Dock-in-it

The deep fishing has been pretty good lately. I fished deep this morning with the boat setting in 40-70 FOW and the fish were using a large portion of the water column from the surface to 45ft. I started with my graph set at 40ft deep and had to adjust it to 50ft. People talk about the fish being in a spawn related funk but the deep fish seem to be in very good shape. I had 10 keepers and just one of those looked a little ragged. I seen plenty of singles roaming around, but needed a small group to provide a competitive response. With the cool night, the WT was approx 66.5 Used spoons (slab and flutter) and 2.8 Keitech. I think a dropshot would have worked for numbers but I have more confidence in other baits for LM.

Bill, regarding the first picture with the dock in the background. Back on April 8th you did a great post with that dock in the picture and it also showed a nice house right on the water. It has been a while since I paid much attention to that flat gravel area. And the dock and house are new. So this morning I decided to run to red barn area and fish flat gravel back to Wolfpen. I am fishing down the bank and noticed that dock. Then catch a 3# SM about 75 yds past the dock. And your 1st picture in this post shows the same dock and location where I had some luck. I was there about 9:45. Can you share what depth range seems to produce on the flat gravel. I have been sticking with the 4-15ft range. Today, the fish started biting better around 9ish.

This morning, I postured my boat on the main lake looking for Zach Birge to make his first stop but did not see stop anywhere in a 2 mile stretch. I watched Alton Jr for a while and he was scoping in a gravel pocket in Kimberling area. Then I travel up the White and see several boats coming out of Big Wolfpen and it just happened to be Drew Gill. It was still the 1st period and he was not using FFS (waiting until 2nd period to use FFS). I followed him from Wolfpen to PT16, then left around 9:30. I watched him hit several spots on the main lake and back in small pockets. Without FFS, he went to only the high percentage locations where a spawner would be. On the main lake he did not fish straight banks, it needed to be a little drain or some minor cut. For coves, he went to the back and did not bother looking anywhere else the cove. One of the pictures is just outside the mouth of Little Wolfpen, where there are plenty of visible trees and big rock bank that transitions into gravel. At the transition is a drain and he stopped there and did not continue on the gravel. In Big Wolfpen, he would have fished the 1st drain on your right where it transitions from big lava rock to more of a slab/gravel combination. I watched a little 2nd period action and with FFS he is on gravel.

Regarding Drew Gill on day 1 scoping period in the CP area. Based on his writeup after day 1, he must have been targeting spawning SM. During the opening period, Gill targeted “object-related smallmouth” with the Big Bite Baits Spotlight Minnow he designed. Doing so required a level of precision that illustrated why Gill is widely regarded as one of the best in the world with forward-facing sonar. “Most of the fish I caught today doing that, I threw three to five casts at to catch,” he explained. “And those have to be in succession. So, you have to be dead-on with your cast, get them hot, and do that three to five times in a row to get them hot enough to catch them.” On the first cast a feeding SM would have followed his bait back to the boat. He just operates on a different level.

I just followed score tracker throughout the day and just watched a few minutes of highlights. I fished Thursday between PT9 and PT16 and caught them OK but it appears Drew fished the same spots/area for part of the day and made a highlight reel.

I watched them practice each morning and I knew there would be guys that had no chance of making the score tracker click routinely enough to stay in the game. This morning I go to a spot looking for the possibility of a post spawn bite over trees.... trying to stay out of the way. Then Justin Lucas shows up, so I stopped fishing and just watched for about 15 minutes as he was trying to catch a shallow fish (I think he is in last place). He leaves and I exit as well. Then I go to a flat gravel pocket and no one is there so I stop and catch 4 using the technique that Bill has discussed. Todd Fairbcloth shows up ( so I stop fishing) and he zeroes in on a spawner for several minutes as the Gill/Wheeler score tracker is clicking away. There is a bunch of shad 75ft from his boat and he never makes a cast. I weighed my fish and I was in about 12th place about half way through the first period. With 30 minutes left in period 3, I am not in last place. Seen Justin Cooper and he is doing very well and he was on a very flat point fishing very shallow.

About 10 of the MLF guys launched at Mill Creek this morning. The windy conditions probably affected their game plan. The guys I seen near me were checking the banks up shallow then they would move out in the cove for a while. I thought they would idle around with the big motor but they wanted to see what FFS would show them. So many species are using the water column, so I think they preferred using FFS instead of sidescan. Some of the guys will write-off areas that showed nothing today..... but over the weekend were loaded with shad. I thought it was best.... not to mention any names. Assuming they can weigh bass weighing at least 1.5#, I weighed a few this morning. 13.25" was 1.30# 14.50" was 1.73# 15.75" was 2.30# So two short 14.50" K's can equal a 3.50# LM

I would lean more towards the 14" mark for a 1.5# spot. The healthy spots have plenty of weight for their body length. The FFS period will probably produce more spots 15 inches or larger because they can see what their throwing at.

Few thoughts for those fishing off the bank. The guys will have to find them each day, the fish are moving and you have to locate new fish everyday. The shad in a location will vanish overnight and the fish are constantly moving the shad while the feeding frenzy is ongoing. Alll the guys will probably use FFS in the first period and they have to find them first. So everyone will not be getting 3 solid productive hrs of FFS. Once they find them they will be able to stay put in the area and rack up some numbers. I am looking forward to see how they catch them after the first period. The main feeding happens early and then slows down. But you can still find the right groups of shad throughout the day. I think some of the guys will fish vertical after the first period. The last time MLF came to the rock, they were a fairly new organization and guys had to tote the the company line. They were weighing 1# fish and someone asked Mark Davis why......and his answer was funny knowing the pressure he was under..... he said Table Rock did not have enough big fish. The number of 2.75 to 3.25 K's will be very high.

Unless you are on the lake today, it would be difficult to comprehend just how many fishermen are on the water. Seems like everyone is rotating through the same obvious 'shallow' spots none stop. With Joe Bass today and HS/College guys practicing ....the lake is a zoo. I scouted/fished out deep this morning and finally found shad on my 6th location. Most of the shad were postured deep in the water column, down about 25-40ft below the surface. When I seen fish down deep bugging the shad, I used a 1/2oz tungsten jig head with 3.3" SB. When closer to the surface I used a 2.8 Keitech with 3/8 head. I was able to catch 6 solid keepers and stay away from the shallow fishermen. The HS/College guys know how (and where) to practice, but with so many rotating through the same stuff I think most of the fish will be educated by tournament day.

I fished this morning and lucked into a very nice LM bite around surface shad using a 3" BPS speed shad with 3/8 jig head with 2/0 hook. This combination is very efficient around surface shad. The speed shad is much more durable than the Keitech and the 3/8 oz jig allows for long cast. The surface activity stretched for 200yds and lasted until 7:45 then the shad disappeared and the fish were no longer grouped up... which made it tough. Had 10 nice LM while the surface activity was going on. Had a few 3# range K's along with several shorts. After the surface activity wrapped up I switched to the 2.8 Keitech because of the confidence factor. The Keitech produced several shorts and 2 fish near the 3# range. Milk run rotation is super important in the winter and early spring. Because a thriving area at daylight can look like a ghost town at 8:AM. WT 57-58

I fished this morning and the fishing was really good around surface shad. The fog hindered my ability to run the big motor until 9AM. I fished yesterday and learned that the underspin is very effective around fish postured beneath surface shad (especially with windy conditions). The shad are approx 1.5" and the blades on the underspin mimic the small shad. So this morning I went prepared with a 2.8 SB and underspin. At 9AM I ran to a spawning location where the recent strong south winds have been blowing into. When I got there the location was loaded with shad and lots of small fish but also some very nice LM were mixed in. The fish were attacking the shad on the surface and plenty of fish cleared the surface..... I left them biting. WT 55

I fished this morning after yesterday's rain and the runoff did have an impact on some areas. The first spot I tried had been producing a good surface shad bite and this location stained up and the thredfin were replaced by lots of gizzard shad. Fish were still in the area but they were not grouped up, which makes them tough to catch (for me). The second spot had also been providing a good surface shad bite and it has a little stain and the shad and fished pretty much vanished. The third spot had not been holding shad/fish prior to the rain, but this morning it had lots of gulls and a few loons and abundant shad/fish. The lake is so busy that I just stayed in this location and was able to catch some on the swimbait. Some of the nice LM are traveling in groups of 2 or 3 (high in the water column) and they will commit to a swimbait really good. They are normally not bugging the surface shad in the area...which does not make sense. They will commit to the SB better than the smaller fish. I am seeing lots of fish on the move in shallow water (<15) and they are normally off the bottom. I tried a jerkbait on some of these fish but no takers unless they are relating to surface shad. There is some species of small fish that bug the heck out of the surface shad and I have not been able to catch these guys (I see this scenario throughout the morning). WT 52

Fished this morning and the bite was steady from 7-10AM. Everything was caught on a swimbait around small pods of shad near the surface. Kept the boat in 25-50 FOW and stayed around spawning areas. Was able to catch numerous LM and some nice K's mixed in. I was around fish all morning and constantly throwing at fish on the move. You can fish shallow (4-10ft) or go for the deeper bite, I have had luck doing both. This morning was so calm the I just stayed out deep. Yesterday morning I fished in 4-10ft and had a limit. WT 46.5 - 47.5

Regarding the MDC statement that some of the spotted bass do not reach 15 inches before the end of their life. This would appear to be a genetics issue or very lazy bass. During the cold weather months I routinely see tons on shad with no bass in sight. I also see bass that do not take full advantage of shad schools within very close proximity. I routinely have fish suspended under the boat in prime feeding window(s) and they appear to care less about feeding. In reality I think this change will have minor impact on the spotted bass, with that said I hope the guides utilize some common sense.