Dock-in-it

Hey Alex, thanks for the tip. I had topwater with me and should have tried it. I can normally catch about 30% of the winter time surface chasers with an underspin or swimbait, so I was dumbfounded with no takers. Next time they will see topwater on the menu. Looking forward to one of your cold water crankbait/jerkbait reports.

Fished this morning and the deep bite was about as good as it gets. Went to my first spot and scouted for 5 minutes and then went to my next spot. When I arrived about 7:20 the fish activity was unreal. About 15 big fish busted the surface over a 10 minute span and my graph was covered with vertical activity. I did not catch a single surface fish and after several cast I decided to stick with the vertical bite. The fish would fight over the Damiki rig and mostly ignore an ice jig and grub. From 7:30 to 8:00 the catching was almost every drop. The shad were 100% scattered (nothing schooled up) and I kept the boat in 35 to 55 FOW. Then about 8:30 the ice jig started to work well. Then about 9:00 there was an empty graph and the party was over.  Caught all three species and the K's accounted for 90%.  I threw a jerkbait, grub,  and underspin at the surface activity and was very surprised I did not catch a single surface fish. I thought the grub would work so I started with it and they ignored it, then picked up the Damiki and if you missed one another would bite it. WT 50-51 View full article

Bobby, for me the 7 to 8:30 timeframe is key for finding shad and active fish. If you find fish after 8:30 then you have probably found a location that would be much more productive at 7AM. I have found the shad on or close to the main lake (within 500yds of the main lake). I have scouted creeks and have not found anything. I would recommend looking for coves on the channel swing side of the lake. These coves need depth (50ft) and trees.

I have mentioned before how scouting for shad after 8:30 can be misleading. The attached shad picture is at daylight and at 8:30 you can not find these same shad. The fish movement picture shows how fish will get to the side of schooled up shad and feed on small pods.

Fished this morning and the action was very steady until 8AM, then between 8 and 9 the fish were still active in/around trees and at the base of trees. The 4" yamamoto grub on a 3/8 oz jig head (6# line) was the ticket. The grub worked good early casting to surface chasing and keeping it in the 5 to 15 ft range. It also was very effective with vertical presentation. The fish responded well to the vertical grub and it would easily out fish the ice jig. The grub was not very effective with a normal swimbait retrieve (like 20 to 30ft down). Fished around shad/trees in 38 to 60 FOW. WT 51 I seen several fish jump out of the water chasing shad and a few loons helped to keep things active. All three species were very active.

Fished this morning and was able to avoid most of the north wind. Found some fish in 42-50 FOW around trees/shad and they were using most of the water column. Had 3 bites on the jerkbait (110 +1) and landed two, but the ice jig was the main producer. I tried Damiki rig, four inch grub, swimbait, and spoon, but no luck on those baits. There were lots of gizzard shad and blue gill in the area and that caused me to waste some time. The bite fizzled between 8:30 & 9:00, I could still pull some off the bottom but they would not commit. I did not spend more than 20 minutes throwing the jerkbait and I should have thrown it more. WT 52-53

This morning was very mild temps and the shad started out on the surface. The shad were flickering on top at daylight. I found a good group of fish around shad/trees in 34 to 42 FOW and the action was steady for an hour prior to the sun getting bright (approx 8AM). The swimbait worked extremely well because of surface chasing and several fish were using the upper water column. The swimbait produced several nice LM prior to 8AM. The better LM came in 20-25 FOW where they had the shad pushed toward the bank. The ice jig ( 5/8oz ) worked good and produced mainly K's and a few good smallmouth. WT 56

I fished this morning and the fishing was pretty good. I stayed on the main lake around trees and shad. Finding shad in the creeks and on the main lake is pretty easy and the schools can be very large, but finding fish is the issue. This morning I landed on the right combination of shad/trees and lots of active fish. I stayed between 40 and 60 FOW and the fish near the bottom were the easiest to catch. The ice jig (5/8) produced a bunch of K's and the 2.8 swimbait was used to catch a very nice LM. I wish I would have thrown the swimbait more, but when your graph shows fish under the boat you have to drop on them. The swimbait window was probably only good for a 15-30 minute timeframe prior to the sun coming up over the horizon. Also caught two nice walleye on the ice jig. WT 54.5 to 55.5. One graph pic shows WT of 50, but I had just put the trolling motor down.

I fished the main lake this mild 67 degree morning and the fishing was very good. All of my winter trips are based on wind direction/speed so I can tolerate the cold temps, but this morning was long sleeve weather. Best depth for me was 47-55 FOW. The bite was fairly steady early but when the wind picked up they got very aggressive. I would find a group of fish and use spot lock to catch a few then move about 20ft and repeat the process. There was plenty of shad around and the fish had them broken up. The 3/4oz spoon and 5/8oz ice jig were equally effective. The Damaki rig would have worked but the strong winds required a little more lead. The fish were normally below 30ft and the easiest fish to catch were just off the bottom near 50ft. The bite seemed to fizzle around 9AM. Most were K's with several LM and a few whites. I did not catch a smallmouth which means I did not find the best buffet in the area. Trying to find shad in the creeks in my area has been a challenge. Some years the shad and fish sync up where I want them (out of the wind) and other years you have to hunt. WT 56-57

Bobby, the number of blue gill working the shad is unreal. They can be grouped up working the shad in any part of the water column and they appear just like a group of bass. I have been experiencing way to many fish ignoring my bait (or pulling off) and the 1/2oz white spoon will help identify the presents of blue gill. The 1/2 oz spoon is actually longer than the little shad they are chasing and the spoon will hook them in the mouth. The blue gill will also ignore the spoon, but you catch enough to realize what's going on. I have to work the spoon very aggressively to make them eat it.

I fished this morning and found some decent LM around trees/shad in 45 to 70 FOW. The LM bites can fizzle around 8:30 and then it seems to be more productive looking for K's. Caught the LM on 1/2oz and 3/4oz spoons and a ice jig 5/8oz. There are lots of blue gill participating in the deep bite and the 1/2oz spoon is good for catching a few to know what's on your graph. If you scout for shad after 8:30 you will be mislead by the lack of shad in some areas. There is also some surface activity on calm mornings. WT 57-58

With the fluke, it works pretty good vertical because you normally have to keep it right on top of them for several seconds. If I see fish up to 20ft away I will flip to them and if they ignore it I will move the boat over them to keep the bait in their face. It is pretty difficult to fish a horizontal presentation aiming for a particular fish because the fish will not sit still and it takes your bait numerous seconds to fall prior to starting the horizontal retrieve. So if the fish moves left, right, up, or down the horizontal retrieve is wasted. Trying to track your lure on a horizontal retrieve is pretty tough. Active Target does allow you to physically adjust the transducer for down vs forward. I believe you need to keep it in forward position. The forward mode does a pretty good job of looking straight down. The forward mode helps with searching. I wish you could touch a button to alternate between down and forward. The forward mode is fairly easy to make an accurate cast if the transducer is pointing straight ahead. If the transducer is pointing left or right it is extremely difficult for me to make an accurate cast and see my bait. The jig head is a 5/16 with a simple round head and a 4/0 gamakatsu hook. These jigs are poured by a friend using a standard mould. Gamakatsu makes a lighter wire 3/0 that I will use on my next batch of jigs (stock 11413-25).

Fished this morning and had a good limit early. The fish were postured around trees by a 40 to 60 ft drop. The regular Fluke worked good (5/16 head) and one on a swimbait. I decided to commit to active target this morning and it worked good. When fishing deep, forward facing sonar has its challenges. The boat is slightly moving, the fish are moving and your descending bait is moving. And compared to 2D sonar, you are interested in 1 inch of the screen vs the full screen on forward facing. The Ghost trolling motor pedal is super sensitive and will move way too much with just the slightest pressure. So that makes it difficult to track your bait away from the boat. I was able to catch them under the boat today. WT about 58.

I noticed on the water and TV coverage that the spoon guys were not taking full advantage of an active catch in progress. I would have each guy net his own fish and have the other guy drop their spoon around the active fish.

Thanks for the update. Several of the guys are chasing the deep fish and I was surprised how most were on the high percentage areas. The deep fish (and shad) are moving around fairly quick so that is a challenge. I think an a-rig and spoon combination (on the same fish) will probably work for some guys. Sometimes the fish around the boat can be too high for a spoon and postured just right for an a-rig. The slightly cooler water temps up the rivers might play a role for more bites and quality.

Pretty sure there was a fog delay until about 8:30. The first boat came thru the Kimberling area about 8:45. The delay probably impacted the deep fishermen. The morning deep bite can fizzle around 8 or 9 depending on the day. Hopefully there will be active periods throughout the day. 90% of the boats I seen were fishing deep.

I use the standard 8" hunting boot, insulated with 400 to 600 grams. And use merino wool socks. The 400-600 range gives you plenty of flexibility to run the trolling motor. Danner makes a good boot. The 400 to 600 with proper socks will handle air temps from 27 to 40.

I fished this morning and finally found some fish on my 3rd location. The fish were in 40 to 60 FOW and the better fish were on the bottom in the 55-60ft range. I caught them on a spoon (1/2oz and 3/4oz) and a Cicada blade bait. I wish I could catch them on an ice jig or swimbait, but I must be doing something wrong with those baits. I tried throwing the spoon, but it seemed I had to keep it vertical in their face for about 20 seconds. One graph picture shows the structure and cover I am around and the other shows the deep fish. In some area's there seems to be a disconnect between finding bait and finding fish.

This image happen several times Thursday morning. Not sure what the issue is, perhaps I need a software upgrade to keep my screen clean.

The fish are showing up in locations other than the main lake. Yesterday, I found a few spoon fish and today the schooling fish were active with mild low pressure conditions. For me, the fish are tough to catch once I find them. The spoon fish postured a few feet off the bottom are fairly easy to catch, but very tough to keep up with their movement. The schooling fish are dialed into the bait and will ignore the baits I am throwing. The fall locations should become more plentiful. The birds are not much help in my area. Spoon 1/2 oz. Schooling fish - tried topwater (walking, small popper, wake bait), swimbait, underspin, little George, flutter spoon. The underspin would work if there was a very aggressive surface chase. WT 62

The factory installed mine wrong so I had to go thru the learning curve. The manual is a little vague on details and YouTube videos lack proper camera work. On the TM bracket line up the two elevated markers. On the transducer bracket line up the elevated marker and the indented marker, then move it two clicks to cause the transducer to face forward. Mount it facing the bullet portion of TM vs the prop. If you have a Ghost, I will explain another potential issue you may encounter.

The accident happen across from Big Wolfpen at the mouth of gravel cove that has 4 small docks. I drove by the scene about 6:45 and the first responders were already on the scene. I went to the Big Wolfpen gravel point and watched from a distance. The first responders and additional help responded so quick for being a pre daylight accident. It appeared that the boat was traveling from Baxter to joe bald. I idled by the scene after the fire boat took off and the boat towing service waited for a big tournament to get by and let the wakes calm down. It seemed to be a newer boat with a 4 stroke. I think both guys were 75 years old.

Macsimus, thanks for the feedback. Today's technology is great and very effective in being efficient with your time on the water. I have decided to keep using the old school graph until it stops working. I have lots of hrs and gas money tied up in Table Rock, so that offsets any urgent need to upgrade electronics. I actually like finding and catching fish with the basic sonar. I was on a friend's dock a few days ago and a fisherman pulled up and I asked how many keepers he had. He said 3 and I said I had 3 this morning as well. He said what kind of graph do you have and I said the RB-100 (Randy Blaukat). He had forward facing.

Did a little scouting this morning to find some thick balls of shad (hoping to find feeding bass). The first picture is fairly shallow (28ft) and a very thick group of shad. There was a moderate shad kill taking place. I stopped the boat at 28ft and the thick shad extended much shallower. The second picture is a little deeper in the same area and the shad are more scattered and I did not see much of a shad kill in the deeper water. WT approx 42.5 (the first picture indicates 43.2, but I just put the motor down).

Yesterday morning I had 3 keeper LM and about 3 more bumps on the A-rig. My graph showed scattered shad and very few bass. Fished around cedars. Seen 2 dying shad. The few bass I seen would rise off the bottom and go back down. This morning, I had 1 keeper K and a few bumps on the A-Rig. I missed two on an underspin. The fish I found were very active from 15 to 40ft but could not get them to bite. Seen about 5 dying shad. If I had live scope around stubborn suspended/active fish, I would cast A-rig to 35 FOW around open spots in the cedars and let the bait go to the bottom. I seen fish all morning rise off the bottom and they kept swimming up. Fish were on my graph every few minutes until 8:30. WT 40-42 yesterday and 41-43 today