BearFisher10

I've heard nothing but great reviews about Hammer Rods and the family that owns the company. I've got a few buddies down south that use them and they love them. Debated picking one up to try but I didn't have a need for one when I was checking them out. They are made in Harrison from what I've heard, but they are based out of Mississippi somewhere around Pickwick I believe. If you do buy one, I've been told to go up one power from what you normally would use. Apparently they're pretty soft. They do have a more parabolic bend to them as well. Hope that helps. Edit: I just remembered I watched a video from Buddy Gross recently, pretty sure it was on the FLW website, where he touched on them a bit as well.

Yes it is useable. Launched there Tuesday.

Glad to see you guys have been having some success. I've only been able to get out there twice in the last month and both times were far from spectacular. Had a little excitement here and there which resulted in slowing way down and finessing them on secondaries in order to get something going. Can't wait to get out next and feel like I've got a fighting chance throwing some moving baits.

Bo you are 100% right about the timing deal. I've found a some places lately that are loading up like this in the last two weeks and they will literally all disperse and there isn't a trace of them until they show up to feed again. Some of the spots they just settle down and won't hardly bite but that's only on a few of the locations though. I'd like to think I'm proficient with my electronics and finding bass off the bank or offshore whatever you want to call it, but I can honestly say I have had nowhere near the luck in the size/weight department that you and Cindyjo are catching. I'm not calling you liars at all, I'm just questioning if the different sides of the lake are just not quite in sync right now. I've been fishing the exact same depths and types of spots, but on the James instead. The difference is all these spots are loaded with KY's and the occasional LM. The catch rates are ridiculous but they're 95% shorts, and the keepers haven't been much over 15 inches. I guess I'm gonna have to try this out on a different part of the lake whenever I get the time.

No problem!

Instead of going off topic on the Wiggle Wart thread, I thought I'd just post what I found in a new thread. There's several websites with quite a bit of info on them, but I couldn't find anything that talked about the depths that they lived in. The closest I found was something on the long pinchered crawfish. "It generally prefers moderately deep pools along bluffs where rock slabs and large rubble provide crevices for hiding." Here's the links I found if you guys are interested... http://www.cerc.usgs.gov/morap/Assets/UploadedFiles/Projects/Aquatic_GAP_Pilot_Project/Crayfish_of_Missouri.pdf https://nature.mdc.mo.gov/discover-nature/general-species-information/aquatic-invertebrate-facts/crayfish-facts https://nature.mdc.mo.gov/discover-nature/field-guide/search?f[0]=field_fg_types%3A5583&f[1]=types%3A5674

I will try to find a link on this here in a little while. I'm curious to know now. If I find anything I'll post it on here.

Sorry I should have been more specific in what I meant instead of using colors. I am fairly certain the color fades on the half digested ones as well. What I meant was the long pinchered crawfish (typically blue tint) usually always come from out in deeper waters and the small pinchered crawfish up in closer to the bank. I do get the small pinchered ones spit up when fishing deeper as well but who knows what that fish was doing prior to getting caught. Just observation though.

Any chance these two species of crawfish just reside in different depths? I've been noting the color and size of crawfish in my livewell after a tournament for the last year or so. It seems that whenever I'm fishing shallower stuff I get the little orange guys spit up. Whenever I'm fishing deeper stuff the big blue crawfish are in the bottom of the livewell more often than not. I believe Mr. Babler actually mentioned something about the big ones out deep and a big jig last year around the time the BASS Open was here.

This is the biggest negative about the whole high school and college fishing deal. It's rare for people to make a healthy living doing, and just last week I met two freshman kids who told me their dream is to compete on the Elites. I'm not going to tell someone not to reach for the stars to achieve their goals, but it sure is a lofty goal that is being pushed on kids nowadays that it is a good way to make a living.

While I can't speak firsthand for the kids that fish in the high school stuff because I never got that opportunity, I have had the opportunity to fish numerous college events in the last few years all over the country. The first thing I'll say is, I know all of the kids I've talked with about high school fishing, they appreciate the heck out of the opportunity to be able to do it and having someone step up to be a boat captain for them, so thank you to Nitro for helping these kids and helping grow the sport. If it weren't for that aspect, I'm not so sure high school fishing would be where it is today. I have seen entries double in college events in the short time I've been doing them and at least 50% of these kids came up through high school programs. The way younger people are getting involved now is an amazing thing to me. You don't see that all over but it's great to me that there's plenty of kids that want to be involved and to spend their time outdoors. Without getting young people involved, the sport of fishing would fall on its face. You have to replace the older crowd, just like in anything else in the world, or something will fail. I played a sport for my university until I got injured and fishing took over for me as a route to still compete. It also gave me something to represent, i.e. our university and my fellow teammates. We worked our tails off to do our best and were rewarded the last two years with top 25 finishes in school of the year rankings. I know off the top of my head of several kids that had injuries in other sports and fishing took over as a route to still be able to compete. I've made relationships with people all over the country, with both kids I now call my friends to people who work in the fishing industry. For some kids, these relationships have even led to job offers once they've graduated. I won't lie, I'm not so sure I learned many life skills to take with me, but I don't know how many other sports can either, besides the obvious respect, teamwork, willpower, work ethic, communication, etc.. I wouldn't trade the experiences I've had in college fishing for anything though. The way things are going today, I'm just surprised people are talking down on how kids are wanting to be involved and to be outdoors.

I think the reason it was tough was because of everyone fishing right on top of each other, at least up the James. It was definitely not uncommon to pull up to a point to find 2-3 boats, and twice saw 4-5 boats, all fishing one point. I planned on working my way up the James but there was at least one boat on about every point from Aunt's Creek on up it seemed so I kept going til I found an empty spot I wanted to fish (which ended up being almost to Pt. 15). I'm not a fan of fishing in crowds like that so I split around 11 with one good one from my starting spot and started slowly working my way back towards the ramp making a bunch of stops on points, brush piles, and docks that weren't covered up by others. I was fortunate enough to put enough together to be in the check line but it was a grind for me at least.

Check out a Dixie Jet spoon. They sound similar to the size you're talking about. They come in a couple different weights and also colors. If you're in the Springfield area, go check out Sportsman's/Lew's. They usually have an assortment of them in stock. I've fished those real big spoons between 6 and 8 inches on Tennessee River lakes a handful of times in the last year, but not here on Table Rock. The 6 inch one will catch fish around here but I haven't tried the 8 inch here. I don't know if I ever will either. To me it doesn't seem like a reliable bite for our fish. Yeah our fish can be temperamental, but not like they are on the Tennessee River where those gargantuan spoons were designed to be fished.

Nothing like a stringer full of fish to start the morning (sarcasm).

I was just about to post a thread about the same subject. I was confused as well but I moved back out to the transition areas this week and got on them pretty good for the little time I got to get out this week. Take a look at Bo's reports. He's giving away some solid info. I'm pretty sure we haven't seen a good chunk of them up spawning yet. I'm catching too many fish with no signs of spawning activity. I've been able to catch fish back in the creeks with a good one here or there but the majority are not that far back yet. I got on the brush deal today myself. I decided to try just for fun and caught a couple good ones doing that as well. Earlier in the week I was even getting them on a frog fishing the bushes.

Don't count out a Wiggle Wart/Rock Crawler or a spinnerbait. I've had two days this week where those were solid producers.

Thanks guys. Surely I'll be able to make one of those work.

Does anybody know of any ramps in the Four Seasons area that you're able to launch at? I don't mind paying a small fee if I have to. I'd rather not have to drive all the way around to the Coffman or Shawnee ramps if I don't have to. That's what I usually do but thought I'd see if there were any closer options.

Between all the tournaments down here and the Big Bass Bash at LOZ, I can't decide which crowd I'd rather go fight this weekend. I look at the regatta page semi frequently and I don't think I've ever seen that many tournaments on one day.

I got out from 12-2 in that area as well. Had 11 with 3 keepers. It was a very fun two hours. They were slamming a spinnerbait good, threw a popping frog and caught a couple and skipping a jig behind docks produced some too. I used to never have confidence in a spinnerbait but I've been forcing myself to throw it and have had decent results so far. Thanks to Champ and others throwing all the tips on fishing them here lately.

All those Rangers with the poles are for the TBF National Championship. Today was the first day and it runs through Saturday. Saturday is the first day of their High School Championship as well. FLW provides the boats for that whole deal so that's why you're seeing all those boats that look the same. They're running out of Port of Kimberling this week.

I fished that tournament as well and ended a couple spots behind Steve. I primarily fished the KC area as well and saw lots of beds. I told Champ this but there were quite a few beds that the fish had pulled off of, algae was starting to grow on them again. There were about the same amount of beds that were more fresh and on Saturday I saw lots of males up on them or cruising, and one had a female that I didn't see til too late and spooked her. We found beds in several creeks around the area on anything from pea gravel to ledge rock on the shelves, usually under some brush or behind a dock. My partner and I fished secondaries and the backs of pockets with an A-rig and a Rock Crawler. Had lots of shorts and three keepers for 10-8 to show come game time on Saturday. If you like to cover water and fish fast right now, I'd have those two baits plus a Wiggle Wart, spinnerbait, and wobblehead rigged up. You will run into a few larger fish right now.

Sorry this is a little late but figured I'd post anyways since I said I would the other day. Last Wednesday me and a buddy got out for the day around Cape Fair and struggled for quite some time until the last hour we were out. My buddy made an errant cast due to the wind which landed his crankbait in inches of water and hooked up with a solid fish as soon as it rolled over the first rock. He kept casting on the bank and catching them so I started flipping a jig to the water line and caught a handful. We only had his first fish as a keeper one of my jig fish as a keeper with around 10 shorts in that hour. Friday I went down to the dam area and fished for two hours. I fished around secondary points back in the creeks. Caught 6 fish with 3 keepers that would have went about 7.5 pounds all on the crawler. Tried slowing down with a jig and throwing a jerkbait but didn't get a nibble. Sorry no pics this time. I've had butterfingers lately and tossed a pair of pliers and a pair of scissors in the water this week so I didn't want to lose my phone too.

Well I apologize, didn't know what your matter of hours meant. Its a shame that a company is willing to rush that many people through just to make a buck.

Thanks! I'll let you guys know how it goes. Hoping to get out Wednesday and Friday and possibly Saturday if things go as planned. I'll be out there at least one of those days though.