ewlech

I have caught several nice bass on a War Eagle spinner bait the past 2 trips out. I posted a report from yesterday and the big fish was caught on it.

I have caught hundreds of fish on the Ned and have been throwing it for 3 years or so now. Every year about this time they seem to bite short on the Ned and this lasts for a few weeks. Most of the time I connect with the fish and keep them buttoned up. I use Dave's (Table Rock Forum) Ozark finesse jig heads with a Z-Man Zinker cut in half (in my experience, much better than a TRD) I use some gel super glue and glue it to the head. I also do not have a problem with them swallowing the hook.

Hit the lake with the wife yesterday and fished for close to 8 hours. Apparently I was not the only person who took off of work for some fishing as it was pretty busy out there. I had been hammering the whites every time out but they weren't where I had been catching them at today. Caught 36 bass on a combination of a spinner bait, 2 different jerk baits, Ned Rig, and a swim bait on an underspin head. Water got up to 66.8 degrees up towards Highpoint. Caught the swamp donkey on a War Eagle spinner bait in about 6 feet of water. After a few quick pictures she was released back to be caught again.

Curtisce- Most of the largemouths came on a Vision 110 jerk bait and a War Eagle spinner bait. All of the White bass came on the A-Rig.

I was out on Thursday fishing the same general area. Saw 3 other boats throwing the Arig, probably passed you. We had a great day with the large whites also.

Took a vacation day from work and hit the lake with the wife for about 7 hours. Fishing has been consistent and the same techniques have been putting lots of fish in the boat for the past 3 weeks. Put 91 fish in the boat. 20 or so were largemouths (nothing over 3lbs), 1 channel cat, and all the rest were large white bass. Caught 50 plus of the whites on one 200 foot stretch of bank. Water was 57 up past Cedar Ridge.

Another great day of fishing with lots of white bass action. Fished form 8-2 with my brother and between the 2 of us caught more than 60. Mostly whites with a few largemouths and one small mouth mixed in. Caught most of them on A-rigs and a few on a Vision 110 and a few crank baits. First hour we had rain, then cleared off and was a perfect day out. Water was 55-56 degrees. Put in at Masters and ran up .

Inshore, I headed towards Aldrich.

Fished Sunday from 8:00-3:30. I was expecting a slower bite than the last few weeks after all of the rain we had. First spot connected with a nice bass on a Vision 110. Only caught one fish so moved on to the next spot. Caught 17 bass throwing a Ned most of them under 15 inches. Moved to spot 3 and loaded the boat with 34 more. Didn’t have a scale but guessing the big girl was around 7-8 pounds. All of the whites bass were full of eggs. Caught all of the fish at this spot on an A-rig. Missed another 20 or so that hit the dummy baits. Ended with a total of 52 large mouths and Whites. Was a great day to be on the lake with lots of boats enjoying the day. Water was 52-54 degrees. .

Dean, Cedar Ridge is on the other end of the lake from the dam. I did launch at the state park and fish the dam area a few weeks ago. All of the fish I caught were on the Ned Rig fishing down gravel banks in coves. I threw a jerk bait a good while without any success then switched over to the old reliable Ned rig. Should be able to throw a square bill going down the bank and put many fish in the boat. A small Keitech (2.8") on a 3/16 oz jig head will also put many bass in the boat. Hope this helps.

Fished from 8:30-4 yesterday ended with 37 in the boat about half were large white bass and the other half were blacks. Also caught 2 bonus walleyes. Caught them on a crank bait, small swim bait, and the Ned rig. Fished from Cedar Ridge up past Highpoint, water was 51-53. Lots of boats out enjoying the day.

For Sure!!! Been throwing it for a little over 3 years now and have caught hundreds of fish on it. When nothing else is working the Ned will put some fish in the boat.

Chomper- I was throwing a Ned Rig with a 1/8 oz mushroom head the Dave makes (Table Rock Forum) with half of a Z-Man PB&J Zinker on 6lb Flouro line. Dprice- I wasn't able to fish much of the main lake because of the wind. Had to duck into a few coves to get out of some of the wind. Dan- No idea why they were there. I didn't mark any bait and only a few fish that I could see on the graph. They were directly on the bottom so they probably blending into the bottom. It was the same type of shore that I had fished most of the day that didn't have any fish on them. It was a gradual slopping bank with some chunk rock and had good size rocks under the water. I was sitting in 12-16 feet of water about one cast out from the shore. Most fish came form 4-10 feet of water as the Ned Rig was sitting still on the bottom.

I made the same comment to my wife driving up to the lake on Sunday. Counted 8 dead on the way up.

The plan was to throw jerk baits and jig a spoon to put some walleye’s in the boat. The wind was blowing hard and even in my 20 foot boat it was not possible to fish many of my main lake points that normally are very good to me. I launched at the State Park ramp and fished a few spots in that cove where the wind wasn’t too bad. Hit a large brush pile that always has fish on it but not today. Made a VERY rough run up towards the dam and started idling around the hump looking for some arches on my Lawrence, NADA. Fished along the dam throwing the jerk bait and an A-Rig catching a grand total of nothing. After 4 hours without any love, it was time to implement plan B. Picked up the Ned rig and fished 3 more areas, staying consistent with zero fish. Saw a bunch of seagulls diving on bait back in a cove and fished down to them. Picked up my Staysee jerk bait and fished through the bait and only caught a few 2 to 3 inch shad that were snagged by me treble hooks. My Lawrence graphs were yellowed and orange out with all of the bait but never marked any arches feeding on them. Made a quick move to another protected bank and finally found them. I found all of my fish on one stretch of bank (out of the wind) that had bass on about a 20 yard stretch. Went up and down that small stretch 7 or 8 times catching 34 bass with a mixture of largemouth and spots and missed another 8 or 9. Out of the 34, about 20 of them were at or over 15 inches with several 3 to 3.5 pounders in the mix. I wanted to throw a kudos out to the fellow fisherman fishing in the same cover across from me. They were going down the bank on the other side of the cove and saw me catching all of the fish. They ended up motoring over towards me at which time my wife said “looks like they are going to move in on us”. I said yep, looks like it. They ended up idling by us watching me catch several fish and didn’t stop on top of us but kept going past us about 4 or 5 casts from us before starting to fish. They stayed a good 4 or 5 casts form us and watched me put 15 or 20 bass in the boat. At one point he said wow, you’re putting a clinic on. They were respectful enough not to move in on top of us. While I understand it’s a public lake and no one “owns” a spot, too often we encounter folks that can’t find their own fish so they horn in on top of me. It’s nice to now not everyone is that rude. No Walleye's today but not a bad day with the bass. Water temp was 44.5 consistently. Fished from 10am-4pm.

I also practice catch and release and primarily fish Stockton. I have caught several bass over 6 pounds and a few 8+. I catch several walleyes and crappies each year while fishing for bass also. In the spring throwing the Ned rig the wife and I have several days that we put 60-80 fish in the boat while it is ON. Fall time we catch many whites, along with blacks, spots, and eyes. While I prefer letting them go to enjoy another day I don’t fault others who keep a few (that are legal) for the fryer. Don’t let Champ188 (Table Rock Forum) catch wind of this however! I also work at BPS and wouldn't want Champ to catch wind of that either.

The wife and I put in at Masters around 9 and fished till 5. Fished from Cedar Ridge up past Highpoint. With the wind blowing thought the spinner bait bite would be the ticket. I caught several on the spinner bait but not as many as I was expecting. Switched over to a crank bait and started hammering them. Ended up with 32 in the boat and another 15 or so that came unbuttoned. Found a good white bass bite up the river and caught many 2lb plus FAT whites on the crank bait. Hooked into a huge fish up the river that I thought was a walleye. Hooked into her and she didn’t fight like a bass (never jumped or shook the head on the surface as most of my large bass will do). I was using 8 pound mono on a medium action rod so I was taking my time and she was taking lots of drag. When I got her close to the boat, I saw a large silhouette of what I thought was a big walleye but the water was stained so couldn’t tell what species it was. Fought her for a little while longer and got her over to my wife to put the fish lip gripper into its mouth (I/we have had too many treble hooks in the body parts that I try not to grab them with my hands anymore). Turned out it was a largemouth I would guesstimate at over 8 pounds. I would post a picture of her but as the wife was trying to get the grippers in her mouth she decided to do the famous head shake and threw my crank bait (told my wife that was grounds for a divorce J!) I do have a net in the boat but it was buried in my rod locker under my rods. I have caught several fish out of Stockton that have been over 7 pounds but always in the Spring when they are full of eggs. Water was 55.7 around Cedar Ridge and got down to 51.6 up the river. Overall a great day on the lake. To my wife’s credit, I can’t divorce her since she is an expert at backing the boat down and retrieving the boat. And I wouldn’t be able to find another one that would go fishing with me as much as she does (rain, shine, cold, or hot), or put up with me either!

I have been catching them on a Normans deep little N, a super spook junior, and a small A-rig with 1/8 OZ jig heads and 4" curly tail grubs (2 hooks cut off to stay legal).

I was out on Saturday morning with a buddy and we caught them good on the 90 Whopper Plopper.

The wife and I hit the water Sunday morning right at 6:45. Started out throwing the Whopper Plopper and caught 9 large mouths and one white bass in the first hour. The top water bite died as soon as the sun came up. I switched over to a curly tail grub and fished the same area and caught another 11 large white bass. After the white bass action tapered off I threw a jig and shaky head finesse worm and caught another 8 or so bass. Ended the day with 29 in the boat and another 10 or so that were quick releases. All of the bass I caught on the Whopper Plopper were over 15 inches, most were between 2 to 3.5 pounds. It was a beautiful morning on the lake with only a handful of other boats on the lake. Headed home a little after lunch.

Went Saturday afternoon and they were hitting almost anything... Crankbait, spinnerbait, swimbait, worm, jig, A-rig. Caught close to 40 in a little over 4 hours. Lots of white bass mixed in with lots of small lips.

Not sure what the fish think it is but what is certain is that they love it. I would guess that it just looks like an easy meal that they can't pass up. Over the past 3 years between the wife and myself I would guesstimate that we have caught over a thousand bass, walleye, white bass, crappie, bream, and catfish all on the Ned rig. We have a few days, both in the spring and fall each year where we will catch over 100 fish in 8 hours between the two of us just throwing the Ned rig with Dave's jig heads (posts on the Table Rock forum under DTRS5KPRS). Best jig heads for the Ned Rig bar none and a great guy! I ALWAYS have a Ned rig tied on all year. I would rather catch them on a crank bait, top water, jig, or jerk bait but when all else fails, the Ned rig will save the day. Some folks think that it is only a small fish lure but I have caught many bass over 3 pounds on it. Got to weed through the smaller ones to get the bigger ones.

Splashed the boat at Masters around 3pm and fished till 8pm. Caught 27 largemouth but only 3 measured. Largest was only a little over 2 pounds. I did catch a Flathead catfish that was a little over 4 pounds that put up a good fight. Caught all of them on a Ned rig and a Shaky head with a Zoom finesse worm. Watermelon seed worked as did watermelon candy red. Ran up past Highpoint and avoided the forest of trees, many of which are just under the surface. Caught all of them on 2 rocky banks full of wood (only fished 3 long stretches of bank in 5 hours). Tried a Lucky Craft Gun Fish and a small Whopper Plopper as the sun went down but they didn’t want a moving bait. Only saw a few other boats all evening. Beautiful evening on the water.

Saturday I found water 52-58 from Cedar Ridge to up by Aldrich.

Phil was nice enough to post the picture, thanks Phil!