Dock-in-it

I did not weigh any of the fish. I would estimate the biggest fish was in the 6# range. Just a side note, when I catch a nice smallmouth the pictures never do it justice.

Fished this morning and the swimbait & underspin worked good. My 1st spot was 35 to 50' with trees and very little shad. Caught a few good ones on 3.3" swimbait. My 2nd spot was 10 to 25' and loaded with shad and fish. The best fish were caught on a 3" 1/4oz underspin and others were caught on a 3.3 and 3.8 swimbait. I did not get a bite on a 3" swimbait and they also ignored the jerkbait. The area was choked with shad and plenty of them were showing stress from all the feeding fish. I did a 'good catch' post several years ago from this spot and it has not produced in the last 5 years and I was surprised this morning to see it happening. You could not use a steady retrieve to trigger bites. Most bites were triggered by burning the reel handle a few cranks. 95% ignored my bait and the other 5% made for an entertaining morning. I did not keep track of the fish count. WT 50

Fished this morning and finally found some fish on my 3rd stop. The first two locations (with deep trees) had plenty of shad from 15 to 50 FOW but there were no fish. The third location had shallow and deep trees with limited shad. I had 4 keepers on the 1/4oz underspin. The boat was in 30 to 50ft and the fish where suspended around trees that topped out about 10 to 20 ft below the surface. The chance of catching fish really went up if there were 3 or 4 fish in a tight group. Best suspended depth was around 20 ft down regardless of overall depth. I did see some single fish up shallow in 10 to 15ft. A regular swimbait would probably work good, but I had the underspin on 10# and it has been working lately. I had plenty of followers that did not commit, so perhaps an A-Rig would have produced a few more. After catching the keepers I moved the boat 100 yards and found a ton of shad, but no fish.

Bill, the suspended fish in January were really postured for a float-n-fly. There would be multiple opportunities within casting distance. Currently, they are scattered but with FFS you can routinely see an individual opportunity, then you have to move around to find the next. From 7 to 8am seems to provide the most opportunities. If you could make a long 60-80 cast for fish suspended at 10ft then you might be able to entice quite a few.

The deep fish that I see are not grouped up and are constantly on the move. Also, finding shad means nothing. I can find abundant shad from 10ft to 60ft and there are no fish to be found. Seems like the fish would rather chase a very small group of shad vs sitting around a train load. Based on reports, the quality bites are shallow (especially when using FFS). Based on what I am seeing on FFS, there are plenty of fish using cedars in 15-25ft and plenty of fish using shallow water (5-15ft). I no longer throw the A-Rig just so I can save my shoulders. I see fish running away from a 3" swimbait, so it would be interesting to watch them react to an over sized A-Rig. I caught several yesterday on an ice jig in 30 FOW on the bottom and caught some on a swimbait suspended at 10' in 50 FOW. The guys that are good with FFS and aggressively on the move are running circles around me with their catch rates. But March will bring new opportunities for the offshore swimbait bite.

Mill creek boat ramp has been busy for the last several days with guys practicing for the BFL. I was fishing this morning out deep over trees with a 3" swimbait and got hung up. I placed my boat over the snag and was able to free my bait, but I noticed a steady resistance while retrieving my lure and thought it was fishing line. I was surprised to see it was a chandelier A-Rig ( in good shape). I guess it was legal with 3 hooks.

I fished deep this morning and it appears the deep bite is changing. The fish are scattered, constantly on the move and using every part of the water column (5ft to 60ft). When you find winter fish grouped up you can catch a limit in minutes, but when they are scattered it can take multiple hrs. I had 4 keepers this morning in a 3 hr trip. In February of 2022, from Feb 7 thru Feb 11 (3 hrs per day ) I had 52 keepers because I found them grouped up, then I struggled during the remainder of February because they were scattered. In early Feb 2022, the water level and water temp were about the same as we have today. Today, the 3/8 Damiki worked best because you can use it vertical or as a swim bait. I mainly used it as a swim bait because the deep vertical fish were moving to fast. I was around trees most of the morning and stayed in 30 to 60 FOW. The A-Rig guys can do pretty good when the fish are scattered, especially around trees. Also, I am trying to find a deep bait that can be fished directly underneath the center of the boat (while the boat is still). WT 46

Kimberling, maybe half an inch. Driveway and road is clear.

Went fishing this morning and the bite was steady enough to keep me entertained. The best bait was a 7/8oz ice jig on 10# line and you had to slowly raise the bait above the fish until one committed. The Damiki rig did not produce like it normally does. A swimbait had to be worked (lift and drop) because they would not commit to a steady retrieve. The first location was on gravel (no trees and no balls of shad) in about 55 FOW and the easiest ones to catch where near the bottom and grouped up. I could see fish high in the water column (20-35ft) but they were mostly singles and were hard to trigger on a swimbait. The second location was loaded with trees in 45 FOW and plenty of fish. They were constantly moving through the trees and again the ice jig was the main bait. Some were postured above the trees for a swimbait but they were tough to catch because they were mostly singles. I did not see any balls of shad. The best scenario was seeing a group of fish (3 to 6) near the bottom and drop the 7/8oz jig and stop it just above them, then slowly raise the bait until one of the followers would commit. When the fish are near the bottom they might follow the bait upwards for 15ft. I think the WT is 48-49.

Bobby, the Damiki heads have a heavy duty hook and the Mooneye heads have a nice light wire hook that penetrates much better on the hookset. There is probably a knockoff brand Damiki style head that has the proper light wire hook.

Bobby, can you show a picture of the Damiki head that works with a 2.8. I bought the Damiki brand heads with a 2/0 hook and their 2/0 hook is the same size as a Gamakatsu 4/0. Damiki also has heads with a 1/0 and I am guessing that might work for a 2.8 as well as a Damiki 3" Armor shad.

I fished deep this morning and got caught up in some major fog. It was clear conditions when I started at 7am and then dense fog by 8AM. The 1st location I scouted was absolutely loaded with balls of shad but no fish. I go to my next location and immediately find fish and there are shad but they are scattered and do not appear on the graph. I know the shad are there because each fish I catch has a mouth full of small shad. The fish were in nice groups at 7:30 and fairly easy to catch on a Damiki and Ice jig. I had about 10 keepers on those baits. I decided to try the scope spin and it produced 3 more keepers before the feeding activity slowed down. After 8:30 the fish got tight to trees and that made it difficult to catch them without getting hung up. I normally try the Jewel scope spin for a few minutes each trip and it is just another tool in the box. It seems to work best for me when fish are really active and high in the water column. The Ice jig and Damiki are my go to baits when you have to work for vertical bites. I think the scope spin still has a chance to shine in March, April and May in the pre/post spawn scenarios where you have active near-surface feeding. Best depth range 35-60 FOW. WT 49. The pictured fish were caught on the scope spin. One vertical jigging about 45ft down and one hortizonal swimming about 15ft down.

I forgot to mention the following topic in the original post. For some reason in the Kimberling area the number of loons and seagulls are way down compared to previous years. Last year in November the million dollar tournament was partially won due to loons and seagulls providing major clues where the shad and fish were located. Has anyone noticed the loon/seagull population numbers in your area of the lake?

I fished deep this morning and my #1 priority was to find bait somewhere out of the extreme wind. I was fortunate to find bait on the main lake that was postured high in the water column in about 35-50 FOW. Caught about 8 keepers using the 3/8 Damiki and 5/8oz ice jig. Caught all three species with 4 SM, 2 LM and 2 spots. I seen some fish postured 20ft down and a swimbait would have worked but I stayed with the vertical presentation. When I catch deep SM in the winter I will stay put and milk the location. My preference is to find deep winter fish on the edge of their depth comfort zone which seems to be about 35-50 FOW in my area. If the lake is flooded, the comfort zone starts at 30ft which allows the fish to be in stained water and avoid current. WT 48.5 dropped about 3 degrees with the multi day cold front.

I fished deep this morning and was able to find some grouped up in a creek in 45-50 FOW. The shad were limited but enough to hold some fish. In the early hours there were plenty of fish posture for a swimbait in 45 FOW and suspended down about 20ft. As the morning progressed the suspended fish faded away. Around 10AM the graph was mostly blank and the deep bite was over. The 4" yamamoto grub out performed all the normal winter time deep lures (spoon, ice jig, Damiki). Casting a 3" swimbait was good for numerous bites and was the best technique for catching LM. The spots liked the vertical presentation and the LM were postured for a hortizonal bait. The deep fish are starting to like the bait dropped to the bottom then slowly retrieve the bait off the bottom and they will rocket up to get it. WT 51-52

Hey Dutch, here is the info on the bait. A regular fluke will work, but the jerk minnow is just a confidence thing for me. The setup will work vertical, casting to surface/chasing, and utilize as a 'quick drop' swimbait. The drop speed of the 5/8 makes them react pretty good some days and some days they ignore it.

I fished this morning and scratched out a limit from the few fish that were in the creek section. The bait was not very plentiful, but just enough to hold some fish. You are not able to depend on the shad being in the same creek from one day to the next. This morning I just relied on patience and finally aggravated some nice LM and a few decent spots. I used a 4" Damiki rig (5/8oz head) and 3" swimbait (5/16oz head). The pictured LM were caught on Damiki in about 32ft. The swimbait fish were in 35-42ft and I would see them on FFS and let the bait go to the bottom and slow retrieve. I caught a bunch of short swimbait fish. I fished the 5/8oz Damiki on 10# line to make it fall fast. WT 54

I fished this morning with great conditions (mild air temp and no wind) and finally got to experience the winter time surface chasing. I idled thru an area for an 1/8 of a mile with shad balls everywhere, but no fish to speak of. Once I got past the concentrated shad I kept idling and luckily found the fish grouped up in an area with limited shad. Caught surface/chasing fish on topwater wake bait and 3" swimbait. Also caught plenty of deep fish on 1/2 spoon on 6# line. The 6# lets the small spoon drop very fast. They would bite the scope spin if you had multiple fish chasing the same small group of surface shad. The fish ignored a 7/8oz spoon, 5/8oz ice jig, and Damiki rig. Today, I used 2D sonar vs FFS because FFS was showing too many distractions (blue gill, crappie, gizzard shad,,,,etc). I use FFS a lot but decided to go old school today. WT 55

Assuming there were approx 200 boaters, less than 30 had a limit. The two previous BFL winners on TR (April) had about 5# each (they are extremely good with FFS). So the extreme water level/visibility change made it tough.

It was mentioned in this thread that table rock may crest on Sunday at 925.8. This estimate no longer seems to be the case. Has the COE provided new guidance regarding crest level and timeframe?

The deep swimbait bite is still productive but a lot of the fish are shallow on/near beds. Finding shad is key for the offshore bite and the shad are constantly moving and will vacate a location causing each day to be a new scouting trip. We should be able to catch both pre-spawn and post-spawn in a matter of days. The 3lbs range spots are more difficult for me to find, perhaps they are spawning. Today a lot of the shad were too deep (below 25ft), but I did find some up in water column and that allowed for a decent morning. Caught fish on 2.8 and 3.3 swimbait and the underspin worked as well. WT 60.

I will assume Rick Kisek has FFS and has learned to use it very well. Currently FFS for offshore suspending/staging fish is extremely effective. There are two categories of these fish, those relating to bait and those that are not. Those relating to small pods of 'surface bait' are very willing to bite and FFS makes catching very efficient. The bait is postured from the surface to 10' down and the bass are located a few feet below them at 12 to 15ft (over what ever depth, normally 20 to 50 FOW). Normally your Offshore FFS presentation has four success factors... boat control, fish movement, fish depth, and casting accuracy . But with fish relating to surface bait, you eliminate fish movement and fish depth because your bait only has to drop for 2 to 3 seconds to get to 12 to 15 ft. You can locate staging fish without FFS and do Ok, but with FFS you can do better than Ok. With the early bite, the clock is running and FFS allows you to catch more fish before the bite clock expires and the bait fish drops down. FFS has changed the deep offshore game and guys are going through the learning curve at a rapid pace. For decades I used a 5" screen and had some success and now with FFS I am enjoying a new learning experience. FFS is not required to catch plenty of offshore fish, but it will eliminate many many years of learning curve.

BFL again. But another one day deal. LOZ was cancelled due to snow awhile back and rescheduled to Table Rock. Amazing to see so many major sticks struggled yesterday.

I have been fishing deep with a swimbait and the bite is pretty good. I fished this morning and stayed in one creek with the boat setting in 50ft FOW. The presents of gizzard shad was key. One location had lots of trees that topped out at 20ft below the surface and another location was the end of a channel swing with a few pole timber trees. The fish were using the entire water column and I avoided trying to catch them vertical. The fish that were down about 15 to 20ft were the easiest to catch. The deep fish activity really slows down about 8 to 8:30. Currently, the fish can be caught at any depth that you prefer and the bait of your choice. I used a 3.25" SB, underspin, and 3" Damiki. WT 47-49

I fished the past two mornings and the deep bite is pretty good. Had about a dozen keepers each morning and numerous shorts. Mostly K's with some LM in the mix. The ice jig worked best yesterday and the Damiki worked best today. The fish really like both baits reeled up very slow. Yesterday the Damiki worked several times on a long cast and retrieved about 25 to 30ft deep, but that did not work today. Today I found fish in two locations that gives me hope that the deep bite playing field is starting to expand. In the fall the deep bite locations are numerous, then lots of those area's fade out until the fish start moving with pre-spawn in mind. February and March will provide plenty of head fakes and I probably just got lucky today. Fished both days around plenty of deep trees with limited shad on/near the main lake . Caught most of the fish in 45 to 70 FOW. The bite wrapped up yesterday at 8AM and today at 9AM. WT 46