Dock-in-it

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

Mill creek is open in Kimberling. Three boats launched today and it appears to have a fair amount of black top showing.

Fished in Kimberling this morning for about an hour and the WT was 64 on the main lake. It is not dropping near as quick as you would think. Had 3 keepers on a spinnerbait slow rolled.

The cloudy mornings (with a few sprinkles) can be pretty productive. Just check out the OMTT tournament results from this past Sunday. With lots of seasoned ozark anglers and ideal weather conditions (cloudy/sprinkles), the number of quality fish was amazing (3# avg for 25th place.... a 4 fish limit). I fished this morning and the shallow jig bite was very productive. I had a limit by 7:15 (3 LM and 2 SM), fishing a 9/16 GP jig in 6 to 15ft. Caught 11 keepers with 9 on the jig and 2 on topwater. I wanted to commit to the shallow topwater bite, but I tried a jig on my first stop and it worked so I stuck with it. I was fishing the jig where extremely flat gravel transitions to deeper gravel bank. The backs of some creeks are holding plenty of shad and you can catch a few on a square bill and topwater. The pictured LM was my first cast at 6:25.....so not much light for a good picture.

I had jet ski guys jumping my wake at 6:40. Did you have a guide trip or just fishing by yourself? I talked to a guy for about 15 seconds in a white/black Phoenix with a shark jaw front.

I took a graph picture this morning showing fish suspended over deep water. I know a few of the lines are bass but the gizzard shad are always around and some areas have a few whites mixed in.

The fish are still biting the swimbait pretty good (best from daylight to 7:30). I normally use a 2.8 Big Bite SB with a 5/16 and 3/8oz jig head. The Big Bite SB is very impressive in regards to catching and durability. I have a topwater handy (spook) but it does not see much action. There are some good mornings where the fish are chasing on top but there are too many dinks. They are normally chasing one or two shad. A few big fish are mixed in, but few and far between. The swimbait and topwater bite I am referring to is in deep water (25ft to 75ft). I pay very little attention to the bank, most of the time my boat is in 45ft. I like to idle around and look for a combination of gizzard shad, white bass, and K's. It just seems they are normally suspended together over deep water. These fish can be anywhere (gravel points, coves, and creek channels). The gizzard shad will be breaking the surface from daylight to about 7:30. I also keep a spoon handy if I venture into water less than 35ft. I spend about 30 minutes each morning with the spoon and I have caught about 25 short walleye (12"-14") over the past 30 days and only 2 over 18", so the future walleye population may be very good. I just fish the morning hrs and last week I averaged 10 keepers per morning and yesterday I had 14 keepers and another 14 today. I do not use a drop shot, but after 7:30 I think a drop shot would be more productive than the swimbait. Also, a few LM are starting to show up with the K's.

Bill, I was hoping you noticed that. I have been fishing the past few mornings and doing much better just playing around with different swimbaits. We are pretty blessed to fish Table Rock on a routine basis.

Did you guys catch any whites? They are grouped up on the spawning shad and seem to crowd out the bass. Lots of the whites are in the 1-3ft range in the Kimberling area.

Caught these LM this morning and they seemed to be spawned out. The attached graph picture is a good sign that you are about to get a bite.

The past two mornings have been very different weather wise but still very productive. Yesterday morning I caught them in a wind blown gravel spawning cove and this morning I fished with no wind in a deep (ledge rock) spawning pocket. Today I had about 30 keepers on the underspin (1/4 and 3/8) and the key each morning has been abundant shad. Some of the shad each morning have been scattered in the 15'-25' range but each morning I also found shad extremely thick in shallow water (3'-10'). Both mornings the fish & bait have been grouped up in a very small section of the cove or pocket, so I idle around to eliminate 90% of the area and sometimes I eliminate 100% and run to the next cove. WT 60-61.

I purchased two G.Loomis pistol grips rods decades ago and still have them. I believe that I was I influenced by a Charlie Campbell article about using pistol grip rods for accuracy when throwing a spook around brush or timber. I grew up in Northwest Florida fishing rivers that dumped into the bays. A short handle rod was very helpful while sitting down in the back of a wooden river boat and sculling with one arm and casting under low hanging trees with the other.

The cold front has repositioned the bait fish (both the threadfin and gizzard) and the fish moved with them. This morning I was lucky to stumbled onto some fish feeding on shad in 35 to 55 FOW and the fish were down about 20-25ft. I used an underspin and they would not bite the plain swimbait. The two LM in the pictures weighed about 4.75#. One of the LM looks like it has done some spawning and the other looks like a pre-spawn. I tried six locations including coves and creeks and finally found some in a creek.

I know it had to hurt, did your wife have to remind you not to close your mouth until the super glue dried.

With the 3/8, I use 10# mono on a crankbait rod. I use the crankbait rods so I can throw a SB, CB and jerkbait on the same rod/line combo. I fish a lot in the winter and prefer the mono in cold temps and just keep using it in spring. Flouro would work great. The CB rod is good for playing fish in open water so you can determine if a boat flip will work or you need the net.

Bobby, earlier this week I also found shad that were shallow (20 to 25ft) in a creek and a single loon was having a big time aggravating them and there was not a single fish I could see (so that does happen). Also, I ignore the main lake deep shad (over 50). Regarding locations, I would try to figure where a bass would stage for the spawn and if that location has shad then you will have a good chance to catch a few. I am looking for groups of fish and that normally requires the presents of bait fish. Currently, I avoid the obvious gravel points because they get to much pressure. I think paying your dues hunting for shad is the key to fun fishing and catching numbers. I use a 3/8 oz jig head with four different SB lengths (3, 3.25, 3.3, and 3.8 with the 3.3 being my best choice. I also have a 3/8 underspin with a 3" SB. I rarely use a 1/4oz unless I am casting into 4ft to start my retrieve. The 1/4oz rises to quickly during the retrieve and it does not cast far enough for my taste. Also slow roll the bait. I am seeing bass on my graph feeding on the shad. If you find shad in 20 to 25ft and your boat is in 35 to 45 (and you see a few bass on your graph every few minutes) then you are in the right scenario. The shad are normally in one of two scenarios. First, if you have a tight bait ball like you see in the winter then the feeding fish might be near the bottom and not disturbing the main body of shad. That is when you let the swimbait go to the bottom and then retrieve. This is the best scenario to cleanup with a spoon once the SB wares out its welcome. The second shad scenario is scattered over a bigger area due to fish feeding aggressively. This is when you want no wind so you can see everything that happens on the surface and as soon as you see surface activity try to cast to it ASAP and let your bait drop to about 5ft then retrieve. You will catch random fish while waiting for the surface activity, but the surface activity takes top priority. I am fishing the SB horizontally but you need to keep an eye on your line while the SB is dropping to the desired depth. Also, try to stay off the majority of fish and make long cast.