bassman1308

Doesn't Beaver lake have 'no wake ' signs around their bridges? I know they did a few years ago in the Prairie Creek area.

I hope it picks up as it gets warmer but my experience shows catching bass at night during extremely high water is very difficult to say the least. However, it's still nice to be on the lake at that time.

Or a boat owner with an almost empty 45 gallon gas tank. : - (

There have been 2 wedn & 3 friday night tournys in the shell knob area and I beleive the tourny crappie5 mentioned had the best results, by far. That should tell you how tough its been at night.

Try to get a mental picture of this... Several yrs ago a couple friends of mine, very bright and succesful busniessmen I might add, loaded a large cedar tree on the front of a borrowed pontoon boat with the top of the tree hanging over the front of the boat and the trunk toward the center of the boat. As they backed off the bank to sink it in the lake, the tree trunk started to tilt upward. Of course,the man not running the mtr jumped on the tree trunk trying to hold it down. That didn't help. The tree trunk kept going up with him on it. The extra weight on the front of the boat caused the back of the boat to raise up completely out of the water. ( mtrs get very loud that way they said). The only thing that was in their favor was the wind eventually pushed them back to the bank and they were able to get thinks under control and nothing was hurt. That would of make a great video.

Who won the tourney & how many lbs did it take??

Just some thoughts on the subject. Did you see the lake when it was almost 15 ft low a few years ago? Very little shoreline cover compared to 30 years ago. IMHO, this is why its more difficult to catch bank fish and why we now spend so much time watching our graphs trying to catch suspended fish. I'm certainly not an expert, but wouldn't more shoreline cover help the fish survive, make them more shoreline orintated and make fishing easier for the average joe. You are right on about brushpiles not producing like they use to? Why is that?? I've been putting out deep brushpiles since 1988 ( mostly cedars.) Yes, I did this for me. Lots of hard work. USED to catch ALOT of bass out of them, mostly night fishing. About the time of the fish kill, that changed drastically. I suspect most of these BPS piles will be on the lower end of the lake. Close to Big Cabin.

I had someone tell me that bass will hang under gar gourging on shad that the gar have chopped up. I think he was speculating, as most fishing experts tend to do, but I remember a may night a few years ago when I sat on a 50 yd streach of bank all night catching over 3 limits of bass and many smaller ones. Gar surfaced around my boat most of the night. Also on bull Shoals, I caught several blacks & whites casting spoons under surfacing gar. Snagged a couple gar too. Man was that fun.

caro rig: It seems there is always a very tough bite around this time of the year as,IMO, the bass are still scattered. Night Fishing should pick up as the lake level drops below 915. Recent tournaments ( 7:00 pm to midnight ) i've fished in the shell knob area the last 2 weeks indicate how tough its been.. The most consistent team has been catching fish in the 10 to 20 ft depths, out of submerged trees on worms. I'm talking light weights fished slowww. It takes a lot of patience and concentration. i hate fishing this way, but i hate losing worse. Through the middle part of june until july 4th, we had several 5 fish limits dragging the bottom but since the 4th, its been really tough for most of us. We had only 3 fish saturday night ( 2 keepers). However one was a 6-15 caught out of a tree in about 20 ft at 11:45. That obviously made our night better. The winners had 5 fish over 11 lbs and coincidentally, is from carthage. rps has pointed out some good areas. Hope this helps.

Another reason i love night fishing. If you can wait until about 10:00 pm, you usually have the lake to yourself the rest of the night.

GF, IMHO, its really pretty simple. When you know someone is violating the law, you should do what you can to report them, even if you have to go out of your way. This helps all of us in the long run. I'm sure there will be abuses, but thats another issue. It use to be when laws were made, people used them as a guide to live by. Now it seems, a lot of people only think the're guilty if they get caught. Again , only my opinion.

I have a hummingbird 797 si unit. As far as i know ,the side imaging is completely different than anything lowrence has. You almost have to see it work to understand it. I set the side sonar at 100 feet and use it to find structure, then mark it to fish later. You can cover much more water then with a conventional, straight down sonar. I fish mostly nights so I'm not very knowledgable about how it works to find fish like skmo, j.e. and the daytime boys seem to do so well, but i'm learning.

KEVIN: Everything Ealy says is correct, Night fishing should be your best bet at that time of year, especially if you like fishing when it's quiet, calm and not covered with sunscreen. Personally, this is my favorite and usually most successful time of year to bass fish on TR.

J.E.-- I'll PM the cape fair tourn. people. There does seem to be more Inconsiderate people on the lakes these days. Fishermen AND pleasure boaters. Some of them just do not know better but i think most just don't care or think about how their actions may affect others. Just last week near shell knob, within a 15 minute period, I had 2 different, speeding, pleasure boats shut down within 30 yds of my boat as I was fishing near a dock they wanted to tie up to. Their wake tossed my 20' ranger around pretty good. It simply amazes me that people would do something like this. In the old days, someone would have gotten an a--whippen and they would of learned a lesson the hard way, but now days, you'd end up in jail. To a more important subject, did you catch fish???

Terry mentioned the gulf coast. We ( 4 couples ) rented a 5 bedroom, 5 bathroom, beach house near Ft. Morgan, Al. for less than $70 a night last march. Great time, just sitting on the deck watching the ocean, walking on the beach, golfing, shopping, but no fishing. This was our first time to stay on the beach. It was very relaxing. We only ate out 3 times as everyone agreed being near the beach was better than being in a resturant. San antonio is also a great place, especially near the last week in april when the "fiesta" is going on. The town is really colorful at that time and it's not that hot yet. Wherever you go, HAVE FUN.

The wedn night tourn at the sk bridge runs 7 pm to 11:00. Its been taking well over 20 lbs to win and it's not been me. $25 entry fee friday night at camp pt. ramp--- 7:30 pm to 1:00. took 24 lbs last week. $35 entry fee saturday night at cape fair, starts this satr night at 7:00. I think. friday night at cape fair, 7:00. i'm not sure about the cape fair times but I'll check it out and repost tomorrow. I had heard mill cr (near kc) is going to have some night tourn. but don't know anything for sure.

I'm certainly not an expert but it's my understanding the lake level has more to do with a successful spawn then any thing else. If the lake is up in the weeds / brush, small fry have a place to hide. I've heard that one good spawn every 4 years is enough to sustain a lake like TR. I just got a fantastic fishing report from the wedn. night tourn at sk. 14 boats- 6 fish- 29 lbs first place. Don't know what took 2nd & 3rd but 22 lbs DID NOT place. 6 + lbs big bass. I didn't fish the tourn due to the weather but I'm going this afternoon. JC

BITTLE: I'VE USED---THE INHIBITOR-- FOR SEVERAL YEARS. THERE MADE BY PLANO, I THINK, AND CAN BE FOUND IN THE GUN SECTION AT BPS. THEY LOOK LIKE A PIECE OF CARDBOARD. I CUT THEM TO FIT THE BOTTOM OF MY HOOK BOX, AND SET THE HOOKS ON TOP OF THEM. THEY SEEM TO WORK PRETTY WELL. THAT REMINDS ME, I PROBABLY NEED TO REPLACE MINE WITH NEW ONES. HOPE THIS HELPS

BB- Sounds like you had a bad day.. It will never again be like it was when i started bass fishing in the 70's. No crowds and an expectation of getting ahold of a big bass at any monent, which happened almost every trip. i think i can put up with not catching many bass better than i can deal with all the fishing boats & pressure. Talked with frank at kings harbor a couple weeks ago. He said he thought there were still alot of fish in tr, but the aggressive fish have been caught and the fish left are not as aggressive, and harder to catch. I guess theres no way to prove this but may be right. Fished monday at skell knob till 10:00 pm. Beautiful evening and not many boats. All watching ncaa bb i guess. 10 keeper to 3 1/2 lbs. A great combination for an enjoyable outing.

B.B.-- I personally do not like to be told "where' someone caught their fish. It may be one of my favorite spots and i'd feel "guilty" fishing someone elses area, but that's just me. I get a lot of satisfaction out of finding the fish myself and i assume most other fishermen feel the same. Likewise, i seldon tell anyone where i caught my fish. Again, it may be one of my favorite spots and i'd hate not to get to fish it because the person i told was sitting on it, especially if fishing a tournament.( been there, done that). However, i see no harm it sharing ANY other info and that should help guys FIND their own fish. This is the most helpful fishing site i've ever been on. BB deserves a thank you for sharing what he does considering he makes a living guiding. I'm was in the insurance business and sure wouldn't give that away.

red R-93. we didn't catch many fish at all. obviously, the guide in my boat didn't do his job. oh, that's was me.

fishrman- wh/burg r 93, right? i was across the lake from you in the kings today. sounds like i should of moved to your side of the lake...I only had 3 today. i knew i should of tried the jig.

J.E.: I'm assuming it's a side imaging unit. Have you used it enough to know if you like it? I've got a 797 si on the console. I think it's going to be everything i hoped it would although i'm still learning how to get the best images.

most of the fish i've been catching look fat and healthy. we don't need LM virus again. i still don't think tr has fully recovered from the last hit. at least the LM population. years ago a fish bioligist told me bass that suspend in cedar trees are more likely to have raw looking spots as they rub against the trees in their daily movements. he also said thats one reason they are easier to catch on realy windy days as they move out of the main tree and suspend close by. don't know if this is true but it makes sense to me.