbon and XL lines to get a better sense of the hit. I also tried ZMan's new head, the ZMan leech and the TRD. I also used the 1/16 Gopher head with a Canada Craw TRD. Didn't have enough time to switch things around between lines, so my results may vary. However, the most success came with the 1/10 ShroomZ Finesse head in red with a New Money TRD on XL. The Fireline rod was rigged with a fluorocarbon leader and 1/16 Gopher head with a leech in Blue Steel. The fluorocarbon rod had a Gopher head and craw TRD. View attachment: smalls.jpg I did have swing-and-misses with each rig, but the most success was on the XL rod...don't know whether it was because of the heavier head or the color or the fact that the mono line didn't transmit the bite as quickly as did the other two. The leech was a magnet for small fish--bluegills or whatever as I'm thinking a lot of the bites were only tail grabbers. While I had a lot of strikes, I hooked fewer fish on it. I didn't keep count, but I'd guess I landed maybe 25 smallmouth (two that would keep) and a dinner guest, a maybe-five-pound channel cat, which was a hoot on light gear. View attachment: cat 2.jpg Water was 70- 72 degrees and visibility was eight feet or so. Having said that, there was a lot of trash in the water--leaves, sticks, logs, deck chairs, styrofoam logs and whatnot. -
Very nice. I'm planning on hitting the lake Tuesday. It's going to be a toss up whether I'm pulling spinners or fishing the Ned.
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Leatherwood probably contributed to that. My branch of the creek is nearly as high as I've seen it but very, very muddy. I've never seen it so brown. I'm thinking there was a slide above us somewhere. The mud hasn't left, either. Normally, it starts to clear by now, but with the nearly constant rains today, it may be a while.
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Thanks, guys. Waiting a bit after sensing a fish will be difficult. But I'm willing to practice. I was using my old set-up for the Ned-- 6 1/2-foot ML rod (one of the new Berkley E-Motion rods) and 8-lb. XL (same diameter as 6-lb XT). One thing I didn't do and should have was sharpen the hook...I was using some very old Gopher heads that were poured on standard hooks. Next trip will see some changes. I will also be playing with a rod rigged with either braid or Fireline. I may also give Nanofil a whack. It is worth any effort, based on the success I had. It may be a one-time flash in the pan, but I doubt it. It's a super technique. First, though, we need to get past the next blast of weather.
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It sounds like I need to practice more. That's a real shame.
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I spent too much time trolling, but there was a good "walleye chop" that made me feel confident I could do better than I did. At one spot where I only catch one walleye per trip, the wind waves were 18 inches at times, and it just looked fishy so I camped there a bit. Probably should have changed over to spinners and crawlers, but opted to play with Ned instead. One walleye is dinner for us, so I try not to be greedy. The cove I chose to play with bass was still pretty windy, so the 1/16 head Ned was a floater--didn't really touch down and was difficult to work out what it was doing because the boat was still being tossed around with the wind. All bites I had--that I felt-- were all of the rubberband variety...just a sense that there was a light pressure. I swung a couple of times at line jumps but didn't connect. Probably should have tied on a one-eighth head, but I was limited for time, so opted to stay with what I had. I will say I was extremely impressed with the number of bites and the size of the fish I was hooking. And I think I'll try Fireline next time. I did fish a swimbait on a RoadRunner head (Randy's Rollin' Something or Other) with no bites. As clear as the water was, and as active as the bass seemed to be, I'm guessing a topwater or wake bait might be a good option.
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Launched at Dam Site late on my first solo trip of the year. Checked out my usual spots in the wind and caught one smallish hybrid trolling crank baits. Also caught one 20" walleye on a Berkley Frenzy crank bait--the predecessor of the Flicker Shad. And a gizzard shad on the same. The second rod was running one of the new Mag Lip 3.0s in wonder bread finish. Caught four or five smallies on it--which was a surprise as I couldn't buy a smallie on the other lure. Finally gave up the trolling bit and started throwing the Varmint. Three casts in, and I hooked a spot. A little later tagged a smallie of about two pounds. Missed a couple and tagged another decent smallie with the Ned. I did have trouble keeping fish on, and I'm not sure what the problem was. May end up using Fireline next time instead of XL to see if that helps set the hook. It did surprise me that the smallmouth were still way back in the end of a small cove. They were post spawn fish, and i would expect them to be heading out to summer pastures. However, it could be that it's just the mother lode of smallmouth. I used to do a lot of fishing similar to the Ned-- light jighheads and grubs and small worms, so I obviously have lost my touch--given that it's been 15 years or so, it figures.
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I think I told you that you need a bigger boat. Gotta have room for all the accessories.
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What rps sid: drift sock will slow you waaay down. Of course, you need one of the right size. Since you're just drifting, you could play with a five-gallon bucket. Drill a few holes in it, add some flotation and a rope, and you're done.
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It might be worth his while to talk to someone at Bass Pro--they will buy old gear as decoration for new stores. I put an acquaintance in touch with BPS over a gun and rod collection she had. Nothing came of it, but I know that the company was interested.
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Or you can fish tomorrow as today is the last practice day...
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Nice! Very nice indeed...
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5newsonline reports that a man drowned early Sunday (4/19) in Beaver. He was not wearing a PFD. The body was recovered, but there are no other details.
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I ain't gonna touch this except to say that part of the reason for the name change is because FLW is now sanctioning tournaments outside the U.S. While it could have kept its original name, the addition of "Worldwide" certainly draws attention to the possibility of events in other countries leading to the big show. The inclusion of Canada makes me think that there is the possibility of FLW restarting its walleye series. Dunno, y'know...
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Sounds like it's time to break out the dock-shooting gear.
