Dock-in-it

I fished for a few hrs this morning and tried my luck with the hover rig for the first time. I went to a spot I knew would be holding non hassled fish. I caught 10 Ks with 3 keepers and was 4 for 4 on my first 4 casts. The Keitech 2.8 bite is extremely tough and there is no way it would have caught 10 fish out of one group. My hover rig utilized a 4" caffeine shad Jr (actually 4.75 in) with a 3/32 Core Tackle hover jig head on 6# line (this falls about 1.75ft per second). I would let it sink to right above the fish (20-25ft) then constantly shake the bait while turning the reel handle once about every 15 seconds. Currently the market may not have the ideal soft plastic bait for this rig. I was pleasantly surprised that a 4.75 inch bait would work but I want to find a 3.75 inch bait with a solid body (no under belly hook grooves). I am pretty sure this technique will be a Table Rock player. WT 86 ish

Fished this morning and the suspended bite is fairly tough with a swimbait. Finding fish out deep is not the issue, but triggering them to bite a swimbait is the challenge. The first few cast to a group of fish can be productive but each additional cast is normally a waste. Bait speed seems to be key, so I lift and drop the SB to trigger a bite. A steady slow retrieve will attract some shorts but the bigger fish seem to prefer the action/speed of a falling bait. I use a 3.3 on a 5/16 and a 2.8 on 1/4oz, the 5/16 has fewer hang ups because it seems to have less roll when it hits a tree limb. So I make more risky cast around cover with a 5/16. I normally stay off the main lake and check out deep history spots that I can spend 30-45 minutes trying to fool a few. My boat is routinely in 45-55 FOW and the target fish are normally suspended in the 20-30ft range. One drawback about deep fishing is the fact that some very good history spots will just stop holding groups of fish. Some spots produce each year and others will be solid for years then dry up. Minor ramble: The Kimberling area has got short handed the last few years on a deep post spawn surface bite. I think a good post spawn bite depends on a short window between the bass spawn wrapping up and the shad spawn starting. This year a lot of bass spawned in 59 degree water and the shad spawn started about 68 degrees. The pictured fish were on SB, and I did get a few on the spoon. 7 keepers and some shorts. WT 84-85

The morning suspended bite is still steady. I fished with 2.8, spoon, and topwater. Included below is a picture of a tree loaded with fish. This tree sets in 38-40 FOW when the lake level is at 915-917 (tops out about 5ft below the surface). The tree is near the mouth of a creek and is the last dominate tree in a long line of timber. This tree is not a good weekend spot unless it is your first stop. The skiers will run you off. From the graph picture you can tell my boat is shallow....mainly for safety. The fish relating to the tree just pick a depth that suits them. The key with a 2.8 is to look for fish postured just far enough from the branches. The majority of fish always seem to be on the other side of the tree, but if you move your boat to the other side, the fish will magically appear on the other side again. This tree location also has roamers nearby but you need a group of 4 or 5 fish to create a competitive swimbait scenario. Trying to pick off an individual swimmer is normally a waste of time. Once you educate them with a 2.8 you can move closer to flip a spoon and your first few drops with a spoon are the high percentage casts. The topwater bite did not happen even with ideal cloudy conditions. The pictured LM was on a 2.8 and the SM was on a spoon. Had a few more nice LM in the rain. WT 84ish

Regarding thermocline (or lack of) here is a picture of bass suspended at 20-25ft in 30-35 FOW. This is a creek channel swing and my boat is setting in 50ft. These fish have trees, bait and deep water within 50-100ft. FFS teaches you a lot about what bass prefer (and it is not always what we consider the best option). I caught all three species from this group ( which included more fish than in the real time picture). Using a 2.8 with a lift/drop retrieve. When you catch one it kinda scatters the tight group and they start the education process on the impact of a 2.8.

The deep morning bite has been fairly consistent. I chose a different section in my zip code on each outing and try to catch them with the presentations I like (swimbait, spoon, topwater). This morning I stayed off the main lake and there was a fair amount of small surface bait (like tiny shad) and deeper shad schools. The bass are eating a lot of 3 to 4" shad. The topwater opportunities do exist but are not a priority due to lack of quality results. And the surface chasing fish are super smart as compared to the suspended fish. Regarding the swimbait. Each group of fish have their own preferences. One group will bite a 3.3 and the next group will only bite a 2.8. The underspin will work on some groups but they get educated real quick, so I normally save it for a few wrap-up cast. The underspin (with straight tail) is also good for determining if your targets are worth the effort. The dinks and (perhaps crappie and bluegill) will bite the spinner blade and not get hooked. With FFS I see plenty of opportunities where I need to drop the swimbait to fish postured below the lazy followers. Two of the pictured LM fell for that trick. Regarding thermocline. I will assume a thermocline is developing based on time of year and WT. But the fish are using a lot of the water column and I like to focus on those using the 20-25ft range (in the morning hrs). Two of the pictured fish were on a 2.8 and the other two on a spoon. Had about 12 keepers this morning. WT 85ish.

Regarding gizzard shad. In the first hour of a calm morning you can see individual gizzard shad barely break the surface and create a small ripple. Some individual gizzard shad are more aggressive at the surface and make a bigger ripple or swim in a tight circle for a few seconds. You can also see them on FFS very near the surface and they will not react to a bait. Regarding the Jewel Live Spin. At the present time, it will catch fish in the first 90 minutes of daylight if you are around active fish. This bait may or may not work on pressured fish and the non-pressured fish get educated real quick. To try it in clear deep water, find a group of fish away from the boat suspended at 10-15ft. This morning, I seen a group of 4 fish about 40ft from the boat about 10-15ft down and tried a 2.8 Keitech and they ignored it. So I threw the Jewel bait and caught 2 of them on consecutive cast. Then I did a few fan cast and caught another. You must keep your rod down when fighting a fish or they will jump and spit this 1oz bait. Also, make the lure rise and fall.

The deep suspended morning bite is still going good. The chance for a quality topwater bite (out deep) normally happens before 6AM and then you can still have a few keeper opportunities until 6:30ish. I normally work a walking bait real fast. My starting area this morning had trees and bait with gizzard shad mixed in. I think the presence of gizzard shad makes a difference in having quality LM in the area. Some days they want a slow swimbait presentation and other days they want something fast. Today, the fish wanted a fast dropping presentation. The thing about a fast dropping bait is it really moves the location of fish in the water column. I have experimented with the Jewel Live Spin several times and it has been in the bottom of the tackle lately. I read a few recent reports about the lure and decided to try it today. It produced my best LM and other decent fish. With this bait, you have to change the factory hooks with split rings and quality hooks. Also with FFS, I locate the fish then turned the transducer off of them to avoid spooking both bass and bait. The rotation of your morning milk run is important because this bite fizzles as time ticks away. I do not use a dropshot but I know it will catch the fish I target. Today's pics and the WT is 80ish.

Finding deep suspended fish has changed for the better in the past week. The early morning post spawn surface activity is starting to happen in multiple locations and this will probably last until July 4th weekend. A lot of the surface activity involves 12-14 inch spots & LM, but some quality fish are also participating. Without the appearance of a thermocline, the fish are using a lot of the water column. For suspended fish, I normally start with a hardy 3.3 rage swimmer and if needed I which to a less hardy 2.8 Keitech. I normally stay off the main lake and look for a combination of bait and deep trees. You do not need big schools of shad in the area to hold fish. It also helps if you can locate a dominate tree with several big limbs. The local fish will ignore the other nearby trees and it will look like a social event is happening in the dominate tree. I normally try to stay 80' away from suspended groups. When they stop biting you can throw a slab spoon beside the tree and every fish will dart for the spoon like synchronized swimmers and normally one will grab the spoon. But at this point the party is over. My FFS was set for 40ft down and 100ft out. WT 80ish

Thanks for the report. Have you guys seen any fry in the places you fish? I have not seen any fry during my Kimberling area trips.

I think each brand has its fair share of lemons. My Lowrance Ghost works good as far as the motor and steering. The spot lock on mine has a mind of its own. It can be death trap in cold water Temps because it can throw you out of the boat. Sometimes I hit spot lock and the motor speed goes wide open and turning from left to right,,,,etc. I only hit spot lock when I am braced for the unknown and ready to disable it. My spot lock worked good for my first 300 outings. Lowrance told me it is probably interference from my Lowrance graph, but the issue happens when the front graph is turned off. I will get it fixed via warranty, but an expensive trolling motor should work using technology that has been around for years. Lowrance was not able to master the simple concept of having the direction arrow match the direction of the motor....but got that fixed via warranty. If the boat sits in the garage 99% of the time, then any brand would probably work just fine.

Some say the spawn is over, but I noticed a new wave of staging fish today. So you might have a new opportunity to catch some shallow spots (and LM). I was going to check a few more locations, but walked up on a brand new fawn and turned around.

I fished this morning hoping to find some surface activity and was lucky to find it on my second stop. The mild wind and cloud cover provided a good combination for surface feeding and the bite went to about 9:15. Lots of bait and trees in the area. Used walking and wake baits, 2.8 swimbait, and a few on the spoon. The surface fish were moving so fast that I had to use a walking bait (sammy) that would cast straight on a hard/lengthy cast. A spook type bait wants to act like a curve ball when you cast it hard to a long distance target. Caught lots of fish (mainly LM) and the better ones were in the 2# range. So nothing big, but the action was fairly steady. The White bass were around and I caught a few. WT 62

You guys had good timing with the weather and definitely executed on a solid shallow bite. The lake will be crowded on Saturday and there will be plenty of fish caught. Based on what I am seeing, there will be a big wave of spawning activity in the coming days. Thanks for the report.

Fished this morning and the catching was fairly steady. Caught them out deep with plenty of trees and shad in the area. I strictly focused on suspended fish that were postured from 3 to 20ft regardless of water depth. Most of the fish were not bugging the big schools of shad nor utilizing the trees. These fish seem to pick a location to suspend and then feed on smaller pods of shad that travel by. The big schools of shad are deep and these fish want to suspend up high and feed towards the surface. Caught them early of topwater with both walking and wake baits. Then the swimbait worked for a while. Then I used a 1/2oz spoon to catch a few quality LM and some keeper SM and K's. The spoon fish were normally suspended 5 to 15ft and the 1/2oz spoon (with a 3/4oz size body) allowed the bait stay in the strike zone longer. This spoon falls a little faster than a Dixie Jet and I believe the faster rate of fall triggers the bite. WT 60ish I was pleased that it was not a grind.

Bill, you mentioned that active target shows the fish as vertical and that is true. But here is the scoop (and this is not exact), envision a diagonal line thru the graph from upper left to lower right and have the forward setting at 100ft. The fish near the boat will display as 'fish' and those away from the boat will display like a vertical stick (like rice standing up). When you fish vertical for deep fish, they will appear as rounded objects. Some vertical fish (perhaps down to 20ft will display with tail movement). But look away from the boat and they appear as vertical sticks.

Fished this morning and was able to find a good deep bite with topwater being the best bait followed by underspin and 3.3 swimbait. First stop had plenty of shad in 20 to 30ft and caught a few on swimbait. Second stop had small pods of surface shad and the fish were postured about 5 to 10ft below the bait in 30 to 70 FOW. Had about 20 keepers that were mainly pre-spawn with some post spawn mixed in. The FFS picture shows the surface shad scenario. The fish under the shad preferred a sexy dawg Jr walking bait. They would smoke the walking bait and just slap a wake bait (surge shad). The underspin and 3.3 worked OK but the topwater really triggered them. I should have used the topwater exclusively to maximize the number of bites WT 60-61

Deep swimbait (not good for me). I have been trying to find deep suspended fish and have not found much. You can find plenty of shad but no fish and there has been a very steady shad kill going on for two weeks. Also the gizzard shad have consumed the upper water column and they are very prevalent around areas with trees. The high volume of gizzard shad makes it difficult to hunt deep suspended fish. I have not tried very many gravel points/runouts with the boat in 20ft and casting up shallow. Last year, the month of April was great for deep suspended fish and this April I get a reminder why they call it fishing vs catching. SHALLOW Fish. A fair amount of fish are on the bed or cruising up shallow. The issue is the shallow algae/slime and floating slime. I looked shallow for 5 minutes this morning and seen 6 LM. I think the last 10 days were probably tailored for the Ned Rig guys. I do not have any Ned tackle so I am just guessing that the fish have been on the bottom in that 10 to 20ft range. Water clarity varies in each location. WT 58 to start and probably gets to 60ish in the PM.

Just my two cents worth. FFS will educate you how smart a bass can be. I normally have 4 different swimbaits tied on and rotate thru them when I can see what appears to be bass suspended in a tree or under/around shad. When the fish are clearly bugging shad and you get no takers after 20 good presentations with different swimbaits then the next 20 good cast will probably deliver zero results. I waste plenty of time on smart fish and I always have to move on and realize that sometimes the bass are really zeroed in on the real McCoy. If they will not commit to a swimbait, then going through the tackle box trying different lures will probably produce similar results. I have been there done that too many times.

The shallow RK fishermen should have a good day in the wind and stain. I fished a RK this morning and had 3 good LM. I was in lazy mode just trying to avoid the major wind. Slime is a problem near the old bank line. Started in the back of a creek to avoid extreme wind and find some nicely stained water as compared to the main lake. You could not avoid the wind, but some manageable wind definitely helped. Started catching fish around mid creek area in the little cuts or lay downs. I was very surprised by the water temp. It reached 54.5 yesterday with 80 air temps and 20 mph SW winds. But this morning the water temp was 50 and air temp 45. Also the extreme winds and current have really changed water stain conditions for the better in certain areas. I did not see another boat except the 2 dozen Joe Bass guys headed towards the James / White split.

Fished this morning and finally found some fish around 9:30. Water clarity is something you have to factor into your fishing style (deep vs shallow bushes). I fished deep with a swimbait and underspin in stained water with decent visibility. I found fish bugging shad and kept the boat in 25 to 35ft. The fish get real lure shy once they know your presence and see your lure several times. So I keep the boat about 80ft from the shad/fish. The smallmouth really like the underspin when they are around shad. The fish got smaller when I tried shallow (12 - 15ft). Water clarity at Mill Creek ramp is probably 18 inches. 8 keepers WT 53.5 and varied with stained conditions

Forgot to mention the shad kill that has been going for several days. The kill is happening from the shore to what ever depth. The shore line is littered with dead shad (especially behind lighted docks) so perhaps the crawdads are not up shallow. The stained water has lots of shad shallow and plenty out deep. The stained water is soaking up heat and lots of shad are right on the surface.

Bill, did you happen to catch any of those float-n-fly fish that were suspended way up in that 10 to 15ft range?

Dutch, I think it a K...But it does have a tinge of mean mouth. I caught this one last week and it weighed 3.58#... I believe it is a mean mouth.

Fished this morning between Wolfpen and Baxter. There is a solid mud line on the James side of Pt9 and the White side of pt9 looks good. The water has a lot of brown tint in front of Mill Creek ramp (still have 4 to 5ft of visibility). As the White and James blend together the Kimberling area should be Ok for the deep bite. Fished a creek with plenty of shad (in the gut) around deep trees and was able to catch some nice Ks on a 3.3 swimbait. There was not very many fish around the shad, but just enough to catch a few. 4 keepers. WT 51+

Fished this morning and finally found some fish on my 3rd location. The boat was routinely in 40 FOW and the fish were postured around small pods of shad. Also had plenty of trees in the area. The shad were postured from the surface down to 20ft. Like my last report, 95% would not commit and the other 5% were mainly LM. I did catch one good SM and the K's did not participate. I think there were a bunch of crappie or bluegill bugging the shad. The 3.3 swimbait worked the best and the underspin caught a few. Had about 8 keepers....and left them biting. WT 50 I shook off a 5# LM at the boat ( It spit up nine 4" shad). I had too many eye's looking my way. It was the only boat around me all morning.